ᶠᶤᶯᵅᶩᵉ ♟ Back to Square One

Summarizing everything from the beginning, until now, in a single reflection. :)

Reflection of Language Activities : All In One

Some people have a mindset to hate English their entire life. This mindset is caused by their own feeling that English is not important to be acquired, and there is no fun and joy in learning it. However, what people not realize today that, there's magic behind this language. It may seem awkward, but that's the truth. In order to acquire English proficiency, a learner has to feel the joy in it first before discovering the "magic" behind it. To search for the "magic", language activities are invented for learners to acquire the proficiency of language in a fun way.

First, dialogue is the basic in acquiring the proficiency in English. Understanding dialogues is a way to learn on how to speak with other people in a proper way. We presented a dialogue session about the fight between two customers and an employee in a cafe, regarding on whose mother scores the best as beauty queens. One main weakness we found in our dialogue is the heavy use of slang to help emphasize the joke. Due to the dialogue is highly influenced with the Internet meme of a Filipino beauty pageant participant, who speaks English in a heavy Tagalog accent, some of the dialogues did not follow the proper English.

Second, is the mime, or in other words, a non-verbal communication. We chose to create a short clip, "The Duel", which focused around a playboy, who tries to flirt girls around him, and a tough guy, who despises the playboy who is trying too grab his chances. Eventually, this leads to a boxing duel between those two, and funny chain of events happens as the match goes by. Despite the effective use of sound effects and cinematography, the recycled idea, which uses props closely similar to another group's clip, causes a thumb-down on our mime. Plus, we realized that it's much into a silent comedy instead of showing the communication purpose of the mime.

Short mime: "The Duel"

Third, is the tongue twister, which is effective to practice the pronunciation skill. We are given three tongue twisters to practice. The first one:

If you can't can any candy can,

how many candy cans can a candy canner can,

if he can can candy cans ?

At first, we have troubles on the intonation of the tongue twister. Since it's a tongue twister which is in a form of question, thus, the last part should be spoken in a questioning tone. We screwed up many times at the final part, as we tend to say tongue twisters in a plain intonation. Moving on to the second tongue twister:

A big black bug bit a big black dog on his big black nose!

This tongue twister doesn't bring much trouble compared to the first one. This tongue twister focused more on the pronunciation of words starting with "b". Some people may stuck at "bit" and "big", as they sound almost the same. The third tongue twister is:

Did Dick Pickens prick his pinkie pickling cheap cling peaches in an inch of Pinch or framing his famed French finch photos?

This tongue twister was not been presented in the class, but I took the initiative to practice it. I realise that there is a difficulty in pronouncing the ending of some words in a faster pace, especially words ending with "s", as we tend to miss the letter.

Fourth, is a worksheet of sentence analysis, in the form of tree diagram. I used the method of multiple-choice answers for the worksheet. Despite the structure of the question is similar with the others, however, the multiple-choice answers are not as easy as we think. Confusion can happen when we cannot determine at which level a particular level is no longer considered a phrase (Choosing between "V" and "VP"). Despite making the answer seem too obvious, but this method of worksheet is to test the students either a particular part of sentence is still considered a phrase, or already broken down into a single word.

Sample worksheet

Lastly, the creation of language games. Life is not fun without games, right? Thus, language games are created to provide the fun, and evaluate our proficiency of English. Our group decided to create a game, known as "Word Scramble". The rules of the game include:

1. Seven letters will be shown on the screen.
2. Using the provided seven letters, create as many words as you can, at least 3 letters, and at most 7 letters within a time limit of 2 minutes.
3. One group will be made up of four people.
4. Each of the letters may be only used once per word. For example, if there are 2 “A”s among the seven letters, the word must use either one or two “A”s.
5. After 2 minutes are up, the full list of words will be shown.
6. In order to advance to the next round, the group must achieve the goal of number of words need to be created.
7. Any group who fails to achieve the number of words required will be eliminated from the game.
8. If no one passes the round, the winner will be declared according to: (1) the team who created the most words (2) the team who manage to form the longest word (7 letters, then 6 letters, 5 letters, …)
9. If there are any words created being unlisted on the list, it will be accepted if the word exists in the dictionary.

Example of a finished round in "Word Scramble"

Some weaknesses can be found in the game. Limited words are shown on the screen, causing the words which are not on the list has to be re-checked before a score is given. Plus, letters "S" are banned from the game, as players may tend to create words with an extra "S" to cheat the score, as "S" is the main key to turn a word from singular to plural. That also goes to when "E" and "D" going together, which are the main keys to create past tense sentences, ending with "-ed".

Throughout the whole activity, it can be seen that these activities more or less, helped us to improve our proficiency in English. Without even realizing, collaborative efforts between we and our lecturer, Madam Ira Sandhu helped making these activities a blast. Developing creativity, is one of the hidden goals while we created all these. Creating something unique than the other groups is a way to make variations of a specific activity. This can be applied in teaching, where different teaching strategies are required in order to create a living and fun experience in learning.

Apart from that, the incentive that the lecturer gave to the groups with the best performance is an encouragement for all of us to do the best. Despite never winning any of the incentives, but all that matters in the little "competition", is all the fun we put in each activity we conducted, and the joy to learn English, not just as a normal lesson, but also a daily application.

004 ♟ Inside : Speech Organs

Shown above are the organs of speech in the human body.

The various organs which are involved in the production of speech sounds are called speech organs (also known as vocal organs). The study of speech organs helps to determine the role of each organ in the production of speech sounds. They include:

1. The Lungs

The airflow is by far the most vital requirement for producing speech sound, since all speech sounds are made with some movement of air. The lungs provide the energy source for the airflow. The lungs are the spongy respiratory organs situated inside the rib cage. They expand and contract as we breathe in and out air. The amount of air accumulated inside our lungs controls the pressure of the airflow.

2. The Larynx & the Vocal Folds

The larynx is colloquially known as the voice box. It is a box-like small structure situated in the front of the throat where there is a protuberance. For this reason the larynx is popularly called the Adam’s apple. This casing is formed of cartilages and muscles. It protects as well as houses the trachea and the vocal folds. The vocal folds are like a pair of lips placed horizontally from front to back. They are joined in the front but can be separated at the back. The opening between them is called glottis. The glottis is considered to be in open state when the folds are apart, and when the folds are pressed together the glottis is considered to be in close state.

The opening of the vocal folds takes different positions:

• Wide Apart: When the folds are wide apart they do not vibrate. The sounds produced in such position are called breathed or voiceless sounds. For example: /p/f/θ/s/.
• Narrow Glottis: If the air is passed through the glottis when it is narrowed then there is an audible friction. Such sounds are also voiceless since the vocal folds do not vibrate. For example, in English /h/ is a voiceless glottal fricative sound.
• Tightly Closed: The vocal folds can be firmly pressed together so that the air cannot pass between them. Such a position produces a glottal stop / ʔ / (also known as glottal catch, glottal plosive).
• Touched or Nearly Touched: The major role of the vocal folds is that of a vibrator in the production of speech. The folds vibrate when these two are touching each other or nearly touching. The pressure of the air coming from the lungs makes them vibrate. This vibration of the folds produces a musical note called voice. And sounds produced in such manner are called voiced sounds. In English all the vowel sounds and the consonants /v/z/m/n/are voiced.

Thus it is clear that the main function of the vocal folds is to convert the air delivered by the lungs into audible sound. The opening and closing process of the vocal folds manipulates the airflow to control the pitch and the tone of speech sounds. As a result, we have different qualities of sounds.

3. The Articulators

Articulators transform the sound into intelligible speech. They can be either active or passive. They include the pharynx, the teeth, the alveolar ridge behind them, the hard palate, the softer velum behind it, the lips, the tongue, and the nose and its cavity. Traditionally the articulators are studied with the help of a sliced human head figure like the following:

• The Pharynx: The pharynx lies between the mouth and the food passage, that is, just above the larynx. It is just about 7cm long in the case of women and 8cm long in the case of men.

• The Roof of the Mouth: The roof of the mouth is considered as a major speech organ. It is divided into three parts:

1. The Alveolar Ridge/Teeth Ridge: The alveolar ridge is situated immediately after the upper front teeth. The sounds which are produced touching this convex part are called alveolarsounds. Some alveolar sounds in English include: /t/d/.
2. The Hard Palate: The hard palate is the concave part of the roof of the mouth. It is situated on the middle part of the roof.
3. The Velum or Soft Palate: The lower part of the roof of the mouth is called soft palate. It could be lowered or raised. When it is lowered, the air stream from the lungs has access to the nasal cavity. When it is raised the passage to the nasal cavity is blocked. The sounds which are produced touching this area with the back of the tongue are called velarsounds. For example: /k/g/.

• The Lips: The lips also play an important role in the matter of articulation. They can be pressed together or brought into contact with the teeth. The consonant sounds which are articulated by touching two lips each other are called bilabial sounds. For example, /p/ and /b/ are bilabial sounds in English. Whereas, the sounds which are produced with lip to teeth contact are called labiodental sounds. In English there are two labiodental sounds: /f/ and /v/. Another important thing about the lips is that they can take different shapes and positions. Therefore, lip-rounding is considered as a major criterion for describing vowel sounds. The lips may have the following positions:

1. Rounded: When we pronounce a vowel, our lips can be rounded, a position where the corners of the lips are brought towards each other and the lips are pushed forwards. And the resulting vowel from this position is a rounded one. For example, /ə ʊ/.
2. Spread: The lips can be spread. In this position the lips are moved away from each other (i.e. when we smile). The vowel that we articulate from this position is an unrounded one. For example, in English /i: /is a long vowel with slightly spread lips.
3. Neutral: Again, the lips can be neutral, a position where the lips are not noticeably rounded or spread. And the articulated vowel from this position is referred to as unrounded vowel. For example, in English /ɑ: / is a long vowel with neutral lips.

• The Teeth: The teeth are also very much helpful in producing various speech sounds. The sounds which are made with the tongue touching the teeth are called dental sounds. Some examples of dental sounds in English include: /θ/ð/.

• The Tongue: The tongue is responsible for the production of many speech sounds, since it can move very fast to different places and is also capable of assuming different shapes. The shape and the position of the tongue are especially crucial for the production of vowel sounds. Thus when we describe the vowel sounds in the context of the function of the tongue, we generally consider the following criteria:

1. Tongue Height: It is concerned with the vertical distance between the upper surface of the tongue and the hard palate. From this perspective the vowels can be described as close and open. For instance, because of the different distance between the surface of the tongue and the roof of the mouth, the vowel /i: /has to be described as a relatively close vowel, whereas /æ / has to be described as a relatively open vowel.
2. Tongue Frontness / Backness: It is concerned with the part of tongue between the front and the back, which is raised high. From this point of view the vowel sounds can be classified as front vowels and back vowels. By changing the shape of the tongue we can produce vowels in which a different part of the tongue is the highest point. That means, a vowel having the back of the tongue as the highest point is a back vowel, whereas the one having the front of the tongue as the highest point is called a front vowel. For example: during the articulation of the vowel / u: / the back of the tongue is raised high, so it’s a back vowel. On the other hand, during the articulation of the vowel / æ / the front of the tongue is raise high, therefore, it’s a front vowel.

• The Jaws: Some phoneticians consider the jaws as articulators, since we move the lower jaw a lot at the time of speaking. But it should be noted that the jaws are not articulators in the same way as the others. The main reason is that they are incapable of making contact with other articulators by themselves.

• The Nose and the Nasal Cavity: The nose and its cavity may also be considered as speech organs. The sounds which are produced with the nose are called nasal sounds. Some nasal sounds in English include: /m/n/ŋ/.

References:

• Harmer, Jeremy. The Practice of English Language Teaching. 3rd ed. England: Longman-Pearson, 2001. 28-35.
• Yule, George. The Study of Language. 2nd ed. Cambridge: CUP, 1996. 40-50.
• Varshney, Dr. R.L. An Introduction of Linguistics & Phonetics. Dhaka: BOC, n.d. 38-42.

003 ♟ Mime : The Duel

Picture above shows the looks of a mime artist which is common as a street-performer. The black and white colors are a reference to the old-time movies, the time when there is no sound applied to the movie, and the dialogues are replaced with cue cards instead.

Mime comes from the Greek word, "mimos", which means imitator or actor. Sometimes, language is not expressed just by speaking, but by body language too. Only with some movements or acts which everyone understands well to deliver a message, this makes mime a good way to communicate in a fun and interactive way. Sometimes, mimes are also assumed as a silent comedy, which is mostly common to the comedian legend, Charlie Chaplin.

For this task, we chose "The Duel" as the title of the short mime. "The Duel" tells about a guy, who loves to flirt girls around him. Then, a tough guy came to prove that he deserves to get the girls than the weaker guy. A humorous fight ensues, and the victor claimed the throne at the final round with an unexpected luck...

Who will win the duel? The tough, or the weak? Brace yourselves, enjoy the mime:

002 ♟ Language Function : Beauty Wars

The picture above has nothing to do with the contents of the post. Just for display purpose.

Some sentences, when uttered to a listener in different tones, there might exist a variety of interpretation, whether the speaker is suggesting, greeting, scolding, and so on. This is known as language functions, where a specific tone or sentence structure has its use to express a specific expression or message to the listener.

For example, "Please take off your shoes." and "Take off those shoes!" The second sentence seems harsh, and it is usually used to warn, while the first one has a lower tone, where instead, it serves to instruct. Language functions can be also found in the simplest ever sentence such as "What is the time now?", where it functions when asking people.

Regarding the title, our role-play is about a situation in a café, where the customers, and later followed by the employees of the café argue among each other on whose mother is the best beauty pageant. Several language functions can be found in the conversation, marked with bold texts.

Two young men are having their conversation in XXX Café. Both of them are talking about Miss Universe 2011 pageant. They are arguing about the winner of the pageant.

Shah : (Approaching the café) Hey Kel, it has been a while. How are you?

Kel : Wow! Look who is here? Glad you are still alive…

Kay : Any drinks, gentlemen? [To ask]

Kel : I would like a mango juice.

Shah : Hurm… there are too many choices. I do not know which one to choose.

Kel : Want me to choose for you?

Shah : Sure.

Kel : Just give him a sky juice. [To suggest]

Kay : One mango juice and one sky juice, table 2567!

Tiong : One mango juice and one sky juice, coming right up!

Shah : So have you watched Miss Universe 2011?

Kel : Oh yes! I think Miss Malaysia, Deborah Henry should get the title for Miss Universe 2011. Her body is perfect! You know what Shah? Through my 22 years existence in this world, the judges were major major super major major biased. [To give opinion]

Shah : Are you kidding me? Miss Angola, Leila Lopes deserved her title. Just look at the curves. (whistle~) The elegance, the bikini, the size, the…

Kel : Yeah! Yeah! Whatever. As long as my mother is more beautiful than your mother. It is all that matters.

Shah : Duh…are you insane? If your mother is more beautiful, then why my father married my mother and not yours? [To argue]

Kay : Stop it… Here you are, sir. For your information, my parents are more attractive than your parents!

Tiong : No, no, no… My parents are more attractive, okay? So do not get jealous.

Kel : Hey, what are with you two? Do not interfere our conversation!

Shah : Yeah, it’s just between me and him. (Points to Kel)

Tiong : You want to know something? My mother is the Mrs Sibu for three years in a row!

Kel : Humph! Perhaps your mother wins because she was the only contestant for those three years! [To tease]

Tiong : How dare you! She joins it fair and square!

Kel : It’s so lame to promote your mother as the beauty pageant for just a small area. My mother is the second runner-up for last year’s Mrs Sarawak! I repeat, Mrs Sarawak!

Shah : Oh please. My mother was a candidate for the Mrs Earth last year!

Kay : Guys, just stop it, you guys!

Tiong : Humph! My mother will join Mrs Universe this year! Don’t get jealous!

Kay : I said stop!

Shah : My mom too!

Kay : Please stop, all of you.

Kel : My mother does come from a small town, but she will join the brawl too!

Kay : Can you guys please stop quarrelling?! You’re disturbing the customers here! [To stop an argument]

Shah : Oh, OK.

Kay : Even if any of our mothers being attractive upon another, we should be happy because we still have our mothers on our side! Shouldn’t we be major major proud for them who gave birth to us to this world? You know what? I’m glad that I’m here!

Kel : Hey, you sound familiar.

Kay : Did I?

Tiong : Yes, the Filipino “Engrish” beauty pageant.

Shah : Major major! Oh please, improve your English! [To advise]

Kay : Okay okay, that’s enough. Enjoy your drinks, guys. Don’t start another debate on it.

Tiong : Aaa… Excuse me? Waiter, I don’t have the drinks. How should I enjoy it?

Kay : GO BACK TO WORK, YOU FOOL! I’m only talking to the customers!

(Tiong runs back to workstation, and the café is as peaceful as before)

Several humour can be seen during the dialogue, since it involves two fanatic beauty contest fans, one clumsy employee and one not-so-professional waiter of the café. Most of the dialogues such as "Major major" was a reference to the Tagalog film "Ang Tanging Ina Mo". The dialogue itself was a parody on a Filipino beauty pageant, Janina San Miguel for her thick accent and unfocused response during the 2008 Binibining Pilipinas.

Despite another group wins the reward, satisfaction to learn is more valuable than that.

P/S: Despite Janina San Miguel's failed attempt to compose the answer, she did win the 2008 Binibining Pilipinas.

001 ♟ Inside : Language

Language. To normal people, this is just merely a word that represents the way or the manner someone speak. Be it Malay, English, Chinese, or other means of speaking, they're considered as languages. Try to sit down for a while, and think, what's inside a language, what does it really mean, and what makes up a language?

According to Finegan E. (2011), the language system has "three faces", namely meaning, expression, and context. A grammar of a language is like a two-sided coin, whose two sides are meaning and expression, which are linked systematically. The "third-face", the context will determine how the message receiver would interpret their message.

During the class, we were required to explain the meaning of language in our own view. I and my partner deduced that "Language is a code of speech used in a community, which differs according to the culture, identity, ideology, and the expertise of that specific community". Each of the meaning deduced must possess an aspect which is not used in other deductions, which is for ours, "the identity of the community". For example, the word "orang utan". Indirectly, most people will link the word to Malaysia, since Malaysia is the main habitat for the species. The language itself will represent the identity of the item represented by the word.

Language can be also be arbitrary. Different people, according to their standards which is agreed in a circle of community will call items differently. For example, the American calls confectioneries as "cookies", while the British calls them as "biscuits". We can also assume the confectionery as "bottles", only if a community of people agrees on the calling by that word.

Still, language is the main aspect that forms the communication in real life. Be it a body language, animal language, body or sign language, their absence will hinder the interaction between living beings.

References:

• Finegan E., (2011). Language: Its Structure and Use. Boston, Massachusetts : Thomson Wadsworth.

♞ Prologue

Bonjour, mesdames et messieurs.

First of all, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Khairul Azlan bin Mohd Faizul, currently a teacher trainee in Semester 5, cohort of 2010 in Sarawak Teachers' Institute, Miri. Known widely by pen-name Keiichi Niwa, my alter-ego as a fan of the Japanese culture.

This blog is named after the "family name" of my alter-ego, which is Niwa. Niwa, in the Japanese language bears the meaning of "garden". I had never yet try to post anything related to academic before, so I'll try my best to make this blog as beneficial as possible. The blog is set up as the reflections of lectures and tutorials of one of our courses, ELE 3103 (English for Language Teachers). Hopefully, by frequently updating this blog with academic views and stuffs, I will gain benefits from this blog itself, and try to improve my grammar to the max.

Thanks for visiting. Profitez de votre séjour.

✾ K ✾