TESL TESL TESL TESL

Selamat Datang...

Mrs. Mary, our Bahasa instructor, is also our TESL teacher. She is a wonderful lady who has taught us well in the last week. If her career as a teacher doesn't pan out she will be very successful as an actor. So went the whole week believing that she speaks little to no English. Here we were struggling to understand simple verb tenses and correct pronounciation of the language and she's putting on this act as if she doesn't understand. Come to find out, she's a SUPERB English speaker. She teaches English at a local university to high school students. She told us she had to turn around to keep from laughing so hard when we misprounounced words incorrectly or were unsuccessful in guessing what she was trying to say. We were then informed that this was GREAT practice for us because this was how are students were going to react to us when we tried to communicate with them. It had come full circle; we realized that she was actually helping us by preparing us for what was to come. THANK YOU.

  Teaching is being able to convey a principle or thought to someone else in such a way that whoever you are instructing can comprehend and possibly teach someone else. One method of facilitating this is to have interactive activities to better suit your method of explanation. Mrs. Mary had us organizing games and playing them so that we could implement them in our own instruction. We spent the rest of the day engaging in the games that she had set aside.

1/9/10

 Today was our off day to the Muslim culture and weekend schedule. Rebecca, Olivia, Kelsey, and I decided to travel to the Batu Caves right outside KL to see the Hindu temple and shrines. It was a wonderful experience. The first thing that you notice is this massively tall gold structure standing at the base of what looks like the "Stairway to Heaven", towering over the mountainside. As you arrive closer, the stairs look even more daunting due to the steepness and short length of the stairs. One thing is clear, these stairs were clearly not made for me. lol. MONKEYS MONKEYS MONKEYS There were soooooooooo many monkeys it felt like the Jungle Book. I mean monkeys were everywhere: monkeys in the trees, monkeys on the stairs, monkeys on people, and monkeys on the wires!! The monkeys were DEF the kings of that hill and on those stairs, there were no human objections!!

We left the caves and traveled to Merdeka Square, the site where Malaysia had gained it's independence from the English rule. A vast and beautiful lawn decorated with Malaysian flags, the tallest free-standing flagpole in the world and beautiful architecture surrounding. The walk over to Central Market was equally as fun as there were a was a pleuthra of stands and shops. The main attraction was the fish and foot reflexology. You've all seen it; you put your feet in the water and the fish eat the dead skin off. Check the video out!! I know it's been a while since I've received a pedicure but the fish ATTACKED my feet. I felt bad because I had taken all the fish away from the other paying customers. lol...well I got my monies worth and it was a "tickling" experience. It was a short walk to Chinatown from Central Market. Once we arrived we found a stall and had a quick meal: sweet rolls with bbq meat and sticky rice. We figured while we were there we minus well experience a massage also and would have got them had the business not wanted a finger and a leg from each of us. 

  On the walk back to a cab, the only place that offered free internet was the McDonalds. Everybody else who had a laptop or PDA also knew this as it was very difficult to find a place to sit and enjoy the ammenties of wireless and phone services. I also got a chance to meet up with my boy(friend) Nigel who works for a engineering company in KL. What a smaaaaaaaaaall world. We hung out and he gave me the lay of the land. It's good to see someone else that looks like you and can offer some imperative advice on how to get around and be successful in a foreign place.

  Selamat malam, terimah kesih!!