English Fever

this is a very interesting paper written by the Father of SLA, i.e., Stephen Krashen. it opens the discussion on what its meant by English Fever- the overwhelming desire to
(1) acquire English;
(2) ensure that one's children acquire English, as a second or foreign language.

in the world nowadays, English has becoming more and more important. this is very obvious given the fact that almost everything in the Internet is in English. a research by Garfield (1998) found that 95% of the articles cited in the Science Citation Index were written in English, whereas, in the year before it's about 83%. This increase is not due to more work being done by scholars in English-speaking countries; the contributions of scholars from non-English speaking countries are substantial and increasing. It is due to more scholars from non-English speaking countries publishing in English.
a more hardcore evidence- The Pasteur Institute in Paris changed the language of its journal from French to English. The editors explained that in 1973 only about 15% of articles submitted to the journal were in English, but in 1987 100% were.

Krashen then discuss the two types of language acquisition, as what Cummins (2000)* refers as BICS and CALP. Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skills or BICS refers to the basic conversational skills that we use in our everyday lives to communicate, while Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency or CALP, refers to the academic language discourse such as in scientific terms and so forth.

Krashen also discuss in brief how learning English has becoming an obsession in Taiwan where the children will be sent to cramp school at a very young age just to learn English.

He then discuss a few issues related to this-
1) comprehensible input
he asserts that "We acquire language when we receive comprehensible input in a low anxiety
situation, that is, when we understand what people say to us and when we understand what we read." thus, acquiring a language is NOT by learning about language, nor by study of the rules nor by memorizing vocabulary.

2) The importance of recreational reading
"Free voluntary reading is an extremely powerful form of comprehensible input, and it is delivered in a low-anxiety environment. Those who participate in free reading programs in school make superior gains in reading, vocabulary, grammar, and writing (Krashen, 1993, 2002)."

3) Younger is not faster
adults, with substantial comprehensible input, can acquire a second language faster than young children, but in a long run, those who start learning the second language earlier will have have the potential of achieving native-like proficiency.

4) The development of a good accent
i think this is closely related to the fact that we just need to fake the accent to gain acceptance into a group. like, u wanna be posh and elegance? talk like Posh Beckham. Krashen noted that accent may be a result of a reluctance, or wanting, to talk in a certain way, not a lack of competence.

5) The role of the first language
the first language can accelerate second language acquisition. education in the first language supplies background knowledge, which can help make input in the second language more comprehensible. Second, providing literacy in the first language is a short cut to second language literacy: applying the rules to learning the second language.

Krashen then made some suggestions based on this hypotheses- which i will add later tonight.

i will also try to relate this paper to our very own language policies in Malaysia.

*this paper will be discussed in depth later when i come to it in my next entries.

kisah sedey seorang graduan

have u ever wish for a McD burger, but have to hold ur desire simply because u dont have enough money for it?

i've been there. many times when i was an undergrad. i remember those days when i had to hold my desire, and ate modestly.

and now that im working, i have nothing to stop me from having whatever i want. (well, except when i think that i need to cut on fat and fast food).

but now im back being a student- postgrad student at UiTM. and guess what...i had to hold my desire on the weekend when i was in Shah Alam. i was broke. i had no money except for petrol and toll, and very little for meals.

and i was looking at McD's ad hopelessly.

"no burger for me this time"

thats what i said to myself.

thanks to Naz who belanja me dinner on Friday night at Pak Li in Section 7.

now that im working and study, i have to put more important things as my priorities. i know that i have to put aside money for my studies, books and travels, therefore i need to put aside all my desires for the unimportant things. unlike last time when i can ask my dad if i run outta money, i cant do that anymore. im now a working adult- i have to be responsible for myself.

Lunch-up

what the fuck!!

i had lunch for RM7.30. and it was all sayur tauge masak lemak and ikan goreng cili. plus iced tea.

ni ler rupanya lunch aku yg berharga RM7.30.

bile aku tanye brape harga ikan tu...its RM4.00. ikan tenggiri katanye. masyallah...kalau kat KL aku percaya la dia nak charge aku byk tu.

really its getting ridiculous here in Pekan. last week i was charged RM1.80 for a glass of iced Nescafe. aku tau la harga gula naik 20sen, tp takde la dia taruk sekilo gula dlm drinks tu. cibai tul!! aku rasa mmg org Pekan ni ingat org yg pakai kereta plate KL ni kaya raya. hello, aku ni cikgu je. gaji ada la seciput. tak padan langsung nak ajar anak ko yg tak pandai2 tu.

bagai lembu ditarik hidung

happy cow

maybe la perumpamaan tu tak sesuai untuk konteks cerita aku ni, tp students aku mmg mcm lembu. kalau ditarik, baru la bergerak.

first incident:

satu hari, gurunya memberikan perkataan untuk dicari maksudnya. syarat cikgu tu- meanings in english only, or in simpler words- no translation. sesudah diberikan masa beberapa hari, cikgu tu pun check la buku budak2 ni.

Nazrul (bukan nama penuh) adalah seorang pelajar yang baik. di dalam kelas, dia diam. dia jarang menimbulkan masalah kepada gurunya. walau bagaimanapun, diam Nazrul bukanlah diam ubi...diam ubi berisi. diam Nazrul kosong- macamana kosongnya ruangan jawapan untuk latihan yang diberikan.

Sebagai guru yang baik dan berdekasi, Mr K menasihati Nazrul untuk berusaha menyiapkan kerja tersebut. keesokkannya, Mr K pun bawa la Colour Oxford Dictionary & Thesaurus edisi 2008 untuk Nazrul gunakan.

al kisahnya...macamana Mr K letak kamus tu atas meja dia, macam tu ler kamus tu dibiarkan- tidak disentuh. Apa perlu Mr K rebus kamus itu untuk dia minum? or perhaps, inject the air rebusan kamus tu straight into his veins, or maybe into his brain could be better?

incident 2:

selepas cikgu mengajar, dia pun kasi la written work for the students. maka ditulis la atas whiteboard. again, sebagai guru yang berdedikasi, Mr K menerangkan macamana nak tackle such questions.

al kisahnya pelajar-pelajarnya hanya mendengar, ternganga tanpa mengambil nota, mahupun menyalin soalan-soalan itu.

apa perlu cikgu itu menulis soalan-soalan itu ke dalam buku pelajar-pelajarnya? mungkin, adalah lebih baik, cikgu tu pahat soalan-soalan itu di dahi mereka, maka tidak akan luput di ingatan mereka?

.....................................

mungkin, bagai kayu dan pemahat, sekali ketuk, sekali bergerak adalah proverb yang sesuai untuk mereka.

wallahu'alam.

lembu

ok, let me confess here. i am an English teacher at a school not too far from Kuantan.

sbb aku cerita keje aku ini adalah...aku nak bercerita pasal anak murid aku.

as usual, awal tahun camni biasanya kami akan ajar literature dulu. nak habiskan baca kasi budak2 paham dulu cerita tu sblm masuk lit elements like themes, moral values, etc. so mcm biasa la, aku suruh budak2 tulis words they learn from the story, but as they are already in form 2, aku suruh tulis meaning in English. masing2 terkial-kial la nak cari maksud perkataan semua tu sbb masing2 dok pakai Fajar English-BM dictionary. so aku dgn baik hati pagi ni aku bawa la Oxford English Dictionary aku ke kelas and lend it to a boy.

ok, forgive my vulgarity here-

mmg dasar menatang!! lembu kena tarik hidung baru nak bergerak. aku dah kasi kamus tu leh lak dia biar je bende tu atas meja dia tanpa dia mencari maksud perkataan yg aku bagi tu!! sakit btol jiwa aku. rasa nak je terajang sekor2. biar la jantan ke betina. masing2 dok harap cikgu je suruh buat itu ini.

all this makes me feel very tired. dah form 2 tp mcm budak tadika. mesti masa mak dia ngandungkan dia mak dia suka makan lembu. sbb tu anak dia pun mcm lembu..kena tarik baru nak bergerak.

the night before

its the night before the first day of school. i managed to complete the scheme of work for 2010 in a day. please, dont hold ur breath. after a year, i've learnt the trick- just mix&match from books. am i not brilliant? hahhaaa

anyway, just a question-

adakah tanda-tanda penuaan termasuk e-dating adik2?

today

i woke up around 7 AM this morning, thinking what i should do. while thinking, i sang songs and quite sure i managed to annoy my sleeping housemates. hehhee

then i went to the town to get my hideous baju for Pengurus Teknik Sukan PPD Pekan which written 1Malaysia- Bertanding untuk Menang at the back of the shoulder. i sent the shirt for alteration. but bloody hell...that Ah Soh charged me RM15 just to make the shirt a size smaller. she even refused to cut the sleeves short as that will ruin the sleeves.

then i went to EngHong to have lunch- Nasi Ayam. Then went to Masjid As-Syakirin for Friday prayer. The Imam asked a rethoric question- 'yang manakah lebih zalim- membuang anak ke dalam tong sampah, atau membuang anak ke neraka?' among others he mentioned about how parents misleadingly teach their children un-Islamic ways and thus 'mencampakkan anak itu ke neraka'. what do u think?

nevertheless, after the prayer i went back to take a nap then off to Kuantan. went to Fendi's neighbour's engagement dinner, then to his cousin's majlis akad nikah.

then, over there near Taman Gelora something peculiar happened- air pasang. it was kinda scary for me as the water went up outta nowhere. i know the sea is just nearby, but as an orang gunung, this was my first experience tidal at someone's front yard!!

however, it was a good observation as i did not only observe the tidal, but someone cute too. OMG, i talked to the father. he knows everything about England and rugby. he speaks Queen's English too. im impressed ;)