Category: Personal

Beamish Museum, Durham: A living museum

It was summer 2010.   Kam had the courage to drive an old red Nissan owned by one of our friends to Beamish Museum.  It took us around 45 minutes from Bowburn.  We had to pay GBP13 per entry.  Since we were Durham University students, we thought that we could get a discount, but, nope.  No exception here.

When I was in Durham, I went to several museums in Bath, Bristol and Nottingham and castles cum museum like the Edinburgh castle.  But, nothing prepared us when we went to Beamish museum.  It was surreal.  The staff who work there wear costumes and whatsnot.  It is a nice experience to be able to go to an open space museum.  I took many pictures but unfortunately, I wore something which was not shari’ah compliant 😀 

There you go, I only post one picture here.  When we took this picture, the three of us was at this primary-cum-secondary school.  They used wooden-slab and chalk to write, instead of using paper based exercise book.  Beamish was an old coal mine.  So, it has an actual village equipped with facilities like a church, shops, a bank, living quarters for the workers and such.  Summer is the best time to come here if the weather is nice.  We went there when the weather was nice and perfect for summer (i.e. no rain).  So, we had a blast!  This was the year before Kam and Fiqah finished their study.  

 

Using song to teach grammar_Part 1

When I did my Latihan Ikhtisas, I used songs to teach grammar.  It is normal in other schools, but in my school, the teachers are skeptical to use English songs to teach grammar.  Why?  This is a school which emphasises on religious studies.  But, what a heck! 

This is not a love song.  This song is famous (well, coincidentally, the movie “Bohemian Rhapsody” was premiering at the time when I taught the form 4 using this song).   Alhamdulillah I am not the typical teacher and they never consider me as one so when I did something “unusual”, the GPK and principal just let me off the hook   😀 That’s the perk of being a lecturer-cum-teacher at school.   

But, I am not the Miss Goody-Two-Shoes teacher.  So, I did use a breakup song and “motivational cum uplifting” song to teach grammar.  😀 .  

What is wrong with me?

I had flu three weeks ago.  Quite bad.  I had stuffy nose and coughing.  My nose was no longer stuffy, but I am still coughing until now.  It is quite alarming because I feel like I am having a short of breath.  I notice this since the only smoker in the house came back from KL.   I don’t know how to approach this matter.  Every body except him has been trying to convince him to stop.  I thought when he went for Hajj two years ago he would stop.  Nope.  He does not stop.  He knows the effect of smoking on second hand smokers.  

I have been thinking about my late mom.  She had trouble with her breathing.  But it did not stop him from smoking either.  Remembering how she held her breath hurts me but what could I do at that time?   How time flies!  It will be two years since my mom passed away.  Al – fatihah to her.  

Academic Integrity: What is it?

What is academic integrity?  Well, there are so many definitions out there but for me, it is simply doing the right thing right as academicians.  There.  Simple definition.  The term was coined by Don McCabe and together with his colleagues propose the 10 principles of academic integrity.

It is a paradoxical situation.  With the yearly KPI and so many things that you need to fulfill (plus your own personal target to climb social ladder etc.), it is not a surprise if some academicians are resorting to “short cuts” and “manipulation”.  But they are the minority.  A minuscule organism in the academia.

I am not saying that we should not do anything about it and just take a stance of “wait-and-see” but it is something that not easy to be tackled.  When my old Durham neighbour said that he would look into the matter of plagiarism and whatsnot carefully, it is something to be applauded.  

Note: I had a bad experience of this in which a junior colleague “took” my class assignment instruction.  The junior thought that it is meant to be used by everybody whereas in fact, I crafted it few years ago (after many cycles of amendment) to be used EXCLUSIVELY for my own class.  This junior did this without having a pinch of remorse.   No action is taken based on what this junior did even though I have evidence of this junior doing that.  So, what can you say about such thing?  Of course, it is neither a journal nor a published work.  But still, it is my idea.  Looking at the definition given by MIT , it resonates with my unique case.

McCabe also published another article about academic integrity.  Please have a look at his article, HERE

 

Wind of change

I have been thinking hard about this issue.  Off lately, I could see certain wind of change in my school.  The things that I am not really aware of, I guess.  My fault.  Well, the truth is I am in a state of denial.  I try hard to convince myself it couldn’t be happening in my school.  Yet, that is the real hard core reality.  When wrote about the current scenario in the UTM news, my worst nightmare is happening now.  One of my friends said “To survive in this university, you have to be a hypocrite.  If you stay true to yourself, you won’t be able to survive in this environment“. 

The wind has changed.   Indeed.  But, I believe that the reward of being true to yourself is not in this world.   Islam emphasises on the life in this world and the Hereafter, yet every single decision that I make would either bring me closer to Allah or vice versa.  Referring to a verse that we would recite in every single pray, I pray that May Allah grant me my prayers.  

“Say (O Muhammad): Verily, my Salaah (prayer), my sacrifice, my living, and my dying are for Allaah, the Lord of the ‘Aalameen (mankind, jinn and all that exists)”  [al-An’aam 6:162]

Lastly, May Allah grant us the best gladtiding both in this world and the Hereafter and save us from the torment of the Fire.  

“Our Lord, give us in this world that which is good and in the Hereafter that which is good, and save us from the torment of the Fire” (al-Baqarah 2:201). 

May Allah ease my journey in this case.