Robert Raymer's Blog, page 17

Raise Your Self-Esteem and Build Your Confidence for the New Year by Listing Your Top 25-50 Achievements!

Here is a quick practical way to raise your self-esteem and build your confidence for the New Year (or anytime of the year) which I first learned from Jack Canfield.  Just list your top 25 achievements.  Then billionaire Bill Bartmann recommended listing your top 50 achievements (you can go all the way back to primary school!) to remind yourself of who you are and what you've done.

This list is really you, and not how you might be feeling right now, especially if you're achieving less than you think you deserve, or not doing as well you know you can.  In life, we all go through our ups and downs, but dwelling on those downs when you are down, really down, can be fatal, especially during the holidays.  This is when you need a quick pick me up to raise your self-esteem, and that's what your list of achievements is, your very own reminder of who you are and what you have done and what you are capable of doing in the future. 


Now and then, when things are really going bad, you may need to dwell on your list to remind yourself what you had to go through to achieve what you accomplished, and then apply that same skill, perseverance, and tenaciousness again to get you back up to where you belong.
By the way, your list has no bearing on anyone else (doesn't mean you're better or worse than anyone else); others may not even care one twit about your list, other than a passing curiosity—Oh, I didn't know you did such and such…What they really care about is their own list and that's perfectly fine!
So, if you want to start feeling good about yourself, I urge you to compile your own list—you'll be surprised by how many you've forgotten about.  Even if you've already done this before, try it again (I did back in 2006 but then revised and expanded it from 25 to 50 and added stuff that I did forget.).  Then every now and then, when you've had less than a perfect day and you're getting down on yourself, review your list and start feeling good about who you really are, the person who has already done so much in your life and is capable of doing a whole lot more. 
Good luck with this—it can be a real eye opener and a rather nice reminder, too!  At the same time, be grateful for those who may have helped you along the way.  Rarely do we achieve anything totally on our own. I know I had plenty of help along the way, even when back­packing solo or writing my own stories…
In case you are curious about my list—here's my top 50 achievements since graduating from Miami University, in chronological order.  My latest achievement is finding myself on Wikipedia, but that's merely an offshoot of having my collection of short stories translated into French, my last major achievement so far. 
1) Backpacking solo through Europe for three months, after my initial plans fell through. 
2) Moving to Colorado and working for Kinko's and rising to assistant manager by age 23. 
3) Climbing Long's Peak in Colorado. 
4) Negotiating a manager deal to take over the Madison store (and getting a company car with a two month break to travel -- at age 24!) 
5) Backpacking solo to the Far East and Southeast Asia for two months.
6) Spending ten days in China, soon after it opened up to the West (arriving April 1,1980). 
7) Speaking at national convention for Kinko's. 
8) Backpacking around the Yucatan Peninsula and Mexico for a month. 
9) Becoming a Regional Manager for Kinko's and setting up ten stores (eight on my own).
10) Retiring from Kinko's with a full-fledge retirement party at age 28 (to move to Malaysia and write). 
11) Driving across the US and then backpacking seven months on my own, en route to Malaysia.
12) Surviving dysentery in Nepal and making my way to Malaysia (to a rural kampung past midnight) to recover.
13) Publishing first short story, "Mat Salleh" in New Straits Times and also My Weekly, UK (with color photos of my first wedding).
14) Being the Coordinator of M.A.C.E.E in Penang for two years.
15) Being a tango dancer in the film Indochine .
16) Having my first son, Zaini, and having the article about his birth published and used by the delivering doctor in his Lamaze classes.
17) Being a stage manager for Penang Players (with no experience and turning a nightmare into triumph).
18) Playing Santa Claus, as a last minute replacement (another nightmare and triumph).
19) Publishing Lovers and Strangers with Heinemann Asia. 
20) Giving my first talk in Malaysia/Singapore at 1993 Singapore Book Fair.
21) Being featured for the first time in a newspaper or magazine, Her World, November 1993.
22) Being an extra and working behind the scenes in Beyond Rangoon .
23) Being an extra in Paradise Road . 
24) Surviving a divorce and a custody battle and getting back Zaini!
25) Taking Zaini to the US for Christmas (when my lawyer told me it would be impossible—it took six months of planning and I only got permission via my ex-wife's lawyer on the eve of our flight).
26) Being an extra in Anna and the King i.
27)  Setting up creative writing course for USM where I taught for ten years.
28) Being a single father for four years (I had Zaini during the week and he was with his mother on the weekends).
29) Marrying Jenny in Sarawak and having two more boys, Jason and Justin.
30)  Publishing "When Tastes Collide" ("Cross Cultural Dinner") in Reader's Digest, April 2004.
31) Being the editor of Silverfish New Writings 4.
32) Being tennis doubles champions at USM for three straight years, after injuring my ankle in the semi-finals.
33)  Publishing Lovers and Strangers Revisited (SF and MPH)
34) "Neighbors" being selected to be taught in SPM literature.
35) The Lovers and Strangers Revisited book launch sponsored by Penang Players, who read excerpts of four stories and did a play reading from an adaptation of "Neighbors" with over 100 in attendance.
36) Buying first house with Jenny, moving to Sarawak, and decorating it in record time since Jenny was six months pregnant.
37) Putting up a website and finding my way to the Maui Writer's Conference (after I had initially canceled).
38) Writing "Merdeka Miracle" with Lydia Teh and Tunku Halim for Going Places in one month of frantic writing.
39)Lovers and Strangers Revisited winning 2009 Popular Reader's Choice Award.
40) Hiking the "Big Loop" with Zaini at Bako National Park.
41) Publishing Tropical Affairs : Episodes from an Expat's Life in Malaysia.
42) Giving my first full day creative writing workshop at Unimas.
43)  Being chosen as one of "50 Expatriates You Should Know" by Expatriate Lifestyle (January 2010)
44) Being interviewed on the national TV talk show Kuppa Kopi.
45) Having my 100th short story published.
46) Publishing Spirit of Malaysia. 
47) Having my 500th publication.
48) Giving my first two-day workshop for Malaysian Nurses Association. 
49) Living as an expat for 25 years in Malaysia 
50) Having Lovers and Strangers Revisited translated into French. 


 *** Here's the link to my website, to MPH online for orders for all three of my books, including my latest, Spirit of Malaysia and to Trois autres Malaisie.

Raise Your Self-Esteem by Listing Your Top 25-50 Achievements!

Here is a fun way to raise your self-esteem which I first learned from Jack Canfield.  List your top 25 achievements.  Then billionaire Bill Bartmann recommended listing your top 50 (you can go all the way back to primary school!) to remind yourself of who you are and what you've done.  This list is really you, and not how you might be feeling right now, especially if you're achieving less than you think you deserve, or not doing as well you know you can.  In life, we all go through our ups and downs, but dwelling on those downs when you are down can be fatal.  This is when you need a quick pick me up to raise your self-esteem, and that's what your list of achievements is, your very own pick me up.  A quick reminder of who you are and what you have done and what you are capable of doing in the future. 


Now and then you may need to dwell on your list to remind yourself what you had to go through to achieve what you accomplished and then apply that same skill, perseverance, and tenaciousness again to get you back up to where you belong.
By the way, your list has no bearing on anyone else (doesn't mean you're better or worse than anyone else); others may not even care one twit about your list, other than a passing curiosity—Oh, I didn't know you did such and such…What they really care about is their own list and that's perfectly fine!
So, if you want to start feeling good about yourself, I urge you to compile your own list—you'll be surprised by how many you've forgotten about.  Even if you've already done this before, try it again (I did back in 2006 but then revised and expanded it from 25 to 50 and added stuff that I did forget.).  Then every now and then, when you've had less than a perfect day and you're getting down on yourself, review your list and start feeling good about who you really are, the person who has already done so much in your life and is capable of doing a whole lot more. 
Good luck with this—it can be a real eye opener and a rather nice reminder, too!  At the same time, be grateful for those who may have helped you along the way.  Rarely do we achieve anything totally on our own. I know I had plenty of help along the way, even when back­packing solo or writing my own stories…
In case you are curious about my list—here's my top 50 achievements since graduating from Miami University, in chronological order.  My latest achievement is finding myself on Wikipedia, but that's merely an offshoot of having my collection of short stories translated into French, my last major achievement so far. 
1) Backpacking solo through Europe for three months, after my initial plans fell through. 
2) Moving to Colorado and working for Kinko's and rising to assistant manager. 
3) Climbing Long's Peak in Colorado. 
4) Negotiating a manager deal to take over the Madison store (and getting a company car with a two month break to travel -- at age 24!) 
5) Backpacking solo to the Far East and Southeast Asia for two months.
6) Spending ten days in China, soon after it opened up to the West (arriving April 1,1980). 
7) Speaking at national convention for Kinko's. 
8) Backpacking around the Yucatan Peninsula and Mexico for a month. 
9) Becoming a Regional Manager for Kinko's and setting up ten stores (eight on my own).
10) Retiring from Kinko's with a full-fledge retirement party at age 28 (to move to Malaysia). 
11) Driving across the US and then backpacking seven months on my own, en route to Malaysia.
12) Surviving dysentery in Nepal and making my way to Malaysia (to a kampung past midnight) to recover.
13) Publishing first short story, "Mat Salleh" in New Straits Times and My Weekly, UK (with color photos of my first wedding).
14) Being the Coordinator of M.A.C.E.E in Penang for two years.
15) Being a tango dancer in the film Indochine. http://borneoexpatwriter.blogspot.com...
16) Having my first son, Zaini, and having the article about his birth published and used by the delivering doctor in his Lamaze classes.
17) Being a stage manager for Penang Players (with no experience and turning a nightmare into triumph)
18) Playing Santa Claus, as a last minute replacement.
19) Publishing Lovers and Strangers with Heinemann Asia. 
20) Giving first talk in Malaysia/Singapore at 1993 Singapore Book Fair.
21) Being featured for the first time in a newspaper or magazine, Her World, November 1993.
22) Being an extra and working behind the scenes in Beyond Rangoon .
23) Being an extra in Paradise Road . 
24) Surviving a divorce and a custody battle and getting back Zaini!
25) Taking Zaini to the US for Christmas (when my lawyer told me it would be impossible—I only got permission via my ex-wife's lawyer on the eve of our flight).
26) Being an extra in Anna and the King and attending world premier with Zaini.
27)  Setting up creative writing course for USM where I taught for ten years.
28) Being a single father for four years (I had Zaini during the week and he was with his mother on the weekends).
29) Marrying Jenny in Sarawak and having two more boys, Jason and Justin.
30)  Publishing "When Tastes Collide" ("Cross Cultural Dinner") in Reader's Digest, April 2004.
31) Being the editor of Silverfish New Writings 4.
32) Being tennis doubles champions at USM for three straight years.
33)  Publishing Lovers and Strangers Revisited (SF and MPH)
34) "Neighbors" being selected to be taught in SPM literature.
35) The Lovers and Strangers Revisited book launch sponsored by Penang Players, who read excerpts of four stories and did a play reading from an adaptation of "Neighbors" with over 100 in attendance.
36) Buying first house with Jenny and moving to Sarawak.
37) Putting up a website in time for the Maui Writer's Conference. 
38) Writing "Merdeka Miracle" with Lydia Teh and Tunku Halim for Going Places.
39)Lovers and Strangers Revisited winning 2009 Popular Reader's Choice Award.
40) Hiking the "Big Loop" with Zaini at Bako National Park.
41) Publishing Tropical Affairs .
42) Giving my first full day creative writing workshop at Unimas.
43)  Being chosen as one of "50 Expatriates You Should Know" by Expatriate Lifestyle (January 2010)
44) Being interviewed on the national TV talk show Kuppa Kopi.
45) Having my 100th short story published.
46) Publishing Spirit of Malaysia. 
47) Having my 500th publication.
48) Giving my first two-day workshop for Malaysian Nurses Association. 
49) Living as an expat for 25 years in Malaysia 
50) Having Lovers and Strangers Revisited translated into French. 

Robert Raymer on Wikipedia!

Wikipedia has just accepted my profile!  Always wanted to end up in an encyclopedia someday. . . . This was first proposed by Jerome Bouchaud, the French translator of Trois autres Malaisie ,  during our meeting in Kuching.  Initially, I thought it was a great idea, but then  later, when Jerome sent me a mock profile, I was slow to respond.  Had some self doubts.  Perhaps I was just waiting for Trois autres Malaisie to finally come out.

Jerome, who has access to the inner workings of Wikipedia (there are certain steps you need to follow to get yourself and what you post approved), will now translate this into French.  The profile, for the time being, is considered an "orphan" since there only a few Wikipedia links to it, such Living People, the Year of my Birth, American Writers, and Miami University Alumni, but hey, it's a start.
Still it feels cool knowing that it is there and that it's been approved by Wikipedia.  This was something I learned from Joel Roberts:  Own Your Credentials.  Sure, others have accomplished way more than I ever will, but then, you never know what will happen in the next twenty years.  I feel like I'm just waiting to break out; have felt it for years.  The potential has always been there.  Just need to keep at it; keep knocking on doors, keep writing, keep publishing more books. 
For those who would like to get their hands on a copy of Trois autres Malaisie, please go to this site.   Or if you're interested in the English versions of my other three books, then try here.  Thanks for checking me out on Wikipedia.  No doubt I'll be soon seeing you there, too, if you're not there already.  Who knows what the future holds for us…
              --Borneo Expat Writer

Advance orders for Trois autres Malaisie!

Advance orders for Trois autres Malaisie, the French translation of Lovers and Strangers Revisited, winner of 2009 Popular-The Star Reader's Choice Award, can now be made at https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=H99NTFBMDJGN4  Editions GOPE, the publisher, is offering free shipping and 5% discount!  The books will be out in France by November 18th 2011.

Please inform others who speak French or are learning French and who might be interested, especially if they have an interest in Malaysia! Thank you!
228 pages, 13x19 cm, ouvrage illustré.17.90 € au lieu de 18.85 €  (-5%)Livraison gratuite
La Malaisie vue de l'intérieur avec 14 nouvelles de Robert Raymer.
Vous pouvez réserver votre exemplaire dès maintenant en suivant ce lien : https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=H99NTFBMDJGN4 (paiement sécurisé en ligne par PayPal ou CB, frais de port offerts, remise de 5%).
Here's a link to meeting with the translator, Jerome Bouchaud.  And an update to the French blog about Trois autres Malaisie .

Creative Writing Workshop Three in Kota Kinabalu

The third creative writing workshop in Kota Kinabalu was the smallest of the three, but that was to be expected, since it required, ideally, either a first person narrative or a short story from either the first or the second workshop sent in advance.  Some, who had promised to attend, never got around to it, while others seemed under the impression that they had to attend one of the other workshops despite making it clear in the announcements, that that was not the case.  Ideally, it would be better, but if they had a story to submit, they would have benefited like all the others. 

In fact, there were a couple of new faces, guests brought by others who had no story.  They just came along to learn.  Several of the participants, at least six, did manage to attend all three workshops, including Tina Kisil, whose book Footprints in the Paddy Field had recently won second prize in the 2011 Popular-The Star Readers' Choice Awards for nonfiction.  This time she was trying her hand at fiction. 
Before the workshop, I found out that several of the participants had been encouraging one another to take advantage of having a published author go over their work.  They even exchanged their stories to get some feedback.  As agreed, I received most of the manuscripts, 3-5 pages, about a week in advance of the workshop (ideally I wanted two weeks and did get some—thanks for those who submitted their work early).  Initially, I didn't plan to line edit the stories; I just wanted to give them my overall impression and point out story or logic problems and suggest how to correct them as I did with MPH short story contest workshops in Kuching and Miri, but since I was getting mainly first person narratives, what they really needed was some serious editing!

During the workshop, I went over the bigger issues of each (so everyone else could benefit) by projecting their story on a white board and using a marker.  An overhead projector would've worked better because every time we moved the text, the old markings got in the way, so there was a lot of erasing.  Now we know (and now we know where to get an overhead in KK!)  With the help of Jude, the organizer, we tried to minimize the movement between paragraphs (that some stories required). 
After asking the participants in advance, many agreed to have their stories sent around to the others so they would have a chance to read them before the workshop.  That helped to make most of us familiar with the story, so I could concentrate on their problems such as generalizing too much at the beginning, or not starting close to the action, or going off on tangents, or creating needless confusion by jumbling dialogue or using pronouns with no clear antecedent. 
I kept stressing that if you anticipate that people are going to ask you questions while reading your story then you should answer the questions such as "Who is this character?  Where is this story taking place?  When did this happen in relationship to the other events?"  By answering these 5-W questions before readers have a chance to ask, you're not only making it easy on them but you're also eliminating needless confusion. This allows the reader to get caught up in your story, in your characters, instead of pausing to scratch their heads.
After going through all of the major issues for everyone's benefit, we broke for tea, and then I gave another jumpstart topic "He/she kicked in the door," which I brainstormed for them.  While they worked on this and tried to produce a complete draft by the end of the workshop, I then met with each participant who had submitted their story, so we could discuss the rest of the editing that only concerned them.  This way no one was wasting their time waiting for me; they were all busy writing.
For many of them, meeting one on one was an eye opener; it probably felt like they were back in school, though I never experienced any teacher going over my story in such detail until years after I graduated and took a writing course!  It's not grammar mistakes that I'm pointing out, except when they were present; it was stylistic mistakes of using vague or wrong word choices, or trite expressions, or combining or separating sentences for effective­ness, or cutting out unnecessary words, or rearranging their sentences to increase clarity or effectiveness.
Now and then all writers need to go through this.  I know I sure did when I first set out to make myself a writer, and later even paid someone to rip up my already published Malaysian short stories so I could sell them overseas and produce a better collection of short stories as I did in Lovers and Strangers Revisited.  Now I work with both published and unpublished writers as I blogged about earlier.
At the end of the workshop the writers agreed to meet in the future to push each other in the right direction to improve their writing, something we all need now and then, a push to get started and another, often a bigger push, to keep your writing going.  This is what I set out to achieve in my three creative writing workshops in Kota Kinabalu.

                                                    *  *  * *Here is a blog about the third workshop from one of the participants. It's always exciting (and scary) to get feedback so fast!  I have my perception of how it went, but what really counts is how they saw it!  (Looks like we even chose the same photos!)  Yes, I agree, it can be embarrassing to have your mistakes pointed out but we're all making mistakes, and often the very same mistakes, too!
**Here's my workshop with Malaysian Nurses Association.   Another with International Tuition School in Kuching.

If you wish to contact me for a creative writing workshop at your school (for your staff or students or both) or your association, I can be reached at robert@borneoexpatwriter.com 

A French Update and a Tribute to Translators

Here is the revised cover for Trois autres Malaisie, the French translation of Lovers and Strangers Revisited.   Also, for those who read French, here is the latest update of the book's French blog 
I'm told that Trois autres Malaisie is still under proofreading and it should go under print by the end of October-early November.  The next post on the book blog will be a short bio of the translator Jerome Bouchard, who I met in Kuching back in June.  According to the publisher, Editions GOPE, too often translators work in the shadow of the writer and don't get the exposure they deserve.  I have to agree.  Often it's the translator who finds the writer and introduces him to the foreigner publisher in the first place. 

This is what happened in my case, and this is exactly what happened in the case of The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, according to Coelho's biography, A Warrior's Life by Fernando Morais.  It was the translator Alan Clarke, an American who came across Coelho's first book The Pilgrimage in Portuguese and offered to translate it into English.  Coelho was not impresses and told him, "Thank you for your interest, but what I need is a publisher in the United States, not a translator."Clarke was not put off and replied, "All right, then, can I try and find a publisher for the book?"  Twenty-two publishers turned Clarke down before someone at HarperCollins said yes.  The book, under a different title, didn't sell.  Undaunted, Clarke translated The Alchemist and offered it to HarperCollins and the rest is history. 

Sometimes it's a matter of perseverance, even in translation. 

An Update and a Tribute to Translators

Here is the revised cover for Trois autres Malaisie, the French translation of Lovers and Strangers Revisited.   Also, for those who read French, here is the latest update of the book's French blog 
I'm told that Trois autres Malaisie is still under proofreading and it should go under print by the end of October-early November.  The next post on the book blog will be a short bio of the translator Jerome Bouchard, who I met in Kuching back in June.  According to the publisher, Editions GOPE, too often translators work in the shadow of the writer and don't get the exposure they deserve.  I have to agree.  Often it's the translator who finds the writer and introduces him to the foreigner publisher in the first place. 

This is what happened in my case, and this is exactly what happened in the case of The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, according to Coelho's biography, A Warrior's Life by Fernando Morais.  It was the translator Alan Clarke, an American who came across Coelho's first book The Pilgrimage in Portuguese and offered to translate it into English.  Coelho was not impresses and told him, "Thank you for your interest, but what I need is a publisher in the United States, not a translator."Clarke was not put off and replied, "All right, then, can I try and find a publisher for the book?"  Twenty-two publishers turned Clarke down before someone at HarperCollins said yes.  The book, under a different title, didn't sell.  Undaunted, Clarke translated The Alchemist and offered it to HarperCollins and the rest is history. 

Sometimes it's a matter of perseverance, even in translation. 

1899—A Good Year for Writers

The first novel I ever read was by the German author Erich Kastner, Emil and the Detectives, published in 1929 and set in Berlin.  The book has been translated into 59 languages and made into numerous movies both in German and in English.  Kastner was born in 23 February 1899.
1899, as it turns out, was a rather fine year for writers, including a couple of Nobel prize winners like the American Ernest Hemingway who was born July 21, 1899 and won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954.  Then there is the Japanese writer Yasunari Kawabata, born 14 June 1899, who won Nobel Prize in Literature in 1968.   
 Also born in 1899 was the British writer, Nevil Shute, who wrote A Town like Alice, born 17 January 1899, the Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges, born 24 August 1899, and the Russian Vladimir Nabokov, author of Lolita, born in 22 April 1899.   
Not a bad international cast of writers for one year.

Congrats to winners of 2011 Popular-The Star Readers' Choice Awards

I'm a bit late on the news—I think it's been out about a month now, but congrats to Lee Su Kim for winning the 2011 Popular-The Star Readers' Choice Awards for fiction with Kebaya Tales, Amir Muhammad for coming in second with Rojak: Bite-Sized Stories, and third, Malaysia-born Singaporean Christine Lim Suchen's historical fiction A Bit Of Earth.
For non-fiction, the winners were Chan King Nui's From Poor Migrant To Millionaire, Tina Kisil's Footprints In The Paddy Field (2010), and Jasmine Yow's Behind That Shiny Resume.  I'll be seeing Tina this Saturday (22 October) when she attends my creative writing workshop in Kota Kinabalu, so I'll be able to congratulate her in person!     [image error] Last year, I did manage to attend the 2010 awards when my book Tropical Affairs was nominated.  Although the book didn't win (I did win in 2009 for Lovers and Strangers Revisited!), I had a good time meeting with fellow writers Lydia Teh, Khoo Guat Choo, Peggy Tan; and also Christina Chan and the students from SMK (p) Sri Aman, Petaling Jeya, who were adapting my short story "Neighbours" (which I just blogged about yesterday for being used as an assignment in a TESL Masters program ) into a play.

Short story "Neighbours" used as an e-couse assignment!

This is for those who have always wondered how their short story would look like as an exam question, or in this case, as an assignment worth 40% of their TESL mark!  I've been fortunate that quite a few of my stories from Lovers and Strangers Revisited have been taught throughout Malaysia in various universities, private colleges and even SPM literature (secondary school), and one story was even picked up by the University of Cambridge International Examination (CIE), an excerpt from an earlier version of "Waiting for My Father to Crash" from 25 Malaysia Short Stories, Best of Silverfish new Writing 2001-2005.  A check for £170.00 is now on the way, thank you.  (It was supposed to be three times that amount, but I just found out today that the exam question was never used electronically - on the web or for CD's - just as a printed examination paper.)   Yet, in all this time, I've never actually seen the exam question of any of my stories or how it appeared in the actual examination until today when I stumbled upon an online link for an e-course via Asiaeuniversity, out of Kuala Lumpur that used my short story "Neighbours" in their TESL Masters program.  This is the same story that was taught in SMP literature 2008-2010, published in Thema in the US, and the subject of the 2010 New Straits Times article, "Are you Mrs. Koh?"   Here is the Story Behind the Story link, too. 
 ASSIGNMENT 2 MAY 2011 SEMESTER SUBJECT CODE : ETL642 SUBJECT TITLE : Teaching Literature in English As A Second Language LEVEL : Master
INSTRUCTIONS TO STUDENTS 1) This assignment carries a 40% weightage towards the final grade. 2) Your answers should be typed on A4 paper using I Times Roman, 12 font sizes and 1.5 line spacing. 3) Your answers must be submitted to your Academic Facilitator before / on EXAM WEEK. 4) Online students to submit as attachment to email: secs@aeu.edu.my
A. THE TASK This assignment is based on a practical experience where you are required to plan, teach and reflect upon a literature lesson. To fulfill this requirement, submit a bound portfolio to your facilitator based on (a) planning, (b) teaching and (c) self-evaluation of a single lesson based on a given short story. For this assignment, you are required to read the following: (a) The short story Neighbours by Robert Raymer. [attached] (b) Material in reading package assigned for the course, as well as other reference texts on teaching short stories to ESL students e.g. Benefits of Using Short Stories in the EFL Context by Erkaya (2005).
As you plan your work you are encouraged to think about the Malaysian ESL learner and how you, as a teacher, can facilitate students' interactions with the text. You may draw ideas from reference texts on the literature instruction, discussions with colleagues and your own classroom experiences. [40 marks]
 
B. GUIDELINES FOR ASSIGNMENT Use the following guidelines to complete this assignment. The portfolio that you are required to submit should include all of the areas listed below (1-5) and there is no page limit. Organize your portfolio using appropriate headings and section markers.
1. Identify a group of students To begin, identify a group of ESL students (minimum 4) whom you can teach for a period of 40-60 minutes. They may be students from your class or young adults who live in your neighbourhood. Write a detailed description of these students, including language proficiency (their grades for UPSR/SRP/SPM), family/socioeconomic background and reading interests.
2. Write a lesson plan Write a lesson plan to teach the short story Neighbours by Robert Raymer. You can either use the whole story or part of it for the lesson. The plan is for one 40-60 minute lesson, inclusive of one or two activities. Organize your written lesson plan according to the (i) objectives, (ii) steps and (iii) assessment format. Remember to cite references for photocopied or downloaded material.
3. Give a rationale for selected activities Using your knowledge of the pedagogy of literature and your students' background, give a rationale for your choice of activities included in the lesson plan.
4. Teach your students Teach the students using the lesson plan you prepared (as in 2 & 3) above. You are required to make an audio/video recording of the lesson. (Reminder: you are required to use the short story Neighbours for this lesson.)
5. Evaluate your lesson Write an evaluation of your lesson based on the audio/video recording. Remember that this assignment is based on experience and learning, and that you will not be penalized for having conducted a lesson that has a few flaws. Listen to yourself in the taped recording (audio/video), concentrating on your instructional language, interaction with text, student response as well as pacing. Focus on what happened, and not on what you wish you had done. Present your evaluation in the form of a reflective personal account using the structure below. 
(i) Teaching Effectiveness: What did you do to find out if objectives of the lesson were achieved? What was the most effective part of your lesson? What did you plan or do that worked particularly well for your students? What went wrong? Was the short story appropriate for the students level of English proficiency? What did you do to help students understand the story? Did you explain literary elements well? What did the assessment show?
(ii) Assessment of Learning and Student Response: How did you ascertain that students understood and were able to apply what they have learnt in the lesson? Which literary elements of the story did they understand/not understand? What did your students think or feel about the short story you chose? Did you plan activities that were interesting for your students? How did they respond to the activities you had planned?
(iii) Improvement: If you were asked to do the lesson all over again, what would you do differently? How would you change or improve upon your approach to the teaching of the short story your chose? What advice would you give a colleague about teaching short stories to ESL students?
C. SOURCES OF INFORMATION
It is important to always cite the sources of your information in your assignment. Note that if your work is found to be a result of plagiarism and/or copying, it will be rejected and you will be given zero marks (0) for this assignment.                                                   END OF QUESTION FOR ASSIGNMENT 2
NEIGHBOURS A short story by Robert Raymer  (I'm posting the revised version, now in present tense, since their PDF version didn't transfer well and would take too long to unravel to make it readable)
   "I suppose there's a mess in the back seat," Mrs. Koh says, her face flushed, her arms crossed while standing in front of Johnny Leong's terrace house.  She shakes her head and waits impatiently for Koh and Tan, who have just returned from the hospital, to get out of the car.  "You just had to volunteer our new car, didn't you?  Why didn't you borrow someone else's car like I told you, or wait for an ambu­­lance?  Now it's ruined.  Ruined!"    Koh doesn't bother to respond.  He stretches and rubs his back.  His attention is drawn to the mournful sound of someone playing the saxophone.   Koh and Tan are Johnny's immediate neighbors.  The Koh's terrace house is on the left, while Tan, a bachelor, lives on the right.  The medium-income housing area is new, less than two years old.  Malays, Chinese and Indians live together in relative harmony—a mini Malaysia.  The streets are narrow, and since there are no sidewalks and the monsoon drains are uncovered, people have to walk—and often talk with their neighbors—in the street, moving only to let a car pass.   Across the street, Miss Chee, a secondary school teacher, unlocks her gate and lets out her white Pomeranian Spitz.  Miss Chee is tall and thin, with short black hair and razor-sharp bangs.  Upon noticing Mr. and Mrs. Koh standing in front of Leong's gate, she waves and crosses the street to join them.  She's halfway there when she realizes that Tan, the new math teacher at Penang Free School, is with them.  She blushes, but it's too late to turn back, or he may think she's being rude or purposely avoiding him.   Mrs. Koh bends over to look through the side window of the car.  She doesn't see any mess, though she's convinced the evidence is just waiting for her to find.  She looks up to see Miss Chee approaching.  Before anyone else has a chance to speak, she blurts out, "Hear about Johnny?"   Taken aback, Miss Chee asks a bit nervously, "Were he and Veronica fighting again?"   Mrs. Koh's beady eyes light up like shiny new coins.   "Did you hear them fighting this morning?"  She turns to her husband with an I-told-you-so look on her face.    "Wait a minute, were they fighting?" Tan asks, glancing at Koh.   "No, they weren't fighting," Koh says, glaring at his wife.  "I told you that already.  I was outside all morning, and I would've heard them."   "I didn't think so," Tan says, adjusting his glasses.  "When Veronica and Lily passed by my house, they seemed fine.  In fact, they both smiled and waved like they usually do."   Mrs. Koh twitches her nose.  "Veronica didn't say where they were going, did she?  Gambling, that's where!  Every Sunday she plays mahjong and I'm sure she's in debt!"  She pauses to catch their surprised reaction.  To prove her point, she adds, "She once tried to borrow money from Koh."   "She only wanted five ringgit-lah, to buy some vegetables," Koh says, shaking his head.  "She didn't have time to go to the bank."   "You're not her bank either, otherwise she'd be borrowing from you all the time," Mrs. Koh says.  "Thank heavens you didn't give her any."   "You wouldn't let me, and she's our neighbor!"   "It's bad enough that she's always collecting advance money for her catering, and now that Johnny's dead—"   Miss Chee's mouth drops wide open.  "Dead?"    "He's not dead yet," Koh says to his wife.  "He's still breathing."   "Dead?  Still breathing?"  Miss Chee's mouth goes slack, as she looks from Koh to Tan for some answers.   "He's as good as dead," snaps Mrs. Koh.   "I don't understand," Miss Chee gasps in frustration.  "Who?  Who are you talking about?  Johnny?  Is he all right?"   "All right?  He's all wrong," Mrs. Koh says.  "Him and his whole family!"    "Johnny tried to commit suicide this morning," Koh says to Miss Chee.   "Wah!  Why?"   "Because Veronica ran up all those gambling debts!" Mrs. Koh says.   Koh glowers at his wife.  "We don't know that.  We do know that he drank weed-killer.  He was drinking it with his beer."   Mrs. Koh plants her hands squarely on her hips.  "Drinking!  That's all that man ever did—sit around and drink.  And that—that Veronica!  The way she lets that daughter of hers run around like some tramp!"   Miss Chee's eyes open wide.  "Lily?  She's an all-A student."  She leans toward Tan and says, "Lily is my best student."   Tan nods and smiles politely.  Again he adjusts his glasses, though he doesn't need to.   Miss Chee asks Tan, "When did you find Johnny?"   "Just before noon," Koh replies before Tan has a chance.  "Isn't that right, Tan?"   "Yes, about noon."   Mrs. Koh nods.  "Koh told me he heard Johnny groaning one hour after Veronica took Lily gambling.  I happened to look at my watch when they passed by."   "I didn't hear the groaning until after Tan called me from his gate," Koh says, with a salute to Tan.  "If it wasn't for Tan, Johnny might already be dead-lah."   "And you had to put him in our brand new car!" Mrs. Koh says.  "Just imagine if he died there.  All the bad luck it'd bring, and with the New Year just around the corner!  We'd have to sell it, and it's not even two months old!"
  Dr. Nathan, an Indian dentist who lives next door to Miss Chee, waves as he slows down his car, not wanting to hit any of them.  He stops in front of his gate, gets out and unlocks it before driving inside and parking.  Instead of locking his gate, he smiles, waves again, and crosses the street to join them.  He extends his hand to Koh, one of his patients.
    "A fine Sunday after," Nathan says, and rubs his balding head."   "Not for Johnny," Mrs. Koh replies, "he's dead."   "Alamak!"   "He's not dead yet," Koh says, shaking Nathan's hand.  "Tan and I had to take Johnny to the General Hospital.  He tried to commit suicide by drinking Paraquat.  We managed to contact his son, and he's over there now.  Veronica and Lily haven't been told yet.  We don't know how to contact them."   "For heaven's sake," Nathan says, and looks as if he just pulled the wrong tooth.  "I never realized.  Just last New Year—yes, it was just last New Year Johnny had that party and everyone was there, having a grand time."   "Especially Koh," Mrs. Koh says, eyeing him.  "He was so drunk I had to drag him home."   "I was not drunk—just celebrating."   "Celebrating, ha!  That's what you call it!  You had a hangover for two days and had to miss work!"   "I was on annual leave," Koh corrects.     "Same thing.  You missed work!"   Nathan clears his voice and asks, "Who found Johnny?"   Miss Chee nods at Tan and says, "Mr. Tan did.  He heard Johnny groaning."   "I can't take all the credit, Miss Chee.  Your name is Miss Chee, am I correct?"          "Why yes, it is," Miss Chee says.  Her smile widens.  "My friends call me Alice."   "My friends and my patients call me Nathan," Nathan says, and offers his hand to Tan.  Tan shakes it and introduces himself.     "Anyway," Tan continues, "it was Koh who was the first one inside the house.  He also called the ambulance."    "But we decided not to wait," Koh says.  "The hospital kept asking all these foolish questions that we couldn't answer, so we took him in ourselves."   "In our BRAND NEW CAR!" adds Mrs. Koh.   "Really?  You have a new car, I never realized," Nathan says.  "I haven't had a new car since I bought my first Proton Saga—the very year it came out, mind you.  Our national car.  We've certainly come along way since Independence, haven't we?"  Nathan's smile over­flows with pride.  "Nowadays everyone takes everything for granted.  No civic pride.  Now Johnny, he was a good neighbor.  Yes, a good neighbor, even though he stills owes me for treatment.  Root canals aren't cheap, you know."   "That reminds me," Koh says, "my tooth has been hurting again."   "Oh, dear.  You mustn't wait, or you could find yourself in a lot of pain.  That's what happened to Johnny.  He waited until the pain was simply unbearable."     "Should I call your office for an appointment or just drop by?"   Two passing motorcycles drown out Nathan's reply.     Miss Chee's dog bark and feigns a chase.  After a few frantic steps, it turns around and comes back to Miss Chee.   "Ramli's kids!" Mrs. Koh says, staring down the street after them.  "Race here, race there.  And last week I saw one of them teaching Lily how to ride.  I don't know why Veronica lets her daughter—at that age—run around with boys.  I'd never let my daughter do that!  And today, of all days, she takes Lily gambling!"   Nathan scratches his left ear.  "Oh dear, I never realized Veronica gambles."   Mrs. Koh is nodding, as she adds, "Every Sunday she goes to her cousin's house in Air Itam.  That's where she gambles."   "You told me you had no idea where Veronica went!" Koh says, frowning at her, annoyed.  "Johnny's son was trying to reach her."   Mrs. Koh defiantly crosses her arms and says, "It's none of my business where she gambles."    "You should never gamble with your teeth," Nathan says, and nods to Tan.  He takes out a business card and passes it to him.  "If you ever need a reliable dentist, I live right across the street.  You can't get more reliable than a neighbor," he adds with a chuckle.
   Ramli, an elderly Malay who sells satay at the night markets, is walking down the middle of the street in their direction, his back ramrod straight.  He nods to Tan, one of his regular customers.   "My eldest daughter tells me Johnny hasn't been at school the past three days," Ramli says.  "Then yesterday she saw him walking along the main road carrying his helmet without his motorcycle.  Imagine that!"   Miss Chee asks Tan, in a low voice, "Is Johnny a teacher, too?"   "No," Tan replies, "he's a janitor at my school."   "A dead janitor," adds Mrs. Koh.   "Dead?  Don't talk about dead.  No joke-lah!" Ramli gazes from face to face as if he missed the punch line to a sick joke.  Still, he hopes some­one will explain it to him.  "So, who's dead?  Huh?"   "Johnny, but he's not dead—at least not yet," Koh says.  "But he did try to kill himself by drinking Paraquat."   "Paraquat?  Ya Allah!" Ramli's dark brown eyes roll upwards toward heaven.   "Koh heard him groaning around noon," Mrs. Koh says.  "One hour after Veronica took Lily gambling."   "Wasn't it Tan who heard the groaning?" says Miss Chee.  She glances at Tan for confirmation.   Koh nods.  "That's right.  If it wasn't for Tan, Johnny might already be dead."   "It has to be about money-lah," Ramli says to no one in particular.   Everyone looks at him.   "Why else would he sell his motorcycle?"   "He's right-lah," Koh says.  "Why else?"   "Unless he's involved with another woman!" Mrs. Koh says.  "Was he?"   Tan and Ramli both shrug.   "Wouldn't surprise me," Mrs. Koh adds.  "Gambling, drinking, womanizing—what a family!"   "Now I'll never get that root canal bill paid," Nathan says, and grimaces.   "I'm sure Johnny has some insurance somewhere," Tan says, trying to be helpful.     Koh frowns as if he just found chewing gum stuck to his shoe.   "Well if he does, he didn't buy it from me," Koh says.  "I must've asked him a half dozen times.  What good did it do me?  And I'm his neighbor!"   "I'm his neighbor, too," Ramli says.  "One of my sons had offered to buy his motor­cycle for its license plate number, for good money.  Now look at what he did, sold it to someone else.  A stranger!"   Miss Chee watches her dog go back and forth across the street.  She sighs in exaspera­tion and says, "It's a good thing Veronica has that catering business to fall back on, if worst comes to worst."  She catches Tan's gaze.  "Are you buying from her, too?"   "Well, no, not yet," Tan replies, "but I was thinking about it."   "It must be difficult living on your own like that."   "I've been doing it for fifteen years," Nathan says, "and I can cook, too."     Miss Chee smiles politely.  "Now if Johnny doesn't make it—"          "He won't if he drank Paraquat," Ramli says.  "That one's a sure killer."   "Either way," Miss Chee says, "I'm sure the good Lord will look after Veronica and Lily."   "Are they Christians?" Tan asks.           "He has a Christian name, doesn't he?" Mrs. Koh says.  "So do Veronica and Lily."   "Come to think of it, I don't think they are," Koh says, and scratches his head.  "In fact, I think they're Buddhists.  Or used to be.  With Johnny, you can never tell.  Besides, back in school many of us added Christian names but we weren't Christian.  Even you did, long before you converted."   "That doesn't make it right," Mrs. Koh says.  "It's misleading!"   Tan says, "Unless I'm mistaken, Johnny told me he was a free-thinker."   Koh laughs.  "That's Johnny for you.  He liked everything free."   "You should know," Mrs. Koh says, "you were always over there drinking his free beer."   "You're just jealous Johnny never asks you to come along."   "I wouldn't go over there even if Johnny and Veronica begged me to."   Tan gazes at the round table not far from Johnny's gate.     He clears his voice and says to Miss Chee, "We used to sit right there and talk.  The very night I moved in—even though I was a total stranger—Johnny invited me over.  We must've sat up half the night philosophizing about everything under the sun."  Guilt creeps into his eyes.  "Just last night I was over there."   "I saw you."  Miss Chee blushes as Tan looks at her with surprise.  "I happened to glance down from my bedroom window."   Tan looks up at the window and then at Miss Chee.  "You know, I think Johnny was just a lonely man."   "You think he's lonely?" Nathan says.  "My wife has been dead fifteen years.  Fifteen years!  Johnny can't be lonely, not with a wife and daughter at home.  And his son comes visiting often enough."   "Johnny has a son?"  Ramli ponders this.  "I thought he only has a daughter."   "Danny's his name," Miss Chee says.  "He was one of my first students.  A bright student at that."   "Yes, we had a long talk at that New Year party," Nathan says.  "Danny's a good boy with a good job."   "Good boy, ha!" Mrs. Koh says.  "Ever since he became a big shot at the bank, he certainly acts like one—living in town and wasting money paying extra rent.  What for?  A good boy would stay at home and help his father pay the bills, especially the way Veronica gambles and throws away money on Lily.  Always buying her the latest styles."   "At least Veronica works," Koh says.   Mrs. Koh twitches her nose.  "Her food isn't much to talk about.  So bland!  And she's always asking for advance money.  Why can't her son give her some of his money?  Huh?"   "I wish my elder two sons would settle down and find good jobs like that," Ramli says.  "Before I was twenty, I had a job, a house and a wife!  Back in those days, boys had more responsibilities."   "It sure would be nice if your sons stopped racing up and down the street," Mrs. Koh says.  "The noise is deafening!"   "See!  See!  That's what happens when grown boys stay at home," Ramli says, raising his arms in surrender.  "They get restless!  Only a wife will settle them down.  A wife and a job will teach them some responsi­bil­ities.  If you ask me, Johnny had it too easy.  Too easy. He has a working wife and only two children.  One living on his own like that.  Look at me, six of them, and a mother-in law at home who's driving me crazy!  You don't see me committing suicide, do you?"   Mrs. Koh stares past Nathan's shoulder to one of the houses further up the street.  "Who's playing that—that thing, anyway?"   "It's a saxophone," Koh says, fingering his mole hair.     Mrs. Koh says, "People shouldn't play those things unless they already know how!"   "If he doesn't practice," Koh says, "how can he know how?  When I was a boy, I had an old trumpet and I used to practice all day."  Koh smiles to himself.   He closes his eyes, remembering.   Ramli strains his neck to see around the others.  "Here comes Veronica."     All of them look.   Veronica and Lily are walking side by side, each carrying several plastic bags.   Koh turns to his wife and says, "Looks like they didn't go gambling after all.  Just shopping."   Mrs. Koh twitches her nose in defiance.  She peers around their car to get a better look.   Miss Chee asks, "Think she knows about Johnny?"   Mrs. Koh shakes her head.  "I bet she was too busy spending all her money on that daughter of hers to know anything."   "If you ask me," Ramli says, "Johnny had it too easy.  Too easy."    "I hope they don't move," Miss Chee says.  "Lily is my best student."           "Don't even mention it," Nathan says, "or I'll lose two more patients."   "Of course they'll move," Mrs. Koh says.  "Wouldn't you move if your husband commits suicide right in your own home?"   "I'm not married," Miss Chee replies, and glances at Tan.   "Hey, what time is it?" Koh asks.  "There's a football match on TV I want to watch!"   "Oh my, it's nearly two," Nathan says, glancing at the time.  "I haven't had my lunch yet—no wonder I feel hungry."   "Two?  Already?  I got to run-lah," Koh says, and hurries next door.   Tan asks, "Who's going to tell Veronica?"   Miss Chee looks down at her dog.  Ramli and Nathan both shrug as they return to their respective terrace houses.   "Not me," says Mrs. Koh, leaving before Veronica and Lily arrive at the gate.  "It's none of my business."#  #  #With the new French version out any day now, should be interesting if any of stories from Trois autres Malaisie   gets used in an exam. Just remind me to charge them!