Assalamualaikum
Alhamdulillah. Semalam (19/4/2014) merupakan tarikh bermulanya jejak langkahku ke alam pengajian tinggi. Selesai sudah
temuduga Asasi TESL di UiTM Kampus Bandaraya Johor Bahru. Sedikit latar belakang kenapa aku pilih TESL sebagai subjek pilihan aku boleh dibaca
di sini.
Semuanya bermula pada hari Isnin (14/4/2014) bila aku check keputusan temuduga kat laman web UiTM dan dapat tahu yang aku dipanggil untuk temuduga di UiTM Kampus Bandaraya Johor Bahru. Sebelum ni pun, aku memang dah tahu kalau orang Johor ni kena panggil interview kat UiTM ni, walaupun ada UiTM Segamat. Sebab banyak baca blog-blog orang yang pernah kena interview ni.
Untuk pengetahuan semua, Asasi TESL merupakan salah satu program pendidikan UiTM yang mempunyai temuduga. Antara kursus-kursus UiTM lain yang mempunyai temuduga ialah (boleh dilihat di
laman web ni):
- Asasi TESL (E0150)
- Diploma Seni Lukis dan Seni Reka (E2111)
- Diploma Seni Muzik (E2112)
- Diploma Teknologi Kreatif [Skrin] (E2121)
- Diploma Teknologi Kreatif [Penulisan Artistik] (E2122)
- Diploma Teknologi Kreatif [Teater] (E2123)
- Diploma Teknologi Kreatif [Pengurusan Industri Kreatif] (E2124)
- Diploma Komunikasi dan Media (E2130)
- Diploma Komunikasi Media Baru dan Keusahawanan Kandungan (E2131)
- Diploma Pengajian Sukan (E2260)
- Diploma Pengurusan Sukan dan Rekreasi (E2261)
- Sarjana Muda Sains [Kepujian] Senibina (E2300)
- Diploma Senibina Landskap (E2302)
- Diploma Ukur Bangunan (E2303)
- Diploma Reka Bentuk Dalaman (E2304)
- Diploma Perancangan Bandar & Wilayah (E2340)
Tu sedikit sebanyak tentang program pengajian yang ditawarkan oleh UiTM dan ada temuduga yang diadakan sebulan sebelum kemasukan Jun 2014.
Jadi, bila aku dapat tahu aku dipanggil untuk temuduga pada hari Sabtu (19/4/2014), aku habiskan masa seminggu untuk prepare segalanya yang dia minta (fotostat sijil/surat beranak/kad pengenalan/surat-surat rasmi panggilan UiTM). Aku siap beli satu fail baru khas untuk tempatkan sijil-sijil tu, just to be proper and neat.
Tentang panduan nak ke
UiTM Kampus Bandaraya Johor Bahru pula, aku dah check blog-blog lain yang dok cerita pasal Asasi TESL dan dorang kata lokasi UiTM ni betul-betul kat dalam kawasan perumahan dan takde peta khas untuk ke sana. Takde papan tanda/signboard yang nak guide kita kat sana. So, aku manfaatkan sistem perhubungan canggih masa kini yang dinamakan
Whatsapp dan tanya kawan-kawan dan saudara mara aku pasal jalan ke sana.
Luckily, I have a supportive family, and saudara-mara aku pun supportive juga. Siap bagi alamat dan peta lagi untuk ke sana. Meh aku kongsi kat sini. (Klik gambar-gambar tersebut untuk nampak lebih besar)
Siap ada panduan secara menyeluruh and detail lagi:
"daripada hghway, exit hghway kempas.. lepas exit hghway, ade traffic light simpang empat belok kanan.. lepas belok kanan... terus lagi de jumpe trafic light belok kiri.. senang cerita ikut signboard ke setia tropika.. pastu akan lalu depan taman setia tropika.. terusss je.. dlm 7 or 8 km.. nanti kan jumpe kilang epson.. belah kanan.. then, lalu flying over terus je.. akn nampak trafic light lagi simpang tiga je trafic light ni.. betul2 lepas trafi light belok kiri akn nmpak bnggunan warna oren dgn hiasan ukiran kayu kayu.. betul2 lepas bangunan oren tu de simpang belok kanan.. belok.. n terus depan cket nmpak lah bngunan uitm... warne kuning purple.. smpai.. yeahhh!! huhu.."
"ni student uitm jb yg bagi"
"Uitm jb tu kecik je. Keliling semua rumah orang"
Anyway, that Saturday morning, we left Yong Peng at roughly 6 am because we knew it would take about one hour more or less to get to Johor Bahru. So, despite all odds, we managed to get there at 7.30 am, still enough time to spare for some breakfast. After that, we went back to UiTM Kampus Bandaraya JB and quite strange because there were already many people gathering outside on the campus compound.
Bila aku masuk ke bilik ujian tu, apa yang aku nampak
ramai perempuan sahaja dan cuma ada dua orang lelaki! Bila aku ambil tempat dan duduk, aku mula kira senyap-senyap berapa orang perempuan yang ada.
30 orang perempuan. Wow! That....
was something I expected because boys doesn't even bother considering TESL as their option to continue their studies.
Ujian Bertulis bermula!
Setiap calon diberi dua keping kertas untuk mengisi jawapan objektif sebanyak 15 soalan dan helaian untuk jawapan esei (hadapan dan belakang). Kertas soalan mengandungi 15 soalan objektif dan satu soalan esei.
(dah macam arahan kertas soalan pulak.. xD)
Alhamdulillah, soalan yang diberi taklah susah sangat dan taklah senang sangat. Yang sedang-sedang saja~~ Soalan objektif perlu dijawab berdasarkan satu petikan akhbar/artikel/rencana/berita manakala soalan esei pula berdasarkan kenyataan dan kehendak soalan yang diberikan.
Petikan / passage yang diberi dalam soalan aku agak high-class dan ada perkataan-perkataan yang aku jarang nampak dan tak familiar. Macam
'despondent' dan banyak lagi. Tapi, aku kentalkan hati untuk jawab semua soalan dan habiskannya dalam masa 1 jam yang diberikan.
DING! Time's up. The papers were being collected. All candidates will go to their respective interview room according to their panel number. Panel number ni ialah nombor panel untuk tempatkan korang kat bilik mana dan kumpulan mana.
So, aku ditempatkan di Panel 1. Nombor giliran aku ialah 10 out of 20 calon. Dan ada sebahagian daripada 20 orang calon tu tak datang, so not exactly 20 candidates were present that day for Panel 1. Bilik interview aku pulak ialah L216
(maybe... I don't know, I'm not good at memorising numbers)
Sambil menunggu tu, macam-macam berlaku....
Aku jumpa dengan salah seorang calon yang sama panel dengan aku. Nama dia aku tak berapa tahu sebab aku pun tak tanya nama dia sangat masa tu. Yang aku tahu, dia dari SMK Convent Batu Pahat. Dan dia agak nervous jugak pasal interview ni
(so am I). Dia dapat tahu pasal interview ni
2 hari yang lepas, which makes dia lagi huru-hara nak prepare semua benda tuh untuk dibentang masa interview nanti.
Sambil-sambil kitorang menunggu tuh, ada jugak beberapa soalan yang kitorang expect akan ditanya oleh penemuduga tu. Dan kitorang come up with some plausible and quite general
(setiap orang bersetuju untuk guna jawapan tu kalau ditanya sebab benda tu semua orang tahu) answers. Here's some of those:
Q: What do you know about the current issues that is happening either in Malaysia or all over the world?
A:
(semua orang setuju dengan jawapan ni) The disappearance and tragedy of MH370 in the Indian Ocean, where countries all over the world including Australia, China, United States and Malaysia itself participated on a world-wide collaboration to find the missing aircraft.
Q: What do you know about the current educational issues?
A: Pentaksiran Berasaskan Sekolah (PBS)
(although some of us didn't have any idea what the heck was that..), Pelan Pembangunan Pendidikan Malaysia 2013-2025, Sejarah as a must-pass subject for SPM 2014, English as a must-pass subject for SPM 2015/2016.
Q: Why do you choose TESL? / What makes you deserved for TESL? / Do you TESL is the right option for you?
A: It is my passion / dream / ambition to become a teacher, and English is my favourite language. / I wanted to become an English teacher, that's my lifelong dream. / I wanted to change the society's mentality of thinking learning English is such a waste of time and it's worthless / I wanted to learn more about English and the language itself.
(et cetera, there were many more plausible answers but I don't seem to recall all of them)
And these are just some logical questions that we can think of at that time. There were some questions like:
how will you see yourself in the next 5 years after finishing TESL or,
will you change to other courses if you felt like TESL is not your favourite course or even,
what will you do if you ever finished TESL.
These questions just came up randomly as we brainstorming ourselves on the crowded level 3 corridor of that UiTM building. It was getting hot and sweaty as more candidates from other courses who also came for the interview (Diploma Perancangan Bandar & Wilayah, Diploma Seni Lukis dan Seni Reka etc.)
An hour later...
It was my turn for the interview. I took some deep breath, opened the door, and greeted them.
Me: Assalamualaikum
Iv: Waalaikumussalam. Please take a seat. Are you Nur Ikhmal Zikry bin Rosli?
Me: Yes I am.
Iv: Can you hand us your files of certificates, please?
Me: Here.
*letak fail atas meja*
Iv:
*buka fail dan belek-belek sijil* Is there are all photocopies or the original?
*referring to the certificates*
Me: Oh, there are some photocopies.
Iv: Oh, can I have them, please?
Me:
*bagi salinan sijil-sijil dan salinan dokumen2*
Iv:
*tengok slip SPM* So what name should we call you?
Me: Ikhmal.
Iv: And you're from the science stream.
Me: Yes.
Iv: Is it okay for you to change from science stream to social science?
Me: Yes, I'm okay with that.
Hence, the interview began....
Q: Okay, do tell us about yourself, please. *sebab ada dua orang penemuduga*
A: Alright. Thank you. My name is Nur Ikhmal Zikry bin Rosli. I'm from Yong Peng, Johor. I studied in SMK Tinggi Batu Pahat, Johor. So, I live in a hostel there. My hobby is reading and writing stuffs, and my ambition is to become a teacher.
Q: Okay. So, what other things that you are interested other than English?
A: I like making videos or taking pictures. I love photography.
Q: What is your favourite pastime?
A: Well, as I said before, I like reading almost any reading materials available like books, novel and encyclopedia.
Q: And those reading materials, are they in Malay or English?
A: Mostly, English. Because I want to know more about English language because the language itself is a very complex thing. And I want to enhance and improve my vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation. So, everyday I learn new things just by reading.
Q: So what can you tell us about the current educational issues?
A:
*teringat berita hari Jumaat kat tv3* There was this case at Terengganu where a student claimed that a teacher stomped him on his face and was physically abuse at school. So, the student reported to his father and his father then lodged a report at the nearby police office.
Q: So, if the case is really happening, what actions should be taken to prevent this happening from happening again?
A: I suggest that teacher himself / herself should reconsider the first thing why he / she became a teacher, and rethink whether he / she deserved to teach the students and evaluate whether he / she ever had the responsibility or discipline. Because discipline is one important thing that we want to instill among students and we should set a good example for them.
*okay, this answer is a bit improvised, because I was stuttering when answering this question, but answer it word by word*
Q: What can you contribute to the program if you ever get selected?
A:
*okay, part ni pun aku merepek apa pun aku tak ingat, tapi aku ada mention yang aku akan contribute idea untuk attract the male students to choose TESL as their option to continue their studies
*
Q: And what ways can you do to do that?
A: *
damn, jawapan tadi perangkap aku balik. -__________-*
Q: Well then, do you have any questions?
A:
*I asked random questions afterwards...*
My questions:
Q: How can I know if I ever get selected to this program?
A: In 2 weeks from now.
Q: In what ways? Through mails or letters or calls, online whatsoever?
A: Online. As you know, now is the IT age.
Q: What do I have to do after this interview? Either to stay or go straight home?
A: You're done. Just go home, okay.
After that, I went back to Yong Peng for another one hour journey of tiredness and spent on sleeping in uncomfortable position inside the car with your two siblings.
So to finalize this, the interview just take time about 10 minutes, but the long wait makes you nervous. Don't be an introvert, talk to others and share some ideas about Q&A. A simple 'hi' might do. You don't know the chances that she's a friend of yours, unless you try.
So I hope this post could do at least a little of help to those who will face the same interview as mine. And, please forgive my terrible, terrible English. I'm still learning, okay.
Till then, good luck to those who will be interviewing sooner or later. And wish me luck, dear readers.
Update 14/4/2015:
Hey guys! By now, I have already finished my foundation program. Yeay!
So, ada beberapa lagi tips untuk temuduga ni.
First up, they will be asking you questions on how and why are you interested in English/taking this course?
Avoid using the same-old answer,
I love English.
Use other kinds of answer. Maybe:
- I want to learn and discover the language itself
- I want to be able to speak more fluently
- I want to be an English teacher
Kalau untuk how/what way did you learn English:
- I regularly watch English TV shows/movies. Nak fancy sikit, tambahlah: I watch them without subtitles
- I always read English books and novels (avoid using magazine, sebab informal)
- My family/friends sometimes speak English with me
- I learnt by experience - joining competitions, debates, story-telling, drama etc
Try to make a great first impression to the interviewer.
Show to them that you are eager and very interested to join the foundation program.
Make yourself comfortable.
Don't worry about your grammar in speaking. Confidence is key.
Avoid faking accents like English or American accents. They will affect your speaking.
And don't ever ever ever forget to make copies of your SPM result and your interview letter from UiTM. Prioritize those two things first. You can make copies of your certificates too, but not everything. Make copies of your achievement in English competitions, programs or activities.
Good luck everyone!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Read more about my journey throughout the foundation programme (yes, I made it!):
http://theikhmalzikry.blogspot.com/p/asasi-tesl.html
