Teachers Day Celebration- my choir group

Early March 2015, I was called by my superior department, requesting me to form a new group of choir, this time restricted to only teacher-members, to specially perform during the state-level Teachers Day celebration. Having the experience of training students, and conducting them, for the same occasion, for two consecutive years, I sensed then that the people up there were expecting a miracle; as pooling 30 talented teachers, as needed in a good singing team, is a mountain climbing task. Not to mention discipline and commitment.

Seeing the list of names in one of the handouts distributed during the meeting, all music teachers, some already established names, I braved myself to decline the list, citing the reason that I would not be able to handle them. Instead, I suggested non-music teachers but talented, mostly young and energetic and would be able to serve for at least 10 years. The strategy was to get all in the meeting, mostly people who have been involved in the business for some years, to determine talented teachers whom they know would commit themselves.

Everything was then agreed, including the training schedule that only involves school hours, and that the training venue should be my school, cause I hate travelling. So the 10 to 1.00 o'clock training started, every Monday and Wednesday. Each session saw only 70 -80% of attendance, forcing me to slash some names off the list to be replaced  by new names suggested  by the committed members which were only confirmed in the third week. 5 songs being practised, starting with the usual National Anthem and the Guru Malaysia, followed by Akal Budi of the JPN Terengganu, Transformasi  Pendidikan of the Ministry of Education and the new state government corporate song Transformasi Terengganu Baharu.

The vocal training, the voice arrangements and step practice went smoothly for 8 weeks, with minus one accompaniment. So far this team is the best I have ever trained, each group of voice  mastering its very own part, except of course the memorising of the lyrics that seemed difficult for some of the guys. Officials of the education department came visiting the sessions, with compliments for the commitment and great progress made after listening to the vocal performance.

One week before the actual performance, for the first time the group joined the woodwind orchestra of SM Sains Sultan Mahmud. Suddenly all the harmony and singing skills went chaotic. The orchestra had arrangements that are totally different from the minus one arrangements that we used during the practice. Some members came to me, insisting that we go back to the minus one accompaniment. Everything changed, however, on the second day when everyone started getting the hang of the orchestra. They sang even better during the rehearsal, and superb on the actual event, with the help of the expensive audio system of course. The day ended with everyone feeling contented, compliments coming through the Whatsapp application for the next few days.

Opps… forgot to mention the beautiful batik baju kurung by the women, and the black and white suit of the men, with red neckties. I salute them for their willingness to fork out their own fund for the costume, which, in most of the compliments texts received, seemed to be highlighted more, compared to the singing performance.

At the meantime, before they dispersed, I reminded them the single practice session and the dates of rehearsal and Teachers Day celebration for the Kuala Terengganu District level exactly a week after. The practice was very informal, as there was less tense. Time was spent more on discussion over the costume. While the men decided to stick to the same black white and red, the women followed suit. Deciding on black blazer and skirt, with white blouse and red scarves, once again I saw them spending some money for costume. Women are women I guess, willing to spend whatever amount just to look beautiful! And they achieved in doing just that. And above all, the performance, this time was just as superb, only this time without the woodwind orchestra.
The day was especially meaningful to me as the group leader, as I received a special PPD award, which was given the loudest applause among all the recipients. Yes, the choir group clapped and the audience followed suit!

The occasion ended and everyone went home thinking that was our last activity. Days went by, that saw everyone still in contact through the Whatsapp. I guess they really got acquainted through the 2-month activity. Surprisingly, one week later, I received a call by an official of the JPNT, requesting the group to perform once again, this time only the national anthem and TTB, to start the APC- the Excellent Service Award Ceremony of the state education department. It wasn’t a surprise when everybody was excited to come for the rehearsal on the 15^th of June, and the actual event the next day, a day before the fasting Ramadan month, as I have started to know them as close dear friends. This time there will be no practice, let us just see what happens during the rehearsal. And this time around, I think they are deciding on purple, after the red in the event last week.

After that it will be the fasting month and the Hari Raya Festival. Would there be any more request for the choir? Let’s just wait.

Young graduates are jobless because they are being choosy. Discuss.

When asked to discuss the issue, most of my students prefer to agree, meaning they rationalise the idea that graduates being choosy is the reason for them being jobless. In training them to think out of the box, I have come up here in this article with arguments that do not agree with them. Some do not sound strong enough, but it’s a good practice anyway for the brain.

Despite the undeniable fact that young graduates are being rather choosy in applying for jobs, it is however inappropriate to cite this as the reason for them being jobless. The present economic uncertainty, the intense competition, and the inability to fulfil what employers expect from employees are among the few factors that I see contribute towards this much worrying social issue.

First and foremost, it is their right to be choosy in deciding for their careers. After years of mugging in the pursue for the degrees of their chosen fields, you just cannot expect them to simply pick any jobs available in the street, unless, perhaps, for a temporary basis, while waiting for the right job to come. The locality of the working place, the salary, the colleagues, the prospect that they foresee in the organisation, the need to be near families and loved ones, are just to name a few more factors to justify this issue.

The uncertainty in the country’s economy has contributed to companies unable to provide jobs for new graduates. Even established organisations are resorting to retrenching workforces due to bad business, as can be seen in the latest move by Media Premia Berhad, the mother company of the prominent TV3, the first non-government TV station in the country. Exxon Mobile, an international corporation dealing with petroleum is reducing its scope of operation in the country, leaving professional personnels jobless. With this becoming the trend for other organisations lately, there is just no place for new graduates. Hence being choosy is definitely not the reason for them being jobless.

With the much improved education system, with private tertiary education centres making their impact besides the public universities, we see more graduates in the various field produced by the years. More and more professionals are rushing for the few jobs available. This results in intense competition, with insufficient place for everybody. Once again it is not about being choosy.

The high expectation of quality in  future employees by employers is another reason young graduates are unable to secure jobs. Most job-seekers fail to realise that with the intense competition as mentioned earlier, employers are expecting extra qualities from them. Besides the degrees, soft skills in the form of inter-personal, public speaking, decision making, and IT, just to name a few, would outstand them from other candidates during job interviews.  They are just not qualified enough, going by the employer’s standard, leaving them without jobs.

To conclude, it is not being choosy that young graduates are jobless, but the situation they are caught in, as well as the failure to show the extra qualities expected by employers. Perhaps if things do not turn out as expected, then they should start not being choosy, and start doing any jobs, to make ends meet.

The main cause of stress among youngsters is relationship problems. Do you agree? Explain with suitable examples.

Assalamualaikum. Hi there. Analysis of the previous batch of the students’ performance in MUET clearly shows that writing, especially Extended Writing, is where they fumble the most. While not  forgetting the other components of the test, I have decided to focus  on this part. The students have to simply admit that their biggest problem is generating and developing the ideas. After the recent topics about parental negligence and being materialistic, here is another one to help you in the thinking process. Do not forget, of course, to also study the writing style, tone, structure, and the language.

The main cause of stress among youngsters is relationship problems. Do you agree? Explain with suitable examples.

While relationship problems among youngsters is common, as it is one of the learning process of their young life, I however disagree when it is said to be the main cause of stress. A normal youngster faces a lot of other problems in life that cause stress, in the likes of examinations, parents expectation on their academic performance, and even the yearn to look beautiful and presentable, just to mention a few.

From the time when they are being reminded again and again by teachers and parents to prepare for examinations, the mugging sessions, the examination days itself, until the moment of truth when result is out, it is all about stress. It is only the way youngsters handle the stress, which is decided by their own level of mental strength, plus the guide and understanding from teachers and parents, that make them survive.  Some manage the stress well, while some are badly affected. This stress that examination brings, if not well managed, is a lot more difficult to cope compared to a relationship problem.

Another stress factor that comes along with examinations is parents’ expectation on their academic performance. The reminder, as early as Kindergarten days, on getting all A’s, works on some children, but proved otherwise on others. A child who is not capable of producing the A’s, especially one who has siblings with straight A’s records, will definitely be downed by the stress. This has been proven to be one of the reasons why some children rebel and protest, and later become  indiscipline. While stress caused by relationship problems can be cured by simply the proper attention by loved ones, like the family, stress caused by parents’ ridiculous expectation seems more complicated.

It is only natural for a normal growing teenager to have the yearn to look beautiful, or good and presentable, to attract the opposite gender. Anything that would affect her or his look would be very stressful. A single red pimple that pops up early on the cheek in the morning would make a girl scream in panic, and perhaps be the reason not to attend school for days. The crave for beautiful updated dresses and hairstyle would be just stressful if objected by parents, be it for financial reason or simply conflict of opinions, on fashion that is. Parents would have to either simply forget their opinion, and fork out the money, or watch their adorable children lock themselves in their rooms, skipping meals and missing school. A relationship problem would not be as  difficult as this, as after a few days the youngster would forget everything as soon as he or she meets another youngster for a new relationship.

These few problems that youngsters face, and perhaps many others, have proven to causes of stress. A relationship problem, if not handled properly, would causes stress too, but it is definitely not the main cause.

481 words.

People are becoming more materialistic. They are concerned with making money and what money can buy. What is your opinion on being materialistic?

People are becoming more materialistic. They are concerned with making money and what money can buy. What is your opinion on being materialistic?

With the rise in the cost of living, it is not surprising that people are more concerned with making more money, not only to make life comfortable, but to be able to provide the basic needs for their families. Besides food, clothing and shelter, money is needed for education, health maintenance, transport, communication and even entertainment. In other words, every little thing in life requires money. However, working hard in making a living, and being materialistic, are two different things. I do not see why one need to be materialistic to survive as it will bring more harm than benefit.

When life is too focused in making money people neglect other responsibilities like love, family relationship. When both parents are obsessed in earning as much money as possible,  children are left to grow on their own. Pampered with luxurious life without the proper parental touch, they would resort to alternatives to their parents attention, in the form of unlimited access to media and negative peer influence. This leads to social problems that we see happening today, from smoking, drug taking, illegal racing to illegitimate sexual relationships and dumping of babies. It is a fact that all these are related to people being materialistic.

Being materialistic makes people greedy that they will do whatever possible to become rich, putting moral values aside.  As a result, crime rises to its maximum lately, from highly classified activities like trading of army weapons for terrorists,  and the white collar crime that involves money in billions,  to robbery, thefts and other petty crimes that result in  people getting killed and live in fright. Nations  become politically and economically and socially unstable. Poverty seems to exist even in rich and developed countries. If only people can be contented on their living style to a certain extent, and work on to be rich at the same time abiding the law and rules of their religions, these would not happen.

Being materialistic also leads to people living the life more than they could afford. The desire to live lavishly, despite their mediocre income has forced them to live in debts. With the monthly payment that they need to make for the hire-purchase of cars and houses, and the never ending interest of credit cards, people sometimes find themselves short of money to get by way before their pay-day. Some would opt for part-time jobs, while the more desperate ones would turn to crime, resulting to all sorts of social problems.

There is definitely nothing wrong in working hard to make ends meet, and going on to become rich. However, it is best done the proper way, by taking into consideration other elements of life, thus leads to a happy and peaceful life. Being materialistic has proven otherwise.

MUET requirement in Budget Proposal.

I just can't link these two. But it was clearly mentioned by the Prime Minister during his 2015 Budget Proposal in the parliament not long ago. The MUET qualification for entrance into local public universities will upgraded, come 2015. This means courses that require Band 1 in MUET will ask for at least Band 2 this time. And of course the Band 4 for TESL and Law  would ask for Band 5. 

What does MUET result have to do with the budget proposal by the way? Unless the government is planning to give extra  funds for the upgrading of the teaching for this test, I just don't see how MUET and Budget are related. And clearly there was no mention of any funding for this purpose.

Nevertheless, despite the worry that keeps disturbing my nights, I take it as a challenge to make it a challenge for the students. With 80 percent of them scoring lower than C in their SPM, 20 percent total Failures, it looks impossible to make everyone of them score no less than Band 2. So reminding them that a band 1 will be the only obstacle for them to achieve their objective of taking up STPM will be a routine after this. And of course the usual reminder that a Band 1 can be obtained by just signing their attendance for the test and sending blank papers to the invigilators, which usually makes them burst into laughter, like it is a great joke. 

 I can already visualize the faces of triumph on the day when the STPM result is out, with CGPAs all above 3.5, change into tears on the day the result for UPU application comes out, only because they just don't meet the MUET requirement. Quite a handful of the last batch candidates managed to get themselves into universities, despite the Band 1 in MUET. Nevermind the Universities and courses not at all in their wishlists. At least they get the opportunities to work for the pieces of degree. If the previous Band 2 and 3 candidates were already having difficulties in getting courses of their interest, well I can just imagine what these juniors would be facing next year.

A friend suggested going back to basic, real basic, which is no no to me as these batch of students would be mugging their heads out for all the four papers' written exam, plus the 'kerja kursus" (asignments) that each subject is pressuring them, leaving very little focus on MUET. So it would be drills on all the four components of the test in the lessons.. Speaking the language, besides daily practice in Listening and Reading, and making them write in English that is beyond comprehension of the examiners. In fact, I am thinking of the old method, the 20-cents fine for every Malay word in my lessons. 

Looking forward to the first day of school come 5th January 2015. Btw, its my 27th year of my teaching profession. 

Parental negligence

Just can't believe that it's been two years since my last post. No excuse, just being lazy. Come on Azlan wake up.To my new batch of students, there will be more coming after this. I promise.  To begin with here is another sample of question and answer that I've worked out with  the last batch. Happy reading, and then writing.

Question : Parental negligence is the main cause of social problems among youngsters nowadays. Do you agree? Give your opinion.

Parental negligence occurs when  parents fail to fulfil their responsibilities for their children. These include, besides the basic needs, providing education, and most importantly love. It is undeniable that this could contribute to social problems like crime, drug abuse and illegal racing among youngsters, but I totally disagree if it is considered as the main cause of immoral activities as there are many other reasons related to social problems, like unlimited access to media, peer influence and stress.

Children nowadays have unlimited access to media. Through the internet they click to websites like Youtube, Twitters and Facebook, to name a few, where they link themselves to everything under the sky. This includes negative activities from pornography to details on the  processing of drugs. Not denying that the media contributes towards mankind, it is proven  that it also plays a role to immoral activities. This is something that is beyond the control of parents.

Peer influence has been noticed as one cause of social problems among youngsters nowadays as they  spend a lot of time with friends; morning at school, games in the afternoon, tuition classes at nights, not to mention weekend activities. Even when they are not together, they would still be in touch through the various social websites, chatting through the nights. To be accepted by the gang, these teenagers would normally do what their friends do, or more likely what their friends want them to do. Some of these peer influences are no doubt positive, like studying and healthy physical activities, but it is also undeniable that most  are negative, as they are normally related to entertainment; about having fun. Thus, peer influence is so strong that these youngsters neglect their parents’ advice.

Stress is another reason why youngsters opted for immoral activities. The burden of schoolwork and assignments, the tasking experience of preparing for examinations and parents’ high expectation on their academic performance have somehow pressured them to the maximum, leading in the search for escapes like smoking, getting high with all kinds of drugs that are available, and risking life with illegal motor cycle racing. Thus, no matter how parents care for their children, they just cannot help it when these negative elements seem to be too attractive to avoid.

There is no doubt that parental negligence can lead to social problems among youngsters nowadays. However it is unfair to say that it is the main cause, as there are other factors that are equally influential.

Muet 2012 Trial Exam

My dear upper six students,

Your performance in the recent trial exam has been quite disappointing for me, especially your paper 4. While a few of you have shown good attempt in respond to Question 2, most of you did not make the cut for Question 1. It is as if you have not been trained to do the writing at all, with quite a number of you not giving the title, and most importantly the Overall View. Analysis of the features are difficult to understand as the language is chaotic, leaving the basic rules of the structure – Subject-verb-object   out.

As in Question 2, the biggest problem is still the organisation of ideas, which you do well in practices, probably through the discussions that we had before every session of writing. And of course some of you have structures that is almost incomprehensible, mostly due to direct word by word translation. As expected, those who very seldom send in their practice compositions, some did not send at all, performed very badly.. The PMR candidates from Form 3 D write better than you.

Please go through the sample essay that I have prepared for you as a guide for your next practice.

Remember that you will have a hard time getting your choice of university courses with a band 1 in MUET, no matter how high your CGPA is in the STPM.

MUET Trial exam 2012

Sample answer for Paper 4 (Writing)

Question 1.

Priorities in Life for Young Men and Women.

The table shows the priorities in life of young men and young women. Generally, the men’s ranking of priorities is different from the women.

The men rank having a highly paid career the highest but women rank it second. Instead, the women put getting married on top, which the men  rank at only fourth. There is also not much difference in both genders’ priority on being healthy, 6th by the women and 7th by the men.

Two priorities are however ranked the same by both men and women – saving money for old age and travelling the world, 8th and 9th respectively. 

At 2nd place, men put learning new skills which is only 2 steps higher than  the womens’ rank of 4.  Another difference of two steps is spending  time with friends which the men rank 3rd while the women,  5th.

The lowest ranking by the women is buying a house, at 10. However the men rate it as priority  5th. While having children is the 3rd priority for women, men only put it at 6th. The priority at the lowest ranking of 10 by the men is charity work, which the women rank at 7th.

 In conclusion, there is an obvious mismatch between the priorities in life between  young men and women.

Question 2.

Poor academic performance among students is caused by their obsession with social networks like Facebook. Do you agree with the statement? Justify your viewpoints with suitable examples.

Judging on the great number of hours  that students spend browsing the various social networks, it is difficult for me not to agree with the statement. However, on second thought, it would also be unfair to blame only this obsession for the poor academic peformance, as there are many others factors involved. Besides there is also no denying that these social networks do bring some benefits for the students, directly or not.

Yes, spending a great number of hour on the facebook is a threat to students’ academic performance.  Imagine the time that they are supposed to spend revising and doing homeworks are wasted in the excitement of socialising in the digital world, with friends in the same community and those far away. As revision and homeworks are among the keys toward succesful academic achievements, there is no doubt that these students might  fail their examinations. Things would be worse if the this ‘social activitiy” goes on until the wee hours of the morning, where students would be coming to school yawning away and there would be no focus in lessons.  The worst that could happen is they would fall asleep even before going to school.

Having mentioned  the negative effects of social networks on student’s academic performance, I can’t help but to think of other reasons that could do the same thing. Peer influences that lead students into negative activities like  playing truant, loafing, and smoking have been long known as the reasons for students failing examinations, as they tend to lose focus on school. Missing a large number of lessons due to these activities will cause them blank during examinations. These cases of low academic performance has nothing to do wth obsession with social networks.

What about cases of students who are born with low IQ? These unlucky students have learning disabilities that no matter how you drill them in academic, they will not perform. The low functioning would not be able even to master the basic reading skill while the luckier would benefit enough if the could just read and count at the basic level. Some would be lucky to have talents in other than academic, such as in vocational traning. Special attention have to be given to these students, which, at the end of the day, would still show no good result in academic.  And most of these students are not intelligent enough to have accounts of the social networks.

There are also cases of bright students who end up not doing well in public examinations due to laziness,  having no purpose in life, indiscipline, and neglect by parents. On the other hand, other bright students who are obsessed with these social networks go on doing well in life as they are more disciplined, smart enough to control themselves not to let their socialising activities jeorpadise their academic performance by strictly obeying their study schedules. Of course parents also play their role, monitoring the children’s activiities and their academic progress. All these are just proofs that obsession with social networks can be controlled, and not let it affect academic performance.

In conclusion, it is alright to socialise via the digital world, getting to know people from all over the world and having fun at the same time, so long as academic performance is put into priority. The moment a student realises that studying is affected, he should buckle up and make things right.

MONEY EQUALS TO SUCCESS. WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Money is the medium of exchange that man had created centuries ago, to enable them to acquire their needs and necessities. Success means an achievement or accomplishment of a person having been working for it. The phrase Money Equals to Success is implying that these two elements are related; that success can only be attained with money; or that having a lot of money is a proof of success in life. I do not agree with this, as success is   subjective, and it does not necessarily need money to be achieved. Furthermore, there are many other things besides money in life that satisfy a person, to prove that he is successful.

Having all the money that a person needs does not prove that he is successful in life. Paris Hilton’s money that she gets from her multibillionaire hotelier father, for example, is not related to success. She may get a hold of everything that she desires, clubbing every night with celebrity friends, driving luxurious sport car, showing off  expensive clothes, but there is not a single thing in her life that can be said as success as she had never worked for it. In fact, by the way she is running her life, especially with the excessive drinking and smoking, money is actually ruining her life; more to Money Equals to Failure!

The true meaning of success is having the satisfaction of an accomplishment after working hard for it, especially with the grueling experience that comes along with it. A daughter of a poor fisherman in Kota Bharu Kelantan, scored full 4.00 GPA in her STPM back in 2008, a proof that money has nothing to do with success. Living in a small wooden hut that seemed to be going down anytime, with 5 other siblings, eating decent meals earned by the father just enough to survive, forget about tuition classes and expensive reference books, what this lass needed was the mere spirit to improve her family’s life, and went on to mug on her notes day and night, forgetting all the funs that any other youth like her would yearn for. All these are well paid for as after the successful STPM, she easily obtained the sponsor to further her study abroad. I believe there are other cases similar to this, where money is not the major role in achieving success.

For a person who believes in a simple but happy life, success means being able to earn enough for the family and to enjoy life as it is. There is nothing more satisfying than to be able to watch the children grow up to being useful adults who, at the end of the day, take their turn to take care of their parents. This particular person would die happy and contented unlike a person who breeds his children with money, who, in the end, would only be concerned for his money. A report in a local newspaper recently saw three siblings who had left their mother in an old folks’ home for years, only to come back on her funeral to ask for her valuable assets and money. The home operator, having promised the late mother to donate everything to an orphanage, had to reluctantly give them everything to avoid problems. This mother would definitely not regard her life as successful despite all the money that she had.

In conclusion, money does not equal to success. It might be handy in the process for success, but there are things like hard work, skills, patience and diligence that are more dominant. The satisfaction over the effort brings the true feel of success.

Welcome 2012... although its a bit too late.

Assalamualaikum. Wow... it's been exactly four months since my last update. The truth is, it took me almost 15 minutes to get into my own blog due to wrong typing of password. Yes, not only I have not updated, but I've not opened the blog in these four months.
2012 started off as a busy year for me. for the first time after four years, I'm given one form 4 (the best class) and one form 5 (the almost weakest class), besides the usual 2 Upper Six. Not to mention the Lower six that will come in May. So it has been a hectic 2 months, where teaching is concerned.
The biggest problem is the form 5; a mixture of super notorious boys, who frequent the disciplinary room for cases like playing truants and smoking, who need to be reminded all the time to pay attention during lessons, and a bunch of non-stop-talking girls, whose names are also in the top of the discipline master. Then there are five students with sight problems, 3 of them total blind, using the braille machine, the other two using magnifying glasses to read already enlarged text. Not that I'm complaining, but there is really problem in focusing, even with my 25 years of teaching.  Then there's the guiding teacher for the blind students, who has to attend all the lessons; a very awkward situation for me as there's always a feeling of being tested on my teaching method. Looking at the positive side, however, this perhaps adds to my teaching experience, and further strengthened my teaching skill.
In co-curricular activities, besides the usual choir, this year I will have to handle the nasyid, and kompang; and after 2 months I've not been able to see the students for practice. Serves me right, for going all out on the choir last year, that resulted in winning the state level competition that came with RM5000 prize money plus the earlier RM3000 for the district level.  Well it was a case of self-satisfaction, despite the fact that I was the oldest among the choir teachers in the competition, and the only DG 48! Well, this year the school is not allowed to take part in choir, to give chance to other schools. Nasyid is however around the corner.
Another new thing this year is that I am being 'lucky' to be chosen by the education department to be a member of a Survey Research team on the need to abolish class streaming based of academic performance in schools. After a three-day-stint in Kuantan early February, I will be travelling to Kota Bharu end of March, besides the frequent meetings in JPNT. It is keeping me busy, but yet another new thing in my teachig profession.
Well that's about it I guess, hoping to have time to write new posts after this.

SEJARAH BERULANG...

  

Alhamdulillah. The glory of 2008 is back, at this very same stage. The then talented bunch of confident Upper Sixth Formers combined with the fifth formers, which somehow became a controversial issue, surprised themselves and everybody else in the school by rendering the school anthem and the then state theme song Impianku beautifully in full harmony and became the top in the state. This time, a different group of mostly Form four and five boys and girls, 1/3 of them could not even reach the fourth note of the C octave range, but with sheer determination and hard work, presented strong and beautiful combination of the sopranos, altos, tenor, and bass, and eventually announced the champion of Terengganu state level choir competition for cleanliness.  

Compared to the 2008 when I was a lone ranger from A to Z, this time around I have Cikgu Man, who just moved into the school a few months ago, to contribute two new songs. Listening to the songs for the first time, after requesting for them a few days earlier, I just had the feeling that we're going to create another history. Five-days-a-week of practice for two weeks seemed to be quite a pressure for everybody. Me, over the fact that I will not be around on the competition day as there is a very important meeting in Kajang, and that the altos were being so inconsistent, the sopranos once in a while off key, Cikgu Man for being left alone as he has this 'class control' problem over the group, and especially for the boys and girls who had to cope with examinations as well. Anyway the kids rose to the occasion, giving their best at the state final, perhaps motivated by the presence of the principal. Despite the absence of their "Sir Lan", they proved that hard work and discipline come together with talent and guide from teachers to be the best. The confidence shown should be reflected in their performance in life, to motivate them to be also the best in exams, as proven by their seniors back in 2008, 90% of them now in universities.

Personally, being the one responsible to start this activity in the school, I feel that our children should be allowed to develop their talent, be it in arts, music, or even sports, as this is relevant to our "Falsafah Pendidikan" objective in creating balanced all-rounders, emotionally, physically,intellectually, and spiritually. They may or not excel in examinations, but having experienced these activities, they would have the self-confidence that would be a help in their survival.

To the organisers, I wish that they consider issuing the prize cheques, RM8000 altogether, as soon as possible, as there is a need for a celebration before the school ends this year. My boys and girls, I hope this would be a beautiful memory for the years to come.

Malaysian out of top 400.

One news caught my attention last week (7th of October to be exact), drafted this comment, and just remembered about it a moment ago. Times High Education (THE) magazine  revealed its ranking of top 400 universities in the world, and no Malaysian made the cut. I'm fine with our football ranking of 142, and our number one tennis player only between 1050 to 1100 in the world (forgot the exact number), but this is something different. I'm with the opinion that our University Malaya, and lately University Science Malaysia, going by numerous statements by government officials, would at least be in the list. The Thai Mahidol University, which is quite uncommon for me, is somewhere between 351 to 400.

Ironicaly, our neighbouring country, Singapore's National University is at 40, 2nd best among Asian, after University of Hong Kong. And Hong Kong and Singapore has another five and two in the list, respectively. Being involved in preparing Form Six students for university, this is rather disturbing. What with qualifying terms of entrance getting tougher by the years, having at least two in list, even in the last 50 of the 400, would be an achievement.

At  top 10, nothing is new, except for the 1st ranked United State of America's California Institute of Technology, ( not even a university by name), which leaves the more familiar compatriots Harvard and Stanford, both at number 2. Oxford of the UK is at fourth.

Being a mere secondary school teacher, I do not think I'm qualified to comment on this, but every citizen of the country has the right to wonder what has been done, or as a matter of fact, what has not been done, to put our 'Menara Gading', (once I came across a student who translate it as Tusk Tower) at such a low place. I've always been very proud of my alma mater, ITM, its achievement in my days, even without  the word 'University' then, but  not so sure now. Should check where UiTM stands in the local ranking first.

A vice-chancellor of University Malaya mentioned that Malaysian universities need to fork out RM200 million    on its Research and Development programs, to be on par with the world's top universities. If that is accepted as an excuse for not making it to the top 400, then I think they should go ahead with it. After all, RM200 million is only a tip of the iceberg in the recent budget proposal.

A White Elephant in the school?

So far it has not shown any purpose of its existence.

Familiar with the shade in the picture? It was built somewhere in the middle of this year, very near the fishpond opposite the PMR laboratory, and cost, I was told, not less than RM1000.The fund somehow  was said to be a part of donation by a political figure. But the real reason I bring this issue up is, having been there for some months, I have never seen a soul, be it a student, a teacher or any human being using it, or even passing through it. And I dare anybody from  SMK Bukit Besar who is reading this article, tell me, with proof, that people are using this shade, for any reason. The fact that money is being spent for things that do not serve any function, in this case the benefits of the students and teachers, is rather disturbing. This also goes to show that we never learn from past experience. Look at the picture below. This has been around for more than a decade, and the only purpose for its existence is to shade a few teachers' motorcycles. With parts of the roof  falling off, this is a typical example of an abandoned building. 

A shade for teachers' motorbikes.

Passing by the location when the new shade was still under construction, a few times, I remember telling colleagues that the shade will never serve any function if not built together with benches and tables. Go to any parts of the school where there are tables and chairs, like the Pondok Sahsiah and Pondok Ilmu, and  the benches at the Pendidikan Khas block, you will see students grouping, discussing, doing home work and browsing the internet over their laptops. The afternoon session students, while waiting for classes to start, would sit under the shade doing home works or reading books. Others would have meals during recess there, with proper manner, rather than squatting in the little garden beside the canteen building, which as it is known, is not big enough to cater all the students. This is just common sense,  that  I learned in the very first year as a teacher some 24 years ago, that I seriously feel other teachers learn also.

The Pendidikan Khas Block.

A friend, trying to be positive, reasoned lack of finance, assuming that the benches and tables would come later. I however differ in opinion, as, if they realise the problem, they should have put benches and tables at the older shade that is shading motorcycles now, not forgetting to replace the falling roofs.

I have the feeling that this new shade is going to rot  in some time, just like the older one. And this one will not even serve as a motor cycle shade, going by its location.

Academic excellence guarantees a successful life. Do you agree?

This topic also has been discussed with my upper six this year and they have written their version of the article. This sample answer shows beside the appropriate approach and language, how ideas should be generated and developed. The bold phrase at the beginning of each paragraph is the main idea, and after the details it is closed with a summary that relates the argument with the topic.

No. I simply do not agree that academic excellence guarantees a successful life. If academic excellence means having a degree from a university, and a successful life is where a person is able to get whatever he desires and be happy  with it, than there are other elements in life that helps in making life a success.

It is obvious that during the last decade, academic qualification does not guarantee jobs for graduates, much to the frustration of the youngsters, who, throughout their university days were hoping for guaranteed posts in government agencies or steady private firms. Thousands were seen applying for jobs that were unpopular before, taking the teaching profession for example, where only a handful were recruited. Graduates without the extra qualities like the desire to move on, motivation, and communications skills will be left out, proving that academic excellence is not the license for a successful life.

The blue-collar sector promises bright future for the non performing school students. The vast and rapid development of the various industries in the country, led by the successful automotive sector, has provided jobs for those with skills rather than academic qualification. School leavers with vocational skills, taking automotive as example, see better future compared to their counterparts on the academic line.  Thus, it is a common scene nowadays to see mechanics and technicians in the various fields doing well in life, even without academic excellence.

Some people who excel in academics do manage to land in secured jobs in the government and corporate giants, and went on to the highest and powerful position. These are the few lucky ones, as in most cases, there are other factors that help determine their success. It is not a secret that cronyism and nepotism are being practised everywhere, much to the dismay of those who depend only on academic qualification. Unless they really stand out with brilliant and extremely noticeable performance, they should be prepared to be ordinary officers up to the day of retirement. This is evidence that excellence in academic alone does not guarantee success.

There are also people without academic excellence doing well in business. Through sheer determination and the urge to succeed, plus a little bit of aid from the bank perhaps, people have proven to be successful, earning way more than the salary of chief executives in the corporate sectors. In fact, with a hand from political influences, some are able to secure projects worth millions of ringgits. Would academic excellence be able provide this?

To conclude, academic excellence does help comfort a person’s life, securing him a career to earn a living. Nonetheless, it is simply not enough to guarantee that he will be successful in life, as it takes a lot of other factors to achieve it.

E-mail from the grave.

This joke I heard from a hotel room-mate while attending a course seven years ago. Since then, I've been using it to test my new students on their listening ability. The focus ones, normally the more fluent, would laugh out instantly, some would ask around first and laugh few minutes later, some were left blank  until the end of the lesson, and became the laughing material instead.

A couple from a northern state of the country had planned a holiday in a city in a southern state.  However, on the day they were supposed to leave, a cousin from the wife’s side passed away.  Since everything had been arranged, the wife suggested that the husband leave first, and that she would take the earliest flight a day after the funeral.

Upon arrival at the hotel room, the husband couldn’t wait to send the wife an e-mail, that he forgot to switch on the air conditioner.

While typing the e-mail address, he realised that he was not sure of a few letters.  But he typed anyway, and sent the mail, thinking that it would not do any harm if the mail did not reach the wife. She was coming over anyhow.

As he had typed the wrong address, the mail reached a woman, whose husband died the day before. After reading the mail, the poor woman had a heart attack and fell dead.

A family member who found her dead was shocked when he checked the e-mail.

“It's the e-mail sir, I think that is the cause of her death,” he told the police officer during the investigation. The officer could not believe it but went to the computer and read the mail to make sure. It said:

“Darling,  just checked in.  Can’t wait for your arrival tomorrow. It’s mighty hot down here.”

The Cleanliness Campaign Choir Championship - SMKBB the champ!

Costume was on members own initiative, which made
them looked good on stage.

In 2008, out of sheer interest, considering the students' potential, after 4 years of missing from any choir competitions (was confined in a religious school as PK Hem), I took the initiative to form the first choir group of the school ever, with little expectation that we would end up champion of a state level competition. The advantage then was, as the PK Kokurikulum, I was in control of everything. Preparing the melodies for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th voices for the school song and IMPIANKU, then the state theme song, all by myself, training the Form 6 and Form 5 boys and girls was like peanuts, as they were a bunch of talented singers. As a hostel warden then, I made use one of the rooms  there as the training studio, shying away from everybody else, keeping  the group in low profile, until we won the district level competition. When we won the state championship, it was like an eye-opener for the school, that, choir, an activity under the co-academic category, would create the character of the school, besides our fame for the girls softball team.

Things did not work out as expected the following year, and the year after that, when I had to let go off the PK Kokurikulum post for the higher-grade post of Form Six Academic teacher. Having prepared a new team, disappointment took over as there was no instruction from the school  management  to take part in any competition. Instead, I took the offer from a school in the Northern KT district to train its choir team, and they emerged district champion in 2009 and 2010, in the competition in conjunction with the state cleanliness campaign. 2011 however was a surprise, because as late as August, in the fasting Ramadhan, the choir team was asked to take part in the competition. So, reluctantly I formed the team, trained them once, before deciding to proceed after Hari Raya.

A pose with the coaches before the competition.

Two weeks of training, this time with a talented buddy, Cikgu Man, who composed both songs for the competition, resulted in a, well, I would say, strong choir. This time the boys and girls are not as talented as those in 2008, in fact, I dare say that 30% are tone-deaf! Well, you want good singers, you will end up with only 15-member choir, which is inappropriate. So we drilled them,  I trained the bass and altos, talented Form 4 lass Syamin helped with the Sopranos, Cikgu Man on the tenors, conductor Mat Amirul helping here and there, together we surprised 6 other schools in the district with a harmonious choir. Much to my disappointment, or perhaps delight, as most of them were trained by full time music teachers, unlike me and Cikgu Man who only treat music as a hobby, the opponents did not stress on the harmony aspect of choir. Deep down in my heart I knew that we were going to win, as there were too much focus on dancing and style. Cikgu Man however was scared as he knows one of the judges who is a dance coach, who would put us only as runners-up for not focusing on style and dancing. But the other judges are musicians.

Well, RM3000 is already in hand, and another RM7000 will come, if we win the state championship, and that needs more training and some adjustment to the composition of the songs. But, guess what, the winning team will not be allowed to take part for the next three years! So this is about RM7000 + pride of the school, against the chance to win second place RM5000, and come back n xt year with another RM3000 from the district, and possible RM7000 from the state. That would total up to RM18000 in two years, compared to only RM10000 if we win. This is  tough to decide.

Meantime, training goes on. Only this time, Cikgu Man will be on his own, as I have to be somewhere else officially, on the 20th of October, the day of the state-level competition.The team looks a bit demotivated though, but things have to go on. The altos need to work harder, the sopranos need more confidence, and be less dependent on Syamin. To my 2011 choir team, prove yourselves as good as those in 2008, most of whom are now in universities. Shafiq, Ady, Fahmi, Siti Nabilah, Nur Nabilah, Intan, Fatimah, Arissa, Pikah, Naim, Lokman, Ghani, the list goes on, how I wish you are around to watch the tradition goes on. Personally for me, this could be my last choir, as I feel odd, being the oldest during the competition. Besides, Cikgu Man will do fine.

Happy Teachers Day.

I just cannot believe that I've been that ignorant. I just found out today, after more than 25 years of service as a teacher, that today, 5th of October, is actually the world's Teachers Day! If the minister involved, or  any officer from the ministry, state education department for that matter, have at least mentioned about it, in the last 24 years, in any related event, I'm very sure I would not have missed this information. Having been involved in the celebration on  every 16th of May all these years, be it at school, district, state, or national level, there must have been a mention over this matter, and obviously I've missed it.Thanks to Fara Fauziana of Hot fm, for bringing up the issue in today's Hot fm morning crew program..

Disturbed over the matter, I decided to test fellow teachers. And to my delight, none of the 10 teachers whom I wished Happy Teachers Day were aware! Yes, delighted I was, as I'm not the only one left behind. In class, before lesson, I brought up the matter and beautiful Rahima and and the gang were kind enough to google over the issue. Yes, launched by the UNESCO back in 1994, and among the Asian countries celebrating on the same day is the Phillipines and South Korea. Most other countries stick to their own day of celebration. Malaysia must have opted to stick to MAY 16 because October is when our schools are focus on public examinations. While PMR is in this week, SPM and STPM is just around the corner. 

Come to think of it, will one day appreciation to the teachers affect the students' performance? Just imagining celebrating the day worldwide, wouldn't it be merrier?

Anyway, Happy Teachers Day to me, and to all teachers, worldwide!!!

Do women make better teachers than men?

(To my fellow lady teachers, please don't get offended by the point of view in this article. It was a case of provoking the students to be brave enough to think different.)

Women make better teachers. Well, given the motherly nature that God had gifted them, teaching, and the myriads of clerical tasks that need them to be meticulous, they should be better teachers, but I beg to differ in opinion, as I’ve had the experience of being taught by great man-teachers. It is not the gender that decides who is better in this noble profession, but the approach, method, knowledge, and the personality of the individuals. Under certain circumstances, however, men  have proven themselves to be the better teachers.  The nature of certain aspects of the job needs the touch of the more physical and less emotion men.

In a normal peaceful situation of the teaching and learning process, the positive side of emotion helps, an advantage to the female teachers. When things become  more complicated, however, where  disciplinary problems arise, emotion is the last thing that you need. The more cool and calm men would handle the situation better, especially if the unwanted behaviours become physical and robust.  Most high-profile disciplinary cases like bullying, gangsterism, fightings, and playing truants need the credibility of man-teachers. Hence, the dominating  population of women in the profession  could be the reason of the fall in the  quality of discipline among school students of late. Would you still say that women make better teachers? 

Sports and outdoor activities are compulsory as part of the school co-curricular syllabus, that, besides training the students to be more disciplined, confident and balanced all-rounders, makes up 10% of the requirement of entry to public higher education institutions. Since it is a commonly known fact that very few woman-teachers knows about sports and indulge themselves in outdoor activities, their man-counterparts play better roles here. Except for the few female games, we need the men who know the techniques and rules of all athletic events and games to train these students, besides  becoming referees and umpires. To train and handle flying-fox, wall-climbing, and abseiling activities, obviously the men are more qualified. So I believe that men make better teachers.

The great responsibilities of women-teachers as mothers and wives is another reason why they don’t make better teachers. Having to go through 90-day maternal confinement, taking leaves in cases of the children getting sick, and attending to doctor’s appointment, these teachers would be away from the students for quite some time in a year, risking incompletion of the syllabus of subjects. Schools have to replace teachers on maternal leaves, thus involving finance, not to mention the quality of the replacement teachers. In the end, it is the students who suffer, as they might not perform well in examinations. Men would definitely be better teachers.

To conclude, despite being good teachers, circumstances hinder them from giving the best  in the profession. Men, however, has no reasons not to be the better teachers.