Thank You...

Here, I would like to thank my lecturer, Pn. Foziah for the knowledge that she gave to me throughout the course. I also would like to thank my friends who help me in doing the tasks and assignments given especially NurAsma..

p/s: To all my friends, good luck in upcoming exam..Wish you all the best!!

What I feel about blogging?

This is the first time for me to have my own blog. I knew about before but I had no interest to do it. Luckily, blogging has become a compulsory for everyone in this course. If not, I would not see the benefits of blogging. Here are my answers to the questions posted by Pn. Foziah

1. What I like about blogging.

Blogging give me the opportunity to share my experiences and express my opinions and ideas. It is like an online diary!!

2. What I do not like about blogging.

Errmm...nothing

3. What have I gained from blogging eg. Language skills, improved fluency, critical thinking, improved thought processes, technology skills etc.How?

Blogging really works in practicing your language. I think, I've improved a lot writing skill. Writing in the blog is like exercises given by the teacher when I was small. In addition, it also improve my technology skills. Honestly, I'm not a techno-sawy person. By reading other people's blogs, i get to know more and more about technology.

4. What I like about the course

This course has taught me on how to search and develop resources that are suitable to be used in the classroom. Photo editing, audio editing, video editing, internet skills, and e-book are the things that I had learnt. Actually, I already knew a little about these things and this course give me more!

5. What I do not like about the course

I only not satisfied with the time given to finish the tasks.

6. What I have learnt from the course

How to become a resourceful teacher

7. What I do not expect but have learnt from the course

Blogging!!haha..nice experience.

8. What I expect but have not learnt from the course.

I'm not only expect to learn how to develop resources that are technologically produced but also on how to develop resources by using non-technologically method.

9. If they can change anything about the course, state what it is and explain.

Errmm..nothing

Towards T.H.E E.N.D

The end of semester is just around the corner. It means, we come closer and closer to examination!! Uwwwaaa...
Since there is no official exam for this course, we have to sit for a test. The test was held at computer lab on last Tuesday. Frankly speaking, I just read the notes posted in ADeC since nobody knows what will be asked in the test. Thank to God since the topic that I've read had come out in the test (1st questions). But, it is unfortunate for me that I could not answer the questions well. Huhu..so sad!! Actually, I am used to type by using computer. So, when it comes to write by hand, i felt it really tough. My handwriting is so bad! Hopefully my lecturer can read it.

Children's software...

Just a day after getting married, I was rushed going back to KL. It was because the Assignment 3 was due on the next day.There is a sign of relief in me after handed in the assignment. I felt really happy as there is no more assignment to be done.haha..My friends told me that they can help me to submit the assignment so that I can take a few days off. But I chose to hand in by myself. It was not because I didn't believe on them, but for me, it is my responsibility. I should not burden my friends to do the job for me. In addition, I believe that getting married is not an excuse to do the works.Am I right?
Right after we handed in the assignment, Pn Foziah started the lecture. Mmm..It not a lecture actually!!haha..Actually, she had introduced us with another type of resources that can be used in classroom which is children's software. We are given the opportunity to try the software and evaluate it. For me, the softwares are very interesting and engaging. They are very useful to be used in the classroom as they can develop students' thinking skill. This is because while doing the activities, they need to think to answer the questions.
The software can be found in the form of DVD or VCD and CD-Rom. There are lots of bookstores that sell the software. Moreover, the software also can be searched online. These are some links:

http://www.childrenssoftwareonline.com/
http://www.childrenssoftware.com/

Happiest moment in my life!!!

Alhamdulillah...I am now a wife to Azmusyazali bin Abd. Aziz. NO longer available.haha..Thanks a lot to my friends who came to my wedding especially amy, zizi, izah,nina and mamas. I am very happy!!Pls pray for our happiness.

To friends, fell free to view my wedding photos in my friendster. This is the link:
http://profiles.friendster.com/7792125

Develop skills in planning the lessons

Assignment 3 task really challenged me..with my big day is just around the corner, my mind cannot work efficiently. Too much things to think! huhu...Luckily I was managed to finish my work one day before I left to my hometown. Thank God!! I do not have to worry anymore.
I've done 4 lesson plans of 4 skills (speaking, listening, reading and writing) on the topic 'Family First'. It is the topic in Year 5 textbook.

Being so manipulative..

Don't be misunderstood with the title yeah!!hehe..being manipulative here means that as a teacher, we should have skills in manipulating resources to be used as teaching aids in the classroom. Doing the second assignment give me an opportunity to develop skills in manipulating video as I learnt how to extract the audio / song and pictures from the video entitle 'Micheal Jackson - Earth Song' that I had downloaded from the Youtube.
At first, I had a difficulty in extracting the audio. I had downloaded many programmes but only half of the audio could be extracted since I used free trial version. Luckily my partner told me that we can use AoA Audio Extractor to extract the audio.At last, I can extract the whole audio. It works!!
From the audio and pictures that I had taken from the video, I developed several new materials such as PowerPoint slideshows, tasksheet and gif animations. I really enjoyed doing the gif animations which I had created it in gickr.com. The steps are simple and easy to follow. I just have to upload the pictures and chose the size and speed of the animations. Then, the website will do all the job. Once it is finished, I just downloaded the animations to my computer. So easy right?haha...

You can also try by your own..
this is the link
http://gickr.com/upload%20files

Working without a Coursebook...

Today, my group have to do a presentation regarding the topic 'Working without a Coursebook'. Coursebook is kind of book that is used as guidelines and reference for the teacher to rely on. It is very important for the teacher to have a coursebook with him when they're teaching. However, it is still possible for the teacher to work without a coursebook. Let me explain further..
There are 3 main things to be considered when a teacher is teaching without a coursebook to refer on which are deciding what to include, what does a child use language for in each of these areas and choosing starter phrases / vocabulary / structures. The teacher can also involve the children in the planning of the content of the lesson. The children also can benefit from this activity since they may discover about how language and communication work generally. Last but not least is deciding how frequent and how long language lessons should be. The best duration is not too short and not too long. As in Malaysia, we have 30minutes for single-period lesson and 1 hour for double-period lesson. I think that it just an ideal duration.

Change of partner...

The Assignment 2 required us to working in pairs. Previously, I was in pair with Syana. However, there are two friends who have no partner yet. Both of them are male friends. As the requirement set in this course asks us to work in mix gender and mix races, we decided to exchange partners. So now I'm working with Izzuddin while Syana is working with Fahmi. Hopefully we will accomplish the tasks on time....

Teaching Aids: 4 skills

Here comes another task....As we are learning to use and develop resources for the ESL classroom, Mdm Foziah has given us a task on preparing the teaching aids to be used in the lesson. The task required us to design teaching aids to teach the 4 skills in language learning which are listening, speaking, reading and writing. This is the time for us to apply what we have learnt earlier in this course such as photo editing, audio editing, video editing, internet skills, and e-book.
After going trough discussion, my group members and I had decided to choose Year 3 topic which is "My Neighbourhood". I was assigned to design teaching aids to be used to teach speaking skill. To get started is my problem..No idea comes into mind. I keep on thinking on what kind of teaching aid that I can produce for teaching speaking?? Is it suitable to the target learners? How to make it interesting? Think and think..Finally, I decided to create PowerPoint slideshows as a teaching aid used in pre-speaking stage.
The slideshows contain of pictures of building around the neighbourhood such as school, hospital, bank and etc. I write the spelling of the words since the target students is Year 3 students with low level of language proficiency. So, they can spell the words and remember better. My activity aims to help students to talk which they are required to response to the 'Wh' questions posed by the teacher regarding the places. As the level of students' proficiency is low, they can respond to the question in short answer / single word.

Finally, it was done.Hope it will be useful.

p/s: Anybody knows how to put powerpoint slideshows in blog??

Change of Assignment 2 task ...

A few days ago, Mdm Foziah has told us that she wanted to change the task for the Assignment 2. Initially, the Assignment 2 task required us to find any resources from the Internet such as videos, songs, poems, and design an activity that used those resources to teach the students. We chose the topic of 'Travel and Adventures' and managed to find two videos of "Charlie and Lola" which we think were suitable to be used in the classroom.
However, as the task has been changed, we have to leave the videos behind. So sad...The videos are very interesting. But, no worries!! I can use the videos when I become a teacher in future right?hehehe...
Now, we are working on the video entitle "Earth Song" which is a song sang by Micheal Jackson. The task requires us to use the pictures and the audio form the video as the resources to produce teaching aids for teaching in the classroom.
Next, we have to find another videos for Task 2 which are useful and relevant to be used in the classroom. The task requirement is same as Task 1.. The process of searching the videos is quite difficult and takes lots of time since we have to evaluate whether the videos are suitable to be used or not. Many things have to be considered such as what the topic that we can teach from the videos, the language, the target learners, and etc.
As we are working in partners, me and my partner decided to split the work. One takes Task 1 and one takes Task 2. Now..we are still in the journey of completing the task. We will combine both tasks once we have finished it. "We don't have to work hard, but work smart". Am I right?hehehe...I think most of our friends are also use the same strategies like us.

~Happy working everybody~

Discover a new experience with e-Book..

Before this, I never know what an e-Book is all about. Luckily, I've got the opportunity to learn how to produce an e-book in this course. To whom who do not know what is e-book, let me explain. An e-Book is "an electronic version of a traditional printed book ; covering its full contents (text, tables, diagrams, illustrations, etc.) that can be read by using a personal computer or by using an e-Book reader".
I've done an e-Book entitle 'The Little Red Hen'. It is a famous story (fable) which contains lots of moral values such as cooperation, willingness to offer helps, hardworking and etc. At first, I've searched for the story in the Internet. Then, I adapted and adopted it so that it suit to the target student which is Year 4. The e-book can be used as to teach farm animals and also the process of producing bread from planting the grain of wheat until making the bread.
I was using Microsoft PowerPoint to produce the e-Book. I've put lots of picture plus the text of the story. Besides, I also recorded some audio files and inserted them inside the e-Book. So, instead of the students read the e-book, they only have to listen to it. Interesting right? I'm sure the students will like it..
I'm so glad that I've a chance to learn the skills in producing the e-Book. Surely, I'll apply it when I become a teacher in future.

So You Think You Can Dance???

Just before the semester break started, my lecturer, Pn Foziah had assigned us to do a video editing task which required us to download the videos of 'So You Think You Can Dance - season 2' show. My group had been assigned to download the 7th episode of the show. In order to download the videos, I had installed Real Player downloader software in my laptop. Many of my friends had suggested me to use this software since it is user-friendly and fast. We managed to download the videos successfully and started working on it. My group members had decided to split the work and working indivudually. Only after that we combined our work.

The first task required us to cut and combine the videos to be in full performance. Meaning that no MC and judges. Just the performance. For the second task, we had to cut the video again and produce new videos with single performance. The last task was to do tutorial based on the process involved in editing the videos.

At first, I was responsible to do the tutorial. I managed to do it on time. However, as Pn Foziah changed her instructions to burn the videos into DVD, I had to take the responsibility to do the work since all of my group members had went back to their hometown. Only me is still in KL. My group members sent their works via internet which took hours for me to download it. I sat in front of my laptop from morning til night for 2 days . I only slept at 4am. huhu..There goes my days..And the worst thing, some of the videos sent by my group members cannot be opened. So I have to redo the work. I had installed many software such as Free FLV converter, Any Video Converter, and Cyberlink PowerDirector to help me in doing the work.Luckily, I managed to complete and assemble all the materials (videos and tutorial) before the dateline and sent it to Izyan (credit to Izyan for her kindness).. Not to forget, thousand of thanks to my fiancee who helped me a lot.


p/s: Whoever interested to get the Ep 7 of So You Think You Can Dance 2, contact me.hahaha..;-p

Life is about Choices...

The Road Not Taken ( Robert Frost)

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

In our life, we always have to choose between two or more choices, just like what is stated in the poem. Our life might be changed completely just because of the choices that we made. But does our choice is the right choice?Think about it..
Something to ponder on, do you agree if I said life is about choices?
Watch this!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfEU2hESZE4

Audio editing...

The audio editing task required me to edit one or more audio files. I'm decided to use 2 songs which are "Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Words" by Blue feat Elton John and "Sorry, Blame it on Me" by Akon and combine these songs to produce a new song. I had cut several part of the songs using Easy MP3 Cutter. However, I do not know how to combine them. huhuhu..so sad (I forgot about the Audacity software that my lecturer has suggested). I tried to use Magic Music Editor, but failed. I had no choice but to use Windows Movie Maker software since I cannot open several software that i'd downloaded. It's might be because my laptop is old version (I bought in 2002) so it does not suppport the programmes. When I finished with editing the songs, I've converted it into MP3 format using Free WMA to MP3 Converter.

This is the URL for my edited version of these songs which i named it "Sorry".

http://www.4shared.com/file/58617612/af831cbd/Siti_Rohainiza_-_Sorry_.html


Feel free to listen to it. don't forget to give comments yeah!!

Can you see the differences between these photos??

Before and After
The photo on the left is the original photo while on the right is the photo that i've already edited it. What do you think about these photos? Interesting right? This is what i've learnt during photo editing class..Love to try more.hehe..;)

Photo Editing...how???

(pictures are taken from http://nadnadnad.fotopages.com/?&page=2)


Those photos are taken from my friend's website. I'm amazed with how she edited the photos. I'm trying hundreds time to edit my own photos but never succeed. But today, i get the opportunity to learn how to edit photos during the lecture given by Pn Foziah. I love to learn more about photo editing. Now, i'm starting to explore and search for the softwares that could help me in the editing process. The 'editing' skill is very crucial since it can help me in producing good teaching aids in future.