Tongue Twistering

I saw Susie sitting in a shoe shine shop.

Where she sits she shines, and where she shines she sits.

How many boards could the Mongols hoard if the Mongol hordes got bored?

Did you read the sentences above? Do you find it is difficult to read it fluently? Do you felt you tongue feels like being twisted when you read it? Yes? Well, that is tongue twister. It is a form of sentences which have almost the same pronunciation but actually its not the same. And the tongue twister above were presented in our class and my classmate did the "Tongue Twistering" correctly. *After being corrected and taught by us helped by Madam Ira

The focus of this activity is to make our pronunciation better and I find it is very hard. My tongue always slip and resulting the word that I am about to pronoun being pronounced wrongly. And yea, sometimes we found its funny to produce sounds that we don't expect.

Phonetic alphabets

What do I learn from this activity to learn to pronoun correctly. Yea, phonetic knowledge really help. I just need to check the word in dictionary and just check the transcription of that word. But of course you need to know the transcription letter first.

I believe, as a teacher which is a role model to our students, we should know how to pronoun correctly. Our students will follow the way we pronoun. So, if your students pronoun wrongly, you better check your way of pronouncing word before you put your blame on them.

We also enjoy the activity a lot. We make the pronouncing into a rhyme while clapping our hand to the tempo. I am planning to do the same activity with my students whenever I have the chances to do so in the future. I believe they will enjoy the "Tongue Twistering" activity more in this way.

I am a puppet but almost alive as human

Hi, have you act before? If yes, that's good to hear. Well, I have act before to. Not in drama or in TV shows, it just happen inside my dear class. Yea, I should say I am not good at acting. I will freeze as ice and forgeting every dialogue I have remembered all night long. Yea, I do look like a puppet when it comes to acting session.

But, from this activity, actually I've learn to act, maybe I am not the best actor YET, but I can feel that I've loosen up a bit. I also learn on how to control the thrill by breathe in a lot.*Of course not in front of audiences.

From this activity to, I've learned to pronounce correctly. Thanks to Bro Hubert. I've also learned to act and make facial expression and practice my non verbal communication to make my act more effective. I admit, I still looks like a puppet but I am proud of myself as I still there to act until the end of our show. 

All these new experiences I've learned I believe will help me to be a better teacher. Thanks to Madam Ira. She knows how to make her class more interactive by giving make everyone to act. I believe practical is better than reading a theory alone. One more skill I've learned from IPGKS MIRI is to include a practical session in class rather than just depending on theory alone. It will be more effective and student will better prepare for their real life communication if we looks from the benefits that we gain from this activity. 

Now, I want to share our dialogue to all of you readers. Enjoy!

Housewarming Party

Scene 1: Invitation on the phone

Scene 2: Arrival at the house

Scene 3: Meal Time

Scene 1: Invitation on the phone

Inaz:	Hello Hubert, it’s Inaz speaking.
Hubert:	Oh, Hi Inaz!
Inaz:	Yeah, it’s been awhile. How’ve you been? (to enquire)
Hubert:	Not too bad, thanks. And you?
Inaz:	I’m fine thanks. I’m calling because I wanted to tell you that I have moved to a new house just last month and I’m planning a housewarming party this Saturday evening. (to inform)
Hubert:	Oh that’s great! Where is your house? (to enquire)
Inaz:	Well, my house is in the Ocean Park residential area. I will text you the address and the information about the party. (to inform)
Hubert:	I see. I would love to come and celebrate you moving into your new house. Thanks for the invite! (to express gratitude)
Inaz:	It’s no big deal. Also, can you invite Muslim and Nisa also as I don’t have their phone numbers. I would like them to come seeing that we were quite a fun group during our time in the IPG. (to reminisce)
Hubert:	Sure thing. Those were good times indeed. I’ll let them know as soon as you’ve texted me your address.
Inaz:	Thanks Hubert. Anyway , I’ve got to go. It was nice talking to you. See you at the party then! Bye.
Hubert:	No problem. I’ll see you at the party! Bye.

Scene 2: Arrival at the house.

Muslim:	Assalamualaikum.
Inaz:	Walaikumusalam.  Hi Muslim, please come in.
Hubert:	Hello Inaz! (To greet)
Inaz:	Oh hello! You’re here with Mus I see. Is Nisa with you?
Nisa:	Hello Inaz. Yes I came with them as I didn’t know the way here. Thank goodness they wanted to pick me up.
Muslim:	It’s not a problem Nisa, what are friends for right? (to reflect)
Hubert:	Yeah. Wow, it smells really good in here, and your house looks superb! (to give praise/ admire)
Inaz:	Thanks Hubert. I did some renovations and tinkered with the interior design. I had my fiancé help me with the furniture choice. (to inform)
Nisa:	Talking about fiancé, where is the lucky guy? (to inquire)
Inaz:	Erm, he’s with his sister in the kitchen helping out with the cooking.
Hubert:	That’s interesting. You’ve got a man that cooks.
Inaz:	It’s all in God’s hands. I am blessed to have him. Here he comes now. (to show gratitude)
Fiancé:	Well hello there.
Hubert, Muslim and Nisa:	What?! (to express wonder)

Scene 3: Meal Time

Nisa:	I can’t believe that _________ is engaged to you. We  never expected that!
Inaz	I never expected it too. I suppose that’s what jodoh is all about.
Muslim	I’m happy for you Inaz. I also agree with Hubert that your house looks splendid.
Nisa:	Yeah, I admire you Inaz. You’ve done well. (to compliment)
Hubert	I agree. And the food your fiancé cooked tastes really good! (to compliment)
All	(Laughs) You never change, Hubert.

Consonant Sounds Cutest Video

HI, before this I was posting about the video about Vowel sounds. But now I've found the video about the consonant sounds and I guess these video come from the same software. And yeah, It is super cute!!!!!!!! Happy learning English !!!!!!!!!

Consonant Sounds 1 

From : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIPOGkyx-7I&feature=related

Uploaded by: 54321carlos

Consonant Sounds 2

From : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSYJ2jNhaMs&feature=related

Uploaded by 54321 Carlos

Cutest English pronunciation Phonetic vowel sounds

From http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKzf1GMLUkU&feature=related Uploaded by Phirom11

Hi, I've found the cutest video about 

English pronunciation Phonetic vowel sounds

I'll teach you how to produce the sounds of each phonetic vowel sounds and give you the example.

It is kinda cute and don't blame if without you realise pronouncing the sound together with the video. Try it!!!!

Mime Video

Hai, we were asked to do a short mime video. For me this is very interesting task as it helps us to express our feeling without saying any word. This task also gave us more time to work together with our classmate as we need each other a lots.

This task also give us chances to learn more on using Video Editing Program to produce a video. For our group, which is me as the editor I am using Ulead video Editor. Although I never use this program before, with some effort I manage to learn and produce a basic video using this software.

The best thing about this task was, all the hard works were paid when my classmate enjoying this video so much. Madam Ira also love our video and gave us a handsome reward. 

In future, I will make education video for my children as I believe this alternative method of learning is very interesting.

 Ok, here goes our video. Enjoy!!!!

                                         

Phonology ( Week 2 )

Phonology (\fə-ˈnä-lə-jē, fō-\), as describe at http://www.merriam-webster.com is the science of speech sounds including especially the history and theory of sound changes in a language or in two or more related languages. This knowledge is essential for an educator so that they can be the best role model as English speakers. Students will learn more especially in pronunciations and language if educators are capable of using English in the best way as possible.

There are some key points in Phonology. They are:

1.       Phonetics: the study of sounds made by humans when they talk.

2.       Phonetic script: International Phonetic Association (IPA)

3.       Phonemes: the smallest unit of sound in a language which carries distinctive meaning. E.g.  /p/,    /b/,   /t/,    /d/

4.       Speech Organ: Organs that were used to produce sound

By knowing all these term, it should be easier for us to learn phonology. Next we move on to speech organ.

Speech organs

As we can see above, this is the speech organ. All of them have its own function which are to produce specific sounds such as vocal and vowel sounds. For more information, here's the link which describe briefly about the speech organ. http://tanvirdhaka.blogspot.com/2010/12/organs-of-speech.html

Lecture w1 ( LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION )

For W1 lecture is about language and communication. As a teacher will be, to teach language is not an easy job. Its need true and deep understanding in the language that is going to be taught. And for this reason, I feel that this lecture is very important and one way to understand better is by blogging about what we have learned in class and searching for extra information.

Language is a code

Language can be defined as a code that allows us to represent thoughts and ideas by means of sounds/letters. This code has complex symbols with internal structure which is rule-governed. From this definition, we know that languages were used to deliver our idea to others and it has its own symbols which may be understand universally or maybe to specific audience. More definition on http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/language

There is a clear connection between language and culture. A culture itself influencing how the language to be formed. For example, in Court there is specific language code that we must use. For example “Your Honour” is use to addressing Judge. Another example in some village, there is some words were forbid to use or mentioned. Maybe that specific word was believed to bring bad luck. More information on http://library.thinkquest.org/C004367/la5.shtml

Language also has its own function for example to greet, to describe, to give opinion and etc. These functions are depending on the situation and many other constraints. Failed to use these function correctly may resulting in misunderstanding and misinterpretation.

 There is also vocal and non vocal communication. Vocal communication can be subdivided into speech and non speech. Non speech involves   physiological reflexes, emotion markers, voice quality differences, and paralinguistic effects.

While non vocal communication involving tactile, visual, olfactory, and physical. For further reading, you can go to these websites about vocal and non vocal communication.

1.      http://www.minoritycareernet.com/newsltrs/95q3nonver.html

2.      http://www.fenman.co.uk/traineractive/training-activity/Verbal-and-vocal-communication-in-teams.html

For time being, I think I should stop and will write more. Leave your comment because I need that to improve myself to prepare myself to be a good teacher! Have a pleasure day everyone! =D