BEL260's blog???: 2012

Saturday 3 March 2012

Last Class (Thu, 1/3/12)

Awww...

Can you believe that it's already the last class. Time truly flies when you are having fun =D

So, on this meaningful class, Miss Zu started it with handing back our POP QUIZ and discussed it a little bit.

The next part is my favourite part or I think I can safely say that it was OUR favourite part. Haha.

EATING!!

It's every student's hobby. Miss Zu bought loads of snacks and drinks with the late-comer's money. Thanks to Megat and Dinie! Oh, Miss Zu gave me special presents because I was the class assistant and because it seems that I did a lot of work (I didn't really). Haha. It was a box of chocolate and a tub of prunes. Haven't had prunes in a loooong time.

Thanks Miss! I appreciate it.

After all the munching and gulping, we took group photos and then followed Miss to her car to hand in our portfolio. And took some more pictures! =P

Ummm, Miss wanted us to write a kind-of like an evaluation on her. Like, what do we think of her teaching methods, her ways of approach and other stuff. She also said that we can comment on anything that can give an improvement and better lessons for our juniors.

So, here's mine.

Assalamualaikum Miss, first of all I just wanted to say that you are by far the most energetic, enthusiastic and fun English teacher/lecturer I've ever had. That is the highest praise I can give to a person who is making a living by teaching one the most boring subject on the planet.

I have no comment what so ever on your teaching methods and approaches as they are superb and well thought out. Although you might have caught me cringing during some of the acting lessons. Haha. Nevertheless, it was fun and different.

The only comment I have is that, you know how you like to crossed your fingers and say "fingers crossed", I feel uncomfortable seeing that. I personally think that we shouldn't practice the gesture due to religious beliefs but if I happens to be gravely wrong then forgive me for bringing it up. I'm simply stating my opinion.
http://www.englishsabla.com/forum/showthread.php?52308-Cross-Fingers!
http://www.seiyaku.com/customs/fingers-crossed.html
I sincerely apologised if I've offended Miss in any way. I just wanted to share what I know.

Ok, forget about that. All in all, I think Miss has done an excellent job at teaching us. Miss should just carry on with what you are doing now as it is already amazing.

May we all get A+ for BEL 260 with your blessings.

See you around, Miss!

Author's Tone & Purpose (Wed, 29/2/12)

Whad'up!

As you can see, Gangster mode today. Muahaha.

So, today's class was about author's tone & purpose. Authors have several purpose in mind when writing something. Either to:

Entertain
Inform or
Persuade

Different styles of writing sets a different kind of purpose. For example, for the purpose to inform, the author might use a very formal and factual piece of writing. On the other hand, the author might use a very convincing and smooth kind of writing to achieve the purpose for persuading.

Tone

A writer's tone towards an issue is shown through his tone uses in writing.

There are 2 basic tones: Positive or Negative

You can tell if the writer is showing a positive attitude or a negative attitude through his word choice.

Try to differentiate the words below whether it belongs to a positive or a negative category.

Sarcastic
Optimistic
Pessimistic
Indifferent
Cynical
Bitter
Encouraging
Thoughtful
Mocking
Praising

Get the idea? I really hope you do, because I have no idea how to explain it better. TT

Bye!

POP QUIZ! (Tue, 28/2/12)

Whooo, POP QUIZ!!!!

Actually, I'm not that excited about it. More like nervous as nails. Nails?? Seriously, Elya? Pffttt....

Before the pop quiz, we learnt about Passive Voice first, which was presented by Su, Megat, Nabila and Nina.

In passive voice, the object becomes the subject.

For example,

Active voice, Farah writes a letter.

Passive voice, A letter is written by Farah.

As you can see, the object has become the subject in passive voice. I'd just discovered this web and I find it really helpful. I hope you think so too.

http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/passive

Ok, let's talk about POP QUIZ. I don't understand why I am so eager to tell you about it when I don't even enjoy doing it. Maybe the adrenaline from the quiz still hasn't gone away and my, oh my, it was quite an adrenaline ride!

You really can't blame a girl for pumping so much adrenaline because we were timed! Ok, I just realised I haven't told you what the POP QUIZ (why do I capital all the letters?) is about. Heee. Ladies and gentlemen, the POP QUIZ was about Argumentative Essay. How exciting.

The only good thing was that it was a group thing, phewww. The bad thing was that each person was given only 15 minutes! I know, I know, finals are also timed but then that's different (no idea in which aspect, hah!).

I wrote the 3rd body paragraph and all I could think was that "Is it long enough?? Write more!! Faster!!" All the guidelines and processes that Miss Zu taught us were out the window. Not because I think it was not important or helpful. It was because I was feeling pressured and nervous.

Ok, enough with the 'spilling your guts' thing. See ya!

Sunday 26 February 2012

Argumentative Essay (Thu, 23/2//12)

HOLA!

So, it seems that I'm in a...Spanish mood today. Whatever. Don't mind me. =D

I want those big hats and the cool ponchos. Heee.

Alright, why am I always off topic?? Weird.

ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY

That's what we learnt today. No, we did not fight in class. We only fought on paper =D. Well, I shouldn't really say fight, we argue, nicely.

In this kind of essay, we not only give information but also present an argument with the PROS (supporting ideas) and CONS (opposing ideas) of an argumentative issue. We should clearly take our stand and write as if we are trying to persuade an opposing audience to adopt new beliefs or behavior. The primary objective is to persuade people to change beliefs that many of them do not want to change.

Ok, the above paragraph is basically the definition of argumentative essay. Those were not my own words,by the way :)

An argumentative essay is just like any other essays. It has an intro, body and conclusion. The only major difference is that you have to clearly state your stand on the given situation, whether you strongly agree or strongly disagree.

There's also a refutation. Refutation is the part of an argument in which a speaker or writer counters opposing points of view.

All in all, you must give the most convincing argument in order to prove that your stand is the correct stand to be on.

Don't be like these two. Write an argumentative essay :P

Conclusion (Wed, 22/2/12)

BONJOUR!

Ok, I don't know why I just greeted you in French. Maybe I just missed the language. Hehe. Ok, FOCUS.

Today, it's all about CONCLUSION.

What is it?

It is the outcome or result of a process or act.

We make conclusions everyday whether we realised it or not. For example, when we see a person walking unsteadily and swaying, we can conclude that the person is drunk or is high on drugs or something.

Like before, Miss Zu showed us a couple of videos and we then have to make a conclusion on each video clip. The activity was fun and made us understood it much better.

I remembered that there was a music video by Bruno Mars, Grenade. Try watching it and see what can you conclude about it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SR6iYWJxHqs&ob=av2e

Happy watching and concluding!!

Making Inferences (Tue, 21/2/12)

HI!

So, on this day we all got to learnt about "how to make inferences". What exactly is inference??

Hhmmmm... according to Wikipedia,

Inference is the act or process of deriving logical conclusions from premises known or assumed to be true.

To make us understood it better, Miss Zu prepared an activity where she played some short videos and then we will have to make an inference of each video. I'm afraid I already forgot the exact video that she showed but you guys can practice your 'inference making' skills by watching a short video clip and infer on it.

Basically, inferring is when you take information and put it together with what you know from your prior experiences and draw a conclusion.

Can you make an inference now? or are you still confused? Hmmmm.....

Simple Past & Past Continuous Tense (Thu, 16/2/12)

More Presentations!

The last 2 groups did a presentation on Simple Past Tense & Past Continuous Tense. As I had said before I'll just let the experts explain all this intricate stuff.

Simple Past Tense

Past Continuous Tense

Hope it helps!

Simple Present & Present Continuous Tense (Wed, 15/2/12)

Presentation :)

So, it was finally my group's turn to present about grammar. My group's presentation was about Simple Present Tense and the Present Continuous Tense was presented by Megat's group. My group members were Su and Malin. =D

I think it would be best if you guys read the info from these links as they are written by someone who really know what they're talking about. You know how complicated grammar can be, I wouldn't want to give a false education. =P

Present Continuous Tense

Hope they were helpful!

Introduction (Tue, 14/2/12)

Every essay starts with an introduction, right? So, I guess introduction is just as important as the main paragraph. Here's what we learnt today: How to write an introduction.

Some links below will help you to further your understanding:

http://homeworktips.about.com/od/paperassignments/a/introsentence.htm

http://www.crlsresearchguide.org/17_Writing_Introduction.asp

http://www.enotes.com/topics/how-write-introduction

Miss Zu then gave us a topic and we then have to write an introduction in our groups. Each group have their own kind of 'Hook'. There are 7 hooks:

Facts & statistics
Personal experience
Definition
Rhetorical question
Contrast to thesis statement
Current event
Quotation

My group did the contrast to the thesis statement hook. The topic was about gays. The brain storming part was fun. Let your imagination run wild, people. I did. =D

Listening Test (Fri, 10/2/12)

The Real Deal!

The day had finally come. Listening Test.

The test was at BK2 which was great because we also had a class near there before it. The test was quite easy, I must say. There was a part about Jamie Oliver! LIKE.

Who's yummier??

There was one question where I was like "what's the fricking answer??" Thank God we can listen to it for a second time. The second time I listened to the speaker word for word. I still didn't know the answer right away and I was starting to panic but then BAMM! the answer came. Phew~

I was lucky. Bye.

Speaking Test (Wed, 8/2/12)

OMG

Seriously, I was a nervous wreck! I was fidgeting, pacing up and down the corridor, I just couldn't stop moving. It was really bad.

I thought I did a terrible job. I ran out of ideas. I tried so hard not to jumble my words. It was disappointing. Miss Zu thought so too. She said, she didn't know what happened but it seems that most of the groups did not meet up to her expectations.

My group's topic was about how graduates can improve their job interviews.

Through out the whole discussion, I was like "God, please help me." I know my marks will not be worth to be happy about, but I just hope it will not jeopardize my chance of getting and A or A+.

Ciao.

Saturday 25 February 2012

Listening Exercise 2 (Thu, 2/2/12)

I have to say, this listening thing is growing on me. I don't find it overwhelming anymore. I know what to expect and more prepared.

Maybe, it's because it wasn't a textbook one.

That's all for now, bye!

Speaking Exercise (Wed, 1/2/12)

uurrgghhh...

Don't get me wrong, I like speaking. I do it every single day. But, the idea of speaking properly with correct grammar and what not AND getting graded is definitely not my cup of tea.

So, today some of my classmates and I were the guinea pigs in showing how the speaking test will actually be done. The speakers in my group were Farah, Izuwan and Megat. The topic for our discussion was the benefits of online shopping.

heeee~

I was super nervous as I haven't done it for a long time, actually that is not an excuse because my group members also haven't done it for a long a time, sorry. But how come they were so calm and collected. Or was that just on the surface? I bet they were also cringing. Haha.

While we were doing the Part B, I managed to calm myself ( a little bit!) and so did the others and as a result I personally think that we did better in this section.

TALK to you soon!

Listening Exercise (Tue, 31/1/12)

HARD.

That word described it perfectly.

I don'd know. Maybe it was the textbook version because I was like "whaaaat???" Not only the voice was kind of hard to hear (even though it was really loud) the story was very twisting and puzzling!

I thought I could ace this one as I assume the test was similar to last sem's, but boy, I was wrong!

After I got a taste of what it's like, I started to feel really nervous and worried. I mean, the listening was a mess. I just assumed the the recording would talk about the questions in order but, hey that would have been to easy, wouldn't it?

I guess, I could just clean my ears beforehand, right?

Mid Term!! (Thu, 26/1/12)

T E S T

First of all, I just wanted to say that the classroom that day was FREEZING!!

Ok, the mid term was.....ermmmm, I would say so-so. Not to hard but also not easy peasy.

The first thing I did once we were allowed to answer the paper was flipped straight to the essay section, which was of course non-linear. I basically just wrote and wrote because i was worried about the time.

I guess my weakness is in the reading comprehension part. I could never get full marks for the reference words and contextual clues. I think my problem is that I think too much, since all the answers were just simple and straight forward. It's all under my very nose!

Kinda how I looked that day, except for the hair. Haha.

Consultation (Wed, 25/1/12)

Alright, since we will be having a test tomorrow, Miss Zu decided to do some kind of a consultation. The consultation was not held at our normal classroom, it was instead held at a room near the MPP's office.

The consultation was really helpful in my opinion. I had the chance to really ask about the questions and really comprehend it again.

I was in charge of the timing when should each group come to meet with Miss Zu. All in all, I think the consultation went quite well.

This picture shows exactly what we were all doing. Well, except for the coffee part.

Sunday 22 January 2012

Quizzzzz (Thu, 19/1/12)

Twentieth class

Had another replacement class at 12 noon. We were a bit rushing to class because we were out late from our previous class and we had another 'little quiz' for BEL. What a hectic life us students have. Sigh~

The 'little quiz' turns out to be solid hard (for me, anyway). The format for the quiz was just like a mid term test. After the quiz, we all helped Miss to mark the reading comprehension part. Hate reading comprehension! Most of my marks were gone in that section. Urghhh.

My biggest mistake, I think was about the reference words. I THOUGHT the answer will ONLY be in same sentence. But, turns out you can take it from any part of the text. How frustrating!

It's OK now. I've calmed down =D

There's no point in crying over spilt milk.

Night class, or should I say 'Starving class'? Haha.

Another presentation on grammar was presented.

The guys.

New lecturer trying hard to explain.

They presented about adjectives and conjunctions.

Adjectives in general are words that describe nouns by adding flavour and depth to it.

The tall girl hurt her head.

The word 'tall' adds character to the noun (girl).

More information are available here :

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/adjectives.htm

Conjunctions are linking words that join more than one sentences, words or clauses. For example,

Both of my brothers are tall and big.

By using the conjunction 'and', two information can be joined into one sentence.
This link might be helpful :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conjunction_(grammar)

See'ya, bye!

Mid Term test?!?! (Wed, 18/1/12)

Nineteenth class

The class was very quiet that day, even Miss Zu noticed the 'unfamiliar' atmosphere when she came in. It was because we had a test that night. Everyone was nervous. So, Miss Zu decided to dismiss us early so we can have extra time studying. Actually, she already had something to do that's why she let us out early, hehe.

For this class, we just looked through an example of past mid term papers. We discussed briefly what will be in the test, how to answer, what's the format and other details. There's 2 section, reading comprehension (hate it!) and writing.

The reading comprehension consists of contextual clues, reference words and some other questions.

Writing section is about non-linear essay. We've already learn these in detail before so we were just going over it again.

After Miss left, some of us stayed in the room to study for our CTU test. As you can see, there's no picture this time. Sorry.

Anyways, bye!

Forum (Tue, 17/1/12)

Eighteenth class

Why do I have a feeling that every week there must be at least 1 acting activity. Well, surprise surprise, today's the day. Thank God there's no singing or whatever embarrassing thing. We just had to talk. It was a forum, you see.

It's a bit like Oprah. My group's topic of discussion was about "How can Malaysian reduce electricity consumption and what are the best way to conserve it"

I was the host and the rest were the panels. Some of our key points were:

to increase the rate for electricity, so people will not waste the resources.
office buildings should turn off their electricity supply during lunch hours.
government campaigns like, Earth Hour.
use alternative energy, such as solar.
use energy-saving products.

Pictures of the other groups:

Rahey's group

Pony's (girl in green) group.

Wan's group.

I thought Pony did an excellent job at being a host. She was very lively and entertaining, which what a good host should be.

I guess that's all for now, bye!

Quiz and Sales Person?? (Thu, 12/1/12)

Seventeenth class

The first class was a replacement class. For which class? I honestly don't know anymore =D

It was an afternoon class and we had a pop quiz! Non-linear quiz. It was quite nerve-racking, actually. You know how I get all flustered when it comes to limited times and deadlines. That's why I detest, I repeat, DETEST anything that needs to be submitted on the same day.

Night class, which is our normal class.

We learn how to distinguish facts from opinions, which was quite fun by the way.

For example

JLo is a famous singer (opinion)

JLo is a singer (fact)

The first sentence is considered as an opinion because 'famous' is an adjective. Some people might find her famous while some might not. While the second sentence is just general, there's no denying that JLo is a singer.

After all that learning, we put it all to the test. Each group were given a random item and then we all have to be a sales person! We have to sell the item by only using 10 sentences consisting of facts and opinions. The other groups have to listen carefully and at the end guess how many facts and opinions were there.

Deodorant group, I think.

Definitely the Oreo group!

The Oreo group opened their Oreo and I got to eat one cookie. Yum!

Our group sold this...

All in all, I think we all should continue with our studies because our future as a sales person seems very bleak! :p

Bye!

So You Think You Can Act, The Musical (Wed, 11/1/12)

Sixteenth class

ANOTHER acting activities, sigh~

never mind, you know what they, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger (but it just made me dreaded BEL classes now!)

Each group had to pick a newspaper cutting, randomly, where the article's story will be the base for the group's musical. My group got an article about "Another home-alone". It was about 2 kids left alone at home by their mother while she went to work. To be honest, I think our group's musical sucks, like seriously, but not because of the members, just that....it was bad, OK. Haha, no offence guys (:

This is the given setting for our musical

I thought it was amazing how the other groups can came up with such good performances within the time limit - because we were struggling. Haha.

Here are some pictures, there are videos but somehow it doesn't work, heh!:

Aira's group - Dinie's on the floor here.

Shazwan's group

Wani's group-a.k.a commander and the bodyguard

Miss asked all of us to pick the best actor, actress and group. So here's my choice:
Best Actor - Izuwan
Best Actress - Pony
Best Group - Izuwan's group (forgot their group number)

Saturday 21 January 2012

Pronouns and Prepositions (Tue, 10/1/12)

Fifteenth class

So, Aira and the gang did a presentation on pronouns and prepositions that day. Their group members were Hanis, Leyha, Nina and of course Aira.

According to them (according to you~) pronoun is a word that takes the place and to refer something BUT do not name it.

There are many kinds of pronouns, like:

Subjective Pronouns

He spends ages looking out the window.

Possessive Pronouns

The red basket is mine.

Demonstrative Pronouns

That is a good idea.

Interrogative Pronouns

What on earth is that?

Indefinite Pronouns

Something smells good.

Relative Pronouns

Hector is a photographer who does great work.

Reflexive Pronouns

I learned a lot about myself at summer camp.

Intensive Pronouns

The queen herself visited our class.

The examples were from these two sites, of which I find really helpful:
http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0885483.html
http://www.writingcentre.uottawa.ca/hypergrammar/pronouns.html

The next slide was about prepositions.

A preposition links nouns, pronouns and phrases to other words in a sentence. The word or phrase that the preposition introduces is called the object of the preposition.

For example, Aqil ran from his sister and hid under the table. =D

You can read more about it on the internet. Just search for 'prepositions'.

After the presentation, there was a game of word-search.

Here's Din searching hard for his word :)

That was all for that day, bye!

Saturday 7 January 2012

Essay Presentation (Thu, 5/1/12)

Fourteenth class

So, remember about the entry on linear and non-linear essay? We had to present our essay that night (yes, it's a night class!) This is the question that we were given.

Write a report based on this table:

The length of this report should be 150 – 200 words.

Make sure to follow the formula.

TITLE
1) OV + CI
2-3) KFs
4) P(i) + P(ii)

Hours spent on activities by different age groups in Someland
Activity Age	Teens	20s	30s	40s	50s	60s	70s +
Watching TV/videos	1,200	700	400	500	600	700	1,100
Socialising with 4 or less people	150	150	300	250	250	200	200
Socialising with 4 or more people	350	350	50	50	25	25	25
Doing individual exercise	150	100	200	200	50	75	150
Doing group exercise/sport	450	350	200	150	50	0	0
Watching movies in cinemas	100	75	50	25	25	50	75

What do think? Can you convert this into a linear essay?
I was going to show you our group's essay, but tadaaaaa......it's not in my thumb-drive!! I'll show you ours after I find it, promise.

Until next time, bye!

*Updated

Found it!!

Hours spent on activities by different age group in Someland

The table represents the hours spent on activities by different age group from teens to 70s and above in Someland. The hours spent on doing two out of all the activities shows a decreasing rate while the rest shows a fluctuating rate. (OV + CI)

The time spent on watching television slumped significantly at 30s, where it then rose at 40s+. Due to work commitments, no spare time is allocated for entertainments. (KF 1)

However, the time used on socialising with four or more people dropped by 93% with a constant rate along the age groups, as their responsibilities increases, lesser hours are spent on leisure. (KF 2)

Individual exercise shows the most inconsistent rate, from dropping by 50 at 20s to rising by 100 at 40s to falling by 150 at 50s, it then shot back up by 100 at 70s. Health issues based on old age might be the cause of the sudden boomed in hours. (KF 3)

The table indicates the reducing number of people doing group exercise from teens to 60s and above. The higher the age group the lesser the activities are carried out due to health restrictions. Government can alter this statistics by advertise the benefits of exercise through mass media. (Pi + Pii)

(200 words, minus title and brackets)

Key:

Orange : predictions/assumptions, (Pi)

Purple : proposal, (Pii)

So, what do you think??

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