Click on the respective links to listen to their online radio:

Era FM Lite FM

THR Gegar Hitz FM

The Literature Component for Secondary School textbooks (for Form 1 to 3 and Form 4 to 5) are in schools now. These should be used for the teaching of the literature component in the English classroom next year. Here is the breakdown of the poems, short stories and drama that are included in the textbooks, respectively:

Form 1 to 3:

Poems

1. I Wonder – Jeannie Kirby
2. The River – Valerie Bloom
3. Mr. Nobody – Unknown author
4. Heir Conditioning – M SHANmughalingam
5. A Fighter’s Lines – Marzuki Ali
6. Leisure – William Henry Davies

Short Stories

1. Flipping Fantastic – Jane Langford
2. One Is One and All Alone – Nicholas Fisk

Drama

• Rumplelstiltskin – Angela Lanyon

Form 4 to 5:

Poems

1. In the Midst of Hardship – Latiff Mohidin
2. He Had Such Quiet Eyes – Bibsy Soenharjo
3. Nature – H.D. Carberry
4. Are You Still Playing Your Flute – Zurinah Hassan

Short Stories

1. QWERTYUIOP – Vivien Alcock
2. The Fruitcake Special – Frank Berman

Drama

• Gulp and Gasp – John Townsend

Now, the inclusion of drama is a bit of a surprise. A welcome one though. It should be fun and interesting to teach but with lower skilled students, it could be tough. The cancelation of novels, if it’s true, is a bit discouraging. I’m going to withheld any comment on the choices for the literary texts in the textbooks until I’ve explored them all.

I just want to share the dates for next year’s school, Federal and state holiday. Hope you guys can make use of it to plan your time off with the family.

First, the school holidays:

For the Federal and State Holidays, it ‘s in  PDF format, so click > Federal and State Holidays

Hope these will help. Bye

I’ve been spending a lot of time on Facebook nowadays. To me it’s the best way to catch up with what’s happening in lives of my friends. Most of my FB friends are my coursemate in TESL3, former students from SMKA Tun Sakaran and colleagues in my current school.  I have just read a friend’s post on Facebook about forgetting to turn off his iron before leaving for work. Luckily, nothing really serious happened. His post reminded me of an event that happened to me when I was teaching in Semporna.

It happened on Hari Raya Haji, but I couldn’t really remember the year it was. I was staying in a government-leased house with Malik, an Ustaz. We agreed to prepare something for our would-be guests and decided on nasi himpit and kuah kacang. Under the guidance of Malik’s sister-in-law (his brother, also an Ustaz, was also teaching in Semporna), we cooked the kuah kacang a day earlier in a rather big pot. We took the pot home and cooked the nasi himpit at home the eve of Hari Raya.

The next day, on Hari Ray itself, I put the pot of kuah kacang on the stove to heat it up as we got ready to perform our Hari Raya solat at the Inabah Kamal Mosque. We left for the mosque, completely forgetting the pot on the stove. We performed our Hari Raya solat and hunkered down to listen to the Khutbah. It was when the Tok Iman mentioned the phrase “api neraka (fire from hell) that I suddenly and alarmingly remembered about the pot on the stove.

I got up, made a hasty exit from the mosque to the bewilderment of friends and people in the mosque. I started my motorcycle and literally sped home. The minute I opened the door I could smell something burning. I dashed to the kitchen and saw that not only the pot was blackened with soots but it has a gaping hole at the bottom. Luckily, and I really mean I and my housemate was that lucky, because the gas tank had ran out of gas. Just guess what would have happened if it hadn’t.

Malik, my housemate, who went to the mosque with me, had to hitchhike his way back and was stumped to see the aftermath. It was from him that I learn how to perform the sujud syukur for the first time.

The moral of the story, go and register yourself on Facebook. Just kidding, actually check and double check every power socket and stove before leaving your house.

I know I promised to be be back much earlier but I could not hold on to that promise. So sorry. I’m here now but not so sure for how long. Anyway, thanks to those who kept on checking back.

Till the next update, hasta la vista!

This blog of mine will be back online this coming January. Until then, thank you.

Today is the last day of Ramadhan here in Malaysia and tomorrow, I and other Muslims will celebrate Eid Mubarak or else known as Hari Raya Aidil Fitri here. Eid Mubarak is the celebration of the success of overcoming all the obstacles we had to endure during the month of Ramadhan. It is not, however, a ticket to over indulge. It is the time to practice what we have learnt during Ramadhan.

Well, to all those who know me…

(click the picture for a larger version)

Ministry of Education has posted the 2009 school calendar. I post a copy of them here but if you need to look at the original, click here.

Tomorrow is the 51st celebration of my country’s independence from the British. The following is the logo for the celebration as well as the theme song for it. Enjoy.

The logo

[See post to listen to audio]

The theme song (click > to play)

Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka!

I am a big fan of the Mythbusters (currently playing on the Discovery Channel on Astro). Let’s have the free online encyclopedia, Wikipedia, explains what or who the Mythbusters are:

“MythBusters is an American popular science television program on the Discovery Channel starring American special effects experts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman, who use basic elements of the scientific method to test the validityof various rumors, urban legends, myths and news stories in popular culture.

MythBusters is typically shot in San Francisco, California. Planning and some experimentation usually takes place at the cast’s workshops; experiments that require more space or special accommodations are filmed on location around the Bay, and occasionally the show travels to other states or countries. The show is produced by the Australian company Beyond Productions; it is written, produced and post-produced from Artarmon, Sydney.”

Let’s look also at a snippet of the opening video for the show

Then I saw this footage on YouTube, where Adam and Jamie set out to demonstrate the difference between a cpu and gpu. See the footage yourself to see their version of it. Enjoy.