1st Year BEN UniSZA 2008/2009

Assalamualaikum WBT,

How do you my dear readers?

Now, while I was driving later this afternoon, I was thinking about my first year in UniSZA. It was in 2008. 7 years ago. Time really flew. Huhuhu... I can not catch it. Ever.

But, I still remember the people who I first met during my first day. I was alone. In a land where things were so different. They were. Very different. I still remember how awkward the situation was when I was given the wrong key to the temporary room. They gave me the female dorm's key. Stupid they were indeed, but I cannot blame them for being confused with me. Hahaha... No, I was not even confusing to others, no.

Then, we were moved from the temporary rooms to the real ones. NOW, I was thinking, what it they were just trying to make us bring out baggage just to see us suffer from carrying all those bags. Hahaha... 

Then, I entered the class and in the class, we came from every sort of lives, trust me but the majority of the students were the ex-TESL students from the same faculty. Well, now you know. To be honest, the class was divided to several groups, the Ex-Tesl students, the STPM students, the 2nd intake, the 3rd intake and the pulled-in students. No bad people or terms and I will explain later.

1. Ex-TESL students

These students were the ex-TESL from the same faculty, Faculty of Languages and Communication but before UniSZA became UniSZA, it was Pusat Bahasa during KUSZA time. Diploma in TESL was offered for the students and that was where ex-TESL students came from. They were nice, yes. Some of them were good.

2. The STPM students

This was my group. Haha, I was too a STPM student who came just because I managed to get Band 2 (Upper) and my SPM was A2. Haha, my STPM result was not that good but I managed to get to university, talking about rezeki. I am grateful. Grateful indeed. We were the STPM students who happened to have potential but most of us not really know what English was. Haha, awkward. To be honest, I was not a good student before and I did not know how to speak using English language, but I learned. Now, alhamdulillah, we at least after 4 years, I am able to know some rules and grammar in English language, well, at least the simple ones. 

3.  The 2nd, 3rd and so one intakes

Even though they were 2nd or 3rd intakes, now, they ware scattered around Malaysia doing amazingly. For example, Dean, he is now a full time lecturer in UNIMAS and he has finished studying for his Master's Degree. Another is Fauzan, he is now in Terengganu and he was doing amazingly. I could not be proud with them. Amazing.

4.  The pulled-in students

As far as I am concerned, there were three pulled-ins, they were the late Shirazi, Nadhirah and also Fauzan. Why the heck, I called them the pulled-in, right? Now, the Dean at time was Madam Azizah Endut, I really heard rumours that she pulled some guns to get my friends in and to be honest, she really made a great choice because now, Nadhirah was not only the best student in the Batch, she is now a Master's Degree holder and a businesswoman. Beat that peaches. Haha, and Fauzan. I cannot be proud of him anymore. He is one of my bestfriends, he is amazingly great. Great human being, great person. Enuff said.

During my first year, I did quite okay, I managed to get 3.00 and 2.99 respectively for the two terms. At first, to be honest, my English structure was like, "What the heck" level, then I managed to get it fixed by learning more from friends and my own initiative. Love it. Haha.... 

My first was great and I managed to get along with great friends. Love it.

My innocence year.

1st year BEN UniSZA 2008/2009.

Assalamualaikum WBT

p/s: I will write on my years more later on.

Life Planning.

Assalamualaikum WBT,

Today is *still Monday and today was the day for to teach my English tuition students at GiatMARA. Today, I had 5 students attended my class. It was fun and today, I was able to make them think about their future.

I started my lesson with the previous lesson from last week which is SPM clone questions and I had the session going to one hour. It was fun and considering that they have a long way to go in UNDERSTANDING English language, well, most of them, it was a wonderful yet interesting session indeed. 

We discussed about the questions. Some of them understood the questions and some didn't. But, I do not mind, they are willing learn and that made me care enough for them. But today was a little bit late in term of motivation. They had their motivation at the middle of the session. Well, not to blame them but the haze really took the toll on everyone, including me. Hate that *the haze.

Then I conducted a one hour activity, it was leisure activity, where they got the write and we discussed about a few things. Objective? Just to let them think about their own future. Take charge of their own future. Be brave and embrace their own take on fate. 

I asked them to write about their personal information. Yes, I did that a few month ago, which, one of them called it out, but I said, its going to be a revisiting. Meaning, I really want to see the differences between, they were at the first month and now. I want to see the development, well, most of them really have quite good command in English language but not near to the standard, but its still quite okay. They had open my eyes about learning. We, in this world, have different ability. Ones might not the same with the others. Same with learning language. Some might find it difficult and some might think its an the easiest think in the world. Difference? Of course. 

Then, next week, I will focus on how to make report because next month they will be having their internship with various shop. Now, before I ended the class, I did tell them about the life. Yes, I drew a chart and I put present year and five years to come. I made them a 5 years plan. I asked them, what they want to do with their lives.

Some answered, they want to study, some said they want to work. Then, I said, "If you want to study, where it would be? then, if you want to work, what kind of work that you want to do?". I asked. It made them think more and one of them stood up, "I do not want to plan teacher, I am afraid that if my plan did not work, then I would disappoint myself and my family".

Well, I did pause for while and answered,

"You need to plan for yourself, even though you are not planning, you actually have constructed a plan in your mind. Though its not visible but still, only you know your plan. Disappoint or not, that is risk that you need to gamble in life. Life is fair for being unfair to people and reality is the harsh-est thing ever. You cannot get what you want immediately, but you can work for it. So, no harm done in planning your own life, okay? you can plan but it depends on your efforts to make your plan works!, go for it".

She nodded and she understood where I was going with the advice.

Then, I told the class that if you are not going to study, then work. Work you arse off and get money as much as you can. *I did not use the word 'arse'. Yup, I did not. Then. I advised them to gain as much experiences in the field, so, they could open their own business one day. And, all of them really interested in that, and one of them said about online business.

I said, "Online business is easy to start but its hard to maintain'. She nodded.

I told them about I have my own company and what not. One of the stood up and asked," Own company? Like, real office?".

I said, "Nope, but more like SSM certificate. Now, if you want to open your own company and start all the way with real office, do you really think about the consequences? Now, if you have you own office, yes, the image has change but can u sustain the capital? Let say, you have to have like 10k per month just to pay salary and what not and you are making cakes as for the income. How many cakes do you really think that have to be sold in order for you to get 10k? U need to think about the competition, you are a new company that just started the business and you have to compete with the others. Can you manage that?"

She nodded and seemed thinking about my explanation. I said, "No one would tell this because most of the people think that you are very young to understand this thing but it is better for me to tell you this before someone tell you about it right?". Everyone nodded.

I felt relieved.

Now, That is all for now, I will be back with a few SPM Literature Component entries later on, okay?

Assalamualaikum WBT

p/s: Luv ya/

You Survived.

Assalamualaikum WBT,

You know that motivation can come any many ways, even in the picture below.

Assalamualaikum WBT

p/s: You survived.

English Grammar Table. (Easy).

Assalamualaikum WBT,

I want to post this wonderful English Grammar Table which has helped me a lot in learning basic English grammar. Once you mastered this schedule, you will be able to identify your mistakes and will not be doing the same mistake ever again.

Now, easy for you to understand it right? Lovely,

Later on, I will be using this same table on my next entry with explanation.

Assalamualaikum WBT

p/s: lovely.

Learning English Language : Punctuation

Assalamualaikum WBT,

How do you do my absolute readers? I know, I hadn't update any entry here for these past days, I am so sorry. Too busy with life and making money, overness indeed.

What is punctuation?

Punctuation is the simple but yet the most important rule in constructing sentences. *Is that the real meaning. Well, honestly, I do not know, haha... I created that definition just now just to make sure that I understand the meaning of punctuation.

Capital letter ( Abu)
Full stop ( . )
Question mark ( ? )
Exclamation mark ( ! )
Comma ( , )
Quotation marks ('   ')
Apostrophe ('s)

To be honest, we are very much familiar with these punctuation right? We already know the punctuation. We even used it in our daily writing.

Now, I will write more on examples that you need to know, just to make it clearer for you.

1. Capital Letters

a. The first letter in a sentence.

He laughed out loud.
She is not here. Maybe she'll come later.

b. The first letter of proper nouns (e.g. names of people, countries, towns, etc.)

Ali lives in Kuala Lumpur.
Laila love to eat Black Forest cake.

c. The first letter used after quotation marks.

Amy said, 'Don't be scared'.
Siew Ling said, 'Please wait for me'.

2. Full Stops

Full stops are used :

a. At the end of a statement.

I need drinks.
I want to eat.

b. At the end of a abbreviations (short forms).

etc. = et cetera
eg. = example
i.e. = that is

c. A few works in Modern English do not have a full stop.

PWTC
KLCC
KL
PUNB

3. Question Marks

Question marks are used at the end of a question.

Where is my food?
What are you doing here?

4. Exclamation Marks

The exclamation mark is used in exclamations which express surprise, shock, anger, fear, disappointment, joy,excitement, disbelief, etc.

I don't believe it!
What?!
Congratulations!
Oh, no!

5. Commas

The comma is used for three main reasons.

a. To separate a series of words in a list.

We need sugar, salt, tea and flour.

b. To show a pause in reading.

After closing his shop, Ah Seng went home.

c. To separate direct speech from the rest of the sentence.

'I want to go home,' Rohina said.

6. Quotation Marks

Quotation marks are put before the first word and after the last word in direct speech.

'Seng Fatt, bring in the clothes,' mother shouted.

7. Apostrophes

Apostrophes are used :

a. In contractions (short forms) to replace the missing words.

I am = I'm
We will = we will
should not = shouldn't

b. With possessive nouns to show ownership. The apostrophes is placed before the 's' ('s) for singular nouns and after the 's' (s') for plural nouns.

This is Mila's hat.
The girls' parents gave them their permission to go to Taman Negara.

So, that is all for now, hope the information will help you in writing because sometimes, we missed out the put such small things. As I said before, small but most important. We cannot end our sentence without a full stop, right?

Assalamualaikum WBT

p/s: Hope you read my writings and learn something.

Joke : Short Ribs

Assalamualaikum WBT,

How do you do everyone? Did you have great weekends? I hope you managed to get great holidays after week of schooling and today is Monday, (Again). Isn't that weird because we only got two days holidays (Saturday and Sunday) and five working days, I mean, its not fair right? We should have, three days of holidays and four working days, just to balance it out. Haha, not gonna happen, right? Too bad.

Now, I bought this old English grammar book and really want share it with you on the information that I have read but I need more time to extract all the information from the book itself. So, forgive me and please give me a little time to read more, okay? Lovely.

As for now, I will leave your here and keep reading amazing stuff because with reading, we will find new amazing words and trust me, you will need it in the future in constructing your essays or any written forms. Yes.

That is all for now.

Assalamualaikkum WBT

p/s: I have this one joke.

A midget doctor was invited to a young female home and she was living with her old sarcastic mum. And they were having dinner. The mum invite those two for dinner at the dining table, 'Let have dinner now'.

The midget doctor asked, "So, may I ask, what are we having?"

She answered hesitatingly...

"Short ribs".

A little bit on MUET.

Assalamualaikum WBT, 

Hi everyone... hi dear reader and hi dear English language practitioners.. *do they have that? hahaha.... never mind.

Now, in a few entries back, I did write something on Malaysian University English Test or also known as MUET. Before we go any further, it is better for us to know more on this test. MUET was started in year 1999 by Malaysian Examinations Council which in Malay language is Majlis Peperiksaan Malaysia (MPM). 

Alright then, what are the components that MUET has?

In MUET, we have FOUR components that the candidates need to fulfill in order to pass with great marks. There are,

Listening (800/1)

Speaking (800/2)

Reading (800/3)

Writing (800/4)

Each of these components has it own marks, both Listening and Speaking is 45 marks, Reading comprehension is 120 marks and Writing is 90 marks. The scores are graded in 6 Bands, with Band 6 the highest and Band 1 the lowest. 

The fee for MUET is RM101 and candidates register via MPM website. From year 2012 onwards, there will be three sessions, March, July and November, per year.

For your information, MUET is required when you want to enroll to university. Usually, when you want to take your Degree. It is actually depend on the courses that you want to take, for example, if you want to take English courses, you need to obtain the Band at least, Band 4. Different university has different  MUET Band requirement. So, the best Band that would secure your position for enrolling would Band 3, but then again, it depends on the university. 

Okay, some of us might have trouble in learning English, but you need to actually learn it. Start small, then improve then. It is the same with MUET, know when you want to take the test and work from there. Focus on what you bad at and improve that. Just focus on that. 

Let say, you have the best marks in Reading Comprehension, and Listening. Not that you need to forget about those two components, no, but you have to give more attention to Writings and Speaking and  so forth. You are the one who know yourself better than any other human in the world. 

All you need is to focus and practise as much as you can. Exercises really help in this kind of situation. And be calm, do not nervous. I took MUET 2 times in 2007 and once in my university years. I did okay, not as fluent-ish like now, but I did okay. Alhamdulillah.

Now, that would be in the different entry when I will tell you on who I learned English language and what did I do to improve myself, okay?

I think that is all for now.

Assalamualaikum WBT

p/s; Keep learning and good luck!

 

 

Learning English Grammar : Active and Passive Voice.

Assalamualaikum WBT,

Do you know what bothers me a lot when I learn English language?

Active and Passive Voice, even in Malay language, I really had trouble constructing these kind of sentences. I just do not know why. Really, yes. 

Now, as for to actually understand the Active and Passive Voice, I will try my best and also learn together about this monster. hahaha...

Look at these two sentences,

Somebody stole the jewels.

The jewels were stolen.

Which is active voice? Yes, the first is active voice that describes a sentence where the subject performs the action stated by the verb.  In passive voice sentences, the subject is acted upon by the verb.

In Active and Passive Voice, there rules that we need to obey, otherwise it will not in the active and passive voice. Before we go any further, bear in mind that, Active and Passive Voice is not as hard at it looks, in fact, it is easy to learn, okay? Now, we can actually separate the sentences.

 As for Active Voice, we usually had no problem recognising them because it is a straight forward sentence with not many things to be remembered. 

As for the Passive Voice, there are certain formulas that you really need to remember, I will list them here along with some examples.

1. Verb 'to be' + the Past Participle

Examples :
The book was written by Noam Chomsky.
The kid was made by my brother.

2. Simple Present Tense : is or are + the Past Participle

Examples :
Those pots are made out of clay.
Pearls are found in oysters.
The hall is swept every morning

3. Simple Past Tense : was or were + the Past Participle

Examples :
That house was built ten years ago.
Two children were killed in the accident.

4. Perfect Present Tense : has been or have been + the Past Participle

Examples :
Do not touch the door. It has just been painted.
You can have your books back. They have been marked already.

Now, all you need is to remember how the word form of Past Participle. There are different forms what you need to remember. You can find them through reading. Once you know the form then you can apply it in any sentence but remember, once you choose to write in Passive voice, everything in your writing must be passive voice. Usually, people would go with either one. It is all through reading you just can find these. Yes.

Now, you can search Active and Passive voice and do some exercises there. Pick good websites okay? It is okay for you open more then one website, it is for you own good. Do not afraid to make mistakes, hello, no on is perfect, okay?

Assalamualaikum WBT

p/s: keep reading. Read what ever you want, but make sure you read all the way, okay?
 

Learning English Grammar : Relative Pronouns.

Assalamualaikum WBT,

Do you believe in this sentence?

"The more we read, the more we don't know".

I believe in that actually. The reason why, it is almost like, when we know something that we did not know, we actually will tend to read more and of course, the more we read, the more we don't know, right? Yes. It is right.

The reason why I wrote this is because, I read a English grammar book last night and I came across many interesting fact that I did not know. I used all those sentence structures correctly but I did not know what tenses or form they belong. I was like,

"ah... I know now.. it is this and this is that and that is that". And whatnot.

Seriously, when you read something that really catches your attention just because you think you know it, but actually you are learning a new thing, its okay then. You actually learned something, that is very good for yourself.

Now, I am going to write a bit on English grammar on this entry, just to refresh our memories, okay?

Relative Pronouns. 

What is relative pronouns? 

Relative Pronouns is used to begin an adjective clause. It refers to the noun directly in front of it.

One amazing famous example of relative pronouns is used in the first book of Harry Potter by amazing author, J. K. Rowling. In the first chapter of Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone, The Boy Who Lived.  

As you can see that, she used relative pronouns to make another clause. Even though it is not as long as in the example given in certain book, do you think that it is a perfect sentence? meaning a full sentence? Well, I do not know, you may guess it by now right? Let us divide and name all the word.

The - Determiner

Boy - Subject

Who - Relative pronouns

Lived - Adjective

And why is Lived is an adjective? It is because, Who Lived explains about the state of the boy. The Boy Who Lived. Of course you understood the meaning of this right?

Now, I want to give you another example that might simplify things up. 

The man who killed the snake is Mary's uncle.

You can also write this down and put is tree diagram. It is better that way actually. You can see it clearly. Later on, I will try to come out with the tree diagram and it is actually very fun to learn using tree diagram.

Well, that is all for today, thank you, hope you'll learn something.

Assalamualaikum WBT

p/s; learning through website is not that hard, right?

My Bad Habit. Sigh.

Assalamualaikum WBT,

One thing you should know about me is, I am a very shy person. Sometimes, I have this very bad insecurity about myself. Yes, I am a very fat but sometimes, my friend said that, I am not that fat, just the perfect fat on people. Meaning, acceptably fat. HOWS that? I do not really know. Hahaha..

Never mind about that, please! Do not let those words even come to your mind. Hahaha... Now, to be honest, I have this one stupid habit that I really want to get rid off. 

What is it?

Well, you surely have the old teachers, I mean, your teachers from your, let say, past life? hehe.. no, from your primary schools, secondary schools or even from tertiary education, right? University, college or something like that...

Now, what would you do, IF, you bumped to you least favourite teacher or most favourite? What would you do? Honestly?

Honestlyyy... I have these experiences quite a lot these days, I just do not know why, but I am very glad and I really want to change that. Really. Meaning, before this, whenever I saw my teachers, I just ran away, why? It is because, as I said before, I have this insecurity about me that really bugged me. I do not know why, maybe when we bumped, they might asked me, the Gold crusted question...

"Where do you work now?"

Because of that, I tend to ignore them and I felt really, really bad about that. Really. Trust me. It kills me whenever I cannot show them my amazing colours when having conversation. Trust me. I have been doing this for years.

And I want to change that. It is not easy, but I think, I have to face the reality, where it sucks but I have to let it true. We cannot hold the stream because the water will just keep on coming, all we need to do is, let it sails.

Yes, from now on, whether they recognise me or not, I will greet them and shake their hand, and answer the questions asked. No worry. Yes. I will face it.

Assalamualaikum WBT

p/s: sorry not grammar yet.

EEP 2011 : My Personal Experience.

Assalamualaikum WBT,

As promised, I will at least write ONE entry per day in English as a medium to improve my English language. Now, I have a story that I would love for you to know about.

In the year 2011, when I was in the university, we had a programme called English Enhancement Programme and it was conducted by the Faculty of Languages and Communication. As far as I am concerned, the faculty team *the first team, lecturers were very committed with the programme because they were sacrificing their times to ensure that the participants have the best time learning English language.

Then, they conducted this one Training of Trainers where they selected the Bachelor of English students as facilitators for this programme. It was great fun, the activity itself was amazing. You know, when you have the passion and you are willing to learn, you will not have enough time to think about what is not good for you, instead, you will just go with it. Well, I felt that, I enjoyed the activity and everything was great.

Then, we were back to the university where we have to share our knowledge and experiences with the participants. We were very eager to share what we have done. Yes. We also sacrificed our times to actually conduct this activity. I was chosen to become the head of facilitator for an activity called English Lounge, where, basically its all about speaking and interacting with each other.

At the first week, we received great feedback from the participants who came to our activity. They enjoyed the activity as a whole and somehow, they have a little faith in themselves in learning English language. Then, week two, week three, week four, the numbers of students were decreasing. Then, in the end of the programme, we only have ONE participant who came to the activity and we had to emerge to get the class going. We had too. 

I was not sure whether there was postmortem or what, I was not sure and I do not remember the postmortem programme. To be honest, this EEP programme was amazing! It is like the extra classes for English language. It was not burdening the students, no, it is just the mentality of the participants that made things worse. Now, let me tell you, most of the students who were selected to be in this programme were the ones who were weak in English proficiency and they had trouble with English language. We too are not as great as the native speakers at the beginning but we learned! and alhamdulillah, some of us are as near as the native speakers.

I myself had troubles with English language. Stroumble. Hehe, but as the time goes by, I improved myself just for the sake of learning. I learned. Passionately. So, for those who were doubting yourself, I advice would be, its good to doubt yourself but make sure that is not that long because doubting yourself for too long, its wrong. Okay? 

It is not that difficult in learning English language. All you need is love because when you love your learning, then nothing is impossible, okay?

Assalamualaikum WBT

p/s: sometimes, things are not going your way, but dont lose faith.

Life is Hard. Living is Harder. All You Need Is Faith.

Assalamualaikum WBT,

Hi, how to you do readers? I really hope that you still have the patient or the urge to learn English language as I am. I love learning and reading, in fact, I was searching for articles and researches done by amazing academia to feed my brain. Yes, I am looking at several topics such as English teaching, English grammar, effects, affect and also a little bit on Malaysian education especially MUET.

Do you know what MUET is acknowledge in several countries including Singapore, United Kingdom and Japan? Its big right? Yes, amazing right? Now, you all know that STPM is also acknowledged one the hardest exams in the world, well at least before it became semester, something like that. I was too a Form Six student and to me, to have such amazing experience back then, it was very wonderful.

Okay, let me tell you something, I was actually not from the school, I was not entirely from Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Dong (SMKD), I was just there for two amazing years, just for Form Six but I made quite a number of friends. I actually was from Sekolah Menengah Agama Dong (SMAD), yes, I went to religious school and everything was chaos back then. I realised that I am not a person that really could memories all those kalimah like the others. So, I decided to go to SMKD and took my STPM there, and this one teacher actually very proud of me. I had never in my entire life someone said something nice to me at that time. I still remember what she said,

"I am very proud of you because you managed to get A2 for you English subject and you came from sekolah agama. Its wonderful".

Yes, the English teacher of SMKD said that, she was Teacher Junaidah. Why? It is because she knew that how difficult being a religious school with all those subjects both religious and core; she has a daughter that also went to religious school. The same school.

At that time, I did not know what to do and I just, well, I said thank you and at the early period, I did not know what to do and I had trouble blending in with them. I was very bland, I could say. I did not know the systems, the recess time, how things work and whatnot. It was quite difficult for certain times, but then things got better. I managed to mingle around and see things clearer. It was good. 

I too have my favourite subject during that period. I love MUET and I love BM and also Business. I scored in MUET, well, at least I managed to pass the BAND 2 requirement to further the studies at tertiary education. I managed to obtain BAND 3 for that time and for the course at university, I managed to get Bachelor of English with Communication (Hons) at Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin. What a wonderful four years there. Love it. Met great friends and people.

But as you can see, to actually learn English language without proper outside-class-practice is surely hard. Amazingly hard. My parents do not speak English language, my family do not speak English language but I always tell myself one thing, "Keep reading and look for dictionary". And, alhamdulillah, I managed to get good grades.

And now, after reading Postgraduate Studies by MBA Edge, it makes me wonder many things but one thing in particular, after two years of doing part time work, after two years of soul searching, I asked myself, 

"How about furthering your studies?"

InshaaAllah, I will think about that thoroughly and my dad actually had ask me this question about 1 and half year ago, about furthering studies and taking Masters and my answer that time was no because I was busy in soul searching but now, I am not making this as my last choice, NO! something, the best things come when in big stress. You think that you are happy with doing what you love and the fact is, you have something better which is, I do not know, contributing to other people by doing what you love, teaching, maybe?

So, inshaaAllah, I will try to ask people around me about things that need to be done, haha.. but do not worry, I will try my best kay?

Assalamualaikum WBT

p/s: Other things can wait. Surely.

Keep On Learning English Language.

Assalamualaikum WBT,

Hi there, for this entry, I decided to write one something that really taboo. Well, at least some people might think its taboo, some not. 

Do you know that in the year 2016, English subject is a compulsory subject to pass with minimum E result to pass. This implementation was taken because of every year the percentage of SPM students failed in English paper is ridiculous. The Deputy Prime Minister, who is also the Education Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin bin Yassin said that 20% of the overall candidates of SPM failed the English paper. Imagine that, 20%? It is like out of 10 candidates, 2 candidates failed the English paper.

It seemed not many, but they surely need helps to improve their English. They need to improve, otherwise, if we see at the bigger scope, these students who failed in English might have some troubles with their job hunting and also, to further their studies.

Imagine that if they managed to get to Form Six or take Diploma? What would they do? Yes, people might say,

"well, they can learn it there (Form Six or Diploma), they will".

Well, as far I am concerned, these need supports! The reason why? We do not have the same background and the same educational background. For example, I myself, I come from a very rural village which none English speaking environment and I hardly see someone talk in English in my village, but I manage to survive that and gladly took Bachelor of English with Communication (Hons) from local university? I have my own story, I will write it later, in details.

What I am trying to say is, supports is needed to improve. To actually use Second Language (English language) as the medium in daily conversation is quite impossible in none English speaking environment, but with great support, nothing is impossible, right? All we need is supports.

I too had my very own problems during those days, just because I was very new to the surroundings, I tend to isolate myself just because I had my problem with English language. As time goes by, I came to realise that running is not the way to improve, I have to get myself together and face the cruel truth. So, I faced it, I learned from my bestfriends about English grammar and alhamdulillah, everything went well. I now be able to write in English, ever talk, converse using English language. Hows that? I learned from the best. Surely. 

To be honest, I learned proper English grammar when I was in 2nd semester and alhamdulillah, it builds from there and now, still, I am learning English grammar. I have with me always, English grammar book, not the fancy ones but the basic ones. I love learning it. Haha...

Learning process is not a one period process. It is actually a continuous process which is very long and needs the maximum focus. Learning is not easy, but you need to be smart to learn.

There you go, I will try my best to focus back with English grammar back in this blog and together we will learn English grammar, okay?

Assalamualaikum WBT

p/s: Keep on learning. Nothing going to stop you from learning but yourself.

The Important of English Language - Trenglish

Assalamualaikum WBT,

"When you have a lot of things to be done, all you need is focus".

This is actually very true.

Do you know, when we talked about resolutions, yes, its new year and it is never too late to have one or more resolutions. I too have my own resolutions, and for this blog, I want to write as much as I can to assist people to learn English grammar.

Why do I think I need to have such resolution? It is because, I believe that learning never stops. Never. This is one of the ways for me to help other people. Yes, there are other ways, but to be, blogging or social media is one of the best ways to make others know of what we have to offer.

Yes, I want too people to say that,

"ahh... I know this English grammar from The English Journey, they have information on English grammar. Its very helpful".

I want people to see that English grammar is very important these days, with the examinations and whatnot, I believe we are better than we are now. Do you know that, in Terengganu they have this programme called Trenglish, which is a programme that helps students with English language through many activities and camps. This is a very good programme, some of my friends also involved as the T-Help (Terengganu Hired English Language Personnel), they will help the English teacher enhancing the students ability in learning English language.

This is a statement I managed to get from the newspaper online, I have got two sources, The Star and The Sunday Mail,

“We need T-Help because it was found that all the 20 ETA teachers are not proficient in Malay and this poses a problem for them to communicate with students in class,”. This was said by the State Education Director Mr Zakaria Hussin. The programme is the state initiative to improve the number of proficiency among Terengganu students.

So, do other state practice the same programme? I think, when they see how important the programme is and when they see the result of this programme, then they will take action. As for now, they usually take the 'wait-and-see' method before taking any consideration to follow such act.

Through reading, I found out that this programme is using modules that really student friendly and it really helps students to improve their own English proficiency.

I think that is all for now. Need to some reading about English grammar and I will get back to you later today, okay? Lovely.

Assalamualaikum WBT

p/s. Hope on with me through this journey.

Happy New Year my Dear Readers. Love u all.

Assalamualaikum WBT,

It has been a while my dearie readers, I am so sorry for not writing any input here. Well, as far I think I could cope with two blogs, it turned out that I had not enough time to do some research on English language in any aspects, and also my other blog, New Interesting Manuscripts (NIM), its actually quite hard. I need to write in Malay and English, both have different medium. I tend to use my own mother tongue to write in NIM and I have to use my second language for The English Journey (TEJ), well, both need to have input otherwise it would just mere common blogs right?

Now I have found amazing article to be paraphrase, revise and segment because I need to write it in my own understanding otherwise, if I just put everything in, it would be some plagiarism right? Its a no-no in any academic writing. I actually consider what I am doing here in this blog it more like academic writing, even though it is not as academic as those thesis or academic article written by amazing academia. 

I actually very love learning English language and to me English language is very much the same as other languages. Its very lovely actually. I really want to actually further my studies in English language it I can, it would be in English Literature or Sociolinguistics. To be honest, I have found these two subjects would be very interesting. Literature is more on the creative side where we need to analyse what would be the inside meaning of others works. Let say, analysing Shakespeare's works and trying to be creative mind and trying to see the underlying meaning of his works. How amazingly difficult to convey that meaning and trying to tear thing apart for the sake of your thesis, right? hehe..

On the other hand, we have another amazingly fact subject, which is Sociolinguistics; focusing how social background affects language acquisitions. Fascinating subjects indeed. Plus, there are many elements that we need to think of in Sociolinguistics, semantic, phonology, sentence structure and whatnot. Why these elements is important? It is because, in looking indepth on the affect of social background to language acquisitions, we need to look at these elements. Nothing is sure, unless you managed to get the unbeatable evidences in your defense in let say, Viva? Right?

Personally, I would love to take on any each, but thinking about things might come in my way, it made me think twice before making such decision. Hahaha... well, tomorrow is new year right? So, happy new year and make your 2014 an big history that you would never forget and let 2015 a big year to come. Indeed, you have to make something for 2015, and I will. Yes. 

Assalamualaikum WBT

p/s: English grammar, looks easy but do you really have the capacity to learn it?

Song : Only Love Can Hurt Like This by Paloma Faith.

Assalamualaikum wbt,

I have this one song that I accidentally downloaded from the downloading site. Yes. hehe..

The song called Only Love Can Hurt Like This by Paloma Faith. Girl!!! This song is sickening! I really love the melody and also the lyrics. Too deep. Love it so much. This is the lyric of that song.

"Only Love Can Hurt Like This"

I'd tell myself you don't mean a thing,
But what we got, got no hold on me
But when you're not there I just crumble
I tell myself I don't care that much,
But I feel like I die 'til I feel your touch,

Only love, only love can hurt like this,
Only love can hurt like this
Must have been a deadly kiss
Only love can hurt like this

Say I wouldn't care if you walked away,
But every time you're there I'm begging you to stay,
When you come close I just tremble
And every time, every time you go,
It's like a knife that cuts right through my soul

Only love, only love can hurt like this
Only love can hurt like this,
Must have been a deadly kiss,
Only love can hurt like this,
Only love can hurt like this

Your kisses burn into my skin,
Only love can hurt like this
But it's the sweetest pain,
Burning hot through my veins,
Love is torture makes me more sure

Only love can hurt like this,
Only love can hurt like this,
Must have been the deadly kiss,
Only love can hurt like this,

Only love can hurt like this,
Your kisses burn into my skin,
Only love can hurt like this,
Only love can hurt like this,
Save me, save me,
Only love, only love,
'Cause only love can hurt like this
And it must have been the deadly kiss

I have not seen the music video yet and to be honest, I love her voice. I have another sickening song from her, Picking Up The Pieces. Yes! The song is sickening. Lovely. Paloma Faith is British and yes, I do love listening to their song. It more experimentally accepted by my two ears. I love iittt.. It becomes my favourite song now. Definitely! Lovely.

For you readers reading my blog now, open a new tab and search Paloma Faith Only Love Can Hurt Like This, and please! download it! Then you will know how sickening this song is. Trust me!

Assalamualaikum WBT

p/s: only love can hurt like this. Deepness!

Learning English Grammar : Content Words and Function Words.

Assalamualaikum WBT,

How do you do my dear readers? I really hope that you could gain something from my writings here on my blog.

Now, for this entry I am going to write something more grammatical. Meaning, I am going to explain on English grammar. Correct me if I'm wrong, yes dear?

I will be explaining on Content Words and Function Words. These two are quite easy to understand and it is not that hard to actually apply the concept. Now, language make an important distinction between two kinds of words - content words and function words. Content words such as nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. These kind of words denote concepts such as objects, actions, attributes and ideas. Content words are also known as Open Class, meaning, we could use the words alone to perform a meaningful sentence.

For example, we take a content word, noun type. Chicken. We know the meaning of the word 'chicken'. We can easily pointed out at these chicken and yelled 'Chicken!!', right? The words that said must be aligned with the real situation. Got that right?

Now, lets move to Function Words. As we read function words, we could get the insight meaning of the type of words already. Words that need to make the sentence functioning. So, it immediately related to grammar, English grammar. The words types such in prepositions, conjunctions, pronouns, determiner are called function words and it is also known as Closed Class. Closed Class which used as words to perform a complete sentence. 

For example, let say a person said, 'A' without any referential to another person. It must created something that could make people misunderstood, right? So, what if that person said something like this, "A cat eat a mouse". Here, there are a few function words that could be extracted from that sentence, such as, "A and a" "Cat, Eat and Mouse" are Content Words. So, that makes sense right?

So, you understand now to differentiate between these two? It would be very much useful if you want to make tree diagram to extract sentences. Okay?

That is all for now.Thank you lovelies and,

Assalamualaikum WBT

p/s: Keep reading, okay?

Learn what you really want to learn.

Assalamualaikum wbt,

How do you do village people!! *almost like Faizdickieup already. hahaha..

Now, people said, 

"You have to speak the language, to actually speak the language".

Tricky? yes, it could be very tricky, why? because, we learned languages and not all could have the opportunity to actually speak the language. How many of you excel in English language but not be able to communicate entirely, meaning with good grammar? How many? well, for those who are in the city, they usually have the opportunity to communicate using English language, but not for those who live in village or kampong. Why? not all could speak the English language.

Even though, some of us excel in English language at any levels in examination, UPSR, SPM, STPM or University level, still, the point of view when people want to speak or communicate using English language is very low. Meaning, they tend to say the people want to upgrade themselves by using English language are 'ungrateful', by saying, they said that those people forget the fact that they have their own mother tongues which they speak that before. Hows that?

The truth is, not everyone is like that. Some are very positive about the changes and they really want to upgrade themselves. That is all. 

My advice, learn what you really want, and at least, you have your own satisfaction by learning it. No regrets.

Assalamualaikum WBT

p/s: I too learned a few things that I really love. Lovely. 

Learning English Language Through Songs.

Assalamualaikum WBT,

People frequently asked me this question...

"What would be fastest way and the easiest way to learn and understand English language?"

Oh, dear, to be honest, there is no the fastest way or the easiest way to learn and understand English language, darling. But what I can say it, we Malaysians have the softest tongue to learn any languages, and in this case, its English. Yes, we do. Do not ask me why, because I do no know. This was told to me by my lecturer when I studying at UNISZA. A lovely university I could say dear. Lovely university, lovely people, lovely surroundings. I really love it.

Well, what I can say it, if you are a person who loves listening to musics, then start looking for English musics and also look for its lyrics. I found that very amusing because, you can enjoy the music and you can learn its lyrics, annnddd, you can understand the lyrics. You have to make sure that the song that you want to hear must have good English and if you could, avoid lyrics that have vulgar words in it.

If I were you, I would go back to 50's, 60's, 70', 80', and 90's musics where we could find great lyrics and good musics. I too would look to Whitney Houstons' songs, Michael Jackson, Queen, The Foreigner, these people created good song and lyrics. And you could gamble a little bit, you may search Avenged Sevenfold where they too have great music and most rock musics have very-very good emotional lyrics. Look for it. Okay?

This is one of the great lyrics in music world.

"Greatest Love Of All"

I believe the children are our future
Teach them well and let them lead the way
Show them all the beauty they possess inside
Give them a sense of pride to make it easier
Let the children's laughter remind us how we used to be

Everybody's searching for a hero
People need someone to look up to
I never found anyone who fulfilled my needs
A lonely place to be
And so I learned to depend on me

[Chorus:]
I decided long ago, never to walk in anyone's shadows
If I fail, if I succeed
At least I'll live as I believe
No matter what they take from me
They can't take away my dignity
Because the greatest love of all
Is happening to me
I found the greatest love of all
Inside of me
The greatest love of all
Is easy to achieve
Learning to love yourself
It is the greatest love of all

I believe the children are our future
Teach them well and let them lead the way
Show them all the beauty they possess inside
Give them a sense of pride to make it easier
Let the children's laughter remind us how we used to be

[Chorus]

And if, by chance, that special place
That you've been dreaming of
Leads you to a lonely place
Find your strength in love

You can study the lyrics and you can lots of things here. Grammar, verbs, nouns and whatnot. Okay?

Keep learning, even signboards could be our teachers. Yes.

Thank you.

Assalamualaikum wbt,

p/s: Do not forget to learn.

English Language : Language and Brain Development.

Assalamualaikum WBT,

Happy Friday people and do not forget the perform Solat Jumaat, okay?

Okay now, I am going to write on Language and Brain Development.

Language and brain are actually intimately connected. This is because without the pure understanding of language we cannot communicate. Some people said Signs is not a language, but what is actually the purpose of language? To communicate, right? That is the main purpose of us having languages. Therefore, to think that brain does not have any connection with language is quite impossible. 

Now, The Critical Period.

A child is introduced to language virtually at the moment of birth. BUT, as we all know, baby was in mummy's tummy for how long? 9 month 10 days *normally, so, in that period of time, the baby was already exposed to language uttered by the mother or people around the mother, so? it  is not specifically from the moment of birth but hey, my claim is not proper because I do not have any research to actually back up my opinion. I should do research? Haha,

Now, according to linguists, there is a Critical-Age Hypothesis that determined the language that will be picked up by the baby. It is also assume that language is biologically based and states that the ability to learn a native language develops within fixed period, from birth to middle childhood.

Then, somehow, there were cases that babies were abandoned by their parents or I do not know, abandoned, left out or kidnapped or whatever, but these cases somehow created stir because it against the HUMAN nature. Why? The critical-age period. The language learning period is somehow interrupted. Amala and Kamala were found in India, reportedly reared by wolves (1920). In 1970, Genie who reportedly been confined in small room and unable to interact with society from age eighteen months to almost fourteen years. None of these children were able to speak, communicate with human. So? Do language innate? That is the question. 

To me, language ability is in our mind but we need to nurture the language. Yes, its nature but nurturing is important. Otherwise, we cannot acquire language. Therefore, for those who happened to have children, siblings who are still babies, please, keep teaching them language that you would prefer them to use. If its English language, then keep talking to them in English, then they will pick up that language along with other language that you used in your daily conversation with your spouse. Let say, your mother tongue is Bahasa Melayu then your second language is English language, but you want your children to share the same ability in communicate in both language, so, keep both language with same balance in communicating with them. Do be shy, just speak. 

By the way, different people surely have different abilities to learn language. Like us Malaysians, not many have the ability to learn English language and be able to talk like those Britishs or Americans, but it is not possible. We can learn. Regardless what those English linguists have to say about the learning, it is actually up to you to learn. If you want it, no one could say NO, right?

So, keep learning. Everyone is learning one thing a day. So, why not?

Assalamualaikum WBT

p/s: Yes, I am going to keep writing too. Lovelies.