English Sure Boleh!

INFAQ 2 promo video sneak preview!!

Posted by: esbseminar on: February 15, 2009

Coach Ridz tries out his video editing skill with Infaq Season 2, episode 1.

This 13 episodes documentary on waqaf, zakat and mal should be out by March on TV1 and Astro Oasis.

English KBSM TV Pendidikan

Posted by: esbseminar on: February 15, 2009

We are trying to get our Romantic Comedy debut into Hollywood Premier, until then, enjoy this montage ok? We are the script writers and of course the Hero and SHEro (according to our son).

Right now we are working on the scripts for 13 more episodes on literature. We promise it will be super-dee-duper fun.

Our official portal is ready!

Posted by: esbseminar on: February 12, 2009

We’re still preparing more contents for this site, so keep peeking.

mycoachingzone.net

SPOKEN ENGLISH CLASSES FOR ADULTS!!

Posted by: esbseminar on: February 3, 2009

Join our ongoing/weekly Spoken English classes in Bangi and coming soon (Seri Kembangan).

1. Spoken English (Bandar Baru Bangi)

AMPAC (On top of Klinik Kanak-kanak An-Nur, Seksyen 9)

8.30pm – 10.30pm

Every Friday

Call us: 012-3762557 Coach Ridz 012-2017353 Coach Sha

SPOKEN ENGLISH PLAYSHOP for LADIES

Posted by: esbseminar on: January 15, 2009

presenting

SPOKEN ENGLISH PLAYSHOP FOR LADIES

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Date: March 1, 2009 (Sunday)

Time: 9 am – 1pm

Venue: AMPAC, BB Bangi (opposite Masjid Hasanah, on top of Klinik Kanak-kanak AnNur)

Head Coaches: Coach Sha & Ridz

Your Investment: RM85.00 per person (booklet included)

Content:

* Creating an English-friendly Surrounding

* WWE: Wrestling with English (yup ladies..we will wrestle!)

* Hearing vs Listening

* Speaking with Style

* Stuck? SIMPLIFY!

Now is your chance to experience the fun of ‘wrestling with English.’

To book your seat(s), please e-mail me your name and hp no: coach_sha@yahoo.com

ENGLISH ZONE & Brilliant Students’ Skills @ Ampac

Posted by: esbseminar on: January 9, 2009

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Exclusive! 20 seats only!

Starting this February…

Only 20 students will get the opportunity to join BSSEZ (pronounced BisSez!), a ONE-YEAR coaching program for kids and teens on English and study skills.

English Zone will focus on a writing module which we call “Writing Playshop”. Students will get ample training on writing where they will write, write, write and keep writing. (And enjoy the process too because we’ll make sure they have fun along the way!)

Brilliant Students’ Skills will train students to ‘learn how to learn’, led by Abg Badrul Sani.

For kids currently in Year 4-6 and Form 1-2.

Classes will be conducted every Friday night at AMPAC, BB Bangi.

For more info, please contact Ampac: 03 8926 1297

Good alif-ba-ta, good English

Posted by: esbseminar on: January 6, 2009

“I nak speak English..tapi takut salah sebut..malu.”

“Lidah dah keras laa..”

As English coaches, we’ve heard these scripts one too many, especially when conducting courses for adults. Of course, such script is uttered jokingly and we will end up laughing and poking fun at one another.

Anyway, there’s no way one’s tongue can be ‘keras’ or ‘pendek’ – ‘bercabang’ maybe!

So now, is there a way to beautify our pronunciation when learning another language? Mandarin, Tamil, Spanish, Japanese, etc.

In other words, how can we pronounce words like a native speaker? Surely we cannot sound EXACTLY like them, but it is very possible to be ‘quite’ like them. Near-native speakers.

The best way to practice is (for Muslims who recite Quran daily) is to keep reciting Quran with good tajwid and through proper makhraj (tempat keluar bunyi huruf).

Why? From alif until ya’, our mouth is conditioned to produce sounds from various places and tongue positions and vibrations. We have ‘ha’ pedas, ‘ha’ bulat and kha.

We have ‘thaa’ and ’siin’.

We have ‘alif’ and ‘ain’.

Even the thickness and thinness of ‘ra’ also varies according to ‘baris’ right?

In a nutshell, be grateful that we are Muslims. Through proper makhraj training, we can be good not only at English, but any other language in the world. Bravo!

ps:  SPOKEN ENGLISH PLAYSHOP for EDUCATORS at ADNI PreSchool.  How fortunate for the kids to get such ’sporting’ and Muslimah teachers there!

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Catch “Loghat”, Catch English

Posted by: esbseminar on: January 2, 2009

dsc00935_2Our last two days of 2008 were spent with 30 ’sporting’ staff of MIROS (Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research) – English@Work One-Day Course.

We have just polished our Spoken English for Adults module and incorporated a new approach of catching English. A very simple one too!

*If you want to be good at another language, you must train yourself to catch local dialects first.”

Dalam kata lain, adakah anda selesa bertutur dalam loghat-loghat Bahasa Melayu yang lain?

Misalnya, anda orang Johor tetapi boleh faham dan boleh ‘kecek Kelate’ (walaupun orang kata bunyi seperti orang Siam, tidak mengapa.)

Anda orang KL tetapi boleh bersembang seperti oghang utagha naaa…tuudyaaa…

Don’t you agree if we say that the ability to communicate in different dialects is an asset?

dsc00939Now, back to our new module – to make catching English a fun process, the MIROSians trained their tongue to sing a Malay nursery rhyme in different Malay dialects (Kedah, Kelantan, Terengganu, Perak, Negeri Sembilan, etc.)We said FUN, right?

To make the learning process ‘double-fun’, in the next activity, we sang English nursery rhymes in those local dialects! Please..try this at home!

Kesimpulannya:

Loghat merupakan satu cabang bahasa. Alangkah indahnya bila kita, warga Malaysia, mahir bertutur dalam pelbagai loghat daerah dan negeri! Ia mengeratkan silaturrahim, menjadikan perbualan lebih rancak dan ‘happening’, membuka minda dan hati kita untuk menghargai keunikan budaya masing-masing.

Latih diri kita menjadi lebih selamba menggunakan loghat negeri orang. Lebih banyak loghat yang kita kuasai, lebih mudah kita menangkap Bahasa Inggeris kerana strategi dan prosesnya adalah sama:

USE IT! Learn a language, use the language. Learn a dialect, use the dialect.

Respect!

dsc00937p/s: Our one-day course ended at 4:30 pm….and right after we said goodbye to participants, we got another invitation for the following day for the same group! Talk about rezeki..Ya Waasi’..Ya Ghanii..Ya Wahhaab.

What’s the lyric? Lagu tu ka…

Posted by: esbseminar on: December 25, 2008

Salam to all. Has this ever happened to you before? You listen to a song and start to sing along. However, you are not sure of the lyrics and make up your own words.

For example, I (Coach Sha) was into Guns N’Roses ages ago. Of course my favourite song includes Sweet Child O’Mine. Guess what? I always thought the lyrics were Sweet Charlemagne.

How did this happen? When I was in high school (not High School Musical) in Texas, I had to study World History. While reading, I came across King Charlemagne’s name.  I was not sure of the pronunciation, so ‘pandai-pandai reka sebutan sendiri’.  (we all do this right?)

Wah..sangat ilmiah Coach Sha ini sehingga dalam lagu rock pun dimasukkan unsur sejarah.

Charlemagne (pronounced /ˈʃɑrlɨmeɪn/; Latin: Carolus Magnus or Karolus Magnus, meaning Charles the Great) (742 – 28 January 814) was King of the Franks from 768 to his death. He expanded the Frankish kingdoms into a Frankish Empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy.

Another song was ‘How Deep is Your Love’ (Take That did the cover version for this Bee Gee’s song).

I thought the words were..  “Artificial Love.” Cinta palsu.. logik kan?

Ada lagi… Avril Lavigne’s ‘Complicated’: Dengar macam “watching your back, like new Cadillac” tetapi sebenarnya “watching your back, like you can’t relax.“  Macam mana boleh jadi Cadillac?  My logic was the guy in the song was so worried with what people think of him, kejap-kejap tengok belakang..seolah-olah bila kita beli baru..kejap-kejap tengok untuk pastikan kereta selamat.  (What a long explanation, man!)

Coach Ridz pun pernah terjerat juga dalam kes ‘la..lagu tu ka…’  One particular song was BPR’s “Seribu tahun takkan mungkin.”

Heard:  Lima tahun… mencerminkan rindu…

Actual lyrics:  Di matamu…mencerminkan rindu..

The point is:

Bila kita dengar sesuatu dalam bahasa asing dan tidak pasti perkataan yang sebenar, otak akan memerah segala vocab yang ada dalam kepala kita dan cari yang bunyi yang paling dekat dan maksud yang agak logik.

Frasa Child O’Mine bukan sesuatu yang familiar buat Coach Sha semasa di bangku sekolah dulu. Lainlah kalau Child OF Mine. Tapi dalam lagu tersebut, Axl Rose tidak sebut “sweet child OF mine” kan? Begitu formal bunyinya.

Lantas, otak Coach Sha memikirkan apakah perkataan yang paling logik yang boleh digandingkan dengan ’sweet’, membawa maksud yang agak logik dan bunyi yang hampir serupa.

Kesimpulannya, kita mentafsir apa yang didengar berdasarkan tahap penguasaan vocabulary kita.  Lebih banyak perkataan yang kita kuasai, lebih senang otak mencari ‘match’ antara bunyi dan perkataan.

Bukan itu sahaja, pengetahuan am juga banyak membantu…dan menjadikan pentafsiran lirik lagu lebih menarik dan kadangkala melucukan!

So keep reading and keep listening because these skills are INPUT.  Banyak INPUT, banyak OUTPUT.

Lagu tu na………..


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We’re now into Romantic Comedy

Posted by: esbseminar on: December 24, 2008

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For those of you out there who know what TV Pendidikan is, or you grew up watching it, you might want to consider going back to school.

ESB coaches and Handy Pro are embarking on a new breed of TV Pendidikan programme, namely KBSM English Form 3.  No, it won’t be the  ‘teacher talks, students listen’ kind of show.  No way, Jose!

Instead, it has a touch of romantic comedy.  What?  Educational and romantic?  Is this possible?  Hahahhh…wait and see.

The first three episodes focus on Demonstrative and Interrogative Pronouns, The Use of ‘That’, The Use of ‘As’.  (We told you it is educational!)

Guess who will be the Hero and Heroine? (not heroin ya)

dsc010872Bravo!…You guessed it right! How did you know? Coach Sha will play Kak Shidah the English tuition teacher, teaching at home. Coach Ridz will be Abang Wan, a part-time van driver who speaks broken English and has a crush on Kak Shidah.

There will be 3 students in the class; Ruben the hip-hop bro, Firah the ‘kalut’ kid  and Nina the cheeky gal.

Our house was turned into a ’studio’ for the shooting. We would like to express our gratitude to Handy Pro for their touch of interior design that we finally made it our own.

(We like how they arranged the set and we let it stand ever since.)