Today

Today, 30th September is my youngest daughter's birthday. She is 20 today. It seems like yesterday she was just a small baby with thick spiky hair running around our old house in an army camp.

She has two elder sisters who are pursuing their tertiary education in areas connected to English Language. But not this last kid who thinks matriculation will kill her, so she rejected the offer to go to matriculation. That was in 2008.

Instead she went to a small college and study Culinary Arts, something which was not related to her pure science class when she was in form 4 and 5. But Culinary Arts is her passion and this small college just suits her fine.All she wants to be is a CHEF.Nothing else.

She is doing well in her studies. She is able to cook hundreds of western dishes, much to the delight of her two sisters. Their moral support for her comes in a very strategic manner. They search for recipes for her to try!!

In November 2009 she went to Meritus Pelangi Beach Hotel in Langkawi for her practical training. She spent 4 months there. And just recently I was told that she scored 4 flat for her practical. I thank Allah for His blessings.

Adik, you are 20 today. May Allah bless you with good health, good brain and brawn and good manners too.

As your mother, I am always here to support you, like what I have done for the past 20 years.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AND BE HAPPY ALWAYS.

Still Ill

Yesterday, I was ill. I thought I was better this morning, but I was wrong. By afternoon my temperature was 37 degrees!! I felt dizzy. Thank God, I was able to drive home, safely.

I hope I will be better tomorrow. I MUST be better tomorrow.

Ill- again.

I am ill again today. Didn't go to work. Didn't attend the meeting for the Hari Raya function to be held next Wednesday. I just hope that I will not be sick next week during the function because I am going to be the MC. if the MC gets an MC, then...

Dear God, please make me better. I want to go to school and carry out my duties. I want to finish marking the Trial exam papers...

KELMARIN

kelmarin

kelmarin yang hilang
dibawa angin waktu
mengajar aku menjadi seorang perindu
mencari-cari sebuah nama
mengingat-ingat seraut wajah
ada sesal di hujung rindu

kelmarin yang hilang
bisakah berulang?

Shirley Bassey
I'd like to run away
From you,
But if you didn't come
And find me...
I would die.

WILL YOU LOVE ME

Will you love me in December as you do in May,
Will you love me in the good old fashioned way?
When my hair has all turned gray,
Will you kiss me then and say,
That you love me in December as you do in May?

James J. Walker

SAAT

SAAT

Hatiku ditusuk duri

Jiwaku kosong hampa

Hariku suram dan kelam

Duniaku sirna warna ria

Saat kau noktahkan kasihmu padaku.

22SEPTEMBER2010

DOA DAN PINTA

DOA DAN PINTA

Tuhanku,

Berikan aku kekuatan jiwa

Agar aku dapat melupakan kesalahan orang padaku

Agar aku sering ingat silapku pada orang

Agar aku dapat melupakan budiku pada orang

Agar aku sering ingat jasa orang padaku

Tapi

Wahai Tuhan

Aku ini manusia biasa

Hatiku lemah

Imanku rapuh

Maka padaMU aku mohon petunjuk

TERIMAKASIH

TERIMA KASIH

Terima kasih Tuhanku
kerana meminjamkan
sejalur waktu lagi
untuk berlindung di bawah langit rahmatMu

Terima kasih Tuhanku
kerana mengizinkan aku
melangkah setapak lagi
mencari nikmat rezekimu

Terimakasih Tuhanku
memberi aku helaan nafas
untuk terus hidup
di satu lagi tahun baru

(lewat Disember 2009)

Kami

Kami

Kami ini manusia lara

Tersihir oleh cinta pertama

Meski waktu berkalih musim berubah

Dan perpisahan pernah menyekat

Cinta itu nyalanya tetap semarak

Dan hangatnya menggamit rindu tersimpan

Jalanan hidup kembali bersilang

Dan cinta pertama mengubat segenap derita

Happy

I am HAPPY that I have finished marking the form 4 test paper. I have one day to relax before attempting the form 5 trial exam English 1119/1 and 1119/2.Question 34 in Paper 2 is going to test my patience and Continuous Writing in paper 1 is going to test my migraine...

But...this is my life as an English Language teacher. In Malaysia, English is considered as a second language. That is why my degree reads as TESL- Teaching English as A Second Language. But at times I think I am teaching English as an Alien language!!

This morning when I was marking the test paper, a student wrote : She are.... OMG!!A form 4 student giving me she ARE!!He is so lucky that I was not standing in front of him, or else I would have scratched his face with the red ink pen!!

At times, I feel so disappointed/frustrated/sad and very angry when my students keep on repeating the same grammatical error. The subject -verb agreement never seems to agree!

I keep on wondering, how did my teachers in primary school taught me this thing called grammar and it stuck in my head all these years? I have tried applying some of the methods they used to teach me, but still I didn't succeed. (I went to an English medium school with almost zero knowledge in this language.)

Well...I must not give up. That's it!! I must keep on trying to make my students achieve good grades in English Language. Dear God, give me the patience and courage to spread the knowledge.

Soalan

Antara insiden-insiden menarik yg pernah kualami!!

1.Insiden di klinik gigi.

Dentist: Puan pernah pakai braces?

Aku: Tak.yg pakai braces anak saya. kenapa?

Dentist: Gigi Puan tak cukup bilangan tapi sangat elok.

Aku: Anugerah Allah. Yg tak cukup tu pasal dah cabut zaman kanak2 dulu!

2. Insiden di wad hospital

Doktor: Puan ni tak banyak buat kerja agaknya. Urat halus sangat. Susahnya saya nak cari urat untuk ambil darah!

Aku: Ehhh...di rumah saya, sayalah tuan rumah dan sayalah amah dan tangan saya ni digunakan untuk menulis di papan hitam setiap hari dan juga baling orang dgn duster!!

Doktor: Puan ni guru ye?

3. Insiden di wad hospital juga sebelum masuk bilik pembedahan.

Doktor pelatih: Puan kena tanggalkan gigi palsu ya, sebelum operation.

Aku: Doktor, ini gigi saya original!!

Doktor pelatih: Oh.. ye ke? Sorry, saya ingat gigi palsu!

Aku: Doktor ni betul ke tak betul ni??(tapi komen dalam hati aja la!!)

4. Insiden di hypermarket.

Jurujual: Puan, saya nak tunjuk Puan buku Bahasa Inggeris ni, buku baru yg bagus untuk anak2.

Aku: Oh tak pe. terima kasih. Saya tak ada anak di sekolah rendah.

Jurujual: Buku untuk sekolah menengah pun ada.

Aku: Tak pe lah ya. Terima kasih. Saya nak cepat ni.

Jurujual: Puan, puan kena melabur untuk pendidikan anak2. Bahasa Inggeris ni penting. Kalau tak pandai Bahasa Inggeris, susah nak lanjutkan pelajaran susah nak dapat kerja.

Aku:(darah dah mula nak mendidih!!)Hello, if you are trying to tell me about investing in my children's education, you are talking to the wrong person. I AM AN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER AND MY 3 CHILDREN ALL SCORED A 1 IN THEIR ENGLISH FOR GCE!I THINK YOU SHOULD READ THE BOOK YOU ARE SELLING, SO THAT YOU CAN GET A BETTER JOB.

Jurujual: Minta maaf Puan. minta maaf banyak2.

Hanya kerana aku pakai baju kurung yg dah pudar warna dgn sandal, kau pikir aku datang dari estet mana??Kurang asam punya jurujual!!

A Teacher's Heart

A teacher's heart has many rooms,

Each needs a different key,

Love and caring unbolt some compartments,

Faith and prayer find a way into others,

Patience and comparison pick the locks,

Of tightly shuttered windows,

Letting in the light of hope and encouragement,

Only then lives can be changed:teachers' and students',

Forever.

A teacher's heart has many rooms,

Each needs a different key,

Designed by the Master Teacher,

Who made the shores of the Sea of Galilee

Her classroom and changed the world.

Forever.

Adapted from; A Teacher's Heart: C C Reece and A C Donibur

I must say I love this.

Ill

I am ill. Has fever. Go to Poliklinik Ayer Keroh. Wait for almost 2 hours to see the doctor. See the doctor for less than 5 minutes. Wait for 15 minutes for the medicine.

hmmmm

School

Today is schooling day for EVERYONE in SMTM. Though the Hari Raya is entering the fifth day, it is back to work for the teachers and exam for the students. As expected many students are absent.Four of my students are not in school. The ironic part is. yesterday and the days before,one of the absentees was ACTIVELY roaming/commenting on Facebook! She did not seem to be ill at all.

I think she is absent today, because she was down with some kind of illness, due to the virus she got from Facebook!!

Don't Quit

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,

When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,

When the funds are low and the debts are high,

And you want to smile, but you have to sigh.

When care is pressing you down a bit-

Rest if you must, but don't quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,

As everyone of us sometimes learns,

And many a fellow turns about,

When he might have won had he stuck it out.

Don't give up though the pace seems slow-

You may succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than

It seems to a faint and faltering man:

Often the struggler has given up

When he might have captured the victor's cup;

And he learned too late when the night came down,

How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out -

The silver tint of clouds of doubt,

And you never can tell how close you are,

It ma be near when it seems afar;

So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit,-

It's when things seem worst that you mustn't QUIT.

No, I don't take credit for something which is not mine. I have been keeping this piece of postcard with this beautiful meaningful words for more than 25 years. Here, it is for everyone to share.