My teaching stories

Assalamualaikum!

Feel like I haven't publish any piece of posts since May came in. My research and my part time job really got me man. Just to make things clear hehe, I taught Spanish and English last semester and those classes had ended last week which I am so grateful of! Yeayy

Alhamdulillah most of the feedback are positive and the students really enjoy the class.  I am quite happy to know that actually. Last time I asked my students the reasons they wanted to learn Spanish, and one of the students said,

"Because the teacher is beautiful" Ehem, Estoy sonrojarse.
I feel like treating him ice cream afterwards hahaha ;P

Anyway, this is my English class story.

I taught a grown up Sudanese woman who happened to know very very little English. She only can speak Arabic. I almost have zero knowledge in Arabic. I haven't learn this language like for real, so the language barrier between us is so far quite huge. I can relate how Mr. Brown feel to teach multi-races people lol. Really it is hilarious and very heart-wrenching at times. I used gestures and every single movements and actions I can. Asking her to read and write were troublesome too. Not to mention that I used google translate to at least get her understand to what I am saying. Getting her to pronounce things were even harder. Making her to distinguish the words between "the" and "it" was also hard even though the spelling is really obvious, I don't understand why haha. But alhamdulillah after almost 10 classes, we are better at understanding each other. I was pretty relief to know that my English class would end last week, so I seek a lil help from her husband to fill up the feedback form. The feedback form need to be submitted to the office so that I can receive my claim. Her husband is also my lecturer and I enrolled in his class last semester. More or less we knew each other. Later on that day, he told me,

"My wife really likes you". I got my jaw dropped. Seriously.
I thought I was a fierce English teacher because I raised my voice quite a few times. Penat cakap sebab dia tak faham haha and sometimes she said she understand it but actually she did not. mehh :/

My lecturer asked me to continue teaching her English.
Actually, I rejected it a few times with the reasons that I am busy, I have no transport etc. And he offers me to pick me up from mahallah and send me back to the library.
I cannot say no since he is quite persuasive. Called my dad to tell him this and he was like, okay la tu. Ajar je la. Aiyoo

I sometimes couldn't sort myself out. Adoi. I hate myself for this.

Well, I just finished my 1st private class with her just now. Started to teach her back lol.
Please pray that sabr and ikhlas would always be my best companion =)

Ramdhan is coming soon.
Marhaban ya Ramadhan!

Inner Conscious

Real life and dramas are totally two different worlds. Even if you ask all the actresses and actors, they would say the same things. Ada sebab bila blog ni dibuka, awal-awal dah nampak yang jangan compare hidup ni dengan movie, because your is written by Allah, supaya dapat kurangkan sikit berangan tu. hahahaha. I mean it is essential to think about future, kan? But not when you started to think overboard.

Like what I just did these 2 days....

I should be writing my thesis chapter already, and read lots of journal. My supervisor want to see 50% improvement of the literature review in the next two weeks. However, I just wasted my 2 days weekend macam tu je. Aaaaa. Bad Syafiqa. Lazy Syafiqa >.<

This is entirely because of the things I watched. I've got addicted to this guy vlog that everytime when I log onto youtube to play some music videos I ended up watching his vidoes. Arghh, so frustrating!

  

Okay lemme tell you guys, I am so enthusiastic with trying new things. I think that was one of the reasons why once I was so eager to go to a boarding school and going overseas. It is not because of the stigma or the norm that those people are brilliant or whatsoever, simply because I wanna experience how does it feel to be in the situation myself. 

And I had the same thought of finding my future spouse too. Well, I told my mom that I wanna marry somebody who is non-malay. And do you know how she reacted? She raised her voice and said NO. I tried explaining it would not be necessary be a mat salleh (I thought what fears her the most was the distance), it could be Malaysian chinese or any bumiputera from Sabah and Sarawak,lol but still the answered was : NEVER. The most awkward moment ever, coz I thought it would not be a very big deal, instead it was a massive stuff and a problem to her. To clear things: simply because I wanna know how a mix marriage would feel, the twist of the two cultures must be very exciting. You'll learn more about a particular race, even better if he is from different country, you'll learn about the nation too! I am also gonna be so excited to see how would my babies look like. How much will the kids take after me or the dad & analyzing the nature of their behavior and interests. It must be related to the one's blood line. And to have the kids with the dad's last name is also exciting to me. hehe. Is it interesting? Okay, I look overexcited that I can list things more. hehe. 

So when I was in Adelaide, I encountered a cute Australian guy with  hazel eyes and brown hair in my Shakespeare class (though I am a biomedical sc student, i was allowed to enroll literature subject as my elective in my 1st year of uni). He was so attractive to me to be frank. He was quite and his mysterious style had added some points to my curiosity. I always have no interests in my local classmates btw, but his eyes really caught my attention. Lemme put it in a simpler way for you gys to get better view. Pernah tengok Haley Joel Osment dalam cerita 6th sense?

They've got similar eyes!

Well, he look just like Haley but in a cooler style. He doesn't smile much too.

That's the huge difference I shall say.

Haley looks sweet and friendly in this picture.

To cut the story short, we need to perform an acting in the class. Surprisingly, we were in the same group. I was happy and told my mom on the phone on my way back to my house. She was so astonished that she nearly dropped the phone and said. 

"Ya Allah ikaaa. kan mak dah cakap jangann"

Later, she continued with a dua:

"Ya Allah, biarlah anak aku ni kawin dengan orang Melayu"

I still remember it since I laughed so hard and I got teary myself. I found it so funny. My mom was very worried up to the extent whenever I mentioned about a white guy and told her he is quite good looking, she would went all anxious trying to make another dua for me. hehehe

Thanks mom. I appreciate it, since I went back to Malaysia all alone.

Just recently, as I worked so hard in the lab and seeking serenity from youtube, I stumbled upon a youtube channel which glorify back my desires haha! I mean this guy is so interesting! The 1st video I watched of him was about his adoption stories. A korean, who was adopted at a very young age in America. Well, he was originally born in Korea but raised in America. He looks like a pan-asian guy though. Most probably because he was raised in America well I don't know. It could be. Things that drives my fondness is about his personality when he looks like a mix-blood, his English is good, I don't know about his Korean though, but he sounds fluent to me haha, and his life story is quite interesting. When I heard about it, it feels like watching a korean drama that really exist haha. I subscribed his channel and ended up watching most of his video especially the mukbang. You know I am so into food, then oh why did you have so much videos about it T.T

                              

Ps: He is actually an eye candy. hehe

That is how it goes to another youtube channel I subscribed! Well as for this one, she is originally from America, she was so keen of Korea because of the food at first and decided to migrate to Korea later on. When she reached Korea, she taught english for the kindergarten and started to build up her life in Korea from scratch! Waww, I like it seeing people who breaks the norm, going for a big thing in life and do not afraid to take risks. She is so bright and cheerful too. It makes me happy just to watch her. This is very inspiring though, Allah has created us people to know each other, remember? :')

                              

Megan just know how to look happy! 

hahaha

So what do I plan in the future for a better challenges and culture experiences?

Enrolling Japanese language course for the meantime. 

Applied for an English teacher vacancies in Japan after my masters degree. 

....Or adopting any Korean babies too? Aherher

The Tiny Creatures

I arrived Kuantan this morning. Early morning, at around 3.30am.

It was the end of another hectic week. I was all busy from Monday collecting data, doing my lab works because I received a call from my supervisor telling me that I need to attend a conference in UTM. So it gets quite a little hectic when I had to rush myself packing my stuffs, washed and had my lunch in just an hour. Makan pun rasa macam tak digest je aha. I was expecting that the journey would take around 4 hours and 30 mins to Larkin from Kuantan. Frustratingly, it took around 7 hours to get there. Ya tuhan, banyaknyaa dia berhenti berhenti T.T Boleh pulak dia transit lama kat Segamat. Aaaaa 

Anyway I attended the conference on Thursday, obviously not as a presenter yet hehe. So I had my sister who brought my late mom's car to UTM to pick up and drop me to the conference area. Weirdly, I found myself enjoying listening to most of the talk I went. Well I like it when people talk about the things they do passionately. I really do :') There were lots of area of research covered from Biology to Biomedical Engineering. As I listen to everything I was excited. But later on I feel that the area of research is actually infinity and wide. Everybody was presenting their work progression and all for somehow I feel that human beings are actually just little creatures. Kerdil. Yes, kerdil. Even if we think that our brains can function powerfully, still they are limited to a certain extent. And a human being would never ever able to discover everything in this world! Not even the entire human body!

I stumble across this verse after a while, 

"Dan kunci-kunci semua yang ghaib ada padaNya; tidak ada yang mengetahui selain Dia. Dia mengetahui apa yang berada di darat dan di laut. Tidak ada sehelai daun pun yang gugur yang tidak diketahui oleh Nya. Tidak ada sebutir biji pun dalam kegelapan bumi dan tidak pula sesuatu yang basah atau yang kering, yang tidak tertulis dalam lauh mahfuz" Al-An'am, ayat 59.

We sometimes are proud of who we are. Be it people who obtain bachelors degree, masters, phd or whosoever. After all, you are still bound to the most powerful strength, Al-'Aleem, the all knowing;the Omniscient. Upholding the legacy of seeking knowledge is highly encouraged and recommended. However, Allah command us in Surah Al-Alaq to read in the names of Allah. It's when the more you learn, the more you discover things you ended up to reflecting yourself that there's no one greater than Him. 

I am still overwhelmed after reading the verse. 

You can & you will

MashaAllah dah November daaah.

Lagi 2 bulan umur dah nak 24 tahun. WHAAAT

Age, please stop now. You are making me worried lol.

My busy weekend just ended last week. Dan baru sahaja habis presentation untuk kelas Ethics. Gigih la baca pasal history of misconducts bagai, sampai dah tepu dah kepala ni. My body was literally drained. Aha. Okay I have no idea that organizing a program for school kids is actually beyond my strength hahaha. Though it was not in my bucket list, this could probably be an unlocked achievement! You know sometimes school kids can be out of control but luckily I managed to get their attention. Kudos to all primary school teachers! Now I know how amazing you guys were after being in the situation myself. I mean, sorang dua budak takde hal weh, ni kalau dah 40 orang ni mau flat terus. hahaha. But I actually get excited and did really enjoy myself. My point is, kalau korang nak handle bebudak ni tolong lah fit dan energetic, kalau tak nanti drain segala tenaga walau separuh hari.

Anyway, the exciting part is the program was held as a 'moms & kids' day treat'. Dalam erti kata lain, cara untuk tarik ibu ibu untuk ada kualiti time bersama. Kadang-kadang ibu ibu ni nak datang macam macam program, tapi sebabkan ada kekangan waktu, tak tahu anak nak bagi siapa jaga bagai.. bila ada program macam ni, senang lah sikit kan. Hati pun senang tak payah risau sebab anak anak ada program lain tapi di tempat yang sama :')

Jiwa saintis Wan Syafiqa sebenarnya dah agak terserlah dah masa program ni hewhew. Jadi sebagai ketua program yang berdedikasi, kami diberi mandat untuk buat program 'science backyard'. Soo banyak la experiment yang menarik dan kreatif untuk adik adik ni. Buat volcano eruptions, colour dance dan lava lamp. Memang adik adik tu seronok la, kakak kakak yang handle pun eksited tak habis. Jenuh tau akak sorang ni dok ingat balik silibus sekolah zaman sekolah rendah dulu. Tapi puas sangat rasa bila boleh share dengan adik adik tu how Quran Vs. Science works.

Penciptaan Manusia 

Kemudian air mani itu Kami jadikan segumpal darah, lalu segumpal darah itu Kami jadikan segumpal daging, dan segumpal daging itu Kami jadikan tulang belulang, lalu tulang belulang itu Kami bungkus dengan daging. Kemudian Kami jadikan dia makhluk yang (berbentuk) lain. Maka Maha sucilah Allah, Pencipta Yang Paling Baik.(Surah Al-mukminun, ayat 14)

Galaksi 

"Dan Dialah yang telah menciptakan malam dan siang, matahari dan bukan. Masing-masing dari keduanya itu beredar dalam garis edarnya" (Surah Al-Anbiya' ayat 30)

Kejadian Hujan 

“Allah, Dialah yang mengirim angin, lalu angin itu menggerakkan awan dan Allah membentangkannya di langit menurut yang dikehendaki-Nya, dan menjadikannya bergumpal-gumpal; lalu kamu lihat hujan keluar dari celah-celahnya, maka apabila hujan itu turun mengenai hamba-hamba-Nya yang dikehendaki-Nya, tiba-tiba mereka menjadi gembira,” ( Surah Ar-Ruum ayat 48)

For the first time I feel like a story teller. Habis kena kerumun sambil dengar cerita. Dah rasa macam cikgu tadika dah. Seronok rupanya bila dapat peluang kaitkan apa yang kita belajar dengan Quran :') Seronok bila dapat kongsi ilmu dengan adik adik. Discovering science theory is like another way to discover His Mercy. Selalu sangat rasa terharu dengan kebesaran Dia. Quran has mentioned all these before scientist found it kan. Tugas researchers ni sebenarnya hanya prove teori yang dalam Quran. First time rasa amazed bila pergi talk Dr. Daniel pasal Quran & Science dulu. Peeps, seeking of knowledge is something that everyone should do I tell ya gaiss. You know that 800 centuries ago, when scientific approach was established during islamic empire? When there is too many doctors that they need to undergo for some elections as well tons of books were produced masa zaman tu? Each and everytime I watched the video and I read about how massive and great islamic empire was, I tend to have this mix feelings. I think I have this spirit to uphold the legacy of seeking knowledge like what the previous muslim scholars did so that at least I contribute something as an image of a muslimah. At the same time, I feel so sad looking at the circumstances of our ummah today. Too much keyboard warriors, too much complains without doing anything and too much thinking about the world when we have the ultimate life which in the hereafter. 

Dan setiap kali program, mulalah sesi muhasabah diri aku -.-

Semoga dapat mengubah dunia. An yeah well, you can and you will iAllah. 

To all my dear younger brothers and sisters, 

That was the best I can do for you. I will come again with some better ideas to spread the beauty of islam and science as well in order for you to keep close to Allah and get a clear picture that science and Quran has not boundaries. I will use all that I have to keep this world a better place. To this ummah, for you and for Islam :)

Untuk rakan yang sama sama berjuang, "Dunia bukan tempat berehat. Rehat lah bila di Syurga nanti" (Ahmad Ammar, Tarbiyyah selepas kematian). I am so inspired with this. 

Sincerely, 

Bakal Saintis Ummah