an eventful weekend

I am supposed to be in bed right now. But it seems that I can't. Tomorrow is going to be a very busy day. In fact the whole weekend is going to be very busy.

My treasure hunt team mates (SYong, CC and SE) decided that we are going for breakfast as early as 7.30 am before we head to Putrajaya for Flora Hunt briefing. We want to go earlier this time because we do not want to end up with oversized t-shirts like the last time. Besides it's holiday and we wanna reach there early to spend some time to explore Putrajaya especially the Botanical Garden, which we believed could be one of the places to go in the Flora Hunt this Sunday.

Later in the evening, our team (except for SE who will not be joining but instead her new housemate, Jess, a new friend of mine will be taking her place) are going to Genting to watch Astro Wah Lai Toi Drama Awards. I've been asking my Sis for the tickets for the last two years. Finally she got it from her colleague in Wah Lai Toi. Based on the award shows in the previous years, I do not have high expectation for this year's event. However, I'm hoping to see some of my favourite TVB stars like Kevin Cheng, Raymond Lam, Moses Chan, Myolie Wu and Bernice Liu. I kinda followed a lot of TVB series in 2006. I've asked CC and Jess to be ready to snap some photos of the TVB stars at the red carpet while Syong and I will chup the seats for them.

lost in (Visit) Malaysia 2007

Apart from the grand launch of the Eye on Malaysia in conjunction with Visit Malaysia 2007 (VM 2007) and the list of happening events throughout the year, I don't really see any efforts being put on promotion and advertisement. So, why do I say this?

I am very keen about VM2007. So my friends and I decided to take part in Flora Hunt which is going to be held this Sunday at Putrajaya. This is going to be the second time my team taking part in such activity. The last time, we were quite disappointed with the Lexis Nexis treasure hunt organized by Time Out Solutions. Perhaps we were inexperienced and had high hopes after taking part in the Amazing Mall Challenge. So, this time, we are giving ourselves another try, especially since it's a good way to be part of the celebration.

So, last nite my team member, SYong and I thought we better get some brochures on VM2007 and start doing some preparation to understand more about the event and places to go in Putrajaya, Klang Valley and Selangor.

Our first stop was KL Sentral since KLIA is too far away. We thought we are going to get some brochures at the departure hall. To our disappointment, there is not a single brochure or even VM2007 buntings to be found. Then, we tried again at the entrance near the taxi stand. Well, this time, at least we found a brochure which is not very helpful anyway.

We proceed to Hilton KL which is just right in front of KL Sentral. They were very helpful and provided us with maps and brochures on places to visit.

We thought of going to Cititel Mid Valley to see if we can find extra brochures and again to our disappointment, the concierge doesn't give us anything except a brochure about Zoo Negara in Arabic!

Then we came back to PJ Hilton. This time the concierge here who is very friendly gave me a brochure and a very handy KL and Selangor map.

Well, I understand we tried looking for brochures and maps at a very odd time. But this experience makes me believe that we are not doing good enough to promote VM2007.

leveraging Bloom’s Taxonomy for crossword construction

I've just read through the comments from teachers who attended my crossword construction workshop last year. One of the teacher's comment was crossword puzzles is only best in assessing lower thinking skills and not higher order thinking skills. Based on the idea of Bloom's Taxonomy, she believes that crossword puzzles is not applicable at all. I really appreciate her comment and decided to do some research on her argument.

In the process of the research, I came across a research paper by Elizabeth Avery Gomez and Julian Matthew Scher of New Jersey Institute of Technology titled "Design Strategies for the Pedagogical Use of Crossword Puzzle Generation Software, In Individual and Collaborative Design Modes" which is very helpful.

Based on the article, here's how Bloom's Taxonomy can be applied for crossword construction:

1. Knowledge
Skills Demonstrated
• Knowledge of the subject matter
• List, define, examine or describe

Activity
• Solve the instructor’s crossword puzzle individually to demonstrate knowledge of class materials or the context of the course (individual crossword)
• Solve the instructor’s crossword puzzle in groups to demonstrate knowledge of class materials or the context of the course (collaborative crossword)


2. Comprehension
Skills Demonstrated
• Understand meaning of subject matter
• Interpret and associate

Activity
• Interpret and associate the clues with the assigned class materials (individual crossword)
• Interpret and associate the clues with the assigned class materials (collaborative crossword)


3. Application
Skills Demonstrated
• Use information in a new situation
• Solve problems using required skill
• Apply, illustrate or relate

Activity
• Generate a crossword puzzle using the course content domain to illustrate knowledge of class materials (individual crossword)
• List and define clues and answers to contribute for the collaborative crossword to illustrate knowledge of the course content domain (collaborative crossword)


4. Analysis
Skills Demonstrated
• Organize into parts
• Recognize hidden meanings
• Analyze, order, classify

Activity
Individual crossword
• List and define words for the crossword generation
• Interpret the clues to use

Collaborative crossword
• Organize and order contributions from team mates
• Analyze, classify and consolidate team mates clues


5. Synthesis
Skills Demonstrated
• Relate knowledge from old ideas to new ideas
• Combine, modify, create

Activity
Individual crossword
• Complete another classmates crossword individually (synthesis of the instructor crossword and classmate’s crossword)

Collaborative crossword
• Consensus on clues to select
• Generate a collaborative crossword puzzle (synthesis to both instructor crossword and team mates clues)


6. Evaluation
Skills Demonstarted
• Compare ideas and purpose
• Assess value of ideas
• Assess, rank, measure

Activity
Individual crossword
• Compare the individually generated crossword puzzles (clues and answers) to the submitted
crossword puzzles of others

Collaborative crossword
• Compare the collaboratively generated crossword puzzles (clues and answers) to the submitted crossword puzzles of others


As I'll be conducting a similar (but improved) workshop in February, I'll incorporate this research findings as well as make the whole learning process more interactive. Watch out this space!

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.