Describing Myself from 3rd Point of View

Zulaiha. It is a common Malay name that people often heard at schools, malls and maybe on papers. It is also a name possessed by a 18 year-old girl, who is not as famous as Taylor Swift, or who ever on posters, but she is just an ordinary and modest girl, whose journey as a human has started since 12th June 1991. Born in small town in Johor on that beautiful Wednesday, She is the fourth out of five children in the family. Her parents named her Siti Nurzulaiha and later called as zulaiha, siti, nur, zul, jul and mico by family and friends.


When she was a small little girl, she was taught by her parents to be not a burden of people around her. There was an incident happened when she was 9. She left her shoes in school and then asked her childhood friend to accompany her to go there. They had to walk from their houses to school, that approximately 10km away, and after that, went back home by foot. Along the journey, they were nearly kidnapped and so on. When she came back home, her strict father awaited her with a cane. You could guess what had happened next. She had troubled her friend, she should pay for it. She could still remember vividly that unforgettable day. Being the youngest daughter is not always easy and could get have many privileges. Things that she possessed were not first-handed, and sometimes she could only have third-handed clothes. They are from her sisters. Her parents taught her not to be a materialistic and brand-conscious girl. Money is not like leaves and normally things that people want are not on the street, then, she tried her best to appreciate them.

Talking about her personality, she is neither angel, nor devil. The first impressions of people about her are “she must be arrogant”,”she is under estimating me” and whatever bad things. Even her friends sometimes are afraid to talk to her. Her small and single lid eyes maybe make her look like an arrogant, that is how she concludes. Maybe when she smiles, it looks like she is smirking. Or maybe she really thinks she is smiling but the truth is, she isn’t. Close friends and family know her best. She is not friendly to strangers, or even to new friends .She could be friendly and happy-go-lucky to the person who approaches her first. If communication is a compulsory subject in SPM, she would fail. Zulaiha could be an insane and witty girl if people know her better. She could never lose her sarcasm, like she always said “none of my friends has defeated me in tongue fighting”. However, she did it just for fun. She became prefect from she was in standard two until in form 5, and yet, she has a little confidence in herself. it maybe contradicts with her witty characteristic, but it is her ~afraid not to be accepted, afraid to fail, and afraid to be isolated.

Her passion is always art and maybe this keeps her mysterious. Since she was 3, she could draw, but it is not better as now. This is the talent she possesses. Sketching human figures, mimics, situations and stories are her area of expertise in drawing. She has a shelf of comics for her to improve her skills. Now, she has stopped collecting comics, and turned to funny videos. Collecting comics involves money, while videos not. Just download them through hostel Wi-Fi for free (she becomes so stingy lately). Music has also got her attraction. To quote, music is a food of soul. She feeds hers by listening the music she loves, for instance, music by Jason Mraz, Faizal Tahir,My Chemical Romance and many more. They are all entertaining and mind relaxing. If possible, art is the area she would choose for her future. Unfortunately, parents’ blessing is the priority. She once broke her mother’s dream to have a doctor in the family, when she filled the boarding school application form wrongly and went to technical stream. Well, past could not be changed, but future, yes. So she moves on.

She is now on her way to success. She has just realized that her success that she has achieved before is just a tiny little thing compared to what’s future has store in herself. Keep faith in myself, that is what a sentence she needs with a little courage to overcome the obstacles she might face. Receiving government scholarship is a bonus for her to help her parents, her study and herself. If she succeeds to fly to Germany for study purpose, that is maybe her beginning point to become a successful engineer. Let’s live the dreams!

this is the only picture left in my laptop, from facebook.

Desert Flower by Waris Dirie

Title         :Desert   Flower
Author     :Waris   Dirie
Publisher  :Virago   Press, 1998

How does the text relate to the theme of a journey?


Desert Flower, written by Waris Dirie and Cathleen Miller, is about a journey of a Somali girl ,who has been circumcised when she was a child and how she attempted to change her fate of living in nomadic way. The theme is women mutilation in Africa. At five, she was circumcised to become a woman. Luckily she survived from the circumcision, because her sister, Halemo bled to death. However, it was her starting point to suffer for the rest of her life. She felt pain every time she wanted to urinate and had worse period sick. When she fled to London and years after ,she involved in modelling, her genital problem made her feel ashamed and crippled. She determined to operate. The interview with Marie Claire gave her strong courage to tell the world the true story of her life, especially about female circumcision. Yet that was the beginning of her mission to fight against female genital mutilation.

2. What is the main issue in the text?

Waris, a rebellious little girl who initially excited to become a woman by circumcision, regretted to death when she experienced once. She did not get the leisure when she urinated and took long time. When she became an adult and educated, she knew that this African tradition is only to fulfill men’s desire, meanwhile women suffered the most. This kind of mutilation gives no good to female but several diseases , for instance, bladder infections, septicemia and recurrent urinary. Waris has fought for female’s rights against this traditional culture with her strong will, although she knew that she might be objected by her own people. She has suffered from mutilation and did not bear to look any other girl to face the same thing. She joined UN’s fight and encouraged the world to be on her side.

3. What quality do you admire or dislike in a character?

Waris is the woman i adore in this text. I couldn’t imagine how she could travel all alone in the desert without food and water. Being molested at four and nearly being raped at twelve made her feel strong and wanted to become without men. For me, she is no angel that had been commonly appeared in some cliche texts. She was an ordinary human who chased her dreams with courage and went through unbearable obstacles. Waris succeed, at last, to become a wealthy famous woman, however her down-to-earth personality amused me. Born as a nomad did not impede her to change her fate. Patience and self-trust in herself gave her the spirit to endure the pain until she became the UN’s Ambassador.

4. How does the text develop your understanding of the world?

When I read this novel, I couldn’t believe that this nomadic life is still existing in this world. I thought it was only happened in the past. Moreover,I could say that men abused women in this circumcision way just to fulfill their sex desire. Even the women could not do anything for the sake of their husbands. The obedience of women to their men is something that could be praised, but how come men do not see their sacrifices. One thing that has shocked me is the death of children due to this traditional culture. For the future sexual purpose, millions of female children died. This is absurd, but true. The circumcision is important to convince the bridegroom to have a virgin wife, but what is the importance of being a virgin, if the woman has to endure pain for the rest of her life? Moreover, she would never enjoy the sexual intercourse, meanwhile the husband would be happy all the time and to be worse, sometimes he married another “virgin” girl. This text teaches me that life is not always fair. Sex discrimination still exists nowadays. However, there are still some people who insist to halt this foolish ideology. Keep silent does not change anything. Lend a hand.

Falling Leaves by Adeline Yen Mah

Title       :Falling   Leaves

Author   :Adeline   Yen   Mah

London, M. Joseph, 1997

1. How does the text relate to the theme of a journey?

This book teaches about love, acceptance and betrayal. From the beginning of the text, the author, whose name Adeline narrates her childhood days as a girl, who was labelled as ‘bad luck’. Her fate became worse when his father married an Eurasian woman, Jeanne. She and her siblings were emotionally abused by their stepmother. As she grew up, she struggled to achieve success to impress her parents. Being a bright student was not enough to amuse them. She faced a lot of difficulties to be loved by her family, especially her father and stepmother. Although she has fulfilled all her parents’ needs and obeyed their orders, they were worthless when she was being stabbed from the back by her flesh and bones.

2. What is the main issue in the text?

The main issue of this book is love of the family. Family’s love was the strongest power for Adeline, yet she didn’t know that she was the only one who struggled for it. She might be fool to be a puppet of her Niang (her stepmother), followed Niang’s order to climb the stairs of her life, but her thought was reasonable ~she did not want to lose her beloved family, since she already knew that her Niang controlled her family’s bond. The love that Adeline longed for was the love that killed her heart at last, when she faced love’s most powerful murder, which is betrayal.

3. What quality do you admire or dislike in a character?

Adeline , the main character in text is the most adorable character of all. She went through hardship with patience and pure heart.Her supplement was not wealth and fame, but only love. I wonder how she could bear being a woman, whose her childhood days were destroyed by her cunning and vindictive stepmother , and when she became successful and affluent, she helped her stepmother without any avenged heart. Her story is greater than any Cinderella story ever published. This was not an exaggerating praise but her life’s story really tears my heart apart. Her compassion to the person who had ruined her life was the highest honour I could give in this text.

4. How does the text develop your understanding of the world?

The world is not as beautiful as what I have imagined. I never know that on the other part of the world, there is still people who do not know the value of family’s love. What she dreamt of was not exactly what she got. Reality hurts. This heart wrenching story helps me go beyond what it was written, and share Adeline’s feeling. I found it hurts a lot to be the one who demand for love that others do not want to give. Betrayal is the most dangerous thing that could kill one’s heart. Adeline shared her laughter with her family and lend hands to help when they were in trouble. Sadly, not all people who were being helped, remember her sacrifices. After reading this novel, I think I have to be cautious to every human I meet in this world. Her good deed encourages me to contribute without receiving the present.

Phrasal verb

verb + preposition/s
eg. : run down

run out of

run into



1. Guess who I ran into at the club!

2.She's always running down her husband.

3.I need to go to the market.I've run out  of oil,meat and rice.



Put in a suitable preposition in each space.



1. Hundreds of people turned up in the rain to see the celebrity.

2.Most of my time is taken up with answering the phone.

3.Don't be put down by the price,a cool $ 20,000.

4.Something funny is going on .

5.I think she made up the whole story!

6.Not many people turned up for the last lecture.

7.Don't worry,you can count on me.

What does the cartoon have to say about teenagers and their lives?


1.How does the teenager feel about exam tension?

For him exam tension means the tension that he felt when he was sitting for the exam, not before it. He convinced himself that he wasn’t tensed for it but when the time came, he seemed to be thoughtless

2. In what way is there a communication gap between the teenager and his parents?

His parents questioned him but he had no idea what to answer. So,Jeremy answered it by questioning what they do routinely and this kind of answers would not make his parents ask him for the second time. To conclude, they have questioned each other the questions that did not have exact answer to say, but they was clear in their minds.

3. What point is the teenager trying to get across to his father in this cartoon?

He demands for a better internet connection or else, he can give many words cursing the connection and in my opinion, those fifty words would not be the nice-heard words.

4.In what way does the father understand his son well?

His son always says sarcastically, so he was just asking him what he exactly wants to say

Why do you burden yourself if the chance is already wide opened?

word collocation

A collocation is two or more words which often go together.

Natural English Unnatural English

fast food quick food

a quick shower a fast shower

(Tip:when you learn a new word,write down other words that collocate with it)

Eg.: make + the bed/ time/breakfast/friends/fun/a joke/money

Exercise

Both options make sense.Underline the one which forms a common collocation

1. Many small houses and huts were (flooded away/washed away) when the river bursts its banks.

2.Poor farming methods are responsible for soil (devaluation/erosion )in many areas of Saharan African.

3.During the earthquake,many people were( buried/covered )alive.

4.The forest fire left a wide area of the mountainside blackened and (ablaze/smouldering).

5.Villagers are hoping for rain this month after nearly a year of (dry weather/drought.)

6. Before the hurricane struck,many people were (evacuated/shifted) to higher ground.

7.Thousands of children in the famine-striken area are suffering from (malnutrition/undernourishment).

10.Heavy snow has fallen in the mountains and many villages have been (blocked out/cut off) for the past two days.

11.The Aids (epidemic/plague) is having serious effects in some countries.

12.Many small islands in the Indian Ocean are threatened by rising sea (waters/levels).


English Grammar and Vocabulary

Vince Michael and Sunderland Peter

(Macmillan)

Word collocation

Which word completes each set of collocations or fixed phrases?

a) an instrument _panel_______
a panel of experts
a control panel
a wooden panel

b) a secret ballot
a secret agent
keep it a secret
meet in secret
the secret of success

c) take stock of the situation
it's out of stock
the stock exchange
the stock market


d) a time sheet
a time zone
only time will tell
long time no see
for the time being


e) a child minder
child abuse
child care facilities
a child prodigy
behaving like a child