Traditional Literature

27th July 2010 (Tuesday)


Today we talked about Traditional literature. Today I know more about traditional literature. I learned that traditional literature is a genre which includes poems, songs, riddles, etc, that have been passed down orally from one generation to another generation. It is hard to know the source of the traditional literature, especially who the authors are. The forms of traditional literature can be categorized into three, i.e. religious/cultural literature, folklore and folktales. However some do overlap.
There are many traditional literary works that we might familiar with, or sometimes we don’t even know. These arts should not been forgotten, have to be treasured, as it is actually important to us. These traditional literary works reflect the history of literature that we are having today.

Mona Lisa’s Smile

22nd July 2010 (Thursday)

Mona Lisa’s Smile was the first movie that we watched for the EDU 3234 course. This movie really attracts me as the main character was Julia Roberts, and I know that she do well in every characters she took.
Today, we watched the first movie of EDU3234. In Dr Jayakaran’s class, it is sort of a custom to watch inspiring movies about teaching. Each movie lie hidden messages about what makes a great teacher, who does not only educate but also inspires. The movie we had watched was “Mona Lisa’s Smile”, starring Julia Roberts, Kirsten Dunst, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Julia Stiles.
Set in the year of 1953, Mona Lisa Smile tells the story of Katherine Watson (Julia Roberts), a new young art history professor at Wellesley College, an all-female campus with a prestigious reputation for academic excellence. Unfortunately for free-minded Berkeley grad Watson, her East Coast teaching stint comes during a less-progressive time that finds most of her students -- among them Betty Warren (Kirsten_Dunst), Joan Brandwyn (Julia_Stiles), and Giselle Levy (Maggie_Gyllenhaal) -- more interested in nabbing a good husband than achieving scholastic and intellectual growth. Watson challenges her students and the Wellesley faculty to think outside of the current mores of the community and redefine what it means to be a success; meanwhile, she tries to come to terms with her own heart's desires.

How the movie does affect me?
From the movie I learned that teachers has to be ready for any circumstances that they might face, even the students might be ready more from the teacher in the classroom. Besides, teachers shouldn’t be afraid and also shouldn’t let the students know this fear in teacher. Teachers have to stand firm and be respected by the students always. Teachers also have to be good in showing the students what lies behind their door of life, means that some students may think conservatively about certain things, and the teachers should guide them to think out of the box, and show them how to be more open minded. Good teacher can inspire the students to pursue their dreams.

Pameran Rekacipta, Penyelidikan dan Inovesi (PRPI)

Pameran Rekacipta, Penyelidikan dan Inovesi (PRPI)
20th July 2010 (Tuesday)
Today we had to go for an educational visit to an exhibition, “Pameran Rekacipta, Penyelidikan dan Inovasi” (PRPI).
Throughout the visit, we were exposed to different products of researches from science creation to agriculture. There are a lot of new things we could learn there and the best thing is, we could ask questions to the experts! My friends and I took this opportunity to ask on how the experts do their research and about some skills that they are expert in. I think this could hehp for our EDU 3234: READINGS & PROJECT WORK FOR TEACHING LITERATURE IN ESL CONTEXT.

Saieen Zahoor ‘s “Toomba” and Lady Gaga’s “Alejandro”

The class of EDU 3234 was started with unexpected thing… Dr. Jaya let us to listen to two songs, entitled “Toomba” by Saieen Zahoor and “Alejandro” by Lady Gaga. Dr. Jaya said, listening to songs can be one way to understand literature. People can project their ideas in songs through the lyrics, melody, or even the portrayal of the people in certain video clip.
For example in the song “Toomba”, even we don’t understand the language that has being used; we can feel something from listening to the song. The nice melody could make us feel cal, undisturbed. However, despite I am used to listen to the “Alejandro” song and understand the lyric literary that was the first time I watched the video clip. At first I was uneasy to watch the clip, but through the clip and with the help of Dr. Jaya, I understand what the underlying meaning of the song.

I Am Going To Start Now...

Yes! I am just going to start my journal… even it has been quite too late, I think it is better to start now than never… he he… This is another blog for my academic purpose which my lecturer ask us to write for the EDU 3234 course. Thus, for the few post after this will be the post where I am going to review what we have missed since the course had started… Have a nice time reading… ^_^