Justin Bieber cares…

For this tutorial, we were asked to find a song which has a message in it. Thus, my group has decided to choose the song entitled “Pray” by Justin Bieber.

Ohh Ohh Ohh .. and I pray
I just cant sleep tonight.
Knowing that things aint right.
Its in the papers, its on the tv, its everywhere that I go.
Children are crying.
Soldiers are dying
Some people don't have a home
But I know there's sunshine behind that rain
I know there's good times behind that pain, hey
Can you tell me how I can make a change
I close my eyes and I can see a better day
I close my eyes and pray
I close my eyes and I can see a better day
I close my eyes and pray
I lose my appetite, knowing kids starve tonight.
And when I sit up, cause my dinner is still on my plate.
Ooo I got a vision, to make a difference.
And its starting today.
Cause I know there's sunshine behind that rain
I know there's good times behind that pain, hey
Haven`t tell me how I can make a change
I close my eyes and I can see a better day
I close my eyes and pray
I close my eyes and I can see a better day
I close my eyes and pray
For the broken-hearted.

I pray for the life not started
I pray for all the ones not breathing.
I pray for all the souls in need.
I pray. Can you give em one today.
I just cant sleep tonight
Can someone tell how to make a change?
I close my eyes and I can see a better day
I close my eyes and pray
I close my eyes and I can see a better day
I close my eyes and I pray
I pray ..
I close my eyes and pray ..

            The message in this song is to have concern for the people that are not lucky as us. There are many people who suffer from hard life. For example, in the song there are people who are homeless and children who are hungry all the time. Although we face many difficulties in life, it is important not to give hope. One way of keeping our hope intact with us is through pray. We must pray to God as He will help and guide us in the time of hard life

            This song is suitable for teaching moral values in class. Teacher can use this song to create awareness on people that suffers hard life. Not only that, this song can be used so that students will be closer to God by praying. Every religion in this world prays to God. God is the one and only that can help us and giving us hope.

            As a lesson, we should not take granted of the things that we have. We must know that there are people who are not as fortunate as us. Even though we are not facing problems, we still have to pray to God. Nowadays, people often forget God as they have all the things they want. We must realize that all things come from God and He can take it in blink eye time.

Winston Churchill & Adolf Hitler: Similarities in their speech.

Winston Churchill is well-known in British region while Adolf Hitler is well-known in Germany. Both have different background but when looking at their respected speech, we can see similarities.

             First and foremost, both Churchill and Hitler are very persuasive and confident. Early in their speech, both of them used pronoun ‘I’ to show superiority. We can clearly see that both of them try to get control of the power so that their speech would be effective. Later in the speech, they used the pronoun ‘we’ as to persuade the people to unity. For example, in Hitler’s speech,” we are now standing on this continent and from where we stand nobody will be able to remove us again.” When they talk about ‘we’, it shows that they care for the people despite their dictatorship. Confident in the sense of they do not have any fillers in the speech. If they used ‘umm’ or ‘ahh’, their speech will be condemned by the people as it show no confidence.

Besides that, both leaders speech condemned their enemies in order to show power and superiority. Churchill in his speech condemns Belgium and France army for not having the proper strength like his soldiers. While Hitler condemns England saying that residents of England are nothing despite the fact that England is a big country. Condemning others can motivate the spirits of people who are listening. When hearing about other weaknesses, people will feel superior and powerful. Not only that, both Churchill and Hitler will have the people’s trust and support which are very important in a war campaign.

In the nutshell, both leaders are expert in their own speech. They make use the element of persuasive in order to gain people’s trust and support. As a teacher-to-be, being persuasive is important so that students are eager to learn. If a teacher is not able to show confidence and power, he or she can never control the class and this can be disastrous. Students will look down on the teacher and neglected the importance of education. Thus, the traits showed by Winston Churchill and Adolf Hitler should be a good example for teachers. 

Animal Farm The Animated: It is all about PIGS!

This animation is based on the story “Animal Farm” by George Orwell. It is about animals that overthrown human in a farm named Manor Farm.

The story starts with Old Major giving a speech about upcoming rebellion and how animals will unite and rule the world. Here, we can see that Old Major acts as a revolutionist. His speeches that touch on animal equality motivate other animals in the farm. Old Major’s legacy is continued by Snowball and Napoleon. When Mr. Jones ill-treated the animal, Snowball leads a rebellion and throws Mr. Jones out of the farm. After that, the reign of animals begins and seven commandments of Animal Farm are created. However, the lust for power of Napoleon brings bad things to the farm. He overthrown Snowball and started a reign of iron claw. He violated all the commandments so that he has the ultimate reign over the animals. After a certain period, all the animals think that Napoleon has crosses the line of tyranny too far and decided to overthrown Napoleon

The main issue that I want to discuss is that the portrayal of human’s nature in the form of pigs. Firstly is Old Major, the revolutionist. In this world, there are many people who acts as revolutionist and initiate the changes of world order. Revolution brings evolution. Whether it is bad or good, it depends on us. Next character is Snowball. He can be considered a leader of democracy. He leads the rebellion and then unites the animals under the seven commandments. One of the commandments is “All animals are equal”. Here, we can clearly see that Snowball tries to unite the animal under the provision of democracy. Lastly is the portrayal of human’s ugly nature through Napoleon. Napoleon is what a human shouldn’t be. He is greed, selfish, full of lust for power and cruel. For him, all the animals should serve him. He rules with tyranny and cruelty.

    In conclusion, we have to act positive so that good will triumph over evil. We must not let greed and lust control us because it will bring many bad things. We don’t want to end up like Mr. Jones or Napoleon.  Human’s true nature is truly ugly but we have to live with it. How good or bad a person is depending on himself.

Mona Lisa Smile

This is the third movie about teacher prepared by our beloved Dr.Jaya. The movie is about a teacher named Katherine who teaches in an all-girl school. The school mission’s is to provide education for women and prepare them to be housewife. However, Katherine sees that women’s role is more than just being a housewife.

            Firstly, I want to look the movie as entertainment value. By casting well-known actresses like Julia Robert and Kirsten Dunst, this movie is likely to have a high value as entertainment. However, the movie is not as interesting as I expected. Throughout the movie, I can only see the sense of feminism and that is kind of boring. Talking about the movie’s strong point, I really salute the way Katherine is portrays as a masculine figure in defending the role of women.

            As a teacher-to-be, this movie really affects me in many ways. Firstly, teacher is a medium of changes. The way a teacher teaches and talk can somehow change the behavior of students. Just like in the movie, Katherine’s message in expanding the role of women in society has been implemented in her students’ heart. This is what I ought to be as a teacher in the future. I should mould my students so that they will be useful to the society and country.

            I could not connect the traits of Katherine to any teacher that had taught me. It is because, all of my teachers portray Katherine. All of them are great teachers which change my life to a better side. Because of them, I am here in UPM taking degree in TESL. I will continue their legacy in producing a promising future generations.

             One important lesson that I learn from this movie is that determination is a key to success. In the movie “Mona Lisa Smile”, Katherine is very determine in changing her students’ perception that a woman role is to be beside her husband only. This is what I want to have in myself as a great teacher; determination in teaching the future generation so that they will have a bright future.

Everything’s Arranged and A Question of Dowry

In the past, dowry is used as insurance for the bride if anything bad is to happen to the bridegroom. However, the concept of dowry has drift from its real purpose. Looking at the short stories “Everything’s Arranged” and “A Question of Dowry”, we can clearly state that dowry is not fairly treated in both stories.

Firstly, we look at the story “Everything’s Arranged”. In this story, the dowry acts as a bribe for the bridegroom’s family. This happens when Rukumani is rumored to have an affair with Johnny, a Chinese boy. In order to shut the rumor and continue with the marriage, Rukumani’s father increased the dowry from $10,000 to $20,000. Thus, we can see that the concept of dowry is not fairly treated.

Next story is “A Question of Dowry”. In this story, the dowry is a requirement in having marriage. If a bride’s family cannot prepare the requested dowry, the marriage will be cancelled. The wedding between Sivasothie and Thiruchelvam is cancelled due to the inability of Mr.Ramachandran’s family to fulfill the dowry requested. This happens because Mr.Ramachandran has no more land to sell for buying a gold necklace as a dowry. When Thiruchelvam heard of this matter, he immediately cancels the wedding.

In conclusion, dowry is not fairly treated in both short stories. In”Everything’s Arranged”, it acts as a bribe while in “A Question of Dowry” it acts as a compulsory fulfillment of marriage. The concept of dowry must be follow its true meaning so that married couple can live happily ever after.

A Great Injustice and The Merry Maid

Nowadays, we always hear and see news on abortion and disposal of babies. It is an eyesore to watch this scenario happens in our own country. Looking at the short stories “A Great Injustice” and “The Merry Maid”, our group has decided to stand on the motion “Abortion is not the only solution for having child out of wedlock”.

First and foremost, unmarried couple can get from their own family to help raise the child out of wedlock. As we know, no one knows us better other than our own family. In the story A Great Injustice, we can see that Ah Nya’s mother defend her after she speaks of the truth,”Shut up! ordered Ah Soh, hugging her daughter. Everyone makes mistakes. What’s done is done. You men always say that you should have sexual experience before marriage but who are your mates? They are also someone else’s daughters. It is just unfortunate that Ah Nya has become the victim of a man’s lust.”. Not only that, Ah Nya’s mother is willing to accept and take care of her child. This can be seen by the lines,”I’ll look after you and the baby, said her mother”.

Secondly, unmarried couples can give the child out of wedlock for adoption. In this world, there are many married couples that do not have children of their own. Because of this, many married couples feel lonely. One solution that they take is adopting children for them to take care. This is a good thing for unmarried couples that do not want the child out of wedlock. Just like in the story The Merry Maid, Laksmi gives away her daughter to a Malay family. This can be seen by the lines, “Her thoughts raced to the seventeen years of misery she has had while thinking of the event in her life that tortured her. She had abandoned the child, her ‘love child’, on the doorstep of the big house that she had selected during the later stages of her pregnancy”.

In the nutshell, there are many other ways in dealing with child out of wedlock rather than abortion. Not only abortion is forbid by the religion, it also denies the humanity values of human being.

Lean On Me

This is the second movie which Dr.Jaya prepares for us to watch. This movie is about a principal named Clark who wants to turn a school full of delinquents into a much more disciplined school. His mission is to make the students pass the state examination.

Just like other movies, “Lean On Me” has the value of entertainment. From the beginning, the movie gives the audience a lot of excitement as there are many scenes that are interesting. There are many scenes that give the sense of suspense. For example, whether the delinquents will attack Principal Clark for dropping them from school and whether the students will pass the state examination. However, the movie “Lean On Me” gives us more value as education rather than entertainment.

Just like the previous movie, “Lean On Me” also affect me a teacher-to-be. It is because I cannot expect what type of school and students I will be facing. I might end up in cluster school where the students are much more discipline or end up in a school full of delinquents. This movie teaches me on how to cope with students that have problems. As a B.Ed.TESL student, I ought to learn all these skills in order to cope with problematic students.

Principal Clark reminds me of my former principal in SBP Integrasi Pekan. His name is Mr. Abbas. Just like Pricipal Clark, he is very strict and rigid about the school’s rule. Rather than being afraid of him, I respect him very much. He might be strict, but he is not cruel. If a student has problems with self discipline, he will call the students to his office and have a private talk. Mr.Abbas is not a dictator like Principal Clark. In the movie, Principal Clark holds the power and no one in the school can deny his orders. For me, it is essential to have a power over everyone if the school is full with delinquents.

One of the lessons that I learn from the movie “Lean On Me” is that people can change if we use the right way. In this statement, the people are referring to the problematic students. In the movie, we can see that Principal Clark used many ways in order to change the behavior of the students. He instills sufficient education for the students so that they will change accordingly to his expectation. Although at first Principal Clark rule with iron claw, he also slowly changes in order to adapt with the students’ transformation.  

First Movie: Akeelah and The Bee

In becoming teacher, there are many things I ought to learn. One of the effective ways to learn is through movies. There are many movies that show the characteristics of a good teacher. The movie “Akeelah and The Bee” is one of the movies that show how to be a great teacher.

When we are talking about entertainment value, of course movies are made to entertain people. “Akeelah and The Bee” has the sense of entertainment. When I was watching the movies, there were scenes that capture my interest. For example, I am impressed with Akeelah’s instructor as he used methods that are not normal in memorizing words; there is a scene when he asked Akeelah to memorize words through skipping. However, I can say that “Akeelah and The Bee” gives more than just entertainment to me. It gives me a good lesson in becoming a teacher.

 The movie really affects me as a B.Ed.Tesl student. “Akeelah and The Bee” shows me the determination of a teacher in preparing his student for a competition. As a teacher, I cannot easily give up my students. If I fail, I ought to find another way to make my lesson successful.

Dr.Larabee in the movie reminds me of my teacher when I was in lower secondary school. The name of the teacher is Miss Sabrina. I salute her because she never gives up in teaching us students of the rural area. We were not proficient in English but that did not stop her from giving all her best in making us to understand English language. Just like Dr.Larabee, she always came up with interesting lesson. Her lesson is so interesting that it made us more profound to learn English. And right now, I am learning to be an English teacher.

One lesson that really touches my heart from the movie “Akeelah and The Bee” is that students have potential in themselves that we teachers always overlook. In the movie, Dr.Larabee initiates the true potential of Akeelah as a great spelling bee competitor. For that, he used many ways in preparing Akeelah for the national championship. For me, Dr.Larabee is my inspiration. When I become teacher, I will not underestimate my students’ potential even they are students from rural or poor area. I will try my best in order to produce great students.