Weekly Updates

Event #1: Teacher's Day Celebration
Date          : 17th May 2010.
Venue       : Dewan Sri Tasek, SMK Tasek Utara, Johor Bahru, Johor.
Organiser  : MPPU, Prefect Board and KEBIRU SMKTU.

Of all the day, I had to be stuck in a massive traffic jam on Teacher's Day! Due to a minor accident and road construction near Rustica BBU,  I arrived just in time to belt out 'Kami Guru Malaysia', just my luck! By the way, I was nominated by my school to receive 'Active Teacher Award', an award that would be given during the Johor Bahru's Teacher's Day celebration. I think the main objective is to acknowledge those who prolifically contribute to the district level education programmes & activities. Ah well, I've handed in my form to my PK1 and I'll just hope for the best. When I checked my pigeon hole that morning, I was surprised when I read a fax from SK Tampoi Utama, asking me to fill in the profile for 'Innovative Teacher Award', in conjuction with the District Level Teacher's Day Celebration. And get this, I had to send it on the same day! Yikes! In between the manic frenzy of T-Day celebration, I had to slip out to the office to fax the form.  Frankly,  I was a bit disappointed that I couldn't stay until the end of the T-Day's celebration as I had to rush to Pontian at 1 p.m. for Event #2. 

Event #2: Mesyuarat Peningkatan Akademik Bahasa Inggeris Negeri Johor.
Date         : 17-19th May 2010.
Venue      : Hotel Pontian, Pontian, Johor.
Organiser : YPJ and JPNJ.

I joined 71 other English Language teachers around Johor to build modules based on authentic materials. We were lucky as we were guided by experienced facilitators such as Mr. Ismail Juned, GC from SIGS, Pn. Sallina Hussain, Principal of SDARY & Chairperson of the JB English Language Panel, Pn. Vasanthi, GC from SMK Tun Habab and Mr. Zainal, GC from Segamat (sorry Zainal, I forgot the name of your school).
Although we had to endure sessions from 8 a.m. to 10.30 p.m., I can vouch for the other participants that we gained  a lot of experience via the item building session and the intriguing pedagogical approaches that we could apply in our daily lessons. Meeting new friends and rekindling bonds with old friends were the highlight of the sessions as well. I'll share with all this blog readers the materials we've constructed when time permits. Do watch this space!
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Event #3: PMR Talk & Writing Workshop
Date         : 20th May 2010.
Venue      : Language Lab, SMK Tasek Utara 2, Johor Bahru, Johor.
Organiser : English Language Panel, SMKTU 2.

The next day, I went to the neighbouring school to share my knowledge and experience with the Form Three students on PMR Answering Techniques. Since there are 6 classes altogether, I've conducted two sessions that stretched up to 4 hours. I've also conducted Writing Workshop with the students and alhamdulillah, everything turns out well. Thank you Rasheeda for your warm hospitality and patience. I was pleasantly surprised to know that Rasheeda is one of my blog readers and she was the one who nominated my name to the English Panel for this talk. I am honestly flattered and I do hope we'll keep in touch  yeah :)

Event #4: LDP- Talk on Blogging & My Lit Project

Date         : 22th May 2010.
Venue      : Computer Lab 2, SMK Tasek Utara , Johor Bahru, Johor.
Organiser : SMKTU.

Tomorrow, I'll be sharing my latest Action Research, My Lit Project with my fellow colleagues. Then, I'll conduct a workshop on Blogging and demonstrate how blogging can greatly maximise the learning experience. I know some might have qualms on blogging as they might think it's a bit time consuming but honestly, I perceive blogging as a powerful tool to ignite the creative sparks and illuminate the manifold possibilities of learning paradigms.

Have a nice weekend!