The lesson gets more and more serious…

After learning about all the tales, myths, legends and fables, the lesson continued with more serious stuffs like autobiography, diaries, letters, as well as speech. In autobiography, I was introduced to ‘The autobiography of Nelson Mandela – The Long Walk to Freedom’. Learning the autobiography also, I have learnt about why do people write autobiography, how trustworthy are autobiographies, are autobiographies educational or entertainment, as well as learnt whether autobiography could be used in language classroom. After that, I learnt about ‘The Andy Warhol Diaries’. Frankly speaking, I was really clueless about who he was until we discussed about his diaries in class. Besides, I also learnt about Kafka Diaries, which I found very interesting because he had a different view on education. When I first read his diaries and came to the line, “…education has done me great harm in some respect.’ it has really caught my attention and made me wanted to read more and more about his life. Then, the lesson moved on to Keat’s letters to Fanny Brawne. Last but not least, the latest lesson we had was on speech from Martin Luther King, Jr, entitled “I Have a Dream”. To me, this speech was a fabulous literary masterpiece. In fact, he has a strong emotion and spirit in his speech. There are still a few articles left that we do not discuss in class like the essays on ‘Shooting an Elephant’, ‘The Common Reader’, and ‘What I Believe’. However, I still did my own reading on them since I have bought the book. So, it will be a waste if I do not use it to its fullest.

Discovering of different genres in literature

After gone through this course for the whole semester, I have learnt different genres in literature such as tales, myths, legends, fables, autobiography, diaries, letters, as well as speech. All of these genres vary in their own ways. At the beginning of the semester, I have learnt about Ovid, ‘Daedalus and Icarus’. We have discussed in depth about this tale in class. Then, I also did my own reading on the stories of ‘The Son of the Turtle-spirit’ and ‘Le Mort d’ Arthur’. Honestly, I found out that the story of ‘The Son of the Turtle-spirit’ is intesting but unfortunately, ‘Le Mort d’ Arthur’ was not very appealing for me. Maybe it was because the story was rather long. Therefore, I have to force myself to finish reading it. Then , I was also been asked to read the Aesop’s fables, ‘The Fox and the Crow’, ‘The Jay and the Peacock’ as well as ‘Androcles’, which I found very interesting and taught a lot of moral values. Apart from that, we also discussed about Ovid metamorphosis, ‘Pyramus and Thisbe’ in class. Actually, I have learnt about this story much earlier during my foundation course, which was through the play ‘Midsummer night’s dream’. Thus, when we discussed about this story, I have already had the basic knowledge about the story. When I reflected back of what I have learnt through out the first part of the semester, I found out that everything that I have learnt are quite interesting and lighter compared to the second part, which is more serious. This is because they are easier to understand compared to autobiography, diaries, letters and so on, which deal with serious issues and true stories.

Come out with the final product...

after my instructor went through my work and gave her comment, i started to work on my research to come out with the final product. first of all, i have to cut down the less important part about the playwrights' biography, like their major works and awards that they received. this is because due to Cik Sharifah, she can read them all by herself through internet or books. futhermore, these parts are not really related to my research. i have decided to put in the playwrights' background in my research paper because their lives background are related to and influenced their works.

secondly, i changed the introduction where the instructor asked me to change because there was a few confusion in it. Since it was too complicated, according to her, i decided to cut the paragraph off and rearrange the sentences in whole paragraphs all over again, from the most important to the less important.

Thirdly, i editted some of the implications on teaching at the final part of the research paper, to make it more realiable to the current teaching and education. finally, i have to re-check my grammar to make sure that they are all correct and there is no grammar mistake at all. to do so, i am not only will check it by myself but i will also ask a favour from my friends to check it for me. it means that my research paper will undergo a few stages of grammar checking.

Freedom Writer

Last Tuesday, we were assigned to watch a movie entitled ‘Freedom Writer’. The movie centres on the story of a 23-year-old teacher resorts to unconventional means of breaking through to her hardened students. This teacher is very enthusiastic and interested in teaching. this movie basically deals with how the teacher and her teenage students used writing to change themselves and the world around them. Her students had been written off, and her chances of succeeding scoffed at, but the teacher, Erin Gruwell wasn't about to go down without a fight. Long Beach is a place where a new war is waged with each passing day, and when the hardened students who walk those dangerous hallways sense an outsider attempting to understand their plight, their cynical resentment threatens to keep a deadly cycle in motion. Despite the initially hostile reaction she receives in the classroom, Gruwell uses the writings of Anne Frank and Zlata's Diary: A Child's Life in Sarajevo to teach her students not only the basis of the English language, but compassion and tolerance as well. Later, when the time comes to tell their own tales in a project specially designed to explore the daily violence that the majority of students have grown numb to, the barriers that had once stood so strong gradually begin to crumble. When the only chance for survival is to befriend the person who was once your mortal enemy, the world is opened to a whole new realm of possibilities.

I have learnt so many things from this movie and it really opens my eyes to dedicate myself to my future career as teacher. i realised that being a teacher is not just teaching in classroom but also educate them beyond the classroom. this movie has also introduced myself with various teaching methods like the teacher in this movie does. i have also learnt on how to handle students and make them interested in learning especially students who are quite unruly.

meeting with the instructor

Again, i was asked to meet my instructor to discuss about my draft of research paper. She wants to give her comment regarding my research and then, she asks me to re-do it. during the meeting, she asks me to improve on the language, introduction and the implications on teaching. besides that, she also wants me to cut down a few unnecessary things on the playwrights' biography because she said it is to long. According to her, the content and my argument on the points are sufficient but i have to check the grammar. after discussing and commenting on what have to be improved, we discussed with her about the due date to submit the final draft. fortunately, Cik Sharifah is very considerate and understanding. she gave us enough time to re-do the assignment and come out with final product. so, the due date decided was on the next Friday, which 1 week after the meeting.

apart from that, she also comment on my thesis statement. she asked me to change the thesis statement which really suits the supportiong points. basically, she said that she can understand what i want to say but the thesis statement is not really reliable. so, she suggest me to quote one line from my argument to use it as my thesis statement. this is because she found out that there is one line that is more suitable than my existing thesis statement.

Final Draft for research paper

Now, it is about time for me to send the final draft of research paper. According to my instructor, Cik Sharifah, this 14 March would be our final draft and she wants us to come out with full version of essay regarding my research. It has to be 3000 words, typed out. Then, she said that if she was satisfied with the work, it would be our final product. However, if she was not satisfied, she may return it back to me and for that reasons, I will at least still has for about two weeks before the actual due date to re-do the research paper. I think, that was a good idea in a way that I will have time to correct the work if she does not satisfy with the assignment. But, in a way also, it may be quite tiring since that 14 March is just around the corner and the fact that time flies very fast! Moreover, there are plenty of assignments to be submitted this week! I am afraid that I could not manage to finish them all in time. Perhaps I could say, I will try to finish it, or precisely, I must finish it! Maybe I have to burn the midnight oil to finish them in time. When there is a will, there is a way….

Malaysian Celebrations

There are plenty of celebrations in Malaysia that I am still not familiar with. So when we are asked to list down all the Malaysian celebrations that we know, I was only managed to list down 20 celebrations out of 26. Among them are Mothers Day, Fathers Daay, Children Day, Teachers Day, Valentine’s Day, Labour Day, Isra’ & Mi’raj, Nisfu Syaaban, Nuzul Koran, Hari Raya Aidilfitri, Eid al-Adha, Gawai Day, Wesak, Thaipusam, Indian New Year, New Year, National Day, Maulidur Rasul, Mid-Autumn Festival (Moon Cake Festival) and Pongal Festival. However, some of these celebrations that I listed down are not very familiar with. Basically, I know about the existence and the date of these celebrations but I do not know the origin and also not very familiar with the nature of how they are celebrated. After a brief discussion in class on the various celebrations in Malaysia, I then got the rough idea about some other celebrations especially those which are celebrated by other races as well as in Sabah and Sarawak. They are Dong Zhi Festival, Bai Tian Gong (Praying to the heavenly God), Vaisakhi, Good Friday, Dumplings Festival, and finally Naw Ruz.
Then, we are divided into small groups to study about these celebrations and we are given certain celebrations to focus on. As for my group, which consists of 3 people, we are asked to find the information on Mothers Day, Fathers Day and Children day. So after class, we went to cyber café to find the information about the celebrations. We decided to divide the work between the 3 of us to make it faster. So, I myself was assigned to find out about Mothers day, while Faizura was on Fathers Day and Arifah was on Childrens Day. After gathered all the info, we then do a discussion that night to finish the work assigned. We divided the information of the celebrations into 3 sections which are the date it was celebrated, the origin and finally the nature of the celebrations. After finished with the typing, we printed them out and then, made a copy for everybody.

The first meeting with the instructor.

Last Thursday, I went to see my instructor, Dr. Sharifah Zainab after class to discuss about my research paper. Before I get to see her, I have already done some outlining about my topic chosen so that she can see the progress of my work. I went there with my other friends who are in the same group with me. When I met her, she discussed about what were we supposed to do and asked us to do the first draft. As for myself, I had done something regarding my research paper to show to her. So, I just had showed her what I have done to ensure that I was on the right track. If she agreed with my topic, theme, thesis statement, and supporting details, I will just proceed with that topic. If not, at least I knew that I had to think of another topic. Fortunately, she agreed with my literary texts and the theme chosen.but, she just went through briefly with my outline and she will check the draft in the next meeting. So, what I have to do next is to show her the progress by giving her the full details of my research. This will be taken as the second draft. According to my instructor, the appropriateness of the topic will be determined through my argument and supports of my points. She asked us to divide my research paper into 3 sections. Namely, the writers’ background and how the backgrounds of the writers’ influence their works, the problems and treatment of the issue by comparing and contrasting the two plays, and lastly the implications on the education or teaching.

Supporting details…

Initially, I did not know how to deal with supporting details for my research. So I asked one of my friends on how to come out with. After discussing a little bit with her on that, I tried to come out with few supporting details. Luckily, I have done some research from internet on my topic. I at least had the rough ideas on what the plays are and the issue portrayed. Then, to ensure that I was on the right track, I surfed the internet to download the whole plays because I did not have the text books of both plays right now since I learnt the plays during last few semesters. So, I had brought back home all the books. Then, when writing down all the points, I referred back all the notes that I had done the research on recently to make sure that all the points are correct and reliable.
How does Eliza and Rita view education as the centre of human personality? Firstly, they think that through education, they can improve their social status. Secondly, education can help them to gain respect. Thirdly, education gives them a better life. Next, education can also give them a happy life by living in a new society. Apart from that, they can also gain self-acceptance through education. Through education, they think that they can be somebody. Education also helps them to truly discover themselves as well as developing well academically. Overall, they view education as the centre of human personality because education will give them satisfaction and fulfilment to their lives.

Working on the thesis statement, theme and writers’ background for research paper….

After choosing the two different literary texts, ‘Educating Rita’ by Willy Russell, and ‘Pygmalion’ by Bernard Shaw, I then started working on the thesis statement. I chose to do a research on the issue of education that has been brought up in these plays. Both Rita and Eliza in the plays view education as the centre of human personality. Education for them will change their life for the better. Therefore, I have decided to do a thesis statement, “Rita and Eliza each view the education as the centre of human personality”. For this statement, I will discuss the theme of education and their efforts that they do in order to be educated and change their life.

Apart from that, I also did some research on the writers’ background and related them to their masterpiece, as for why they wrote the plays concerning that theme. I also wanted to see whether the writers’ treatments of the theme are related to their lives. Basically, Willy Russell comes from a working class background and he once worked as a ladies' hairdresses. Meanwhile for George Bernard Shaw, Pygmalion reflects Shaw's interest as an activist in the welfare of the poor. Therefore, I may conclude that, their treatment of the theme was more or less influenced by their background of lives.

Appointed supervisor for research paper…

Every student will be guided by an appointed supervisor to carry out this research paper. Students then are required to meet their supervisors to discuss their topic of research. There are 52 of us and there will be 8 lecturers that are appointed to be the supervisors for our research paper. So, there would be about 6 to 7 of us who will share the same supervisor in a group. For myself, my appointed supervisor is Dr. Sharifah Zainab bt Syed Abd. Rahman After getting to know the supervisor for my research paper, I started to do the necessary reading before get to see my supervisor, as required by our lecturer in his written assignment question. This will also give a brief preparation when I go and see my supervisor. Thus, I won’t be too blurred if she asked some questions. Since I have to work on 3000 words-paper, I have to ensure that I really choose the literary texts that I was familiar with, which also will equip me with sufficient points. So, I did some reading on a few literary texts for my preparation before meeting the supervisor. Now that I know who my supervisor is, and which literary texts will I be working on, I now will proceed with the next step which is working on the thesis statement. But, I was still wondering whether, working on the thesis statement for research paper, is it the same with working on the thesis statement in the position paper?

Research Paper

The next assignment that I have to work on is research paper. For this research paper, I was asked to choose an area that I wish to do a small piece of research. The research can be on a writer or any literary texts which share the same issue. Therefore, I need to find a focus or topic for my research paper. This is quite a challenging task for it requires me to find the different literary texts which deal with the same issue. For that, I have to have the knowledge of various literary texts so that I can compare which texts share the same issue. Therefore, I had to crack my head to choose suitable texts that fulfil the term and condition required in the assignment. After considering a few stories that I have learnt during the foundation course and previous degree years, I finally decided to choose the story of Rita in the play ‘Educating Rita’ by Willy Russell, and the story of Eliza’s life in the play ‘Pygmalion’ by Bernard Shaw. Basically, both of these plays deal with the same issue on education, which is viewed from the main characters’ perspective. I have decided to choose these two plays because the issue deal in the story has great implications for education or teaching. This will be discusses in the final section of my research paper later. However, succeed in choosing the stories did not mean that I can begin our research straight away. To proceed with the next stage, I had to ensure that the stories chosen will have a good thesis statement, and have reliable as well as sufficient details. Again, after deciding on the stories, I had to put my thinking caps on to create an excellent thesis statement.

The Fall of Icarus painting...

Where's Icarus?

In the sea, of course. He fell...but nobody notice. Well, everybody in the painting seems to be busy with their chores and ignored what had happened to Icarus.

why? because life goes on...

Nice painting, isn't it?

Quotation for supporting details.

The next stage that I have to go through for my position paper is to find the quotations for my supporting details. I think this task is a bit easier compared to previous tasks because it is all there in the text book. But the most crucial part is when to get the text book. I originally have the book but I have sent it back to my hometown. However, I put some effort to borrow the book from our junior. Unfortunately they do not have it. How come? When I was in the same semester with them, I got the book! Well, maybe they do not asked to study that play…or maybe, I was not lucky enough. =(

So, I decided to change the story from “Antigone” to “Anike”. After all, they are the same story except that the former one is Sophocles version and the latter is Wong Phui Nam’s. The gist of the story is still the same except for the characters. But, due to a few reasons, I then changed it back to “Antigone”. I managed to get the book because I asked my mother to post it me. After having the text book, I then started to identify the suitable quotations and listed them down according to the order of supporting details.

Supporting Details.

After having the acceptable thesis statement, approved by lecturer, I was asked to find 5 supporting details for my position paper. At first, I was very excited to list down all the supporting details because I thought that I know the whole story very well and I still remember all the events happened in the play. Like a streak of lightning, I finished listed down all the 5 points. Then, when I checked it back, I found out that there were some point that were more or less the same. I cracked my head to find another new point that is different but to no avail. I ran out of point! So, without any other choice, I just sticked with the remaining points and just left them to be checked by the lecturer. After that, I compared my supporting details with my other friends. Unfortunately, I found out that the way I wrote my supporting details were a little bit different with my friends. It really made me hesitated to proceed with my existing points. So, I decided to change my 5 points here and there to make it fixed with my thesis statement without much different from others. Then, when I showed my 5 supporting details to lecturer, there were only four points approved. Where can I find the other point? I have asked so many friends to help me out but most of their suggestion, again, got rejected. So that means, I still ran out of point.

Then, I decided to change my thesis statement to another story, which may give me sufficient supporting details. So I asked the lecturer. Unfortunately, my lecturer said that it was a good thesis statement and that, I can find the last supporting detail if I think carefully, which until now, I haven’t found yet. So sad… But, by hook or by crook, I would just proceed with this thesis statement and I will find out my last supporting detail for the sake of my lovely position paper! Oh God…Please Help Me!!!

Thesis Statement

Do you know how difficult it is to make a thesis statement? You probably would not know unless you have experience it yourself. Well, I have experienced it recently and I found that it was really hard. Initially, I thought that by choosing a preferable story and having what you want to discuss about the story is sufficient. But later on, as we discussed it in class with our lecturer, I learnt that it was not an easy task to attempt. Sad to say, my thesis statement got rejected for about more than five times. If I was not mistaken, my thesis statement was accepted after my sixth attempt. And truthfully, I have changed my story for more than once. And now, I am thinking of doing so again because it was so hard to find the supporting details about my thesis statement.

My first attempt of the thesis statement was on the story “Great Expectations” by Charles Dickens. I wished to do the position paper on that story because I found that that story is interesting, understandable, and have good moral values. Furthermore, I have just learnt about the story last semester. So the plot, characters and everything that happened in the story were freshly lingering in my mind. However, my thesis statement on that story was rejected. I did change my thesis statement on the same story but still, it got rejected. So, I changed it to another literary text which I found interesting and leave a mark on my life, which is “Antigone” by Sophocles. My next attempt on Antigone-thesis statement also got rejected that required me to come out with the next thesis statement. Again, my attempt failed. The same thing happened until finally, I manage to get it. Thank God, my effort paid at last with the help of my lecturer as well as my friends. Thank you everybody!

Tales

First of all, what do we mean by “tales”? What will your mind think when you come across the word “tales”? I would say that tales mean stories, often involving magic, power or exciting events. When I come across “tales”, my mind will definitely think of Cinderella, Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, Pinocchio and so forth. Why would one think of those tales? The reasons are obvious. We used to listen to this kind of stories during our childhood. Each and every one of them is unique and interesting, with different kind of magic and powers. In order to enjoy tales, I personally think that the person must be creative in imagining the magical events and imaginary creatures.

However, tales are not limited to those children’s stories only. Recently, I have encountered many other kind of tales. Among them are Daedalus and Icarus, The Son of the Turtle-Spirit, Androcles, and many more. Perhaps for some of us, these tales are not something new for them. But as for myself, as far as I concern, this is my first time reading these tales. I notice that tales would not necessarily have to have magic or power. It can also be in a form of spirit, something to do with myths, legend and so on. Since “tales” is too general and broad to consider in all its aspects, I shall say that tales overall, are stories which are exciting and appealing, which often used to teach moral values.

Name: Noor Athirah Che Zakaria
Matric No. : 134191

Daedalus and Icarus

Have you ever come upon the story of Daedalus and Icarus? I have. Briefly, it is a tragic story of a father and a son who tried to escape from a land named Crete by using the father’s invention of mock wings. But, their effort to escape is to no avail. The son finally fell into the sea and died because he ignored his father’s advice. When I first read about the story, I found it quite confusing since it revolved around many characters, namely Minos, Daedalus, Icarus, the monstrous child, and Pallas. Furthermore, there were also the names of places such as Crete, Delos, Peros, Juno’s sacred isle of Samos, Lebinthus and Calymne. All of these characters and places names are quite confusing because I cannot differentiate whether they are the characters or places. These characters and places somehow did not really related to each other. The plot of the story seemed to be jumbled up. So I had to read the story again and again.

Then, I was asked to do a summary of the story. It really helped. Summary gave me a clearer view point of the story because I can only focus on the main idea of the story where the protagonist, Daedalus wanted to escape but the antagonist, Minos had blocked the way. Thus the problem leads to the whole story to happen. After doing the summary for about 200 words, I again, was asked to summarise the summary to make it simpler, shorter and comprehensible. Basically, reading the story teaches me to keep the promise and obey our parents’ advice. So, I rather say that this story really put across good moral values to the readers.

Name: Noor Athirah Che Zakaria
Matric No. : 134191