mfn's blog

Should vs. will

Should refers to being obliged to or "ought to", and it is used to express condition. It is also used in auxiliary function to express what is probable or expected. Will is also referred to future and it is used to express condition. However, it has a stronger connotation that the future is going to happen, compared to should. Should seems to be hypothetical, and there is a possibility that the future event does not occur.

In designing lesson plan, these two words can mean differently if a teacher needs to decide on one to be used in the lesson objective. I have encountered two different school of thoughts regarding this matter, one being supported by lecturers from both in Malaysia and in the UK, and the other one being supported by a senior and experienced lecturer in Malaysia. This is an example of how the starting bit of the lesson objective should look like:

By the end of the lesson, students _____________ be able to:

So there were differing opinions on what should be put in the blanks. Would it be proper to put should or would it be better off with will?

From what I have learned putting will would mean that you are certain that all of the students will achieve the stated objectives by the end of the lesson. Thus, the lesson would only be carried out once and there should be no follow up to the activity as every student knows what they are doing. It also seemed to look like a natural tendency and ambitious -as if the teachers know the capability of all her students. Should on the other hand seems to be more polite and shows that the possibility to achieve the objectives are rather high, but there are also circumstances that not all students will be able to achieve them. So, the teacher would have the opportunity to reflect on the lesson after it has been carried out and design on a new lesson based on the flaws that were reviewed earlier.

However this is just my opinion. I wonder how other teachers work on their lesson objectives. Would they look the same as ours?

 

Emergency lane

People have been saying that the accidents that are happening around the emergency lane are caused by low visibility and PLUS not being responsible for the cars that should be towed to the nearest services. However, have we ever thought of our own responsibilities as drivers?

When I went back from my CNY break recently, the traffic from Melaka to Kuala Lumpur was heavy. Not a single car was moving. But drivers who were in the midst of the traffic were agigated by some people who drove smoothly using the emergency lane. And there were not only one car, but quite a few of them. And they caused more problem to the traffic as they try to get back to the highway. It was not until the PLUS truck blocking that the cars stopped using the lane. And it all happened in the evening, where the sun was still up high and the road can be seen clearly. How about that?

Have you ever wondered why accidents that occured around the emergency lane involved serious crash and damage? Wouldn't a driver be driving slowly and carefully on the left lane? Unless if they want to take on a car, then they would speed up and take the second lane. And if I'm not mistaken, nowadays we are so used to the right-side driving that we take on other cars using the left lane. Don't you think that might have been another possible cause of accident on the emergency lane?

Another point to note is that we are used to travel when we are tired. That may have explained the low visibility among drivers. That have been one of the causes of bus accidents too. In order to be able to drive safely, we have to make sure that we have enough sleep and take a break whenever we feel tired when driving. Always take the safest measures.

But death is something that we do not know when and how it will happen. The only thing that we can do is to take precautions and be responsible ourselves. We have one of the best highways in the world and we should know our roads better.

Conspiracy theories

If they can make avatar, they can make 911

If they can make 911, they can make Pearl Harbour

If they can make Pearl Harbour, it would easy for them to let Pearl Harbour to be attacked by the Japanese to gear their people into WWII.

If people can't see Osama face to face, they can make believe that Osama is still alive and is causing chaos throughout the world.

If they can make Palestine inaccessible to the public, they can make people believe whatever about the Palestinian people.

If they can make good use of freedom of expression, they can make all the Muslims in the world as terrorists by doing something offensive to them.

These decisions can be risky -involving innocent beings, but they can be one good political move to gain popularity from the people.

Leaders are elected by people, but it does not mean that they can devote themselves fully to their people. Some even struggle to become leaders through back doors. They may have their own agenda. Then, they would present their agenda to the people. Convince them. Propagate them. Make everything seems to be true. Because the people are the majority, how far they know about politics is none of the leaders' concern. What they need from their people is their trust and loyalty, so that the agenda can be accomplished.

I recalled a quote from a book that I like that goes, "People are stupid... They will believe a lie because they want to believe it's true, or because they are afraid it might be true."

One way or another the choice given to them can benefit them and put them into disadvantage. In the end, people will have to take a stand. When the majority makes mistake, they are bringing their own power into demise.

No matter what intentions the leaders have over their agendas, the people will always be the pawn in the game. But we can't really do anything unless we know what is "really happening" around us. And to know what is really happening in this world would certainly be more risky than being a politician per se.

Schools

School is a place where students receive their education. Whether it is situated in urban or rural areas, it is supposed to be the center of knowledge with adequate facilities and trained teachers. It does not need any sort of recognition as it is already recognised as a centre of teaching and learning. So why do we have SBT now?

Teachers in the East Malaysia has the right to voice out their dissatisfaction over this nomination. Out of thousands of schools in the area, there should be schools which should also be nominated as one of the SBT. They may probably have better facilities than the schools in the peninsular.

However, to be fair, every school should be treated the same way and there should be no schools that have an advantage over another. Imagine a school receive nearly a million of allocation while there are hundreds of schools that lack basic teaching facilities. That includes schools in urban areas. This will only create a new generation of elite schools which will be funded directly from the government, while other schools struggle to look for ways to fund their schools.

We have been taught to think that school is a place for learners to score As. The more you see learners score As in that school, the more you think that the school is good. Then, what about other schools in the region? Should they be discarded? Are the learners in those schools not good enough?

SBT may probably be a good way to have schools compete each other in terms of improving their quality of service. However, not all schools will get the recognition they should. All schools should be recognised in some ways. More importantly, all schools should receive enough teachers and facilities. We need to cater to the learners' needs first before we turn our focus to recognising the schools.

We have smart schools, cluster schools, sport schools and now SBT. In future, there will be other different types of schools. Hopefully through this differentiation we are able to produce learners who are hollistic and competent, and not just learners who only rely on which schools they are from.

Yellow culture or merely a cultural denial?

I was reading this and I couldn't agree more on how much the West had influenced us. Without their influence, Malaysia wouldn't even born. At some point of life we should except the Western culture as part of ours, as they accepted some of the Eastern culture centuries ago. This is probably what we call 'open door policy'. Being so isolated would not make us like Japan. Even Japan has adopted some of the Western culture before they can assimilate it into their own. The simplest example would be Anime, which was adopted and evolved from the Disney cartoons in the mid 50s.

The internet has really helped Malaysians in a lot of ways. It certainly help people to pay the bills without having to face traffic jams. With all sorts of e-payments being promoted by the government, it certainly make ease for the people to do the task. Internet also helps us to give suggestions or issue 'aduan' (complaint) without having to go through mass media. This would make sure that the complaint is confidential and it can be solved efficiently. Internet also helps the leaders to communicate with their people. There have been a lot of blogs being set up by politicians so that they can show their progress with their community and have their community talk to them.

With the advent of ebooks and e-newspaper, Malaysians are becoming more aware of the things surrounding them. This encourages them to read more, and become critical thinkers. We can also make book reviews and recommend good books to our friends. Education is also made easy with internet. I used to go to Utusan's Tutor website to download past years' papers for my SPM examination. Students can also understand science theories as they watch the video on how things are being done.

So I don't think Malaysians are in the state of a cultural shock. Or is it only 'some' Malaysians are experiencing this? And for what reason? Even office works and liasing are being done through the internet. We no longer have to call using telephone to connect with our families from abroad. Instead, we can use webcams which can also make us see our family from afar. How helpful is that?

I think Malaysians are more used to the internet that some of the Western countries. Believe me, some of the rural areas in other countries do not even have internet access like some rural areas in our country. How cool is that?

If it is for some gains, please don't the blame to all of us Malaysians. We don't really need a Big Brother to watch us. We are matured enough to use the media to communicate with each other. In fact, this is our culture. And our premier and former premiers have encouraged us to use this technology extensively. If there is no internet there wouldn't be Cyberjaya or MSC or MMU. We need to make this a first class culture which will be followed by people from around the world.

What is important fo us is respect in our writing. Though we uphold the concept of freedom of expression, we also believe in respect towards other people. That makes us different from the mainstream internet culture. Because we are Malaysians.

Dragon Boat

The history of the dragon pretty much talked about sacrifice and death. Now, it becomes a popular sports event. And recently it became another tragedy which had caused lives of students and a teacher.

If it wasn't for the two people who found them, the whole group of students would have drowned. And as usual, the finger-pointing culture began. The parents blamed the school, the school blamed the teachers, and so on. But in this case, as someone who is going to be a teacher, I'd rather say the school is at its fault. There were a lot of things were to be taken into account, and if things were not taken for granted, nothing like this would have happened. But now it happened and we can't really do anything about it. 

In summary, there are two things which were not taken seriously -safety and permission.The teachers should have scouted the area before choosing it. But due to unpredictable weather and environmental condition, it would be hard to make sure that the place would be perfectly safe for the students. Though at least it would reduce the possibility of such unwanted incident. Another safety measure is to make sure that the students are each given a life jacket in case something happens to the boat. Furthermore, they should have been given at least some lessons on swimming and survival skills in the water. Everyone should have expected something like this could happen and learning something on that would certainly help.

And on top of everything, the school should have informed parents and the local authority regarding the shift of the activity from the formerly designated location. They should have the black and white letter and make sure that the police is notified regarding this matter.  Without the consent from the police, they wouldn't even be able to initiate the activity. This is something that many schools would have missed out. Even elite schools.

But all of these are easier said than done. If you don't put extra effort on your job as a teacher, you would have missed any of the points mentioned. This is because teachers are trained to have a lot of work besides merely teaching the kids, and one of the most tiring jobs is to do paperwork, which covers more than our usual working hours. Furthermore, some schools or clubs are just prone to have lack of equipments for their activity (even though they can hire from outside) due to the lack of budget. But money is another story.

At one point thank God that the teacher was not alive to witness the event. Imagine what would the teacher reacted when he sees his students drowned while he is still alive? What would the parents say to him? How would the school respond? Will he be able to live the life he used to? His action would be published in the newspaper across the country, and a lot of other negative things would pressure him. And from that point his life would changed forever.

Condolences to the family of the deceased. I seek God's refuge from getting involved in an incident like this. Let this be a lesson to us, similar to the falling bridge incident. God help us teachers.  

School Matters to Me

Does school matter to you? If it doesn't, we may have to do something about it.

My friend Bob, Malaysian teacher who studied Marjon and his collaegues had made a wonderful effort of putting up a site for us teachers and schools in Malaysia. It provides resources for teachers as well as links to teachers' blogs and article. By doing this teachers will be able to share their experiences wherever there are in Malaysia. This would certainly be helpful to new teachers as well as teacher trainees. Furthermore, some teachers would go as far as sharing their experiences in teaching in the rural areas which can sometimes be challenging yet exciting to some.

For teachers who want to download HSPs (which are not available in stores now) or upload other valuable teacher resources, you can do it here as well.  

Though it is still in its initial stage, many new teachers have contributed to the site and it is hopeful that schools and experienced teachers would do the same. Technology had helped teachers to become more resourceful and become independent in expressing their thoughts. Maybe in future we will see more teacher networking sites competing with other social networking sites. If no one initiates this project, we wouldn't have the opportunity to connect with other teachers in the world wide web. So every Malaysian teacher is invited to share your thoughts!

Kudos to those working on this project. Click here for more information:

http://schoolmatterstome.com/

Dear Sir,

Referred to NST Jan 8, 2010: Letters to Editor

Dear S,

I am also one of the teachers-to-be who chose national school system as during my days, I have never heard of a school which was built exclusively for the Malays. Even if there was a Sekolah Agama, the syllabus did not adhere to the National Curriculum which one of the core principles was to unite the people.

In my opinion it shouldn't be a matter for primary schools to exercise prayers before school, in class and after school. Like my colleague said, our curriculum is based on the Rukunegara and the first principle of Rukunegara is the Belief in God. Yes, I must admit that it might be difficult for atheists to send their children to schools to Malaysia but that is just part of our identity and everyone should respect the identity of the community they are living in. And that would also be a different issue to discuss.

Saying prayers are a daily routine in some of the schools in the UK, regardless of the schools being a Church school or a local primary school. It might sound controversial, but the schools would implement the prayers if the majority of students are Christians in denomination. However, they also respect students of other faiths by letting them pray in their own ways (please note that there are several different denominations in Christianity itself).

This concept is actually being practised in Malaysia as well. The number of Muslim students in national schools are high, and they are considered as majority in most of the schools. Thus, it is understandable that daily prayers are conducted by Muslims. Furthermore, Islam is the official religion of the country. However, it is not wrong for the students to pray in their own ways when the Muslims recite their doa. I have never heard of teachers telling non-muslim children to pray like the Muslims. They would usually the the students to be silent, or pray in their own ways through their heart. Prayers is important in any religion and teachers never restrict any student from praying - in fact they encourage the students to say their prayers silently during doa. That is the most peaceful time a child can have as they show their devotion to God. Isn't that part of being good and doing good?

Maybe we as teachers do not emphasis on telling the students to pray in their own ways during the mentioned sessions. However, during my days in schools, my teacher would always tell us to practice good moral values regardless of what religion we adhered to. She would usually say "Islam, Buddhaism, Christianity, Hinduism, they teach the same thing", which is to be good and to do good. Even my ustazah would say that to everyone. I have never seen any teacher condemning any religion or race when they teach. If they do that, I will certainly condemn their action. This is what we are here for -to teach good moral values. 

Maybe as a parent you might want to investigate this matter and bring it up to the PTA meeting. It is important for teachers and parents to foster good relationship so that the school will be able to run according to the community's need.

Be careful, Big brother is watching you

The recent incident involving a student being taken into custody should be lauded. However, there are just of hundreds and thousands of people who wrote almost the same status besides this guy and nothing is being taken action against them.

It makes me wonder what is actually the job of the Multimedia and Communication Commision. I have never heard it elsewhere around the world. Probably not yet. There are just a lot of wonders that I need to know.

The are pros and cons to this. The good thing is that the incident will teach us to show respect and be ethical in our writings. We may have the right to write, but we must also respect other people's sensitivity. This is prominent in other developed countries with multicultural citizens such as Britain. You can be sued if you make racist statements even through writings. But the bad thing is that it will certainly limit our freedom of expression if the power given to the commission is not being exercised wisely. Just like Big Brother.

There has been a lot of effort to restrict internet users from accessing various websites in the name of the law. Banning video streaming may increase job performance, but would certainly limit our access to wider information. This would certainly halt the effort of making the nation as one of the technology hub comparable to the Silicon Valley.

I reckon blogs of prominent leaders will be blocked as well, so we can only use the web to get all sorts of "quick rich schemes" which are sometimes unreliable.

If these really happen they would certainly add up to the uncertainty of a 2020 reality.

Celebrity

"Am I sexy when I dress like this?" asked an artist. Another artist was commented as saying, "My principle is just simple - be yourself". This is what I saw in one of the Malaysian celebrity programmes when the celebrities are asked why they like to dress sexily. When being criticized on the newspaper and telly, they would condemn the media and to a certain extent, sue them.

Celebrity can be considered a role model to the society and whatever they do would influence the current trends practiced by the youth. They are sometimes more popular than the president or the king or the prime minister. However, to what extent can a celebrity be followed by members of the public? It reminded me of South Carolina representative for the Miss Teen USA in 2007 when she was required to answer why some Americans cannot locate their country on the world map.

In order to become a good role model one must have a brain and an attitude. When a celebrity could not intelligibly answer a question which is generally understood by the public, he or she may cause a confusion to the public and also criticism. Some even have the guts to critisize their own faith, while others show their ignorance and lack of knowledge in what they believe.

"Maybe I will wear headscarf someday." Or probably after performing Hajj. But in between those times there shouldn't be a problem for me to dress sexily. As a person practising Islam, I'd rather say  may she get the knowledge she needs about why a muslim wears the hijab.

In a world where everyone has the freedom to do whatever they want, the celebrities should not be stubborn by not accepting criticism and giving unintelligible answers.

Funny that sometimes local celebrities can become more ridiculous when they dress than their western counterpart. Maybe they should learn a thing or two about fashion. The first thing may have to do with shapes and sizes. Next, consider your age before picking the right dress.