Literature Form 4 for SPM 2010 Students

SPM trial is just around the corner. In order to help those students who just woke up from their dreams, and found that literature materials for last year's Form 4 are hard to find at the bookstores, I will provide here some sample questions and answers. It is only a small portion, but I hope it will be helpful, especially to my lazy youngest brother.


POEM

Analysis past years questions:
2009 - Monsoon History
2008 - If
2007 - si tenggang's homecoming
2006 - The Road Not Taken
2005 - si tenggang's homecoming
2004 - Sonnet 18
2003 - Monsoon History
2002 - If
2001 - si tenggang's homecoming

From the six poems learned in Form 4, only There's Been A Death in the Opposite House does not come out yet. And next year, this list of poems is not going to be used anymore. I strongly recommend this poem, and I will give several questions based on it. (Please highlight or triple click under the questions for answers)

There's Been A Death in the Opposite House

1. What do you think had happened and where did the event take place?
- Someone had died in the house opposite the poet's house.

2. How did the poet know what had happened?
- The poet knew by the atmosphere that surrounds the house - dull and lifeless.

3. What atmosphere did the place hold?
- The place has a sombre and dismal atmosphere with an air of sadness.

4. Name some of the people that were mentioned in the extract.
- Neighbours, children and doctors.

5. In the line 'They wonder if it died on that', what does 'it' refer to?
- 'it' refers to the dead person.

6. Why do you think there were so many people going in and out of the house?
- The neighbours came to pay their last respects.

7. What was flung out of the window and why?
- A mattress was flung out of the window to prevent the disease of the dead person from spreading.

8. How does the poet react to this kind of event as a young boy?
- As a young boy, the poet looked at the funeral with curiosity.

9. Who seems to be in control of the situation and why?
- The minister seems to be the person in control of the situation because he is the one officially in charge.

10. What is considered as 'the appalling trade'?
- The 'appaling trade' refers to the undertaking services and other business related to death.

11. What does the phrase 'dark parade' refer to?
- The phrase 'dark parade' refers to the funeral procession which is going to take place with the mourners dressed in black.


SHORT STORY

Analysis past years questions:
2009 - The Necklace
2008 - The Sound Machine
2007 - The Lotus Eater
2006 - The Drover's Wife
2005 - Looking for A Rain God
2004 - The Lotus Eater
2003 - The Drover's Wife
2002 - The Sound Machine
2001 - The Necklace

From the five stories, all of them already came out twice, except Looking for A Rain God. Therefore, I will put here some questions and answers taken from the story. (Remember, this is only my opinion)

1. What reason did the family give for the disappearance of the two girls?
- They said the children died of unknown causes.

2. Did the people believe the family? Why?
- No. They felt that it was strange for the two girls to die at the same time.

3. What aroused the suspicion of the people?
- The unnatural looks of the family when asked about the two girls.

4. Who told the police the truth?
- The mother of the two girls told the police the truth.

5. What happened in mid November? What effects did it have on the land?
- The rain fled away and the land was covered with mist. It made it impossible to plant vegetables which will lead to starvation.

6. Who among the family were quite happy and why do you think so?
- The two girls were quite happy because they were too young to understand what is happening.

7. How did the two girls amuse themselves?
- They played a game of making house.

8. What were the feelings of the family during the drought? Give reasons for your answer.
- The family was in great despair because it was impossible for them to grow crops and their food is running low.

9. What was the problem that had caused misery among the people?
- It has not rained for a long time, causing a drought.

10. What do you think are the consequences of this problem?
- The consequences of the drought are less food and starvation.

11. How did the womenfolk react to this problem?
- The women broke under the strain by starting high-pitched wailing and stamping their feet.

12. What did Mokgobja remember from his younger days?
- Mokgobja remembered that when he was young, he had witnessed a rain-making ceremony.

To All Students, Good Luck in Your Trial!

Today the trial for PMR students starts, while the trial for other exams will start on the 17th. It will be the benchmark for the students as to how they have already grasp the knowledge given by the teachers in each subjects. All the efforts attending the classes and extra classes will count for nothing if they cannot interpret them into correct answers. For teachers, they will surely use the trial results to ascertain whether the school target will be achieved. Even more so, the NKRA stipulates that target should not be lower than that of the previous year - they should be higher by 3% at the least.

Sweat it out, guys!

C4FC Lost Again!

Our football team created a sensation when we lost again for the second time in a row. The news will surely fly across the map, and we will soon get many invitations to be beaten. It was surely a good market stunt, and at the same time, a good workout for our teachers. But surely using several kids to run us to the ground would be against the idea of a friendly game, when the focus was just winning it. That was what happened when we played SMK Long Yunus when they brought along several young men while our teachers were mostly aged 40+. Nevertheless, we were proud of ourselves, and the main objective of getting some exercise had been fulfilled. Good work, guys!

AEILRST*

.. were the letters given to the students for their word building, and they were taken from the Vocable game. They were divided into groups, and each had to construct new words from these 8 letters. The star could be used for any letters, and each letters could be used once only. Students used dictionaries to help them form the words. Words created using 4 tiles and above were given marks as follows:

4 tiles = 1 mark
5 tiles = 2 marks
6 tiles = 3 marks
7 tiles = 4 marks
8 tiles = 5 marks

The students were completely immersed in the task, and fought among them to get the highest marks possible. Some of the groups managed to form 7-letter words but none of them created 8-letter words. Some 7 and 8-letter words for consideration:


7-letter words

SALIENT
LITERAL
RATTLES
STERILE
RELIANT
RETAILS
TAILORS
STAPLER
REALITY
RENTALS
RITUALS
RECITAL
RELATES
TRIPLES
RETAINS
LITTERS
TRAILER
REALIST
LARGEST
SALTIER
STALKER
SERIALS
TASTIER
REALISE
WAITERS
DETAILS
REALISM

8-letter words

TRAILERS
RECITALS
REALISTS

One Evening at Parkson, KB

I was hurrying to get out of the mall with my wife and son when a salesman offered me a free souvenir. I knew if I took it, I had to listen to him for at least five minutes or so, and I was rushing for the Maghrib prayer. Nevertheless, I took it anyway (it was a mug) and he started:

Salesman: How are you, mister. Do you have a minute?

Me: Well, I'm rushing for Maghrib prayer. Thanks for this mug. It is free, right?

S: It won't take long. I just want you to write your name here, so that we know in our record that you already take the souvenir. One only for a person.

M: Okay (I wrote my name, but stopped before writing other details). Do you need all these details?

S: Just for the record only. In the mean time, can I promote you our product?

M: I told you I'm in a hurry.

S: It will just take 5 minutes of your time.

Before I could answer, he continued.

S: I want to tell you that by taking the souvenir, you are entitled for these two tickets. Open them. They will show you what you win among these great products. Or they could be cash vouchers.

I opened them. One RM100 voucher and the other showed two products - an air purifier worth RM4+++ and an oven worth RM2+++. It also had RM100 voucher written at the corner. I gave them to him.

S: Did you just win these two products? Well, I have to call my manager because normally only one product per ticket.

He promptly called his manager and gave me his phone. The manager confirmed with me that the ticket was redeemable.

S: You are so lucky. You won these two products (pointing at the oven and the air purifier) and also RM100 cash voucher.

M: Okay then, give them to me. I really got to go now.

S: But you have to use your RM100 for another of our products. You can choose from here (showing a catalogue of electrical products worth thousands RM each).

M: Can't I use the voucher another time. I really don't have time now.

S: No, you must use the voucher now. Or you will lose these two items (by now his assistants put two big boxes in front of me). You can bring these home now, plus the one you are going to choose. But first you have to choose which of these items you want to use the voucher for.

He continued by showing some calculations on how I saved around RM6+++ to acquire the three products. He also compared the prices with other items from other known brands and bloated that his products were much better. He stressed that the payment will not be in cash, but in monthly installment, as low as RM50 per month. Unknowing to him, I also made my own calculations, and concluded that it was not worthy. So, I politely declined.

M: Well, in that case, I'll pass. Thank you anyway for all the information.

And I left him murmuring and chatting with his assistants, presumably about how stupid I am to pass the opportunity. However, I knew I made the right decision, because I sincerely believed that all the three products combined together are not worth thousands. I didn't mind because in the end, I got a mug and they got nothing.

Family Outing

We were at Taman Indera Petra again. This time, there was a train ride. It took only RM2 per person ('Ammar was not counted because he is only 2 years old) to take the train ride. It didn't matter that the train only went in circles, but it was satisfying for 'Ammar. Of course, after an hour in the pool, that was. Then we played the slide before we went off to Euro Fun Park just behind the TESCO. This is the first day of the park, and we went there just before the sunset, so there weren't many people just yet. Entrance fee was RM3 per adult and no charge for 'Ammar. Inside there were many games to excite the visitors such as the Euro Wheel, the Challenger, and the Haunted House. A token was worth RM2, and to play each game we needed at least 2 tokens. 'Ammar wanted to ride the mechanical horse, worth 2 tokens for the rider, and 1 for those who accompanied him. Next we rode the Euro Wheel, worth 3 tokens per person, accumulated to RM12 minus 'Ammar who rode free of charge.

Top 3 Things I Hate The Most

There aren't many things I hate, because I always choose to be a loving person. But when I hate something, it must have been a real unacceptable behaviour, or something which is very intolerable. I will give you only three things I hate the most:

3. Smokers

Please, smoke at home. Don't make me a secondhand smoker. I have asthma, and smoke always makes me cough. I hate them most when they smoke at eating table; I feel that my food is contaminated by it.

2. Jumping queues

Every Raya, whenever I'm involved in traffic jams, there are always those who inconsiderate enough and jump queues. I hate it when they take the roadside, and create another lane to the left. They will try to get in at the front of the queue, and those who are fool enough let them in. I try to position my car so that the roadside will be very narrow, but it is not enough. I was very happy this one time when a car took the roadside just to be stopped by a policeman who patrolled the road and slapped the driver with a fine.

1. Manchester United Football Club

I have to admit, I hate Manchester United football team and everything associated with it very much. I am a Liverpool FC fan, although not very fanatical, I try to watch every LFC games live on ASTRO. The Red Devils tried to be the number one team in England by winning more league titles than LFC, but failed when Chelsea FC pipped them last season. I fully supported Gerrard when he accidentally gave the ball to Drogba culminating to their winning the title, thus denying the Mancs from lifting their 19th.

Taman Indera Petra, Kota Bharu

Yesterday I took my wife and son to Taman Indera, a water based park located beside the Kota Darulnaim. It is not as big as Tambun or Sunway Lagoon, but just for fun with your kids, it will do just fine. There are swimming pools of different sizes and depths, suitable for kids and also adults. There is no entry fee for the kids, but if you are escorting them you will be charged RM1. However, if you are 13 years old and above, planning to dive in yourself, you have to pay RM5.

Happy Teacher's Day

We celebrated Teacher's Day at our school today. As always, the celebration started with the addresses from the principal and the Minister of Education (read by PK HEM). Then, the main event started. The futsal game between the AP teachers and the non-AP teachers was won by the AP teachers with the scoreline 2-1. At the same time, there were also stage performances by the students with their songs, comedy, and also drama. Lots of presents were given to the teachers - from the administrators, from the students' bodies, from the class committees, or from personal students. I myself received several presents which include towels, mugs and also a ship from my class 5 Gigih. Thank you all, especially to Ahmad Maher and Class 5 Gigih!

Female Drivers = Careless?

I was at the parking lot waiting for my wife to finish her exam at the UKM Hall when suddenly I saw one of her friends walking to her car. She opened the back door, put her handbag at the back, opened the front door while pressing some numbers on her cellphone. Then, she started the engine from outside the car, and chatted a little before getting in. At that time, I thought 'Maybe she wanted to put something again at the back - she left the door opened'. However, after finishing the call, she closed the front door and started to drive away. I promptly waved, luckily she saw me and stopped the car to close the back door.

Now, what did that tell you about a female driver? It was nothing short than CARELESS. I am not going to make a generalisation, because statistics show that male drivers involved in more accidents than female drivers. Even the insurance companies acknowledge that male drivers pay more for their insurance than their female counterpart because of their risk factors. Furthermore, they are more obedient on the road than men; following all the traffic rules including the speed limit, while men tend to violate them. Nevertheless, if you want to make comparisons between the gender, then don't. Both have their pros and cons, with a fair share of risk factors, so to say that one is more prone to accident than the other is totally absurd.

I can see that they are indeed a very brave driver; sometimes too brave that I think male drivers do not even dwell of doing what they do on the road.

Now is that a male or a female driver? Pictures credit here.

References:

Female Drivers are Better than Male Drivers - A Proven Fact
Are Men Better Drivers than Women?
Female vs Male Drivers
Betulke Lelaki Lebih Hebat Memandu & Wanita Cuai Di Jalanraya?
Pemandu Wanita - Lembap atau Berhati-hati?
Pemandu Wanita vs Pemandu Lelaki

Does Your Personality Determine What Type of Teacher You Are?

My friend pointed out a very good website about teacher training. Not a very experienced teacher myself, I find that his ideas quite educating. I always starts as the Lawmaker myself; stating a few rules and types of punishments at the start of the year; usually in the very first class. But as the year goes by, I tend to take a more lenient approach, because I easily feel sorry for them every time I punish them. As a result, I lost control of several students in the class, even though most of the others still follow me obediently. However, to my defense, the other teachers also tend to ignore the very same students in their lessons, which clearly indicates that the students are indeed problematic and my approach is not to be blamed. Nevertheless, I feel sorry for them; I try to make them reason why they come to school but to no avail. I never ignore them completely; I give them the same task as others, but they never complete it. Now, it's too late to become the Lawmaker again, because they already know that I can actually smile, and I have to find other ways to gain control over them again. Finding about why they behave that way maybe the solution, but I hardly have time to actually go to their house or talk to their parents about their behaviour. Yes, there is a programme in my school where the teachers get to meet the parents to discuss their recent examination results, but it is hardly effective when you get to meet 35 parents at the same day or time.

Any suggestions?

SMKCE's Best Achievers 2009

Here are the pictures of the school's best achievers in last year's public examinations.

Best PMRians

Best SPMians

Best STPMians

Our e-Nikah Card

At last, our cards have completed. We don't have to bring along our marriage book or certificate anymore. No more worries if we have to rent out a hostel during our travels. It fits nicely into the wallet, along with other cards (not that many, actually). A very beautiful card greenish in colour, with a nice khat for the JAHEIK name, and the pictures of the husband and the wife underneath it. At the back, more details of the owner and the spouse, which includes the serial number. The same serial number is given to both parties, with the husband gets XXXXX S (the initial for Suami) and the wife gets XXXXX I (Isteri). For newly weds, they will be issued this card. But for the veterans, don't be shy to get one. Only RM30.00 a pair. You can download the form here.

My Hard Disk Space Disappeared Mysteriously

Why oh why I do not know about this earlier? I watch in front of my eyes my hard disk space reducing all this while, without actually knowing the reason. Tonight, my hard disk is down to 120MB - and that is low for an operating hard disk - and I am really determined to find out the culprit. I keep blaming the virus, or the installed programmes (I even deleted some of them!) but to my dismay, my hard disk keeps shrinking. Luckily my pendrive, heavily infested with viruses from my friend's laptop, informed me, metaphorically speaking, that the Kaspersky I use for years needs more space to keep its backup files! It hangs while waiting for the cleansing, so I yank the pendrive, restart my laptop, and surf. I found this entry which helps me a lot. Now, smiling broadly, I will continue to clean my pendrive again. Oh, and thanks Mr. Google.

Fire Drill

Today we practiced fire drill. The bell rang for about 4 minutes. All teachers and students rushed to the assembly area. Time was measured in order to determine whether it was reasonable or not. Attendance were recorded to ensure that everybody was present. Then, there was a speech by an officer from Tumpat fire station. He gave some tips about safety - make sure keys are placed where everybody in the house knows the location; during blackouts, use candles safely by putting it on metals, not plastic; memorize the emergency contact number to the nearest fire station; and in case of fire, state the exact place to the operator so that the firemen will arrive in time. After the speech, several students and teachers practiced using the fire extinguisher.









Basically, there are several steps to be taken during a fire drill.

1. Sound the fire alarm
2. Shout 'FIRE! FIRE! FIRE'
3. Rescue team carry their duty
4. Rush to the assembly area
5. Conduct headcount

Here is contact numbers for all the fire stations in Kelantan.

A Normal Class...

A normal lesson is 35 minutes. 2 minutes are needed for exchanging class from J block to A block. Another 2 minutes are needed for students to stand up (they either wait for us to order them, or still outside, mainly at the canteen or the toilet). A further 2 minutes are needed to make sure the class is clean, in accordance to 3K. Now 2 minutes to make sure that all students (pupils, is what the Nazir wants us to address in our lesson plan) are in the class; not playing truant. 2 minutes more to sign the attendance book, because the class monitor forgets to write the day and the date, plus the names of the students who are absent for the day. 2 minutes are wasted for the students to take out their text books because they either could not find it, or mainly forget to bring it, which leads to punishment. Now the teacher wants to see whether the given homework is done, which will cost another 2 minutes for more punishments as they usually do not complete the task. Now can we start the lesson? Not yet, because a student stands up and wants to go to the toilet, but cannot ask properly in English, 2 minutes more wasted. Suddenly there is an announcement so loud, all ears are listening to that - 2 minutes. Okay, time for the lesson. A complete instruction in English costs another 2 minutes, because it must be accompanied with the translation in BM. Sadly though, before the students can start doing their task, another 2 minutes interruption - somebody comes and wants to see the Fire Brigadiers. And a further 2 minutes for the Police Cadets (why don't they come at the same time?). Sigh, hopefully now all can start their work. But no, they can't - they forget the instruction! Another 2 minutes down the drain to refresh the instruction the second time. Just as the students start their task, comes the dreaded Discipline Teacher Mr. Adli and takes 5 minutes for spotchecks. Yes, another 2 minutes to read the instruction for the third time, which leave me a mere 2 minutes for my lesson.

Don't believe? Believe it!

I Love Khat

One of my hobby is khat. It is an Islamic art. I always feel jealous of those who can write beautiful khat. I, in contrast, am not that good, mainly because I am lazy to train the fundamentals. Training should be done daily for someone to become an expert in this fine art; it sure takes a lot of your time. You have to be very fond of it, or else you end up getting frustrated. Luckily I learned khat since I was at my secondary school, and the skills are still present nowadays. Recently I wrote the name of my school, to put in as a header for the school magazine. However, I am still not satisfied with it, needed some extra insight on how to improve.

Comments, please.

JOM HEBOH in Kelantan

First of all, I want to state here that I did not go to the event. Nevertheless, I like to comment on various webpages written about this topic. Before the event, AnNasru stated several suggestions so that JOM HEBOH (JH) in Kelantan will be different, in a good way, from other JHs. Among his suggestions were:

1. a special task force will be set up to monitor the event, so that there will be no unwanted elements happen throughout;

2. the setting, or landscape, of the JH should be based on Islamic arts;

3. a big tent should be held up for the visitors to perform prayers;

4. a mascot using Islamic characters (he gave the example of Sinbad or Aladdin) to attract younger audience.


One of the bloggers agreed with these suggestions, and further wrote that Kelantan should accept the challenge to change the habit of such JHs so that it will be held in accordance to Islamic principles.

His sentiment was not shared by other blogger, however, saying that there are hidden agendas in Kelantan government in allowing this event. I will not delve into that specifically, but I personally find that his views is very politically bias.

To sum up, I sure hope that in these two days (26 and 27 March) Kelantan will benefit from this event, in any way possible, economically or socially.

For pictures, you can surf this website.

How to Make Your Blog Attractive?

There are several things to be considered:

1. Fonts

You can use one type of font systematically like this or several types of fonts wildly like this. Coloured fonts can be used creatively, if you want.

2. Images

Images should be selected to best reflect what you type in the post. The position can be put interestingly, some of it big, some small, etc. etc. No, pornographic materials are not something to be considered.

3. Contents

The most important part. Must be unique to you. If you like others' post, and want to copy theirs, make sure to ask their permission, or put a link to their blog, citing the source. Plagiarism is applied here.

Here is something you might be interested in. Promotion of backlinks to your post. Very easy, but please, read the rules carefully.

1. Lirik Musik Indo
2. Asing Music Lyrics
3. Free Templates
4. Jogja-Blogger
5. Tutorial Blogging | Internet Bisnis Online
6. pVidia Blog
7. Stop Dreaming Start Action (Jonru)
8. Bisnis di Internet
9. Blogging-Surfer
10. Tintalughahwi
11. Igauan
12. Ad-dai’
13. RezqiDotCom – Hidup Untuk Memberi
14. 9FoxFur .......why? Just because.
15. a.k.u.g.u.r.u.

Rules

1. Delete link no. 1. Then you have to change the numbers of all the links according to the order. For example, change link no. 1 to no. 2, link no. 3 to no. 2, link no. 4 to no. 3 and so on until you reach the 14th link. Then put your own link below link no. 14 and give it number 15.

2. Do not change the order of the links.

3. Do not modify all the other links (except the first one) or replace it with any other links.

If every bloggers continue to follow the formula outlined above, the expected number of backlinks produced for your blog can be calculated as follows:

When your position is on no.15, total backlink = 1
Position no.14, total backlinks = 5
Position no.13, total backlinks = 25
Position no.12, total backlinks = 125
Position no.11, total backlinks = 625
Position no.10, total backlinks = 3,125
Position no.9, total backlinks = 15,625
Position no.8, total backlinks = 78,125
Position no.7, total backlinks = 390,625
Position no.6, total backlinks = 1,953,125
Position no.5, total backlinks = 9,765,625
Position no.4, total backlinks = 48,828,125
Position no.3, total backlinks = 244,140,625
Position no.2, total backlinks = 1,220,703,125
Position no.1, total backlinks = 6,103,515,62

Directed Essay - So Easy!

The culture of the students in back classes is - when they get the English papers, they promptly sleep. Then, they will hand in a blank - or nearly blank - paper after the exam finishes. This happens all the time, including in the ongoing March test in my current school. I've finished marking for three Form 5 classes (G, I and J) because it was so easy to mark; there were few essays to be read! The directed essay required was an informal letter, and the 12 contents given were so easy to understand as if 12 marks already in the students hand (plus 3 marks for the letter format of address, salutation and signature). Nevertheless, they still slept all the way for 2 hours and a half, writing nothing except the information gap questions (even there they did not get full marks).

Here are several essays I marked:

The first one is from a back class student (Class J). She is more active in class compared to her classmates, thus able to get good scores. Full marks for Format (circled), full marks for Contents (underlined), and able to get 12 marks for Language.



The second one is from her classmate. He only manages to get 2 marks for Format, 10 marks for Contents and 1 mark for Language.


The last one is from a higher class (Class G). The student does not get a high mark because he wasted time elaborating on a point for too long, thus did not able to include all the contents needed. Better language though.