Day In, Day Out

The debate on the use of L1 in L2 lessons has been going on since forever. Different scholars come out with different theories and hypotheses yet no one theory or hypothesis has become the most significant. After all, it all depends on the teaching context. The use of L1 has always been a contentious issue. Teachers have choices whether to: ban L1; minimise L1; or maximise L2. Again, it all depends on the context the teachers are in. It is best to also mention that even so, teachers who resort to the L1, despite their best intentions, often feel guilty for straying from L2 path (Cook, 2001). However now, let's not talk about teacher's use of L1.  Let's look at student's use of L1 in L2 lessons.  Should we ban the use of L1 among students in L2 lessons? If not, why are there a lot of suggestions given to cut or limit the use of L1 in L2 lessons? I remember when I once made it a rule that students should only talk to me...

More people should have the courage to speak their mind out so that other people could learn and understand them better. Many love to keep things to themselves because it is pleasurable and because it is safer , and because speaking out may open up chances for people to criticise and to hurt .  Silence has never killed anybody but silence too has never healed anybody.  People need to speak out. Speaking out could be threatening, tiring, emotionally draining, yet most of the time, it is the only way out of the tensed situations we are inflicted on. Speaking out may take a lot of strengths but staying in silence could cause harm.  When at work, learn to say NO. When at home, share what and how we feel. When in public, vocalize our thoughts. When with partners, pour out your heart. When with friends, let them know. When with an enemy, make them listen. Stop assuming things.  "They should have known the pile of work I'm working on." "T...

Exposing vocabulary list to students of beginner level of English proficiency is always challenging especially when the students are at the age of 14 to 17 years old which had had an approximate 6 to 7 years experience of English language learning. Talking from experience, the group of students, despite the level of their proficiency, hate to be treated as kids as they perceive themselves as grown up and that they have been learning the same thing for years. Therefore, they expect learning to be more serious, learning aids to be more mature and learning content to be more challenging. Well, how do you make lessons on basic colours be more serious, mature and challenging?  If one is able to come out with the lesson, another question then arises; when are we going to get done exposing students with all the basic vocabulary so that we can proceed with the vocabulary that students are expected to know by the MOE in order to answer PT3 or SPM? Let's flip through PT3 or SP...

I wasn't paying attention when my name was being called. It was only when I stood up that I knew she was expecting me to answer her question which was very much unclear to me.  She seemed reluctant to repeat her question but she did. She expected me to come out with a sentence. I guessed.  I threw a sentence then I happily sat thinking everything was over ... ... yet I was wrong.  She started blabering. Saying how incompetent, how undetermined, how unenthusiastic I was.  I kept silent. Partly guessing her expectations.  Then I knew all she wanted from me was a lengthy introduction that contained all the 5W's. Phewwwww *** The task given was an  easy  one yet having to spontenously answer the question, standing up with the words being typed and was closlely observed by a troop of Grammar Nazis, made me felt  judged ,  insecurd   and  threatened .  Her aim of questioning might be to nu...

This blog has been my place since 2008. Scrolling back the years, it is crazy how things have changed. A 19 years old me was an innocent one. She shared with the world everything that was in her head - mindless. The language was absurd and the point of writing was ridiculous.  "I think throughout the years, I have changed a lot. I have tamed my tongue, at least. Have you too changed? What were you like before?" "I was a lazy freak. Glad that you've changed me." "I don't change you and you don't change for me. You are born responsible. Even if you are married to any other woman in the world, you'll be a better person. For you are a responsible man."  I change. My husband change. People change. Why? For change is the only thing constant in life. But when we change, it is not people or a particular person that change us. It takes us to change us. It takes us to rewire the connection we have already had in our brain; w...

This post was written on Sept 21, 2013. Sometimes you just feel tired, feel weak, When you feel weak, you feel like you just wanna just give up, But you gotta search within you, try and find that inner strength, And just pull that shit out of you, and get that motivation not to give up, And not be a quitter no matter how bad you wanna just fall flat on your face. Till I collapse- Eminem There are countless events in my life when my negative inner voice implored: ' Babe, I'm tired. That's it, let's just give up .' At the culmination of my self-defeat or my depression, I also do things which people called as acts of giving up. As I am bad at handling my emotions, I spend a week or two crying and hiding under my comforter, skipping meals, brainstorming homicide notes and writing a new diary entry with advanced cursing verbs dedicated to either myself or some other people. Oh, what a typical immature girl! However, the funny activities don't go any fu...

I am frequently asked; What is the secret to good English? There is no finite answer to the question. Some may say practice while the others believe it is the quality of English heard (be the daily English used by parents or the English used by teachers). Indeed, some students do blame their English teacher's poor proficiency for their bad English.  Students have the right to blame the teachers. There are studies proving the case. Other factors contributing to poor L2 acquisition and academic achievement in township schools and rural areas are: lack of access to newspapers, magazines, TV and radio; lack of opportunity to hear or to speak English; lack of English reading material at home and at school; and poor language teaching by teachers whose own English proficiency is limited. (Nel & Muller, 2010)   In many Malaysian classrooms, class' English teacher is the students' main/sole input (English) provider making the only English they hear...