The Sad Ending

I was very sad because probably this would be my last blog for EDU 3217. For about four month I enjoyed myself doing it but today, I reached the end of it. I have sent many posts on the different topics based on “Teaching the Language of Drama”. EDU 3217 taught me a lot for instance how to write a play. The introduction of this course was quite boring because I did not get what Dr. Edwin was trying to convey but after I looked thoroughly on this subject, I realized that this subject was quite unique because it required me to do several things that I did not have the knowledge on that area. The most unforgettable time while doing this course was when I got the golden opportunity to meet the writer of the controversial play, Kee Thuan Chye. We did learn his latest play which was “The Swordfish and Then Concubine”. At first, I did not get the underlying meanings and messages from this play because maybe I missed the important parts of this play but after the long conversation with Kee Thuan Chye, I did get what he was trying to convey to the readers. The issues raised by him were all related to our daily life because he was actually mocking the government for not able to uphold the country to the higher level. Actually I love the play which was written by the local writers because I wanted to see how sensitive they were to the current issues around them.
The micro teaching session was one of the parts in EDU 3217. We were not conducted by Dr. Edwin but we were conducted by Dr. Edwin supervisor Mr. Harold. This micro teaching was different from the other subjects’ micro teaching because here, we supposed to evaluate our friends. So, I think this was a privilege for us because we were able to evaluate our friends and at the same time we could know what we could do and what we could not while presenting in front of the class.

Finally, the blogging enabled me to be a reflective student as well as teacher. It became the medium for me to express my feeling as well as put my point of views about the lessons and so forth. I was free to write anything that was related EDU 3217 and my friends were all welcomed to put their comments on me. I felt on the cloud nine throughout my fiends’ comments because I was able to know my advantages as well as my weaknesses. Frankly speaking, form blogging; it had changed me from the teacher-centered to the student-centered in learning this course. I could put my comments and suggestions for my friends to improve their teaching. Also, blogging enabled me to argue with my friends’ ideas that I might think was incorrect or bias. I became more expressive and I felt glad that I could share my knowledge and views with my blog’s readers.
In a nutshell, I wanted to apologize to Dr Edwin and Mr. Harold for my bad attitudes in class and also for coming late to the class. Throughout this course, I had learnt many interesting methods and experiences and it helped me a lot in practicing myself to be a good teacher in the future. :)

Good Bye Micro Teaching

Yesterday was a very tough day whereby the class went for 8 o’clock in the morning until 12.30 o’clock in the afternoon. There are about 30 presenters were doing the micro teaching, conducted by Mr. Harold. I was among the last ten presenters and all of us were just thinking of going back to the hostel because we were all tired and exhausted. To tell the truth, everybody was hoping to finish the class earlier.
My presentation on my pre-reading as well as my while reading went well because I thought that I had done according to what I had planned earlier, before entering the class. I should thank to all of my beloved friends who cooperated and giving their fully attention on my presentation. My teaching aids helped me a lot to convey to my students about my lesson on that day which was characters and the personality traits. I faced difficulty in conveying my lesson due to the limited time given by Mr. Harold. Actually, I could not finish the worksheet three because Mr. Harold asked me to stop and conclude my lesson. I felt frusted but at the same time I ought to obey to Mr. Harold’s order because he was the one who would evaluate me.
Before I left this blog, I want to thank to my loving lecturer “Dr Malachi Edwin Vethamani” for every single knowledge and methods in teaching that he has poured on me and my classmates. Also, I should thank our tutor who has done splendid job on guiding us to the right path in “teaching the language of Drama”. I did realize that both of them were trying to guide us to our brighter future, which was to be good teachers.

Oh! My Idol

Dr Edwin has arranged a session with a famous writer Kee Thun Chye. First, I did not recognize the person that entering the hall was Kee Thuan Chye because he was just wearing simple attire. Actually, I was expecting him to wear expensive stuff. Whatever. As he started his speech, only God knows how I want to describe him. His speech was very inspiring as well as provocative to those who were listening to him. His speech contained a lot of metaphor whereby every single word that he uttered seemed to have underlying meaning.
He did not go straight to his “The Swordfish, Then the Concubine” because he wanted to save the best for the last. From his speech on his previous literary works, we knew that he wanted to warn us about the unhealthy political issues happened nowadays. Also, he had created awareness about the future of the country for the 20 to 100 years later whereby the truth was being kept as secret from the society.
Frankly speaking, an afternoon with Kee Thuan Chye has become an eye opener for me to start pointing out my point of views. I ought to share my knowledge with people and the most important thing is we have to speak the truth because the truth will not be revealed if we keep it as secret. In Anyway, I hope that I can see the other writes because I also want to hear the thoughts and their point of views as well.

“The Swordfish, Then the Concubine” by Kee Tuan Chye

The drama “the Swordfish, Then the Concubine” written by the famous writer, Kee Thuan Chye. This drama seems very easy for me because of the good issues raised by the writer is related to our daily life. Even though it seems to be an easy drama I cannot understand some part of the play for instance the significance of the characters of Ris Kaw and Logod. Who are they? Are they human? Fortunately, Dr Edwin solve my problem by explaining that Ris Kaw and Logod are virtually time traveller. Both of them are people who seem not to be in the part of the play and their job is to alert us, representing cotemporary voices. That was what Kee Tuan Chye actually wanted to convey through Ris Kaw and Logod.

These thing make me realised that I need to pay full attention while reading the drama because to prevent me from missing the significant events and underlying meaning of the speeches. The language used by Kee Thuan Chye is not as difficult as Shakespeare’s language. I can finish reading the whole play just for two hours because I can easily understand the language used in this drama. The most interesting part about Kee Thuan Chye is, he always put the current issues in his literary works. We can easily see in this drama whereby he puts the theme of the foolishness of the royalty and political institution. This drama is full of socio-political comments to criticize the failures of both royalty and political system to uphold their nation at the highest level. This political satire play is interesting to read while looking at our political situation nowadays. Because of this, I used this drama in my second assignment whereby I did examine the treatment of the theme of the foolishness of the royalty and political institution in “the Swordfish, Then the Concubine”.

After reading the whole drama, I gave five stars out of five stars to this drama because this drama deals with the current issue which is hard to be found from the other literary works. I just received a good news from Dr Edwin saying that Kee Thuan Chye will come to University Putra Malaysia. I am looking forward to see him as I want to ask him several questions related to his literary works.

MacBeth Versus King Lear

Today we are going to watch “MacBeth” the movie. To tell the truth, I did “MacBeth” when I was in Institut Perguruan Temenggong Ibrahim. The play is very difficult for me to comprehend because it is one of the Shakespeare’s plays. Thank God. After watching the movie, it gave me clues to the part that I was not understood earlier while reading the text. It was so obvious that Shakespearean’s language did not suite me because I also had difficulty in understanding another Shakespeare’s play, which was “King Lear”. Frankly speaking, I did only rely on Dr Edwin’s interpretation and explanation to understand as well as comprehend the text.
“Macbeth” and “King Lear” are plays of tragedy and both of them involve in the reversal of fortunes. The characteristic of King Lear changed from good to bad because he actually changed from a great king to and old foolish man. This was the proof that he involved in reversal of fortune. He went against the God had actually planned on him and because of that he suffered. In the end of the play, King Lear virtually died. On the other side of the coin, in the play “MacBeth” was about MacBeth who was bound by the fate that was casted towards him. Just like King Lear, he was also an ignorant man because of his desire to be a king; he killed Banquo and his whole family to save his throne. In the end of the play, he paid the price because he was killed and that was why I said that Macbeth involved in reversal of fortune. We actually need to remember that whatever choices we made, there will be consequences accordingly. I think that this was the message that Shakespeare left us to think.
Even though Shakespeare’s play are all hard to understand, I hope to read and watch another tragic play again because they are really challenging my mind and soul to understand them.

My First Set Induction

I have finished my set induction for the micro teaching yesterday. I was very happy because I think that I have done a splendid job and I did all what I have planned for my set induction. Even though it is not fully successful, but at least I have managed to control 90 percent my feeling in front of my students. I t was virtually a difficult task because from now on, I have practice how to speak and stand in front of my beloved students properly. I was quite nervous because I saw Mr Harold, who was ready to evaluate me but that feeling vanish when I started to be the real teacher in front of my students. Here, I should act and behave appropriately because I ought not to be seen by my students that I was nervous in front of the class.

On the other hand, after I finish my set induction, Mr Harold Pong did not give any comment on me. He did praise one of my friends; Winnie because she was able to attract students’ attention by showing them a cartoon. For me, I also thought that she deserved the praised by Mr Harold because as a student, I also found that it was attractive. As for my set induction he did not say anything because maybe I was not doing too good and too bad. I thought that I should bring the element of fun into our classroom because I thought that I was too straight in the class, without funs and jokes. Thus, I would be able to attract students’ attention and at the same time students will concentrate and focus more on what I want to deliver to them.

Hopefully, I could improve my teaching during my pre-reading and while reading. I have prepared several worksheets for my students. Also, I hope to get good responses from my students as well Mr Harold through my teaching soon.

My First Appearance in Micro Teaching

I shall do my first micro teaching on Monday. I have chosen a play entitled “The Ring Doesn’t Fit” by Tan Kee Aun because this play seems very easy for me and the students in order to comprehend, as the issue raised was quite similar in our daily life. The play is about love and I believe that will lead to a better interaction as well as relationship between students and the teacher in the classroom. I shall be the last fifteen people to present. So, I take it as my privilege because I can presumably see how my classmates conduct their micro teaching first. Normally, after my classmates’ presentation, Mr. Harold will comment on some of the mistakes made during the presentation. So, as long as I attend the class, I will know what to do and what to do not while presenting.
For my micro teaching, I have prepared an interesting video clipping on the wedding ceremony. It is not hard to find this video as I can easily get it through “YouTube”. I have spent a day to prepare for my first appearance in micro teaching. Teaching is not an easy task. Thus, I have spent my time practicing in my room in order to make it perfect. I hope my classmates, who are the students and the evaluators will like my session. Also, I hope to get comments on micro teaching because I will make use the comments not only for this micro teaching, but for my real teaching experiences in the school soon.

The Virgin Queen of England

We watched several movies last week in the lecture hall. One of the movies was Elizabeth: The Golden Age. Being the Virgin Queen, Elizabeth was as same as Oedipus, having the pride before she falls. In the end, she regained her strength and fought against Spanish enemies. I enjoy watching this movie because it was focussing on Elizabeth and her spirit to protect her kingdom from intruders, Spain. I like the moment when she said, “I am the Virgin Queen, but I am your mother, the mother of England”. She was a determined and brave queen, willingly to join the war to defend her country, together with all her soldiers. I think that this movie is actually too focusing on the art direction as well as the custom. It is a good thing to those who want to use this movie as their source or reference about the environment of England during that era. On the other hand, I think that the language of the movie was of old British spoken language, and a little bit of Spanish conversations. Even though the language used was quite confusing as it was of reversed structure, but the meaning and content could be understood well. In brief, as for me, it was a nice historical movie; interesting and deep in meaning.

some important parts in Oedipus Rex...

There is some part that interact me while reading Oedipus Rex which is the changing of Oedipus’s characteristic. Frankly speaking, the characteristic of Oedipus changed from good to bad and from bad to worse. From my understanding of the text, in the beginning of the story, Oedipus seemed to be a concern king but turned to be ignorant and ruthless King of Thebes in the end. I think the thing that makes Oedipus changes his attitude and behaviour is when he is being suspected of the murder of king Laios. I figure out that there are several evidences showing the changing of Oedipus’s characteristic. For instance he challenged the God when he said “What good were they? Or the gods, for the matter of that?”. Here, Oedipus shows his true “colour” by challenging the God and says that God cannot help him but only he can help himself. Also, Oedipus shows his pride and arrogance to Tiresias and patronizes Tiresias because of his blindness when he stated “He has brought this decrepit fortune teller, this collector of dirty pennies, this prophet fraud – Why, he is no more clairvoyant than I am!” and “I thought it out for myself. No birds help me!”. I keep wondering why Oedipus abruptly changed his statement and asking who his parents were even though in the beginning of the story, he said that he knew everything. This was proven when he asked “My parents again- Wait: who were my parents?”. I personally think that these events are important for the readers especially me to look and examine the changing of Oedipus’s characteristics. Actually, we do not have to follow the road that Oedipus has chosen because the road that we choose is what we are now and another is the one that we might be, whether it is the same with the present or not. We cannot predict and control the future. Sometimes bitter, sometimes sweet. If we are lucky, we face more sweet than bitter. If we are unlucky enough, well think for yourselves. Just think twice or even thrice before making the decision because whatever decision that we made, the consequences will come accordingly.

Tiresias

I keep wondering about Tiresias while reading the Oedipus Rex. Who is he? What is he? Is he a famous man or a prophet? I tried to figure out the relationship between Tiresias and the other characters in the Oedipus Rex. Also, I find a lot of information about Tiresias through the Internet. Here, I want to share my finding on Tiresias. Tiresias (also called Teiresias) was a blind prophet of Thebes, famous for being transformed into a woman for seven years. He was the son of the shepherd Everes and the nymph Chariclo; Tiresias participated in fully seven generations at Thebes, beginning as advisor to Cadmus himself. Tiresias was a prophet of Zeus. I heard that there are different stories were told of the cause of his blindness, the most direct being that he was simply blinded by the gods for revealing their secrets. An alternate story told by the poet Pherecydes was followed in Callimachus' poem "The Bathing of Pallas"; in it, Tiresias was blinded by Athena after he stumbled onto her bathing naked. His mother, Chariclo, a nymph of Athena, begged her to undo her curse, but Athena could not; instead, she cleaned his ears, giving him the ability to understand birdsong, thus the gift of augury.
On Mount Cyllene in the Peloponnese, as Tiresias came upon a pair of copulating snakes, he hit the pair a smart blow with his stick. Hera was not pleased, and she punished Tiresias by transforming him into a woman. As a woman, Tiresias became a priestess of Hera, married and had children, including Manto, who also possessed the gift of prophecy. According to some versions of the tale, Lady Tiresias was a prostitute of great renown. After seven years as a woman, Tiresias again found mating snakes; depending on the myth, either she made sure to leave the snakes alone this time, or, according to Hyginus, trampled on them. As a result, Tiresias was released from his sentence and permitted to regain his masculinity. This ancient story is recorded in lost lines of Hesiod. There are several version of Tiresias and I picked this one because I think it was reliable for me as a reader of Oedipus Rex.I had concentrated on the character of Tiresias in this play because I think he gave a great effect on the readers especially me while reading the story. For me, even though he was physically blind, but he was spiritual sighted compared to Oedipus who was physically sighted but morally blind.
In the story, Tiresias appeared in the beginning of the story where Oedipus, the king of Thebes, calls upon Tiresias to have an investigation on the killing of the previous king Laius. I like the character of Tiresias because he was the one who developed the theme of blindness by using his own physical blindness to reveal to Oedipus his mental blindness. Also, I found out that Tiresias was responsible for imposing dramatic irony because of his great knowledge of the truth of Oedipus.He revealed that Oedipus who had committed the crime. Outraged, Oedipus throws him out of the palace, but then afterward realizes the truth.
The language used was quite hard for me to interpret the meaning of some sentences as well as understand this play, but after watching the movie of Oedipus Rex, my problems perished accordingly. Hopefully, this can help readers a lot while reading Oedipus Rex especially knowing the truth about Tiresias. If the readers still do not understand this play, they should see the movie of Oedipus Rex. For the readers,the DVD is available now and please buy the original one. :)

dramatic irony (s)

From the play, I have learnt several dramatic irony(s) quotations that I figure out very interesting and effectively used. Dramatic irony is when the words and actions of the characters of a work of literature have a different meaning for the reader than they do for the characters.As for me, this is the result of the readers having a greater knowledge than the characters themselves. In Oedipus Rex, the main character keeps using dramatic irony. However, in the end it does not come true. There is some example in Oedipus Rex which shows the dramatic irony. For example, Oedipus said, “My parents again- Wait: who were my parents?”. This is very important to me and the readers as well because it shows that Oedipus abruptly changed his statement and asking who his parents were even though in the beginning of the play, he said that he knew everything. Also, when he said, “I pray that that man’s life be consumed in evil and wretchedness. And as for me, this curse applies no less”. This is very significant part whereby Oedipus was so confident that he was not the murderer of the previous king, Laios. Me and the readers actually have a greater knowledge on the characters themselves especially Oedipus because we already know that Oedipus was the one who murdered the king Laios.

Traditional dance versus Modern dance

There are several traditional dances in Malaysia and one of them is a lion dance. The Chinese people believe that the lion dance can bring good luck and prosperity to them. It is usually being performed in Chinese New Year or new shop opening. In my hometown, I saw many people support long dragons and lions made from vibrant paper and cloth while dancing in processions down city streets. Usually,the dancers perform to the beating of gongs and drums, while other celebrants perform acrobatic displays. Some of the performers in my hometown may occasionally reach up to take red money packets or fruits and vegetables hung from storefronts. The celebrations usually end with the lantern festival, an event in which merchants hang lighted paper lanterns outside their shops. Many of the lanterns rotate with the heat of the candles they contain. My neighbours' children parade through the streets during the lantern festival, carrying lanterns of various shapes and patterns. For me, every dance is virtually different from the others. Actually, to learn a dance, we need to master and learn the basic steps first. For example, in Zapin dances, it requires people to dance in a traditional way. Compared to the modern dance, as long as the dance looks great it is considered okay already. I wish that I could learn at least one dance by the end of this semester. For me, the most important thing in every dance is teamwork because the audience will be easily notice the mistake made by the dancers if they are not giving their 100 percent commitment. I am going to watch a movie entitled “ Sayang !!, You Can Dance”. Hopefully, I can get some tips as well as learn on how to dance like in the movie.

on the surface of drama...

New semester means new subjects will be taught and new lectures will be coming in. I am very delighted to know that we are going to learn a new subject which is Teaching the Language of Drama (EDU 3217).I was so fortunate because Dr. Edwin will be teaching us again. At first, I admit that I dislike drama because I am going to be a teacher, not an actor in the future. The day that Dr. Edwin enters my class has actually changed my perception about this lesson. I am very thankful to Dr. Edwin because he helps me a lot in understanding the drama as well as making this lesson becoming interesting.
Dr. Edwin did expose us everything about drama from A to Z, starting from the history of drama until the 20th century drama. Throughout this, I was able to know the difference between the old and the current drama. As science develop day by day, the concept and the purpose of drama would be changed and it would be interesting to predict what type of drama would be in the future. For example, in Medieval Theater, drama is to spread a religion and a value to the society. In brief, I hope that drama will be improved as the time goes by because nobody knows what would be happening to drama in the future. For me, the most important thing is to let the young generation to be exposed with drama and make them fall in love in this field.