Household Tips

Ants Problem: Keep the skin of cucumbers near the place or ant hole.

To get pure and clean ice: Boil water first before freezing.

To make the mirror shine: Clean with spirit.

To remove chewing gum from clothes: Keep the cloth in the freezer for an hour.

To whiten white clothes: Soak white clothes in hot water with a slice of lemon for 10 minutes.

To give a shine to hair: Add one teaspoon of vinegar to hair, then wash hair.

To get maximum juice out of lemons: Soak lemons in hot water for one hour, and then juice them.

To avoid smell of cabbage while cooking: Keep a piece of bread on the cabbage in the vessel while cooking.

To rid the smell of fish from your hands: Wash your hands with a little apple vinegar.

To avoid tears while cutting onions: Chew gum.

To boil potatoes quickly: Skin one potato from one side only before boiling.

To boil eggs quickly: Add salt to the water and boil.

To check freshness of fish: Put it in a bowl of cold water. If the fish floats, it's fresh.

To check freshness of eggs: Put the egg in water. If it becomes horizontal, it's fresh. If it becomes slanting, its 3-4 days old. If it becomes vertical, its 10 days old. If it floats, it's stale.

To remove ink from clothes: Put toothpaste on the ink spots generously and let it dry completely, then wash.

To skin sweet potatoes quickly: Soak in cold water immediately after boiling.

To get rid of mice or rats: Sprinkle black pepper in places where you find mice or rats. They will run away.

Tipping the exam scales

NST

With the SPM exam just around the corner, tuition centres are offering instensive classes that provide tips on how to spot questions, writes JENNIFER GOMEZ

AS government examinations draw near, tuition centres provide extra tutorials on how to answer questions, with tips on questions that may appear.

All for a fee, of course.

Students, afraid to miss out on anything that might get them their As, pester their parents to send them to these tutorials and seminars offering, among others, spotted questions.

Parents are puzzled, wondering why the syllabus wasn't covered during regular tutorials.

Also, they are inundated with SMSes from these centres stressing the importance of these additional classes and workshops.

In addition, their children don't want to lose out to friends who have signed up for them, too.

This is the scenario faced by urban parents and their children in the race to obtain As, be it for the Penilaian Menengah Rendah or Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia examinations.

Teachers and parents appear to agree on this issue with the SPM examination just around the corner.

National Union of the Teaching Profession secretary-general Lok Yim Pheng was against students being too reliant on last-minute examination tips offered for a fee. She said students should not be spoon-fed.

Lok said these tipsters were not doing anything positive to help students prepare for examinations in a wholesome manner.

"They are giving students false hope.

"With such tips, students focus their efforts on spotted questions and they do not go through the whole syllabus."

But her hands are tied for now, that is, until someone makes a formal complaint.

Lok said: "Some teachers say that this is not a healthy practice. Some even suspect that these tips are being obtained through not-so-legitimate means but no one has made an issue of it."

Teacher P.S. Han, however, said that the availability of these tips for a fee was a supply-and-demand issue.

"There's a demand for them because our examination system is focused on getting As. So, it's a business opportunity to be sei-zed."

However, Han is against his children seeking these tips.

"When I was in school, my teacher told me that his job was to educate me and that was it. It was my responsibility to prepare for my examinations.

"That is the principle I live by as a teacher myself today."

Han, who sets his school examination papers, has made it a habit of late not to distribute his questions to other teachers. "It's safest just with me."

He said that the idea of glorifying those who got multiple As was flawed.

"Students in good urban schools are expected to get the As.

"What's so great about them? They have good schooling and private tutors.

"What about the student in a remote area in Sabah, for instance, who has to walk for miles to school and yet passed his examination?

"In that sense, the media is also wrong to focus on the top scorers when results are announced."

Mercy Almeida, a secondary school teacher, tried to convince her son, who will be sitting his SPM examination, and daughter, who sat for PMR examination recently, not to be too reliant on intensive tuition classes and tips.

"I told them to just keep up with what they learn in school and revise at home. They are also going for tuition.

"But my daughter went to the extent of saying to me that if I didn't allow her to go for these additional sessions, she might fail her examination," said Almeida, troubled by the whole affair.

She said it all started with her daughter's tuition centre offering intensive classes for an additional fee when it got closer to the PMR examination.

"They forced the students to go for the intensive classes, saying that it was necessary if they wanted to do well.

"What I didn't like was that the tutors who were teaching the regular classes were the same ones teaching the intensive classes. Why didn't they cover everything in the regular classes?

"On top of that, we get inundated with SMSes about these intensive classes, so the students felt that they might lose out if they didn't attend."

Despite trying to reason with her daughter, the latter insisted on going, saying that her friends had signed up for it.

Almeida had less energy to put up an argument with her son, who is also attending these special classes, and has signed up for an examination tips seminar on Nov 1 and 2.

She said that 90 per cent of students in urban centres were attracted to these seminars and packages offering tips.

She added that even the poorer children were taken up by these offers.

"We conduct extra classes for poor students who cannot catch up to bring them up to par and instil confidence in them to face their examinations, but they also want to go for extra classes."

D.F. Fernandez, a teacher in Sitiawan, said, however, that the trend had not caught on in smaller towns.

"There was a seminar here two weeks ago on examinations tips and only about 20 students from my school went."

Malaysian University English Test (MUET)

Malaysian University English Test (MUET), first launched in 1999 and administered by Malaysian Examinations Council (Majlis Peperiksaan Malaysia), is a test to measure candidates’ English language proficiency. MUET is taken by students who intend to pursue their tertiary education at local public universities since it is a mandatory test to gain entry into degree courses offered at all Malaysian public universities. This test is carried out twice a year, in April/May and October/November. Candidates usually register through their academic institutions while private candidates through State Education Departments (Jabatan Pelajaran Negeri), with a registration fee of RM60.

Unlike International English Language Testing System (IELTS) and Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) which are globally accepted as the certification of English language proficiency, MUET is recognized only in Malaysia and Singapore (National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University and Singapore Management University).

MUET consists of four components: listening, speaking, reading and writing. New test specifications have been introduced officially and will apply from MUET October/November 2008 onwards while old test specifications will still apply for MUET October/November 2007 and April/May 2008. The table below shows the detailed comparison between new and old format of MUET.

Test	Old Test Specifications	New Test Specifications	Possible Genres
Listening (800/1) Duration: Weighting: Number of texts: Number of questions: Question type:	45 marks 30 minutes 15% 3 15 Four-option multiple-choice	45 marks 30 minutes 15% 5 20 - Information transfer - Short answer - Four-option multiple-choice - Three-option multiple choice	Lecture, briefing, talk, discussion, interview, telephone conversation, announcement, instructions, advertisement, news, meeting, documentary
Speaking (800/2) Duration: Weighting: Number of tasks: Task format:	45 marks 30 minutes 15% 2 A: Individual presentation B: Group interaction	45 marks 30 minutes 15% 2 A: Individual presentation B: Group interaction	Contemporary issues
Reading (800/3) Duration: Weighting: Number of texts: Number of questions: Question type:	135 marks 120 minutes 45% 4 50 - Cloze - Information transfer - Four-option multiple-choice	120 marks 90 minutes 40% 6 shorter texts (at least one text with graphics) 50 - Three-option multiple-choice - Four-option multiple-choice	Articles from journals, newspapers and magazines, academic texts, electronic texts
Writing (800/4) Duration: Weighting: Number of questions: Question type:	75 marks 90 minutes 25% 2 Task 1: Summary of not more than 100 words Task 2: Extended writing not fewer than 250 words	90 marks 90 minutes 30% 2 Task 1: Interpretation of information based on specific stimuli provided (no less than 150 words) Task 2: Extended writing based on a given topic (no less than 350 words)	Report, article, letter, essay

Candidates are rated into six bands – band one being the lowest and band six being the highest -- according to their test scores. The total score is 300 and the table below shows MUET band description.

Band	Aggregated Score	Description
6	260 - 300	Very good user - Very good command of the language. Highly expressive, fluent, accurate and appropriate language: hardly any inaccuracies. Very good understanding of language and contexts. Functions extremely well in the language.
5	220 - 259	Good user - Good command of the language. Expressive, fluent, accurate and appropriate language but with minor inaccuracies. Good understanding of language and contexts. Functions well in the language.
4	180 - 219	Competent user - Satisfactory command of the language. Satisfactory expressive and fluent, appropriate language but with occasional inaccuracies. Satisfactory understanding of language and contexts. Functions satisfactorily in the language.
3	140 - 179	Modest user - Modest command of the language. Modestly expressive and fluent, appropriate language but with noticeable inaccuracies. Modest understanding of language and contexts. Able to function modestly in the language.
2	100 - 139	Limited user - Limited command of the language. Lacks expressiveness, fluency and appropriacy: inaccurate use of the language resulting in breakdown in communication. Limited understanding of language and contexts. Limited ability to function in the language.
1	Below 100	Extremely limited user - Poor command of the language. Unable to use language to express ideas: inaccurate use of the language resulting in frequent breakdowns in communication. Little or poor understanding of language and contexts. Hardly able to function in the language.

Students that have taken MUET are eligible to be enrolled into degree courses offered at local public universities as long as their CGPA for Diploma STPM or Malaysian Matriculation examinations are good enough to fulfil the entry requirement. The difference between all these bands is that students from band 1 and 2 have to take two extra English courses during holidays while band 3 and 4 students take one extra course. Students with band 5 or 6 can skip the extra English course. Some competitive degree courses like medicine and pharmacy, however, require students to get band 5 or 6 in MUET.

Paradigm Shift

A Paradigm Shift is a change in thinking that comes when we gain additional insight and understanding. Effective individuals create opportunities for Paradigm Shifts. They try to understand others paradigms. Empathically, they open their mind and let others freely express themselves.

For example, Ptolemy, a great astronomer, defined the earth as the center of the universe. Breaking with this view, Copernicus fixed the sun at the center. In viewing the sun as the universe's center, Copernicus gained new understanding and experienced a Paradigm Shift.

Often individuals improve their own understanding, completeness and accuracy. there point of view changes. This change in thinking or perception is called a Paradigm Shift. Because people are so important, wise individuals try to understand others paradigms. They open their mind and allow others to exress themselves freely.

Excellent Teacher

Guru Cemerlang (Excellent Teacher) is an award given to teachers who are regarded as experts in their field of teaching and subject matter. The rationale of giving this award is due to the progression of teacher promotion.

In the past, teachers who fit the criteria are promoted to the post of principals, vice principals or education officers. In getting promoted, the teacher seems to be moving away from teaching in the classroom to doing administrative work.

This means teachers who are dedicated and expert in their subject matter are lost in the systems, their skills and talent are inaccessible due to their promotion.

The awarding of Guru Cemerlang ensures that even if the teacher is promoted, he/she will still be teaching and his/her knowledge and expertise can be used by the school and the schools in the district. In 1993 the Guru Cemerlang promotion was introduced.Objectives of the Guru Cemerlang Promotion Scheme;

* To acknowledge teachers who are excellent in their field or subject.
* To improve the quality of teaching.
* To Guru Cemerlang as role model to other teachers.
* To enhance school excellence by utilising the experience and expertise of the Guru Cemerlang.
* To expand horizon of promotion in educational services.
* To promote teachers without leaving teaching behind or changing to administrative duties.
* To give promoted teachers opportunity to get promoted to a higher grade quickly.