New Leadership, New Cabinet and New Expectations

Highly anticipated new cabinet announcement was made by our sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak. He announced a 28-member Cabinet with 25 ministries. Tan Sri Muhyddin Yassin, former International Trade and Industry Minister were elected as our Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister. Najib, who took over the helm of the nation, retained the Finance portfolio as well.The new cabinet was suppressed from 32 ministers and 27 ministries previously under Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s administration to 28 ministers and 25 ministries. He told that the new members of the administration were highly spirited and ready to serve the people. This is closely associated with the slogan “One Malaysia. People First. Performance Now” that are adopted by Najib’s administration. This cabinet comprises mix of old and new faces. Around eight ministers from the previous cabinet were dropped and at the same time, few new faces were appointed. There were also some greatest comebacks for some new faces such as the Gerakan President and the former Chief Minister of Penang, Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon and Datuk Seri Sharizat Abdul Jalil who is newly appointed as the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Deparment in charge of Unity and Performance Managament and Minister of Women, Family and Community Development respectively.With the new members of elected representatives began their duty, high expectations were build upon them by the public. These expectations were really essential for the government to meet in order to maintain the political stability especially during the economic turmoil. With the greatest hope and expectations, people will now rely and work hand-in-hand with the Najib’s administration in order to sustain the continuous development and success towards Malaysia. Best wishes!


NEW CABINET LINE-UP:

Prime Minister and Finance Minister 1: Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak

Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister: Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin

Ministers in Prime Minister’s Department

Unity and Performance Management: Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon

Law and Parliament: Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz

Religious Affairs: Brig. Gen. (Rtd) Datuk Jamil Khir Baharum

Economic Planning Unit: Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop

Deputies: Datuk Liew Vui Keong, Senator Datuk Dr Mashitah Ibrahim, Datuk SK Devamany, Ahmad Maslan, Senator Datuk T. Murugiah

Finance

Minister: Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak

Finance Minister II: Datuk Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah

Deputies: Datuk Chor Chee Heung, Datuk Dr Awang Adek Hussein

Education

Minister: Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin

Deputies: Datuk Wee Ka Siong, Datuk Puad Zarkashi

Transport

Minister: Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat

Deputies: Datuk Abdul Rahim Bakri, Datuk Robert Lau

Home

Minister: Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein

Deputies: Datuk Wira Abu Seman Yusop, Jelaing Mersat

Information, Communications, Arts and Culture

Minister: Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim

Deputies: Datuk Joseph Salang Gandum, Senator Heng Seai Kie

Energy, Green Technology & Water

Minister: Datuk Peter Chin Fah Kui

Deputy: Noriah Kasnon

Plantation Industries and Commodities

Minister: Tan Sri Bernard Dompok

Deputy: Datuk Hamzah Zainuddin

Rural and Regional Development

Minister: Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal

Deputies: Datuk Hassan Malek, Datuk Joseph Entulu

Higher Education

Minister: Datuk Seri Khaled Nordin

Deputies: Dr Hou Kok Chung, Saifuddin Abdullah

International Trade and Industry

Minister: Datuk Mustapa Mohamed

Deputies: Datuk Muhkriz Mahathir, Datuk Jacob Dungau

Science, Technology and Innovation

Minister: Datuk Dr Maximus Ongkili

Deputy: Fadillah Yusof

Natural Resources and Environment

Minister: Datuk Douglas Uggah Embas

Deputy: Tan Sri Joseph Kurup

Tourism

Minister: Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen

Deputy: Datuk Seri Sulaiman Abdul Rahman Abdul Taib

Agriculture and Agro-based Industries

Minister: Datuk Noh Omar

Deputies: Johari Baharum, Rohani Abdul Karim

Defence

Minister: Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi

Deputy: Datuk Dr Abdul Latif

Works

Minister: Datuk Shaziman Abu Mansor

Deputy: Datuk Yong Khoon Seng

Health

Minister: Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai

Deputy: Datuk Rosnah Rashid Shilin

Youth and Sports

Minister: Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek

Deputies: Datuk Razali Ibrahim, Wee Jeck Seng

Human Resources

Minister: Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam

Deputy: Datuk Maznah Mazlan

Domestic Trade, Cooperative and Consumerism

Minister: Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri

Deputy: Datuk Tan Lian Hoe

Housing and Local Government

Minister: Datuk Kong Cho Ha

Deputy: Lajim Ukin

Women, Family and Community Development

Minister: Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil

Deputy: Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun

Foreign Affairs

Minister: Datuk Anifah Aman

Deputies: Datuk Lee Chee Leong, Senator A. Kohilan Pillai

Federal Territories

Minister: Datuk Raja Nong Chik Zainal Abidin

Deputy: Datuk M. Saravanan

EDU 3217; Last remarks

Time passes so fast. It’s already the last blog for this course. Learning drama by analyzing it has been an interesting thing. We have never thought that we would have so much fun in learning this course with Dr.Edwin. He can be really strict at times but we did have fun listening to all his remarks and comments.

Where else we had the chance of watching a play? Many of us have never watched a play before in our lives, so watching it with the whole class was an enjoyable and an unforgettable experience for us.
We had micro teaching in other courses but only had simulated teaching for this course. It’s bit relaxing, enjoying and completely a different experience altogether for us. We had fun and learned our mistakes at the same time. I am sure the whole class would never forget this experience in our lifetime.

Besides that, the plays that we learned for this course, taught us a lot of values and lessons. For example, in King Lear by William Shakespeare, we learned how one’s fate can change without even realizing it. Whatever we have today, may not last with us. Reading this play alone was tough but with Dr.Edwin’s help and guidance, we managed to comprehend and analyze this play subtly.

Lastly, but not the least, drama can be fun and interesting. We had the wrong perception of it as we did not know how to analyse it all this while. This has been an interesting and knowledgeable course for us.

Simulated Teaching; Sustaining The Student’s Interest

After I presented well for my set induction, now it’s the pre-reading and while-reading stage. As for the pre-reading and while-reading activities, we are given the privileges to choose one of the literary elements. So, I have decided to do on the characterization of the play ‘The Ring Doesn’t Fit’ by Tan Kee Aun. At first, I was bit confused when Mr.Harold Poong told us that we need to use different approaches in preparing these activities. I’ve no idea at all on how to use different approaches in these activities. After several inputs from Mr.Harold Poong and Dr. Edwin, I draft it out few activities and showed it to Dr.Edwin for his suggestions and comments. Basically, it was a positive note from him.

After I got the ‘green light’ from him, once again I had a great chance in confirming these activities. I was selected to present my pre-reading and while-reading activity on the second meeting once more. I had a chance in observing my colleagues presentation first. But, this time, I only did few amendments to the activities and quickly proceed to the presentation stage.

Overall, it was great experience for us. We are now able to master the simulated teaching for the short stories and drama. Once again, I would like to thank Dr.Edwin for embarking this kind of activities for the teacher trainee like us. It somehow prepares us to encounter all the possibilities that we might face especially in preparing the lessons for the students.

Simulated Teaching; A New Approach

All hell broke loose when I first got to know that we need to do simulated teaching as part of this course. A lot of things puzzled in our mind especially the expectations of our new lecturer for tutorial session, Mr. Harold Poong. Mr. Harold Poong is the one who is going to evaluate us for simulated teaching. At first, I had some difficulties in finding appropriate activities for set induction, pre-reading and while-reading. This is because previously, we only did simulated teaching for short stories. As for the short stories, I didn’t even crack my head in preparing the activities.

Hence, as for this time, I planned to do my simulated teaching on the play ‘The Ring Doesn’t Fit’ by Tan Kee Aun. Basically, this play revolves upon the subject love and marriage. So, I prepared the exercises according to whatever prior knowledge that I had. I was informed by my tutor that I will be presenting my set induction on the second meeting. So, I had some chance in making some amendments to the power point slides and my presentation skills so that it can cater Mr. Harold Poong’s expectations. In my power point slides, I showed set of pictures of people in love and marriage. Moreover, I also prepared some nice quotes regarding love and marriage according to the pictures. Students have to identify what are the two issues that were brought forward in the power point slides and after glancing through the quotes, they have to define marriage and love in their own words.

Basically, these are the activities that I’ve prepared for my set induction. I think I present it well due to the response that I had from my colleagues. Most of my colleagues told me that my set induction was really interesting and it entices their interest. I was so happy and was really looking forward to do my best for my pre-reading and while-reading activities.

Macbeth;Gruesome

We are assigned to watch the movie Macbeth and thankfully it is in colour. Nevertheless, it was boring as well although it was better than Elizabeth the Golden Age. Maybe because it was in colour, so it caught our attention. Our class hardly comprehends with this entire Shakespeare thing.

Anyway, the movie itself started with a war scene after which Macbeth gets promoted. Three witches had told Macbeth that he might be king one day. He told his wife. Together they started plotting to kill the present king. At first, Macbeth was reluctant but his wife further persuaded him to carry on with the plot. As the witches proclaimed, Macbeth was the next king.The people in the country however disliked the way he carried out his duty without taking the people’s matter in heart. He turned out to be a cruel king. Soon, the people were getting together to plan Macbeth’s death. Macbeth’s wife, who was earlier behind the plot to assassinate the previous king, had gone insane with guilt. The guilt feeling in her was unbearable that she had to kill herself by jumping out of the balcony.

Macbeth had no worries up to then, had to start worrying when an entire country will not rest in peace until they have killed him. However, there was a twist at the end. Macbeth could only be killed by someone who was not born the normal way. It was a charm that the witches had blessed upon him. Thinking that he could bring anyone down, he braved himself to fight the entire country. Macbeth was wrong because there was someone who could kill him. Eventually, he died. The ending part was horrible and gory as Macbeth’s head was chopped off to prove to everyone that he is really dead.The movie was full of war, backstabbing, murdering, fighting, and suicide.

Teiresias, The Mystery Revolves

As I was reading one of the greatest plays of Sophocles, Oedipus Rex, I came across with the character called Teiresias. When Dr.Edwin explained briefly regarding the characteristics to us, I was enticed to find more about Teiresias. Teiresias was born in Thebes, Greece to Eueres and Chariclo. They were said to be the descendents of Udaeus of Sparti. Teiresias is blind according to myth. There are many reasons or stories regarding to his blindness. There was one which says that the Greek gods blinded him at the age of seven because he revealed certain facts and knowledge that men are not supposed to know.

According to another myth, it is said that Teiresias was blinded by the Goddess Athena after he saw her taking a bath. Athena threw water into his eyes and therefore blinded him. His mother pleaded with her to get back Teiresias’s eye sight, but Athena was unable to do so. So, instead of eyesight, Athena gave him a staff which gave him the gift of walking with vision. He also got the gift of prophecy as well as understanding the language of birds as compensation.

Another tradition says that one day, while Teiresias was having a walk one day, he came across snakes mating, and he killed the female snake with his staff. Since then, he was transformed into a woman. Myth says that he was a famous prostitute during those seven years. After those seven years, he again came across snakes mating and this time around he managed to kill the male snake with his staff. Thus, he was turned into a male once more.One day, Zeus and Hera were having an argument about which sex enjoys intercourse most. Zeus said it was the women who enjoyed more while Hera says men enjoyed more. To settle their disagreement, they called upon Teiresias since he had the weird experience of being both man and woman. He agreed with Zeus claiming that woman enjoyed much more pleasure from sexual intercourse. Therefore, Hera was extremely mad at Teiresias for having said so. She turned him blind. This was another version of how Teiresias got blind. Zeus gave him the gift of inner sight which is wisdom and the ability to see the future and also extended his life span to seven generations.

Basically, these are the different versions of myths regarding Teiresias. It indirectly aroused my interest in reading this play.

Oedipus Rex & Oedipus,The King.

We had a great chance of reading one of the finest works in literature by Sophocles. The title of this play is Oedipus Rex. Dr.Edwin prescribed this text as part of our course for EDU 3217, Teaching the Language of Drama. Initially, when I first read the play, it was quite bored and I really don’t understand with the command of language that they have used. It took me a longer period of time to comprehend the text. With the assistance from Dr.Edwin, eventually I was able to get an overall view what is this play is all about. Basically, this play has got four scenes with prologue (beginning) and exodus (ending). Few lectures with the assistance from Dr.Edwin regarding this play have made me to be more confidence to encounter all the questions that I might have for the final examination.

Moreover, we also had a great chance of watching Oedipus Rex in a movie form. This movie is entitled Oedipus, The King. By watching this movie, it enhances and consolidates my understanding of this play better. Moreover, I was able to visualize the scenes subtly because before this, I only had a chance of reading the text. It somehow gives me a visual understanding of the play. In my personal opinion, I felt that, by watching the movie, I was able to comprehend the play better rather than reading the text. I used text as my secondary source to have a better understanding of this play.

Basically, what I have learnt from here is that, as a future English language teacher, we are given the authoritative to choose the best modus operandi that can be used to impart knowledge to the students. We should also bear in my mind that only certain approaches can be applicable to certain group or level of students. Hence, as a teacher, we should come up with different approaches that can cater the students’ needs. As I had mentioned earlier, one of the good example is the movie and the reading text. Teachers can use both approaches as part of their teaching and learning process in the ESL Literature classrooms. Reading text can be used to analyze the literary elements of the play whereas the movie can be used to enhance and consolidate the visual understanding of the play. Both approaches are essential for the betterment of our teaching and learning process. Besides that, this kind of methods will entice the students’ interest and participation in the classroom.

As a conclusion, Oedipus Rex was a great play that I have ever read and watched. The usages of two approaches by Dr.Edwin, which are the reading text and the movie, have made me to have a better understanding of this play.

Teacher Trainee cum Writer

All hell broke loose when Dr. Edwin assigned us to write a script for one-act play for the literature classrooms. This will be our first assignment for EDU 3217, Teaching the Language of Drama. This one-act play should be around 15-minutes and it’s meant for the upper-secondary school students. Besides that, we also have to prepare a teacher’s guide on how to teach and use this play as part of the teaching and learning process in the literature classrooms. Luckily, this is a group work. Thus, Ling Leong King, Mohd. Fadzwan and I have decided to come up with a nice storyline.

I was so excited because this was the first time I’m writing a script. At first, we were cracking our heads to come up with a suitable theme for our play. After a long discussion and arguments, we came up with an issue of love since love would be a familiar issue among the youngsters in today’s world. The students would be able to comprehend this kind of issue since it dealt with their life experience. There were several contradictions among us at the very beginning stage because each of us came up with our own storyline that themed loved. We should also bear in mind that this is just a one-act play and it should not exceed more than 15 minutes.

Eventually, we came to a conclusion with a nice storyline entitled ‘Love Rivalry’. Basically, this story based on love triangle between the twin brothers and a girl. The twin brothers were Simon and Richard and both of them were fighting for this girl called Jennifer. Actually, Jennifer is in love with Simon as Simon does. But, Richard, who is much more educated compared to his younger brother, Simon decided to get married to Jennifer since he got the approval from the Jennifer’s mother. At the end, who is she going to get married with? That’s the suspense of our play. Which is more power, true love or social status?

Once we have decided to wrap up our play in just four scenes, we started to work out for the appropriate and suitable sentences. Basically, we only use simple sentences so that it will be easier for the students to understand. Eventually, after a long battle, we produced the script of the play with a nice storyline and hand-in the draft to Dr.Edwin for checking.

I would like to express that the feeling was so great for me since this is the first play that I am writing along with my friends. Indirectly, it entices my interest to write more plays in different genre such as short stories and poems in future. It enhances and consolidates my confidence in me and hopefully I will be able to contribute and give my best in this field.

Love and Marriage

Love and marriage are two different perspectives that are experienced and viewed differently by humans in today’s life. Love can be defined as to have strong feelings of affection for another adult and be romantically and sexually attracted to them, or to feel great affection for a friend or person in your family ; world. Marriage is a legally accepted relationship between a woman and a man in which they live as husband and wife, or the official ceremony which results in this. You might be wondering why I am sharing this topic as part of my fourth blog. This is because for our first and second session of the tutorial session, we were given two texts which are ‘The Ring Doesn’t Fit’ by Tan Kee Aun and ‘The Ring’ by Vincent Jeremiah Edwin. It’s was an interesting play with different elements of love and marriage that are being shared by the writer to the audience.

As for the play ‘The Ring Doesn’t Fit’ by Tan Kee Aun, the story mainly revolves around Paul, the bridegroom to be and Adelyn, the bride to be. In the first scene itself, the mother viewed marriage as one of the modus operandi of discovering more about your partner after Adelyn felt that she was uncertain of being perfect. In the scene 2, it mainly focuses on how Aunt Mira and Paul look at the marriage. Even though Paul felt the same way as Adelyn felt, which was uncertain of being perfect, but he was quite loyal to his spouse especially when he mentioned that marriage is a once in a lifetime thing. Aunt Mira also played a part here by explaining her view about marriage when she stressed that in marriage, no one is good enough and that’s why it’s called love. Forty-three years of marriage and he still hasn’t… It shows that she is an optimistic lady and can accept the weakness of her husband even though they are married for such a long time. As for the scene 3, it’s all about Adelyn, who wants to be a perfectionist where she wants everything to be perfect and in order. Here, the writer indirectly brought a message regarding the gender treatment where the females are always worrying for the details and are more serious unlike the males. At the end of the play, it was a happy ending for both of them as they were pronounced as husband and wife even though they had some contradicting perceptions about marriage at the very beginning of the play.

As for the play ‘The Ring’ by Vincent Jeremiah Edwin, it’s about a troubled boy seeks the companionship of an imaginary person who may or may not be a demon. To keep her existence for him, he cuts himself to give her his blood. The most interesting part of the play is the poem which is being revealed to express the feelings of young love. The two main characters of this play are Raj, a troubled young man and Leila, his imaginary demon girlfriend. There are few scenes in this play. It’s about Raj, who fells for his girlfriend @ demon where he is willingly cut himself to feed his imaginary girlfriend for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It indirectly shows that he doesn’t want to lose her. At the end, Raj mother notices that it was something wrong with Raj. Hence, she sent Raj to the mental hospital and eventually there is no one to feed Leila. If Raj wants to continue feeding her, the hospital authority will keep him longer in the hosptial for further treatments. So, Leila walks away from Raj’s life and he is left alone and sobbing. Basically, this play brought a message about love where the writer stressed that love is a sacrifice and desperate feeling of owning someone. Meanwhile, the ring symbolizes the pain that they went through.

In conclusion, both plays was a great platform for me to have a better understanding of what is love and marriage, where the writer presented the different perceptions and thoughts about love and marriage to the audiences.

Traditional Dance Enlighten Our Roots

Malaysia is a country with a wide diversity of culture, tradition and customs. It makes us great honored and proud to be prominent Malaysians. Thus, it’s our duty as a Malaysian to uphold this treasure that can never be replaced because it some how reflects our identity to the entire world. Recently, when I attended National Chinese New Year Open House that was organized by the Ministry of Unity, Culture, Arts, and Heritage in Bukit Bintang, there was variety of traditional dances that was performed by various ethnics and races during the event which caught my eyes. One of them is Bharatnatyam, the classical Indian traditional dance. Since, it is related to my tradition, I decided to find more about this traditional dance and post the information that I obtained in this blog.

Bharatnatyam is developed in South India, in its present form, two hundred years ago. It’s believed that the Hindu god, Brahma (supreme creator) created Natya by extracting literature elements from the Rig Veda, songs from Sama Veda, abhinaya (expression) from the Yajur Veda and rasa (aesthetic experience) from the Arthava Veda. This dance is the oldest of the classical dance forms, and its origin can be traced to Bharatha’s Natya Shastra. Basically, Natya speaks in great detail of the different kinds of postures, facial expressions, mudra (hand expressions), including the attire and ornaments to be used.

Moreover, the uniqueness of this traditional dance is that they are all devotional in content and it is confined around the nine rasas (emotions or aesthetic expressions). They are hasya (happiness), shoka (sorrow), krodha (anger), karuna (compassion), bhibasta (disgust), adhbhuta (wonder), bhaya (fear), vikram (courage) and shanta (serenity). In fact, Bharata Natyam was till the early 20th Century, only performed by ‘devadasis (maids of God)’, in temples.

In Malaysia, this dance is performed on festivals, ceremonies, and special occasions. It marks the presence of the Indian culture, tradition and custom among the other races in Malaysia. One of the Malaysian famous Indian traditional dancers is Ramli Ibrahim. The twist here is that he is Malay. He is acclaimed as a pioneer dancer and choreographer of international standing in the major fields of dance that he has mastered – Bharatnatyam, Odissi as well as Contemporary dance. Besides that, he is also a teacher for the Indian traditional dance, Bharatnatyam. Basically, he is the treasure of our country that can never be replaced by another.

In a nutshell, we can say that this dance is well received by all Malaysians due to its uniqueness. At the same time, it’s our duty as a Malaysian to know more about other race’s culture, tradition and customs and uphold it so that it remains our treasure forever.

EDU 3217, A Different Outlook

After successfully completed a semester stint of EDU 3214, Teaching the Language of Short Stories, once again Dr.Edwin will walk-in this semester for a new subject which is EDU 3217, Teaching the Language of Drama. My colleagues and I were really grateful to Dr.Edwin last semester for making us comprehend on how to examine the language of short stories subtly. In short, as I had mentioned earlier in my previous blog, he resembles how a English Literature teacher should conduct the teaching and the learning process in the ESL classrooms.

As the new term begins, we eagerly anticipated for his lesson lesson. His classes fall on every Wednesday from 12 pm-2 pm. We knew that this subject is going to be presented completely to us in a different outlook. Of course, everyone might be wondering why I am calling this as a new outlook. This is because, when he taught us last semester, he directly started his first lesson by teaching various kind of short stories that was prescribed for us in EDU 3214. As for this subject, his approach was merely different because for the first three lessons, he discussed the overview of the history of theatre. By doing so, it gives us a mental picture what is the world of drama is all about. Moreover, he also discussed about the evolution of the drama that occurred since 384 B.C until today where it is integrated as part of the mankind’s life.

I was quite mesmerized with the achievements of the great poets and play writers on those days with their wonderful piece of works which causes great influences among readers. Initially, poets have defined that literature evolves from the world of theatre where it’s viewed as a part of human’s cultural life. It has never barred any society in terms of their status quo in viewing this theatre. The born of famous Greek philosophers cum writers such as Aristotle, Sophocles, Aeschylus, Euridipes and Aristophanes makes the Greek theatre evolves rapidly. It embarks a new chapter in the history of theatre by becoming the first theatre in the world. This is followed by the Roman theatre and the Medieval theatre

During 18th and 19th century (Victorian Period), there was a paradigm shift where the credibility of drama was declining due to the industrial revolutions. The entire focus was moved from the theatre to poetry with the emergence of the first novel in the world, Robinson Crusoe. Slowly it started to evolved back during the 20th century where the writers or authors classified them as a modern or a contemporary drama. It touches upon several elements of drama which are tragedy, comedy, tragicomedy, and farce. Besides that, Dr. Edwin also explained to us the differences between tragedy and comedy drama.

During the 20th century, there are two different kinds of play, which are the Aristotelian play and the Brecthtian play. Aristotelian play is a traditional play and it’s too dramatic compared to the Brechtian play which focuses on modern epics that embarks the thinking skills among the audiences. Moreover, Dr.Edwin also taught us about the conventions of theatres, stage characters and the criteria’s of a good play.

Basically, this is the introduction part for the course EDU 3217, Teaching the Language of Drama. As I had mentioned earlier, this course will be taught in a different outlook. I really do hope that I will be able to comprehend this course effectively before I move myself further in studying different aspects of literature in English.

Goodbye 2008, Welcome 2009

Political tsunami, economy turmoil, fuel hike and Bukit Antarabangsa landslides are some of the events that captured people’s eye and it is closely associated in the year 2008. Even though 2008 had passed swiftly, it leaves many memories in our minds. At the same time, it has taught many lessons to think about.

As for me, 2008 was a great year. This is because this was the year where I tasted my university life after three years stint at the Temenggong Ibrahim Teachers’ Training Institute. I enrolled myself at University Putra Malaysia in July 2008. It was entirely a new experience and has taught many lessons for me. The life here is totally different compared to my previous Teachers’ Training days in Johor Bahru. Basically, we took some time to adjust ourselves here. Moreover, this was a great opportunity for us because we had a chance to meet well established and professional lecturers such as Assoc.Prof.Dr.Malachi Edwin Vethamani and many others. Usually I’ve only heard about them from my friends. I was completely mesmerized when I saw Assoc.Prof.Dr.Malachi Edwin Vethamani for the first time. Simply can’t believe it!

Since I’m the class representative for my batch, I had a great opportunity in meeting him frequently. The luckiest part is that, he taught us Teaching the Language of Short Stories for the first semester. He really helped us a lot especially in ways of examining the language of short stories. Basically, we have been playing the role of a reader since young but he is the one who taught us how a teacher should examine the language of short stories and teach these elements as part of literature in the classrooms. I managed to get an A- for his subject. Frankly speaking, I’ve never seen such an English teacher in my life before. In short, he resembles how a Literature teacher should be and teach the ESL students. Anyhow 2008 was a great year for me with lots of new experience and lessons. At the same time, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all my lecturers who made my year, 2008 a memorable one.

2009 just arrived. I’m really looking forward with high expectations and hope. New subjects and new lecturers lined up for the year 2009. Once again, Assoc.Prof.Dr.Malachi Edwin Vethamani will be teaching us. This semester, he will be teaching us the Teaching the Language of Drama. As for the short stories, I gained a lot of inputs especially in examining the language and hopefully by the end of this semester, once again I will be able to master in examining the language of drama. I’m really looking for it in the year 2009 with high expectations and hope.