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):

Puzzled

Praise be to Allah... at last I have completed the mega puzzle after two whole weeks of tweaking, chopping and pasting. This is the task which nobody wants because it involves so many people and possibly changes so many lives. However, it is important that somebody has to do it, and that unlucky somebody is me.

There were so many things to be considered, so giving everybody equal portion of the schedule is a major headache. Everybody wants to return home early; everybody wants as minimal teaching hours as they can; everybody wants to teach their favourite subjects; and the list goes on and on. 

I was told to make as few contact as possible so that nobody influence me in making my decision. I was lucky that in this school nobody tried to bribe me, so I could go about doing my task without any worry. I have done this task twice already this year, but none would be like this particular time. I was very emotional this time because a piece of the puzzle had died during its completion.

The late Mr. Mahmud Omar was a very dedicated teacher as far as I know. I knew him when the school decided to become a one-session school. He was teaching in the evening session then, and I did not see much of him until we shared the same staff room. He was already quite unwell, and he was frequenting the hospital for hemodialysis treatments. 

He never causes trouble, and I am really troubled by students who were really rude in labeling him as 'a walking zombie'. If I can, I want to get a hold of these students and ask them to apologize, which they could not possibly do because the person they are apologizing to is already gone. 

May Allah bless him.  

History Repeats Itself

History is a boring subject, so said many of the students. This is because they have to memorize lots of dates, names, blah blah blah. They always murmur that they don't have 8GB memory like their smartphones' memory card. 

However, history can be quite interesting, if studied in a creative way. Take for instance, Hiro Nakamura in the Heroes TV Series, constructed an interesting web strings in order to learn the history (and also the future). 

A web of history created by Hiro Nakamura

By studying History, we can sometimes predict the future. As an ardent fan of Liverpool Football Club, reading  this piece of historical information taken from a LFC Forum gives me goosebumps! (Keep in mind that my birthday is 25 January).

Shankly was born in a year ending with 3 - 1913, and won his 1st league title in a year ending with 4, 1964; Rodgers was born in a year ending 3-1973, and is 4 games away from winning his 1st league title in a year ending with 4, 2014.

Shankly won his 1st title in his second year in the league with Liverpool; Rodgers is about to win his 1st title with Liverpool in his 2nd season in charge.

Shankly shared a birthday with his son and a former great manager; Rodgers shares a birthday with his son and a great manager Jose Mourinho (26 January). 

Shankly won the league title after beating Man United 1-0 and 3-0; Rodgers is about to win the league title after beating Man United 1-0 and 3-0.

Shankly was top on Christmas; Rodgers was top on Christmas.

Shankly went top again after beating Tottenham on 30 March 1964; Rodgers went top again after beating Tottenham on 30 March 2014.

Shankly beat Arsenal with 5 goals but was knocked out of F.A Cup by the same Arsenal; Rodgers beat Arsenal with 5 goals but was later knocked out of F.A Cup by the same Arsenal.

Shankly ordered the goal nets to be painted red on his way to winning 1st league title; Rodgers ordered the goal nets to be painted red on his way to winning 1st league title.

picture taken from here

So, hopefully, Gerrard and co. will get to lift the coveted title in May, and hopefully, history will repeat itself!

picture taken from here

sources:

http://www.math.buffalo.edu/mad/special/can-history-predict-future.html
http://forums.liverpoolfc.com/threads/356222-Shankly-and-Rodgers-How-is-this-for-Omens
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Shankly
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brendan_Rodgers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Mourinho
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1963%E2%80%9364_Football_League
http://int.soccerway.com/matches/1964/03/30/england/premier-league/liverpool-fc/tottenham-hotspur-football-club/587409/ 
http://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/latest-news/story-behind-our-new-red-nets
http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/History+repeats+itself

Milestones

I can be quite maniacal. Really. Sometimes I do things others normally won't do in normal circumstances. Especially involving numbers. Beautiful numbers. I like numbers since I was a little boy. That explains why I did quite well in Math subjects, although I never had the opportunity to take Add Math when I was at SMU (A) Ma'ahad Muhammadi, Pengkalan Chepa. Back then, there was no Add Math subject. Only when I was in my SPM year the school opened the subject to Form Four students. 

I even had an uninspiring moment regarding the plate number with my father-in-law last year when my wife was buying a car. 

Here are some of my pictures featuring my fetish with numbers. 

The milestone at East-West Highway featuring my car plate number

The same milestone which really divided the distance between Kota Bharu and Ipoh equally

The recent 'milestone' of my Avanza car (9 Feb 2014)

Beautiful milestone with numbers 111888

 

I stopped in the middle of the night, in the middle of the journey from KL to KB to take this picture. It was near the Petronas FELDA Kechau, Lipis, Pahang. It was taken on 20/10/2010 at 12.20 am. (See, even the date was astonishing!)

'Afaf, Please Speak to Me Quickly, Ya?

My dearest 'Afaf, who was born on 21 October 2012, has just acquired a pair of canines (dental anatomy can be read here). She still cannot speak but for several words which I cannot fathom the meaning - 'becebecah', 'bejebejik' etc. This makes me search for materials related to language development in children in order to make sure that she is on the right track. 

In www.talkingpoint.org.uk, a child at the stage of 12 - 18 months old usually will:

• Enjoy games like peek-a-boo and pat-a-cake and toys that make a noise. 
• Start to understand a few simple words, like ‘drink’, ‘shoe’ and ‘car’. Also simple instructions like 'kiss mummy', 'kick ball' and 'give me'.
• Point to things when asked, like familiar people and objects such as ‘book’ and ‘car’.
• Use up to 20 simple words, such as 'cup', 'daddy' and 'dog'. These words may not always be easily recognised by unfamiliar adults.
• Gesture or point, often with words or sounds to show what they want.
• Copy lots of things that adults say and gestures that they make.
• Start to enjoy simple pretend play, for example pretending to talk on the phone.

 'Afaf really likes to pretend talking on the phone, even though she is holding a toy car in her hand. She can also point to ummi, abi, 'Ammar, tokma etc. when asked and to something she wants, such as her milk or for a piece of whatever we are eating in front of her.

Hopefully, she will progress well. As Muslims, we can also recite the necessary prayers to help in our children development. www.mamapeduli.info suggests reading Surah Taha, verses 25 - 28: