“Nuba Laya, Kinupi and Budu”: Personal Narratives of Malaysian Youths

By Azlina Abdul Aziz

This book is a celebration of the diversity of cultural experiences amongst our Malaysian youths that is reflective of a small microcosm of Malaysia’s society. In these personal narratives, we can read of cultural practices we may or may not be familiar with, how cultures have evolved through modernisation, how each person uniquely experiences culture, how one may choose to affirm or reject aspects of her/his culture she/he deems worthy or unworthy of preserving, and the enduring power culture seems to have over us. It is our hope that these stories could be read for pleasure or utilised in the classroom as reading materials. This collection of personal narratives aims to challenge the perspectives on Malaysian culture that is often reduced to stereotypical representations particularly in Malaysian textbooks by using the students’ own lived experiences.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing Singapore
• Release date: May 28, 2019
• ISBN: 9781543751086

Azlina Abdul Aziz

Biodata of the editors Azlina Abdul Aziz is a TESL lecturer at the Faculty of Education, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. She has an Ed.D in Teaching of English from Teachers College, Columbia University, U.S.A. Her research interests are in the Teaching and Learning of Literature and Teacher Education in TESL. She is interested in how literary texts and personal narrative may be utilised to help students to examine social, cultural and political issues in a particular context. Maslawati Mohamad is a Senior Lecturer of Teaching English as a Second Language at Faculty of Education, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. Her main research interest is on innovation in teaching English as a Second Language. She is also an English trainer for government and private institutions. Melor Md. Yunus is an Associate Professor of TESL at the Faculty of Education, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia with a B.A. in English (Linguistics) from the University of Nevada-Reno, USA, an M.A. in TESL from the Arizona State University, USA, and Ph.D in Education (TESL) from the University of Bristol, UK. Her areas of expertise are technology-enhanced language learning, CALL, ICT in language education, TESL and writing skills.

Book preview

Copyright © 2019 by Azlina Abdul Aziz.

Cover design by Miza Syahirah Mohd Faizal

Background photo by Azlina Abdul Aziz

ISBN:                    Softcover                    978-1-5437-5107-9

                              eBook                        978-1-5437-5108-6

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Contents

Preface

References

Kicks and Punches

by Syeriefa Juliana Asni

My First of Everything

by Natasha Ch’ng Duan Hsing

The Torn Cheongsam

by Nuradlin Shazmy Mohamad Jasmy

Thank You for the Memories, Kinupi

by Ezley Majusang @ Pardi

Culture Shock

by Nurdiana Aqalili Mat Nasir

The Kejaman Funeral

by Jennie Awing Ukat

Becoming an Adult

by Dineswari d/o Segakumaran

The Unwanted Culture

by Azwa Laila Anuar

Tough Love or Torture

by Nurin Najwa Hedher

Kuda

by Wan Amira Asyikin Wan Noor

Our Precious Heritage – Tangon

by Nur Ezzati Edmund

Stuck in the Midst of Superstition

by Siti Nur Quraisha Zawi

A Funeral of a Nobleman

by Nurul Syasika Tijan Bolkan

Camera eats first

by Teo Mei Lin

Ribbon

by Aimi Hazwani Ahmad Pauzi

The Pearl in the North

by Nur Amanina Muhd Noor

From These Moments, I Live On

by Masturina Amirah Mohamad

Mr. Lim and Sweet Mandarin

by Farah Sabrina Mohd Sabri

Pouring Budu on Nasi Lemak

By Amalia Mohamad

A ‘Toll’ and a Wedding?

By Nurul Shafiqah Mohd Daniar

Biodata of the Narrators

Biodata of the Editors

Preface

This book is a celebration of the diversity of cultural experiences amongst our Malaysian youths, that is reflective of a small microcosm of Malaysia’s society. In these personal narratives, we can read of cultural practices we may or may not be familiar with, how cultures have evolved through modernisation, how each person uniquely experiences culture, how one may choose to affirm or reject aspects of her/his culture s/he deems worthy or unworthy of preserving and the enduring power culture seems to have over us. It is our hope that these stories could be read for pleasure or utilised in the classroom as reading materials. This collection of personal narratives aims to challenge the perspectives on Malaysian culture that is often reduced to stereotypical representations particularly in Malaysian textbooks by using the students’ own lived experiences.

This collection of personal narratives was contributed by a group of TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language) students at the Faculty of Education, The National University of Malaysia (UKM) as part of their training to become TESL teachers. The objective of the project was to enable the student-teachers to be both ..writers (and) producers …. of the various texts they will encounter, as espoused by Scholes (1998, p. 149). The editors felt that there is value for our Malaysian students to read and write texts that are representative of Malaysian cultures and real-world context. Furthermore, it adds to locally produced authentic materials for teaching and learning of English. This project provided an opportunity for the student-teachers to be writers of texts that inscribe and reinscribe their own social reality of the Malaysian context so that they may represent their own experiences while examining how their experiences are discursively constructed within social, cultural and historical contexts.

The process expands the role of student-teachers from being readers and writers to editors and material developers. The project also helps to develop teacher professionalism through practical and entrepreneurial spirit. In the past, teacher development programme limits the role of student-teachers to recipients of knowledge from scholars. Instead, they become engaged with the process of constructing reading materials. This experience developed a deeper understanding of the principles of material development through the inter-twining engagement between theory and practice.

The process of developing the personal narrative texts for the reading class also harnesses the student-teachers’ creativity and critical thinking skills. They are expected to continuously value creative and critical thinking skills while being engaged in their own classroom.

Besides, they will also learn to value personal narrative as a means to engage with social and cultural issues, by reading the ‘word and the world’, connecting the personal with the sociocultural and engaging their pupils both cognitively and affectively (Tomlinson 2008). According to Tomlinson (2012), impactful materials may have the following characteristics such as being novel and having appealing and varied content.

These experiences are believed to enhance the student-teachers’ confidence in developing more teaching and learning materials that are representative of our cultural setting and they can see themselves being represented in the English language.

Last but not least, I would like to pay homage to the Student Press Initiative (SPI), founded by Dr. Erick Gordon in 2002. SPI is part of Teachers College’s Center for the Professional Education of Teachers (CPET) at Columbia University. It was while I was doing my doctoral degree at Teachers College that Dr. Erick Gordon introduced me to Oral History and its pedagogical value as a classroom material as well as its life affirming quality. His passion for stories and storytelling told by students made me rethink whose voices deserve to be heard. Through his work with SPI, I learnt that all of us do. In my