Throughout The Course

Throughout The Course


Throughout this course, I think that I did not acquire that much physically, because some of the plays were quite difficult especially the ones by Shakespeare. Spiritually, I felt that I had gained more, because the difficulties in learning the plays made me realized that it is not easy to understand if we don’t give a full heart to the subject.

This had made me more willing to improve myself for other possible difficult courses in the future. This course had thought me quite a lot because I never thought that learning the language of drama can be taught in such a diverse way.

If there is to be another course like this, I will only take it if I am obliged to. I really did not have the push to learn this course seriously, beside the urge for me to acquire knowledge for my future use. But I think that’s quite good for me to finish the course.

As I mentioned in my first blog, drama was not really my “thing” and I would not prefer this in any part of my life. Whether I like it or not, I must face the fact that I will have to teach this to my students, some day.



Mohammad Faisal bin Ismail
144520
Group 21

Pre & While Reading

After the set induction, the next stages of a lesson also as important. The pre reading acts as an introduction for the lesson. In this stage, surfaces of the lesson will be exposed to the students in order to give them a hint of the bigger things coming.

Next, comes the while reading stage. During this stage, the students are being brought to another level where they are being given a lot more of input on the lesson. This is a very important period because this is where the students get the real materials to fit in their brains.

As a future teacher, both these stages are very important to me. They are twice as important to me as to learn them. These are going to be my tools for the future, thus making them a vital knowledge for me to acquire in my studying years. Both these stages are no small matter that can be fooled around with.

In my simulated teaching, I did some quite simple Pre-reading and While-reading stages because I did not want to do the more complicated ones. For me, simpler lessons can attract more attention from the students and give more understanding to the students. In a classroom, whether the teacher presents a magnificent teaching or not is not the main point but what matters the most is what the students get from the lesson.



Mohammad Faisal bin Ismail
144520
Group 21

Kee Thuan Chye

Writing this blog is a disappointment for me because I cannot make it to the meeting with Kee Thuan Chye. It was not my will to not go because I was infected by measles for the whole week. I did try to force myself to get up and go but I thought if I go, it will not be good for my health. So I decided to take a rest in my room.

Although I did not go for the meeting with Kee Thuan Chye, I already knew about him because I read some of his work, such as “Petals of Hibiscus” and “The Swordfish, Then The Concubine” in my previous courses. What I knew from his writings, he has a very intelligent and sharp point of view, especially on the local political scenes.

Then, I got a hold on the story about the meeting told by e friend of mine. I felt quite frustrated because the meeting sounds like so interesting. Kee Thuan Chye is pictured as a very humorous person in the meeting that day. I can see that in the sitcom “Kopitiam” that he starred in a few years ago.

This dominant writer with a very sharp mind can be a good example of those who dream of becoming writers. From his characteristics, I can see that a good writer must be very critical of his environment, and one must be able to think differently from others around him – and these traits can be seen in Kee Thuan Chye.


Mohammad Faisal bin Ismail
144520
Group 21

Set Induction

A set induction is a very vital component in an English Class. From the set induction, a teacher can lure the students towards the lesson and make the lesson a more meaningful one. Without a good set induction, a lesson may not be as interesting and comprehensible for the students.

Being exposed to set induction during the first semester in UPM, in this semester and onwards, we are going to perform more micro- teaching and simulated teaching in our classes. For the course “Teaching the Language of Drama” this semester, I already did my simulated teaching in class.

Observed closely by Mr. Harold Poong, I did my set induction on “The Swordfish, Then The Concubine.” For me, it was a very simple set induction as I only used a few slides with simple words and sentences on them. Nevertheless, I personally think that it was a success because I knew that I was able to take the students into the lesson.

Shortly, I will sure be having more of set induction in my future simulated teachings and I will improve myself from time to time. Not just for the sake of my marks in the examinations, but for the most important objective : My future students.





Mohammad Faisal bin Ismail
144520
Group 21

The Malay Tale Told In English

Studying the drama “The Swordfish, then The Concubine” really gave a new dimension of thinking for me. Before this, I did watch and heard about famous Malay folktales but all of them were in Malay. For example, I watched the movie “Singapura Dilanggar Todak” before, and to my surprise, I did not expect it to be told in English! Reading the play made me think that it was not impossible to tell our Malay tales in other languages.
Looking at our culture nowadays, people’s minds are more closed in a sense that they are very old-fashioned in their thinking. For example, if a traditional Malay tale is filmed and the aesthetic value was changed even a little bit, there will surely be some critics that stands out and tries to defend the “Traditionalness” of the work. For me, these people are the barrier for our creativity. Yes, I do believe that we must have a certain guideline in producing our works, but sometimes there are people who are acting extreme in order to achieve their own ambitions, for example, their political ambitions.
Living in this land of the gifted, sometimes I felt that we live in a prison because there are some compulsory freedoms of the people are being denied. To blame anyone is not an option because everyone is innocent and everyone is also guilty, and why did I say that? Well, it is for you who read this blog to ponder on.

Teiresias

The first time I heard the name “Teiresias” was not in an English novel but I first knew about Teiresias when I read a Malay Novel entitled “Awang Vampiro”. In that novel, Teiresias was pictured as an exiled leader of an evil clan that if returned into the earth realm, will unleash pure evil and destroy mankind in order to create a living place for their kind. All the description about Teiresias in that novel really influenced me when I read the play “Oedipus Rex”. This is mainly because the schemata I had in my mind was far different from what I was reading at the moment.
In Oedipus Rex, Teiresias was not an evil person, but he can be acknowledged as a strong character in the play. Although he has all the weaknesses, he did have his own gift – he was given the gift of forseeing the future. He was also the only person in history that had lived the life of a man and a woman. Thus, in my opinion, Teiresias has the experience that has not been ever experienced by any human beings. He was a man with nothing in his life, he was even blind and old, but what he has inside him was the most valuable thing- The experience that nobody else ever had.

Elizabeth : The Golden Age

As all of us know, during the first session of the movie viewing, me and some of my colleagues did not attend the class because of an almost unacceptable reason – oversleeping. I really regretted the fact that I did not attend the session because of a very bad excuse. That was the first time that I did not attend Dr.Edwin’s class and that first time was bad luck for me because I heard that the session was stopped immediately because some of our kind friends helped us in covering our absence.
That incident really gave a smack on the face for me. Because of our irresponsibility, our friends were punished. I took the initiative to watch the first part on my own. To be frank, at first I was not very attracted towards the story because I think that there was so many assignments to be submitted in that week and the weeks after. All the stress had given me pressure but I did manage to watch the movie on my own, and also with my friends. The story wasn’t bad, the part that I loved the most was the moment when the Spanish armada lost. I really like the battle scenes because it is my nature to love war movies. I really cannot talk much about the movie because the hero was a woman, and although she was a strong woman, but I did not had the interest in studying her. Maybe she’s not that gorgeous.

The Drama Script

In this semester, we are required to attend a course on studying the language of dramas. In that course, there is an assignment where we must create our own play. For me, this was a good opportunity to polish my creativity in writing. I really love writing because I felt that I can express my feelings and thoughts when I write something.

At first, I thought of writing it alone because before this, I only did solo writings because I do not have to take note of other’s comments. To be honest, I really dislike writing in groups because I do not have the freedom to express my ideas to the fullest because I have to consider other group member’s ideas. Normally, when I write, I want it to be mine, and my work only speaks my own mind. This time, I made an exception, and did the script in a group of three.

Actually, writing in a group was not really that bad. It just needs us to consider other’s ideas, and that is a matter of giving and taking from each others. From this group activity, I learnt to be considerate towards other people’s ideas but at the same time, maintain my own creativity in the script that we wrote.

Traditional Malaysian Dance

Malaysia is well known with the vast culture of it's people. From this many cultures, various forms of art are born. Amongst them are the traditional cultural dances. From Perlis to Sabah, there are almost countless types of dances available. This is what makes Malaysia a unique place.

For me, dancing seldom captures my attention, except for some types of dances, but I refuse to mention them here. A good dance also depends on the dancers, if the dancers dances well, then it's good. But if the dancers does not reach the standards wanted then there goes the dance.

If people asks me to watch traditional dance shows, why not? If people asks me to dance together, please, I'm very sorry I have to refuse. I don't think i have "that" talent, but if I do have it, I don't think I will do it too. Dancing is just not for me.

Watching these cultural dances, captivates me to a time of the ancients. It seems that I am taken to the elder days of our people and makes me think, if people today watch television as their medium of entertainment, people those days watch dances for theirs. I wonder if it goes the other way round....what do you think???

Teaching The Language of Drama

Dramas and plays had long existed since the rise of the ancient Chinese and Indian Empire. In the empires, dramas are used as a medium of entertainment and also as a way for them to inculcate their culture into the people.

The legacy is then continued by newer empires such as the Roman and Greek Empire. The Greeks are more of philosophers but the Romans chose to portray violence in their plays. During the golden days of these empires, their arts are famous around the world. Writers such as Aristotle, did some famous plays during their time.

After the fall of these empires, language arts then moved on to bloom in the isles of United Kingdom, particularly in England, Ireland and Scotland. Shakespeare is maybe the most prominent writer of them all.

After being exposed to the history of dramas, i realized it's importance. Dramas and plays could not only preserve a culture of a civilization, it can also enrich it by staging folk tales and more modern and moderate tales.

Malaysia is well known for the seriousness of it's rulers to preserve it's cultural heritage. Hence, there are many steps taken in order to make language arts bloom in the country. But most of the works are in Malay. English language arts are still treated as foreign entities here in Malaysia.

As a future English teacher, to inculcate drama in my language teaching is one of my objective. One can only master a language if one appreciates it, and one way to appreciate the language is by learning it's arts.