Look's like I'm so outdated as all these happened on last Friday. I don't mean to disappoint my readers but I had been too busy coping with my assignments and updating my website with new exam papers.
What I experienced on Friday was a very lively English class as for the first time in history, a parliamentary debate had been conducted. I believe that this is significant enough to be blogged as English lessons aren't usually like that, but they are supposed to be filled with this kind of interesting and beneficial learning activities.
The process began when students were separated into groups of three and they were placed into either the government or the opposition party (nothing related to current political situation). Next, they were given topics and after a short discussion, the debate was officially launched. The topics were sort of analytical, example: should parents consent be needed for underage aborsion; do gays have the same legal rights in adopting children; and are beauty contests harmful?
Now for the most interesting part of the game.
(Highly recommend you to click on photo for clearer view)
It seems that these two MPs were having their opportunity to voice out their stand on gay rights. As usual, these two active speakers have sparked the liveliness of the class and they argued like no other. Brian (right) who represents the government and supports the idea, came up with detailed elaboration and logical points with his vivacious gestures (as you can see). At the opposition tables, after several attempts of counter attacks by Mun Yee (heir of Teresa Kok as mentioned by "Yang di-Pertuan Alina") and Nicole, Parveen (twin sister of the overthrown Sharizat) tackled the question using her personal emotions as she usually do. She tossed questions such as "how feminine can a feminine male be?" This obviously triggered an abrupt laughter from the whole class.
(Highly recommend you to click on photo for clearer view)
Next, we shall look into Sharon (right) who gave her points about the harmfulness of beauty contests. Her usual cheerful yet informative speeches made the whole class dazzled. After that, "Yang di-Pertuan Alina (YDPA)" (left) announced the winners of the day which comprised of the three characters in the photos and many more who weren't mentioned. I will save the information for next time as there are many more yet to come. Soon, my blog will be full of my classmates' photos but they will slowly appear one by one just like the rise of the warriors during the warring days.
How about myself during that day? I was never good in spontaneous speeches and I tend to become tensed up when I realised that every single word that I pronounced is being observed carefully. Definitely, I wasn't satisfied with my performance on that day and I wish that I could improve myself in expressing my thoughts verbally. This is my main weakness because I normally keep my thoughts in my mind, like why should I waste my effort of expressing them to others.
Therefore, I really think that schools and colleges should train students in these sort of speaking skills, besides just writing essays and those techinical stuff. Students must be given more and equal opportunities in practising and enhancing their oral skills to the extreme of daily exercises. For me, it seems that Ms Alina is the founder and the best practical teacher in mastering the art of transferring the true knowledge of the English Language to her students.
What I experienced on Friday was a very lively English class as for the first time in history, a parliamentary debate had been conducted. I believe that this is significant enough to be blogged as English lessons aren't usually like that, but they are supposed to be filled with this kind of interesting and beneficial learning activities.
The process began when students were separated into groups of three and they were placed into either the government or the opposition party (nothing related to current political situation). Next, they were given topics and after a short discussion, the debate was officially launched. The topics were sort of analytical, example: should parents consent be needed for underage aborsion; do gays have the same legal rights in adopting children; and are beauty contests harmful?
Now for the most interesting part of the game.
(Highly recommend you to click on photo for clearer view)It seems that these two MPs were having their opportunity to voice out their stand on gay rights. As usual, these two active speakers have sparked the liveliness of the class and they argued like no other. Brian (right) who represents the government and supports the idea, came up with detailed elaboration and logical points with his vivacious gestures (as you can see). At the opposition tables, after several attempts of counter attacks by Mun Yee (heir of Teresa Kok as mentioned by "Yang di-Pertuan Alina") and Nicole, Parveen (twin sister of the overthrown Sharizat) tackled the question using her personal emotions as she usually do. She tossed questions such as "how feminine can a feminine male be?" This obviously triggered an abrupt laughter from the whole class.
(Highly recommend you to click on photo for clearer view)How about myself during that day? I was never good in spontaneous speeches and I tend to become tensed up when I realised that every single word that I pronounced is being observed carefully. Definitely, I wasn't satisfied with my performance on that day and I wish that I could improve myself in expressing my thoughts verbally. This is my main weakness because I normally keep my thoughts in my mind, like why should I waste my effort of expressing them to others.
Therefore, I really think that schools and colleges should train students in these sort of speaking skills, besides just writing essays and those techinical stuff. Students must be given more and equal opportunities in practising and enhancing their oral skills to the extreme of daily exercises. For me, it seems that Ms Alina is the founder and the best practical teacher in mastering the art of transferring the true knowledge of the English Language to her students.
