"Small steps in the right direction can turn out to be the biggest step of your life."

Get to Know Me

Hey there! My name is Irna. I am a student at UiTM Dengkil. I think everyone can agree that I am a good student and that I like to study. I am taking Foundation in TESL. I don't have any favorite subjects because I like them all equally. My goal is to study hard to all these subjects in future and to become a respected professional in one of the fields.

My friends say that I am a very funny and attractive girl with a good sense of humor. As soon as I met new people who were happy to meet me, I felt very comfortable with them. I believe that friendship is one of the most important
values in human life. We exchange new ideas, find many interesting things with each other and experience new things. I appreciate the friendship and the people around me.

The goal I am striving for is to make this world a better place to live by starting change with myself. Sure, I have had bad experiences in my life, but this is what makes me what I am today: grateful, loving, with a desire to learn well because it will help me become a successful person in the future and have a high quality of life. I believe that this is real from day to day and I feel more responsible for what I do and where I go. With everything I already have, I know that I am on the right path and I will do my best to inspire others to live as they feel like living as well.

My Academic Journey

So here is my list of subjects that I take for this semester as a Tesl Student and everything that I do in all of these subjects.

TSL014 - Fundamentals of Academic Reading

So the first subject is Academic Reading. The lecturer that teaching us is Miss Nurul, which is also my mentor for this semester 1. I love the way she teaching us. She will explain every single things until we understand about the topics. Some students might said that she looks a bit fierce... However, I could say that she's the kind-hearted person that i ever met. I hope she'll still be my mentor for the next semester.

At first, i thought this subject will be easy because it just "reading", but turns out that I was wrong. This is, on my view, the hardest subject for this semester. It's not just reading, you need to understand and deepen anything that you read. I learn how to skimming and scanning in this subject and it takes me a while to fully understand everything. For the assignments, i think it's quite tough, especially when we need to make a presentation video. After all, with more effort, I can still handle this subject. Thanks to the lecturer that always be there to guide me.

TSL024 - Fundamentals of Academic Writing

The next one is Academic Writing. The lecturer that teach me this subject is Miss Hannan. I can describe her as a cute person and funny sometimes. She always share anything that she knows to help me and my classmates in this subject. Hopefully I'll see her around for the next semester.

Writing... For me it's not that hard but not to easy too. It depends on what kind of essay that I do. All type of essays has different instructions. The similarity between all of it is outline. This is the new thing that I learned from this subject. I never make an outline before in school instead I just write the essay straight away. The assignments for writing is not that hard. We just need to gain ideas and others opinion, just like Opinion Base Essay assignment. We would be able to ask people about their opinion for the topic that we choose, then make an essay base on their thoughts. It's interesting for me and I hope I can learn more about it for next semester.

TSL034 - Fundamentals of Listening and Speaking

Alright for this subject, listening and speaking, the one lecturer that teach this subject is Miss Sakina. For me, she is so beautiful and sweet. She knows how to teach her students correctly. She's also a soft-spoken person and so calm. I still don't know if she will be teaching me for next semester...

About this subject, it's almost easy for me. It needs a skills of listening and speaking fluently. Such an interesting subject. I learned a lot about alphabet sounds from phonetic charts and it's fun. But the assignment is quite hard. We need to make a demonstrative speech video and show the steps one by one. Maybe because it is online, so it quite hard to done it but I get used to it. Can't wait to know what I going to learn for next semester.

(That is the note I make from the first class of listening and speaking.)

TSL041 - Grammar 1

Next, let's talk about this subject which is grammar. Madam Hidayah is the lecturer that teach me this subject. She's a good lecturer. She guide her students to master this subject with her own way. Maybe some people didn't see these kind of side of her, but for those who always refer to her can say that she's very helpful. Hope to see her around too.

In my opinion, grammar is the most important subject in English. If our grammar is bad, then it can effect the whole things. Grammar is a key to success in English. If you're good in grammar, sure you'll be good in English too. So far, for this subject I think it's the easiest assignment. We just need to analyze the article that we choose then find some elements (nouns, determine, etc) and then explain about all of it one by one. Madam Hidayah really do great for make sure that her students make it right. During consultation session, she will check all of our progress for the Error Analysis assignment and tell us if there's anything wrong or how we can improve our work. I really appreciate that about her.

TSL051 - College Study Skills

Mr. Aiman is my lecturer for College Study Skills. He's a easy going person and have this kind of vibe that can make us enjoying his class. Maybe because he's a spontaneous and funny sometimes. Never feel sleepy in his class and always focus on what he said throughout the class hours.

College Study Skills is the subject that teach on various type of skills that we need as a university student. Mostly about learning skills, preparation for examination and to get along with university life. The assignments for this subject is so interesting which is I need to make a Social Media Diary video and post, based on the topic given. And the last assignment is to make a website using a Web 2.0 application, which is what I'm doing right now. I learn on how to edit a video, to talk confidently and got so many advices from the lecturer himself.

TSL082 - Introductory Literature 1

For this subject, Introductory literature, Madam Aimi is the one to teach me this subject. Talking about Madam Aimi, she have this personality which is open-minded, funny, kind and talkative person. She always let us understand everything about literature with her own way of teaching. Sadly, i heard a rumor that she won't teach me next semester....

To be honest, I'm not so into literature. Even back in school, I have no interest in it at all. But of course I still need to learn it. It gets better when Madam Aimi is the one to teach it. It makes this subject more interesting for me and the rest of the class. The assignment is not that hard. We just need to present about our novel which is "Animal Farm". I struggle so hard to finish the novel because I'm not a "reading" person. But I keep trying and finally finish it. It's more easy to understand the novel and stories when the lecturer explain it in a brief way. So I'm glad to get a hold for this subject. Still, I'm not interested in literature...

CTU071 - Fundamentals of Islamic Education

The last one is Islamic Education. Ustazah Norida or I always call her "ummi" is the one to teach this subject. She really have the characteristic of a mother, which is good because she can always give us advice and told us which is right and wrong.

In this subject, mostly I learned about education in perspective of Islam such as definition about education in Islam, history behind it and all type of Islam educations. No wonder the subject is called "Islamic Education". It almost similar to Islamic studies that I learned back in school, but this one is more advanced and there's a lot of things to remember. The assignment for this one is quite easy too which is we have to recite Al-Mulk and analyze a few sentences from it. I have done this before in school so it's not that hard for me. The examination is hard if you don't study. It's like history, you need to remember all the facts then you can pass the subject.

My Campus Life

Here I share with all of you about my experience in UiTM Puncak Alam.

PTAR UiTM Puncak Alam

PTAR (Perpustakaan Tun Abdul Razak) is the name given to all the library in UiTM. In Puncak Alam, the library is so big that I don't have that much time to walk through the whole building. It's really beautiful and comfortable too. You can easily find anything you want as a sources here. I inly came to these library once just to have a look in it. I'm not a "library" kind of person after all. I took that photo while I went to PTAR with them. FaI could say that there's noaft much people come to the library.... Maybe because they have to follow all the SOP so they kind of lazy... Plus we already have internet access so there's no need to find sources in library. But still you can come to the library for studying and reading in your leisure time. I hope students can always go to the library and use it right.

ODL Experience

As we know, because of all Covid-19 pandemic, I can't have a physical class for this semester. Of course I am at campus but it have to be done through online. To be honest it quite hard sometimes to done a class by online. Students might face internet problem and lost connection through class and less focus. It's also bad for our health because we have to sit in front of our laptop or PC for a long period of time. It can damage your eyesight and skin too. It's the same challenge I have to face during examination too. Even though now I'm familiar with all this online things, but I really hope I don't have to experience ODL ever again, it's hard for me and my friends... I miss physical class.

My co-curricular activities.

So here's the club that I join for this semester. The club that I join is PEERS club. We don't have much activity for this semester because of the covid-19 pandemic. We only make two online meetings. The first meeting is a brief introduction about PERRS club and appointed the president, vice president, secretary and committee member. The second meeting was held to discuss about the activities that we can actually do when it's possible (after we can make a face to face meeting). This club consists with students from all courses (Science, law, engineering and tesl), mostly Tesl students. Everyone gave full cooperation during both meetings and all of them are very talkative, friendly and respectful towards each other.

Here's my study tips that I use while I entered university life as Tesl student. I hope these tips will help you to survive the college life with good grades.

1. Good Note = Good Grade

The relationship between good notes and good study habits is undeniable. However, taking good notes does not necessarily come to everyone. The trick is to write down important things in a lecture or textbook without writing too much extraordinary information. If you are worried about losing important information, please ask your professor during office hours. Many students also record lectures so they can listen to them later to confirm their notes; make sure you get permission from your professor first!

2. Stay organized

Follow a detailed calendar with all your commitments, including class work, social events and extracurricular activities. This way, you can limit the time each day to study.

Organizing your class materials is also one of the most important learning tips for college students. Use sticky notes to remember important textbook pages, save returned assignments, and create flash cards for important terms. You will thank yourself for the exam time!

3. Disconnect and reconnect

This can be difficult, as most students use their computers for almost all of their homework. Still, the Internet is one of the worst distractions, and limiting time is one of the best learning tips for college students. Try setting limits for yourself: for example, there is no Facebook during class or study time.

4. Do not Cram

Definitely tempting to stop studying until the last minute, but you tend to store information this way. Good study habits come from self-driving. Try to learn a little every day, instead of saving it all for a week before the exam. This will help you cope with fatigue and remember what you learned.

5. Do not study too much

For most students, "over-learning" seems (and may be) impossible. But if you are a person camping in the library, you may be doing more work than you need to.

Among the learning tips for college students, time management is one of the most important. Make sure you study the main ideas of each lecture chapter or textbook, and do not absorb useless information. If you are unsure, meet with your professor to make sure you practice good study habits.

6. Find Your Zone

Everyone has a perfect learning environment. For some, this is a quiet reading space, while others prefer a busy coffee shop. Some like to listen to music while they study, and some need to be completely silent. Try some types of environments and see what works best for you.

7. Take a break!

No, that's right, you succeeded! Take a ten-minute break every hour or so, and try to take a day or two off a week if you can. This will help you stay energized and in a high mental state. Given how easy it is to get overwhelmed in college, this is probably our most important research tip for college students.