So you think you can spell?

Sun 30 June 2008 - The RHB-New Straits Times SIR (Spell-It-Right) Challenge for Melaka state was held last Sunday 22 June at the Mahkota Parade. MGSS was represented by four enthusiastic Form 5 girls who sacrificed their day of rest and tuition classes in order to test their spelling skills. The spelling competition was a challenging one and I myself couldn't spell quite a number of words. MGSS did rather well in the competition (see results below) and we are looking forward to staging an even better show next year!

Photos from top:

1. Priyadarssini in action.

2. The MGSS team got 3rd place and won RM1000 for their effort. Standing 4th from left (all in black and the shortest of them all) is yours truly while next to me holding the mock cheque is Cristal Tan. The students behind us are (from left): Priya, Rachel Sheow and Chong Kar Yeen aka Wendy.

3. Cristal got richer by RM1500 when she emerged runner-up in the individual category.

4. The contestants giving the thumbs up to the SIR Challenge after the prize-giving ceremony.

MGSS Co-curriculum Day 18 June 2008

Sat 28 June 2008 5.15 a.m. - The MGSS Co-curriculum Day was a busy day for teachers and students alike. Highlights included a marching competition, prize giving for those who did well in co-curricular activities, jumble sale, hair dressing and movie screening.

Photos from the top:

1. Where else can you get your hair done for RM5 but in MGSS? The hairdressing from Team Hair Saloon hard at work in the Lee Kuo Chuan Hall.

2. For the health-conscious - Health screening for blood pressure, BMI, etc. at the New Hall.

3. St. John's Ambulance team - the proud winners of the marching competition among the uniformed bodies, beating the fancied Police Cadets. In 2nd place was the Red Crescent while Puteri Islam clinched the 3rd spot. Well done!

4. There's no sale like an MGSS sale! - Students preparing for the jumble sale which proved to be very popular.

5. No event in MGSS would be a success without the kitchen crew. With the students is Mdm. Hasrinawati.

Honouring Parents and Fathers

19 June 2008 (Thurs) - It was a weekend of food galore to fete parents and especially fathers. The Persatuan Peranakan Cina Melaka (Peranakan Chinese Association of Melaka) organised a dinner to honour parents on Sat 14 June. The food was good, and the music and dancing were excellent, from line dancing to ballroom dancing, then the joget, twist, etc. We were left breathless on the dance floor!

The following day Sun15 June was Father's Day and at Wesley Church, we celebrated by making several fathers cook fried rice after church service. Bro. Tony Khoo emerged champion but honestly, if you look at the last pic above, all the plates of fried rice looked so inviting, a testimony to the fathers' cooking prowess.

1st pic on top - My dancing friends and I (from left: Barbara, Rosalind, Carol and yours truly)

2nd pic - My former boss, Mr. Yoong Yee Seng (ex-principal of ACS Secondary Melaka and now principal of Methodist High School, Melaka) cooking up a storm! He'd get my vote for best husband award, if there had been such a competition ...

3rd pic - Pandemonium outside the church as fathers showed off their cooking skills.

4th pic - Fried rice mania - Good to see, good to eat!

World Environment Day - 5 June 2008

Sat 7 June 2008 5:44 p.m. - As a run-up to World Environment Day, the New Straits Times (NSTP) Press and Shell ran a series of workshops nation-wide some time in March/April on 'Global Climate Change'. The one-day Melaka workshop was held at the Mahkota Hotel and MGSS Melaka was represented by 4 girls (two from Form 3 and 2 from Form 4) accompanied by an English Language teacher, Mdm. Roseline Sik.

As follow-up, the girls had to write an essay on what they would do to save the environment. My daughter Victoria Goh (Vic in short) sent in an essay which she wrote last year and surprise, surprise... her essay got published in the NSTP paper on 5 June in conjunction with World Environment Day. We received the news rather late about the publication of her essay and frantically went to the shops, called up relatives and friends, etc. to get hold of at least a copy of the day's paper.

I have been nagging Vic to practise at least half of what she preached in her essay - take short showers (four minutes maximum) and carry her own shopping bag to the malls. I strongly believe that shopping malls should stop providing plastic bags at payment counters so as to force shoppers to carry their own bags (it is already practised in England) but knowing the habit of Malaysians, it'll be something pretty hard to enforce in this part of the world. While at Tesco Melaka this afternoon, we put our groceries in Vic's shopping bag and got strange looks from the people around us, as if we were aliens or downright stupid or something. Thanks Vic, for through your essay, I have been made more aware of the need to reduce, reuse and recycle.

2nd International IPBA Conference (2-4 June 2008)

Thurs 5 May 2008 11.08 p.m. - The 2nd International IPBA Conference (IPBA stands for Institut Perguruan Bahasa-Bahasa Antarabangsa or in English, the International Languages Teacher Training Institute) was held at the De Palma Ampang Hotel, Kuala Lumpur from 2 - 4 May 2008. Melaka was represented by 3 English Language teachers (more were supposed to go but didn't, most likely due to communication breakdown). The conference was one which I enjoyed thoroughly because of its well-thought out organization and stimulating paper presentations. I had the privilege of presenting a paper entitiled "A Pot-pourri of Grammar Activities" which was well-received.

One of the things I like about attending conferences is the people I meet. I found the IPBA secretariat to be a helpful, pleasant and friendly lot, both lecturers and its under-graduates alike. The latter I found to be oozing with confidence, and I think it can be attributed to the overseas training that they have had, in countries like England, Australia and New Zealand. A record of thanks to the organizers for a job well done (keep up the good work!) and to my friend, Mdm. Noorainun Anuar of the Melaka State Education Department for giving me the opportunity to attend and present at the conference.

Pics above show me in action. The final picture was taken on the 3rd June at the Conference Dinner which was a highly entertaining evening. Maya, my fellow Melakan, is on the right while on the left is Zamrudah Ahmad Rashidi from IPBA. Zam, as she is fondly known, was one of the nicest persons (together with her students) whom Maya and I met at the Conference.

Romance of Gunung Ledang

Thurs 5 May 2008 8.50 p.m. -Being a Johorean (my hometown is Muar), I take pride in the natural wonders that the state has to offer. Tucked away in the small town of Tangkak in the state of Johor is Gunung Ledang and the Sargill waterfall. My family took a much-needed two-day break (30 - 31 May) and travelled the lonely road lined with oil palm and rubber trees to our destination. We were not disappointed by what Gunung Ledang and the waterfall had to offer us. It felt good to be surrounded by nature - trees, trees and more trees!

Unfortunately, the same could not be said of the holiday-makers, whether local or from out of town. Malaysians are notoriously renown for littering and the waterfall area was not spared. Rubbish was overflowing and flies were having a heyday. As a result, we in our Gunung Ledang Resort room could not even open our glass door to welcome the slowly descending morning mist. We just had to open the door a wee bit and the flies would make a beeline for our room! Such was the sad state of affairs.

Anyway, for those who are not aware, Gunung Ledang (formerly known as Mount Ophir) is shrouded in mystery. Legend has it there was a beauitful Majapahit princess who lived in the mountain. The last sultan of Melaka, Sultan Mahmud Shah, was so besotted with her that he pledged he would do anything to marry her. However, the princess asked him for something which he could not give - seven bowls of his beloved son's blood. As such, the sultan's hopes of marrying the mysterious princess were dashed. It is said that her free spirit still roams the hills of Gunung Ledang. Fortunately, or unfortunately, we did not encounter any sign of her!