Week 14: The Last Day

It seems like just yesterday I entered this class, yet it was the last day for this semester. After this class, I will miss my day learning Pbey3102 Developing Resources for ESL Primary Classroom. Fourteen weeks has passed just like a dream, no more tasks and no more modules. It was the end of the course. I felt sad and at the same time happy because I can move forward in my journey in becoming a teacher. I will enter another class and meet another lecturer. It is part of my journey as a student.

14 weeks of learning PBEY3102; Developing Resources for ESL Primary Classroom, what have I acquire? First of all, I have acquired the most important aim for learning, which is knowledge. I have gained much useful knowledge that can be used in my future classrooms. I am becoming a teacher, so this knowledge will surely give me a lot of help later. Now, I have become a picture editor, sound editor, video editor and expert in the softwares that can be helpful for teachers. I have prepared myself for the future and may I become the best teacher of all.

All and all, I would like to send my biggest gratitude to our lecturer, Puan Foziah Mahmood for her patience in teaching us. I would also like to thank my friends that had been a great help throughout this course. Thanks to all of you and let’s move forward together to the future.

I would like to share some quotes that can inspire us in our learning, may it motivates you and me to strive for the best.

'It is today we must create the world of the future.' Eleanor Roosevelt

'Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail'. Ralph Waldo Emerson

'You may feel like a voice in the wilderness, but it is your voice we are waiting to hear…you are the determining factor.' Neale Donald Walsh Author

'Courage is the first of human virtues because it makes all others possible.' Aristotle

You can teach a student a lesson for a day; but if you can teach him to learn by creating curiosity, he will continue the learning process as long as he lives. ~Clay P. Bedford

'We will not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.' T S Eliot 'Little Gidding'

Get over the idea that only children should spend their time in study. Be a student so long as you still have something to learn, and this will mean all your life. ~Henry L. Doherty

Week 13: Video

In this week’s class, we were asked to submit all the task given before. We need to submit our E-Book, Lesson Plan and Module 2. After that, Puan Foziah gave us another task. We need to produce a video with creativity and message that can be used in classroom. We can do this task in pair, so I have chosen Sabrina to be my partner.

We discussed about the topic that we should choose and the resources that we can get. We decided to do a video about sea creatures. We have some pictures from our outdoor activities with the whole cohort. We used these pictures and choose the one that can be manipulated for the topic. Then, we Google and find some pictures of sea creatures from the internet. We choose the pictures that can be used and suitable with the pictures that we already have.

To create this video, we have chosen windows movie maker software. There are many video editing softwares in the internet, but we are more familiar with this one. So, we choose this software and began constructing the video. We arranged the pictures according to the sequence that we felt suitable. We also put some songs in the video. We create a storyboard and arranged the pictures according to it. We use Audacity software to cut the songs and put them between the pictures.

After that, we put timer between the pictures and some sentence to describe the picture. It becomes a video when we played it on the screen in the software. After we have made sure the timing, the pictures, the sound and everything that need to be given attention to, we saved the video and it was completed. These are the pictures from the video;

I have fun doing this task. I learnt to create video from pictures and now I can create my own video. I can use this knowledge in my future classroom and create an interesting video for my students later.

Week 12: E-Book

In this week’s class, Puan Foziah taught us about E-Book. E-book is a learning tool that created using PowerPoint or other software. It can be used as teaching aids in the classroom. She also shows us some examples of E-Book. She then asks us to create our own E-Book using the PowerPoint software.

The E-Book must have message in it and we can use it in the classrooms. We cannot create E-Book that would not attract student’s attention, we must be able to create an interesting E-Book that filled with colours and pictures. We also need to include background sound and music into the E-Book.

We need to consider some criteria that were essential in creating the E-Book. The criteria were;

1) Theme of the story.

2) The setting (time and place)

3) Plot-conflict, climax and resolution

4) Characterization

5) Navigational tools (Teacher can go to the next and previous slide)

6) Colourful pictures

7) Sound

Luckily for us, Puan Foziah asks us to do the task in pair. That was a relief for me as it would be difficult to do the task alone. My pair was Sabrina. My partner and I have chosen the topic transportation. We began to collect some pictures or any materials that can be used for the E-Book. As I am more experienced in using PowerPoint, my partner prepared the picture and the sound needed, I just need to embed them to the slides. This was not an easy task, the picture must be big and clear enough for students to see. The sound must be loud enough and the timing must be parallel to each other.

These were some pictures from the E-Book;

All and all, although it was very hectic, with the workload and whatsoever, I have fun in doing this task. It tests my creativity in creating something new from what we commonly use in classrooms. Thanks to Puan Foziah for the task given.

Week 11: The Message Behind The Picture

In this week’s class, we were asked to choose a picture and edit it using any picture editor. The picture must have a message behind it so that I can use it in the teaching and learning process later. It was a task that we need to upload to Photobucket later.

Below is the picture that I have edited using Adobe Photoshop CS3 and Photoscape. Using Photoshop, I cut my picture and inserted it into Taj Mahal’s picture. Before that, I have brightened the Taj Mahal picture so that it suits my picture. After that, I uploaded it into Photoscape and added some glittering text to the picture. After I have satisfied with the picture, I uploaded it to Photobucket as instructed by Puan Foziah.

When I was doing this task, I also tried to use other picture editing softwares. But I cannot use them as good as I use Adobe Photoshop CS3 and Photoscape. These were among the softwares that I have tried;

Picasa

Picasa is a free photo editing program created by Google. It's useful for home users or beginners to find, edit and share their photographs online with Picasa Web Albums (free photo album hosting from Google).

With Picasa, you can eliminate scratches & blemishes, fix red-eye, and crop your images. It's also useful for creating movies, collages and slideshows from your digital photographs.

Picnik

Picnik is a free online photo editor that allows you to crop, resize, rotate, add special effects such as text or shape overlays. Note: Picnik is the same editor that the Picasa software above implements in their program. Other social networking sites using Picnik include MySpace, Flickr, Photobucket, and Webshots.

Picnik works on Windows, MAC and Linux. No download is required and nothing to install. You can start using Picnik by going to: http://www.picnik.com/

GIMP

Gimp is a fully fledged photo editing software aimed towards those who are more technically minded. I say this because the last time I looked, there was quite a bit involved in getting the software up and running. However, don't let this put you off having a look. They have fantastic documentation to help you get started.

GIMP offers advanced photo retouching techniques such as correcting lens distortion and vignetting, cloning and healing tools. I was also impressed that it had support for drawing tablets, which is unusual for free photo editors.

Adobe Photoshop Express

Photoshop Express is a free online photo editing program from Adobe. All it requires is registration and you can touch up, tweak and tune your images before sharing them on Facebook or Flickr. A really neat part of Photoshop Express, is that you get to store up to 2GB of photographs on Adobe.

After doing this task, I realize that there are many picture editing softwares in the internet. I just have to find and explore them myself. It would be very useful for me if I know how to use many picture editing softwares. I can create different types of teaching aids to be use in the classrooms.

All and all, thanks to Puan Foziah for the task given.

Week 10: Submission of Assignments

In this week’s class, we need to submit the assignments. The assignments that we submitted were "Collection of Teachings Aids" and "Lesson Plans". The assignments have taught me the importance of providing resources for the class in the future.

After that, we continue on completing Module 3 (Editing Picture). We were also given tasks regarding to Module 2 (Audio Editing).

The tasks are:

• Task 1: Edit a song into ringtone

• Task 2: Blending two songs together

• Task 3: Edit the given song into a better quality (without any interruptions in between)

Doing task 1 and 2, I did not have many problems. Task 1 is the easiest one to do. I have chosen the song entitled “I don’t want to miss a thing” by Aerosmith. I just keep the part from the song that I wanted and cut the others. Then, I add some effect such as fade in and fade out to make the tone nice to listen to. For task 2, I have a bit of problem as it is quite hard to find two songs that matched together. I have to consider the tone, the music genre, the voice and etc. it was quite hard and it took a long time for me to find two songs that perfectly matched together.

For task 3, it was quite challenging for me. The song that we need to edit was entitled “Dua Insan” by Siti Nurhaliza and M Nasir. The song has clapping sounds at the beginning and the end of the song. At the middle of the song, there are also some voices from the audiences. We need to clear out these sounds to make the song “clearer”.

Eventhough it was really difficult for me, I manage to do the task given. These are the audio softwares that I used in the process;

Audacity

Audacity is free, open source software for recording and editing sounds. It allows you to record live audio, converts tapes and records into digital recordings or CDs, edit Ogg Vorbis, MP3, WAV or AIFF sound files. You also can cut, copy, splice or mix sounds together with Audacity. Built-in effects are given to remove static, hiss, hum or other constant background noises.

PowerSound Editor

Power Sound Editor Free is a visual audio editing and recording software solution, which supports many advanced and powerful operations with audio data.You can use Power Sound Editor Free to record your own music, voice, or other audio files, edit it, mix it with other audio or musical parts, add effects like Reverb, Chorus, and Echo, and burn it on a CD, post it on the World Wide Web or e-mail it.

Mp3DirectCut

Mp3DirectCut is a fast and extensive audio editor and recorder for compressed mp3. You can directly cut, copy, paste or change the volume with no need to decompress your files for audio editing. Using Cue sheets, pause detection or Auto cue you can easily divide long files.