THAILAND & MISS YAYA..!!! *SOLEHA*

Sawadikap… The only Thai word that I know..but still ok what..?? At least, I know a word rather than nothing at all.

Thailand as other countries around the world has faced some conflicts for several years. Since Thailand is not a Muslim country Muslim are the minority, they have been always receiving bad treatment from their government. In Thailand, army is more important than government. Therefore, most of the conflicts and issues in the country are connected with the armies. Several factors being highlighted in the presentation behind the ongoing violence are the economic, political, cultural ignorance, social, lack of training and rivalries.

However, in my opinion, many bad things are happening to Muslim society because we are not living within the Islamic social order. In addition, we are disunited people. We care less towards each other. As the consequences, it is easier for them to influence our thought and behavior.

Yaya…I just loved it!!! I like your presentation. For me, it was simple but smart. Of course..good introduction…you attracted audience by using music and I think that was very intelligence..!! Your presentation was understandable and smooth. Maybe you could improve on in terms of gesture because you just stand at one place without moving anywhere. Anyhow..well done yaya!!!

INDONESIA & MISS TASNIM..!! *soleha*

Republic of Indonesia located at Southern Asia. It is one of the neighbors of Malaysia. Sukarno, Suharto, Jusuh Habibi, Abdulrahman and Megawati were among Indonesia’s presidents. Currently, it is governed under Susilo. Basically, conflicts in Indonesia are scattered everywhere. What I mean here is each part of Indonesia has its own conflicts. Although the conflicts are not related to each other, it is actually somehow has some connections. Among the major issues in Indonesia were Bombing in Bali and Tsunami. There is also conflict between Indonesia and Malaysia in which they were fighting about the originality of “Rasa Sayang” song. However, it had been resolved with certain arguments among them.

Tasnim..for me, it was just a moderate presentation. She has strength in terms of language and of course it helps her a lot. In terms of the presentation itself, I was actually cannot really see the picture of Indonesia. Tasnim herself perhaps do not really understand about it. However, it was still good as she had prepared something for the class although it was not enough.. Anyhow, congratulations and good luck..!!!

Rwanda & Miss Qistina (Soleha)

Salam and hi to everyone..!!! I did not comment about the last two presentations yet because I was busy with my mid-term exam. Now..I am back..!!! Hehehe…

Republic of Rwanda was presented by Qistina on January 18, 08. Frankly speaking, I was actually never heard about the country before. It was great as Qistina managed to attract my attention although she looked nervous standing in front of the class. As we have been discussing a lot about Muslim countries, Rwanda presented by Qistina is not part of it as it is not a Muslim country. The major issue in Rwanda is about Hutus and Tutsi. They came from different origin at first but they are more or less at certain points.

Basically, the Hutus are the majority but they are being over powered by the Tutsi. This happens because Tutsi are the “elit” people in Rwanda. Due to the issue, it leads to the current situation in which they are a lot of orphans in Rwanda. It is happening because there are many rape cases in the country. Therefore, although we cannot directly help them, we should concern about their conditions.

In terms of the presentation, Qistina had presented it well..congrats yaaa..!!! However, I think you should be more prepared so that you will not nervous during the presentation. I admitted that you have a good command of language and it helps you a lot. What else to say..?? Hurmm..that’s all I guess... anyhow, good luck for the next presentation..!!!

Tasnim and Nadia! (Qistina..!)

Holla my lovely friends..How are u guys doing? Hope everybody's having their own sweet time this weekend! =)

Lets talk about Tasnim a.k.a "Groovy Tessie.."! 1st of all, let me tell u all one thing..she IS groovy..after known her for 2 years plus I believe, one thing obvious about her that I could say, she is friendly..The groovy nickname suits u girl! Your presentation..well, i couldnt comment much..but like what our madam said, we were putting high expectations on ur performance the other day. I dont know what had happened 2 u, what went wrong, but frankly speaking, I was expecting wayyyyyyyyyyy better than that hunn! Your english, superb! No doubt. One more thing, I could see that you had not prepared and gave your best. You kept looking on Lutfi alone, i guess because its his country. Well past is past. We're going 2 have more and more classes together, and I believe u'll give your best in future. Best of Luck sweetie!

Lets move on to Nadia, the sweet Singaporean friend of ours. Nadia or Yaya (is that how it spells like? sorry if im wrong..) was looking pretty on her presentation day. She always be. Nothin much to be talked about regarding her presentation last friday. No problem to understand her accent. I like her eye-contact, we could see that she was well-prepared. My favourite part was the last points-'factors behind the ongoing violence'..i've said this in class as well. She just put the 6 major factors, and she elaborated it with her own words. Why she could sound very confident? Again, because she got the whole picture about what she was going to talk about and she understood it. Me myself sometimes couldnt do that. Congrats again dear! Good Luck in whatever u're doing! =)

*Storage of Camping Gear*

One important part of properly caring for your gear is the way it is stored when not in use. So how do you store your gear properly? After using it, make sure you take care of it when you get back home.

Here are the tips...!!!!
1. Sleeping bags and tents: These you will want to store clean, dry, and loose. After making sure they are clean and dry, store them loosely in large laundry bags, rubbermaid tubs or something similar to them.

2. Self-inflating sleeping pads: After cleaning them, store them unrolled with the inflating valve open, under a bed is a good place to store these. If stored rolled up, it will collapse the foam inside of them and they will not inflate fully.

3. Stoves and lanterns: These should be stored clean and dry to prevent rusting and also with no fuel in the tanks so they did not get clogged up. Check to make sure the mantles on the lanterns are still in good shape so they will be ready for the next trip.

Kashmir & Iera by *soleha*

Kashmir was presented by Miranti Ningrum, an Indonesian girl in our class. Previously, Pakistan and India used to be one. This is because they have the same enemy, British. However, once they get independence, they cannot unite anymore. It happened because they realized that they have differences. They first went to war in October, 1947 after Pakistan supported a Muslim insurgency in Kashmir. After several years, the war ended on January 1, 1949. After 1949, there were also other issues and conflicts raised between the and even it still happens until today.

Back to the presenter, Miss Miranti…. As usual, even though you are nervous, you always look confidence…sometimes its “over confidence” also..hehehe..just joking!! I agree with Madam Shafizan that you had a good introduction. In terms of the presentation, you should avoid from reading the slides because once you started doing that, you will lost to establish eye contact with the audience. I also think that you could improve on in terms of answering questions. You should know more about Kashmir as you have quite enough time to do the preparation. Last but not least, you should minimize your non-word, “apa nie??” as it could distract your presentation. Before I forget, this time you did not use pink color as your slides background right..?? Hehehe.. Anyhow... congrats and good luck for the next presentation.

Miranti..! (from Qistina!)

Ppl..! I'm back! What do I have here? Lets just have a quick recall on Miranti a.k.a Ira's presentation last week..She'd done a good job..Well of course everyone did..! And SHOULD do..! I could see that she had all the points, she read lots of things about Kashmir..but unfortunately, she have put everything in her slides and it was too long. One more good thing about her, she could speak well. I mean, her english accent could be simply understood by people. But, she didn't use her strength there in answering questions. She could not answer few questions and asked for assistance from Julida. Anyways, again, she had done her best I believe..and all the best to you dear! =)

PAKISTAN & MISS JULIDA..!!! (Soleha)

Pakistan is another Islamic country that was presenting by Julida.Two major conflicts in Pakistan were Indo-Pakistani War and Bangladesh Liberation War. Indo-Pakistani war took place in 1947, a war between India and Pakistan over the region of Kashmir. on the other hand, Bangladesh Liberation War is a war between West Pakistan which is now the Pakistan itself and East Pakistan which is Bangladesh.

However, here I am quite interested in discussing the current issue in Pakistan which is "Benazir Assassination". as we all known, the tragic incident was happened on December 27, 2007 during at an election.She was shoot by gun twice by the suicide attacker.Due to the incident,her son Bilawal, 19 replace her position. there are many criticism about the replacement as Bilawal is too young to take over the position. people argue that he is not matured enough to involve in political field. as the election date has been postponed to February 14, 2008,Bilawal hopes for a fair election to satisfy people who support him.

Back to Julida..."the sweet2 face" in our class. Well done!!! Frankly speaking, for me, you did quite a good preparation for the presentation.Of course you have to do so as you have learn many things from the previous presentation right??? Well...It was good as I can catch your information. Good introduction also!!! I am interested to"join" you at first because you had attract me but suddenly your voice become slower and slower... By that time, I felt a bit lost as I cannot really hear your points...and also in terms of eye contact..maybe because you kind of memorizing, it's hard for you to establish eye contact.It always happened to me as well..hahaha.. Hope to see you improve on the next presentation.. We'll be in the same group right..?? let us do the "fantastic" presentation that can bombard the class..Good luck!!!

PALESTINE & MISS EYLLIA....(Soleha)

Palestine is not an independent state as it has never had sovereignty over any territory. They have been fighting for the sovereignty of their country for many years ago. Palestinians have been attacked by the Jews from Israeli as the Jews wanted to have the land. Palestine is not recognized by the United Nations, although the European Union, as well as the most member states. In my opinion, I also agree with some of the classmates that the war is not just about fighting over the land but it also has something to do with spiritual belief. As Muslims, Palestinians have strong belief that they will win in the war and the Jews also hold that they will be able to take the land at the end. Besides, the conflict never ended because as other Muslims countries, Palestine also faced the same problem with Muslims in their country itself, in which they are fighting with one another. Basically, this is the tactic used by them to manipulate Muslims so it is easier for them to get inside. Therefore, Muslims around the world should unite themselves rather than quarreling with each other.

Now…let us move to the presenter, a lady named Eyllia. First of all, thank you for presenting such informative information to us. I am not here to condemn you as I am also not that good in presentation. However, as a classmate, I think, there are several things that you could improve on and it is not just for you actually, it goes to me too..!!!
First, in terms of preparation. That was good that you had prepared a week before the presentation…but you know….sometimes it doesn’t enough as this is an informative speech. It seems like you do not know your points and that makes you nervous standing in front the class. Second, I terms of presenting the information. As Madam Shafizan has said, it was good to have “cards” to insist but you should avoid from reading the whole text as when you were doing so, you will lost to have interaction with the audience. Finally, in terms of gesture and eye contact. These can be avoided if good preparation has been done before the presentation.

Don’t worry Eyllia…there are always many things for us to improve on as we are in the process of learning. So…good luck for the next2 presentation. Wish me luck too..!

Lets continue! (Qistina)..

Let us move on to Homonyms now!

a) PRESS : i- A machine used for printing newspapers, magazines,
or books.
ii- Newspapers and news magazines.
iii- A business that publishes books. This word is
sometimes used in the company names.
iv- To push one thing against another.
v- To push something such as a button or switch in
order to make a piece of equipment start working.

b) CHEST : i- The upper front part of your body between your neck
and your stomach.
ii- A large strong heavy box used for moving or storing
things.

c) ADDRESS: i- A formal speech given by someone to a group of people
especially as part of an important occasion.
ii- The name of the place where you live or work,
including the house or office number and the name of
the street, area, and town.
iii- A series of letters, numbers, and symbols that show
you where to find a particular website on Internet
and that you need to send someone an email message.

d) FAN : i- Someone who likes watching or listening to something
such as a sport, film, or music very much or who
admires a famous or important person very much.
ii- A machine with blades that turn and move the air in
a room to make it feel less hot.

e) LOG : i- A thick piece of wood cut from a tree.
ii- A written record of things that happen, especially
an official record of a journey on a ship or in a
plane.
iii- To travel for a particular number of hours or miles.

Heteronyms..!!

a) BOW : To bend your body or head forwards, especially to
show respect for someone.

BOW : A knot that you tie in something such as a piece of
string so that there are two circular parts and to
loose ends.

b) LIVE : To have your home in a particular place.
: To keep yourself alive in a particular way.
: To continue to exist and have influence.

LIVE : A live TV show or radio programme can be watched or
listened to at the same time as it happens.
: A live issue continues to be important and relevant.

c) RECORD : Information kept about something that has happened,
usually by writing it down.

RECORD : The best achievement so far in a particular activity,
especially sport.
: To put sounds or images onto a cassette, CD, or
video.

d) MOUTH : The part of your face below your nose that you use to
chat and speak.
: Someone who you have to provide food for.
: The place when a river is widest and joins the sea.

MOUTH : To form words with your mouth but not make any sound.
: To say something without really meaning or
understanding what you say.

My post on Homophones, Homonym, and Heteronym!! -Qistina-

Salam guys! I have few definitions, explanations and examples for the 3 of the 'terms' mentioned above. Let us share them together 'aite! =)

HOMOPHONE - a word that sounds the same as another word but has its own spelling, meaning, and origin.

HOMONYM - a word that is spelled the same or sounds the same as another word but has a different meaning.

HETERONYM - a word that spells the same way but has different sounds and meanings.

* HOMOPHONES :-

a) Mane : the long hair on the neck of a horse or lion.
: mainly literary someone's long thick hair.
(e.g: she has a rich mane of black hair).

Main : most important, most frequently used.
: a large pipe or wire used for carrying water, gas, or
electricity.
: the point where the supply of gas, electricity, or water
enters a building or room.
(e.g: Turn the water off at the mains before you repair the
tag).

b) Peel : to remove the skin from a fruit or vegetable.
(e.g: First peel the potatoes and cut them in half).
: to remove something from the surface of something else,
especially by taking one end or side and pulling it up.
(e.g: He peeled a RM50 note from a big roll of money).

Pill : a small piece of solid medicine that you swallow with
water.
(e.g: Researchers have found a modest increase in risk
among users of the pill).

c) Prey : an animal that is caught by another animal and eaten.
(e.g: Spiders usually catch their prey by building webs).
: someone that a criminal or dishonest person attacks,
cheats, or harms.
(e.g: A hired killer is stalking his prey).

Pray : to hope or wish very strongly for something.
: to speak to God for instance to give thanks or ask for
help.
(e.g: Everyone prayed that the war wouldn't last long).

d) Metal: a hard, usually shiny substance that exists naturally in
the ground or in rock, which is used to make things such
as tools, machines, weapons.
(e.g: She bought a frame made of metal for her mother for
her 47th birthday last year).

Mettle: the determination and ability to deal with problems and
difficult situations.
(e.g: She has the opportunity to prove her mettle as a
manager).

e) Sail : to travel somewhere or to begin a journey by boat or ship.
: to control the movement of a boat or ship, especially
one that uses the wind to move it.
(e.g: It is a great opportunity to learn to sail).

Sale : the process of selling goods or services for money.
(e.g: I am willing to lower the price in order to make a
sale).
: an event at which people meet to buy and sell things,
normally at a place that is not usually used for this
purpose.
(e.g: The public library is organizing a second-hand book
sale).

-> The other two ( Homonym and Heteronym will be continued later..) ;-)

LANGUAGE (CONTINUE) -SOLEHA

On Friday class, January 4, 2004, before the presentation started, we had continued our lesson about “language”. Complexity of language also involves “slangs”, “metaphor”, “analogies”, “similies”, “perception” and “extent of language”

Slangs refer to words that have many meanings. People do not read about slangs in proper literature book but it is learned through daily lives. Among English slangs that frequently used are “hot”, “cool” and “too phat”. These three words are basically bringing the same meaning of interesting and attractive. Another slangs word is “bling2” and it is referred to accessories. As I am Malaysian, I also know several Malay words that are used in slangs. For example, “cun”, “kot”, “the tarik kau” and so on. Each of these words has its own meaning and it is understood by people although it is not mentioned in any dictionaries.

Metaphors, analogies and similies are quite same but they are also different at certain points. Metaphors are used when we are trying to explain something by using something else. However, similies are used when we want to put any relations to something that we are going to say. For example, “cars to men are as shopping to women.” In addition, expressions are words related to oral language. The example of expressions could be, “do you want me to lend a hand?” Other component of language that we had discussed is perception. As we know, different people have different perception. This happens because people see things through different ways. Therefore, in conveying message to others, a communicator must consider about the audience’s perception.

In language, it always has new words. As we had discussed, things from slangs maybe come out in dictionary as new words. The extent of language is also considered as complexity of language. For example, artificial language is language that is created to represent language that is used everyday such as JAVA language. Besides, another type of extent of language is specialized language such as Jargons. Jargons refer to language that is used by certain group of people.

Lebonan & Nasra (Soleha)

The country of Lebanon was presented by one of the International students in our class which is Nasra. Based on the presentation, Lebanon is a country located in Western Asia, west Mediterranean Sea, east and north Syria, south Israel. The capital city of the country is Beirut. Arabic is the official language in Lebanon and it follows by French and English. Most of them are Muslims but there are also some Christians and other religions that make the current population in 2007 estimated 4, 099, 000. Muslims in Lebanon are also separated because of different belief but it does not to the extent that leads to conflict between Muslims. It became an independence of Lebanon in November 22, 1943, released by French. The key issues and events in Lebanon are basically related with Israel. It was started since 1948 and it has not ended yet even until 2007.

Back to Nasra… Congrats as you had completed one of the presentations. Thank you also for sharing the informative information. It was nice to see you managed to present even though you cannot open your multimedia slides. It was same as me right..?? Hahaha… However, I also think that you could still improve on certain things. First, it was eye contact. Yes… I admitted that you had the eye contact but it was not enough yet. I feel like you just focus on certain area instead of looking at the whole classmates. Second, you could improve on in terms of voice. Actually, I cannot really hear what you said as it was not clear enough. Maybe you should speak louder in the next presentation so that it is easy for us to catch your words. Anyhow…well done and congrats again..!!!

GRADUATION SONG-VITAMIN C

And so we talked all night about the rest of our lives
Where we’re gonna be when we turn 25?
I keep thinking times will never change
Keep on thinking things will always be the same

But when we live this year we won’t be coming back
No more hanging out cause we’re on a different track
And if you got something that you need to say
You better say it right now cause you don’t have another day
Cause we’re moving on and we can’t slow down
These memories are playing like a film without sound
And I keep thinking of the night in June
I didn’t know much of love, but it came too soon

And there was me and you, and it got real blue
Stay at home talkn’ on the telephone and
We would get so excited, we’d get so scared
Laughing at ourselves thinking life’s not fair
And this is how it feels

(chorus)*As we go on, we remember
All the times we had together
And as our lives change, from whatever
We will still be friend forever

So if we get big jobs and we make the big money
When we look back now, will that joke still be funny?
Still be trying to break every single rule
Will little brainy Bobby be the stockbroker man?
Can Heather find a job that won’t interfere with her tan?
I keep, I keep thinking it’s not goodbye
Keep on thinking it’s a time to fly
And this is how it feels

La, la, la, la: Yeah, Yeah, Yeah
La, la, la, la; We will still be friends forever

Will we think about tomorrow like we think about now?
Can we survive it out there? Can we make it somehow?
I guess I thought that this would never end
And suddenly it’s like we’re women and men
Will the past be a shadow that will follow us around?
Will these memories fade when I leave this town?
I keep, I keep thinking that it’s not goodbye
Keep on thinking it’s a time to flY

LANGUAGE(SOLEHA)

On January 2, 08, we had learnt about language. As we are not an English student and due to time consuming, we cannot learn everything about language but we tried to understand the art of it. Language is symbols. Therefore, it can also represent gesture. Flow and confidence are important for person to be a good communicator. In my opinion, flow refers to the ability to talk continuously without stacking at any points and confidence means the ability to control your nervous while in public speaking.
Besides, we also learnt about the complexity of language. There are three main types of language which are “homonym”, “homophones” and “heteronym”. Homonym is a word that is spelled the same or sounds the same as another but has a different meaning. Homophone is a word that sounds the same as another word but has its own spelling, meaning and origin.

The examples of “homonym”, “homophones” and “heteronym”:

HOMONYM
Watch- To look at someone or something for a period of time
Watch- A small clock that you carry with you, usually on your wrist

Nuts- Dry fruit grows inside a hard shell on some types of tree and bush
Nuts- Mainly spoken someone who is crazy or who behaves in a crazy way

Father- Your male parent
Father- Used for talking to or about priest

Book- A set of printed pages fastened together onside a cover, that may contain
a story, information, poems and other forms of writing
Book-To but tickets or arrange to have or use something at a particular time
in the future

HOMOPHONE
Patient- Someone who receiving medical treatment
Patience- The ability to continue doing something for a long time without
loosing interest.

Buy- To get something by paying money for it
By- A preposition

Hours- Period of time
Ours- A possessive pronoun, being a possessive form of we


Son- Refers to male child
Sun- The star in the sky that provides light and warmth to the earth

Cub- A young bear or lion
Cup- A small round container for a drink, usually with a handle


HETERONYM.
Row- A series of people or things arranged in a straight line.
Row- To move a boat through water using long poles with flat ends called oars
Recover-To become fit and healthy again after an illness or injury.
Recover- To put a new cover on something
Refuse-To say you will not do something that someone has asked you to do.
Refuse-(Noun)-Formal rubbish: Household refuse.
Route- A way that buses, trains, ships, or planes travel regularly.
Route- To send someone or something along a particular route.
Tier- One of several levels in organizations or systems.
Tiered- Arranged in rows, with each row slightly higher than the row in front.

Mr. Lutfi...!!

Soleha: Congrats Lutfi!!!! I think everyone will agree that you did a good job. It was nice to see an Indonesian seems like knew everything about the country of Sudan. Personally, what I like about your presentation is because you were able to analyze your points and relate it with other issues. I also admired your multimedia presentation. It was simple but effective. However, I also agreed with Madam Shafizan in terms of eye contact that you could improve on. Last but not least, hope to see more from you in the next presentation…..bye......

People...!!! Here are some tips that I think its good for us to apply in our life...

You will discover how to make your life the best it can possibly be. Begin your new course of action and feel better about your future starting now!!!

Starting from now, you can have....

• Unlimited motivation
• More self-confidence
• Be happy everyday
• Be more positive
• Be excited for each new day
• Build stonger relationship

So guys...CHANGE your life for the better and START living the live you have always wanted...!!!

Mr. Lutfi..!!

Well done! Bravo! =) Obviously, Lutfi had done his best in his presentation last week. It was full of energy, he was very confident, and he 'bombarded' us with all of his knowledges about Sudan. I could see that everyone was impressed and satisfied with your preparations. BUT! Lutfi, there are still few things that you could improve on. First, your eye-contact. ( well I'm not trying to follow madam's point! ). Focus more on your audience. Second, your body gesture. Me and my other groupmates think that you didnt really use it to the fullest in pointing out your points. Whatever it is, congrats again and hope you wll be better and better in your next next presentations! =) *Qistina*