FUNDAMENTALS OF ACADEMIC READING
The great thing about this course? It is challenging but it also forced me to finally watch Hamilton, which I enjoyed through and through.
ABOUT MY LECTURER
Sir Afiq. He is also T10's mentor. I think that Sir Afiq has always made us feel like home. Sir Afiq is very understanding. Most of us like to casually talk about our lives, including the weekly sharing sessions and journals. He has made morning classes enjoyable along with the quirky T10 members.
What do I think about the course?
Like everyone has probably mentioned, it is easy to learn, but hard to score. I was so disappointed in myself for both my first journal and mid-term examination. Though, it was ultimately my fault for not putting in enough effort. There are a few things I am grateful for by learning this course.
First, I learned how to truly distinguish the topic, main idea or supporting details of a text. It may sound silly but I have always had a hard time doing so. If I read something, I get too distracted by each word, I deemed almost everything important. This consumes a lot of my time in doing revisions or notes. Time is precious, but everything was relevant to me. I have not completely mastered this art yet, because mastering takes time. Nonetheless, I am eternally indebted to Sir Afiq for the strategies he has presented in his lectures.
The next thing I am grateful for is the movie sessions. I have always found pastime activities to be of importance, but not a lot of people think that way. When I watch a movie, play a game, or do anything that is deemed 'wasteful', I actually learn a lot from it. I like to discuss the interpretations of movies with my friends, the plot and mechanism of the games I play or dig deep into a show that I like. Most of the time, I acquire new knowledge because the directors or developers put a lot of thought into their craft. Usually, they relate parts of history to their own imaginations and how it all can be played out in a different way. I always feel guilty for being invested in other things that are not academically-related especially when I was aware of how hard-working my peers were in high school. "Am I wasting time again?", is what I would ask myself. However, now I am required to learn from these medias and put my own two cents in it and that makes me feel valid.
The third thing I am grateful for? Well, it is the challenges itself. Yes, the course is hard but it pushes me into the corner of improvement. I am careless, so I have to learn to think more carefully about my choices of answer, and be aware of how I am still lacking in knowledge and performance. When there is room for growth, it makes me happy as I have so much more to learn from life itself.
PRESENTATION
Most of our assignments were Reading Journals, but we did have one presentation to execute. My group consists of Farah, Azimah, Aiman and I. We managed to present about Mental Illness after thorough research and survey. I am glad that we were able to choose our own topic of interest, as it lets the students voice their own opinion about things that are important. For my part, I broke down about the stigma of mental illness and also the negative effects of society romanticising it. I am glad I was able to partake in this presentation along with my supportive and cooperative team members.
Final thoughts?
To Sir Afiq : Thank you for making me feel welcomed.
To TSL014 : Thank you for being nice and challenging at the same time.
