What did I normally do during relief class?
It was quite common for me to have relief class during Latihan Ikhtisas. Sometimes, I had few relief classes almost every day. At first, I didn’t know what to do during relief class other than “following” the normal practice i.e. let the students do their own work. But after some time, I decided to do some activities (with rewards).
Among the activities that I would do was spelling bee and trivia (quiz about general knowledge) but for form 3 and form 5 students, I would normally ask the teachers if they had handouts that they want me to use when I had their relief class and we would have discussion after that. In a way that, I would end up teaching the students. I did these few times and later on the principal and the GPK knew about it and thus, I would end up taking ALL relief classes for English regardless of the forms. For examination classes i.e. form 3 and form 5, I would normally assign to do revision exercise with them for grammar, writing, literature and such.
Normally, what I did was if I knew in advance that I would be given a relief class, sometimes I would book the computer room and did activities using Quizziz such as online trivia. Of course, some students were hesitated but I normally would reward those who got the right answer etc. with chocolates. The funny thing was sometimes when the students knew that they would get a relief teacher on certain time, they would ask me if I would be the relief teacher because they wanted to “play English game”. Yeah right! The power of positive reinforcement. Indeed.
My quizziz collection: Suitable for secondary school students
I have been using Quizziz since 2016. But when I went for my Latihan Ikhtisas, I still continued using Quizziz for my form 1 and form 4 students. Here are some of the Quizziz that I made that anyone can get access to any time, any where provided they have internet connection [Note: I make it public so that there is no password or code needed to get access to it]
Form 4
Charge of the Light Brigade (Poem)
Form 1
Grammar
Past Progressive/Continuous Tense
Rumah mampu biaya Johor: Taman Laman Indah 2, Tebrau
IELTS or MUET? What’s the difference?
One of my former students asked me if I had taken IELTS before. Well, I took IELTS long time ago in 2006 because it was one of the requirement to apply to any UK university. So, I took it once and it costs RM600 (if I am not mistaken). But I did lots of “practices” online and using one of my senior’s IELTS book.
Was it difficult than MUET? I never took MUET so I can’t make comparison. But, teaching MUET last year gave me a glimpse on what MUET is all about. The 4 assessment type are similar like IELTS: Speaking, Reading, Writing and Listening. Both have all of the four types of assessment. The differences might be minute in terms of the content and duration (how long it will be conducted). All in all, both assessments are challenging in itself with its unique features.
Malaysian Invisible Illness Association
I took the poster from Malaysian Invisible Illness Association
STEM-MATE competition in NALI 2019
Malaysian population in 2019: 32.6 million
Korean Fried Chicken?
Marrybrown Korean Fried Chicken
When I did my Latihan Ikhtisas, there were times when some teachers and I would go to Today’s Mall after school and hanged out for a while. Since the only fast food restaurant available at Today’s Mall is Marrybrown, we would go there. I was introduced to this last year. It is a seasonal thingy. Not for the whole year. Fast forward, the Korean Fried Chicken is back again. Well, some might say that the K-Fry Chicken is better than this. But of course, K-Fry Chicken is a little bit pricier than this version. Which one is my favorite? As long as it is free, any fried chicken is my favorite 😀
Let go of your ego
It is not easy to let our ego/pride go. As what Rick Rigsby in his moving talk “Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of stupidity“. Don’t be stupid to let our ego control our lives. In Islam, pride or arrogance is considered as one of the biggest sins. This can be referred to various verses in Al-Quran
In Surah az-Zumar (Verse 60)
وَيَوْمَ ٱلْقِيَٰمَةِ تَرَى ٱلَّذِينَ كَذَبُوا۟ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ وُجُوهُهُم مُّسْوَدَّةٌ ۚ أَلَيْسَ فِى جَهَنَّمَ مَثْوًى لِّلْمُتَكَبِّرِي ﴿٦٠ ﴾
“Is there not in Hell an abode for the proud?” (Surah az-Zumar 39:60)
In another verse from the same surah,
قِيلَ ٱدْخُلُوٓا۟ أَبْوَٰبَ جَهَنَّمَ خَٰلِدِينَ فِيهَا ۖ فَبِئْسَ مَثْوَى ٱلْمُتَكَبِّرِينَ
“It shall be said: Enter the gates of hell to abide therein; so evil is the abode of the proud.” (Surah az-Zumar 39:72)
In Surah Ghafīr (Verse 35) Allah Almighty remarks,
الَّذِينَ يُجَادِلُونَ فِي آيَاتِ اللَّهِ بِغَيْرِ سُلْطَانٍ أَتَاهُمْ كَبُرَ مَقْتًا عِندَ اللَّهِ وَعِندَ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا كَذَٰلِكَ يَطْبَعُ اللَّهُ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ قَلْبِ مُتَكَبِّرٍ جَبَّارٍ
“Thus does Allah set a seal over the heart of every proud, haughty one.” (Surah Ghafīr 40: 35)
In another surah, Surah Al-Baqarah: 34, due to arrogance, Iblis was regarded as the accursed one.
وَإِذْ قُلْنَا لِلْمَلَٰٓئِكَةِ ٱسْجُدُوا۟ لِءَادَمَ فَسَجَدُوٓا۟ إِلَّآ إِبْلِيسَ أَبَىٰ وَٱسْتَكْبَرَ وَكَانَ مِنَ ٱلْكَٰفِرِينَ
May Allah safeguard us from the feeling of arrogance and prideful.