SPM Sample Essay

In one of the lessons where we were revising for SPM examination, I told my students that they should memorize at least a narrative essay in order to tackle Section B of Paper 1. One of my students memorize this essay:

However, I was aghast when I read the SPM Paper 1 questions. It was so specific that I wondered how can my students write what they had already memorized. Below is an idea:

4. Write a story about a fisherman starting with 'The wind blew strongly. Out at sea...'

   The wind blew strongly. Out at sea, I carefully navigated the ship, hoping to survive another day. As a seasoned fisherman, this was nothing new. However, I could not help remembering what happened last year. 

    It was a scorching hot day. My daughter just had netball practice and felt very exhausted. She headed to the bus stop to wait for Bus 101 which would take her home.  She was beginning to drift off to sleep when she saw the bus arriving. The sun was shining ablaze and that was probably the reason why she took the wrong bus, Bus 111. She was totally unaware of it.
   

   She was glad to get a seat. Within minutes, she was slumped against the window, fast asleep. When she opened her eyes more than an hour later, she found herself in the middle of nowhere. It was already dusk and she was the only passenger left on the bus. She could not recognize the part of town they were passing through. She pressed the bell and the bus puffed to a halt. She planned to hop across the road and catch a bus going the opposite direction. But, she found herself on a deserted street with a row of shops that were already shuttered. She kicked herself for not asking the driver for directions.
    

   As she was wondering what to do, a motorcycle lurched into view and stopped right in front of her. She braved herself to ask him how to get back to Taman Kenangan. He grinned, showing his uneven set of teeth. Then he patted the back seat and said that he would send her home. Without hesitation, she scrambled on the pillion. He turned the motorcycle around and headed in the direction she wanted. They travelled for about fifteen minutes and the road seemed peculiar to her. The rider made a few turns and she knew she was brought to different unknown destination.
    

   Out of the blue, alarm bells started to ring in her head. She tapped his back and told him to stop. He leaned forward and went at high speed instead before slowing down to turn into a dark and narrow road that led into an oil palm plantation.
    

   My daughter had had enough. She leaped off and rolled herself onto the ground. Angrily, the man turned around and rode towards her. She swung her school bag at him and he lost his balance before falling off his motorcycle. Without looking back, she ran for her life. She dared not to stop until she found herself on a tarred road. She was relieved to see a taxi and waved her hand, hoping that it would stop. Luckily, it did! She got in and gave the driver our house address. 

   After twenty minutes, she arrived at our home. When I came towards her, she hugged me tightly. After I learnt what had happened, I was horrified. I told her that she should have just looked for a public phone and called home when she was lost. 

   A splash of sea water on the face suddenly brought me to reality. I wryly smiled. 

Badminton Tournament SMKCE

Relieving stress is essential in order for us to work efficiently. There are many ways to relieve stress, and it is up to us to choose them accordingly. They can be in the form of reading, chatting or even eating. 

My school teachers found out that playing badminton also serves this purpose effectively. We divided ourselves into four groups:

Group A : Mr. Ghazali (Principal), Mr. Azmi (Senior Assistant of Administration), Mr. Wan Ridhauddeen, Ustaz Zahari, Mr. Zulkhairi and  Mr. Asfayuzie. 

Group B : Mr. Zulkifli, Mr. Wan Rahiman (Senior Assistant of Co-Curricular Activities), Mr. Adnan Mahmud, Mr. Ismail, Mr. Che Mohd Nasir, Mr. Mazlan Rahim and Yours Truly.

Group C : Mr. Adnan Ahmad (Senior Assistant of Form Six), Mr. Tuan Muhd Shafri, Mr. Lan (Teacher Sunita's husband), Mr. Mat Rani, Mr. Imran and Mr. Yusof (Warden).

Group D : Mr. Fatihi, Mr. Zaidi, Mr. Ridhwan, Mr. Osman, Mr. Mazlan Wahab and Mr. Shukri.

It is hard to believe that after all this while, the principal is still a very good badminton player. He was paired with Mr. Asfayuzie and they won all their games handsomely. Group A benefited from that pairing and they won the tournament with 7 points. 

I was paired with Mr. Mazlan Rahim in Group B. Although we also won both our matches, our group only managed to be second because of a dubious tie breaker (I never knew how it was counted) after getting the same amount of points (7 points). 

Group D was third with 3 points and Group C was last without any win (0 point). 

The results were announced in the final year dinner held at Perdana Hotel, Kota Bharu.

Book Review - Yesterday I was a Doctor

Title : I want to tell a story : Yesterday, I was a Doctor

Author / Publisher : Mohd Nazir Mohd Nazori
Pages : 155
Price : RM10.00
ISBN : 978-967-12789-0-1

I bought the book at his parents' house on 20th Oct 2014. I started reading it at 6.15 p.m. that day and I finished at 2.15 a.m. the next day.

About the author 

He is my cousin's eldest son. I heard about his ordeals but never really know what happened until I read this book. I think I was also in the time period mentioned in the book when I went to the state where his then workplace is situated because my wife was posted there. I stayed at his in-laws house for some days during which I was in touch with him for quite some time. I have heard about his problem from my mother but I never really asked him about it because I was engrossed in searching for my wife's accommodation. Luckily, I was not mentioned in the book as an antagonist, much to my relief. 

For me, he is quite a nice and soft-spoken guy. He really respects the elders, based on what I perceive whenever we meet, especially towards his aunt (my mother). I never really saw this coming as I have always regarded him as a good achiever, being the eldest son of an architect and a lecturer. 

About the book

It is written in the story-telling style, using first person narrative. The foreword was written on my birthday, which really pleases me a lot. Nobody's name is mentioned in the book, which actually preserves the animosity of those involved. The cover is artful enough and it complements the title. It has ten chapters, all of which are unevenly written in terms of page allocations. It targets mainly those who experience the same problem - depression - with the hope that it will help them to deal with the problem properly. 

Personal comments

As I am teaching English, I could not help noticing the grammatical mistakes. I could find at least three reading the Acknowledgement alone, not to mention the whole book. However, I understand that this is a personally published book, which is surely not including some professional proofreading, so I will neglect the errors and focus on the content. His vocabulary is wide though, arguably wider than mine, and it is understandable considering that he was in the United Kingdom during childhood and continued his study there after the SPM. 

In terms of the physical side of the book, there are some flaws. The cover, in my humble opinion, should have the title written on its spine, which will be of some help when the book is stored on a bookshelf. Furthermore, there is no content page, so I had to browse the book page by page to count the number of chapters. On the other hand, the book should have a page where the author explains all the jargon used in the book, as I struggled to understand the meaning of MO, HO, CBT or PSY, just to name a few. To be fair, the author tried to explain some of them using side notes.

The content of the book is basically easy. It portrays the author's life story starting from the time when he remembers it until the ultimate defining moment of his resignation. I really learned something new about this particular cousin of mine, and would relish the chance to meet him again after becoming an author. I agree that the topic of depression should be discussed more deeply and the the sufferer should be treated more fairly before any judgment could be made.

I salute his decision of not mentioning any names in the book, but I personally think that his name should also be hidden under a pen name because nowadays we can trace anything based on the tiniest piece of information. In this particular case, somebody may dig up even the name of the hospital where the event took  place.    

Conclusion

I really enjoyed reading the book and would not stop short in recommending this to everybody, especially those main target readers. To know more about the book, click here to visit the page dedicated for it. 

September Test K-BAT Questions

These questions need to be answered using a little bit of thinking, which is quite a luxury among students nowadays. 

Alina had just arrived home from attending a job interview. She felt utterly miserable. 

1. Why does Aline feel this way?
- She did badly in the interview.

2. Why do you think so?
- She felt utterly miserable.

Jack finished reading a book. He jumped at the slightest noise and dared not sleep alone in his room.

1. Why does Jack feel this way?

- He was scared.

2. What is the book about?

- The book was about ghosts.

3. Why do you think so?

- He jumped at the slightest noise and dared not sleep alone in his room. 

Father came in from the garden. His hands were full of dirt. He was sweating profusely. He finished two big glasses of iced lemonade. 

1. What was father doing?

- Father was gardening.

2. What was the weather like outside?

- The weather was hot outside.

3. Why do you think so?

- He was sweating profusely.

When Mr. Jones opened the front door, he saw the sitting room was in a mess. The drawers of the cabinet were pulled out. Some chairs were overturned. A few keys were on the floor. A fifty dollar note that Mrs. Jones left on the dining table together with the electricity bill was missing. 

1. What had happened?

- Someone had broken into Mr. Jones house.

2. Why do you think so?

- The drawers of the cabinet were pulled out. Some chairs were overturned. A few keys were on the floor. A fifty dollar note that Mrs. Jones left on the dining table together with the electricity bill was missing.

Ali looked gloomily out of his bedroom window. He saw a few of his friends were flying kites in the field. He could not join them. His mother would not allow him to do so.

1. What was wrong with Ali?

- He was sick.

2. Why do you think so?

- Ali looked gloomily out of his bedroom window. He saw a few of his friends were flying kites in the field. He could not join them. His mother would not allow him to do so.

There is a real need for medical staff to be placed at all NS training centres. If an emergency occurs, who is there to give the initial treatment for any injuries or accidents? Now with 700 to 800 trainees in each camp, who is qualified to treat or provides the necessary first aid that may save a person's life?

1. Why is there a need for medical staff to be stationed in NS training centres?

- They are needed to tend to emergency cases.

2. What probably led to the writer's appeal for medical staff?

- Probably there had been some trainees falling ill at the training centre.

3. Do you think the writer is against NS training?

- No, she wants the trainees to be well-looked after in case they fall ill.

4. What would be the role of the medical staff at NS training centres?

- Their role is to give initial treatment for any injuries or accidents.

 

Google Street View

The Taman al Kaff mosque

WOW! This is my first word after using the Google Street View. The above screen shot shows the mosque of Taman al Kaff, Tanah Merah situated in front of my father-in-law's house. You may click here to see the surrounding of the housing area. However, you might need to guess which is his house because I am not telling you!

From what I can see, the privacy is not an issue here because the faces and other important details such as house numbers and car plates are blurred. Nevertheless, if your details are shown, don't worry because there is something which can be done. You may read a post here showing how to delete those details.

The entrance to my village

As to my house, it seems that the Google vehicle could not enter deep into the 'jungle' and stopped just at the entrance of the road. Click here to see what is shown nearest to my house. 

Have fun searching for yours!

5B Verbs Task

A week before the trial, I did a lesson where I asked my 5 Bestari students to fill in the blanks with verbs. Here is the story (with the omitted verbs in red):

It was a blazing summer’s day. My surroundings were slowly starting to melt: the trees, the houses, the sky and the pathway to my garage. It seemed that I was about to dissipate as well, becoming a puddle of glue-like substance left on the ground.

I was walking at crawling speed. My head felt huge and heavy, and each muscle in my body felt sore. My arms and legs were responding to the signals that my brain was sending to them at a slower speed than I thought was possible. It felt like a slow-motion horror movie, only it was happening live. I finally reached the front door and touched the handle with a loose grip. The path that took only a second for my eyes to see took about twenty minutes for my body to cover. But, I was finally at my goal.

I slowly squeezed the handle of the door in a downwards motion, only to realize it had barely moved. I gathered the last reserves of my strength that I had left in my body and pressed the handle again. No success. I pivoted around, leaned against the door, and slowly slid down to the ground. I felt faint. I was so thirsty that I could barely think about anything else. I had to get inside; had to pull myself together and open the door. Otherwise, I would faint there, near the front entrance to my own house.

I pushed myself up from the ground and faced the door again. I closed my eyes for a second, took a deep breath, opened them, and pulled the door knob down as hard as I could. It gave way grudgingly. If it wasn’t for the helpless shadow of a man that I was at that moment, I would definitely have screamed in happiness for finally winning over this stubborn door knob. But I could only settle on a weak smile and a deep sigh.

I went inside and had to wait for a minute before I could make out my environment. It was too dark, still boiling hot and, somehow, lonely inside. By the time my eyes adapted to the darkness inside, I could tell that no one was around. What time was it? And where was everyone? The house was completely and scarily quiet. The silence was unnatural. There was no sound coming from the working fridge, or ticking clock; nothing. I went to the kitchen to get some water, opened the tap and put an empty glass under it. But no water poured, not even a drop. The glass remained empty. This seemed like a complete nightmare. I thought that I must have been dreaming – my small world had become ravished by emptiness, and somehow, I was forgotten here all alone, left to pass away into the realms of thirst and heat.

I was having a panic attack. Yet with the panic, I was enabled by strength to run from one room to another, looking for anyone besides myself. Mom, Josh, dad, Charlie – no one was to be seen. The dogs were gone too. What is wrong with my home? Again, for the third or fourth time, I caught myself thinking this was just a bad dream. But my body still vividly felt the pains of soreness. Having no clue of what else, except the pain, that could help me distinguish between dreaming and reality, I had to accept the fact that I was living in this nightmare for real.

Suddenly, I heard a sound from downstairs. It was a faint sound that repeated in a second, only louder. I jolted downstairs, feeling cautious and, at the same time, hoping that it was someone, or something, that could explain to me what was going on.

The living room was empty. The source of the sound seemed to be from the back porch outside, and it was increasing in volume with every new cycle. It reminded me of when dad and I went rowing, and every time dad turned over the oars, they made the same whistling sound, cleaving the air. I ran outside the back door and was almost brought down to the ground by the force of the wind. It was a helicopter, right above me, maneuvering so that it would land on me. I laid on the ground, screaming, but I couldn’t hear my voice through the noise of the implacable blades getting closer, and freezing me to the ground….

… “Jason, honey, wake up! It’s just a dream, babe. You look so pale. Are you okay?”

My mom was standing next to my bed like a guardian statue. She tried to appease me as I was still screaming and flapping my arms. When I calmed down to a relative level of normalcy, I stared at the fan above my head, spinning and whistling like a nightmare creator.

Original source

Preconceived

We do this a lot in our life. We accept that this is for that, and that is for this quite naturally. This is mainly because we are driven by the so-called 'norm' which sometimes is misleading. Try this example: 

Which of these two cars do you think has this plate number?

This?

Or this?

So, which car bears the above plate number?

On this note, when we do something over and over again because our fathers do it over and over again because their fathers do it over and over again, we accept it as a norm, or 'adat'. It will be hard for us to change it, even when we found out that it is actually wrong. For the above illustration, the MyVI in the bottom picture actually bears the plate number, contrary to the norm that only expensive cars like the above Vios have this kind of plate numbers.

Recent development in education tries to minimize the number of public examinations our students have to endure, taking into account the success of some other nations' educational system which has O or A Level examinations only compared to our UPSR, PMR, SPM, STPM examinations. I personally agree with this because I don't think a public examination is good for twelve year olds as they can barely think on their own. What we can examine on them is only their memorization, not their knowledge, and this is quite absurd. Coupled with the false preconceived notion that a student who has more As is better than those who has lesser, our educational system might not achieve its objectives. Worst still, unqualified person in the system misuse their position which lead to destruction, like the leakage of examination papers' answers, just for a bragging right that their school has more straight As students than others.

However, because of the accepted norm that we must have all the above public examinations, it is very hard to change the way our educational system is heading now. Everybody must think alike, starting from the top of the system down to the very bottom, to make the so called PPPM a success. We have the time until 2025 to see the results, but the false norm should be corrected now, or we will never see the fruition of the plan.

Conclusively, I think it is high time for our education to start educating, and the teachers starts to be called the EDUCATORS. 

All the Best for Your SPM Trial 2014

I would like to wish GOOD LUCK to all my students who are taking SPM trial examination. I hope you will do better than your mid year examination. I saw that most of you focused on completing the papers today at school. 5 Bestari and 5 Jujur, I have your papers with me right now and I hope to complete the marking in two weeks time at the most. 

Narrative Essay Form 5 Bestari 2014

Today, I did a narrative essay lesson with my 5 Bestari class. I hooked my laptop into a screen and asked my students to continue my sentence. It started with 'I was walking down the stairs...' Once they had given me the response, I typed it into the laptop, correcting the mistakes as we went along. Here is the complete essay: 

     I was walking down the stairs when I heard a scary sound coming from the kitchen. It was past midnight. I was curious to know what happened, but I was too scared. Nevertheless, I tiptoed towards the kitchen because I was afraid somebody or something that made the sound knew I was there. I tried to peek into the kitchen but I could not see anything because it was dark without the lights on.
  
    Suddenly, the sound mysteriously disappeared. My heart beat heavily. With heavy steps, I went into the kitchen, reached for the switch and turned on the lights. I checked under the dinner table, peered under the sink and opened the cabinets but there was nothing. Out of the blue, I heard a knock on the kitchen door. I became frightened again.
  
    I was running towards my bedroom when my I-Phone rang. An unknown number appeared on the screen. I let it ring for sometime before I answered it.  I just kept quiet to listen to his or her voice. However, I did not hear any sound coming from the other side. Nervously, I said, “Hello, is anybody there?” There was silence. Angrily, I hung up. A few seconds later, the phone rang again. Furiously, I shouted, “What do you want?” That ‘thing’ replied my question by laughing maniacally. I was shocked and the phone fell from my shaking hands. It landed on the floor with the screen facing up. I looked at the phone anxiously. It looked like a tiger ready to pounce at me. I remembered a scene from The Ring where something horrible crept out from a television. I was afraid that the ‘thing’ would creep out from my phone!
  
    All of a sudden, there was a message coming in. I braved myself to pick up the phone. I opened the message and read it. All my curiosity turned into a joy when I saw what was written. It said: HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Then, my parents and my siblings came in from the kitchen door with a big birthday cake in their hands singing the birthday song merrily.

Gotong-royong

Gotong-royong is loosely translated as 'cooperation' in some dictionaries while Wikipedia mentions the word 'communal work'. It is an act of gathering together to accomplish a task which is usually for the mutual benefit. In Malaysia, gotong-royong is widely held nationwide and it is a culture of the multiracial people. 

Today, a gotong-royong was held in my village in order to clean up the surrounding from possible Aedes breeding. All villagers cooperated in clearing their homes from rubbish before bringing it to the waiting MPKB lorry at the village mosque. Refreshments were provided by the committee. 

Several causes of dengue fever have been identified by the authorities. Poor drainage system, among others, is said to be one of the main causes. Aedes mosquitoes, easily identifiable because of its black and white stripes on its body, like to breed in stagnant water. When the drains could not properly flow the water, it gets stuck. This will become the perfect place for Aedes to lay their eggs. Another possible cause is the dirty habit of throwing rubbish everywhere. Rubbish containing tins and bottles can hold rain water and this will attract the dreaded dengue vector. Aedes mosquitoes also like to be in dark places, so, uncut grass is also a suitable place. 

Apart from above-mentioned causes, residents are also susceptible to this dangerous disease when their homes have containers which hold stagnant water such as the ant traps and the flower vases. The danger also comes from the uncollected rubbish when the local authorities do not timely collect the waste material. Ignorant residents add insult to injury when they simply do not know their responsibility in fighting these silent killers. Instead of minimizing the deadly effect, they actually contribute to the ever increasing percentage of dengue cases. 

In order to combat the problem, there are several suggestions. The most obvious answer is by reducing the mosquito habitat. It is only logical that when there is no killer vector, there will be no disease. Putting away those open cans, tins and used tyres properly as well as taking care of clogged drains and rubbish will deprive the Aedes mosquitoes of their breeding places. The authorities should also help by providing fogging service accordingly to the schedule, especially at those places which are flagged as dengue areas. At homes, residents should supply larvicide to the ant traps and flower vases in addition to changing the water on alternate days. 

Stricter punishment should be imposed on those who have repeatedly ignored the warnings about taking care of their surroundings. Currently, the authorities impose RM500 fine on each detected larvae. This should be enough to make the residents think twice about leaving their open containers unattended. Gotong-royong is one of the ways to prevent dengue fever from spreading. Cleaning up should be merrier when residents do the task together. Awareness campaign in all kinds of media, electronically or printed, can be a stepping stone to guide those ignorant residents about the danger of dengue fever. They should be told that the disease affects all without prejudice, and they are not excluded from possible death.    

Cambridge Placement Test (Result)

Some of my TESL friends ask me how to check the results for their Cambridge Placement Test (CPT). It was a test designed by Cambridge University which must be taken by TESL teachers nationwide to determine their level of proficiency in English Language. 

Here is the link:

 

Here is the letter about the CPT: 

 

Selamat Hari Raya!

1435 Hijriah (2014 A.D.) - We celebrated the eve of Hari Raya this year in the car, queuing among the many cars at the Pasir Hor junction on our way to Tanah Merah. It was a really long queue starting from the SMK Padang Enggang towards the traffic lights. We were there from 11.30 p.m. until 2.30 a.m.! I was not a fan of jumping queue, but was very incensed when the left lane moved while the lane I was in did not move even an inch. The driver of the white Myvi in front of me lost patience and took the left lane, prompting me to do the same. However, I waited for another five minutes before actually took the left lane when it appeared that the car directly in front of me (previously there was the white Myvi) was not moving. I overtook it, glanced into it, and gasped when I saw that the driver was leaning back towards the seat with his mouth opened! Shocked, I did not honk my horn to find out whether he was asleep or even worse, fainted or dead! I did look into my rear-view mirror 300 metres afterward to ascertain whether the car moved or not, and I saw that it was still there. I really hoped that the driver was okay.

The first day of Hari Raya was not joyous. My wife's eyes was red and we just stayed at home. Then another queue at the Salor roundabout ensued before we took the old Salor road to stop for 'Asar prayer. We went to a 24-hour Polyclinic at Kota Bharu to buy eye drop. I was quite surprise because the doctor and the staffs were Malays, and they were wearing their Hari Raya clothes.

This morning, my lovely daughter was up early, so we decided to go for a walk at the beach. I started my car and drove to Pantai Senok. On the way, we stopped and bought some breakfast meals. We were flabbergasted to see crabs and  'serati' (a type of duck) were on the menu!. My wife, of course, bought the crabs and preferred the 'serati'. We ate the breakfast at the beach. It was really a beautiful scene. My wife's eyes were better than yesterday and hopefully, we would be able to visit some relatives today.

Can you believe this is breakfast?

'Afaf and Ummi were having a walk at Pantai Senok

'Afaf wrote on the sand

  

SELAMAT HARI RAYA!

 

Yokohama or Kenda?

I got a near flat tyre yesterday. I wasn't using my Avanza for 2 days and one of the rear tyres was deflated. I went for a check after school today and it seemed that the air slowly deflated through the previously punctured hole. 

I use Kenda for my front tyres and Yokohama for my rear tyres. Actually, my routine is to change two tyres at a time, mainly because of the expensive nature of the tyres. My Kenda tyres were bought in 2012 while my Yokohama tyres were acquired in 2010. So, it is high time for the new ones. 

Do I go for Kenda again worth RM170/tyre or Yokohama worth RM220/tyre? 

Aniha is the 50-word Sentence Competition Winner

In my last post, I held a sentence-building competition for my students. Sadly, only one participated and she was arguably among the best in 4A class. Nevertheless, I thank Aniha binti Rahim for her effort and congratulations to her, she is the winner!

Although there are a lot to be said about her sentence, make no mistake, she already tried her best.  

This is her sentence:

The labourer,who is Nazmizan works at the construction of the new hospital diligently after he tried a lot of vacancies because his low academic achievement is not comparable with other jobs since he get low grades in academic as he need to work to feed his poor family and himself. (50 words)

Now, let us check her sentence whether it is written according to the rules. Rule number one : The participant must use the given subject and finite verb above as the main subject and verb. In her sentence, she used 'The labourer' as her subject and 'works' as her main verb. PASSED. 

Rule number four : The finite verb must be used in the suitable tenses. She wrote 'works' in Simple Present Tense because her sentence is a statement or fact. However, the tenses for other verbs are incorrectly used. The verb 'tried' is not suitable and it should be substituted with 'had tried'. The verbs 'get' and 'need' is simply grammatical wrong in terms of Subject-Verb Agreement. She should have used 'gets' and 'needs'. PARTLY PASSED. 

Rule number two : The participant must use Complex Sentence. Compound Sentence will not be accepted. In the sentence we can see that there are at least 4 sentences combined with the conjunctions 'after', 'because' and 'as'. The labourer,who is Nazmizan works at the construction of the new hospital diligently after he tried a lot of vacancies because his low academic achievement is not comparable with other jobs since he get low grades in academic as he need to work to feed his poor family and himself. FAILED.

CORRECTION

The same sentence can be written as below:

Nazmizan, a hardworking labourer who had tried a lot of vacancies because his low academic achievement is not comparable with other jobs since he gets low grades in academic as he needs to work to feed his poor family and himself, works at the construction of the new hospital diligently. (50 words) 

This sentence still comply to rule number three : Using the word 'The labourer' is optional. Any other words with the same meaning is acceptable. In my correction, I use 'Nazmizan' as my subject, and I really mean him to be the labourer in the sentence.  

You also have to use punctuation clearly; in this case, a comma, to separate the sentences which are joined by the conjunctions. These two commas differentiate between the main sentence, 'Nazmizan works at the construction of the new hospital diligently' from the supporting sentence; the adjective clause. 

50-Word Sentence Competition

1 May is Labour Day, so, it is a rest day for me. This also means that I have extra from my pay this month which I would like to share with my students from 5 Bestari and 4 Arif. Earlier, I had a lesson which required them to make a 50-word sentence from the given subject and a finite verb. Therefore, I will be giving them the opportunity to use their prior knowledge to make a 50-word sentence as creatively as possible and get RM50.00 for reward. 

Please use the following subject and finite verb:

The labourer works.

The Rules and Regulations

1. The participant must use the given subject and finite verb above as the main subject and verb.

2. The participant must use Complex Sentence. Compound Sentence will not be accepted. 

3. Using the word 'The labourer' is optional. Any other words with the same meaning is acceptable. 

4. The finite verb must be used in the suitable tenses.  

5. The sentence  must consists of 50 words; not more or less. 

6. The sentence must be written in the comments below this post complete with the participant's name and class name.

7. The participant can submit more than one sentence.

8. The sentence must be submitted starting from today until 31st May 2014.

9. The participant must be from 5 Bestari or 4 Arif 2014.

10. My decision is final.

Click here to submit your answer.

Edu Ria at SMKCE featuring Kecik TRW

Learning should not only be done inside a classroom; it is actually best to learn outside the classroom. There are lots of things which can be learned - interacting with people, business and marketing, and information gathering from various sources are only to name a few - and all these cannot be found inside a classroom full of broken chairs and desks. 

Edu Ria (or Education Enjoyment in English) is the sort of programme organised by SMK Chabang Empat which allows the students to implement the theories they have learned through the interaction at the stalls, exhibition booths and also through segments on the Dewan To' Beta stage.

To top it off, the school invites one of the members of The Red Warriors, Mr. Wan Zaharulnizam or Kecik, to meet the students. It was a golden opportunity for the students to meet their favourite player, and boy they really took it. Kecik was surrounded by the students from the moment he entered the school premise until he left an hour later. They took the opportunity to take pictures with him and asked for his autograph.With a smile on his face, he professionally interacted with his fans and they really loved him. 

The teachers were also starstruck, and I was one of them. Luckily, we had more opportunities than the students to take pictures with him. I was the first one to greet him when he arrived but I took pictures with him only half an hour later inside the school office. 

In a way, I am at least equal to him. He is the state football player and I am the state chess player. However, chess is not popular in Kelantan compared to football, so the admiration for him and The Red Warriors is more and the admiration for me and The Red Knights is virtually non-existent. 

Maybe it is the difference between a professional player and a semi-professional player. Luckily for the football players, they got out of the semi-pro label in the 1990s and only God knows when the chess players can be professional players in Malaysia.

Kecik in action

Me in action

Some pictures taken from the event (if you want these pictures in high resolution, do come over to my desk):