Johor International Student Leaders Conference 2012

Attention to all students and teachers,

 Johor Student Leaders Council (JSLC) is organising the 2nd Johor International Student Leaders Conference 2012. Enclosed are the details pertaining to the conference:

Date: 26 & 27th June 2012

Venue: KSL Convention Centre, KSL Hotel

Participants: Local & international student leaders

The aim of JISLC 2012 is to encourage student leaders from schools (age 13-18) throughout Asia and beyond to meet and exchange ideas, views, initiatives, and visions on an international platform; engaging in a cross-cultural learning environment. 

The 1st Johor International Student Leaders Conference 2011. Don't miss the golden opportunity this time!

This year’s theme will bring together the viewpoints and proposals of student leaders all over the world on a very critical issue of sustainable development that may determine the future of the generations to come. The United Nations 2005 World Summit. Outcome Document refers to three reinforcing pillars that form the underpinnings of sustainable development which are: 

 i. economic development

 ii. social development

 iii. environment protection. 

To register as a participant or a presenter, check out  this link and download the forms enclosed at the bottom of the webpage.  If you are interested to be a paper presenter, please send the abstract of your paper presentation and we'll review them. Grab this golden opportunity to discover new things, hone your leadership skills and meet awesome new friends at the 2nd Johor International Student Leaders Conference.

For more information, please visit the official JISLC 2012's website. Hope to see you there!

Johor Midyear Examination Schedules 2012

“There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work and learning from failure.” ~ General Colin Powell

Hi folks,
 Enclosed are the schedules for the Johor Midyear Examinations for Form 3, Form 5 and Upper Six students. Hope this would assist you in revising your upcoming examinations. All the best of luck!

Jadual Peperiksaan Setara Pertengahan Tahun T3 Negeri Johor 2012 Jadual Peperiksaan Setara Pertengahan Tahun Tingkatan 5 Negeri Johor 2012 Jadual Peperiksaan Setara Pertengahan Tahun Tingkatan 6 Atas Negeri Johor 2012

Public Speaking, Choral Speaking, Parliamentary Debate & Drama's Rules and Regulations

For teachers and students who are searching hi and lo for the rules and regulations for the Public Speaking,Choral Speaking, Parliamentary Debate & Drama competitions, enclosed are the documents. You can access them via my Scribd. Hope that would help others to plan and train for the upcoming competitions. All the best of luck! Public Speaking Choral Speaking Debate Drama

All in a day's work

 My blog had been in such a sorry state as I was frantically trying to cope with various obligations at one go. It has been a great test of patience and endurance and I thank Allah for giving me the strength to go through the manic ordeal. 

 First, it was English week and I count my blessings that I have good English teachers who gave their best to make it a success. The motto of our English Week is 'Keep Calm and Speak English.' The opening ceremony was officiated by the principal, Pn. Hjh. Zainab Ali and graced by a choral speaking performance from 1 KAA1. Sushmita from 3KRK1 serenaded the audience with her rendition of I Have a Dream. For the rest of the week, students had the opportunities to take part in Morning Speeches, Spell It Right competition, Explorace and the coveted event, Tasek Talentime. I believe that by initiating fun yet educating activities, students would be motivated to utilise English in their daily lives. Next month, our English Language Panel will initiate our 1st English Mini Carnival (EMC) where we will invite neighbouring schools to take part in scintillating workshops with engaging English Language games and activities. I'm so excited that I've managed to rope in the help of the American English Teaching Assistants (ETA). My students are all psyched up for this!

In the midst of English Week frenzy, I rushed to 5 schools in JB to conduct the inspection of the ULBS Assessment. The KPs were very cooperative and it was an eye opener to see various working ethos and filing systems. The next day, I had to rush to Bahagian Teknologi Pendidikan (BTP) for an assessment project affliated with the Johor Education Department. Oh, did I mention I have to rush to Port Dickson on the same day for my HLP briefing? Yeah, it was manic all right...

The esteemed speakers. Dr. Maimunah Ali, Dr. Ibrahim, Dr. Kamaruddin & Dr. Latip. One day, I hope I can be as successful as them, Insya Allah.

Despite having to rush here and there, I was relieved that I managed to reach PD safe and sound. Alhamdulillah, I  am selected as one of the recipients of  the Hadiah Latihan Persekutuan (HLP) scholarship this year. Regardless of the shortcomings that I faced, I've survived the rigorous interview and I've been granted 2 years study leave. Not forgetting full pay leave with additional allowance and perks, alhamdulillah. It wasn't an easy journey. The competition was stiff. According to Bahagian Tajaan Pelajaran (BTP) at Ministry of Education, out of 800 people being interviewed, only 120 people are selected. The briefing for the HLP Scholarship recipients were held at Avilion Admiral Cove, Port Dickson and it was jam-packed with brilliant learning nuggets that would assist us in prepping ourselves for the upcoming studies. It was such a humbling experience meeting 119 other recipients who are enthusiastic and optimistic on upgrading themselves. I see this as an opportunity to be a better learner and improve myself as a greater educator. I've planned to further my studies at UTM in September and hopefully, everything will be smooth sailing.

I also managed the school chess club alongside Syura and we had sent 12 participants to take part in the MSSD Chess Tournament at SMK Tun Syed Nasir Ismail last Monday & Tuesday. I am thrilled that Derrick Ng managed to be in the top 8 players and the rest had given their best in the competition. Despite the fact I am often not at school due to official duties, I believe that as long you learn to delegate and assign tasks to your students, it is manageable. I've also learned that it is hard to please everyone but the most important thing is to never neglect your core business, teaching that is. Facebook has been my saviour and I use it as a platform to communicate and teach my students amidst my absence in school. Not sure if work would slow down but hopefully, I'll be given the strength to overcome any trial or tribulation.

Latest Update on Standardised Examinations 2012

For students and teachers in Johor, please take note of the latest information from the Johor Education Department.

• Only one standardised examination will be conducted for each form in 2012.
• For Year 6 (UPSR) , Form 3 (PMR) and Form 5 (SPM), the standardised exam will be the Midyear Examination.
• For Year 3,4,5 (Primary School) and Form 1,2 and 4 (Secondary School), the standardised exam will be the Final Year Examination.
• Standardised examination will no longer be carried out in 2013.

Enclosed is the letter issued by the Johor Education Department for further reference.

The Curse, Catch Us If You Can & Step by Wicked Step

Based from my blog stats, I've discovered that there are quite a number of visitors who were looking for materials on the Form 5's novels ( The Curse, Catch Us If You Can and Step by Wicked Step). Although I blogged more on The Curse as that is the novel that I am teaching in my school, I thought it would be good to jot down a blog entry on all the three novels for easy reference. Enclosed are materials on all of the aforementioned novels. They are provided by the Curriculum Development Division (CDD), MOE and I've shared them on my Scribd as well. I hope that would assist any student or teacher who is in need of extra reading material.

Step by Wicked Step Catch us if you can The Curse

State SLB Establishment Workshop 2012 & my 100th post!

Date           : 18th Feb 2012
Venue         : SMK Tasek Utara
Organizer   : Johor Student Leaders Council
Participant  : 30 Secondary schools from various districts in Johor

The committee members worked around the clock to make the event a success. I smiled when someone asked me "How come there're not many teachers facilitating the workshop?" Basically, when it comes to event management, we believe that the student leaders should play pivotal role in delegating the jobs and executing their roles effectively albeit minimal facilitation from the teacher advisor. During the 1st JSL International Conference last year, there were only 5 adults supervising the event whereas the rest were managed almost 80% by the JSLs. It's high time we give some trust to our students to take charge and believe me, with guidance and time, they'll improve their leadership qualities by leaps and bounds.

Poster presentations by SIGS and SMK Dato Penggawa Timur's SLBs. Thanks for sharing your project with the others. Awesome job everyone!

Group presentations. The student leaders were attentive and exuded confidence and I believe with a wee bit of polishing, they have high potentials to be good leaders. Who knows one of them might be the next JSL ? :)

The JSLC team. Madam Rosliza is the Head of International Affairs/Head Coach for JSLC and I'm officially appointed to be the Coach for the JSLC by the Johor Education Department. JSLC is close to my heart as I've been with them since day 1, from drafting the SLB Constitution, supervising the JSLC Camps, International trainings and so forth. Been doing all that for the past 2 and a half year. This is pure voluntary work and some might gush on how lucky I am that I managed to go here and there but believe me, JSLC is not just about travelling but it requires a lot of sacrifice, tenacity and optimism. Most of the JSLs conduct their activities during the weekends or school holidays so, that means we don't get much rest. There are times I have to rush here and there and spend sleepless nights planning and conducting various projects pertaining to JSLC, the thing is I don't flaunt it to everyone ! I was amused when some people thought I was hogging the limelight by going to almost all international excursions with JSLC and not giving others the chance. FYI, I went there on the ticket of being the JSL Coach and not simply currying favour with the JED officers. If they decide to send others, I'm okay with it. After all, it's purely based on their decision, not mine.  Oh well, at the end of the day, you know your intention in doing things and whatever it is, I'll take it with a pinch of salt and work harder to improve myself  :) On a positive note, I'm glad that we have more teacher volunteers such as Rosita Manas and some other teachers who attended the workshop. Navinder from SIGS is very well-experienced in managing leadership programme in school and I definitely learn a lot from her. I felt happy talking to Mr. Segar who expressed his interest in helping out with SLB and JSL activities. Isn't that great? If you are interested to help us out, let me know and we'll be happy to consider you :)

My beloved SLB. I am proud of them as they worked hard to assist the JSLs in running the event. SLB is one of the most popular societies in my school and frankly, so many students approached me to join SLB due to the activities organised by my students. There's always room for improvement and I trust all of you to learn from your experience and perhaps that would help you be better leaders. I am lucky that I have colleague like Ali and Diana who are diligent and resourceful. Ali is a distinguished debater and I respect him for his verbal prowess. Diana offered to assist but I felt as she was swarmed with MUET schedules, I let her take a breather. She has been an awesome friend and honestly, she inspires me to be a better person. One thing I've learned from my experience working with JSLC is that we can't enjoy the rainbow if we can't endure the rain. It's not easy to establish a new society like SLB but alhamdulillah, with great work from the teacher advisors and students, the SLB in my school is gradually growing from strength to strength. Leadership is an ongoing thing and I believe the workshop would help the other schools to establish their own Student Leaders Board in school.

I Wonder & Heir Conditioning

For Form 2 students and teachers who are looking for PowerPoint materials on Jeannie Kirby's I Wonder and M. Shanmugalingam's Heir Conditioning, I would like to share the materials I've received from the Johor Bahru's English Language Officer. For more English Lit materials, do check out my Slideshare's site.

I Wonder - Jeannie Kirby

View more PowerPoint from Nor Fadzleen

Heir Conditioning

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Around The World in 80 Days

For those looking for materials to teach Jules Verne's Around The World in 80 Days, enclosed is the material provided by the Johor Bahru Education Office during the Johor Bahru's F3 English Literature Workshop recently. Thanks to Ms. Ruzana for the materials. Sharing is caring :)

Around The World In 80 Days

View more PowerPoint from Nor Fadzleen

English Teaching Assistants (ETA) Official School Visit

Date      : 30 th Jan 2012
Venue    : Sri Tasek Hall, SMK Tasek Utara, Johor Bahru, Johor.

Howdy folks! Few weeks ago, my school welcomed 17 English Teaching Assistants (ETA) alongside their mentors and officers from the Ministry of Education, Johor Education Department and Johor Bahru Education Office. The ETAs are from USA and they are Fullbright Scholars. Basically, Fullbright Programme is the U.S. government's flagship international educational exchange program which have been successfully carried out for 6 years in Malaysia. The ETAs come from various universities in the US and represent a wide variety of major fields. They would be placed in various primary and secondary schools in Johor for 10 months and assist the school in improving the English Language proficiency among the students. Way cool huh? The Johor ETAs visited two schools that day. For primary school, they went to SK Bandar Baru Uda 2 and few hours later, they went to SMK Tasek Utara!

Albeit the lack of time in preparing for the visit, I count my blessing that I could bank on my Student Leaders Board & MPPU to assist me in preparing for the official visit. They took charge of the programme from A-Z, with minimal facilitation from the teachers. My principal, Pn. Hajah Zainab assured us that we can pull this off smoothly and alhamdulillah, we did. My English Language teachers are amazing too as they gave their best in making sure the programme is a success. The delegation were welcomed by the principal, Pn. Hjh. Zainab Ali and later on, I briefed them on the English Language programmes conducted in my school. They were informed on the internationalisation programmes, excursions and projects carried out by the Student Leaders Board & MPPU too. Next, Francis, Mujahid and Ambrose gave their speeches on their experiences being student leaders in SMKTU. Good job boys :) The ETAs went to several classes to check out the English Language lessons conducted by the teachers. They went to Kak Izlin's, Kak Nida's, Hanim's and Wani's and based on the feedbacks, they felt that the lessons were well-executed and the students were attentive...hmm ;)  Gosh, all the hard work paid off!

Before they went back to their hotel, some of the ETAs were given the honour to plant a tree in front of the counselling room. Thanks Ali for his effort in finding the seedling ! We felt this is an apt ceremony as it symbolises the nurturing of friendship and goodwill between two countries. As we inculcate the love towards nature and green living among our students, we believe that the tree would be a good reminder on how we should give back to others, be it via education, social works or environmental conservation.

The Johor's ETAs delegation with SMKTU's reps. I sincerely hope that all of you would enjoy your stay in Johor and have fun in teaching the Malaysian students. Seize the opportunity to visit all the magnificent places in Johor and try out the local delicacies ;) Thank you for putting smiles on my students' face. They really enjoy your visit albeit a brief encounter. Thank you to Mr. Shan, Mr. Rozlan, Ms. Ruzana and Mr. Vijayan for coming to our humble school too. We gave our best and we hope that the ETA programme would be a success, Insya Allah :)