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

• http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/simplepast.html
• http://www.english4today.com/usr/video/ytv/?p=79

Past Continuous Tense

• http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/pastcontinuous.html
• http://www.englishtenses.com/tenses/past_continuous

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

• http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/simplepresent.html
• http://www.englishclub.com/grammar/verb-tenses_present.htm
• http://www.studyenglishtoday.net/present-simple-tense.html

Present Continuous Tense

• http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/presentcontinuous.html
• http://www.eclecticenglish.com/grammar/PresentContinuous1A.html
• http://www.englishtenses.com/tenses/present_continuous

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. 

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.

=D   

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