An Unbelievable Ending!

Last night I played an incredible ending in a fabulous game of Scrabble with an online opponent, Dina. She was leading me all the way from the start and it became worse when I made 3 tile changes during the course of the game because of ugly tiles on my rack. We finally arrived at this position when I need at least 57 points to overtake her (diagram):


I shuffled my rack and found ENIGMAS, but there was no obvious place to put the bingo away. Coupled with damning computer freezing making it hard to validate words for possible hook, I was only focused on putting something on the Triple Letter square at the bottom right of the board. I tried many other words because ENIGMASER is not a valid word, but nothing was successful. Placing something other than a bingo would hand her the move and possibly the game. Suddenly, after restarting the Firefox thrice, I found a hook at the bottom left of the board, placing A to BUTS with ABUTS being a valid word. I slammed ENIGMAS for 81 points to win the game.



Here is the whole game for your pleasure:

Dina (D) vs Yours Truly (Y)

D: DIVE 16pts
Y: TI, WAIT, ID 16pts

D: AYE, WE 23pts
Y: YE, WEY 22pts

D: YES, QUIDS 33pts
Y: YOK, OYES 26pts

D: DIVER, RUG 14pts
Y: ZING 34pts

D: IF, ZO, ROOF 30pts
Y: exchange 3 tiles

D: SPIN, ZINGS 25pts
Y: SPINE, DEALING 77pts

D: HUED, SPINED, DE 36pts
Y: MAGS 24pts

D: WARM 18pts
Y: AH, JA 30pts

D: AVE, EQUIDS 27pts
Y: exchange 2 tiles

D: FAVE, FED 21pts
Y: ED, RERAN, NOYES, RE 17pts

D: REP, BAP 19pts
Y: TA, AW, ER, PRATE 23pts

D: ZOO, RE, OX, EXO 45pts
Y: exchange 3 tiles

D: TIC, TRUG 12pts
Y: ODE, LAH, LOON 18pts

D: BUTS, TICS 18pts
Y: REN, OXO, LINO 21pts

D: DIVERT, CHIT 27pts
Y: ABUTS, ENIGMAS 81pts

adjustment 7

From Gua Musang to Tumpat

Today I went to my would-be new school SMK Chabang Empat, Tumpat. It is a big school housing more than 2000 pupils with two sessions of schooling; morning session starts at 7.30 a.m. and evening session starts at 1.00 p.m. I reported myself to the headmistress, Mrs Nik Hasnah, who expressed her gratitude of receiving an English teacher. She hoped that the new environment will not deter me from working with integrity and sincerity.

Tambun (Again!)

This time I brought my in-laws to the water park. Initially, I was anxious of the ever-changing wheather, and was wildly wondering whether the weather is where the weather should be. Leaving the Tanah Merah house at 5 a.m., we travelled through Gerik and arrived to find the sunny weather at Tambun at noon. We checked in Sun Inns at 5 p.m. after playing our hearts out at the park and head for Cameron Highlands the next day. It was an enjoyable experience, hopefully to be repeated in the near future.

Time for pics:

My Student's Best Effort

This is my student's best effort for her English lesson. Try to understand the essay, it's enjoyable, really. Plus, it is really rare to find a student at the school who will write this long.

Last school holiday, I and family opportunity finish time altogether grandfather and grandmother at village. We village place at Kota Bharu Kelantan. Reason we related return village have for to visit grandfather and grandmother who rich far from we. Beside that also, we agong to visit sibling advance who complete old no encounter.

Arrive at there, grandfather and grandmother welcome return we related. With smile who sweet we shake hand with grandfather and grandmother. At there we earn looking scenery what intensely see and interesting. Foresee paddy-field who spread out broad at there shere amaze with scenery who see. We also earn looking will raillery who green encompass village we.

At cleave afternoon, grandfather bring we orchard fruit. Correct at break never this season fruit at village we. Diverse fruit who looking cook see fruit watermelon, fruit mango, fruit durian and fruit mangosteen. Free cite fruit we altogether return at house and rest.

At tomorrow morning, I, brother and sister go at river akin friend who dissimilar see zuki, aiman, siti and mira for angle fish. We also agong finish time akin they because we guess diaphanous encounter already old omit at Kuala Lumpur. For add anew happiness we, we catch finish with applied net and casting-net. Looking many fish who hung at net we see catfish.

At time afternoon again, grandfather bring we encompass village while looking area livestock animals see cow, goat, bird and rabbit. We earn looking see animal at there. Brother catch photo bird camel and bird peacock for at become memory when we return at Kuala Lumpur bide.

Already one week we leave at there, nowadays arrive time for we return at Kuala Lumpur for back to school. Feel happy convert become sorrow looking at to mak smooth or fine lineament grandfather and grandmother before we family omit. We so very happy when rich at village although happen assume it one memory who sweet and no earn we forget. - Anonymous

Timing Chain or Timing Belt?

I am driving a Toyota Avanza 1.3 Manual transmission with a mileage of 87+++ and I am concern about changing the timing belt. But after reading through several articles, I found that my Avanza does not use a timing belt, instead it uses a timing chain. The timing chain, however, does not need regular change (1) and has an almost infinite operating life (2). The only time to change the chain is when the mechanics found it to have been worn out (3). Luckily, the VVT-i technology lessen my worry. It varies the timing and applies oil automatically to the chain (4), resulting in extending its lifespan.

Learn From Nature

It is out of His Mercy that He has put for you night and day, that you may rest therein (i.e. during the night) and that you may seek of His Bounty (i.e. during the day), and in order that you may be grateful. - Al-Qasas : 73

Guess How Much is This Doughnut?

Last week I went to Pekan Kedai Lalat to accompany my mother buying some breakfast. It was the same as always - full of people, especially on Fridays - because the merchandise there are quite cheap, in my opinion. I was surprise when I asked for the price of the doughnuts, as big as my palm, which was sold at 4 pieces for RM1. That amounts to RM0.25 for each, and I bet you will not find doughnuts that big anywhere, which should cost RM0.50 each elsewhere.

Good Luck in Your Exams, PMRians!

Today the PMR exam starts. This is the time to test whether the knowledge you have for the past years still with you or lost when you were 'rempit'ing, or 'lepak'ing etc. There will be no turning back, answer the questions, and hope for the best. Adding some prayers to that will surely help you, no doubt about that.

Why Internet in Malaysia is So Slow?

This is because of our low broadband quality, according to a study by Oxford University. Malaysians always waste their time waiting for the clicked pages to appear before the screen. Imagine that if we wait for a page for 5 seconds, we will waste 1 minute of our precious time to click 60 pages. And if you are a hardcore Facebook user, for example, you will waste more valuable time, as you do not click less than that, for sure. I hope that the appropriate Ministry will rectify this situation, or we will be left behind in the upcoming global wave.

Another Torres' Hattrick

No comment. The best striker in the world right now. Watch out Chelsea. For all the fans out there, refresh your mind with all the goals. The first is my best, nutmegging a bunch of defenders and beating the goalkeeper at the far post. Truly genius.

Saudi Prince Wants LFC Investment

An Arabic newspaper reported their interview with a prince who wanted to buy 50% of LFC stakes worth around 200 - 35o million pounds. Saudi Arabia's Prince Faisal bin Fahd bin Abdullah said:

"We are looking at the present time to acquire a 50% stake in the club, which is currently suffering from debts of up to £245 million. The value of the deal, which will be finalized soon, is around £200 million to £350 million pounds".

source: http://www.alriyadh.com

One of My Favourite Toy of All Time

The Rubik's Cube is still my favourite toy ever since I was small until now. I still remember the sleepless nights of trying to solve the puzzle, which was at that Internet-less time proven to be quite impossible, except to use the guidance given with the box. I memorized the algorithm then, but failed to summon it up when I tried my sister-in-law's Rubik's cube. A browse in the Internet followed, and here is the solution I found to solve this evergreen puzzle (I'm not going to waste Raya holidays just for solving the cube, hehe).

Torres Fires Liverpool FC to Glory

Last night I watched Torres destroyed West Ham's defense mercilessly. Here are the two goals which sinks the Hammers. The first one is reminiscent of his debut BPL goal against Chelsea, while the second is a powerful striker's header, right at the bottom corner. Enjoy!

Liverpool FC New Shirt Sponsor

I always have been hoping for new shirt sponsor for my favourite football club Liverpool FC, because the current sponsor will never be allowed to enter Malaysia. I am glad to read that Standard Chartered will be printed on Torres' shirt starting from July 2010 to 2014 (I hope it will be extended beyond that). This means that I can, in the near future, watch my club in flesh. Moreover, I can contemplate buying the original jersey with the original logo at the front, contrasting to what I've bought so far with 'Liverpool' adjusted from Carlsberg logo. With LFC now in full swing, I hope this partnership will be a success!

My Best Scrabble Game Yet

One of my passion is playing board games, especially chess and Scrabble. Recently, I found Scrabble in the Facebook. Understandably, I am quickly addicted to it. Today, I played a game against an online opponent, Hilary. It is to be the best Scrabble game I ever played. After she started the game, I trailed her very closely. Then I had 2 blanks on my rack. I waited for the chance to put a bingo, which came sooner rather than latter. I hit her with RATLINGS for 113 points, my best score so far for a single word. The reason I got so much points is that the word covered two Triple Word squares. The game ended with another bingo SPUTNIK which practically forced her to forfeit. Final score Hilary 311 points - Me 522 points.

Here are the moves (H for Hilary, M for me):

H: WAFT 20pts
M: AT, FA, OF, FOAL 27pts
H: EAT, WOF, EL, WEE 36pts
M: NEAT, EEL, NE 15pts
H: FAB, WO, GOB 27pts
M: GI, WON, IN 11pts
H: DIN, DIN 16pts
M: GIN, DIN 12pts
H: JEEL, JILL 46pts
M: RATLINGS 113pts
H: DINE, CLEVER 29pts
M: NEE, VIE 15pts
H: AL, HE, AH 22pts
M: ZA, VET, ZEL 52pts
H: GOBS, WOFS 17pts
M: AS, AIM 12pts
H: WAFTS, JEELS 25pts
M: QI, UM, QUA 47pts
H: QUAT, DOT 21pts
M: QUATE, OB, BE 40pts
H: OD, ROB, TORA 19pts
M: CH, ALE, HEM, HEM 41pts
H: THEM 9pts
M: CHE, TO, OE 20pts
H: RALE 4pts
M: AR, YA 15pts
H: OY, COO 20pts
M: HEMS, SPUTNIK 102pts
H: forfeited the game

MERDEKA! MERDEKA! MERDEKA!

It has been 52 years since the day Tunku Abdul Rahman announced the independence of Malaya from the British on 31st August 1957 at Stadium Merdeka. This year's motto is '1 Malaysia, Rakyat Didahulukan, Pencapaian Diutamakan', which means 'people first, performance now'. This motto is always lauded by our current Prime Minister, Dato' Seri Najib Tun Razak.

Working Stress Free

I just finished watching Liverpool versus Bolton which ended luckily for the Liverpool win. I cannot help but see the stressful faces of the Liverpool players when they play on the pitch. It is the expectations of the fans for the long awaited title which makes the players feeling the stress more than ever before. Therefore, creativity, fluency and all the attacking prowess Liverpool are famous for lacked. As for myself, I like to work without stress. But it is hard to do when there are so many causes of stress in the working environment such as increased workload, poor work organization, inadequate staff numbers and resources, etc. But all these causes, according to Adrian Whittle, can be grouped into 3 categories:

1) How you do the job?
2) How the job treats you?
3) Issues not job related which may affect job performance

Finding solutions for these causes will be the key. All the job related issues can be discussed with the employer, and they should help you because the more effective you are, the better the organization will be. As for the third category, you just have to find the solutions yourself. Make sure that there are at least 2 solutions available so that you can choose the best.

Don't Laugh at Someone Who Try to Learn English!

I found a hilarious video of a Japanese game in a classroom setting where the sole rule is not to laugh at someone who try to learn English. The breach of the rule will lead to a painful spanking, to add to your getting out of the game. As a teacher, I always ask my pupils not to laugh at those who try to learn English, especially those who try to answer the questions that I give. However, I feel that this video is so funny that I cannot help myself to an enjoyable laugh. Enjoy!

Do Not Laugh - Japanese Speaking English by ikhwan

SMM Version 4.0

Sistem Maklumat Murid now enters its 4th version. There are so many additional information which has to be filled in by the class teachers. Among other things; the students' blood type, their ambition, names and information of their siblings, extended information of their father/mother, their examination call number, and also how they go to school. Therefore, it is advisable for the SMM teachers of each school to really befriend the class teachers, so that they will complete all the required fields needed for this version.

As the district JU, I have to actually teach all 44 SMM teachers to convert their SMM version 3.0 to this newer version. Hopefully I can do this job successfully.

PTK Notes for ICT

These are the notes for PTK ICT (DG41) based on the ICT paper 702/27 syllabus. The notes will be in Malay language.

Sejarah BTP

Bahagian Teknologi Pendidikan (BTP) telah diwujudkan pada 19 Jun 1972 dengan nama Bahagian Perkhidmatan Sebaran Pendidikan. Kelulusan untuk mewujudkan BTP dibuat oleh Kabinet dalam tahun 1971. Fungsi utamanya pada ketika itu ialah memberi perkhidmatan siaran radio, perkhidmatan alat pandang-dengar dan perkhidmatan siaran TV ke sekolah-sekolah. Dalam tahun 1988, nama Bahagian Perkhidmatan Sebaran Pendidikan ditukar nama kepada Bahagian Teknologi Pendidikan apabila fungsinya diperluas bagi merangkumi perkhidmatan pusat sumber sekolah. Kini, BTP mempunyai 11 sektor dan 15 BTPN.

Pada 21 April 2006, BTP telah menerima pengiktirafan MS ISO 9001:2000 Quality Management Systems-Requirements. Sistem ini dilaksanakan bagi memastikan perkhidmatan dan produk yang dihasilkan oleh BTP mempunyai standard kualiti yang dikehendaki.

Objektif BTP

- Membudayakan penggunaan ICT dalam pendidikan bagi meningkatkan kualiti pengajaran dan pembelajaran, keberkesanan pengurusan dan pentadbiran sekolah serta kompetensi guru yang berterusan.

- Memberi khidmat-bantu kepada murid dan guru dalam penggunaan teknologi pendidikan.

- Mencari alternatif-alternatif baru teknologi pendidikan yang sesuai bagi kegunaan murid dan guru.

- Membangunkan bahan teknologi pendidikan yang berkualiti bagi meningkatkan akses sumber ilmu kepada murid dan guru.

- Meningkatkan kecekapan pengurusan dan kemudahan pusat sumber bagi menyokong peningkatan kualiti pengajaran dan pembelajaran.

Visi dan Misi BTP

Visi

Wujudnya budaya penggunaan teknologi pendidikan di sekolah.

Misi

Membina dan mengekalkan budaya penggunaan teknologi pendidikan dalam kalangan guru dan murid bagi mempertingkatkan keberkesanan proses pengajaran dan pembelajaran.

Pembangunan Multimedia

Terdapat 5 fasa iaitu penakrifan – perancangan – perlaksanaan –pembangunan – penilaian.

a) Fasa Penakrifan

- Ia berlaku sebelum sesuatu projek itu diperolehi. Setelah projek itu diperolehi, laporan kertas kerja akan diteliti.

- Pada peringkat permulaan, pembangun projek perlu membuat penaksiran keperluan (need assesment) dan (audience assessment).

b) Fasa Perancangan
- Ia dilaksanakan setelah projek dipersetujui (ditandatangani).
- Proses reka bentuk antara muka akan ditentukan pada fasa perancangan.
- Penghasilan papan cerita yang mengandungi visual serta interaksi multimedia akan dibuat.

- Sesebuah papan cerita mengandungi maklumat grafik, video, audio, teks, interaksi pengguna, jenis huruf, saiz huruf dan sebagainya.

- Papan cerita akan menggambarkan peristiwa keseluruhan pada skrin tersebut.

c) Fasa Perlaksanaan
- pada peringkat ini ia mula mengagihkan tenaga kerja mengikut bidang kepakaran.

- Ketua-ketua bagi setiap kepakaran akan dilantik untuk memudahkan projek multimedia kelak.

- Permohonan sumber, data dan maklumat daripada pengguna sasaran perlu diuruskan pada peringkat ini. Kelewatan mendapatkan atau perancangan akan menjejaskan perlaksanaan multimedia.

d) Fasa Pembangunan

- pada fasa keempat ini, tenaga kerja akan membangunkan projek berdasarkan keperluan yang dipersetujui.

- Kerja pengarangan, pengaturcaraan, penyediaan grafik dilakukan.

- Setelah pengintegrasian dilakukan, pengujian akan dilakukan terhadap projek multimedia

- Ujian alfa, beta, Release Candidate 1(RC1) dan (RC2) dilakukan
- Ujian alfa dilakukan di kalangan pengguna dalaman syarikat pebangun sahaja
- Ujian beta dilakukan dengan pengguna sasaran atau kumpulan sasaran.

- Ujian RC1 dilakukan untuk menentukan projek bebas daripada pepijat (bug) sebelum ditandatangani pemberi kontrak sebagai bukti penerimaan.

- Ujian RC2 dibuat sekiranya pengguna melakukan perubahan pada projek tersebut dan setelah perubahan dilakukan ujian RC2 perlu bagi memperoleh kelulusan perubahan pengubahsuaian.

- Setelah projek selesai pengujian, penyerahan projek akan dilakukan dengan menandatangani laporan penerimaan projek antara kedua-dua pihak.

- Seterusnya pembayaran akhir akan dilakukan kepada syarikat pembangun.

e) Fasa Penilaian
- Ia adalah fasa terakhir di mana setelah projek diserahkan kepada pengguna.

- Penilaian terhadap produk akan dilakukan. Ia akan menilai keberkesanan perlaksanaan dan persekitaran pengguna.

- Jumlah saiz sampel pengguna adalah bergantung kepada saiz kumpulan sasaran

- Laporan penilaian ini amat berguna kepada syarikat pembangun untuk membantu perancangan pada masa hadapan.

Model Reka Bentuk Berarahan

Projek multimedia memerlukan reka bentuk berarahan agar menepati spesifikasi keperluan pengguna.

Model reka bentuk yang biasa digunakan ialah Model ADDIE, Model ASSURE, Model Dick & Carey dan Model Reiser & Dick.

Pembangunan Papan Cerita Bagi Projek Multimedia

Bagi sesebuah projek multimedia, papan cerita (story board) adalah sangat penting. Ia akan menentukan perjalanan sesuatu persembahan dengan lancar.

Kumpulan Pembangun Projek Multimedia

Sesebuah produksi multimedia memerlukan sebuah pasukan pembangun yang akan merealisasikan projek tersebut. Kumpulan berkenaan mempunayi kepakaran yang berbeza dan tersendiri untuk menjayakan usaha tersebut.

Pengurus projek atau penerbit
- Bertanggungjawab terhadap keseluruhan pembangunan projek multimedia dari asas pembentukan hinggalah proses pelaksanaan.
- Penyediaan belanjawan, pengurusan sumber, urusan undang-undang dan hak cipta.
- Membuat keputusan segala hal yang berkaitan dengan projek.
- Meyelesaikan segala konflik yang timbul di kalangan pekerja..

Pengurus akaun
- Mentadbir dan mengurus akaun projek
- Membantu pengurus projek menguruskan pentadbiran belanjawan dan pengurusan sumber.

Pengurus Seni
- Membuat perancangan dari segi karya visual dan asrtistik seperti grafik, audio, video, skrip dan papan cerita.
- Perlu memastikan idea yang dihasilkan adalah kreatif serta menepati tema yang telah ditetapkan.
- Memastikan keseragaman dari segi kualiti karya (kombinasi warna, reka bentuk grafik) bagi menjamin kualiti projek multimedia yang dihasilkan.

Pengarah Teknikal
- Membuat perancangan seperti pengurus projek dan pengarah seni tetapi lebih fokus kepada aspek teknikal.
- Merancang proses pengujian dan penyelenggaraan
- Mengawal selia pengaturcara, pereka bentuk pangkalan data dan penganimasi 2D dan 3D.
- Memastikan kelancaran setiap fasa perancangan pembangunan multimedia.

Pengarah Ujian
- Memastikan setiap projek multimedia memenuhi spesifikasi yang ditetapkan.
- Memastikan setiap prosedur yang diambil mampu meminimumkan kesilapan dan kegagalan projek yang dibangunkan.
- Terdapat dua ujian yang dijalankan sepanjang proses penghasilan multimedia iaitu peringkat alfa dan beta.
- Pengujian alfa akan menguji tahap dan kebolehfungsian produk tersebut
- Pengujian peringkat beta menguji keseluruhan produk multimedia termasuk isi kandungan program.
- Semasa ujian dijalankan satu skrip ujian akan disediakan setiap kejayaan dan kegagalan akan direkodkan oleh pengurus ujian.

Pereka grafik
- Menghasilkan keseluruhan keperluan visual (grafik, ilustrasi dan fotografi) dan memastikan ketepatannya dengan aspek metafor sesuatu visual
- Bekerjasama dengan pengarah seni bagi menghasilkan keperluan visual yang menepati spesifikasi projek.
- Peranan pereka visual amat penting dalam menarik minat pengguna menggunakan sesuatu aplikasi multimedia.

Penulis skrip
- Menghasilkan penulisan karya dalam bentuk penulisan.
- Bekerjasama dengan pereka bentuk berarahan untuk menghasilkan skrip yang mudah difahami.
- Skrip yang baik akan menghasilkan papan cerita yang boleh menterjemahkan ilustrasi dan lakaran yang bermutu.

Pakar Audio
- Berperanan menghasilkan muzik yang menarik, kesan bunyi, suara dan suara latar.
- Mempunyai kepakaran seperti penerbit audio, jurutera audio dan penyunting audio.
- Perlu mempunyai kemahian yang tinggi dalam mengendalikan peralatan audio dan berpengalaman luas dalam teknik rakaman seperti suara,muzik latar dan bunyi.

Pakar Video
- Mengendalikan peralatan video dan menggunakan pelbagai teknik pengambaran.
- Perlu bekerjasama dengan jurueknik cahaya dan pakar audio untuk menghasilkan audio dan cahaya yang sesuai.
- Mempunyai daya kreativiti yang tinggi untuk menarik minat pengguna.

Pelukis papan cerita
- Menterjemahkan idea atau skrip dalam bentuk visual agar ilustrasinya mudah difahami pengguna.
- Papan cerita akan menjadi sumber rujukan oleh setiap ahli dalam untuk menyelesaikan tugasan mereka seperti grafik, audio, audio, video, teks animasi dan sebagainya.

Pengaturcara
- Bertanggungjawab menulis kod aturcara dan bahasa pengarangan (scripting) yang membolehkan pengguna berinteraksi dengan aplikasi multimedia.
- Menterjemah kod aturcara dalam bentuk aplikasi multimedia.
- Bahasa pengaturcaraan adalah seperti C++, Java dan Visual Basic.

Pereka bentuk Pangkalan Data
- Beliau diperlukan bagi mereka bentuk pangkalan data yang menepati spesifikasi projek.
- Ia akan menyimpan segala maklumat supaya ia boleh dicapai apabila diperlukan

Pereka Bentuk Berarahan (Instructional Designer)
- Memastikan strategi,model, teori dan pendekatan yang sesuai digunakan bagi memenuhi keperluan projek.

Penganimasi 2D dan 3D
- Menghasilkan animasi yang mempunyai pergerakan seperti 2D dan 3D.
- Mempunyai kefahaman yang baik terhadap papan cerita untuk menghasilkan animasi yang berkualiti.

PTK Example Questions

These are links to test your PTK knowledge and help you prepare against PTK tests.

Kompetensi Umum (701/01)

http://www.teachersrock.net/ptk1.htm
http://www.teachersrock.net/ptk2.htm
http://www.teachersrock.net/ptk3.htm
http://www.teachersrock.net/ptk4.htm
http://www.teachersrock.net/ptk5.htm
http://www.teachersrock.net/ptk6.htm
http://www.teachersrock.net/ptk7.htm
http://www.teachersrock.net/ptk8.htm
http://www.teachersrock.net/ptk9.htm
http://www.teachersrock.net/ptk10.htm
http://www.teachersrock.net/ptk11.htm
http://www.teachersrock.net/ptk12.htm
http://www.teachersrock.net/ptk13.htm
http://www.teachersrock.net/ptk14.htm
http://www.teachersrock.net/ptk15.htm
http://www.teachersrock.net/ptk16.htm
http://www.teachersrock.net/ptk17.htm
http://www.teachersrock.net/ptk18.htm


Kompetensi P&P (701/02)

http://www.teachersrock.net/ptka1.htm
http://www.teachersrock.net/ptka2.htm
http://www.teachersrock.net/ptka3.htm
http://www.teachersrock.net/ptka4.htm
http://www.teachersrock.net/ptka5.htm
http://www.teachersrock.net/ptka6.htm
http://www.teachersrock.net/ptka7.htm
http://www.teachersrock.net/ptka8.htm

MAKSAK Games

I was out of school for about a week to prepare and play in the MAKSAK games held from 17-19th of July 2009. For a teacher, a week's absence is quite a while in terms of teaching sessions and classes. However, representing your state (or country) is also considered part of the job, and surely there has to be some leave that can be taken by teachers in this situation. Fortunately for me, there is a circular on this. It stated that the person involved can take up to 30 days of Unrecorded Leave. Thus, I can calmly train and play and as a result, we did well in the MAKSAK games held recently in Kota Bharu. Kelantan managed to get 4th placing in the chess event (the team consisted of 6 teachers from all over Kelantan). You can read all about it in my other blog.

PPSMI is No More

Finally, the jury is out. The defendant, PPSMI, is sentenced to slow death starting from 2012 until 2014. Malay and vernacular languages will again be used to teach Mathematics and Science, both in primary and secondary schools. However, the changes won't include Form Six and Matriculation. Since its inception, PPSMI has received negative views from all over Malaysia, especially from those from the rural areas. Several reasons were given, including the ever widening gap between rural and urban students and the low percentage of teachers' proficiency in English for those teaching these two subjects. Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yasin said that there will be changes in teaching English. Subjects on literature, composition and grammar will be re-introduced and the number of English teachers will be sufficiently increased.

Read more about it in The Star Online and Malaysia Kini.

Anti Virus Rankings 2009

I am now using Kaspersky Internet Security 8.0.0.506, but I am anxious as what's best for my laptop. So I browse the Internet for the rankings and found several websites showing the latest rankings, but I don't know which one is better because the rankings are contradicting. There is also a wonderful website with reviews for the top 10. Here is the ranking (as given by this website):

1. Bit Defender (there is a website giving free BD license for one year)
2. Kaspersky
3. Webroot
4. G DATA
5. ESET Nod32
6. ParetoLogic
7. AVG
8. Vipre
9. F-Secure
10. Trend Micro
11. McAfee
12. CyberDefender
13. Norton
14. CA
15. Norman
16. Panda
17. AVAST!
18. PC Tools
19. F-Prot
20. ViRobot

I am perplexed as where is Avira in the ranking?

Stuck in Raub

For the first time in my life as a car owner, my car broke down. When I was steering it in Raub town, I could not change the gear. Luckily, I was in town area, and I stopped in front of the Tabung Haji building. Fortunately also, I have a cousin living nearby, and she helped me to contact her friend, who is a mechanic. He told me that the clutch was probably broken and had to be changed. However, because it was already late in the evening, nothing could be done and had to be postponed the next day. I hope my boss will not be mad at me for I have to take a leave tomorrow, for sure!

How to Change 8Pax Contacts

8Pax is one of the features from Celcom which gives its users the opportunity to get a great discount on 8 selected contact numbers, which includes all Celcom numbers 019/013/0148 and also TM PSTN.

The 8pax users will only be charged RM0.15/min and RM0.01/SMS for those 8 special contact numbers. However, the TM PSTN will only include the call package only, not SMS.

Here is how to use the 8pax. All SMSes must be send to 28882. The first 8 contact numbers are free, but subsequent changes will be charged RM1/SMS.

8pax ON - to activate the numbers.
8pax LIST - to see the list of contact numbers.
8pax ADD - to add to the list.
8pax DEL - to delete from the list.

My Father Hospitalised for Stroke

Merely a week after I was hospitalised for food poisoning, my father was hit with stroke. Although he did not lose his ability to move his limbs, but he was unable to move his body about without somebody else's help. He also lost his speech ability, which made it hard for us to know what he wanted. We were in the Raja Perempuan Zainab Hospital's emergency room for one day, before being transferred to Bendahara ward for a week. On the eighth day, we brought him back home, when it was clear that nothing seemed to improve.

sisMAKAN

I just finished a course on sisMAKAN, a system for recording information of the school canteen. I am now an official JU (head coach) for Gua Musang SMM, and now also the JU for sisMAKAN. As in previous post, I was down with food poisoning, so I am particularly keen to uphold this system and make it work. This system is made compulsory for nationwide schools, so all the reported food poisoning will be recorded in the system, as well as the schools' actions when hit with the problem. The course was presented by Mr. Haris Fadzli bin Awang, from SMK Convent, Klang. The course was conducted at the Kota Bharu PPD near SMK Zainab at Telipot.

Hospitalised!

I applaud the recently kicked off 'Ops Gempur Kantin' by the Kelantan JPN not only because of the noble cause, but from my own experience. I was admitted to Tanah Merah Hospital for one whole day because of food poisoning. It started when I ate at the school canteen on Thursday (21 May 2009) during lunch, after which I started feeling nauseous. I drove from Gua Musang and started vomitting at Kuala Krai. Luckily I arrived safely at my father-in-law house in Tanah Merah. For two days afterwards, I vomitted all my food, which couldn't find their way to my stomach. The third day, Sunday 24th, my father-in-law sent me to the emergency ward and I was held for lost of lots of body fluids. 10 bags later, and after a night at the ward, I was released. The doctor gave me a whole week to recover my body strength, which I gladly taken because I was feeling so weak. Frankly speaking, I am still to have my full body strength, but I am grateful to Allah because of this beneficial experience.

Now I know how the students feel when hit with food poisoning.

Happy Teacher's Day

Yesterday is fifteen,
Hari ini enambelas,
Recess go to canteen,
Masa mengajar pergi kelas.

Yesterday is Friday,
Hari ini hari Sabtu,
Happy Teacher's Day,
Khas untuk kalian yang bergelar guru.

I got this poem from my fellow colleague. Nice touch, mixing both main languages we used in our school. Thanks, Mayo.

I would like to express my gratitude to all my previous teachers, many of whom I forgotten their names already; my kindergarten teachers, my primary school teachers at SK Paya Bemban, my secondary school teachers at SMU(A) Ma'ahad Muhammadi Lilbanin, my International Islamic University lecturers, my Qur'anic reading teachers (especially my late grandfather), my chess coaches (Rizal Ahmad Kamal and Ismail Ahmad), and more importantly my parents who have taught me about life.

Sultan Kelantan Is Ill

I just received a news that Duli Yang Maha Mulia Tuanku Al-Sultan Ismail Petra ibni Almarhum Al-Sultan Yahya Petra has just been admitted to HUSM because of illness. However, by the time of writing, the cause of his illness has yet to be revealed. Bernama said it was because of asthma attack, but it remains to be determined by the doctors. A HUSM assistant director, Dr. Rosdi Abdul Rahman, said that the Sultan is in stabil condition but refused to revealed the cause of illness when asked. Let's us pray for our beloved Sultan's health.

Can You Read This?

fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid, too. Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe tuo fo 100 anc.

i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! if you can raed tihs forwrad it.

If you can read this, your brain is 50% faster than those who can't.

EduwebTV Course Successful?

The internal course was conducted from 28 - 29th April at the school Access Centre. It was a follow up course after the course I attended early last month. Fifteen fellow colleagues, teaching various subjects, attended the course. I tried my best to share my knowledge of how to benefit from the educational portal. However, I would be lying if I said that it was a completely satisfying course. There were many glitches, mainly concerning technicality of playing the videos, which are the most important part of this course. I did not have ample time to check every computer used for this course, thus rendering these technical slip-ups to happen. Sorry to all the participants, but luckily they did not return home empty handed. They knew how make a playlist, download a video, and how to use it beneficially in their PNPs.

Some pictures from the course:

EduwebTV Course

Tomorrow, I will be conducting the EduwebTV course for the teachers. It will be a two-day course because it is held during the school day. For starters, I only open it to 20 teachers on the first-come-first-serve basis. I will see if this course is a successful one, I will consider conducting another in the near future. I know that many of them do not have the opportunity to attend courses outside the school, thus slimming their chance of fulfilling the 7 days annual requirement for the in-service training. Therefore, they really need this course and any other courses in order to complete their requirement.

Virus, Virus, Oh Go Away!

Part of my job as a person in-charge of ICT in the school is to ensure that all computer is virus-free There are many types of viruses found in our computers; some of them were malicious and some not that dangerous. However, I took no chances and tried to remove them all. Some of the viruses (and the method I used to remove them) are mentioned below:

1. Trojan.BAT.Shutdown.bi found in C:\WINDOWS\pc-off.bat
This is a very malicious trojan where I found it repeatedly shut down a computer in the computer lab, making it difficult for me to do anything about it. So, I hooked the hard drive to another pc and scanned it with Kaspersky, which deleted it from the hard drive.


2. IM-Worm.Win32.Sohanad.bm
This is a common virus found in our computers. It copied itself and made dubious new folders all around the system. Actually, according to the definition, it is a worm generation programme which can create different types of worms when residing in the system. Luckily, however, Kaspersky picked it out easily and did the job for me.

Virus Prevention Tip:

It is quite perplexing how users always neglected to scan their removable drive (eg. pen drives and diskettes) before using it. No amount of anti viruses are to be responsible for the insertion of the virus if they are not used. This is what they should do:

1. Insert the pen drive.
2. Do not open the pen drive (or diskette) when prompted by this dialogue box.


3. Scan with anti virus (Kaspersky is provided by the Ministry of Education, thankfully)
4. Use the pen drive safely.


There is also a technical way (using CMD.exe or Command Window) of removing pen drive virus I found here.

Basic Knowledge for Car Owners

Today was the first time I had to use my skill of changing tyres. Actually, one of my father's rear tyre burst during his drive to Tanah Merah to see his grandchild, 'Ammar. Luckily for him, the incident happened only 5 kilometres from my in-law house where I was at that time. I quickly drove to the scene and tried my hands at something I never done before. It was also quite funny to see that the spare tyre was so small! Carefully, I drove the car to the nearest workshop and bought a new tyre.

Look at the spare tyre!

Well, changing tyre is quite easy when you know the correct way of doing it. Basically, these are the steps for changing tyres:

1. Park the car on level ground and engage the handbrake.
2. Loose the wheel bolts slightly (but not completely).
3. Jack up the car.
4. Remove the wheel bolts completely and take out the tyre.
5. Put the spare tyre and tighten the wheel bolts slightly.
6. Remove the jack and tighten the wheel bolts completely.

There is a pictorial guide on how to change tyre I found on the Net.

Al-Fatihah to Asmady Zakaria

Road accidents have been the cause of death for many Malaysians nowadays. A look at the statistic provided by Malaysian Institute of Road Safety (MIROS) in their 10 year research shows that the number of deaths are steady at around 6,000 for the year 1997-2007. Last year's events, which ended in a sour note with fatal accident in Kuala Krai, are incapable of giving the lessons for our motorists, as this year started with equally fatal accident in Gua Musang, where 10 people died in the collision between a Kancil, a Kenari and a Nissan Murano. I am prompted to write about road accidents today as one of my friend, Mohd Asmady bin Zakaria, died today in an accident after Jumaat prayer. It has been a long time since I last saw him, but I was equally sad when told about the news this evening. May he rest in peace, al-Fatihah.

Found his blogs. Read and weep here and here.

Teaching Literature to Weak Pupils

Tomorrow, I will attempt teaching Si Tenggang's Homecoming to 4 Sejahtera pupils, a weak class in term of English studies (other subjects also, for that matter). Their level of command is around 5 percent only; their vocabulary is so little, even simple words such as 'reach' they got it wrong and wrote it as 'rich'. It will be an uphill task; I struggled getting them to understand Sonnet 18. However, I will try teaching the poem while at the same time upgrading their vocabulary by asking them to fill in the blanks in the poem's synopsis with several target words. This way, the pupils will learn at least 10 new words and understand the poem in general.

By the way, there's a great website on literature for secondary school pupils which I want to promote. You can enjoy it by clicking here.

How Did I Spend My Holidays?

I asked my students to write a journal on how they spent their holidays. Journal writing is one of the ways to learn English. At first, your writing maybe consisting of many grammatical errors, but it will be gradually improved once you write your journal frequently. The students can write on any topic, but sometimes it is better for the teacher to state the mutual topic for all students so that it will be easier for him to check their writings.

So, how did I spent my holidays? I went to Bangi to spend my holidays with my wife. We went to many interesting places. First of all, we visited National Science Centre. There, we viewed all the galleries and tried most of the games and science exhibits. What I liked most are the mathematics problems. My wife was amused when I solved all the problems. One of the problems was to put 9 numbers so that all horizontal, vertical and diagonal lines amount to 15. Next, we went to Alamanda Putrajaya. Nothing interesting there, except that it was our first time. We enjoyed watching The Geng movie at the Golden Screen Cinema inside the shopping centre. It was a good movie by a group of young Malaysians who were excellent in their graphics study and put it to good use by producing the Upin and Ipin characters. Although the target group were mostly children, but it targeted families as well. The next day, we went to Nilai 3 to buy a big Sarawak rattan matress for my mother for RM65. I don't know whether it is really cheap because we actually stopped by one shop only just to save time. In the evening, we went boat riding at The Mines Wonderland at Sri Kembangan. Initially, we wanted to experience the wonderland, but to our surprise, it is closed on Mondays.

They said a picture worth a thousand words. Enjoy.

National Science Centre

Under the fish tank

Putting the gears together

Math problem solved

Periodic Table as the background

At Alamanda, Putrajaya

Boat ride at the Mines

Maulid al-Rasul Celebration

The Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is our idol in life as a Muslim. What he did, what he said, should be our guidance, as it is a revelation from Allah the Almighty. To commemorate him, all Muslims around the world celebrated his birthday. Our school celebrated his birthday with the slaughter of a cow. The night before the expected celebration, the teachers made some preparation. They cut the meat into small pieces to facilitate the cooking. The next day, the celebration started with a speech for the Muslim students at Dataran Petra while the non-Muslim students listened to a speech at the canteen. After the speeches, the teachers distributed the rice with the cooked meat to all the students.