English as Lingua Fra

JOURNAL 9

WEEK 10

ENGLISH AS LINGUA FRANCA

English as a lingua franca can be defined as a contact language used between speakers who do not share same mother tongues and cultures. It is a global phenomenon which a wider much range of people using English now as an additional language than native speakers. Indeed, it was estimated that nearly 80% of people worldwide communicate with different mother tongues of people. And the most exciting news is they use English instead of other language which can be found in the world. 

Generally, people choose English to be the lingua franca because of some reasons. Firstly, English is a very simple language. It can be learnt easily and everybody can learn it quickly. Besides, English language is spoken by the popular and well-known countries such as America, United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada. These few countries have major influence towards the world's economic, that is why it helping in the making of English language as lingua franca either.

However, making English language as lingua franca also brings in few negative impacts. As we know, lingua franca is very important as it allows us to communicate world-widely with people from different countries. Thus, people put English language at the first priority compare to their own mother tongues. This action will then caused them to forget about their own mother tongue as they are too busy focusing to the English language. In addition, we know that language is the main transport for cultures and tradition to be inherited. Therefore, not only their language will extinct, but also their cultures and traditions.

In conclusion, making English as lingua franca has its own pros and cons.

 

Gender imbalance in varsity

JOURNAL 8
WEEK 9 (14/9/13)

                                        GENDER IMBALANCE IN VARSITY

          In our modern era today, the revelation of the new issue in our education which is more females than males in varsity has totally unnerved the male-dominated education authorities. Frankly speaking, this issue is not a new issue anymore as it started since 1996. Based on PM Najib Razak, a girl in Malaysian school is more likely to go to university than her male classmates as the country is reaping results of investing in education 'without gender discrimination. From this dialogue, we can conclude that females in our countries are outperformed than their males classmates since primary school. That is why they do not have a bright opportunity like their female classmates to enter varsity.

          The government is worrying about this issue not because of the intention to against women dominance in varsity but to ensure healthy growth among men and women because to have a healthy growth of community, there must be the balanced amount of men and women in it. As we know, God created men and women and unite them to become one as to complete each others' life. It is the same goes to a growth of one community. It needs women as well as men in it.

          As government is very concerned on this issue, a few researches have been carried out in order to gain the statistics of the gender in varsities around Malaysia. Based on a research, it stated that in local University, we can see very big difference of number of male and female students but in Private university, the difference is very small.

It is not only happens in West Malaysia but as well as in Borneo. For example, in UMS, the ratio of gender by students in 2010 is 60:30 while in UKM which was situated in Selangor showed a very high difference of ration in 2011 which is 70:30.

It was said to be an unusual gap because there are almost a balance number of men and women in Malaysia overall. On one occasion, Mohamed Khaled said, however, there was a “healthy balance” of male and female students for technical-based courses.

          After few meetings, Mohamed Khaled suggested that they will try and fix these problems at the secondary school level in order to achieve our target in future.

From the evident above, this issue should be perceived as a serious matter because it really give big impact to our future socioeconomic and community growth.

Week before Holidayyyyy!

JOURNAL 7
WEEK 8(5/8/13)

                                                      Week before Holidayyyyy!

          As a student, it is normal to feel excited and anticipated for holiday. It is the only time which we can go back to our hometown and spend our precious time with our beloved family. Additionally, it is the time where we are out from any works and classes and we can take a long rest. However, as a teacher trainee, we cannot escape from any assignments or homeworks even though during holiday. It is the norm of a teacher trainees' life as works always follow behind us.
          Basically, we started our Raya holiday this week. Many trainees from my college were very excited to leave the hostel and go to the airport. I'm not excluded from them too. It's normal because it's been a long time since we were apart from our family and home. So, last week, I started to feel the holiday mode. When I attended my class, it's just like only my body was in the class while my mind and soul both were absent.
          Nevertheless, I can't do anything and have no other choice. I just forced myself to accept anything that were being taught in class and pretended to be interested in class. Waiting for another week is just like waiting for another year! It is true that when you are eagerly want the time to fly faster, it feels like the time go very slow and vice versa. So, I tried to forget about it and just pretended to be patient of the time.
          Last week, we even carried out a newscasting presentation in class and it quite interesting as it made us very busy while we started to forget about the holiday. Besides that, we helped the seniors to decorate the auditorium for the Timbalan Pengarah's retirement day. It was really tiring because  we decorated it until almost 1am in the morning. It was really irritating that some of the seniors did not help us and they just sit there, eat while watching us. That really showed their irresponsible and ineffective attitude.
          At last, when it comes to Friday, everyone was crazily excited to go home. My flight was also on that day and I left the hostel on that evening to airport. My journey back to my beloved hometown, Sabah was full with tiredness and happiness.

The " Balik Kampung" Phenomenon

ESSAY
01/08/13

                                              THE " BALIK KAMPUNG" PHENOMENON

         In fact, the phenomenon of " Balik Kampung" is a common phenomenon that happen regularly almost every year in Malaysia which always strikes a lot of negative effects such as increasing the rate of accidents on the road, rising the number of deaths, jammed which lead to the wasting time, as well as the increasing rate of pollution to our environment.
          Generally, we can find thousands of vehicles on the road during festivals in Malaysia which annually causes the high rate of accidents. In this modern era, many people work outside of their kampung or village and when the festival is just around the corner, they will driving back to their hometown either with their own cars or the public transport. Driving their own car usually increase the amount of car on the road which ultimately lead to high rate of accident as the more number of cars can increase the probability of rate of accident.
          Besides that, the rising of death also make people in worry when they are driving their vehicles back to their hometown during festival. Generally, festival should be something that is very happy and it is very bitter if the scene in a festival is being added with sad moment such as the death of our family members. As I have mentioned just now, more cars on the road will lead to the drastic increasing of rate of accident. Some unlucky accident usually will lead to death and it happens regularly and frequently rather than only finding out injured victims. This is because people nowadays like to drive very fast as they are always in hurry and sometimes they are being selfish.
          Apart from that, jammed will be the most famous and popular event on the "balik kampung" phenomenon. It is not a real phenomenon if there are only few cars found on the road because only from this phenomenon, we can see a lot of cars especially on the highway. However, this phenomenon is frequently leading to the long period of driving time and it always wasting the drivers time and turn them into a bad mood as they need to wait for very log time.
          Finally, this phenomenon is more likely to contribute to the increasing pollution especially air pollution. As we know, the rate of pollution in Malaysia has become worsen nowadays. In addition to the big amount of harmful gases and soot being released from vehicle exhaust, it again increase the pollution which lead to the spreading of various disease as well as the poor condition of environment. These poor condition of environment such as poor visibility can cause uncomfortably to the citizens in our country.
          In conclusion, the " balik kampung" event truly brings out a lot of bad implication. Related people need to take action immediately in order to solve this problem.

THE EXCITING WEEK

JOURNAL 6
WEEK 7 (29/7/13)

EXCITING WEEK

Last week was a very fun and happy week for me. I don't know why. Perhaps because I am going back to my hometown next week for 2 weeks holidays. Yes, I really miss my home and my family. I can not wait to see them in few days to come. 

          Last week, I've joined a German class for the first time. It was really fun as I have learnt a new language. However, I missed 2 weeks of the class so when I enter it for the first time, I'm just like a little child who suddenly steps into an adult's world. The German class was very fun. Our frau was a very good woman and she was quite funny and her class was very interesting. Even though it was my first class, but I received many inputs from her. Nonetheless, it was really hard for me to digest each and every input she gave because I did not have any basic in German language.

          Besides, we also received our first assignment last week which is the Social Studies assignment. We were asked to make a video which shows conflicts. This is really irony because usually, for us, the arriving of assignment is a disaster. We hated it very much. Nevertheless, this assignment gave us an excitement as we are going to act in the video. For us, it was a very exciting activity. So, my group members and I held a meeting to discuss about the story line of the video when we have our free time. During weekend, we started our video shooting. We even went to KLCC to shoot and it was very embarrassing as the people there keep looking at us while we were shooting.  After shooting the video, a big disaster happen. As we were walking to the food court to have a dinner, the food court was totally full and congested. So, we went to Wendy's and KFC but both outlet were the same too as they were also filled with lots of people. Desperately, we went to the Apple doughnut coffee outlet and bought some doughnut and ate them while waiting inside the KFC for people to rise from their table. We were so pathetic. However, we enjoyed and was very happy as we had successfully shoot for a part of our video. 

          Moreover, I also went out for shopping with my friends on last Saturday and it was awesome. Shopping really helps me to release my stress. I really enjoy to the fullest during this week. 

SAD DAY TURNS TO GIVE ME STRENGTH

JOURNAL 5
WEEK 6 (22/7/13)

SAD DAY TURNS TO GIVE ME STRENGTH

When I was in form 1, during my school break, I went to my Aunt's house to help her packed her stuff as she was going to move to Texas on that becoming Saturday.  I thought I was really going to miss her and Uncle Hen as I was really close to them and I often went to their house every evening. At that point, I was a little drained from packing but it was nice to be able to help out. It was amazing what service can do for them.

After few hours helping in their house, I was a little too tired when I got home. I ate two non-baked cookies out of pure hunger!

After eating few more pieces, I felt like it was never going to end. I didn't want food to be the center of my attention. I wanted to live a better and in a positive way of live, not to eat my life away.

However sometimes, I wished there was a "magic pill" out there to dissolve all my problems in just only one wink of eyes but the more I learn and understand, I realize that it all started in my head. That is what I need to change; my thoughts.  
This is what I wanted:

·         They are now positive and up lifting.  

·         I'm attracting friends, money, and time to become my perfect self

·         I love myself.  

·         I accept myself as it is.  

·         I'm happy.

WEEK 5
DRAFT OF ESSAY
SUBJECT: Dessert
Introduction: what is desserts? definition?
Body: 1. Benefits of desserts
          2. disadvantages of desserts
          3. types of desserts

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dessert
http://www.nourishing-the-soul.com/2011/05/why-you-should-really-eat-dessert/
http://www.cooks.com/rec/search/0,1-0,different_types_of_desserts,FF.html
 http://www.drgourmet.com/eatinghealthy/dessert.shtml
http://woman.thenest.com/benefits-desserts-1831.html
http://www.studymode.com/essays/Disadvantages-Of-Desserts-1302953.html

ESSAY: Dessert

Most of us tend to be confused with the word 'dessert' and 'desert'. Both of this word actually are not the same which bring different meaning. On one hand, desert means a hot and treeless areas which are only found in few places in the world. people tend to dislike desert because of the hotness. However, everyone likes dessert. So, what is dessert actually? Dessert is a typical sweet course that concludes a meal. The course usually consists of sweet food, and other items. It usually being eaten or taken after finishing our meals. People always call it as the ending and closer of the meals. 

          Basically, desserts are the important part of eating well and healthy. There are a few types of desserts that we can have daily such as cakes, cookies, biscuits, gelatin  pastries, ice-cream, pudding, and pies. The key to make desserts as part of our life is by considering it as a special part of our life that we really need. Nevertheless, it is not compulsory to be taken by every people. This is because, some people like to have it after meals but some are not. According to Ashley T., " dessert represents a sense of bliss in which a moment of totally relishing that which makes us feel good. " For some people, it gives good feelings about desserts but desserts may also be a burden to some people as it takes time to prepare it and they did not feel that desserts is a good course to be eaten. However, in the reality, dessert is a course that have its own benefits by taking it but also brings disadvantages to the eaters.

          Generally, taking dessert is really good for our health as it helps to improve our weight control. According to Mclaughlin A., " In a study published in "Steroids" in March 2012, 195 obese adults consumed a low-carbohydrate diet or a diet containing the same amount of calories but included a sugary dessert as part of a high-carbohydrate, protein-rich breakfast daily. Although both groups lost similar amounts of weight, or about 33 pounds, within the first 16 weeks, the low-carbohydrate dieters gained significantly more weight back 16 weeks later than participants who ate desserts." From this research, we can conclude that dessert works well with our digestive system as it helps it to maintain the fat level in our body so that we will not gaining weight easily. 

          Apart from that, taking desserts can give us a very calm and good mood. Scientifically, people's mood and feelings are related closely to the blood sugar level in our body. When the blood sugar level in our body decrease, it can easily change the ones' feelings and mood. Nonetheless, eating desserts that contain high-fiber and rich protein food, it can help to stabilize the necessary amount of sugar level in our body and thus, our system are able to control blood sugar level. Based on Bannon's research, sweet food such as chocolate contains theobromine which act as a natural substance that stimulate the feeling of pleasure. In addition, desserts that contain raw vegetables in salad or even sweetened-fruits can provide antioxidants, which promote strong immune function, and fiber, which promotes digestive health, appetite control and positive cholesterol levels. By having control of these problems, we are sure to be avoided from various disease such as diarrhea, constipation, as well as heart attack which is frequently caused by the high level of cholestrol.

          Besides getting the advantages from desserts that we consumed, sometimes, we will also receive the bad effects of consuming desserts after meals. As we know, most desserts are prepared to have a sweet taste. By consuming too much of sugar in a meals can lead to diabetis melitus problem. this is a problem in which ones body have exaggerate amount of sugar that can destroy their health. Moreover, sour fruits as desserts also bad for our health because it contains high amount of acid in it. Generally, acids are corrosive and it can slowly damaged the wall of our intestine when we consume them exaggeratedly. Besides, we know that our stomach  will produce an amount of gastric juice in our stomach. When we consume sour food that contain acid, it will combines together with the gastric juice in our stomach and the amount increase. It then hasten the process of corroding the intestine wall. After a period, we will suffer from gastritis. Furthermore, desserts such as cakes and ice-cream have a high amount of fats in it. Consuming extra fats can lead us to suffer from heart attack as the cholesterol block our veins which then causes the blood that brings oxygen can barely reach our heart. It is really dangerous as it often causes death.

          In conclusion, we cannot say that desserts are good because it will sometimes give us bad result either. In order to stabilize the effects of desserts, we can consume them but not by consuming them everyday. We need to have gap of days in which we take them after our meals so that our heath will be fully maintained.