A-Level TESL In MARA College Seremban -(2012/2014)

A-LEVEL? What am I freaking talking about??

Well, for your information guys, I'm currently taking A-Level TESL at MARA College Seremban in my crazy class, 13.7, with the largest number of TESLians in history, 30 people!

Yup, there's only 4 "jejaka idaman" in our class.. Uuuuu..

Taking A-Level, it was compulsary for us to go through the A-Level exams which consisted of AS on first year and A2 on second year.. I'm sooo freaked out right now that sometimes my head goes blank at one moment and back to normal the next.. 42 days, 42 FREAKING DAYS! OH MY GOD....!

I'm freaked out!

So, as my juniors (Wow, I'm old!) are going to register in a few months, lets talk about AS, or simply, what you're going to learn on your first year if your taking TESL... *drum roll please*

THE COMPULSORY SUBJECTS

Trust me, you DO NOT want to play-play in this class.. 

• Basically, you learn how different people with different perspectives view the world we live in today and it is VERY interesting.. Even though I'm not a history-lover, this subject did amuse me..

• Yes, you do need to read A LOT! Mrs. Muna (the one and only sociology teacher) will be providing you with a thick tesxtbook (like a dictionary, but in a larger version). Don't worry, you'll get through it. (Even we were surprised at first how we managed to do it)

• About the marks, don't worry.. On your first test, you all will get REALLY LOW marks (I'm talking about C, D and Fail okay!) but in a few months, some of you will manage to get an A.. Don't get too sad and depressed.. Every single person in that class WILL at least once get a D.. Just understand the question and poof, A is in your hand.. Once you get it, it's not as hard as it seemed to be.. ;)

• About Mrs. Muna, make sure that you are NEVER late to her class as she hates late-comers.. Another thing is, please turn off or silent your phone in your class is you don't want to be scold in front of the whole class.. This seriously pisses her off every single time.. However, Mrs. Muna is a very fun women to be around with as she still has her teen-soul in her, besides being a very wise and intelligent women who even makes here students feel smarter when being with her .. 

• As I'm so bad at additional maths, I will say that it is very hard.. That doesn't apply to everyone as only a few of us are really bad and the rest are actually doing fine..

• You will be studying exactly the same topics as you did in additional maths for SPM, just maybe adding a few formulas.. 

• About the marks, it's actually the same as during the SPM.. 

• Mrs. Ririn is pregnant right now and is about to give birth an a few months, so I'm not sure who your teacher is going to be. Mrs. Ririn is a very funny and optimistic teacher.. She always has something inspirational to say which are quite tear-jerking and this makes us respect and salute her for not just being a teacher, but also an educator of life..

• For those who did not takes additional maths for SPM, I'm not sure for your batch, but for ours, the college allowed them to replace it with Business class.. 

• You're a TESLian, of course you have English!
• You are so lucky to not take literature because the seniors said that they had to study all the old poems and short stories by Shakespeare, and other old poets.. *Actually, our batch was the first to take English instead of Literature, so we're even.. ;) *

• English is actually quite easy as all you need to do is doing essays, essays, and more essays.. Besides that, you will also be assessing and explaining the language and style used in a given passage..

• Marks were given based on bands.. Band 1 is the best (grade A) and it goes on to Band 6 (Fail).. Usually, we will manage to get band 4 or band 3 for average essays but eventually, you will get to Band 1..

• Please do read a lot as Mrs. Nina would be expecting excellent grammar and bombastic sentences.. Till this very moment, we are still being asked (more to begged) by Mrs. Nina to "READ GUYS, READ!"

• Mrs. Nina on the other hand is a very creative and happy women. However, she is very peculiar of her students following orders. Don't come late to class or she will be the person waiting for you as Punctuality is her middle name*literally*

• Don't worry about being bored in her class because Mrs, Nina always has her own way in attracting us..

• Usually for english, we would do variety types of learning from acting, singing, miming, dancing  to youtube-ing! We would even go to theaters and go on an outing to Seremban just to take pictures of the scenery to be put into  our essays.. Trust me, it's lots of fun..

THE ADDITIONAL SUBJECTS

• Seeing the word general, it's DECEIVING! Never be general in general paper! "You must be SPECIFIC", Ms. Hanim would quote in every single class.. The word "general" actually refers to the topics covered by this subject, which is general, any freaking topic cuold become a GP topic.. War, clothes, internet, music, labour, work.. See the generalization? ;)

• General paper actually helps you in doing your essays.. Seriously, you will only be reading articles, writing and presenting essays in this class.. Besides that, in a way or another, GP actually wants us to be outspoken and sporting (You're gonna be a teacher, duhhh... -_- ) by making us do presentations, sing in front of the class, act, sharing articles to the class and talk about the movie that you had just watched.. When I say class, a GP class consists of the combinations of 3 classess or more, so you MUST BE sporting and confident to do a presentation in front of a hall full of students okay..

And LASTLY....

• It's only for the Muslims, not sure what the Non-Muslims have..

• You will be studying Muamalat, Tauhid, Feqah and a few more..

• Each semester, students were required to memories and revise a few verses from the Al-Quran in front of Ustaz..

• Ustaz is very funny and I'm sure you'll be excited to get into class..

• However, self-study is compulsory as ustaz doesn't teach you every single thing stated in the text book..

•  Marking? I am not actually sure as we don't really have test as we do in the compulsory subjects..

• What is the Ustaz's name..? Try and find out... ;)

So my dear juniors.. I hope that my loooonngg essay has helped you in understanding what the heck you are going to face when you become a TESLian in MARA College Seremban.. I really hope that this entry was helpful as I had once been in your place, feeling lost and nott knowing what your point in life is gonna be..

Another good news for you, if you manage to get at least 1A and 2B in the compulsory subjects, you will be sent to further you studies to NEW ZEALAND!! You will b given the choice to choose between The University of Auckland or The University of Victoria.. For this, I will continue in my next entry on how the exams are gonna be, alright!

That's all I guess.. So, be prepared with confidence and bravery to step-up and grab a chance to further your studies in KMS and thus NEW ZEALAND!!

Adios and amigos!! :-*