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.

SPM Results Today!

Congratulations to all students who achieve excellent results in their SPM this year, especially to our own best student, M. Saifulil Rahman Ramli, who got 5As for his efforts. The school also managed to get better percentage compared to last year, even though the increase is not substantial.

I also want to congratulate Nik Nur Madihah binti Nik Mohd Kamal's (picture left) achievement of 20As (19A1 and 1A2) in her SPM. First of all, it clearly shows that poverty is not an excuse to excel in her study. Living in a house smaller than a garage for some of her richer friends, does not deter her from getting what most of them could only envy. I applaud the PKINK for giving her a better house to live in. Secondly, it shows once again that Malay students are better than others when it comes to education. Remember Azali Azlan and Nur Amalina, two previous best achievers in SPM? However, Madihah's preference of continuing her studies in the Arabic world is far better than her two predecessors who continued their studies in the US of America and United Kingdom, respectively.

Here are some of her pictures collected from the Internet:

The Lost World of Tambun

If you want to play water-based games, The Lost World of Tambun is the place to be. There will be a natural hot water pool, a main adult pool, a children pool, Tube Raider, water walk and many others to keep you and your family occupied from the morning until the evening. The fees were reasonable, but better still, you should come as a group and the fees will be more worthwhile. Put on the bar-coded bracelet on your wrist and you are ready to go. I went there with my mother's office mates and their families for their family day gathering. Although I did not participate in many of the events, I did enjoy watching them play, especially the kids. After that, we brought our tired limb and lodged in at Sun Inns hotel before going up the Cameron Highlands the next day.

Happy Birthday, My Son

4th March 2009 - It's been a year since my son, 'Ammar, was born to this world. Time was moving so fast I didn't even realized that 'Ammar is now a one-year-old handsome boy. We held a birthday party at Budiman 2, Jedok. The party started with the recitation of selawat. Then, 'Ammar cut the cake (with the help of his beloved father) and distributed it to the guests, who include his Mama To', To' Ayah, To' Bah, To' Ma, Cik Lang, Ucu, To' Teh, To' Su and many others. Afterwards, 'Ammar played the ballons until he felt sleepy. The party was a success, and I thanked all the guests before kissing him goodnight and headed for KB.

Some pictures from the party (especially for you, my darling):

Eduwebtv, Digital Education for All

I'm now at BTPN, Pengkalan Chepa for a course on Eduwebtv. Basically, it is a 2-days course on how to effectively use Eduwebtv, a website by the Ministry of Education. It officially started on 1st March 2008 and has 7 types of programmes, including:

1. News on events and activities under the MOE
2. Interviews with MOE personalities
3. Academical talk where teachers share their knowledge in respective fields
4. Documentaries
5. Interactive
6. TV Programmes on education
7. Live MOE events

You can download the circular at this website.

On day 2 of the course, we presented some PNPs by using the videos we get from Eduwebtv. I was in Group 5 with Jasmani from SMK Chiku 2, Rafeah from SMK Paloh and Zanariah from SK Sri Wakaf Bharu.

Here are some pictures from the course:

Tuan Haji Ibrahim bin Deris shared his knowledge with the participants

Group 5 (from left) : Jasmani, Rafeah, Zanariah and Yours Truly

Ashiq, Tuan Haji Ibrahim's assistant