Here I am, 31, and already a legend… oh
wait… that’s Sue’s line. Here I am reporting LIVE from the staff room of SM Sains
Sultan Mahmud a.k.a. SESMA… They’ve WiFi~! Hahah~
I still have like three observation sessions
to go, but that’s the easy part. The ROS (school orientation programme) report is
halfway done. I just need to interview the three Senior Assistants, and some teachers
to finish it. Still, I know I have to edit the thing again since the report I wrote
(still writing the thing now, actually) is so grammatically incorrect…
Anyway, I managed to see some of the form
one students TOV essays, and they were hilarious~ Young students think differently
than us… haha~ Speaking about form one, today, my friend from IPG KB and I will
organise an English Camp. It’s just one hour, so it’s not really a camp. We’re going to play The Hot Seat with
them. May this afternoon be blessed so that everything goes well… heheh~
It’s been a long time since I last did a
photomanipulation. This one, I think, is the best that I’ve ever created [now the mind thinks on how good it will be if I give the
best on my studies too… touché…] in my whole life, for both
design/idea and execution [I’ve just praised
myself. After this, people will cringe at that slightly abhorrent act~].
The muse
for this manipulation is the song ‘Just a Kiss’ by Lady Antebellum. More musing
on this creation on my deviantArt
Just a shot in the
dark that you just might be the one I’ve been waiting for my whole life…
This March marks a new section in my almost-14-years-of-education
life, and boy, how different this term is compared with the last two. Of
course, the major difference is that this year, I’ll be starting my life in the
INTEC Campus of UiTM Shah Alam.
As for the courses in term three… I think
I’ll be spending lots of time in my campus. When I was in IPG Gaya, there were
some courses that were swapped with this term’s courses. All those courses were
co-curricular subjects, so basically that means I need to take three
co-curricular subjects in one term… if my prediction is correct, that is. If it
does, let’s hope I will not faint from exhaustion. Anyway, here’s the list of
the conformed courses...
TSL451: Field
Experience
– This I will start next week, and I can’t wait. This course requires us to go
to our given school and observe our mentors during the T&L sessions, among
other things. We also get the chance to involve ourselves with the school
activities.
TSL483: Applied
Phonetics and Phonology – I guess an advanced study of phonetics in English? Just
when you think that learning [æ], [ə], or [ʊ] is hard enough,
you are now told that the letter R has more than one sound. Lucky we won’t
learn ƿ or þ, both of which [Wynn and
Thorn] are not IPA symbols, but two letters
used in Old English. We don’t have History of English though. That will be gory
fun.
TSL570: Literature and
Media –
Perhaps, media here don’t just refer to books, but TV, films, and music too. If
I’m not mistaken, we need to do a project for this… video project! Ooohhh… I
love literature!
BEL422: Report Writing – Seriously? Anyway,
people said this course will teach us on how to write different reports for
different types of instances. Really? I thought we only have one way to write
report… the way is THAT way we learnt during our school years… primary school
years.
BJP401: Japanese
Language I– My dream is fulfilled! The seniors said that Japanese is only taught in
the Main campus, but I hope this will not be a problem!!! I really, really want
to take it~! Japanese is one of the seven languages offered for our Foreign
Language course.
HBU111: Kesatria Negara – This is an obligated
course for Co-curriculum I. I need to march then? So, I hope my experience in
the marching team for Waja house during Gaya’s Division Games for two
consecutive years will help me.
Other than the courses, the seniors told me
the rooms in UiTM are equipped with air-conditioners. I can now practically see
myself prone to flu and other kinds of cold-related diseases in the near
future…
Now, now… how should I say this? It seems in
Terengganu, English teachers are really looked up by the community, which was
what the principal of Sekolah Sains Sultan Mahmud [SESMA], Pn. Meriam said to
me. Unlike the states in the West Coast or Sabah and Sarawak, the public usages
of English amongst the east coast communities, especially in Kelantan and
Terengganu, are quite rare. English is almost exclusively used in the schools
or tourism-related areas. Some students, even those in higher secondary forms, are
still grappling to form simple sentences. In other aspect, the Terengganuese
accent still dominates the speech, not just in English, but in Malay too. Perhaps,
the major inhibitor behind the lack of English speakers in Terengganu is that most
people still think that a person who converse in English is actually showing
off his language ability. Students just shy away from using the language.
The principal further said that Terengganu needs more
English teachers than most of the other states. If you’re a TESL graduate, then
there is a big chance that you’ll be able to teach your subject here. English
teachers in Terengganu have a large responsibility in producing students who
are capable in using English. I can feel that ever since my fellow friend from
IPG KB, and I met Pn. Meriam to tell her about our Field Experience [FE] that
is to be done there. She really took our FE very seriously; you might think
that we are actually there for our practicum. She asked us to create a
timetable for our observations with the mentors, the discussions with our
mentors and her too, and also to converse in English with the students. So, this is kind of scary. Oh yeah, Pn.
Meriam did ask to have our reports too, so that she could try to make some
positive changes or improvements on the areas of SESMA’s English teaching that require
them.
Anyway, her high expectation towards us is
understandable. The tasks of a teacher, any teacher, are big. I think this
early exposure is beneficial and I’m looking forward to my two weeks in SESMA.
Besides, what’s the use of me being a TESL student if I don’t use my English?
Goodbye, an expression that is so simple, yet
has so many emotions. There are moments when you find that saying it is easy,
and then, there are those times when you don’t even want to think about
goodbyes.
Perhaps the hardest of all goodbyes is to see the person you love walks away from you. It
doesn’t matter if that person wants it, or because that person is forced to do
that. No one wants this ultimate end of a relationship, but still, some bonds
are not that strong and severed anyway.
This kind of goodbye will bring out some kind of
monsters from every people. There are those who are seemingly tough, but
inside, they are really fragile. They wear a new attitude on their sleeves: I
don’t need you, I can live without you… but then, they are the ones who want
that person back. Then, there are people who blame the other party as the
reason for the downfall because they just cannot accept it. Different emotions
take turns to reside inside those people… anger, sadness, madness,
contradiction.
There was a time when a person said that he or she
wanted to focus on a thing. Being in love was not part of the plan. Time moved
on, and then it changed. The person fell in love and has a significant other.
So, what’s the moral of this little story?
The moral: you can’t force love… and be careful with
what you say. It may found a u-turn and comes back to slap your face, though
sometimes in a good way.
Well, the story may happen or may not happen. The
thing that I want to say is that in an age when your hormones are at rage, the
things you’ve planned will not always stay in the course that you want. At
first, you think that love is a waste of time when you’re still studying, but
then when you suddenly found a person that you like, then obviously you’ll
change. That’s pretty much it. Phone bills go up, more time is spent with that
person…
Now, let’s focus on the word ‘suddenly’ there… you always
face this person day after day for
who knows how long, and then – poof – everything that you feel towards him or
her changes: a day before, this person was your friend, but now, it feels
different. It takes a long time for you to decide that you actually harbour a
feeling that is more than just as a friend.
Now then, if you really want to be single for a couple
of years, do you have to say that you want to find a girl while you’re
studying? Go figure…
