Jemput Ikan Bilis

Dear readers, today is quite an eventful day for me. I have attended my first Information Technology in Business class! Well, technically I've only missed it for two sessions. :P Anyway, the class was quite.. informative, I should say? It was nothing unusual, just the normal grouping session and presenting about what are definitions of certain technological terms which are uncommon to most people. The class went well, in any case.

Side note:
The lecturer looked a bit stern when I first saw her. She has this strict, teacher looking face which could seep fear inside the hearts of those who are not strong. Except for me, of course. I noticed she took a particular interest in me earlier. Probably because of my carefree attitude while the rest of the class was being engrossed in their group discussion.

Moving on to the next class, which is Ethnic Relations, I must say I really like the lecturer. Apart from her talking at a supersonic speed, I really like the way she talk about things. It's as if she really enjoys what she's doing and that made me enjoy listening to what she has to say. She also knows what she's talking about and seemed unwavered by the occasional class disruption from one of my classmate, Idzham. There was no fear in her. She is a strong and a solid woman. And a friendly one as well. :)
Anyway, she talked about how to integrate the unity in multiracial countries such as Malaysia and how we can avoid unnecessary conflicts and bloodshed if we understand one another better. Her voice speaks of honesty and determination and I find that attractive. She really enjoys what she's doing. To the point that she doesn't care if she's sweating or tired from standing for too long. We were all mesmerized by her. Especially Idzham. To be honest, I'm not sure what's wrong with that guy. He's been quite playful recently. Something must have set him in a good mood. Hmm.. I wonder what it is..

Ah yes. I almost forgot. We had some sort of test(?) today for Pragmatics in Business and Professional Settings class. I was perplexed by the nature of the test actually. We were asked to draw a mind map of the 6 concepts of pragmatics.

Before that, I would like to elaborate on those concepts. I believe in sharing our knowledge, we will be able to make the world a much better place. As I have mentioned earlier, there are 6 concepts of pragmatics. They are DEIXIS & INFERENCES, PRESUPPOSITION AND ENTAILMENT, SPEECH ACTS AND EVENTS, COOPERATIVE PRINCIPLES, CONVERSATIONAL IMPLICATURES, CONVENTIONAL IMPLICATURES. Basically, the three latter concepts are interrelated so I linked them all together. :) ... Well, I wasn't going to *really* elaborate them all by writing my understanding of those concepts. But the links I gave you are reliable sources. :)

So, what we did was to draw a mind map based on our understanding. It was quite fun. Felt like kindergarten with all the magic colour pen and the A3 paper. Haha. Though I find mind mapping not to my liking since I'm really bad at drawing. It will kill my mood instantly the moment I start drawing anything. Seriously, I suck. I know I suck and everyone knows I suck.

By the way, one of my classmate promised me jemput ikan bilis. :D I still haven't got it yet. :(

Intermezzo

Good evening, good readers of the blogs. I am here once again to tell you of my tale as an ordinary gentleman.

It is night time as I am writing this. The digital clock on my laptop shows 2:07:05 AM. If you might be wondering why I am still up during this time, it is because I have this urge to write about something and to honour my promise to continue writing about my course, I will do just that. :)

Previously, I have talked about what TESL(Teaching English as a Second Language), APB(Akademi Pengajian Bahasa) and EPC(English for Professional Communication) are all about. Well, those are just general elaboration of the matters, unfortunately. But worry not, for I will go into depths about them in time. As for now, I would like to talk about the subjects that I have learned, the subjects that I will learn and the subjects I am learning right now.

Actually, you can find the subjects on this APB website but for more detailed explanation about those subjects, you'll have to keep reading my entries, my fellow readers. *warm smile*

Semester 1

It was a very good semester for me. ... Well, for most of the part. To cut the long story short, I failed in my extra curricular activity called Kesatria Negara. It's some sort of boot camp training but in a kinder manner. The aim is to integrate discipline and integrity into the students. Something which I clearly lack. :P

It really dragged my GPA(Grade Point Average) down but since my other subjects were topnotch, I wasn't too worried. Bad move. *pulls hair*

Personal note:
I do not know if I should write this but I had an eye for this particular girl when I was in my first semester. Well, few girls actually, but this one really caught my interest. She has a good and pure heart but was lost and in need of a guidance. I felt compelled to guide her and make her see the error of her ways but paid a terrible price for doing so. and no, I'm not talking about money, mind you. Although I can share your view of why you would associate women with money, I can assure you, this was not the case. Anyway, as I tried to correct her, I tried to correct myself as well which turned into a disaster. I was never a leader and yet I am trying to lead someone? I can barely even guide myself and I want to guide other people? Suffice to say, she and I parted ways and didn't contact each other much. As a gentleman, I try to maintain a peaceful relation with the ladies as their power of influence is unmatched by men. ... My mother can and will vouch for that. *shivers*

Hmm.. This entry seems to be quite personal, don't you think? *wink* I believe in sharing my stories, it will open up yours and probably inspire you to make stories of your own. What do I mean by stories of your own? Well, learn pragmatics and figure it out! Hehe. In any case, I must take leave and get some rest. I haven't been well these past few days due to the weather. and probably the meals I've not been taking. like vegetables. ugh. Yuck!

Good night, readers of the blogs. I bid thee farewell and a good day ahead of you as always.

Yours truly,
Mikhail

The Overture

Assalamualaikum and a very good day to everyone who is reading this entry. I am a student of UiTM and I am studying a course called English for Professional Communication. Ahem. It is customary for a gentleman to introduce himself in the beginning of an interaction. I am well-known as Mike since I was in high school. I do not know how the name Mike came to being but it spread like a plague and soon everyone was calling me Mike instead of Mikhail. There are those who prefer to call me by my rightful name as well and to be frank, I do not really care about it. To me, as long as it helps the people to remember me easily and make them feel at ease whenever I am around, then by all means, you may call me anything as you see fit as long as  they are not offensive and insulting. 

Now then! What is it that I do here at Akademi Pengajian Bahasa (APB) and what is English for Professional Communication? APB is a place where we learn languages, both local and international languages, such as English, Japanese, Arabic, German, Mandarin and French. For my course however, I am studying English more deeply and thoroughly. Now I know what most people would think. "Oh, you're studying TESL?" "You must be a TESL student then" or "Isn't that TESL?". 

No, my dear readers, it is not and we are not TESL students. Yes, we study English like the TESL students but wait. That's not all we're studying here. 

First, let me define and explain what TESL is. Teaching English as a Second Language or TESL is course where the students are groomed to be future teachers of English. Now. TESL students job prospect is very, very limited and the most prominent job for these students are teaching. It doesn't necessarily have to be in a school. They can also teach employees in a company as well or a tuition or whatever it is that suits the teaching profession because that's what TESL is all about. Teaching. An honourable profession, in my opinion.  

English for Professional Communication or EPC, on the other hand, focuses on the usage of English in professional settings like the workplace, a company, meetings etc. We learn English much deeper than TESL, that much can be said. But we also learn things like Marketing, Principles in Management, Organizational Behaviour, Language and Communication and Web Enable Multimedia E-Language Production. Basically, we're learning English as well as all the skills necessary in a workplace environment. Professional skills. As for the job prospects, they are very wide. They can range from being a tutor to a diplomat and everything in between such as translator, scriptwriter, and public relations.

As I am writing this, some people complained that I am writing too long of an entry. Thus, I will stop here for now and continue this memoir in the next entry. Farewell, good readers of blogs. I wish you a very good day and may your day be better than it was yesterday.

Yours truly, 

Mikhail