Wednesday, October 10, 2007

LHP 459: English for Interpretation

In my opinion, LHP 459 course is an interesting course compare to other courses. I surely will recommend this course to my friends. This is because whenever we attend the class we will not feel tension and stress. However for me, I feel a bit tension whenever need to present in front of the class. Whenever is my turn to present, I will feel nervous. Sometimes I didn’t control my feeling well and the whole class will realize my nervousness. I also don’t know why I still act like this although I already done so many presentation before. Maybe my character is timid type so will easily feel nervous.

Back to the topic, our lecturer, Dr. Jafre is a nice and knowledgeable lecturer and he conduct this course very well. He tried to so something different from the way other courses lecturer do so that we will not feel bored and pay attention in the class. We were having fun in the class. The types of activities we did in the class was to discuss about current issues, watching an interesting movie, compose song, sing song, present forum, writing blogs and presentation about a project. We can choose anything we like to present for the project and the lyrics that we need to compose.

Although all of us were busy with other courses assignments, test and projects, luckily we also manage to handle the activities in this course. This was because most of the activities were in a group work so we had to find a suitable time to discuss. For my opinion, English for interpretation is really an interesting course and we were having fun to take this course. Besides that, I can learn my things from this course too because some of the topic we discuss in class widen my knowledge. Lastly, whoever not yet taken this course make sure you apply for this course coming next two semester.

Trishaw

My group members consist of Joyce, Hanim, Noin, Heliana and me. At first, we felt so headache about the topic we want to present for our last project. After brainstorming for few hours at last we decide to do research on trishaw in Penang. When we talk about trishaw, what come across your mind? For us, we just feel want to know the reason why still so many seniors citizen work as trishaw rider. Why they so old already still want to give this kind of service to the tourists and local people. Some more, nowadays most of us at least have one vehicle at our home except the foreigners.

So on 22 of September, we went to do our research at Georgetown at 10 o’clock in the morning. We travel around to find the trishaw rider. At the end we manage to find them in Explanet, Cititel and Komtar. We interview few of the trishaw rider, they are so kind and friendly. They accept our interview when we approached to them. They give us many information such as the renter for the trishaw, type of foreigners and others thing.

From the interview, I just got to know they work in a shift. They can choose the time they want to give the service. Other than that, there few company which in charge of the riders. Different company have different route to ride. Usually the tourist guide will bring the tourists to the riders and recommend the tourists to have a ride on the trishaw. Whenever the tourist guide led the tourists to the rider, they will have some commission from the money that the rider got from the service.

For your information, most of the riders are still single and the average age for them to become rider is 18 to 75 years old. Most of them become trishaw rider because have a better income and they are not well educated so don’t have any company like to hired them. In conclusion, trishaw is also a type job that will give a better income to the people.

Monday, October 8, 2007

Forum

On Wednesday, 26 September, my group had presented our forum. The topic of our forum is Islam Hadhari. At first, our lecturer divided us into a group consist of either 4 or 5 people. Then, our lecturer gave a topic to every group. My group members are Christina, Siew Leng, Yong Pey, Yen Yeng and me. When I got to know the topic that we need to present is Islam Hadhari. The things that came through my mind were the ten principals. However the knowledge I know about Islam Hadhari was very shallow. I don’t really know well about the content of Islam Hadhari.

That day, I didn’t present the forum very well. This was because I’m busy with others assignments and at the same time the preparation that I had make was not good enough. Other than that, I am worried that the point that I need to discuss is out of topic. At that time, I am too nervous and I didn’t have an eye contact with the audience. Besides that, the comment that had given by our lecturer was we didn’t attract the attention of the audience. This was because some of the group discuss about their own forum behind the class.

I think our topic was a bit bored and maybe they didn’t have enough time to prepare their forum so they used the time to discuss about their presentation. The day before we present was Moon Cake Festival follow the Chinese lunar calendar. We need to use the time to discuss about the forum and we missed the celebration at Tasik Harapan. This was because we have to know which things is our priority. So we let go the joyous time and prepared the presentation at our room.

After all although we didn’t present the forum well, we had tried our best. I have learn more about Islam Hadhari after surf on net and reading books about Islam Hadhari information.

Sunday, September 30, 2007

Last Minute

Oh where oh where can my paper be
I’m panicking, it’s killing me
I’ve searched everywhere that I could not rest
So I think I’m gonna go really crazy…I guess

I was in my room, I was lazing around
Hunger got to me, you can hear the sound
Armed with money, I went to McD
Ordered two burgers and a value meal
I was so full, headed back to my room
Switch on my laptop and started to type
The long long lines and the boring phrase
The painful task that gives…me stress

Oh why oh why can’t I do it right?
I’ve tried my best, I cannot fight
This is what happens when you do last minute
There is no time for me to cry…it’s too late

When I woke u the rain was pouring down
My roommate’s sleeping, without a sound
My conscience struck me, oh I knew I had to work
With heavy heart and sleepy eyes
I lifted my my head, looked at the screen and screamed
Where on earth has my paper been?
I tried to search, I’m getting really pissed
The result was none, I won’t live in peace

Well now it’s gone even thought I tried to find
I lost my work, my A … that night.


My group had composed the lyrics above and we used the song names Last Kiss. We sang the song on 20 of September in front of our classmate and our Dr. had record the song that composed by every group. For my group members, we are not good in composing a song and we took few hours to compose a whole new song. This is because our previous song is not fixed with the Sexy Back song. It seems weird because our previous lyric is about our sad feeling towards our assignment and the Sexy Back song seems like a happy song! This was the comment we got from our lecturer. So we decided to change a whole thing all over again. At the end, we choose Last Kiss by Pearl Jam.

Our time was so limited and it was hard for us to find a suitable time for us to do all over again. This is because every one of us is busy with our assignments and test. However, we could make it on time and we sing it on 20 September. This song we talk about student life in university. Students like to do their work in last minute and these make them in a mess. They need to stay awake to complete the assignment. Unfortunately, they lost it in the next day include the soft and hard copies of their work. So this is the meaning we want to bring out about university life.

After all, all of my class people include our lecturer are happy and enjoy the song we had composed by each group. Although, the song we composed was not like the composer create all of us are happy and have fun together.

Malaysia 50th Independent Celebration

We just celebrate our Malaysia 50th Independent Day last month on 31 of August. The theme for this year Independent Day is “Malaysiaku Gemilang”. This historic event was celebrated in a joyous mood by Malaysian from all walks of life. Malaysians display their love for the country by proudly flying “Jalur Gemilang” Malaysia National flag all over the place. We can saw the flag hanging at the shops, housing area, and school. Besides, we also saw the flag was stick on the roof of the car. Others than that, there was poster hang around along the side of the highway.

In addition, some of us Malaysians tried to build a large Malaysia flag. They used their creativity to make it. For example, 15 MIC Youth members used 10 days to make a giant flag measuring 10.7m by 18.2m. After completing the flag, they placed it at the boulder at Bukit Hijau, Island Glades, Penang. Furthermore, we were having Malaysia International Fireworks Competition at Putrajaya, Kuala Lumpur. This event started on 18 August until 2 September 2007. This competition features various countries to create brilliant displays. Each country presented unique and spectacular fireworks formation.

We also celebrated our National Day by having “Gegar U” to shoe unity among all of th races in Malaysia. For the school level, they had colouring contests, poster and extra. We as Malaysians, are proud of our country by showing our love with different ways. It was a big celebration, we must be grateful because can live in a peaceful country which is free from disaster and famine.

Les Choristes

On 1 August, we had watched a French movie called Les Chorites mean The Chorus.
We were so surprise when our lecturer let us to see this movie. At the same time, we felt so relax because we can watch an interesting movie during our lhp 459 class. Although the movie is in French language, all of us enjoy the movie.

The movie is about a group of rebellious boys who came from different family background studies in a school called Fond de L’Etang. Some of them are orphan and some of them studies at the school because their family are poor and can not afford to let them to studies in a more standard school. The supervisors who work there couldn’t stand with the naughty boys. Somehow, a new supervisor called Clement Mathieu who have a passion to change the boys so that in future they will become a good person.

So, he tried to influence them to become a nice boy. He tried to find the reason whenever the boys did something is against the school rules. Besides that, he tried to help them to get rid of hard punishment whenever they break the rules. This is because the principle of the school is a strict man. His motto known as “Action to Reaction” and he treat the boys as in a military camp. Whenever the boys break the rules, he will punish them by imprison them in a dark room and did not gave them any food and drinks for few days.

This is one of the reasons Clement Mathieu want to protect the boys. He organized a choir group to train the talent in the boys especially the boy have an angel face called as Morhange. Morhange is very talented in the choir so in the end he became a successful man. So we also can learn that naughty children will change their character and attitude if the teachers have the passion to change the rebellious children. Other than that, there are loves issue consist in the story. There are few types of love such as teacher love toward students, mother love toward her son and love toward music.

It is a nice movie and it is suitable for everyone to watch it. We can learn many moral values in this story. I encourage people who have not yet see this movie quickly get this movie. It will benefit you a lot.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Lifestyle In Campus

What do you think about campus lifestyle? For me, when I received the letter which had stated that I got an offer to further my study in University Sciences of Malaysia, Penang I was so excited bout it. I am looking for this day to come but I also had a mix feeling because this is the first time I leave my home and family members. I am worry that I can live alone by my own in Penang or not.
I do not have any relatives staying in Penang. I need to stay with someone who is a stranger to me in the hostel and mixed around with people came from different states.

When the first day I came to USM, I felt happy and upset too because I need to stay in campus and stayed far from my family. Before I came to USM, I imagine how was the hostel will looked like, is it like usually we saw in a television program? I still remember when the first time I entered my room, I feel so unhappy about it. This was because I get offered to stay in Desasiswa Bakti Permai. The room was old and so was the furniture and at that time my uncle also came together with me. He gave the comment that the room looks good I almost fainted. Ha! Ha!. It is totally different with the room that I expected. It is also totally different with the place that I stayed for 20 years.

Furthermore, most of my course mate which stayed in other hostel felt jealous with me and a few course mate stayed in Bakiti Permai. This was because there is a Chinese food stall and is a strategic hostel which is convenient for us to go to lecture hall. However, I tried to adapt myself with the lifestyle in campus especially the hostel. The life in campus is so hectic. It is totally different with what I heard from my friends. They told me that university life is full of cheerfulness and is enjoyable. There was many assignments and presentation need to rush. Whenever we have assignment we will be so stressful because have no idea what to do. But we will try to seek advise from our seniors and of course our lecturers.

Other than that, I also make with many new friends from various states such as Kuala Lumpur, Johor, Sabah and other states and also various races too. I met with people with different characters and I tried to mix around with them. Besides that, there is a transport call bus and we used it to go for lecture that is far from our hostel such “Pusat Bahasa”.

Time past so fast, now I am second year student in BATI course. I already move out from hostel. I stay with my friends in an apartment near campus. It was different from staying in hostel. We do not have to follow so many rules and the best thing is we can cook by our own when we feel want to do so.

Monday, September 3, 2007

What is mean to be a young Malaysians?

In my opinion, young Malaysians should be well equipped with knowledge. Young Malaysians should always upgrade their knowledge by reading various types of books, magazines and newspapers. So that they will know what is going on around them. Whenever, surrounding people talk about the issue that is happening then the youngster can also have a topic to discuss. They can voice out their opinion among their friends or family members or teachers.

Besides that, I think young Malaysians should be more independent. Nowadays, youngsters are too depending on their parents. Whenever they need pocket money, they immediately ask their parents about it especially when they go for shopping. They can spend hundreds of Ringgit Malaysia to buy the stuff that they like without thinking the hard work of their beloved parents earned for them.

Moreover, they are also being pampered until they do not know how to do the chores work. They do not know how to cook by their own, wash their own clothes, shoes and extra. I think young Malaysians suppose not to be so protected by their parents. They should be more caring about the people surrounding them especially their parents. At the same time, they should also be more independent.

Other than that, young Malaysians should also be social friendly. Whenever when they want to throw the rubbish, they should throw it in the rubbish bin. Then, the environment will be clean and the foreign tourists will have good impressions towards Malaysians youngsters. Young Malaysians should also be proud of our country and proud of our national language too.

In conclusions, young Malaysians are our country future leaders, so young Malaysians should be well equipped with everything in every aspect.