Research Assignment

This assignment requires us to form a group of 3~4 people to conduct a research on a trade/business. But, my group only consists of two member, which is me and Tan Wei How. We chose tailor as our target. We then interviewed 4 tailor shops, 2 from Seremban and another 2 from Selangor. After interviewing the tailor shops, we then composed the data that we collected and started to compare it. Then, we came out with the research essay which is about the comparison of the tailor shops that we interviewed. We were able to research, write a well-developed and well organized 5-paragraph critical or argumentative essay as well as longer research essays with correct format and referencing techniques. We were also required to present our work. Throughout the interviewing sessions and the presentation sessions, we were able to develop interviewing skills, deliver presentations publically as well be able to apply argumentative strategies in specific situations. We were glad that we learned a lot from this research assignment.

These are the tailor shops that we went for our research assignment.

Class Debate

In this assignment, we were required to form a group of 3 and debate with other groups. I formed a group with Tan Yong Ming and Koay Wei Jia. Our topic for the debate was 15) Customer service in Malaysia leaves much to be desired. We were the against side. Before the debate, we did a research on the overall customer service in Malaysia and found out that actually a lot of company are actually providing a good customer service in Malaysia. Some of the companies are even getting awards for their good customer service. For example, Air-Asia, they won the award for the best air courier customer service throughout the whole world. Through this debate, I was able to identify speaker’s role, expression, relationship and attitude as conveyed through stress and intonation as well as develop listening in preparation for a tertiary programme. During the debate, I listened carefully to the opponent and list down all the points that they state. Then, I carried my opinion towards their point during the rebuttal session. Although this assignment was quite tough, but, I was able to experience how a debate is like. This was also my first debate. I learned a lot from it and also enjoyed it.

Class Assignment 2

In the second assignment, we were required to choose to compare historical or musical movie. I chose musical movie because I felt that I'm more familiar to musical movie and I also love musical movies. The two movies I choose to compare were 'The School of Rock' and 'Rock of Ages'. I have to watch 'The School of Rock' again for the sake of this assignment. As for 'Rock of Ages', it was my first time watching it and I found it quite interesting, but yet still 'The School of Rock' is better. In my essay, I compared the similarities of both movie, which is the element of rock music, the crowd of the concert and also the same characteristic of the character from both movie. Throughout the assignment, we were required to make references from the writing skill book. To be honest, I didn't buy that book, but yet I still manage to finish the essay by comparing these two movies. I improved my writing skills on writing a compare/contrast essay through this assignment and also the ability to analyze.

Below is the essay that I wrote :

  Musical movie can be said that is a combination of songs and acting. The songs will be performed by the actor in the movie. They usually dance along when they are singing. Due to there are different types of music, such as classical music, rock music, techno music and others, there is also different types of musical movies. For an example, if the songs of the movie are rock music, then it can be classified as rock musical movie. The reason I like musical movies is because that I can listen to music and watch a movie at the same time. Therefore, I’m going to compare two musical movies that I have watched.

 One of them is called ‘School of Rock’ and the other one is ‘Rock of Ages’. In my opinion, I think that these two movies are rock musical movies. ‘School of Rock’ is a movie about a rocker encountering a downfall in his career and how he had risen up. “Rock of Ages’ is a movie about how an unknown rocker has gone famous. Both of the movies are not really the same, but they have certain similarities. Lots of people are the fans of rock music and research has shown that most of the people that like rock music think that their souls are being released whenever they go to a rock concert.

 The first similarity that both of the movie have in common is that the music of the both movies are rock music. Therefore, I categorized both of the movies as rock musical movie. In terms of the style of the music, ‘Rock of Ages’ is better because it is more stylish and they’re written by rockers. But, in terms of the way that it is being performed,  ‘ School of Rock’ is better because it is basically performed by a band that is formed by young students lead by an adult, whereas, the ‘Rock of Ages’ is more on the solo performance. For me, I would prefer the rock songs from ‘School of Rock’ because the songs are reflecting the students themselves. For example, they expressed their bitterness as a student through the rock music. By comparing both movies in terms of the rock music, I would choose the ‘School of Rock’ because I’m also a student.

  The second similarity of both movies is the place of where they performed the music, which is the crowd in the concert. In terms of the size of the crowd, ‘Rock of Ages’ has a bigger crowd in the concert because the rocker is a famous rocker in the movie, unlike ‘School of Rock’, they are just students and nobody knows them. In terms of the craziness of the crowd, I would think that the crowd from ‘School of Rock’ is crazier because when the lead singer performs a stage dive, the crowd is willing to catch him. Although the crowd from ‘Rock of Ages’ is not so crazy, but they are more enthusiastic. The reason I say this is because that they are willing to go for the concert even the government is trying to ban the concert. In other words, they are willing to go against the government just for the rock music. The crowds from these two movies are common in a way which is they are willing to pay any price just for the rock music.

  

  The third similarity of both movies is the hardwork of the unknown rocker pays off. I think that the main character from the ‘School of Rock’ which is leading the band is more hardworking than anybody else. This is simply because that when he encountered the downfall in his career, he never gave up. He gave in all his effort in training a group of students to become a rock band. In the end, the band was so famous that lots of organizers want to have them in their event. Compared to ‘School of Rock’, the main character from ‘Rock of Ages’ can be only said he tried his best but didn’t go beyond that. Therefore, I like the main character from ‘School of Rock’ because he is hardworking and full of enthusiasm to his career.

 In conclusion, both these movies have certain similarities, but not all the same. If I were to choose which is better from these two movies, I would say ‘School of Rock’. The reason is simply because the music is better than the other one. Besides, the storyline of the movie is much more interesting than the other one also. The hilarious acting skill of the main character has also made this movie much better than the other one.

Class Assignment 1

This is the first assignment that Mr.Woon gave to us in our English 2 class. We are required to choose a vegetable then write an essay about the vegetable that we chose. The vegetable that I chose was winter melon. I went to the market and bought one. Then, I started to study the winter melon as I got back home. At first, I felt like a stupid, but as I explore the winter melon, I find it interesting. Then, I turned all my explorations on the winter melon into the essay. Throughout the assignment, I was  able to analyze and evaluate reading texts critically. This is because I used the essay which is in the english textbook as a reference. I learned a lot through this assignment. For example, I learned how to observe things and explore it. I actually spent few hours on exploring and observing the winter melon. I was glad that I was able to meet the requirements of our lecturer for this assignment, which is to explore the vegetable through our five senses and to observe it.

Below is the essay I wrote :

  I was told by my lecturer to write an essay about vegetable base on the

 observation I did on the vegetable I chose. During class, the lecturer asked

 the us to write down the vegetable that we want to observe. I wanted to write

 down those vegetables that are easy to think of, but it turns out to be winter

 melon because most of the popular vegetables are already taken by other

 classmates. Therefore, I had to use winter melon as the writing material for

 my assignment. I went to the grocery store and bought a winter melon at the

 price of RM3.50.

  When I take it back home, I gave it a wash so that the color of the skin which

 is leaf green can be clearly seen. Then, I began to settle down and start to

 observe it. First of all, it is in round shape, unlike the one that I usually think of,

 which is in oblong shape. Then I realized that winter melon has different

 shapes not just in oblong shape. It’s size is just a little bit bigger than an apple,

 which made me doubt that is it really a winter melon or is it other things.

 Therefore, I did some research about it using the Internet. I found that winter

 melon doesn’t only have different shapes, it also has different sizes. It could

 be as big as a watermelon, or even bigger than it. It could be also as small as

 an apple, just like the one that I bought it in the grocery store.

  Then I continued to observe it and found out it has a tiny little stem on top of

 it. I believed this is the spot that it is connected to its plant before it is ripped.

 As times passes when I stare at it, I began to find it looks like a mini version of

 a watermelon because it has some stripes on it, just like a watermelon. But,

 the stripes that is on the winter melon can be barely seen compared to the

 watermelon. After that, I began to starting feeling it with my hands. It has a

 smooth skin, but it is slightly rougher if compared to an apple.

  Then, I lifted it up and started to feel its weight. It wasn’t that heavy due to

 it’s small size, approximately 1 kilogram or maybe lighter. I also tried knocking

 on it with my hand lightly. It just gives me the same feel that as if I’m knocking

 on a watermelon. When I’m knocking on it, I can clearly feel the water that is

 inside it because when I do so, it slightly bounces as if there is spring inside it.

 This is the sign of having water inside it. Besides that, when I place my hand

 on the winter melon, I can feel the coldness of it and I closed my eyes and

 just spend a few moments to just enjoy the coldness. When I hold it long

 enough to let my body heat to warm up the winter melon, the warmness of it

 stopped me from enjoying it.

  Then, I started another way of observing it, which is to smell it. I expected it

 to has the same smell as the winter melon can drink I use to drink, but I was

 turned down immediately because I smelled nothing. Then, I draw near the

 winter melon to my nose and had a second attempt. This time, I closed my

 eyes and place all my concentration on my nose. Slowly, a sweet aroma

 slipped inside my nose. I could say that the fragrance is way better than any

 of the perfume that is sold in the market because I could smell our mother

 nature from it, which is better than all those artificial fragrance.

  Finally, I came to the last step of observing it, which is to taste it. This excites

 me because after all the while of looking at it, I finally get to eat it. I used a

 knife and cut it into half. As I cut it, the juice of the winter melon drips out.

 When I was going to taste the juice, all sorts of imaginations of how the taste

 could be was running through my mind. But none of those imaginations turned

 to be real when I put the juice in my mouth. It was tasteless at all. Although

 the juice was tasteless, doesn’t mean that the meat goes the same way.

 Therefore, I had a bite on it and the result was disappointing. It taste just like

 the juice. After that, I stored the half that is still edible in the refrigerator and

 finish the other half though it was tasteless.

  Throughout this assignment, I learned that observing isn’t an easy task

 because when you observe something and throughout the observation you

 find something that you’re familiar with, your mind starts to project out the

 experiences and it will affect your observation. Therefore, observing without

 being affected is not an easy task and it needs to be trained.

This is a picture of me with the winter melon.