TASK 1 Sept 2014

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim...

Assalamualaikum wbt and a good day to you, whoever and wherever you are.

I was given the name Abdul Rahman bin Menteri and I have been known for other names too, such as; Man, Dikman, Botak, Tak, Bong, Bo, Bob and Mantoya. I am the fourth son of Mr. Menteri Abdullah and Mrs. Maimon Mat Yunus. I was born in Sungai Petani, Kedah on the 4th of May 1990, which is also the Star Wars Day, so May the Fourth be with you, reader. Previously, I studied in the field of engineering and graduated with a Diploma in Product Design Technology, but now I am in UiTM's Faculty of Education, persuing a Degree in TESL.

I would rate myself as "noob" or novice when it comes to computer skills because there is much more to learn. i used to use softwares such as CADCam, MasterCAM, Alias and others when I was learning to design, and later I self-learned Adobe Photoshop, which I barely touched the surface. Apart from that, I think my basic skills in using computers are just as good as any average joe. I rarely play games on my computer, plus I'm not interested in games (ecewah!).

Knowledge of hardware and software? Let's just say I can name a hardware if you point at one, and I know the general functions of the hardware. Plus, if you ask me to build a CPU, given time, I can make it work. For computer software knowledge, as I am presently using an standard spec laptop, i only have Adobe Photoshop installed, 'coz it wouldn't support anything too big and heavy to process. Do we really need to say anything about Microsoft Word, Powerpoint, Excel? Yeap..didn't think so...

I haven't had any online learning experience except for when i was a freshman, taking Introduction to Computer classes taught by the previously Miss Elia.

During my practicum period, I did try to incorporate technology in my lessons, mostly because I want to attract the students' attention. I would say that that particular lesson was conducted successfully as students paid attention and the lesson went smoothly.

From my point of view, incorporating technology in language teaching should be done, learning the different sounds that are made by different people, using interactive media to show the correct and incorrect ways of using the language and so on. The use of technology in language teaching can bring so much positive outcome if it is used in the right direction.

My expectations from this course would be,one, to learn as much as i can on how to use technology in language teaching, and two, to be able to manipulate multiple software to develop a better teaching system.

The general topic for my Academic Exercise(AE) is about language acquisition, a topic that I have chosen because I am thoroughly interested with how different people perceive, absorb, understand and manipulate language differently from one another. the lecturer assigned to supervise my academic exercise is Madam Shiha whom I plan to meet every week so that I can show her my progress in writing the AE. If I am able to do that, InsyaAllah, I will be able to submit all the chapters and final draft on time. Let's pray that I will graduate on time yeah? Amiiin....