Technology in Rural Areas

I was hunting for something on computer education and computer in education (yeah, both are different). Guess what? I found an interesting and touching video clip related to the subject that I was looking for. Check it out:

Keep watching and be amazed at how students in the interior could gain access to IT technology despite being inferior in terms of infrastructure. I'm still deeply touched to see how curious the villagers - adults and children - were as they congregated and watched in awe the animation on the LCD monitor. They were probably learning the Nepalise alphabet system judging by the animations that are visible. Inside the wooden classroom, students can be seen tapping on the keyboards learning to type, I presume.

The school environment reminds me of my 3-year stint in the interiors in Sarawak (click to learn more about it), East Malaysia. The Nepalese students, however, are luckier as the school has solar panels to provide electricity while the school in which I taught had nothing. I practically lived there in candlelight daily. There's even networking for Internet access in the Nepalese school.

Gee... good for the Nepalese.

The Writing Problem

Darn... it's so difficult to teach students essay writing. In this trimester, students are learning three types of essays - argumentative, cause or effect and compare or contrast.

There are numerous websites that provide notes and samples for all the three types, but none catered to the requirement set by our English course. For example, we don't teach compare and contrast, but compare OR contrast which suits students at foundation level. I end up integrating notes from a few websites. Looking for notes can be a tedious process as some websites are not credible, and as instructors, we need to provide materials from reliable sources.

Today's compare or contrast essay focuses on the differences between living in the village and living in the city.

The first thing I did was to get them to discuss with their friends to come up with three topic sentences related to the essay title. Here's what I did (in sequence):

• explain the difference between compare & contrast
• explain the two methods - block and point-by-point
• provide handout for each student - a sample of the outline and the contents
• go through the handout - explain each part
• give students the essay title, get them to work with their friend and come up with 3 differences
• discussion time: what are the 3 differences? what are the supporting details?
  
• provide a sample introduction
  

I strongly believe that by starting with the topic sentences first, it allows students to prepare the main content and the thesis statements better. As I was supervising students during discussion time, I noticed there was a bit improvement in organising the topic sentences - they're all numbered 1,2,3. This is far better than what they used to do - making a list and not knowing which is the topic sentence, which is the supporting detail!

When I wrote the sample of the introduction on the whiteboard, some students copied it in their book. There is some kind of learning process when they do that - at least I know that they'll read and that my effort is not wasted.

The only major problem I have with most of them is their GRAMMAR proficiency. Sigh...have to find a way to solve this problem before the final exam.

Multilingual

Dear Students

Ever wondered how important it is to learn different languages? Watch this video.



So, what do you think? :-)

Effective Presentation

Dear Students

Throughout your study here, there will be times when you have to present whether as an individual, or as part of the group. Prior to your presentation, it is always a good practise to be well prepared for that BIG DAY so that you will not have butterflies in your stomach, and so that your audience understands what you are saying. I'm giving you some tips on effective presentation, with special focus on preparations for the presentation.

Firstly, narrow your topic.

e.g.: The Effects of Television on Our Health

Do not choose broad topics like:

e.g.: About Television

The reason is, when you have a broad topic, you tend to go astray and end up confusing yourself.

Secondly, be prepared

If you don't know how to swim, but still want to jump into the pool, what could happen to you? You will still survive if you are lucky, but it's most likely that you'll have lots of difficulty swimming. Why? That's because learning to swim consists of certain stages that you need to learn. Presentation works the same way. Before you present, you have to learn about the topic that you will be presenting. Don't jump into the topic straight away without doing extensive research on the topic. Besides doing research, you also need to practise aloud either on your own or with a friend. Practise not once or twice, but a few times till you feel comfortable presenting without much hesitation.

Thirdly, have an outline.

Make sure that once you have the reading materials ready, take note of the important points that are related to the topic. Write down the points and see if you are able to elaborate. If you can't, then go through the reading material again and make sure you understand the contents. DO NOT memorize. If you do that, you will be embarrassed when you suddenly forget what the next sentence is. UNDERSTANDING is more important than memorizing like a parrot.

Good luck in your presentations.

Thank you for your invitation

Dear Kevin,
Thank you for inviting me as a member and for sharing that great ocean of knowledge of yours. This is my first time blogging. I hope it'll get through and this will be THE beginning of my journey with bloggers all around. Thank you for the opportunity! God bless!
Pat

Useful Advice

Dear Students,

This is the second week of the trimester. One of the important subjects that you need to learn is English. Many students have asked me how to improve their command of the language; I've told them the same thing over and over again.

Please click on "How to Learn English" to get some tips on how to be good in the language. Then go to English At Home to check out some additional notes on various English rules.

Ok good luck

A Trip to Penang

Dear Students,

Well, this is specially for the Intensive English Language Programme (IELP) students but Alpha students are most welcome to write something here to share your excursion experiences .

After so much of resistance and challenges, the trip to Penang will be carried out as planned from 14-17 April 2006. You will be staying at Bayu Emas Apartment in Batu Feringghi. This trip will be an educational but fun trip. It is a way of giving students a chance to get out of MMU for a while and go to a place where they do not have much chance of going on their own. The amount that you are paying is very low - RM100 only inclusive of BBQ dinner, accommodation and transportation. So, students who have not paid should pay up as quickly as possible. We have 120 seats only. Hurry!

What will you be doing in Penang? Sight-seeing, beach games and shopping. Hope we have time to go to Penang Hill so you can experience sitting on a funicular train to the top of the hill. The committee has also included language games / presentation which will be held at night. Prizes will be given to winners for the games and presentation. When you come back to MMU, please fill out the Travel Journal and hand in to your lecturers.

Some good advice

Bill Gates recently gave a speech at a High School about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the Real world.

• Rule 1 Life is not fair - get used to it!
  

• Rule 2 The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

• Rule 3 You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

• Rule 4 If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.
  

• Rule 5 Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.

• Rule 6 If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

• Rule 7 Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

• Rule 8 Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

• Rule 9 Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.

• Rule 10 Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs

• Rule 11 Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

If you can read this - Thank a teacher!