My Library

Khalid Hoseini’s The Kite Runner

It is a best-seller in the year of 2003; “The Kite Runner” has effectively brings out the ideas of humanity in a story about two best friends, Amir and Hassan who live in the town of Kabul in Afghanistan. It is indeed a touching story that they “attached” to each other in the name of friendship until they are separated during war between the Taliban and the Russia Federation.

What is interesting in this story is that Amir is born in a race called Pashtun (a highly-respected race in Kabul) while Hassan is born to be a Hazaran (lower social status). Although they are living in the different worlds and though Hassan is illiterate but it does not make their friendship less in love and spirit of brotherhood. The story, although it is set during war and chaotic situation but Khalid Hoseini does provide us with some humour in many scenes like after both Amir and Hassan watching “The Maginificent Seven” in which Hassan is like having an enthusiasm to see Charles Bronson, his favourite actor that stars in the film.

Overall I love the story and it has become one of my best books collection besides Judith McNaught’s and Suzanne Tamara’s and several others. “The Kite Runner” inspires me a lot in terms of the spiritual and emotional strength portrayed through the characters of Amir and Hassan. There are many parts in this story that I just cannot help but trickling few tears. It is such a very fresh and brilliant story by this Afghanistan-born writer.


*get ready with piece of tissue at your hands...

My Research Paper

Another project work for EDU 3234 is research paper that requires us to select two texts from different authors or same author and in different genres or of the same genres. As for this project I choose Si Tenggang’s Homecoming and The Malay Commie by the National Laureate, Muhammad Haji Salleh for the former text and Che Husna Azhari for the latter. The Reason I choose these literary texts is because they have the similarities in the characters that both of the main characters go abroad and return home only to find themselves not less a Malaysian and the become more better and open-minded persons.

Nationalism is the issue that I want to highlight in the research paper. I think that our citizens nowadays have lacking the sense of loving the nation especially for younger generations that are more vulnerable to some bad influences of Western culture. It does not mean that we have to deter ourselves from those of what the West have done in developing their countries but we have to adopt and adapt what are some of the things that are suitable and appropriate for our culture.

My supervisor is Dr.Ghazali Mustaffa who has been very helpful in order for us to come out with good products. Although he demands something which is quite different from others but he says to us it is like a practice for us to write thesis for Masters and higher education levels. Whatever it is I have put a great effort in bringing out the major points that I want to convey to the readers of my research paper. I have done a lot of research and readings of articles, journals and magazines that are pertaining and relevant to the topic. What is important right now is to pray for the best mark that I can receive from the hard work for the research paper.


*so happy that I obtain 26 marks upon 30 for the position paper...

…Le Quattro Stagioni…

It is Italian language. When it is translated to English it means the four seasons; summer, winter, spring and autumn. The four seasons here are a set of four violin concertos by Antonio Vivaldi. It is a kind of baroque music and it is very famous and well-known since 1723. Why it is called the four seasons is because each concerto resembles each seasons. There is a different between all the four concertos that it distinguishes one season to another from the variety of instruments played in various notes.

If Dr.Edwin does not provide us the material I certain that I will probably not knowing about it at all. This kind of music is really not within youngsters’ interests but it is a piece of music that gives pleasure to anyone who listens to it. When listening to Vivaldi’s I can hear the rise and low of the notes that varied from the beginning to the middle of the concerto. There is also the sound of thunderstorm-like that I guess maybe describing one of the seasons.

It is some kind of stress-relieving session when we are to listen to the concertos. But when it comes to listen to the poems read by some speakers with background music, I feel quite tense. It is because it is hard for me to actually catch up the words the speakers read aloud and there are a few of poems being read that I can hear them quite well such as “Sonnets” and some others. In a nutshell i think that it is good to bring this kind of music into the literature classroom but when too overloaded with it, students may get stressful and bored out of the situation.

*Dr.Edwin admits that he has overdosed and overindulged us with that piece of Baroque music ^-^

…my thought on limericks…

Limerick is made up of couplet with same rhymes and another couplet with different rhymes to the former and it ends with a line that applies the same rhyme to the first two. Usually it contains humour and the “punch line” or “the heart of the joke” is at the end of the limerick.

Limerick can be used for pre-reading for students with some and high English level proficiency because it requires students to play with words. Therefore they have to have language and vocabulary in order to come out with limericks. For low level of proficiency students, if teacher wants them to write a limerick perhaps the teacher can provide some of the words that can be used for creating limericks.

We have an opportunity to write limericks in one of the EDU 3234 classes. The different thing here is we are given the task in groups of three or four; unlike the usual writings of journals that require us to write it individually. “Two heads are better than one” puts pressure on us to come out with a good limerick. It is not only a piece of writing but it requires us to think of a joke that can be understood and at the same time can tickle everyone’s hearts. I team up with Sheila and Izzatie this time and it takes us quite a few times to actually able to create a limerick because we have to keep the same rhymes and the beats of the limerick. Nevertheless Izzatie has such a cool idea that at the end of the class, we manage to write the limerick on the board in front of the class.

After writing it down, we have to chorally reading it. Our turn is the last one and when it is nearly to it I can feel my adrenaline rushes. It is not like I never speak in front of others (it is sometimes even more than that) but this time the excitement to read something which is new to us is what makes me feel nervous and at the same time I want it to be good and smoothly flowed. While reading the limerick, I feel myself satisfied for what we have done that day and I feel some sort of happiness that it helps in reducing our stress and tension that come when we worry a lot about our examination. Overall I just love the activity and I do enjoy myself a lot.


*big applause for everyone…^-^

An Afternoon with Kee Thuan Chye

Taking this course has provided me with many opportunities that I find will be very hard and difficult to experience and achieve if not through this course. The opportunity like meeting prolific writers like Kee Thuan Chye is one of them. Although I am not really familiar with his works and involvements in the world of art and literature (I have watched him as the guest star for Malay TV series, “Gold and Gincu”) but when it comes to see a famous writer cum playwright cum actor, the gold opportunity must be sought.

My opinions on KEE THUAN CHYE:

1) He is independent writer who has a very good political sense. He is aware of the political situations in our country ever since he was younger until the current years of our country.

2) He is a smart actor that has a good commercial voice (I think I have seen him acting in one of the theatres I watched in KLPAC---only to mention that I have forgotten the names and the title of the actors and the play).

3) Very optimistic towards the opinions and the points of view given by some of the students during the meeting.

4) I have a right to disagree on him about some of his political views. Like when he straightaway mentions about the UMNO propaganda which is what the students learn in the History text book for Form 4 and 5. I think the government has put great effort in order to reserve the sensitivity among races towards some vents that have happened in our country.

5) I respect his views on the political situation when he transforms his views to the piece of writings like in “The Swordfish then the Concubine”. I am trying hard to learn to be a more sensitive person in order to come with good and critical ideas to become a writer.

Frankly speaking this meeting has given me some insights and points to consider especially in becoming a better person in this high-tech and full-of-influences world.

*really hopes to meet productive female writers like Dina Zaman, Adibah Amin and others…

Teacher is….

To describe teacher metaphorically is not an easy task to do. It is because I think that we have to find something which is very significant towards the profession of a teacher, the responsibility and to describe the passion of them in teaching and educating. Like in Malay, there is a metaphor that currently has been debated about its accuracy and appropriateness as to portray teachers. The metaphor is “candle” in which it is like it burns itself for the lights of others; meaning that the sacrifice the teacher has done for the success of the students. Why it is debatable because it is nowadays not anymore relevant to teachers because many people say that teachers receive high payment for their jobs. The word “sacrifice” is no longer applicable in this situation.

This time we are assigned to give a metaphor to teachers. I can come out with a metaphor but I think this is more like my expectation of myself as a teacher and describing me in the future.

I choose “berry bush” to describe myself as a teacher. First and foremost berry bush has many twigs and branches that I imagine as the knowledge I have for my students, and the knowledge are something they should know either it is within the syllabus or something in the outside world to be applicable to their lives. In this era, we do not only have to provide students with something that can ensure them to pass examination but we also must offer them with knowledge that will be very useful and relevance to their lives.

Next is the fruits or the berries. The fruits resemble the responsibilities of me as a teacher to my students in which I have to be productive in order to enhance the quality of teaching that in turns results in the excellence of students in learning. The “fruits” must be fresh and quality for the achievement of greater result for people that “eat” them.

The next point is berry bush, although it is small in size can still be a place for hiding. This time, the responsibility of the bush to hide kids from any danger is like myself giving protection to my students. As we know, in this high-tech era students tend to be very vulnerable to the outer influences and threats from any sources. Therefore I have to ensure that although they are given much freedom and rights for themselves but there must be a limit to all that.

In a nutshell, the profession of teacher cannot be seen with only one-eye-opens. We must not take the role of a teacher as very limited to the teaching of students and not more than that. Besides that we have to respect teachers as the responsibilities are somehow much more difficult and challenging than doctors, lawyers and others.

Movies Critics (cont’d)

Freedom Writers

This is another motivating movie for teacher trainees like us. Stars Hillary Swank and Patrick Dempsey, this movie is based on the true story of a teacher, Erin Gruwell who manages to work it out for students who come from different cultural backgrounds, principles and beliefs in which they become rebellious and dangerous to others in the school. The racial segregation in the school has led to the students become wild and unmanageable by teachers. Therefore Erin Gruwell puts a great effort to overcome the problem by encouraging her students to step-by-step changing their attitudes and their principles of ethnocentrisms by having them speak up via writing journals.

Overall we can conclude that the students are lacking of attention and affection they deserve from their families besides having experienced tragedies that killed their family members or someone close to them.

The teacher, Ms.Gruwell has been discouraged by the principal herself because the school’s administrators do not see any effective ways to change the students into better persons. However she manages to conquer the problem although she ends up being at stake when she and her husband are on the verge of divorce.

This story provides us with something which is very enlightening especially for someone like me who is going to be a teacher in the future. The character tells us how to tackle such problem, how to keep faith to ourselves, how to remain passion towards the profession as a teacher despite all the challenges and many others.

Nevertheless in my opinion, although what has been done by Erin Gruwell is something sanity but not all teachers can actually follow her steps as different teachers have different approaches in overcoming the problems regarding students. Sometimes in the middle of the story, it crosses my mind that this story is like too-good-to-be-true. It does happen in the real world (of course it does---this is based on true story) but it could be something which is one-in-a-million. Overall this story does motivate us a lot in terms of the main character’s passion of teaching and the benefits of writing journals as a medium to speak your mind.

*there are some parts in the story bring laughter to us…I do not know why…

MOVIES CRITICS

The Road Home

It is a nice story which sets during the old years of China; telling us about the life of a young teacher who is sent to a village in a very rural area. The lack of enlightenment on how important education is to the people makes the young teacher highly respected by all the villagers and they altogether built the first school in the village. The role of the teacher is very important that all villagers will prepare meals for him everyday as a token of appreciation of his duty and responsibility towards increasing and enhancing the education level among the kids in the village.

What is interesting is the flashback of the story; the time when we are told about how the young teacher falls in love with his wife (a young passionate, loyal lover) is done in colours but the current days of the story; after the death of the teacher is done in monochromic scenes. It is like telling us how beautiful the world is when the teacher teaches the kids and about the love of the young girl (Zhang Zi Yi really made it…) towards the teacher. And the monotonous colour during the current days is perhaps to show us about the solemnity and the lonesomeness that are felt by the villagers after the death of the teacher.

I think the main focus of us watching this movie is to look at the role of teacher in a rural area; how significant the role is to the villagers and perhaps to the world. How respectable a teacher is for the development of education among the kids and younger generations at that point of time compared to our present situations in which students are no longer pay respects to teachers. However, throughout the story, it seems like the crucial point that has been highlighted is the love of the young teacher and his wife ever since the first time they met. It is basically a good, motivating movie for a teacher trainee like me but somehow it is rather disappointing when the center of the movie is the love story. On the other hand the story could be a good motivation for us.

*this story has something that can be a point to ponder

A New Revelation

It is such a great opportunity to visit a prolific artist although I never heard of his name beforehand. Perhaps an artist is not as famous as a singer, actor or any political figure that a person like me who does not have knowledge within this field would never know any Malaysian artists like him. Visiting Mr.Tham Siew Inn’s gallery is the main purpose for us to conduct a trip to Malacca. Thanks to one of my friends (the one who receives big applause from us) for his initiative to put a great effort in order to make our plan to have a journey to Malacca, a reality. Despite the meticulousness of bureaucracy in conducting this trip, we finally made it.

My description on Mr.Tham’s art gallery:

1) When it is judged by the entrance, I thought that the place is small in size and I imagine how cramp it is for him to store all his paintings and at the same time to have some spaces for him to work.
2) But behind the door, stated a comfortable, air-conditioned place for all the greatest works of him. There are sites for postcards, books, pamphlets, his previous paintings from the earlier years of him as a painter and a square-shaped object made of one cent coins attached to each others by a magnetic source (which I thought some kind of a brand, new style of a sculpture).
3) There is a room that acts as his office or the space for him to work, and in front of the room is a way to the back site of the gallery that keeps some of his exclusive paintings on canvas and drawing block, a collection of opals, some sculptures stored in a glass cupboard (boys look interested on this one---there is one sculpture that seems attract them most) and at the back of the gallery is the kitchen and what interest us a lot is the garden with a small fish pond made of a bath tub.
4) The upper floor is the place that keeps his original paintings and some of the old pictures of him from the earlier years of him as a painter.

I always dream of having a beautiful, serene art gallery with various, exclusive paintings of mine. I love to draw and I do have a collection of my own drawings from my schooling age till now; not mentioning the quality of them. Therefore, a trip to an art gallery to meet an artist is a new, tremendous lesson for me as a basic “painter”--- if I can be addressed as such. Being in Tham Siew Inn’s gallery for almost two hours is an eye-opener for me because that is the first time we are taught the right way of looking at a painting; we have to stand quite a distance away that the image or the message will appear.

To be a painter, according to him, we have to get involved and mingle with all people regardless of the social class and status. A painter is a person who has the sensitivity upon looking at any things, human, animals and others. The sensitivity is what a painter brings into a canvas as a painting; with underlying messages and perspectives of him. A great painting is not only the one which is being favored a lot with a higher price but it is a way of the painter expressing his thought or idea. As what Mr.Tham says, “a painter is not a good speaker”, thus the touch of his brush will be the only way of him to articulate what is in his mind. On the whole, this is really a great experience of all.

*the square-shaped that at first I thought of as a sculpture made of one cent coins is actually for the purpose of marking any postcards you would like to buy by putting the coin on top of them. I learn this too...

...knock it off...

The position paper has to be presented in front of the class. As usual, there is already who-goes-first routine when it comes to the task of presentation. Some of my classmates are eager to be the first person to articulate their points about the literary texts they have chosen--- just to mention that they want it to be last soon. We are told by Mr.Omid to prepare a Power point presentation as the tool to present the position paper. Honestly, there are some of interesting literary texts that I never read before like “Naukar” and others (some of the titles are accidentally forgotten..hmm...) and also lots of enlightening and critical ideas and viewpoints like in “My Papa’s Waltz”, “A Good Man is Hard to Find” and others (just name several).

As for my presentation of “Once Upon a Time” by a South African writer Nadine Gordimer, I use a picture of a Disney princess character, “Snow White” as sort of a set induction for the introduction to the literary text. The reason why I choose to start with the picture is because this short story is an invert of a typical fairy tale in which we always have the same expectations of there must be a hero, a troupe of villains and the “…happily ever after…” Nadine Gordimer however falls away from those expectations in which the story is a paradox to the title itself. There are some opinions by my friends telling me to choose a text which is slightly more critical because they think that the text I have chosen sound a bit childish without knowing about the story itself. However when I brief them about the story, they agree that this is a good piece of political-based work and it is very informative.

All in all, I feel satisfied with my position paper and also the presentation. Mr.Omid tells me that I have a good voice projection and good confidence; the way I point my ideas out in front of the class. Whatever it is, after I have done with the position paper I know when I turn my light off that night, I did my best.