A Look Back : Always and Forever

Gosh!! how time flies.....we're in the closing week of the year already, with a bright new year awaiting us in 2 days time. Although everybody is still excited about Christmas, what excites me is the fresh new year. It gives me a chance to look back over the year and to assess how it went and to look forward to what the new year has for me.  

Now let's see why 2017 has been a great...

MGS debate team was the 2nd runner-up in the district level debate competition. It was a great achievement for the newly formed team. The last time we made it big in debate was in 2014 when we won the Datuk Wira Abdul Rahman Arshad Cup National Level Debate Competition. Hopefully, we can once again reach that peak in future.

Besides debate, I was also the teacher advisor for the Scrabble team. Form 2 students Swettha and Eva were the district champions. Unfortunately, the state and national level competitions were cancelled this year. What a waste!

My student Chelsea Joy Vilson was one of the top ten winners of the National Level Sunway - Oxbridge Essay Writing Competition. One proud teacher I am!! 

In 2016, under the cluster school banner, I spearheaded the International English Language Academic Heptathlon. In 2017, we decided to do something on a smaller scale and The National Level Storytelling Competition was held. I was the program coordinator as well as the teacher advisor for MGS school team. Guess what? The event turned out to be very successful with 20 schools from all over Malaysia participating in the competition. Shrriya Jawahar and Keshrina from MGS emerged as the overall champions for the event. 

I had also conducted a number of workshops and seminars for both teachers and students this year. Unfortunately I had to decline many invitations due to busy work schedule. I hope I will be able to do more sharing next year. 

I was given the privilege to join the team of CEFR Observers. We were given the responsibility to observe the CEFR Curriculum Induction courses. I made many new friends and shared a great rapport with the entire team. It was a great learning experience indeed. 

I was also validated by British Council as a trainer this year. The trainer validation course was held in Bangkok, Thailand for 4 days. I was among the 3 academicians from Malaysia to be selected to be validated as a BC trainer. 

The year 2017 had also brought awards along my journey. I was awarded the Basil WijayaSuria Silver Award during the MELTA Conference for my presentation on my classroom research on the teaching of writing. Besides, I was also the first runnerup for the ASEAN Essay Writing Competition held by Ministry of International Trade. I also took part in Innovative Teacher Competition organised by Universiti Utara Malaysia. I was also awarded the 'Guru Cemerlang Ko - Kurikulum' Award on 2 November 2017 by the Perak State Education Department. 

Contributing to the news was part of my hobby this year, but my busy schedule did not allow me to continue with my contributions despite having so much ideas. I hope I can make more contributions to the newspapers in 2018. 

Team teaching with Pn.Aishah Hamdan, another Guru Cemerlang from SMK Raja Permaisuri Bainun materialised this year as a district collaboration project. I hope to work on more collaborative projects with this efficient teacher next year. The team teaching project was fun, but it is on hold now as both of us have so many things to do at the moment. 

Last but not least, 2 days ago I received an email stating that a collaboration project proposal that I submitted for the Global Teacher Grant (GTG) Competition has won and I will be given USD2000 to carry out the project with a school from Gujarat, India. I am very excited about this and it would be a great way to start my new year. 

I hope 2018 will be another great year for everyone. I am really looking forward to the new year and praying hard that it will be kind to us again and may all of us be in good health to do greater things.....

I take this opportunity to thank everyone and wish all of you a splendid New Year with all the good tidings in your way! Happy New Year folks!!!