Reflection (1/10/12-5/10/12)

This week in english I've learnt on how to compare critically. Our discussions on juxtapose helped me to understand how to contrast different elements and I also learnt not to use psychoanalysis but I'm still not too clear on what exactly is psychoanalysis. I really enjoyed the edmodo homework on nominalisations as the article from the New York times is really fun to read. I even shared it on various social platforms. However, the article on poetic structure felt a little boring but was helpful as I learned about enjambement and poetic lines.

Working through the Hero's Journey structure was also fun but it did not show how I could contrast and compare in my essay. What I did learn the activity was how the Hero's Journey relate to so many other stories and often inspire other stories such as The Hunger Games. I could see my hero (Malcolm X) relating more to that structure and this makes me feel more ready and prepared to write structured, comparison essays.

Reflection (24/9/12-28/9/12)

This week in English we had the chance to explore and dig deeper into the symbolic meaning of the Hunger Games foods. It has definitely been an interesting class as I really liked exploring symbolism. For example, as I was researching about the symbolic meaning of apples, I read about Adam and Eve and even got an idea that was sparked by Newton's apple revelation. Learning about the various definitions of a word also taught me that a poem can be easily misinterpreted if we are negligent towards factors such as time period, the author and theme while researching.

 As mentioned on the class discussion forum page, I am still unclear about some topics regarding poetry like how would we know which definition of a word did the author mean and why some sentences are oddly arranged. I am amazed by how much we have to do to understand a piece of poetry and this made me realize how much deeper it is as compared to first glance. In time, I hope I could understand poetry at a faster pace.

Reflection (17/9/12-21/9/12)

This week, the Figurative Rap rocked my socks off! I didn't think that we were actually assembling a lyric until we heard the song. I thought it was a really fun activity. Our exercises on simile, metaphor, hyperbole and personification were really comprehensive. I think that it was a good start to the idea of poetry with simple exercises as such as I am only warming up to the practice of using figurative language.

BTW THE ANSWER TO LAST WEEK'S RIDDLE IS WATER BOTTLE! :D

I would like to do writing exercises like the mini essay we did this week to apply this fresh knowledge as it will slip off my mind if I don't constantly practice using them. I am finding this topic to be more and more interesting as I'm exploring and learning about interpreting and digging deeper to find a meaning. I expect to improve in organizing the way I write and my interpreting skills through continuous, small writing exercises. It's been a great week! :)

Reflection( 10/9/12-14/9/12)

This week we reinforced our knowledge in producing an argumentative essay again. It's been a while since our Hero essays and as proven, I've forgotten to include many important factors such as topic sentences, zooming in to words and writing a conclusion. With a few nifty highlighters, I rewrote my essay. I do honestly enjoy writing essays for a change instead of typing them onto the laptop as it keeps my handwriting at practice. The only trouble is keeping it neat as I often cross out a lot of points and words. Regular short essay practices could seem like a great idea to help me build up on my essay writing skills as it took only a couple of months to flush some memories of producing a good essay down the toilet.

Today we also played a game similar to 'Taboo' that requires us to help our partners understand a word without using certain descriptive words. Great and simple game to see how we can expand our vocabulary as I find describing 'winter' quite a challenge when I'm banned to use the word 'season'. Creative writing has also never been this hard when writing about an inanimate object(check out my previous post!) but it was certainly fun to take on this new challenge. I hope to improve on this aspect of creative writing after seeing works of the previous Yr 11's  as it was certainly inspiring to see such brilliant works of creativity from them.

reflection 27/8/12-30/8/12)

Holidays came to an end and work commences once again! This week had been a  productive and great start to English in Year 11 with great presentations from my fellow classmates. I really did enjoy some of them, remembering bits and bobs such as Idura's neutered cats and Afifah's obsession with sweet potato and lasagne. 

 Throughout the presentations given and my presentation today, I learnt that most of us have forgotten to include a debatable topic like our essays, hence our presentations were mostly one-sided and had no arguments in it. 

 I also felt that I've somehow went off topic when I presented today as my classmates could not answer my questions with positive feedback. I noticed that Ms. Abena and my fellow classmates seem to be a confused with my presentation as they look rather perplexed so I  was perhaps rather vague in presenting my points in the presentation. 

 The feedback session then proved to be of help in gathering whether or not have my classmates fully understood my driving question of comparing and contrasting how Suzanne Collins and one other writer(George Orwell) deal with the idea of violence in their novels.

reflection (2/7/12-6/7/12)

This we began writing our commentaries and also talked about the whole point of reflection again. It was good to talk about reflections again as I look back at the past few months and pondered on the effectiveness of it once more. Here I am right now, trying to recall my lessons this week. This is hard enough to recall and I simply do not agree with those who want it to be a monthly assignment as it would then be completely useless. We even forgot to discuss about whether or not we've to write one this week as agreed. So, I really do think we should stick to writing a reflection once a week as it doesn't seem to be a problem at all at the moment.

The guide for our commentary is really useful as they're all the key questions that I need in mine. It's almost spoon-feeding but definitely serves as a great guideline for us to produce a good and thorough commentary. The mix 'n' match exercise was really good too as it was anything but easy. My group members and I definitely had different opinions when it comes to some replies and by exchanging views, it made us think about the relevance of the answers and whether the answers are really 'answering' the question or not.

reflection (18/6/12-22/6/12)

This week we've been given exercises on Introductions and Conclusions, Unity and Coherence and more on the essay stucture. These exercises have been really helpful for my essay especially Unity and Coherence as I realise I needed to cut a lot out of my essay. The They Say/I Say templates are also very handy as they introduce me to useful terms and keywords such as "I think that X is mistaken because___." and "My discussion of X is in fact addressing the larger matter of ____."


However, I do agree that class sessions should be allocated for lessons on how to improve our essay instead of time given to work on our essays as I do not really make use of the time and I don't really do much work in the given time. Instead, I would prefer learning or doing more exercises as it engages me. The past few exercises has prove handy as it enhanced my comprehension towards writing an academic essay more. Peer assessment has also been extremely helpful as my classmates gave really good advices and tips to improvise the essay. Peer assessment helped to shape my essay almost completely.

I'm excited to see my work progress on the essay and I hope that the efforts will show in the end product where I can proudly say later that I've written a good essay on Malcolm X by next week.

Reflection (11/6/12-15/6/12)

 This week has been all about our research essays. I've been out of touch with my essay writing skills and I've definitely practised and learnt a lot. One of the most important things I've learnt about writing a research essay is the structure of an essay. After a fruitful peer assessment with Sharmaine, I realise that the biggest flaw in my essay was it's structure. It was confusing for Sharmaine as she has pointed out that I did not set a proper structure hence it isn't easy to point out topic sentences and understand the arguments that supported it. Sharmaine also pointed out that I've added too much unnecessary biographical information instead of producing my own opinions and arguments.

However, she saw a paragraph that had a proper structure and advised me to set that as the same structure for other paragraphs. Ms Abena also reminded me an essential part of the essay which is to keep it INTERESTING. I almost forgot about this element and was glad that it was brought up. I also need to avoid adding too many cliches in my essay as pointed out in the online paper rater, as suggested by Idura. Source of quotes also have to be recorded in MLA form or a uniformed manner. 

 I've practised recording all my sources when I carry out my research to keep track of it and they could also be future references. As I know that I would still be carrying out more research, I saved the links that I have yet to read thoroughly just in case I would ever need them. Basically, it has only hit me recently that a research essay is very different from a normal essay. A research essay is based so heavily on it's structure and that is what I'm lacking at the moment in my essay. With the help from Ms Abena and Ms. Sandra, my peers and online guides, I will take the initiative to use the help given as best as possible as help is pretty much a call away. 

Reflection (14/5/12-18/5/12)

  We kicked off this week of English lessons by watching the research presentations made by the working groups in our classes. It was evident that most of the presentations were put in a lot of effort in order to help one another. I've learnt a lot while working on my presentation last week but this week, it's all about learning how to research quality academic materials for our research essays.

 As I'm researching on Malcolm X, this week have been an eye-opening week to proper researching method and materials which simply pulverises my dependency on wiki pages. Not that Wikipedia and Google aren't useful but I've learnt that there are websites such as Sirs(http://ars.sirs.com), Gale (http://www.gale.cengage.com/) and many more reliable and factual academic e-resources that are shared with us are indeed very helpful for this coursework. I've honestly never seen such websites until recently and find them as banks of useful resources for whatever learning subject I'm in.

 These useful e-resourses also becomes a habit for me now whenever I need quality information as it provides me a far more accurate database of research materials whenever I need them. I feel that this is a step in improving my academic performance as our essays now can no longer be simple pieces of writing that drive teachers up the wall and should instead be sophisticated, critically-analyzed pieces of writing with added research to support the essay.

 I also realise that our literature circles need to be spiced up in order to engage in a productive discussion. I enjoyed Pei Qin's method in her role as a vocabulary enricher of using online flashcards to record the the vocabulary words found in the chapters of Animal Farm and believe that we should go out of the box and gain ideas like Pei Qin to engage our group members during our literature circle sessions.

reflection (6/5/12-11/5/12)

  This week, we were given topics for research presentations. I was given the topic of 'Primary Sources v.s. Secondary Sources' to work on individually. This week was certainly a busy week with tests and all but I managed to sort everything really well including my research for the presentation because of time management. Oddly enough, this assignment was a key part of my practise in time management as I knew I wouldn't be able to finish everything in one day. And I KNOW for a fact that if I go back to procrastinating as I've always did, the presentation would not have been completed in time.

 So, I planned out my schedule meticulously the whole week and I had enough time for my studies and the research for my presentation. I realise by teaching, I actually gain more knowledge as a learner myself. I kept the idea of making explanations as basic and simplified as possible to make my presentation as comprehensible as enough. And to do so, you need to research a lot to have a clear idea that can be used to be simplified. The logic is, if I don't know enough, how am I going to convey the message as clearly and as enough for others to understand? Hence to explain, I must know. And there goes a total of 9 websites, filled to the brim with information on primary and secondary sources to be absorbed.

 It may not be a coherent matter to others but my proudest achievement this week was completing this research presentation based on good time management. I remember a class session where Ms Abena have once taught me on effective presentation and I tried my best to put the skills to good use such as avoiding being boring. I feel that the class session on effective presentation was really educational as it applies to so much more than class work. I am also curious about the proper usage of italics and fonts. I feel that these small details in writing really do make a difference in the quality of writing.

reflection (30/4/12-4/5/12)

  This week, I've learnt about morphemes which are units of meaning. Some could make sense on their own such as "cat" but some such as "-ness" do not bring any meaning unless combined with words. I also realise that my grammar is weak as I've unconsciously misused semi-colons and the single and double inverted commas in my writing. I've been developing a habit of putting my vocabulary skills to use ( putting in new words I've learned recently such as "catalyse") whenever I write to make my essays more sophisticated. I hope I can learn about the proper usage of semi-colons the inverted commas in class next time as the examples on the internet still confuses me.

 I also enjoyed doing the starter activity on morphemes simply it's honestly really interesting! I've always wondered about the root of words and I would love more exercises on grammar in the future. I'm still not confident about my writing as I've never been challenged to write in such an intermediate level back in my previous high school but I'm glad I have the chance to do so now. It's just baffling that it feels almost like I'm starting to learn English for the first time WHICH MEANS there's definitely things to learn about English. I intend to improve my writing by reading more to increase my vocabulary and definitely learn about punctuations as a semi-colon would most probably be worlds apart from the usage of a single-colon?? 

 Most of the times, my teenage angst gets the better of me by contemplating on the reason for education and all. Beyond these exams (IGCSE, A-levels, etc), how much are we really LEARNING? Some subjects completely fazes me as I have no idea how in the world is it ever applicable in life besides paying at the grocery counter (Maths good lord) and some subjects ( History and English) fazes me as I don't have a reason why I like them. I just do. Beyond Nexus, I see these subjects as platforms for me to explore who I really am and what I'm meant for.

 We as learners are always so stressed about exams but we seldom see school as the platform to learn from our mistakes. Or maybe society's influence on the obsession with grades now simply prevailed us from doing so. Hence, this is the challenge. To realise that this is the time for us to explore and not be afraid to take risks. The obsession with good grades gets to me as mistakes make me feel like a complete failure. I'm only starting to learn how to accept my mistakes and LEARN from them by putting my inferiority complexes aside. And I'm learning better through this simple step I've found recently. And I hope that I could help others to accept their flaws and help them understand this too.

Sorry for the long rant Ms. Abena! 

Reflection (16/4/12-20/4/12)

  Over the holidays, I did another small article for the My Hero project on Maya Angelou. I've read some of her poems and felt that her struggles in life was also relatable to a movie I've watched during the holidays, which is The Help. As I'm interested in American History, it was interesting to research on Maya Angelou as her past acquaintances with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the time of the Civil Rights Movement was a significant time period in American History. These people were the catalyst of their time, risking everything for humanity and often, becoming martyrs for their beliefs.

 Back in school, we also cleared the confusion between an 'idol' and a 'hero'. I realise all these while I've misinterpreted the true meaning of a hero and by writing on my own definition of a hero after a session of interactive class activities that includes using the Venn Diagram and a small debate, I was really able to see the fine line that separates a hero from and idol. I am happy to be able to write eloquently on the matter and I see an improvement in my writing. All I need was simply concentration and by putting my head in it ( and a little music on itunes), I was able to analyse the lyrics and the poem better too.

 In my literature circle, my group members and I had a thorough discussion on the chapters that we've read over the holidays. We all agree that the book is indeed getting more interesting as the protagonist; Winston, is acting towards his instinct and not merely living his fearful life under the orders of Big Brother anymore. As we are closing in towards the end of the book, we are also discussing on the literature circle projects that we will do once we've finished reading the book.

 After that, we also did a small game of charades and I was partnered with Afifah. We were given funny situations to act out and in the end, Afifah and I did pretty well as we were able to guess out most of each other's acts. I realise I was being really self-conscious while playing hence, I wasn't giving my best efforts to be in character whereas Afifah went completely out of her shell and performed really well. I was blessed with another opportunity to improve my acting in the group performance with Rizq and Victoria. We tried to be as spontaneous as possible and had fun performing our short skit. In my performance rubric, I was mostly 'Keira Knightly' as I didn't stay in character as I've forgotten to maintain my facial expressions. I hope that I would maintain my composure and be fully in character the next time in the next acting to achieve the 'Kevin Spacey' level.

 Overall, it was an exhilarating week in school after two weeks of holidays as I've really enjoyed the practical activities in class (especially the activities that we did to differentiate idols and heroes) as classes were not boring and I was able to write efficiently after a long streak of bad writing.

Reflection (12/3/12-16/3/12)

Reflection-presentation on essay features

  Today we have seen peers developing their comprehension towards english in a spectrum of effective media such as Voicethread and iMovie to name a few. Not only have I learnt more about composing an essay that consists of elements such as thesis statement, topic sentences, analysing and more, I've also learnt more on how to use the iMovie program. I do consider myself as someone who's not spontaneous when it comes to information technology and usually give up halfway through learning, but with the help of my partner Pei Qin, she guided me and before I knew it, I was getting the hang of using the iMovie program. And it was fun a process too as I learn and practise while making the presentation together with Pei Qin.

  Working with Pei Qin taught me to value the time and effort of others placed into the work as the results would definitely display the efficiency of all members as an individual's work reflect his/her partners work too hence it would be unfair to take credit for the work of others. I also learnt that I tend to be overbearing all the time hence while working on this presentation, I reflected on those mistakes and tried my best to prevent myself from doing so. I was glad to see the outcome comprising of a balanced teamwork between Pei Qin and I. I felt alleviated that I was able to overcome that overbearing attitude of myself.

Our outcome was short, concise and lighthearted thus it managed to capture the attention of our peers. We also aim to make it a learner-friendly presentation to enhance comprehension and through the responses given by our peers on the rubric marking scheme, our presentation was understandable by everyone and we were happy to achieve this goal. The only thing I wished we could have done was to produce an assessment to test the understanding of our classmates in topic sentences; which was the topic we presented on. Overall, the presentation helped me to understand the components of an essay better and I hope our presentation was able to help others as well.

reflection-dama activity

Through the though drama and tracking activity,I was able to see how it enabled us students to further deepen our understanding towards a character by being in role and think from the character's perspective. I observed and graded my classmates for their individual assessment as I was not able to prepare for today's activity but I believe that I've learnt a lot as well today about the proper usage of vocabulary, idiom, simile and verb during a speech.

 The activity also enhanced our comprehension towards chapter 11. When an individual knows the story thoroughly, he/she is able to act spontaneously. Hence, the learner will have no problems being in character and also speaking from the character's perspective. As proven, the rubric definitely served as a guideline for each other's personal target and could also help to show the learner where he/she stands and what more can be done do improve oneself.The introduction of the language record bank would also be beneficial down the road as it would help us in our writing in the future.

reflection (30/1-3/2)

In this reflection, I would like reflect on the importance of ACTUALLY taking the the time to review hence understanding the success criteria as it gives a general understanding of the upcoming assignment related to it. The first assignment, which was to identify the difference in synonyms and to understand the proper usage of the synonyms made me realise the bad effects of simply using a synonym that sounded 'fancier' as it could be misinterpreted into a whole different meaning.

In our personal assignment of exploring a character, I was given the character of Pavel. I did not apply the PEE( point, evidence. explanation) onto my writing thus resulting in the lack of evidence; which were quotations, needed to support my points in the essay. This emphasises on the point of really reviewing the success criteria thoroughly as to avoid such mishaps again in the future.

Also, the introduction of the Literature Circle proved to be helpful as all roles are to be swapped among the group members every week, hence enabling us to dabble in each role. During our first discussion, I agreed to be the discussion leader which engages with the members of the group through discussion. I find this role as an important one as the individual has to be initiative in striking a conversation with other members. This role would also allow other members in the future to familiarise themselves with public speaking.

reflection (23/1-27/1)

In this week's english lessons, my group members which consisted of Praveen, Afifa, Jerry, Syahirah, Ray and I worked together to produce a photo story of chapter 8 of The Boy In Striped Pajamas using the Comic Life application. We've highlighted the 12 most important and memorable scenes of the chapter with important quotes to visualise how the scene would actually look like. I was fortunate enough to have humorous group members to work with as we had fun taking the pictures for each scene and shared ideas on how to improve the photo story. We've managed to organise our work very well as we finished highlighting the 12 important scenes of chapter within a day hence giving us ample amount of time to snap the pictures and discuss about props for the photo story during the next class. Everyone carried a lively and positive attitude while taking the pictures for the photo story which made the whole process of creating the photo story a smooth one.

presentation and reflection

Presentation reflection

What feedback from your assessor do you agree with and why?


I agree that the powerpoint presentation my group and I presented on displayed clear and consistent font and each member of the group played their respective roles in making the presentation a success.


What feedback from your assessor do you disagree with and why?


I disagreed on my group and I not being able to explain unusual words clearly as I believe that we have chosen words that are quickly apprehended to suit the vocabulary of other fellow classmates.


What did you find most difficult about this presentation?


I found it difficult to present my speech smoothly as I stammered a lot while trying to talk about the factual information by memory.


What could you have done beforehand to avoid this difficulty?


I could have memorised my part of the speech thoroughly to avoid forgetting about facts and also to avoid unnecessary jitters.


What did you find easiest about this presentation?


I found the researching process for information from various sources on concentration camps easiest as I could gather plenty of information with a click of a finger from the internet.


What did you do beforehand to make this so?


I have read books beforehand relating to the holocaust and because I was particularly inclined towards topics related to the holocaust, I find researching easy and enjoyable.


What will you work on next time you do a presentation?


I will work on memorising my facts and knowledge about the given topic to improve the quality of content in my speech and also to prevent myself from stammering


link to concentration camp presentation slide