Activities in My English Class

I've been doing informal class forums with my Lower Six students since last week. Today all the groups have presented the forums successfully. Each group consists of 4 students and they were asked to choose their topic of interest. They were given times to do research on the chosen topics and to prepare the structure of the forums. Overall, the students did very well in discussing the topics and the points made were well researched. They were nine groups with more or less different topics. The topics include social problems among teenagers, smoking and alcoholic drink, early marriage, natural disaster, endangered species and friendship. The aims of this forum is to encourage reading widely which in turns improves students' vocabulary and also to develop confidence in speaking in front of audience. I will include the students' discussion in the next post. To my students, I would like to say, well done and keep up the good work!

Today's Menu

Chicken Curry

Ingredients:

1 kg chicken, cut into small pieces

3 shallots

2 cloves garlics

ginger

lemon grass

1 tbs meat curry powder

1/2 tsp tumeric powder

4 tbs oyster sauce

1 tsp chicken stock

tomatoes

Methods:

Marinate chicken with oyster sauce for 15 minutes. Blend shallots, ginger, lemon grass and garlics. Fry the mixture in a wok, add in a mixture of curry and tumeric. Simmer for 3 minutes. Then add in the marinated chicken. leave it on the stove till cooked. Add in the chicken stock and tomatoes. Now it 's ready to be served.

My Thesis for Master in Language Education

I did a study for my master thesis with a supervisor, an associate professor, Dr Alan Chamberlain. It was very hard to complete the writing of the thesis, however, in 2005 I graduated at last.

The study was designed to investigate the oral production of students in Secondary English classes in the Tutong district of Negara Brunei Darussalam. In particular, it sought to determine what differences exist between the oral production of students in Form One and those in Form Four. It also sought to determine what motivates students to speak in secondary English classes and what prevents them from speaking. The sample consisted of 12 classes selected from 3 of the 4 secondary schools in the Tutong district; from each school, two Form One classes, one low ability, one high ability and two Form Four classes, one low ability, one high ability. Four instruments were used in the study; a questionnaire given to all students in the 12 classes; observations of 12 lessons in hte 12 classes; interviews with the 9 teachers involved; interviews with 3 students from each of the 12 classes. The results indicate firstly that little could be determined from the classroom observations because students were on no occasion given the opportunity to produce extended utterances. Teachers' questioning strategies compelled them to give short or single word answers to questions. Not a single student initiated discourse in the 12 lessons. Although the interviews indicated that the Form Four students did have better communicative skills than the Form One students, many of them had difficulty with the simple questions asked in the interview and they produced many errors. Student utterances in the English lesson were limited not only by the discourse pattern but also by the students' lack of self-confidence. In spite of the fact that they had been studying English for from 6 to 9 years, most of the students in hte sample were reluctant to speak English in front of their peers because of the peer of making mistakes.

Ellie's school day

Ellie, my 6-year-youngest daughter went to school yesterday after been sick for 3 days. When my hubby took her from school, he found that Ellie was crying. After investigation with one of her teachers in the school, it was found that she was scolded for colouring a banana with orange colour! I was not happy with how the teacher handled the small mistake that Ellie did. This morning she was not very happy to go to school. probably because of the event she experienced yesterday.

My Children

This picture was taken during a family vacation at Nexus Karambunai Resort in Kota Kinabalu. In the morning, Asyraf and my hubby cycled around the resort.
This was taken at one of the chalet at the resort. I love the greeny surrounding and the peaceful birdsongs in the morning.

My son Asyraf posing in my garden during Hari Raya, I'm not sure which year though.

My daughter Erah during K-rul's wedding. She was one of the flower girls at the reception. This picture was taken at the my sis in law's home.


My princess Erah looks beautiful in her new dress for the wedding

My lovely Ellie in her flower girl dress. She loves dressing up and looking beautiful.


Flower girl Ellie at Rizqun during the K-rul's wedding reception.

My children are my inspiration to succeed in life. They motivate me to work hard and achieve my goal in life. I hope I can provide them with everlasting love and wealth for them to live happily and successfully in life

My Garden

This is a flowering tree in my garden. At this time, the flowers are blooming beautifully but this tree does not bear flower often. However, when it produces flowers, it definitely brightens the garden

The grass was newly mown by my hubby yesterday.


The red lily in the garden gives colours to my backyard. I have different colour of lilies in the garden. There are white, pink, peach, red and orange lilies grown in the garden.

These are pictures taken this morning after I watered the plants. I seldom water them as I'm always busy with work and housework.


One of species of orchids in my garden. I like orchids but the only problem with this plant is they have to be fertilised often so that they can bear flowers all the time.


I include different kinds of lilies in the garden too.

This is one of the orchid species in my garden.

This tropical garden is created from time to time depending on moods. These pictures were taken last year and now some changes are made to the garden. Here are some pictures that I took this morning. The pictures are not very clear as I'm not good at photography. Anyway, they are real and taken from my garden.

Home sweet home

We moved into this house in January 2000