Day Before 1119 2017

A picture is worth a thousand words.

How to Answer the Literature Text Question

I have just finished marking Paper 2 for the mid semester examination. I would like to focus on one of my students' answer for the Literature Text. Even though this is a Form Four paper, and the question is based on the short stories, SPM students may take this as an example for their revision.

The question:


33. The following are the short stories studied in the literature component in English Language.
        Tanjong Rhu             -     Minfong Ho
        Leaving                    -     M. G. Vassanji   
Choose any ONE of the short stories above and answer the question below.
With close reference to the text, what is the most important moral lesson you have learnt?


The answer:

Based on short story Tanjung Rhu by Minfong Ho, the most important lesson that I have learnt is to be responsible. As for example, Mr. Li is a responsible son. He takes care of his old mother as she has given birth to him and took good care of him since he was young. Mr. Li’s responsibility to his mother inspires me to do the same. I realize that I need to take good care of my old parents as they had sacrifived a lot for me. I will pay back their kindness to me. Besides that, when Mr. Li’s mother was sick and hospitalized, he often visit her in the hospital and accompanies her there. He is very responsible that he doesn’t neglect and abandon his mother. His daughter, Ying is also responsible. She stays at the hospital with her sick grandmother so that she won’t be alone. Mr. Li and Ying show that we must be responsible to our old parents. They had done a lot for us and we need to appreciate it. I’d promised myself that I will be a responsible daughter and take care of my parents perfectly. I will make them proud to have me as their child.

In a nut shell, we need to be responsible and show our filial piety for our parents. They are the one who brought us into this world, so we need to pay back their sacrifice by loving them and take good care of them.


The marking:

I gave this 10 for Contents and 4 for Language which amounts to 14 over 15.

However, she could have done better, apart from the spelling and grammar mistakes, by writing her answer in suitable paragraphs. Here is what her answer should be to get full 15 over 15.


Based on short story Tanjong Rhu by Minfong Ho, the most important lesson that I have learnt is to be responsible.

As for example, Mr. Li is a responsible son. He takes care of his old mother as she has given birth to him and took good care of him since he was young. Mr. Li’s responsibility to his mother inspires me to do the same. I realize that I need to take good care of my old parents as they had sacrificed a lot for me. I will pay back their kindness to me.

Besides that, when Mr. Li’s mother was sick and hospitalized, he often visits her in the hospital and accompanies her there. He is very responsible that he doesn’t neglect and abandon his mother. His daughter, Ying is also responsible. She stays at the hospital with her sick grandmother so that she won’t be alone.

Mr. Li and Ying show that we must be responsible to our old parents. They had done a lot for us and we need to appreciate it. I’d promised myself that I will be a responsible daughter and take care of my parents perfectly. I will make them proud to have me as their child.

In a nut shell, we need to be responsible and show our filial piety for our parents. They are the one who brought us into this world, so we need to pay back their sacrifice by loving them and taking good care of them.

GOOD LUCK SPMians!

The most anticipated time has finally come. Starting from today, SPM students will start battling their wits against the unforgiving questions while teachers anxiously watch from the sides. It is now up to the students to prove their worth, to show their keenness and to give their everything in an exam that could be the stepping stone to achieve their dream. 

As for the teachers, you have done well in preparing them for the exam. All that you can do now is to pray for them, because success is really in the hand of God, no matter how well the preparation is. Don't get upset when a student of yours cannot answer the papers; bear in mind that they have tried their best.

External and internal factors will always be there to determine the state of mind of the candidates. Even though he or she has very calm state of mind going to the exam hall, news such as the sudden death of family members will surely have the bearings on his mind. 

I am really sorry for one of my students who are currently in ward because of an accident, while his classmate lost all his family members in a car accident just two days ago.

May Allah grant them composure and courage in SPM.

Sample Answer for SPM Paper 1 Section B 2014

Using past questions is one of the way to prepare your students. I tried using the question from last year's SPM paper, and it worked out quite fine. We did it collectively in class before I asked them to continue the essay at home. 

Question 4: Write a story about a fisherman beginning with: "The wind blew strongly. Out at sea,.. "

Firstly, we discussed the possible draft for the story. For this, we used the timeline:

Exposition – fisherman on a boat, sea was rough, wavy
Rising action – the wave became bigger, rained
Climax – the boat capsized, the fisherman fell into sea
Falling action – floated at sea for 8 hours,
Resolution – another boat passed by, helped him

Then, the students started giving their ideas while I typed the sentences, showing them on the screen. We made corrections as we went through. This is the result:

The wind blew strongly. Out at sea, an old, grizzled fisherman wearing worn out Crocodile t-shirt given to him by his wealthy daughter-in-law was throwing his fishing net into the rough, wavy South China Sea. There was no sound except for the engine of his boat and the violent wave. He went to this area because he was told by one of his trustworthy friends that he caught big fishes there last week.

While he was waiting for something to get into the net, the weather suddenly worsened. There was thunder, and the sky became cloudy. The wave became bigger and more aggressive. He was hit by sudden fear of death, as last month, his best of friends died tragically in the similar storm.

To make matters worse, rain poured like bullets on the roof on his already leaking boat. He struggled to find cover, as the floor of the boat was slippery. He finally managed to enter his sanctuary, promptly searching for his 3310. Then, he realized that there was no connection for he was distant from the shore, so he grabbed the wheel instead and tried to navigate the boat away from the hazardous area.

Out of the blue, a 5-storey high wave appeared in front of his eyes which made him jump out of his skin. Consequently, the boat capsized, and he fell into the unforgiving sea. He struggled to get to the surface as the current was pulling him away from it. Once he finally managed to get out, he gasped for air and searched for something to hold on to but nothing was spotted near him. The boat was unreachable, yet there was something shiny which captured his attention. He swam towards it, and held onto it. He recognized it as some sort of wreckage either from a broken boat or aeroplane. He was pretty sure, however, that it was not from his boat.

Finally, I asked them to continue the story as they like. Hopefully I will get something creative out of those minds. 

A Friend in Need is a Friend Indeed

I notice that the SPM questions have been changed drastically since last year's paper, and that the fifth question for Section B in Paper 1 has something to do with idioms and phrases. Here, I attempted an essay based on the idiom 'A friend in need is a friend indeed'. Hopefully it will be of some help to you readers.  

A FRIEND IN NEED IS A FRIEND INDEED

"Guys! Look at the house on that tree! Unbelievable!" I was studying Physics with 'Ammar, 'Afaf and 'Aasim when we saw the news about the flood in Kuala Krai. When 'Afaf exclaimed about the house, I was flabbergasted. I never thought that it was physically possible for a house to be sitting on top of a tree after a flood. 

That was a week ago. In the morning of 26th December, water was entering my house at incredible speed. Knowing that there won't be enough time to save everything, I opted to only take valuables: my wallet, my handphone and some clothes. The water was knee high when my family and I was getting out of the house after lifting everything onto the tables. 

We were ushered to SMK Chabang Empat, one of the school-turned-relief centres in Tumpat. Upon arriving, we were greeted warmly by the self-proclaimed leader there, Mr. Arasu. I remarked 'self-proclaimed' because later that day, I learned that that school was actually not one of the gazetted government relief centres, rather it was converted into one mainly because of the scale of the flood which exceeded normal circumstances. Therefore, there was no flood committee like those in the government funded relief centres, and we could live with him being in the front line, though, as nobody wanted to burden themselves catering for everybody's needs.

We stayed there for four nights, during which we endured living life like the unfortunates I have been seeing at the streets; no water, no food and no electricity. We even had to reuse our clothes as water was too precious a thing to be wasted on something other than quenching our thirst. Mr. Arasu, however, tried his best to organize his committee members to help us any way they could, so that nobody would feel obnoxious with the situation.

On the fifth day, while I was wondering whether we would survive another day or die horrible death due to severe dehydration, a familiar face popped out of nowhere. I still remembered clearly what 'Ammar was wearing: the blue t-shirt that he and I would be wearing whenever we went out together to Kota Bharu, when he emerged from his black-coloured Toyota Hilux. The t-shirt reminded me of the time when he said, quite persuasively, "We are friends, Azizul, very good friends. We should stick together through thick and thin. Our camaraderie should last forever, no matter what happens."

That day, my family and I was transferred from the relief centre to his home. We had a good, satisfying bath before the lunch, and I could not thank enough for his generosity. "Nah! You would've done the same to me," was the reply I got for my gratefulness.

I was informed that the flood was the worst since the Red Flood back then in 1926. However, his house was not infected as it was on a slightly raised ground. Mine, sadly to say, was flooded neck-high before the flood started to subside on the third day. He said that the first thing that came to his mind after that was to search for us because he knew our house was badly affected. When he heard news that we were transported here, he quickly came to the rescue.

It is true after all what they have always been saying; a friend in need is a friend indeed.   

 

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. 

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. 

Congratulations!

Form 5A students

There's nothing more gladdening to a teacher than to see his students do well in their studies, especially in the very subject he taught them. Seeing the happy faces on my students today was more than enough for me to share their joy. Likewise, those who didn't get good results should be celebrated also because they already did their best in the exam. In fact, I was more inclined to see my 5 Jujur students than my 5 Arif students, particularly Rizal Azman and Awanis, who passed their English paper. Truth to be told, I was quite shocked to learn that Awanis did well, because she was too slow to my liking, in my English lessons. However, I didn't have the chance to meet them both as they didn't turn up to get their results. 

Siti Nurfatihah (left) and Laili Najwa (right)

As for the 5A students, 7 of them got A. I was not surprise of Siti Nurfatihah's ability to get A+ because she thoroughly deserved it. Laili Najwa was also another one expected to get A, mainly because she is the daughter of teacher Norhayah, who teaches English. 5 of those who managed to get A- were Ros Azimah, Nurul Asyikeen, Nur Atikah Ramli, Siti Nurul Ain Sofea and Nur Izatul Syafika.

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OF YOU!

Proverbs and Sayings Equivalent of Malay Peribahasa

A student must include idioms, proverbs or sayings in their essay if they want to get high marks. However, Malay students tend to know more of the Malay peribahasa than its English equivalent. I list here several English proverbs which I think give the nearest meaning for the Malay peribahasa..

A bird in hand is worth two in the bush – yang dikejar tak dapat, yang dikendong berciciran

An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth – hutang darah dibayar darah, hutang nyawa, nyawa padahnya

Better to be safe than sorry – Biar lambat asal selamat

Between the devil and the deep blue sea – ditelan mati emak, diluah mati bapak

Blood is thicker than water – air dicincang tak akan putus

Cut your coat according to your cloth – ukur baju di badan sendiri

Diamond cuts diamond – bertemu buku dengan ruas

Don’t judge a book by its cover – air yang tenang jangan disangka tiada buaya

Empty vessels make the most noise – tong yang kosonglah yang selalu berkocak

Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me – takkan pisang berbuah dua kali

Give someone an inch and they will take a mile (yard) – beri betis hendakkan paha

In for a penny, in for a pound – sedikit-sedikit lama-lama jadi bukit

It never rains but it pours – sudah jatuh ditimpa tangga

It’s no use crying over spilt milk – sudah terhantuk, baru terngadah

Kill two birds with one stone – sambil menyelam minum air

Like father, like son – bapa borek, anak rintik

Many hands make light work – ringan sama dijinjing, berat sama dipikul
No garden without weeds - bumi mana tidak ditimpa hujan
No pain no gain - kalau tak dipecahkan ruyung, manakan dapat sagunya
No retreat, no surrender - biar putih tulang, jangan putih mata

Practice makes perfect – alah bisa tegal biasa

Time is money – masa itu emas

Where there is a will, there is a way – di mana ada kemahuan, di situ ada jalan

Feel free to add some more in the comments below for our students' sake. You may also comment if those given above are inaccurate.

GOOD LUCK IN YOUR SPM!

... Just Around The Corner

We are entering the examination phase of the schooling. Students are busy preparing themselves for PMR, SPM and STPM. This is the time for them to burn the midnight oil in order to pass their examination with flying colours. 

I want to share with the readers two of my best students' writing. 

Siti Nur Fatihah binti Abdul Latif (5Arif)

       It was a difficult decision but I had made my choice. I am going to enter that creepy house and stay there overnight. My friends and I had been lost in the forest and the day was already dark. We really did not have any other choices.

      Slowly I approached the door. Predictably, it was not locked. The door and the floor that I stepped on did make sounds. Meanwhile, my friends just stood still timidly behind me. They were staring anxiously at me. Their eyes spoke to me that they did not want to enter the house.

       “Oh, come on. The night is getting late and it’s going to rain soon. Do you want to stay out there and wet yourself? Do not be such a coward, there is nothing in here. It is just an old house.”

       I persuaded them to come and join me. I gathered my courage and stepped in first. It was gloomy and I could not see anything. I took my torchlight and switched it on. There were a few broken furniture and the stuffs were all in mess.

       “Okay girls, it is clear. There is nothing to be afraid of and we are going to sleep here this night. Tomorrow morning, we will find our way out. I promise.”

       We set up a fire and sat down in a circle. We took out our foods and drinks then we dug in hungrily. Why not? We had been wandering the forest for about six hours looking for a way out.

       My friends were not scared anymore. We were having fun until we heard a knocking sound on the door. We became silent for a while and stared at each other. Slowly, my friends adjusted their sit and came nearer to me.

       “It is alright. It is just a sound. Maybe we should go to sleep right now.”

       I calmed myself as my heart was beating too fast due to that sound. My friends and I set up the place for sleep and shut our eyes. I tried to ignore the sound but it became louder than earlier. My friends were snoring already as they were too tired and sleepy.

       I decided to wake up to figure out what made the sound. I opened the door and luckily there was nothing. I guessed that the sound came from the door that was not shut properly and the wind blowing in and out made the creepy sounds. It was still raining cats and dogs outside.

       Out of the blue, a tree fell down in front of the door. I was startled by it but fortunately, the tree did not cause any damage to this old house that we stayed in. I promptly closed the door and went to get some sleep. The knocking sounds were still there but I just ignored it. At long last, I managed to close my eyes and slept soundly.

       I was snoring when one of my friends woke me up. She said she heard sounds of somebody’s steps outside the house. She told me to go out and investigate. Reluctantly, I dragged my feet towards the door yawning and indolently looked outside. There was nobody.

       “Aha, the trees must be walking just now. Look! There is nobody outside. Now, go back to your sleep.” I joked, angrily.

       It was a hard night for me as my friends woke me up every time they heard sounds. The next day, my eyes looked as black as panda bear’s eyes as a result of sleep disturbance. We managed to find our way out with the help of the people that we met. They were hiking in the forest and were willing to help us. Maybe in the next time, I will not be going to enter forests again but my experiences in that eerie house will not easily be forgotten.

Nur Atikah binti Ramli (5 Arif)

       It was a difficult decision but I had made my choice. I could not hold it anymore. Her behaviour and everything she did really made me sick with her. I could not forgive her mistakes and I could not take it easy.

       Last month, I finally knew everything she did. She was just like a snake in the grass. It all started when I told her about my beloved necklace that was missing.

       “I lost my precious necklace. It was a birthday gift from my mother. What can I do?” I asked her.

      “Keep your shirt on! I promise that I will help you to look for it or else I will look for the exactly same necklace at the marketplace and buy it for you,” Laura laughed with false merriment as she tried to pull my leg. I did not know then that she was not the genial and genuine Laura I used to know.

       I almost forgot about my necklace and went on with my life. One day, at the college, my classmates stared at me like I was a total stranger as soon as I walked into the lecture. I could feel something fishy. What had happened? Why were they looking at me like that? I asked Laura about this. She was just quiet and the look on her face had told me that something bad had happened.

       As we were good friends, I always told her about my problems. She would always be beside me and asked me to keep my hair on. My life was filled with stress and tension but Laura always made me smile and laugh. I guessed that she also felt stressed with what had happened.

       Laura told me that someone had pulled a prank on me. The person told everything that was false about me on social network. My word! What mistake had I done to make the person do such a foolish thing? I was really angry and eager to know who the person was. This situation really haunted my life to the point that it even disturbed my dreams.

       I went to college after skipping my class for a week. One of my classmates, Tina met me and sheepishly asked for an apology for ignoring me. I smiled genuinely and told her that I already forgot what had happened. It was not her fault. She thanked me and I asked her where was Laura. The class was finished and I did not see her yet.

       “Are you pretending to be ignorant or do you really don’t know?” Tina asked me, perplexed.

       “What is that supposed to mean? Is there something that I do not know? Where is Laura? I haven’t met her yet.” I asked her back.

       “Oh! My God! Are you serious? Everyone in this college knows about this and you are, of all the people, the only one who does not know. Believe me! You are really funny,” She chuckled and told me everything.

       I rushed to Laura’s house. I could not believe with what I heard just now. I needed to know the truth. I immediately called her as soon as I arrived at her house. She came out with a slumberous face.

       “You already know, right? There are no more words. I do not want to explain anything. Get out of my house!” She screamed at me.

       “Why did you do this to me? You are the person who pulled the prank on me. Good grief! You pretended to be kind to me,” I screamed at her back.

       “You steal my boyfriend Adam! Do you still want me to be kind with you?” She said with teary eyes.

       I could not believe her. Just because of a man, she did something foolish and betrayed our lifelong friendship. I would not forgive her. I had made a choice. From that moment on, she would not be my friend anymore. I did not want to have a friend like her. She was just another painful memory to me. What she did not know was that I did not steal her boyfriend. I was just friends with Adam and her jealousy made her do such stupid thing. Nonetheless, it was not useful to cry over spilt milk. The secret had hurt me but I just wanted to forget about it and went on with my life. Letting the cat out of the bag really hurt me.