In-class Task 1

Question 1:

My full name is Khairul Azri bin Mohamad Khalid. I was born in PUSRAWI Kuala Lumpur on 14th of October 1988. I have one elder brother aged 27 and he is happily married. As the youngest, I would not say myself as spoilt. This is because I was taught to live independently. One not-so-interesting fact about me- I am colour blind. So if this course requires me being extremely creative with colours I hope I can get some exceptions for it. I am easy-going and adventurous person. I love to expose myself to new environments and experience. Recently, I worked at a cafe in KLCC. Although the payment is not that high, I learn loads of things there, meet various kinds of people and expose myself to a world that is totally beyond my expectations. If you happen to watch "Hell's Kitchen", you will know what I mean. I guess that is all for now. I wish I could write more about myself but worry not, for more information about me, do add me on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=685614901

Question 2:

I would rate myself as a novice in computer skills. The main reason would be lack of exposures during my childhood time. I did not have a desktop computer or a laptop at home back then. Therefore, I did not quite know in details of major computer skills. However, in 2001, I attended a three-day basic computer course at UTM Jalan Semarak which taught me the basic usage of all Microsoft Office software. From there, time to time I learn more knowledge to be applied today.

Question 3:

I have ample knowledge of computer software. I would say I have a "balanced" usage of software. There are software for entertainment such as Soundforge, Ares, Youtube Downloader and others. For online gaming, I use Garena as the main platform to connect myself with online gamers around the world. As for social networking, I use Tweetdeck to organize all my social network accounts such as Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare. Hardware wise, I just use and know the basic equipment such as mouse, headphone, storage devices and so forth. I do not have any idea of detailed ones such as the different types of RAM, speed and the rest of computer specifications. I definitely need someone's help or advise on particular hardware.

Question 4:

No, I have not experienced learning via computer or online learning yet.

Question 5:

Yes, I tried once and it was a huge success. Due to limitation of time and venue, I managed to use the media room only once. I used laptop, projector and speakers as my main equipments to run the lesson. It was a huge success because there was no technology malfunction at all. Besides that, the students were so attracted to the screen as I used eye-catching pictures and designs for the slides. I consider my lesson was a success also due to students' ability to understand my lesson and managed to answer the questions given correctly.

Question 6:

In my opinion, the use of computer or technology in language teaching is very wise. It gives advantages in three ways. Firstly, it is interesting. Students in Malaysia rarely get the chance to use computer for their language learning. Whenever their teacher wants to use technology or bring them over to the computer lab, they will be all psyched up thus their interest has been captured prior to the lesson. Next, technology or use of computer eases the teacher. By using technology, a teacher does not need to come out with his own activity. Instead, he can just use ESL cd or software which consists a lot of interactive activities. Lastly, technology saves cost. No excessive use of money is needed by using computer as medium of teaching. Despite of all the mentioned advantages, teachers might need to have back up plans if technology does not work as it supposed to be.

Question 7:

I expect to learn new knowledge from this course. I believe this course would expose me the functions of different beneficial software to be used in English language teaching. Besides learning new knowledge, I would like to see myself apply these knowledge in a real classroom in future. To achieve that, I expect to learn ways on creating a good lesson plan based on the use of computer or technology. Hopefully I will be able to cope with the course.