Aidil Adha

It was quite a hectic day for me having the 'Hari Raya Korban' this year... It was quite tiring and exciting at the same time..just like what i've imagine la, kalao seko lembu kena tumbang...but, it was fun coz my one big family was together... I thought ada jugak my siblings tak boleh balik because of the banjir...however we namaged to be together as a family.. however, i was quite sad at the same time sebab one of my brother didn't manage to come home...it was quite a long time he didn't come back home... but, he did call my mother to wish raya.

Talking about the heavy flood in Malaysia previously,.. don't you guys feel wierd becoz some places are heavily damaged....I think, this is the time where we need to think again what sin we've done...tuhan maybe nak bagi warning pada umatnya...one more thing, we need to think that we are moving closely towards the end of the world (kiamat)...mmg takut bila mengenangkannya..but, this is the fact.

So, moral of the story,...always remember to be prepared for anything because we don't know what's waiting for us in the future.

Traditional vs contemporary

Honestly, to compare between these two differnt works is quite hard for me as I didn't really have an experience in rading traditional YAL. However, as far as know, there are quite differences between these two. When I read 'Chinese Handcuffs' and 'Hero', they obviously try to picture the real situation or conflicts that arose among teenagers nowadays. In contrast, with the more traditional YAL, where they are more on imaginery adventure faced by teenagers those days. Moreover, the elaboration on the literary elements in the book is more complex where the writer uses more complicated language words and vocabulary and it is quite hard to analyze the material.

Contemporarily, the modern YAL is focusing more on the single protagonist with his/her own conflicts and issues. The other characteristics are only as the antagonists and most of them involve the protagonist's family member's, friends and the surroundings. Furthermore, there are more literary elements can be discussed such as the conflicts, issues, plot, setting, language style and many more. The language used is easily followed and understood by the students.

The way the writers write and elaborate each elements are also attracted readers to read more on the modern YAL. This is important to help learners gain interest in reading the YAL and make it as a habit. To have such a good way of expressing the feelings throughout writing YAL, is to think the way young adults think. And to think their way, we need to understand them.

Making discussion & writing real

To be a critical thinker for what I have read and clarify my thinking about a selection I am reading at the moment of time is not easy. We sometimes do not realize that what we think is not what we understand and what other people feel about it. Discussion with peers about what we have chosen and readwill help us a lot in understanding our feeling and thinking towards the reading material. Because, through the discussion, our friends can give their general reaction to their own understanding. We can together discuss or focus more on the theme, tone, conflict or any other literary elements and gain more understanding on the material. Through group discussion, it will also help me improve my conceptual understanding and critical thinking.

Other than group discussion, I can also respond my understanding on the materials through writing, scuh as journal. Through this informal way of writing, I can jot down my initial impressions and expectations or I can even sometimes make predictions before I can start my new reading. I can also write reflections after my reading. As we know, journal is a free form of informal, personal writing with no restrictions on spelling and mechanics. This is an advantage as it provides freedom and flexibility of revealing my personal reflections throughout my reading.

We can also allow our friend to read and react on it. Brief, supportive, nonjudgmental comments are the most effective approach for our understanding on the reading selection.

Sharing

Sharing what we've read with our peers and classmates is one of the best ways to enhance our understanding about the literature. We can either share with partners or a small group of members. Through small-group activity students can share their experience with the other group members and it can further their understanding of those experiences. It also provides students with the opportunity to encourage and support the efforts of each other as the students explore the ideas, concepts and experiences in their reading.
Through my own experience as a teacher, students prefer group activity more than individual tasks. This is because; they will feel more confident as they get support from other group members upon completing their tasks.
When the students are discussing about YAL in the group they can share their opinions about the book, the characters, the theme and even the overall understanding of the book. This can lead to their better understandings on the YAL.
Other than that, teachers can also use other approach to help students gain better understanding like having a learning partner. Sometimes having learning partners is more beneficial as they are closer to each other and they share many things together.
The students can share with each other their learning or serve as peer editors, discuss what they are reading, recommended book to each other, or develop creative projects together. The benefit of having this kind of activity is that the students can gain trust and an increase level of cooperation with each other. Other than that, they can have mutual responsibilities and needs; therefore, the level of commitment and involvement will be high.

Choosing YAL

Reading is not one of my favourite hobbies. However, recently, I realized that slowly I am moving into that habit. I don't know, may be one best reason that I can say is that I was forced to. Sometimes, forcing is quite a good trick for theachers to be used to encourage their students to do something. Like I said, I was forced to read the YAL at first, but now I am looking forward to get another YAL as a reading material.

In choosing the best materials, the most important thing that I look into is the author. For me, if the author is well known, of course, the writing is good. I will ask my friends' suggestion before choosing the book.

Another important characteristics is the theme and the storyline. My faourite the is investigation and of course love story. But, somtimes, to attarct young adult, the best theme is the one that reflects who they are in real life as young adults.

To know the brief storyline of the book, I love to read the synopsis. By reading it I can evaluate whether I like it or not. Choosing the best YAL material is important as it can reflect our interest into the reading habit.

My favourite K-12 teacher

Like I said before, i've never had any experience with any of literature teacher before. since i was in kindergarden until i finish my secondary school, i've never learnt literature. However, if I were to have one experience learning literature, what is the favourite characteristic my teacher should have?

First of all, I would like to have such an understanding teacher. What i meant by understanding is that the teacher knows how to tackle her students attention by choosing young adult literature taht reflects 'us' as young adults. For me it doesn't matter whether the teacher follows the syllabus or not as long as she can create a very interesting classroom environment. This is important as literature might not be liked by some learners (I'm reffering to me..).

Other than that, I would like the teacher who can encourage her students to read. She has to motivate the students by being a guide or coach for the students. This is because, a teacher is the best place for students to get information of any kind.

Range & Diversity

To have a unique country is quite an honourable experience for me as Malaysian. However, it is such a challenge for teachers to teach in a variety of studens in one classroom. Teaching literature with different range and cultural diversity of readers is another chaalange for teahcers. However, literature can sometimes helps teachers to be more creative in inventing a creative learning experience for students.

To face this kind of problem, first of all, the teacher need to get to know problems are faced by this different kind of readers. What are their favourite? How capable are they in reading? What are their concern? Or maybe what problems may occur around them? To tackle this kind of readers, teachers sometimes need to be like them. The teacher need to be someone who is really understanding and can motivate them to read and change it as a habit.

Sometimes there are students who have the ability to read, but they do not enjoy reading. There are students who love reading but they are not as capable as they are. And there are also students who are neither of the students who are able to read nor who love reading.

So, as a teacher, we need to provide a wide range of learning experience for this different kind of students.

Sharing my thoughts

What benefits can I gain by sharing what I have read with others? There are a lot of benefits that I get from it. Personally, by sharing what I know, I realized that I have understood better about literature. I learnt how to understand the plot or theme of the book, the role of protagonist and the antagonists and many more. The most important thing is that I can share with my other friends what problems usually occur among young adults. To me it is important for us as a teacher to understand their problem.

There are 3 phases of involving us or our students in reading YAL. They are initiating, internalizing and connecting. While sharing is the ongoing dimension of the phases. The most enjoyable way of sharing my thoughts was by telling my friends what I understand about the book. For example, why it is called ‘Chinese Handcuff’. Once we have read certain YAL, we can also try to relate the situation with ourselves, others and to the world around us.

Sometimes, by using the same YAL and the model of involvement, we can create a framework that is useful for a literature classroom. I feel that sharing is a powerful tool to enhance students’ ability in creative and critical thinking. The program in the classroom can be structured using a few approaches including elements of literature, genre, author, topic, issue and theme.

Reflection & Insights

Students can gain three-faceted knowledge in young adult literature that is knowledge of self, knowledge of others and knowledge of worldview. As the readers read the book, they can relate to characters, their life situation, their challenges and their successes. This is due to the fact that teenagers like to put themselves into other people’s shoe. For example, ‘Chinese Handcuffs’ is very interesting to read because of the story. The scenario was around high school. This book is interesting because most of the problems stated in it were problems arise around most of the teenagers. After reading YAL, readers may also gain a critical understanding of themselves.

When I was a teenager, I also faced some of the problems such as conflict in feelings and relationships among peers. As a teacher now, this book will also help me how to deal with this kind of problems with my students. The book also gives me some ideas on how to be a good teacher to a problematic student. This book can also be used as a teaching aid for them because they might like it as it reflects what they are in the real world.

Some YAL also allow students to read about cultures and customs that they might never experience directly. It allows them to imagine what it is like to be someone else. Like in ‘Ganesh’, they can learn about different culture in Hindu and other religion such as Christian. Other than that, the scenarios mentioned in this book also show how the protagonist tried to mix with new environment and friends.

All in all, the books that I have read really help me in understanding the young adults’ world and at the same time I can understand myself better.

The Lord of The Rings

Previously, I did mention that one of my favourite authors was Enid blyton. But that was during my early young adult. Today, I have read a few books from different authors. However, I don’t have one favourite author because when I choose a book to read, it doesn’t matter who writes the book. What matters more to me is the storyline. Many genres have been read by me such as romance ‘Five days in Paris by Danielle Steel’, thriller written by ‘Stephen King’ and fictions such as the famous sequel ‘The lord of The Rings by J.R.R Tolkien’.

I admit that sometimes people around me do influence a lot in choosing a story book. Usually, most of the books that I have read were suggested by my friends. For example one of the books that affected me a lot is The Lord of the Rings and it was suggested by one of my friends. Before I have interest to read the book, I did watch the movie first. But, my friend advised me to read the book because she said it will explain in greater detail every single scene that was not shown in the movie.

I was really attracted when first time I watched the first sequel of the movie. But then, I was again mesmerized when I read the book. The language that he uses, the way he elaborate every single scene was very amazing. But, what really gives a big impact to me was his creativity in imagining the storyline. Every single character, situation and even another language were created very detail. He can even imagine everything that does not exist in real world. Another thing that makes me more fascinated was when I discovered that he had an idea of writing this book by looking the word war II situation. I wish I have this kind of creativity to produce something wonderful like this. I can’t wait to watch another two sequel of the movie after reading the book. I want to see how it was transferred into a movie.

Why I feel that this book gives big impact to me? This is because, until today I was impressed with the way the author imagining the world through his own eyes. I love imagination. And I love creating my own storyline. But, I just hope one day I can be like J.R.R Tolkien who is able to put his imagination into a very wonderful story.

Enid Blyton

Talking about my favourite author or book, it is quite embarrassing for me as I am an English teacher because back when I was a little kid and until my early adolescent, I was not into reading habit. I was more interested in watching television. Maybe I am more into audio visual person. However, when I said I was not into reading habit, it didn’t mean that I never read any story books.

I used to read a few books written by Enid Blyton especially the collection of the secret seven books and also the famous five books. Enid Blyton is one of my favourite authors during that time because of the books he wrote. He is famous because all of his collection is about how teenagers tried to solve and investigate about a mystery. This is because; I like to read story books that the theme or genre is about crime and investigation.

What I really like about his books is not only the theme, but also the language that he uses. It is very easy for me to understand as he uses quite a simple English language. It is suitable for young adults like me at that time who were not into that reading habit yet. His works have affected me a lot because until today, when I want to find a story book, I will try to look for a book with the same theme that is crime and investigation. Even when I want to watch tv program, it should be related to the same theme.

Only lately I tried to switch my habit into different genre of story books. This is because I need to try to read a lot of different genre of young adult story books in order to understand the different conflict in young adults.

My view

First time I heard the word literature, it makes feel like “oh! I’m a dead meat”. Why?…When I was in primary school I really afraid of literature even Malay literature. I don’t know why I’m afraid of this literature thing. I imagined that literature is related to classic language used. So, it must be hard to learn. I will try to avoid taking literature as a subject. Luckily, during my school time English literature was not offered. Even now, I never had a chance to teach literature to my students. Lucky me because if I had to teach my students, I don’t know what should I do.

However, to complete my master, I have to go through this subject. In my first class, for the first two hours, I still have my bad impression of English literature. When my lecturer asked me what do I know about young adult literature (YAL), I was totally blank. But, when some of my friends gave their opinion on that question, I slowly understand what YAL is. Form that moment, I have understood that literature is not like what I imagined when I was in secondary school (classic language).

Now, I can say that what I understand about young adult literature is stories, novels, poetry or journals written from the point of view of young adults. When, Dr. Edwin gave us some storybooks about YAL and asked us to read them, I felt like, this is easy. It’s not as difficult as what I imagine before. After attending Dr. Edwin’s class last week, I think I’m halfway ready to teach YAL to my students. However, to ensure that I really ready for this task, I have to practice myself to be familiar with YAL and from this moment of time, I will try to read as many young adult literature as I could.

intro...

hi everyone,
i am just trying to post something to see my new blog before i start posting my work.
i'm still trying editing my blog to make it more interesting.