local sports news

The Star: Do we still care about local sports news?

Below is the full (and unedited) version of my blog in The Star.

Everyday, foreign sports news monopolize our sports section.

We are fed with golf and motorsports results as well as many pages of World Cup updates. Even the less popular French Open takes up a page or two although tennis is not Malaysians favourite sports.

We read about the injuries and recoveries of football stars like Cisse and Ronney and yet we don't really bother when Hafiz defeated Indonesian player, Simon Santoso, to keep Malaysia in the hunt for the men's singles crown at the Singapore Open.

Does this mean we no longer care about local sports news?

Back in the 80s and 90s, we strongly supported our badminton and football teams. We even loved to watch Sukma and never failed to catch up with the SEA games. From Zainal Abidin Hassan, M. Kumaresan and Misbun Sidek to Jeffery Ong, you name them and all of us have great respect for them.

We had our gloriest moment in the previous decades and I just hope that we did not retire after the Commonwealth Games in 1998. Or did we?

learning through crossword puzzles

I've always been passionate about crossword puzzles. That's why I've been trying to incorporate crosswords into the national syllabus and hope to produce an alternative way for students to grasp knowledge.

I have been using the same tool to teach my students, and so far the results have been amazing. My students did improved on their spelling and able to memorise terminology, vocabulary and facts (although there's no scholarly research being done to prove it yet). It can be used on both high achievers and under achievers, depending on its usage and sets of questions. Hence, I've been running workshops for teachers to guide them on crossword construction and how to use it in their classrooms. So far, I have been receiving good response from teachers and parents.

So, in order to apply this to students, I'll be running a series of workshops from this month end to August. Subjects include Bahasa Melayu, English, Science, Mathematics, Sejarah, Geografi and Kemahiran Hidup. This one-day workshop will be conducted in University of Malaya at the Faculty of Education. Time and date will be notified soon.

Schools, teachers parents and students who are interested and want to know more about this workshop, please contact me @ 012-3720 858 or email to me at wowmedia.pj@gmail.com.

Dr M vs Pak Lah - my point of view

I told myself I'm not going to blog about politics anymore. But I felt guilty if I do not say something about Dr M vs Pak Lah issue.

I'm a pro-government and will always be. At the same time I also support leaders who are bold enough to come forward and enlighten the government. And Dr M is one of the very few people. I'm totally agree with Dr M when he said that Pak Lah has dismantle many of his projects. However, isn't that what happen to most of our government policies and projects in the past, too? Whenever a new minister takes over the leadership role, old policies will be abolished and new policies will be introduced to the rakyat.

However, there is one thing that the government and rakyat should never forget, Dr M's Vision 2020. Ever since Pak Lah take over the PM role, we are almost forgotten that the vision ever exists. Pak Lah and his ministers never ever really mentioned about Vision 2020, except during the recent Ninth Malaysia Plan.

We are not focusing towards our goal anymore. We only worry about tomorrow, if the government will ever raised the fuel price, tax or electricity rates. Pak Lah said we will focus on the Ninth Malaysia Plan, but trust me, most of us are not well-informed of the plan. And how about the 4.8% inflation rate? Since we are expecting a higher electricity rate this month, the the inflation rate will definitely increased to more than 5%. Are we just going to sit and wait or the government is going to do something about it? We no longer have short term solutions and long term goals.

I want to see something concrete being done by the government and not focusing on less important thing like anti-smoking or budi bahasa campaigns. Solve the AP issue, explain the scrapped bridge to Singapore project, inflation issue, improve national sports, etc. Your ministers said they are behind you back, so make them help you to solve the many issues facing by our country now. Also let us know your vision.

vamos rafael!

It was an unbelievable match between Nadal and Federer. Although the first set was disappointing, it didn't last long when Nadal came back on the second set and punished Federer with the same result, 6-1. Then the rest was history.

This final match at Roland Garros is not as nail-biting as the match at Rome Open. I would say that Nadal had an easy win over Federer due to his many unforced errors. So, how come Federer can't seem to beat his compatriot? Is it because of Nadal or the clay court? Perhaps the answer is in Federer himself.

Vamos Rafael! Nadal is unbeatable on clay. I'm looking forward to his matches on grass, which he has a lot to improve on.