Week 3
Stories of the Week
News of the Week
My e-Portfolio - Screenshot each Google Form exercise you completed (with your name and marks clearly shown) and upload into your individual e-Portfolio folder in the Google Drive.
Songs of the Week
Listen to ALL five (5) songs and do each exercise. Screenshot your results and upload them into your e-Portfolio.
Video of the Week
Watch the video and do the exercise. Screenshot your results and upload into your e-portfolio.
Speaking Task: In your group, each member suggests one way to improve his/her English language skills. Then, discuss which way is the most effective method to improve a university student's English language skills.
Article of the Week
Read the Article "Culture through Our Eyes: Kadazan" and complete the Google form exercise.
Forum Discussion: Suggest one way to encourage university students to value and celebrate Malaysian traditional cultures and customs.
Stories of the Week
The Pious "Drunkard" and "Fornicator"
The Poor Man and His Shoes
A Day Like No Other
The Pious "Drunkard" and "Fornicator"
Sultan Murad IV, the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1623-1640, would often anonymously go into the midst of the people and see their state. One evening, he felt an uneasiness in himself and the urge to go out. He called for his head of security and out they went. They came to a busy vicinity, and found a man lying on the ground. The Sultan prodded him but he was dead and the people were going about their own business. Nobody seemed to care about the dead man lying on the ground.
The Sultan called upon the people. They did not recognise him and asked him what he wanted. He asked, "Why is this man lying dead on the ground and why does no one seem to care? Where is his family?"
They replied, "He is so and so, the drunkard and fornicator!"
The Sultan said, "Is he not from our own state? Now help me carry him to his house."
The people carried the dead man with the Sultan to his house and once they reached, they all left. The Sultan and his assistant remained. When the man's wife saw his dead body, she began weeping. She said to his dead body, "May God have mercy on you! I bear witness that you are from the pious ones."
The Sultan was bewildered. He said, "How is he from the pious ones when the people say such and such about him? So much so that no one even cared he was dead!"
She replied, "I was expecting that. My husband would go to the tavern every night and buy as much wine as he could. He would then bring it home and pour it all down the drain. He would then say, 'I saved my fellow brothers a little today.' He would then go to a prostitute, give her some money and tell her to close her door till the morning. He would then return home for a second time and say, 'Today, I saved a young woman and the youth of the believers from vice.'
The people would see him buying wine and they would see him going to the prostitutes and they would consequently talk about him. One day I said to him, ‘When you die, there will be no one to bathe you, there will be no one to pray over you and there will be no one to bury you!’
My husband laughed and replied, ‘Don't fear, the Sultan of the believers, along with the pious ones shall pray over my body.’”
The Sultan began to cry. He said, "By Allah! He has said the truth, for I am Sultan Murad. Tomorrow we shall bathe him, pray over him and bury him."
And it so happened that the Sultan, the scholars, the pious people and the masses prayed over him.
Google Doc activity: "We should never judge a person by what we see and what we hear from others." Do you agree with the statement? Relate your opinion with the story above and a real life experience or observation. Your answer should be around 200 words.
The Poor Man and His Shoes
A young man, a student in one of the universities, was one day taking a walk with a Professor, who was commonly called the student's friend, from his kindness to those who waited on his instructions.
As they went along, they saw lying in their path was a pair of old shoes, which are supposed to belong to a poor man who was employed in a field close by and who had nearly finished his day's work.
The student turned to the professor, saying: "Let us play the man a trick: we will hide his shoes, and conceal ourselves behind those bushes, and wait to see his perplexity when he cannot find them."
"My young friend," answered the professor, "we should never amuse ourselves at the expense of the poor. But you are rich, and may give yourself a much greater pleasure by means of this poor man. Put a coin in each shoe, and then, we will hide ourselves and watch how this affects him."
The student did so and they both placed themselves behind the bushes close by. The poor man soon finished his work, and came across the field to the path where he had left his coat and shoes.
While putting on his coat he slipped his foot into one of his shoes, but feeling something hard, he stooped down to feel what it was, and found the coin. Astonishment and wonder were seen upon his countenance. He gazed upon the coin, turned it around, and looked at it again and again.
He then looked around him on all sides, but no person was to be seen. He now put the money into his pocket, and proceeded to put on the other shoe; but his surprise was doubled on finding the other coin.
His feelings overcame him; he fell upon his knees, looked up to the heavens and uttered aloud a fervent thanksgiving in which he spoke of his wife who was sick and helpless, and his children without bread, whom this timely bounty, from some unknown hand, would save from perishing.
The student stood there deeply affected, and his eyes filled with tears. "Now," said the professor, “are you not much better pleased than if you had played your intended trick?"
Google Doc activity: "It is more blessed to give than to receive." Explain the given quote in relation to the story above as well as an example of your own. Your answer should be around 200 words.
A Day Like No Other
You are sitting at the corner table in your favourite cafe quietly. The air-conditioning is quite cool for you this early in the morning but you prefer this cafe as it is near to where you live and the waitresses are very friendly and cheerful.
One particular waitress whom you like is Azlin. She is a friendly old lady who doubles as a cashier in the cafe. She always welcomes you with a bright smile when you enter the cafe. However, due to her old age, she has a habit of forgetting where she placed her things or the customer's orders. You do not mind of her habit that much because one of the other waitresses will realise it and promptly locate the misplaced order. Everyone who frequents the cafe knows about Azlin and her forgetfulness.
Today, including yourself, there are only four customers in the cafe and Azlin is at the counter. Another waitress has taken your order and went into the kitchen to help to get the orders out. There are three teenagers seated near the counter. While you are waiting for your order to arrive, you are reading some interesting articles on your mobile phone...
