A.K.U.G.U.R.U. actually means 'I am a Teacher' (Aku guru in Bahasa Malaysia). It contains all the items related to my profession as a secondary school English teacher which includes my English lessons, my interests, my passion for Liverpool FC, and also my family affairs. Hope you enjoy your reading!

(The owner will not be liable for any losses, injuries, or damages from the display or use of information taken from this blog.)

ASK ME ANYTHING!

Type your question here and I will find the answer for you.

Thursday, May 25, 2017

SAPS Insecure?

Yes! I have finished my marking for PKBS 2. I have promised myself that I would not drag this marking towards the holidays, I did just that, today, amidst being involved in a lot of tasks, which include, among others, playing football.

Now, I am sitting in front of my laptop, getting ready to key in the marks. However, to my surprise, the online website for SAPS is blocked by my Kaspersky! This has never happened before and should have never happened as it is a government website.

Tell me, if this continues, how may I key in the marks?


Friday, May 12, 2017

2 Things I Do Differently From Others

Sometimes I don't really understand why certain people do certain things differently. When I do something in certain way, I have my own reason for doing it in that particular manner. Now these two actions are not comprehensible to me.

1. Putting keys somewhere 'unsafe' in the masjid before getting in the saff. 

This is an extremely incomprehensible action many people do in front of my eyes. I don't know whether it is simply stupid or rather it is the highest level of 'tawakkal'. You get into the masjid, put your key at one of the pillars, then line up in the saff for prayer. My rational thinking is that anybody can easily take the key, find the motorcycle (or car) and speed off. In one case in Penang, the person, already late for prayer, casually threw his key on the stairs outside of the masjid (I was taking ablution by the stairs), got inside and prayed.


 2. Folding the prayer mat inside out.

This is another action which I don't understand the reason. My logic states that I should fold the mat in a way that the outside of the folded mat should be the side where we put on the floor (Side B to make it easy to describe), and the inside should be the side where we pray on (Side A). This is because we do not want Side A to get dirty with, say for example, lizard droppings. However, many people, especially those who sometimes borrow my prayer mat, fold the mat with Side A on the outside. It really got me confused!



 

Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Idioms VS Peribahasa

This morning, my students performed a dialogue consists of idioms and its Malay equivalent (peribahasa). It was for the language programme held every Tuesday morning, replacing the recitation of Yasin. The programme is a good alternative to classroom learning but in order for it to work, the performance must be quite creative. 






The Dialogue:

Fatin: Hai Hajar, apa khabar?

Hajar: Hi, Fatin. I’m in the pink of health, thank you. How about you?

Fatin: Saya sihat, tapi saya sedih sikit. Markah Bahasa Inggeris saya amat rendah.

Hajar: Fatin, don’t worry. You can study harder. Remember, no pain, no gain.

Fatin: Betul, usaha itu tangga kejayaan. Saya akan belajar lebih rajin lagi. Saya akan pastikan takkan pisang berbuah dua kali.

Hajar: Yes, Fatin. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. How about we ask Mr. Azizul for help? We can learn English from him, and at the same time we can learn chess also. It’s like killing two birds with one stone.

Fatin: Bagus cadangan tu. Sambil menyelam, sambil minum air. Sambil belajar Bahasa Inggeris, sambil belajar catur. Saya rasa, jika kita betul-betul mahu, kita boleh menguasai kedua-duanya. Di mana ada kemahuan, di situ ada jalan.

Hajar: Marvellous! Where there is a will, there is a way. I think we also have to increase our vocabulary. Learn a word a day. You know, in for a penny, in for a pound.

Fatin: Saya setuju. Sedikit-sedikit lama-lama jadi bukit. Mari kita pergi berjumpa Cikgu Azizul sekarang. Masa itu emas, tau!

Hajar: Yes, I agree. Time is money. Let’s go!



Tuesday, April 04, 2017

Describing a Situation at the Canteen

Today I asked my students to describe a situation at the canteen. I told them you need not write about a story of about a year in order to make it informative and catchy. A lot could happen in the space of 30 minutes too!

Here is a sample I gave them:

Fifteen minutes has passed since the bell rang for recess. Ahmad was still finishing up what was left from his fried noodle made by his mother. His syrup glass was now half empty, or half full, as somebody with more positive attitude might say. Syazwan, on his left, had finished his fried rice five minutes ago. He was indeed a very fast eater.

Ahmad could see that some of the students were still queuing at the counter, impatiently waiting for their food. Ahmad really felt lucky because his mother spared some time to prepare his meal, thus saving him from the trouble that those students were currently having.

The canteen was quite noisy with students chatting over their meals. Some of them were talking about the lesson they had this morning, while others were talking about something else.

“Let’s go, Wan. We better hurry to class now. Mr. Azman will be really upset if we are late,” Ahmad blurted after sipping the last of his refreshing syrup.



Monday, August 22, 2016

Where to Deliver My Next Baby?

I'll be having another child. Like the previous two, my wife starts urging me to search for a place for the delivery. She makes it a point to have a female doctor delivering her baby as the experience for our first born was uninspiring. It was in a government hospital and she was alone for I was not granted the entry thus denying the chance to savour what should have been our most memorable moment.  

Searching for a good delivery hospital with female doctors in Kelantan is like searching for a needle in a haystack. There are only a few to choose from, and they are quite pricey especially if you need a surgery. 

One of them is Pusat Perubatan An-Nisa where my second child was delivered by Dr. Roseliza. It has wards and rooms for post delivery care, and the air conditioned room we were in was quite cozy with toilet and LCD screen inside it. The price for normal delivery is around RM2000, so, you can consider it reasonable. You may get more information here, but pardon me, it is not their official website which is 'under construction'. 

Our third child was born in Rumah Bersalin An-Nur in Kubang Kerian. It looks old but my wife liked it very much, most of it due to the friendliness of Dr. Siti Nurrochmah and her daughter, and the way they delivered the baby. She even asked me to cut the umbilical cord, which I happily did. Sadly, it does not have any website apart from a Facebook page, so, I cannot give you any more than that. 

However, due to some problems, we cannot have our latest baby in any of the above mentioned places. After some deliberation, we come to the conclusion that Rumah Bersalin Lily is the place. It fits the bill as the delivery will be done by Dr. Wan Malihah, who seems quite nice. The drawback is that the place is in Pasir Mas, which is around 20 kilometers from our house, so we should carefully plan our departure to prevent any delay. 


I am hopeful to see my baby being safely delivered.

UPDATE: It was Rumah Bersalin Lily after all. 30th August 2016 at 3.11 a.m. 
 

Sunday, June 19, 2016

Madinah Ramadhan Khat Competition - Results



Praise be to Allah, I got something for my artwork! I received a call this morning informing me about the result and asking me to be at the prize giving ceremony which would be held later in the afternoon. 

In truth, I was quite shocked, although some part of me were hoping for the positive outcome. The artwork of the others, in my opinion, were exquisite, and it was confirmed by the judges when I talked with one of them after the ceremony that the quality of the artworks were high compared to last year. 

Finished Artwork Category (Adults)








Finished Artwork Category (Students)




Spontaneous Category (Adults)




Spontaneous Category (Students)



 





Saturday, June 18, 2016

Madinah Ramadhan Khat Competition



Today I entered the Madinah Ramadhan Khat Competition held at the Sultan Muhammad IV Stadium. There were 14 participants altogether (2 of them were females) and I was not confident enough to be among the top 10. I rarely write nowadays and I held my khat pen just 1 week ago. It would be a miracle if I were to win anything. 

However, I was quite satisfied with my work. I was careful enough throughout the 3 hours so as not to make any telling mistakes (though I did make one which required me to apply liquid paper). Here was my work:


Here are some pictures taken from the competition:













Sunday, June 05, 2016

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.




Thursday, April 21, 2016

What Happens to Privacy Nowadays?

In the middle of the night, my phone received a text message. I thought it was something important from my wife because we were living 300km apart, but I was quite dismayed when I read:

RM0.00
www.win12u.com

LiveCasino,
SlotGame, SportBet,
4D

Join Now. Free RM30 1st Deposit+RM30 FB like+RM30 FB share

Whatsapp:
0163559222

Wechat ID: win12u

sent by +4478370655


Consider my surprise when this sequence of messages happened:

First, I got a message from 36670 saying:

Delivery report

Delivered

28/01/2016
16:21:50

Then, this message arrived:

RM0.00. Successful registration. No subscription fee. Price: RM3.00/SMS. 2sms/Day. Renewal on 28/02/2016. to cancel, send STOP IO01 to 36670.

28/01/2016
16:22:56

I promptly replied by sending STOP IO01 to 36670. A couple of minutes later, this arrived:

RM0.00: Your subscription to IO01 has been terminated. Thank you for your patronage. Helpline 03-80600842

28/01/2016
16:24:07

Can you imagine what will happen if I ignored the first message?

This came two weeks earlier:

RM0: Thanks for subscribed to MMS COSPLAY-weekly. 3MMS/week. 1st week FREE,after that, RM1.5 weekly. To stop, reply STOP MCOSPLAY, iSentric Hotline:0378051134

15/01/2016
16:11:16

Yes, I immediately replied to stop the subscription.

RM0.00: You hv successfully unsubscribed the MCOSPLAY service. To subscribe again, send ON MCOSPLAY to 23233.

15/01/2016
16:12:57

Those two subscription-forcing messages were actually continuations from the first chain of messages with 33282:

Delivery report

Delivered

01/12/2015
17:27:37

RM0.00. Successful registration.No sub fee.Price:RM3.00/SMS.Price may reduce.2sms/Day.Renewal on 01/01.2016.To cancel,send STOP HV to 33282.

01/12/2015
17:27:56

RM0.00: Your subscription to HV has been terminated. Thank you for your patronage. Helpline 038063550

01/12/2015
17:34:00
 


Thanks, but no thanks.


Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Cleaner Laptop, Faster Laptop

Last night, my ageing laptop prematurely shut down twice because of heat. At first, I thought that not only people were currently affected by this El Nino phenomenon, but also electrical appliances as well. Then a quote from a smart Alec at a computer shop inside the KB Mall rang a bell, "In one year, a laptop can accumulate dirt that it may affect the performance of the fan, thus causing the laptop, if it reaches 80 degrees of heat, to shut down prematurely." Then he continued that the shop provides the cleaning service which would cost me around RM90.

I would not waste such amount of money for something which I thought I could muster on my own, so I rummaged through my laptop bag and found the screwdriver I was looking for before I realized that, after turning the laptop upside down and then back up again plenty of times, I could not find the way to open my laptop! The 25 screws altogether underneath it made me to have second thoughts, but I braved myself and started to turn the screws, one by one.

When there were no more screws left, I tried to pry open the bottom cover to no avail. I could only peeked inside the motherboard and, true enough, I could see lots and lots of dirt. I cleaned as far as I could using the tissues, but still I could not properly touch the fan. This had made me think, 'Is it that hard to clean the fan?' It was illogical, and it made me envy the guy at the computer shop who claimed he could easily complete the seemingly impossible task.

Then I closed the cover and turned the laptop up again. It was then I saw that there was a line at the keyboard which seemed intriguing. I carefully tried to take it off, but it was stuck quite firmly. However, when I applied a little more force, the lid came off, unfortunately, together with a cable. Ten minutes passed before I could successfully connect the cable again and continue to search for the easiest way to clean the fan.



After the lid with the start button lifted up, I could easily take out the keyboard as well, although this time I was quite careful not to break any cable again. There, I saw what I was yearning for, the fan. It was, as expected, full of dirt. 'So that's why it sound really noisy when spinning.' I thought.



I cleaned up the fan and now the fan sounds nicely and the laptop does not easily overheat. It is not only faster than before, it does not shut down prematurely anymore. Not yet, at least.

Additional note:

If you do not have the courage to open your laptop, at least you could take out the keys of the keyboard and clean underneath them. You'll be very surprise! 


Wednesday, March 09, 2016

Sun Eclipse

Tomorrow, Kelantanese would be able to witness the rare phenomenon, the sun eclipse, starting from 7.27 a.m. until 9.33 a.m. according to National Space Agency portal. At its maximum, the moon will cover 68% of the sun at 8.26 a.m. 

As people around the world are buzzing about watching the eclipse, Muslims are suggested to do congregational prayer whenever they see eclipses, be it the moon or the sun. Thus, there are many places where Muslims in Kelantan would be doing this, among others Masjid Pondok Pasir Tumboh and Balai Islam Lundang. 

Here is an info graphic on how to do the congregational prayer:


DON'T MISS THIS RARE CHANCE!

Thursday, January 28, 2016

Female vs Male Drivers

Just when you think you have seen them all, a female driver proved me wrong. On my way to KB last month, I saw in front of me a young lady driving a Perodua Kancil about to make a turn to her left. Surprisingly, her door (yes, the front door on the right) was not properly closed. When she made the turn as I drove past her, the door, like I've predicted, opened. I could see her desperately grabbing the door handle now that the door was wide open. Luckily she was not thrown out of the car because of the seat belt or she would be hurt badly. 

Female drivers never cease to amaze me. On the other hand, male drivers are also not without their antics. They instead always get on my nerve! Early this morning at the Chabang Empat traffic light, a young male driver unashamedly signaled to enter at the front of the queue. Luckily, I was not driving. My brother, whose car was second in the queue, could not prevent him from entering in front of us. As I've expected, he took a right once the light turned green, abruptly stopping us on our track!



These kind of drivers are the ones who'll surely cause problems on the road. No matter how careful you are, they will always be there to disturb you. No wonder the number of accidents always increases year by year.

Sunday, November 22, 2015

Asthma and Salbutamol

I have asthma. Ever since I was a little child, I have been experiencing shortness of breath and wheezing almost every year. This continues until today, and it makes me think whether this will ever go away.

My current treatment is Salbutamol, and I have been thinking how does this drug treat during my asthma attacks. It surely clears my airways and enables me to breath normally 5 to 10 minutes after it is taken. I cannot possibly remember what I took during childhood, but I have been taking this Salbutamol in tablets and only recently, by inhaler.

The inhaler
Reading some websites on this subject, I found a blog written by Katielase very interesting. She explains the process using analogy and makes me understand perfectly what is going on after the application of Salbutamol into my lungs. 

Now, I have to be careful of the triggers to my asthma. So far, I notice that I will have attacks at dusty places or whenever I breathe in very cold air. Thus, I have tried my best to avoid these triggers. However, many around me are smokers, including family and friends. Hopefully second-hand smoke is not one of my triggers!
  

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Cheating in Examination

Having already been warned in the mid semester examination, several members of the 4D class still cheated in the final examination. This has made me really upset. After vigorously searched for ways to make them learn their lesson, I finally thought of something which, in my opinion, would be beneficial for all parties involved. I asked them to rewrite 'I will not cheat in examinations anymore' 50 times and get signatures from at least 3 Form 5 English teachers. This is because the teachers will be teaching them in Form 5 and they should know these cheaters beforehand. 

Cheating in examinations is not a good thing to do. In fact, it is actually a big offense and must be severely dealt with. Those involved have come to me and expressed their gratitude for my stern action. Some of them, especially the girls, said that they cried when they get the punishment. They vowed not to repeat the offense, and I believe them. 

Hopefully next year they will come stronger and pass their SPM with flying colours. 

Thanks for the teachers also for your cooperation. 

Not quite the 'flying colours' I had in mind but still a beautiful one


Monday, November 02, 2015

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.


Friday, October 23, 2015

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. 

Friday, August 14, 2015

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.   

 

Sunday, August 02, 2015

The Living Photograph by Jackie Kay

Today is the first time I taught the new literature components for Form 4. At first I was aghast because I saw three literature books consist of many poems, short stories and dramas. However, after learning that students have to study only a couple of poems and short stories, I was relieved. 

These are the compulsory components:

Poems

1. The Living Photograph by Jackie Kay
2. Charge of the Light Brigade by Lord Alfred Tennyson

Short Stories

1. Tanjung Rhu retold by Kay West
2. Leaving by M.G. Vassanji

Drama

1. The Right Thing To Do by Martyn Ford



The Living Photograph
by Jackie Kay

My small grandmother is tall there, 
straight-back, white broderie anglaise shirt, 
pleated skirt, flat shoes, grey bun,
a kind, old smile round her eyes.
Her big hand holds mine,
white hand in black hand. 
Her sharp blue eyes look her own death in the eye.

It was true after all, that look.
My tall grandmother became small.
Her back round and hunched.
Her soup forgot to boil.
She went to the awful place grandmothers go.
Somewhere unknown, unthinkable. 

But there she is still, 
in the photo with me at three,
the crinkled smile is still living, breathing.


There is a very good analysis done by an English teacher in her blog. I will not dwell too much on that because my analysis is more or less the same. For good students, I advise you to go to her blog and read the analysis because I think it is quite spot on although she admitted writing it before any reference book is out on the bookshop shelf.

However, I want to share what I did with my 4 Ikhlas class, which is quite mixed in terms of students' learning abilities. At first, I asked them to read the poem. The first read was unsuccessful because I saw so many blank faces all over the classroom. Then, because the class takes Arts, I asked them to draw pictures for selected words taken from the poem. Afterwards, I asked them to paste the pictures on the board before reading the poem one more time. This time, I saw some smile on their faces, mainly because they understand the poem a little bit. 


Nevertheless, to analyse the poem with this class is another problem. Let's hope they can get something from my next lesson.  

Related Posts with Thumbnails