The world around us

The new cycle of literature for secondary school students have been introduced in 2010. In this new cycle, there have been a lot of changes especially the items. One of the more prominent one is that there are a lot more Asian writers included in this cycle. My topic today is for form four students with a poem taken from the syllabus; He has such quite eyes.


He Had Such Quiet Eyes by Bibsy Soenharjo
He had such quiet eyes
She did not realise
They were two pools of lies
Layered with thinnest ice
To her, those quiet eyes
Were breathing desolate sighs
Imploring her to be nice
And to render him paradise
If only she’d been wise
And had listened to the advice
Never to compromise
With pleasure-seeking guys
She’d be free from ‘the hows and whys’
Now here’s a bit of advice
Be sure that nice really nice
Then you’ll never be losing at dice
Though you lose your heart once or twice

In this poem, the poet tells a story of how she was deceived by a man. The poet realizes at some point that the man was just only playing with her feeling but it was already too late because she did not listen to others' advice to never compromise with pleasure-seeking guys. Her advice in the final stanza is that you must be sure that nice really mean that the guy is a morally good person and if you do, you will not lose anything valuable although you may have to face dissapointment once or twice.

This poem is a very good reminder for all of us, especially to those who are still studying. Always know what is more important in your life right now. Know that it is not worth it to sacrifice all of your valuable assets for the sake of uncertain love.

Focusing on the literary side, the themes for this poem is as follow;

1. Strong Moral Values and Self-Respect 
2. Deception in Appearances 
3. Consequences 
4. Listen to Advice

 That is all for now. Have a great day.

Oh Happy Days~

Today, Wednesday the 4th, is the day that all students are supposed to resume their schooling days. Another day, another year, another challenge. So, how was your result for the previous year? In all good will, I hope that those who are still schooling to try their best in achieving great things. Speaking of great things, I don't mean examination result only. There are a lot of things out there that are not thought in textbooks to be explored. Making your parents happy is also a great thing, respecting other people regardless of age is a great thing, valuing friendship and people around you is another example of great things that do not appear in your examination paper.

Strive to the be the best, achieve great things, attain good results and most of all, being a valuable citizen. Good luck and have a wonderful year ahead of you.

Jumping Jack

Hello there! I hope you are fine and well. Now, in this latest post, I will introduce to you a fun way to learn preposition. To those who are already familiar with this item, you can still enjoy the practice that I will suggest later. When we are talking about preposition,we are talking about an object's location and movement. For example, the pet shop is located across the Kemajuan street.

Alright, now for the fun part. In order to fully understand the usage and function of any preposition, the best way is to literally do what the preposition means. This activity can be done in any place; in your own home or even in the classroom. To begin the activity, first of all, download the list of preposition. Then, using the song below, try to understand the usage of preposition.

After you have finally understand the usage of preposition, your next task is to act out the preposition in your comfort. For example, if you are in your room, you can begin with;
1. Get off the chair.
2. Walk across the room.
3. Take the thing that is on your table.

The list is endless and it is a fun thing to do while learning something practically. Have fun and enjoy your exercise.

What a wonderful world

In his famous song, Louis Armstrong describes a peaceful and loving world that he had once witness and hope to preserve. The song can be heard or downloaded from here. It is a simple and straight forward song that can be enjoyed by people from all walk of life. Taking a closer look on the lyric, we can clearly see some adjectives used by the singer in describing that wonderful world. Adjectives are words that being used to describe a noun. For an example, What a wonderful world. The adjective "wonderful" is used in this sentence to describe that the world is pleasant and full of happiness. Now, try to find other adjectives in this lyric while listening to the song here.

IN THE GHETTO

By Elvis Presley

THE FULL LYRICS

As the snow flies on a cold and grey Chicago morning

A poor little baby child is born

In the ghetto.  

<>()<>

And his mama cries ‘cause if there’s one thing she doesn’t need

Is another hungry mouth to feed

In the ghetto.

<>()<> 

Ah, people don’t you understand

A child needs your helping hand;

He’s going to be an angry young man some day

Oh, take a look at you and me,

Are we too blind to see?

Do we simply turn our heads

And look the other way?

 <>()<>

Well the world turns and a hungry little boy with a runny nose

Plays in the street and the cold wind blows,

In the ghetto

 <>()<>

And his hunger burns, so he starts to roam the streets at night

And he learns how to steal and he learns how to fight

In the ghetto.

 <>()<>

Then one night in desperation,

The young man breaks away.

He buys a gun and steals a car;

He tries to run but he doesn’t get far,

And his mama cries  

<>()<>

As the crowd gathers round an angry young man,

Face down in the street with a gun in his hand

In the ghetto.

 <>()<>

And as a young man dies on a cold and grey chicago morning,

Another little baby child is born

In the ghetto.

 <>()<>

And his mama cries.....

_________________________________________________

So, how many did you manage to find? There are a lot of adjectives in this touching song that describes the life and death of a man in a ghetto. There are also a lot of moral values and life lesson that could be learnt from this song. If anyone wants the answer for this exercise, please tell me in the comment section.

Aiming for the top

In this lesson, we are going to explore one of the new elements of Malaysian KBSM literary items which is Graphic Novels. There are three different novels selected by the Ministry of Education and each of them is assigned as a reading material in different state according to their region.

1. Journey to The Center of The Earth

2.  Boscombe Valley Mystery

3.  Black Beauty

Based on my own experience, the language that is presented and used in these graphic novels are relatively easy. If the students come from an area in which English is spoken/used regularly, they will have no difficulties in learning and using this literary item. On the other hand, if the students come from an area where English is deemed difficult and hard-to-learn, the element of comic that is being used in this item can attract their interest in learning the language.

When you are reading these graphic novels, always keep in mind that the target group for this literary item is actually form one students. Therefore, if you are a form one student, I wish you all the best and hope you can enjoy one of these novels. If on the other you are not a form one students, you can still have a wonderful time reading these works and at the same time you can help your younger siblings and also school mates in understanding the works better. Together we stand.

Learning from the past...

Have you ever wondered about how different your life could be if you had done some things differently? I do.

For today's lesson, we are going to discuss about 'MODAL VERB'

What is a MODAL VERB? There are several modal verbs that are usually used in English language;

• Could - This is the past form of the word 'can' (Describing ability to do something)
• Would - This is the past form of the word 'will' (Describing politeness and time of action)
• Should - This is the past form of the word 'shall' (Describing responsibility)

These three modals are the most common ones that we use in our daily conversation. However, there are several other modals that can be used. Download the document here to learn more modals and their functions.

Here is a song compilation showing how to use some of the modal verbs

Now that you have the basic of it, let's try your understanding if this topic. Download and answer the exercise here.

p/s: If you further questions, please contact me through the comment feeds. Peace.

Hello there!

Welcome to Saed Amaal's language portal. Some of you know me personally while some you may be my students from various places and some of you are strangers to me. Regardless of our real life co-relation, in this small blog, I will try my best to spread English language learning and the fun that it can bring to us. So, again, WELCOME to all you and hope that you will gain a lot of thing from my blog and that you find learning and using English language as fun and enjoyable.

This blog is created as a part of requirement to the course TSL 641: Computer Assissted Language Learning. Please leave your comment and review in the comment section.