WK 14 (27 September to 1 October 2004)

WK 14 ( 27 September to 1 October 2004)

Monday ( 27 September 2004)
Practice for the Selected Play Theatre presentation.


Tuesday (28 September 2004)
Sit in to listen to the “Autonomous Learning in Language and Literature via Technology: Pathways and Challenges” IRPA project colloquium. I am very interested in the “synchronous” online learning at UNITAR presented by Ms. Pamela Krish.

Unfortunately I had to leave early as I had to finish “Site Spinner’ Project work at Lab 2.


Wednesday ( 29 September 2004)
Video recording of ‘Teaching How To Paint Using Acrylic” for Site Spinner Project.
Video shooting done at Bilik Tayang 2, assisted by the Media Personnel.
Rehearsal for the Selected Theatre presentation. Had to change script and adapt to local Malaysian context.

Friday ( 1 October 2004)
Submission of Discourse and Pragmatics Project (Pair Work ) with tape to our respective tutors, Ms. Leong.

Presentation of Theatre : S.Play. Group 2 “Oedipus Rex”. Group 3 won with their adaptation of “Rider’s To The Sea” and Anita won “Best Individual” performance.

Wk 13 (20 september to 24 September 2004)

WK 13 ( 20 September to 24 September 2004)

Monday ( 20 September 2004 )
Presentation of my lesson plan for “Teaching of Grammar”. I presented on ‘Gender’.
Submission of Literary Theory on the application of “Mythology Theory” to a given text in Essay form. Lecture was on ‘Postcolonialism’.

Tuesday (21 September 2004)
Technology and Innovation in ESL. I did work on the ‘Site Spinner’ in lab 2. I could not use my computer for two weeks as the ‘monitor’ of my computer blew out. Could it be because of ‘Site Spinner’? Asotha’s, Priya’s, Mike’s and my monitor all blew out….hmmm.

Wednesday (22 September 2004)
Literary Theory tutorial on Marxism. We applied it to the text “ A Rose for Emily”. It was quite invigorating and stimulating with group discussion and presenting our thoughts with the guidance of Ms. Shahizah. I admire her and Ms Shantini because they really knew what they were teaching.

Discourse and Pragmatics Tutorials from 10 am to 12pm. With Mz. Leong. She is a very patient tutor.
Selected Play with Pn. Nooraini from 4pm (Cancelled – heavy rain)

Thursday ( 23 September 2004)
Teaching of Grammar : Revision for the Final Exams. Should have portal or inline site for inquiries.

Friday (24 September 2004)
Research Method : Consultation ( 8 – 10 am) with the coordinator. I have no Supervisor yet.
Discourse and Pragmatics: Consultation on ‘Project Work’ with partner ( 11:30 am)
Discourse and Pragmatics Lecture by Prof. Shanta (Course Review) 12:00 to 1pm
*(As I have stressed many times, there should be online support teaching: Synchronous or Asynchronous )

WK 12 ( 13 September to 17 September 2004)

WK 12 (13 September to 17 September 2004)



Literary Theory Lectures, Selected Play Lectures, Technology and Innovation in ESL Lectures were over.


Tuesday (14 September 2004)
Research Method Quiz.
Did lab work for ‘Site Spinner”. Linking Problem.

Wednesday ( 15 September 2004)
“Pihanraya Universiti”. It is ‘Polling day” for the University. Quite a quiet affair this year. Less banners and less disturbance at the colleges during the wee hours of the morning. We use to receive threats and warnings not to be in the ‘opposition camp’ and had ‘room spot checks’ in the early mornings…like 2 – 3 am. But that is history.

Friday ( 17 September 2004)

Research Method : Consultation with the coordinator. Have to search for more in-depth Lit Review.

Discourse Pragmatics : Language and Power/Gender. Lecture given by Prof. Shanta.
The overcrowded Lecture hall was not conducive for studying.

2:30 to 4:00pm
Lunch with the Vice Chancellor for the Bumiputera students who achieved excellent results. I was there to represent FPB.

Wk 11 ( 6 September to 10 September)

WK 11 ( 6 September to 10 September 2004)


Monday ( 6 September 2004)
Continuation of ‘Postcolonialism’ Lectures by Ms. Shantini Pillai. She is very good and well versed in her knowledge of the approach. Her pronunciation is very clear and very near native like of the English Language users. I enjoy her lectures although, she could insert some graphics or animation in her Power Point presentations as to open some stubborn ‘eyelids’ that wanted to stay shut.


Thursday ( 9 September 2004)
I was involved in giving a “Wacana’ for the HEP with regards to the AUF Student Exchange Programme to the Sun Moon University, South Korea during the Third Semester (March to June 2004 ). I had to skip classes and lectures.


Friday ( 10 September 2004)
For ‘Discourse and Pragmatics’, we learned about politeness, negative and positive aspects of it. It was very interesting. Maybe the teaching team could video shoot some ‘candid’ video footage of what they meant…with the consent of the ‘victims’ of the video footage of course…….(Hehehe…hmmmm)

WK 10 (30 August to 3 September)

WK 10 (30 August to 3 September 2004)



Monday (30 August 2004)
Literary Theory was on Postcolonialism. My favourite area of study as Malaysia could be categorised as a Post Colony and part of the Common Wealth. The manifestation of postcolonialism could be seen in the Malaysian make up, in its culture and even mentality. Although many Nationalistic individuals would dearly love to renounce it, the attitudes held by many towards the superiority of the “Whites’ or the “Westerners” are still strongly engraved in their hearts and minds. This could be seen in the language (borrowing of words), the culture (clothes, music, products) and ideology (capitalism, liberalism etc.)

Tuesday (31 August 2004 )
Holiday….Its ‘National Day’ or ‘Hari Kebangsaan / Kemerdekaan’ 47years of independence…. What does it mean to those ‘post independent’ citizens….

Wednesday (1 September 2004)
Presentation of ‘Mythological Approach’ applied to a text ‘Shredni Vashtar’ by Saki.
My presentation was a simple Power Point Presentation.

WK 10 (30 August to 3 September)

WK 10 (30 August to 3 September 2004)



Monday (30 August 2004)
Literary Theory was on Postcolonialism. My favourite area of study as Malaysia could be categorised as a Post Colony and part of the Common Wealth. The manifestation of postcolonialism could be seen in the Malaysian make up, in its culture and even mentality. Although many Nationalistic individuals would dearly love to renounce it, the attitudes held by many towards the superiority of the “Whites’ or the “Westerners” are still strongly engraved in their hearts and minds. This could be seen in the language (borrowing of words), the culture (clothes, music, products) and ideology (capitalism, liberalism etc.)

Tuesday (31 August 2004 )
Holiday….Its ‘National Day’ or ‘Hari Kebangsaan / Kemerdekaan’ 47years of independence…. What does it mean to those ‘post independent’ citizens….

Wednesday (1 September 2004)
Presentation of ‘Mythological Approach’ applied to a text ‘Shredni Vashtar’ by Saki.
My presentation was a simple Power Point Presentation.

WK 9 ( 23 August to 27 August 2004)

Monday (23August 2004)
'Marxism' seem to be the rational explanation to a lot of the goings on in the past and the present as it based its foundations on the theory of 'Economy' as the fundamental principles that governs man's actions.

Tuesday (24 August 2004)
Selected Play was very interesting as it focuses on the issues of 'racism', 'aparthied' and 'racial segregation'.The text chosen was "Master harold and the boys'.

WK 8 ( 9 August to 13 August 2004)

WK 8 (9August to 12 August 2004)

Monday (9August 2004)
For our Literary Theory lecture, we had ‘Mythological Approach’. It is interesting to note that the approach can be applied to modern day incidences, text and discourse. For example, it can be applied to a film such as ‘The Empire Strikes Back’, there exist Archetypal characters such as the ‘Hero’, the ‘quest’, ‘the wise old man’, ‘the devil/shadow’ and many more Archetypal figures. The literature department could come up with their own series of VCDs lectures and relevant materials with inserts of film footage or other realted matters for the Lit. Theory or Selected Play.

Thursday (12 August 2004)
For our Technology and Innovations lecture time, we had Adeline, Asotha and others presenting on ‘Humanisitic’ and ‘Cognitive’ learning theory.


Friday (13 August 2004)
The lecture for Discourse and Pragmatics involved a ‘huge’ number of students in the lecture hall. The atmosphere was not very conducive for learning. I wish the administration could look into the matter.

This weekend from 16 August to 22 August is the Mid Semester Holiday.

WK 7 (2 August to 8 August 2004)

WK 7 (2 August to 6 August 2004)

Monday (2 August 2004)
The Literary Theory lecture was on Psychoanalysis. The lecture was thought provoking.

Tuesday (3 August 2004)
We were in lab 2, from 3pm to 5pm, experimenting on the use of Site Spinner. We had presentations on Learning Theory by the other students. The lab should be equipped with a permanent LCD projector for teaching aid purposes. At the moment, we had to borrow the equipments from the Multi Media lab. The equipment had to be booked first as other lecturers might need to use the same equipment.

Thursday (5 August 2004)
For our Technology and Innovation in ESL lecture, we were introduced to ‘Web Site Planning and Design’. We were given useful links and could easily download notes from the education portal online. I we have any queries; we could channel the queries through the Forum. Except for minor ‘glitches’ such as server down or other technical difficulties, the portal was easy to handle and very convenient.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday (6, 7 and 8 August 2004)
Selected members of Kelab Penyayang were in Malacca for ‘Reportoir’ duty for the Keluarga Bahagia Seminar. It was very enjoyable and tiring. I am currently the President of the club, with Asotha as Treasurer, and Joshua as AJK for membership drive. Kelab Penyayang is under the Yayasan Budi Penyayang Malaysia. The patron of the club is Datin Seri Endon Mahmood. We deal in Charitable Work or just causes.

WK 6 (26 July to 30 July)

WK 6 (26 July to 30 July 2004)

Monday (26 July 2004)
Psychoanalysis. Quite confusing and ‘psychotic’ in its explanations and framework. Freud and his ideas…..hmmmm. Some of it is so extreme that I doubt it could be accepted by the ‘conservative’ minds. Lacan is quite OK. I have to do a lot of reading for this course.

Tuesday (27 July 2004)
Presentation of Learning Theory. I presented on ‘Behaviorism’ with Indramani.
Some of the students were reading from notes…it was so obvious. They should improve on their presentation techniques.

Thursday (29 July 2004)
We were instructed to join ‘Yahoo Group’ of our choice. I have joined and Art group known as the ART_BIN. Initially,. poor response to my inquiry regarding the techniques of using ‘Acrylic’ and ‘Oil paint’ medium.

Friday ( 30 July 2004)
Lecture on Speech Act Theory. Prof. Shanta will have to improve on her presentation techniques in terms of changing to Power Point, instead of flashing illegible notes using the OHP. Her efforts are commendable, she tried her best. I do respect her wealth of knowledge.

WK 5 (19 July to 23 July)

WK 5 (19 July to 23 July 2004)

Monday Lecture for Literary theory is on Feminism….interesting topic. We were suppose to surf the Internet for two Web sites on ‘Feminism’, summarise it and apply it to text for our first essay.

Tuesday (20 July 2004)
The Technology and Innovation lecture was on Multi Media elements. I wish En. Affendi could demonstrate to us with hands-on demonstration. For the Research Method lecture, Dr. Noorizan lectured on ‘ Research Areas in TESl’. Unfortunately, there were no handouts after lectures. It would be good if the lecture notes could be made available on line. I heard that Dr. Noorizan’s field of expertise is on Computer Aided Language Learning. I hope she will apply it soon.

For Selected Play, I wish they could have documentaries about the various elements in Drama, right up to Drama and theatre production. I am sure there are materials locally or from external sources for P & P. It would be clearer and more interesting as ‘visual’ input will trigger interest and understanding as most of the ‘plays’ selected are ‘culturally’ alien or different from ours. It will be difficult for some students to visualise how the attire of the people during ‘Trifles’ or ‘Rider’s to the Sea’ time period would look like. It will be more complicated when ‘Taming of The Shrew’ text is analysed. Maybe a visit to the Actor’s Studio in Bangsar or the Istana Budaya could be made possible. Lectures should not be made into a ‘reading lecture notes’ session.

Wednesday (21 July 2004)
I was MC for the Korean Students ‘Farewell Dinner’ at KRU, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi. It ended quite late….

Thursday (22 July 2004)
I was at the Sepang International Airport to bid Farewell to the Sun Moon University Korean students.

WK 4 (12 July to 16 July)

WK 4 (12 July to 16 July 2004)


Monday ( 12July 2004)
For Literary Theory this week, we studied about ‘Reader Response’. The presentation was alright and the follow-up tutorials were viable to the topic. Students should be exposed to literary columns in the newspapers or magazines that have write-ups or criticisms on books, articles .Lecturers could guide students by providing or suggesting ‘links’ and further input from external sources other than those provided in the lectures or input gained from the compulsory text book.

Tuesday (13July 2004)
For Technology and Innovation Lectures, we learned about the ‘Web Resources’. The notes were posted in the ‘http://www.portal.ukm.my’ site. It was most convenient for students to gain input. The tutorial was an introduction on using a special programme called the ‘Site Spinner’, which will be used to launch a Website. I wish all the other subjects would provide similar access and facility such as the ‘portal’ or ‘e-learning’, especially “Research Method’. We were not given handouts for most of the lectures. We were often told not to busy ourselves with copying down the notes and to listen carefully. Sometimes due to lack of time, the lecturers will be rushing through the slides or lectures, that I missed copying down important points. To make matters worse, lecturers sometimes suffer from temporary ‘Amnesia’ and forgot their promises about the forthcoming notes.

Friday (16 July 2004)
Discourse and Pragmatics lecture. Interesting and clear presentation on ‘Cohesion’.

WK 3 (2 July to 4 July)

WK 3 (2 July to 4 July 2004)

The lecture for Literary Theory on ‘New Criticism and Formalism’ by Dr. Ganakumaran on Monday morning (2 July 2004) was very informative and enlightening. Although the notes on the lecture were distributed, they were not as comprehensive as the lecture that he had given in the lecture hall. Those who had missed it were at the loosing end. Needless to say, hopefully….most of the subjects offered should be included in the portal, so that students have ready access to notes and documents. Students could download the notes and documents via the sites. Not to say that lecture halls will be empty in the future. Attendance should carry heavier weightage. As for attendance…. maybe the management could install ‘Personal Door cards’ or better still, a ‘thumbprint detector’ at the doorways to record attendance. This system will ensure that friends of absentees will not sign up for their missing colleagues.

The Technology and Innovations tutorial was an eye opener and new knowledge as I am not a computer savvy person. It really daunted me…and the lecturer was quite intimidating. This week’s lesson was about ‘Educational Technology versus Instructional Technology’. I do admire En. Affendi Hamat, the course coordinator and regard him as someone knowledgeable. I have to brush up on my computer and multi media know how. Maybe they could introduce a special course in Multi media and Technology management during one of the third semester.

Discourse and Pragmatics on Friday ( 12pm to 1pm) was on ‘meaning in interaction’. I found the Book that they had photostated quite confusing, disorderly and the printing rather bad. The fonts at times were illegible. I wish they had better ways of dissipating the notes….via ‘portal’ or have VCDs of lectures sold and the original textbooks made available.

WK 9 ( 23 August to 27 August 2004)

Wk 2 (28 June to 2 July 2004)

There were certain clashes in the time table. Our Technlogy and Innovation Tutorials was clashing with the Research Method Lectures on Tuesday. We made a slight alteration by changing the 'Technology and Innovation in ESL' tutorials to Tuesday evenings, from 3pm to 5pm at Lab 2 of the PPBL. I made the arrangements with the Lab personnels.

I wish that there are more efficient ways of ascertaining the time table..like publishing it on the website. I would also like to see more subjects be on the Portal UKM...just as the "Technology and Innovations in ESL' course.

WK 1 (21 June to 25 June 2004)

I finally reached UKM from South Korea. I took the flight from Incheon Airport, South Korea on the 20th June 2004 ,with four other UKM exchange students. We were all chosen for the AUF programme (Asian University Federation) and we were in Sun Moon University, Asan Campus for approximately three months. We had to study : Foreign Policy, International Relations, Asian Philosophy,Asian Cultural Studies, Korean Cultural Studies and Korean Language. It was a memorable three months study programme. The first week back in UKM was quite hectic for me....as I was involved in the "Sun Moon University/ UKM Summer Programme". Sixty Korean students were involved with the programme. I was Master of Ceremony for several ocassions. The programme was conducted by the PPU with the"Guru Bahasa" handling the teaching of English. The Sun Moon Korean Students were here for an 'English Proficientcy Programme' for a duration of one month. Meanwhile...back at the Pusat Bahasa, all was quiet. Students were busy enrolling for their courses , finding time table, arranging their accomodation and settling down. There were some lectures that had started, Introductory ones. Some students, including myself missed some lectures. What could have been done is that, these Introductory Lectures could be taped and saved in VCD forms and sold with the booklets. Introductory Lectures are important as they reveal the course outline and expectations.