Lucky Man By The Verve

Happiness
More or less
It's just a change in me
Something in my liberty
Oh, my, my
Happiness
Coming and going
I watch you look at me
Watch my fever growing
I know just where I am

But how many corners do I have to turn?
How many times do I have to learn
All the love I have is in my mind?

But I'm a lucky man
With fire in my hands

Happiness
Something in my own place
I'm stood here naked
Smiling, I feel no disgrace
With who I am

Happiness
Coming and going
I watch you look at me
Watch my fever growing
I know just who I am

But how many corners do I have to turn?
How many times do I have to learn
All the love I have is in my mind?

I hope you understand
I hope you understand

Gotta love that'll never die

Happiness
More or less
It's just a change in me
Something in my liberty
Happiness
Coming and going
I watch you look at me
Watch my fever growing
I know
Oh, my, my
Oh, my, my
Oh, my, my
Oh, my, my

Gotta love that'll never die
Gotta love that'll never die
No, no
I'm a lucky man

It's just a change in me
Something in my liberty
It's just a change in me
Something in my liberty
It's just a change in me
Something in my liberty
Oh, my, my
Oh, my, my
It's just a change in me
Something in my liberty
Oh, my, my
Oh, my, my


To me this song is about coming to realization with yourself and that is it with how many twists and turns in life may come your way, it is your choice how you deal with it. And the bottom line, if you’re a lucky man in your own mind, and you’re a loving person, then nothing else that surrounds you really matters. It’s about being strong." I would say It's about being oneself if ones searches for happiness and love like he says he does and what makes him lucky ( happy and have love).

My First Draft.

I got my first draft. I got comments from Dr. Sharifah. She said overall, the ideas are there and the way I explained is quite interesting. The problems are the reorganization and the used of grammar or choice of word. She explained to me how to improve it and add certain things to my research paper. Alright, back to the drawing board.

Limerick

Dr. Edwin introduced us with limerick today. Limerick is funny and a little bit mocking itself. When creating limerick, it must be rhyme and logical too. After introduced us with examples of limerick, Dr. Edwin asked us to create our own limerick based on the examples he has given. We tried to create our own limerick and it involved German and a man dressing as a woman. We realized it did not rhyme when Dr. Edwin corrected us. But I realized one thing. Limerick can be used in teaching students using the language and encourages students to be creative. Although there are many other types of poem that can encourage students learn English and improve their ability in that language, Limerick is a good choice to use.

Try to Kill My Nervous

We were supposed to present our position paper. First day of the presentation, I did not present my position paper and on the next session, I presented my paper. Walked out to the front and showed my PowerPoint presentation, nervous came into me. My voice was trembling and I cannot think straight. Everyone was looking at me and I need to pull myself together. I tried to picture myself as a lawyer who is trying to defend my client or probably myself. Well, I am trying to defend Oedipus anyway in my position paper. I spoke calmly but loud. I tried to get my friend attention about my position paper. Well, I tried my best. The rest is up to God.

Trip to Malacca.

I have no regret going to Malacca and visited a remarkable artist. Walking to a narrow road and reached his shop and also his house, I can see he used a lot of recycle materials such as sea shells and marbles in decorating the entrance of his house. When entered, there are a lot of small paintings and postcards display in there. There are also a small office and we were greeted by his son (I forgot his name). While waiting for Mr. Tham to come back, we wandered around to look at his creations. I asked a few questions about his painting. One of them is how we measure the price of the painting. His son told me that it is depends on how long is the picture. Mr. Tham came back to his shop and we met with him face to face. We were divided into three groups and began our tour into Mr. Tham’s life and passion.

It is remarkable to see the world of an artist and how they perceive life. I am bit jealous of him and how I wish to become an artist. To become an artist to me is like having a Romantic Spirit. To be free and untangle from rule, norms and burden of society. How I wish to become like that.

The Use of Autobiography in Teaching Literature.

We learned autobiography and how it can be used in teaching literature to students. Dr. Edwin showed it by using Nelson Mandela autobiography. From that extract, he showed us how Nelson used of words in conveying his messages and thought during his life in prison and the effects of prison toward him. I think as teacher, we can use any types of materials in teaching students literature and how it meaningful to them. Not just autobiography, but also speech and diary in teaching literature to students.

Teacher as a Transformer.

I thought myself as a transformer. This transformer is not the same as Transformer that you watch in movie or cartoon. This is the original transformer. A transformer is a device that transfers electrical energy from one circuit to another through inductively coupled conductors — the transformer's coils or "windings". Transformer makes use of Faraday's law and the ferromagnetic properties of an iron core to efficiently raise or lower AC voltages. The reason why I choose this metaphor because teacher adjusts their students’ knowledge and skill depends on their level of proficiency in English. Like transformer which raise and lower AC voltages, teacher raises and lowers the knowledge and task depend on students’ performance and knowledge. Teacher adjusts the task and determines how much input to provide to students depends on their ability. The most important thing for teacher to think about when teach students to me is how to make students comprehend what they learn and how it meaningful to their life.

Metaphor as a Teacher

Dr Edwin asked us to come up with a metaphor that represents ourselves as teacher. Each of us comes up with metaphor that relates ourselves as a source of knowledge. He gave us a good example of metaphor from one of his mainstream students. The metaphor is teacher as a can opener. The reasons she or he choose this metaphor because teacher is someone who enable students in receive knowledge. It is a very good metaphor and it shows teacher is enabler for students in receiving knowledge. I told Dr. Edwin about my metaphor which teacher is a philosopher. The reasons why I choose this metaphor is because philosopher is not just a provider of knowledge, but they are more to allow people or students develop their thinking skill. For example, Socrates developed the Socrates’ Method in developing their thinking skills, questioning opinion and facts and become a critical thinker. After thinking about it, I do not think philosopher is a good metaphor. Dr. Edwin asked us to post something about our metaphor in the forum or blog. I need to come up with something beside teacher as a provider of knowledge.

Meeting with My Supervisor

Met with my supervisor for the second time, Dr. Sharifah. This time was about our thesis statement and outline for our research paper. Only Jowie and I were there. The others have not completed their topic yet. I showed my thesis statement and also the outline. I am doing on songs. My thesis statement is the songwriters use literary devices in portraying themes of hope, pain and change in their songs. Dr. Sharifah looked at it and said that this is something new and wished me good luck on it. Well, I try to do something new and different from others and this topic which I discuss on song is meaningful to me.

Writer’s Block. Or so it seems.

This is the common problem that most writers or probably we face when we try to write something. Whether it is academic purposes or just for leisure, we face this problem. Trying to write my position paper and suddenly I cannot think and I felt all my point is lost and irrelevant. I remember Dr. Jayakaran tip in handling this kind of problem. Just draw something or stop doing and spend time not to think about it and enjoy. So, I did. I stopped writing and began playing video game. After felt satisfy with the game, I continued with my work and it seems that some of the points are irrelevant. So, I looked back at the play and read again. After a few minutes of reading, I had found certain points that are related to my thesis statement. Thank God.

Enlighten by My Brother

Enlighten. Again. Thank You God. I got Dr. Sharifah as my supervisor. After meeting her, I was thinking of topic for my research paper and how it can be implemented in education. The song “Bittersweet Symphony” by The Verve came into my mind. I want to show in my research paper how songwriter uses literary device in portraying theme in their song. Plus, I also want to show that song can became part of literature component. This song is very significant to me. When I am downed, I listen to it. It is liked I never think about what other people think of me, my problems and how wonderful this life is. It is just us who never look inside us and see how magnificent each of us is.

For this research paper, we need to analysis two literary texts. Because song is the same as poem, I do not think it will be a problem. The problem is right now is I could not find the second song that is suitable with “Bittersweet Symphony”. While I was driving back home after picked up my brother from work, he was singing ‘Mercy’ by One Republic. When I listened and analysed the song, the songwriter is using literary devices such as symbolism in portraying theme of hope and pain. The themes are bit the same as ‘Bittersweet Symphony’. Yes. Thank you, Shafiq.

Enlighten by a Friend

I was thinking of doing a position paper on song but it seems to be a bit difficult for me to do it. I need something to argue, something new. I would like to do something on song. I am so eager to do it. One of my friends suggested to me to focus on what you can argue or persuade our reader in believing in what you are trying to say. She said try something that you are not satisfied with when reading certain literary text or disagree with writer’s point of views. I began to recall all the literary works that I had learnt. Enlighten. I remembered when I was learning drama with Dr. Edwin, there is a play that I am not satisfied with. Oedipus Rex, a play by Sophocles, portrays the life of Oedipus and the reasons for his downfall are based on his tragic flaws. Sophocles also tried to convey that we are powerless against God and fate and human is weak. I agree with that. However, I disagree with Sophocles when portrays his tragic flaws are the reason for his downfall. Oedipus was powerless in the hand of good and to say he is ignorant, to me, was untrue. I discussed my points with my friend and she agreed with me.

Romantic Spirit, and a 'Boon'

Monday class with Dr. Edwin was like, erm… sexually explicit because most of us brought pictures of Deadalus and Icarus flying or probably ‘Fall of Icarus’. Most of us have pictures of two men flying half-naked or something. The picture that Dr. Edwin was looking for was a landscape picture with Icarus falling into the water with his one or two legs up in the air. Through Dr. Edwin explanations of the Icarus and intertexuality, I understood that Icarus is a Romantic spirit and how people use the story of ‘Deadalus and Icarus’ to express the same message of the story through art such as paintings, songs, and poems. He even told us how art can tell us something if we try to look or observe it carefully. We also examined stories of ‘Mahabatra’ and ‘The Son of the Turtle Spirit’. When we began our discussion on ‘Mahabatra’; he asked all of us what the story all about is. I told him ‘sacrifice of a son to his father’. Then, he paused for a moment and asked us what sacrifice is. All of us tried to come up what is the meaning of ‘sacrifice’. He said to check up in the dictionary. At home, I looked at it and it states “when you decide not to have something valuable, in order to get something that is more important”. I guessed it is not a sacrifice. I wanted to twist the truth. It is an act of sacrifice because the son willing to be ‘sonless’ or do not have children of his own and do not want to be a king and what did he get, a ‘boon’ which he is able to die anytime as he please. Nobody can kill him or he falls ill. That is even better. I think.

Thesis Statement

Omid, I think that is his name. I am not sure whether I spelled it correctly. He is ours tutor for ours position paper. In ours first session with him, he taught us how to construct a ‘thesis statement’. According to him, thesis statement is the central point you are proving. Thesis statement must states the topic of the research paper, shows purpose of my essay which to persuade my readers that my point is valid and deserves serious consideration, shows direction of my argument and interesting which shows a clear voice and style. He gave examples on the whiteboard. Then, he asked each of us to come up with a thesis statement related to UPM. I gave my thesis statement which “UPM has been wasting money on physical developments than their services” which Omid said a good example of thesis statement (I do not want to brag but this was what he say) but suggested I do not let anyone or UPM people know about this (too late now). After checking and commenting some of my friends’ thesis statements, he told us that for our second session, he will give a list of literary texts that we are going to do for our position paper. We were shocked. We thought that we can choose our own literary texts. I was thinking of doing Oedipus Rex. I also showed him my thesis to him and he said that my statement is a thesis. Darn it. Oh well. God moves in a mysterious way.

Project Work For Teaching Literature in ESL Contexts

Project work. It sounds so scary when I heard about it. Dr Edwin briefed us on what we are supposed to do throughout the course. When he said that we can choose any text we want to do or research on, I was thinking about researching on song. I asked him about it and he told me that I need to check with my tutor. I forgot his name. I even asked about our supervisor and when are we going to meet them. Probably in week 4 we will meet them. We are supposed to conduct this course at the end of our program. But, it seems that we need to finish it this semester before going back to “maktab” or IPTI (it is the same thing to me. They just change the name). This project work is important for us not just to improve our way of thinking in literature and how are we going to teach our students, but also to teach and prepare ourselves in managing a research paper. Dr Edwin enlightens us on how to do a research paper. After hearing his explanations, research paper is hard. Especially, thesis statement. A research paper presents and argues a ‘thesis’, the writer’s proposition or opinion. It is an analytical or persuasive essay that evaluates a position. As such, a research paper tries to convince readers that the writer’s argument is valid or at least deserves serious consideration. From Dr Edwin’s explanations, a research paper must has a clear thesis, shows a strong understanding of the topic and source material used, evidence that the writer has read widely on the topic, organized in a clear and logical way and each point is supported by solid, persuasive facts and examples. Hopefully I can get through this.