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!

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!