xmas day 2008

xmas day was so quiet. we only saw few people on our street; visiting their family members for xmas lunch. kalau kita raya, sure riuh rendah dari pagi sampai malam dengan tetamu, kereta penuh kat jalan or depan rumah..makan non stop!

hubby cooked hot breakfast just like we normally have on sundays - bagel with egg, mushroom, onion and cheese. Aliyah opted for bread with soft cheese and followed by strawberries.

aisyah had bagel with soft cheese and sos cili lingam

aliyah helped herself to soft cheese straight from tub to mouth!

we went to mimi & faizal's house for lunch. mimi masak ayam percik and mixed vege. i baked marmalade & poppy seed cake in the citrus mould which ina bought on her New York trip last month. lepas makan, biasa la lepak2 tengok tv, watched 2 movies - casino royale and grease and left at 6pm.

merry christmoose from aliyah!!

malam raya

its xmas eve. kalau kita, malam raya mesti sibok mencari (or bakar) lemang, kacau rendang, tukar langsir and rumah riuh rendah dengan anak beranak baru sampai or budak2 main bunga api. its a totally different atmosphere with xmas celebration.

we went to richard (hubby's boss) house earlier hantar blueberry & apple cake which i baked last nite for him and jane, just like last year. their house (and their neighbourhood) was pretty quiet. jane was only going to put the turkey in the oven at 6pm for xmas lunch. they gave us a quarter block of cheese, a bottle of still ginger drink, chocs and glow stick for aisyah and a story book for aliyah.

pagi tadi took the kids to the shops; bought some stuff from La Senza for aisyah (not for me). orang ramai betul, last minute shopping.

back from the shops, baked marble cake and masak rendang daging bersempena dengan xmas esok ....

Nigella marble cake from bbcgoodfood magazine.

our ustazahs

our 2 girls ; one was getting ready for kafa class

the other one sibok nak ikut orang solat

friends

Aliyah only has 1 friend her age; Atan. just love taking their pictures whenever we met up with Atan and his family.

when Atan first met Aliyah; he was 4 months, Aliyah was 1 week old

censored!!! bathing together....

in the playpen together...

tengok tv sambil makan together

hisap susu pun nak together gether

odd pictures

these are pictures i took using my mobile (orang malaysia panggil handphone); over the past few months but never got round to upload to c:drive.

aisyah on nebuliser; at Wollaton Vale Health Centre

during her asthma attack which gave us a scare.

found this new product at Sainsbury's

when grocery shopping

La Senza sale anyone???

emmm... what does that mean? found this in one of the Art Galleries on River Thames, London

happy holiday

at last.. the year end holiday is here!! i've not had any break since we came back from malaysia in August. i started work the week after we got home, then started teaching in september till we finished the first term yesterday. students will be back on 12th jan (and so will i). hoping that our visa extension application goes through without any hiccup; otherwise we have to pack up our things and balik kampong by mid jan!

stupid or what???

i got this snippet from nst online and i think the politians and the ministers dont really have anything else to do but making life difficult for the children; not the teachers. apa, dia orang ingat budak2 ni robot ke? i think all the options from no 2-7 are just so ridiculous!

i welcome the move by the government to teach maths and science in english way back then because the then PM realised how important it was for the malaysian kids to be able to speak english. takkan melayu hilang di bumi just because orang melayu kena belajar in english!

sebagai orang melayu, obviously i'm proud of bahasa melayu (and bahasa kelate) but that should not deprive my children from speaking in english fluently. Aisyah spoke good english since she was 3, which she picked up mostly from tv and got better when she started pre school. when we moved here, she didnt have any problem at all in school. at home, we speak in malay to her so that dia tak lupa dia masih orang melayu yang boleh bercakap melayu; but she speaks mostly in english because she 'thinks' in english and found it difficult to translate. she would still speak in malay to her mummy tok (my mom). even aliyah knows some malay words like tidor, nak lagi, baju, seluar, air... my mom's cousin, Nik Ibrahim who left msia for England in early 60s still speaks good bahasa melayu and bahasa kelate even though his wife and their kids & grandkids are omputih.


TEACHING OF MATHS AND SCIENCE IN ENGLISH: Education Minister to study report from roundtable discussions

The findings from the series of roundtable discussions on the policy of teaching and learning Maths and Science in English will be handed over to Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein soonest possible to be tabled to the Cabinet.
Deputy Education Minister Datuk Wee Ka Siong said the report contained seven options on the future of the policy, derived from the discussions, whereby the participants included academics and representatives of political parties and non-governmental organisations.The options are:

1. To continue teaching and learning of Maths and Science in English as it is now.
2. To use Bahasa Malaysia or pupils' mother tongue as the medium of instruction from the primary school level and English for Maths and Science at the secondary level.
3. To start using English for Maths and Science from Standard Four right into the secondary level.
4. To use Bahasa Malaysia or mother tongue at the primary level, and Bahasa Malaysia fully at the secondary level.
5. Schools to determine the medium of instruction for Maths and Science.
6. To use Bahasa Malaysia or mother tongue from Standard One to Three, implement bi-lingual use from Standard Four to Six and full use of English at the secondary level.
7. To abolish the Science subject from Standard One to Three and incorporate teaching of Science in other subjects.

at the uni, we have lots of overseas students; including malaysians. what we (the academicians) found is that these students lack communication skill. this was discussed in detail at exam board meetings as most students failed in 'essay' format papers due to poor written skill. and overseas students tend to memorise rather than understanding the principle then applying them appropriately. for the subject that i teach, students have to be good with numbers, description and interpretation; which is quite challenging for me.

nite out

last nite we were at mimi's place from 4.30pm for almost 8 hours! mimi & faizal had a small makan2 for daughter Tisyia's 8th birthday. other guest was my colleague Sani. tu je la our close friends in notts.

BFF - Best Friends Forever

BFF with Aliyah wanting to menumpang sekaki!

mimi masak pulut kuning with rendang daging, tandoori chicken makan dengan potato salad and coleslaw and also apple crumble for dessert. very nice... aliyah had a good serving of pulut kuning, her favourite makanan melayu.

i baked nigella's old fahioned chocolate birthday cake and orange flavoured konnyoku jelly (which mom brought from msia last year). ada 2 packets lagi, simpan for aliyah's birthday in january pulak!

lepas makan, sessi tengok Abba the movie (again!) while waiting for X Factor Final live on telly which started at 7pm, result announced at 11.30pm. (photos courtesy of virgin media) .

the X factor judges - louis, dannii, cheryl and simon

the X Factor winner 2008 - Alexandra Burke

Alex singing with her special guest - Beyonce

JLS 'boy' group - 1st runner up, with Beyonce

Eoghann - 3rd place, singing with his special guest; Boyzone

after that tengok pulak Girls Aloud party. by the time we left their house and got home, it was almost 12.30 midnite.

weekend just passed

we had a gud weekend even though my mind was not 100% here. sun was out even tho it was frosty and freezing cold (sub zero). i got few texts from friends and family,updating us on the landlide and asking about my mom's whereabout.

on saturday we went to the city after aisyah's riding; took passport photos for the visa extension application and walkabout at the old market square, joining the crowd xmas shopping. hubby & i bought 'walking and hiking' shoes for our upcoming holiday over xmas break.

raudhah & nasrul at old market square

nct (nottingham city transport) xmas carollers

on sunday drove to langham to ina's house. had lunch - macam2 ada; from prawn cocktail for starter to nasi lemak and shepherd's pie. then we went to stapleford country park, ada xmas fair.

the same spot where we took the photo for blog banner, 1 1/2 years ago

aliyah enjoying her walk

'not rudolph the rednose' reindeer

'ella' (atan's nickname for aliyah) & atan

aisyah on 'bear staircase' in the main house

me & ina

aisyah on toadstool

back from stapleford, continued makan - baked trout with grapes and lemon, stir fried taugeh and potatoes and finished off with crackers and cheese/chutney and mince pie with double cream and kopi malaya & teh o... what a great combination of east meets west spread!!!

frosty Sunday

yesterday we woke up to everything frosty - the road, car, grass etc. hubby took these pictures at our back garden.

the washing line

bramble/blackberry plant

the grass
the hedges
some plant