tips to write a five-line sajak

Recently I was browsing the Internet to find activities for my BM students (currently I'm giving BM tuition for a few UPSR and secondary students). I came across a website titled Combine Your Grammar and Poetry Skills. I find the activity rather interesting and wanted to share with my students.

Here is one of the sajak written by my student, Caryn Goh, a UPSR student. I was amazed by the result and her potential. I discussed with her and suggested some new vocabulary that can be used to improve the sajak.

Caryn's version:

Sang Suria,
Bercahaya dan besar,
Memberi cahaya kepada manusia,
Seperti bola yang panas,
Andainya aku seperti kamu,
Dapat membantu orang ramai.

Edited version:

Sang Suria,
Bercahaya dan besar,
Memberi harapan kepada manusia,
Seperti bebola yang membara,
Andainya aku sepertinya,
Dapat menerangi segenap manusia.

The following is the technique of writing (in Malay language) a five-line sajak.

1. Baris pertama - tulis satu Kata Nama (Am atau Khas atau Terbitan) pilihan anda.


2. Baris kedua - tulis dua Kata Adjektif untuk menerangkan Kata Nama anda. Anda boleh menggunakan Kata Penguat untuk Kata Adjektif anda. Contohnya, amat cantik.


3. Baris ketiga - tulis satu Kata Kerja untuk menerangkan Kata Nama anda.


4. Baris keempat - tulis perbandingan (simile) dengan menggunakan kata-kata seperti bagai, seperti, macam, bak, laksana.


5. Baris kelima - tulis impian/kehendak/keinginan/harapan anda dengan menggunakan kata-kata seperti andainya, sekiranya, hanya jika pada permulaan ayat.

Here are five different sajak which I have written as examples for my students.

Peperangan,
Kejam dan tanpa kemanusiaan,
Menafikan erti kemerdekaan,
Bagai tiada masa hadapan,
Hanya jika perselisihan ini tidak lagi berterusan.

Sejarah,
Sukar namun penting,
Menjemukan segenap pelajar,
Laksana menonton televisyen tiada berwarna,
Hanya jika aku mampu mengingati segala.

Pahlawan,
Waja dan perkasa,
Menentang musuh yang dikecami,
Bagai tiada keesokan hari,
Andainya aku juga gagah dan berani,
Akanku tamatkan kekejaman ini.

Menara KL,
Tinggi dan megah,
Berdiri teguh di pusat bandar,
Laksana wawasan kita yang tak pernah pudar,
Andainya kejayaanku juga setinggi pencapaianmu.

Malam,
Sunyi dan berpanjangan,
Menenggelamkan cahaya dengan kegelapan,
Bagai kemuraman yang tiada berkesudahan,
Andainya pagi akan mendatang.

I have a Form 2 student who asked me if writing sajak is part of the PMR exam. I told her no. Instead it's part of the process of learning BM. I explained to her that learning Bahasa Melayu is more than just passing or excel in PMR.

Through sajak writing, we learn to apply gaya bahasa such as simile, metafora or hiperbola which is part of KOMSAS (Komponen Sastera) and tatabahasa (for example Kata Nama, Kata Adjektif and others). The process of writing a sajak also requires students to use different vocabulary in a creative way and construct better if not poetic sentences.

Most importantly we learn to appreciate other writers' puisi by reading and conducting research to write our very own piece of sajak.

Mathematics Year 5 workbook - can you detect the errors?

In my previous post Buying Workbooks For Your Kids, I've mentioned about a publisher who published poor quality Mathematics workbook.

I was at a bookshop in Petaling Jaya few weeks ago. As I was browsing through some new workbooks, I came across a new series of books published under an unfamiliar name.

Since we are in our 5th year of using Maths and Science in English, I chose their Mathematics Year 5 workbook under the series Infomik UPSR (is there such word as Infomik?). I was completely shocked! I knew the new Year 5 syllabus well because I've just completed writing two new Maths workbooks.

Click on these pictures (including the front cover) and see if you can spot the errors. These are just three pages (yes, there are more mistakes and I'm not talking about typo errors alone). I don't mind if these are just some minor typo errors but incorrect sentences with grammatical errors that pupils might not be able to understand is simply unacceptable.

The most surprising thing is, according to the bookshop owner, this publisher's books got into school list. I hope it's not their Maths workbooks.

At the beginning, I was reluctant to comment about this book, well, since I have to fork out about RM9 (very pricey!) to get hold of this book. But for the sake of the pupils, I couldn't tutup sebelah mata (close one eye).

Fund-raising to build Sakya Institute and kesa sponsorship

Recently, Guru Phurla Rinpoche was here in Malaysia. He has been coming back regularly especially since the setup of his Sakya centre here in Kepong, Kuala Lumpur. In his visit, I've only managed to attend Guru Phurla Rinpoche's teaching of Medicine Buddha and Vajra Kilaya.

If you are trying to look for any English website about Guru Phurla Rinpoche, you won't be able to find one (yes, there's none). I think this is simply because he is a Tibetan/Mandarin-speaker and spreads his dhamma teaching mainly in Taiwan, China, Malaysia and Singapore. I'll try to communicate with Guru Phurla Rinpoche or the committee members at his centres to see if it's possible to have a website for people to access into.

In this visit, Guru Phurla Rinpoche told us that there will be a puja ceremony in August 2007 to raise fund to complete a Sakya Institute (*look at the brochure on the left) for Buddhist Studies located in Ching Hai. Construction couldn't be continued because of insufficient fund. RM230k is needed to complete the building alone.

This Sakya Institute provide a decent environment for lamas (buddhist monks) to study Buddhism. Sponsorships will also enable the institute to provide teaching materials as well as to cover the basic expenses for lamas such as kesa (tibetan robes for monks) and food.

For further enquiry, please contact the following person-in-charge at these Sakya centres:

Taipei, Taiwan:

Taiwan Tibetan Vajrayana Sakya Sherabling Foundation

5F, No.289 Chengde Rd., Sec. 4 Taipei, Taiwan, Ro.O.C.

Tel: 886-2-28822475

Fax: 886-2-28822476

Hp: 0933-879548

Email: phurla.rinpoch@msa.hinet.net

Kaohsiung, Taiwan:

7F, No.175 Foren Rd., Kaohsiung, Taiwan, R.O.C.

Tel: 886-7-7245489

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: 012-638 5051 (Ms Choon Lan)

Singapore: 9617 8018 (Ms Phang)

*Please note that my translation of the brochure is not complete simply because I'm not Chinese-educated. So, for more information, drop me a message or contact the Sakya centres above.

emphasize on reading skill and keep teaching Maths and Science in English

In these four years, we have seen so much effort being contributed by teachers to adapt to the current policy of teaching Maths and Science in English. Officers from the Education Ministry travelled the whole country to train and provide support to these Maths and Science teachers to ensure the effectiveness of the policy. Publishers, too, worked diligently with the Ministry who spends millions of ringgit to publish new textbooks to compliment with the new syllabus.

All parties including decision makers and parents each played their roles to realize the policy because we all believe students must have strong command in English language to acquire knowledge.

Hence, the idea of reversing the policy to tackle current concern of disparities in achievement between urban and rural schools is not a positive suggestion. Instead, we should evaluate the programme development and find effective ways to raise the level of English language proficiency among students and teachers.

By expanding the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) or importing teachers from overseas are good strategies to enhance learning. However, improving students reading skill in English is far more practical in achieving our main objective.

Many students particularly in the rural area are struggling to learn Maths and Science without having mastered reading, the most basic and essential skill. Hence, they will encounter great difficulty in understanding mathematical and scientific concepts conducted in English language, which are using real life problems.

For example, in teaching Maths, a teacher or the textbook presents many problems that must be read, instead of just equations. The same use of language is present in the Science subject when students are reading from the textbook, making hypotheses or draw conclusions. Hence, reading deficit will eventually lead to lose of interest in learning and inability to express their answers verbally and in written form.

Reading skill is highly emphasized even in the most developed countries. Hence, our Education Ministry should conduct research to assess students reading skill to determine if this is the main reason students not able to cope with Maths and Science in English.

If the result of this research is positive, the Ministry must provide professional development in reading instruction for teachers, implement reading curricula and adopt diagnostic reading assessments for students particularly in the primary level to determine where they need assistance. The Education Ministry must also re-evaluate and reinforce the current 3M (Membaca, Menulis, Mengira) programmes to improve students' literacy levels with priority to the rural area.

To improve students' proficiency in English language requires huge effort and time. As they said, Rome is not built in one day. If we are determine to take remedial action against the lack of the language proficiency among students, we must start focusing on emphasizing the development of reading skills in parallel with the policy of teaching Maths and Science in English.