All about ENGLISH

LINGUISTIC ASSIGNMENT

         EXPERIENCE

            There were many experiences that I encountered when I was visiting the Tree House. When I first arrived at the Tree House, I was blown away seeing how beautiful the place was. After I’ve gotten a little briefing with my other friends from the ‘aunties’ there, we quickly headed to the dining place for the ‘khalifahs’ where the “Junior Khalifahs” were just enjoying their breakfast.

male junior khalifahs having breakfast

female junior khalifahs having breakfast

 My other friends were already taking pictures and having conversation with them. At first, I was a bit awkward on how to approach them. But then, I considered them just like my little cousins back home and there was nothing to be awkward about. So, I decided to just go with it. Slowly, my awkwardness went away. I approached this very cute “Junior Khalifah” namely Khadija.

      this is Khadija

She was a bit shy with me at first but after a few times of trying, I got her to talk with me. But her shyness still showed and her voice was very soft. I just could not get enough of her. I was also amazed with their discipline system as they washed their own used plates and lined up to sing a song before their Iqra’ reading activity.

        queuing before iqra reading activity

I can still remember their enthusiastic voices singing the song happily, “God is great! God is one!” before they marched to the Iqra’ reading place.

           

        During the Iqra’ reading activity, I got attached to five-year-old AisyaNur, a chubby and cute female “Junior Khalifah”.

      Aisya Nur

I also got her to read for me. After a while, she got bored reading the iqra’ book, so she asked me, “Kakak, do you have a book? Can I draw in your book?”.SubhanALLAH! What amazing manner they practiced there! So, not wanting to disappoint her, I quickly gave her my notebook and a pencil for her to draw. She drew me cartoons and told stories along the way. What amazed me was,AisyaNur was a bit different from the others. While her friends were drawing common cartoons or writing their names in my friends’ books, AisyaNur was drawing and telling me a story of a baby from when he was born until he died. Most of her stories she told me had a sad ending. So, that is why I found AisyaNur, a unique “Junior Khalifah” and decided to stay with her.

    Aisya Nur dawing and telling stories

            During playtime, we played many games including ‘masak-masak’ and ‘fishing sharks’. I had the most fun when playing ‘fishing sharks’ with her. The play set was made out from wood. There was a wooden boat and ten wooden fishes that had numbers on the bodies. So, we pretend that the numbers were the quantity of teeth on each of the ‘sharks’. We played that she was fishing the ‘sharks’ and I had to catch them using my hands. The ‘sharks’ constantly ‘bit’ my hands until my hands were ‘gone’ (hid them in my sleeves). But when I asked her why the ‘sharks’ did not bite her, she replied that she was cuter than me. Okay, I had to admit that she was totally cuter than me although I did say to her that I was cuter than her. Unfortunately, Brother Nazriq got to hear everything and had a good laugh at me. I got embarrassed but decided to ignore it. So, this showed me that this “Junior Khalifah” have a very powerful imagination. I really had a blast playing games with AisyaNur.  When it was near the “Junior Khalifahs’” lunch time, I watched her put the play set away and watched her joining with her friends.

            During their lunch time, my friends and I were already planning on how to get back to our campus as we went to visit the Tree House by taxi. It was hard to get a taxi in that area. At the same time, the ‘aunties’ served us cupcakes and tea but I just lost my appetite. I felt sad that my day with them was coming to an end. When they were queuing to wash their plates after eating, I approached them. They asked me a lot of questions like, “Kakak, have you eaten?” and “Kakak, why are you not eating?” and “Kakak, ‘puasa’?”.  I thought I was going to burst at that time but I did not want to create havoc. So, I just hold back the tears. I asked them to take pictures with me after they had finished cleaning their plates. Before I was leaving the Tree House, AisyaNur and Khadija held my matric card and spelled my name. I told them it was spelled ‘Shahirah’. Then, they repeated after me, “Kakak Shahirah”. MasyaALLAH! Clever kids! They even memorized my matric number. I did not know why. When I was finally leaving, they kissed my hand and waved me goodbye with glowing and smiling faces. I hold back my tears and thought of positives things such as even though I may not see them anymore, I could always make du’a for them when I miss them.

 OBSERVATION

            The Playhouse was named the Tree House and located in Kota Damansara. The Playhouse was not like any other common playhouses that operated in one-storey houses. But, the Playhouse operated on the second floor of a Lot House building near to Segi’s University. 

        The Tree House

The Tree House was filled with children aged from two until six years old. As we were told by the ‘Aunties’ there, they used the ‘khalifah’ system as they treat the children as their own persons and not only children that need to be disciplined. Thus, three groups were formed according to the ‘khalifah’ system. There were “Baby Khalifah” and “Lil’ Khalifah” which was eighteen until thirty six months old. 

        Baby Khalifah

       Little Khalifah

These two groups were confined in their specific area as they needed extra special care from the Tree House’s guardians. There was also “Junior Khalifah” who were five to six years old. But this group was free from confinement. The ‘khalifahs’ at the Tree House practiced manner and discipline as they queued before every activity and recited du’a before and after eating.

       one of games that teach them to respect utensil

 They even cleaned after their messes and washed their used plates on their own. Even the games they played during playtime had their own objectives. For example, several of the games were to teach the ‘khalifahs’ about manners, respecting utensils, numbers and so many more. 

         According to the Stage of Language Acquisition, the “Junior Khalifahs” was at the Later Multiword Stage. This is because they could produce more complex sentences and more complex negation sentences when I had conversation with them. For example, there was this one “Junior Khalifah” spoke to me in English fluently although there seemed to be minor grammatical errors.

       

       Next, the “Baby Khalifahs” were still at the Babbling Stage. They were still learning how to speak properly. For example, they would repeat some of the same word constantly to indicate us on what they want. 

       

       The “Lil’ Khalifahs” was at the Early Multiword Stage. They also spoke to me in fluent English but mostly they would use much simpler sentences. For example, they would introduce me their names and will either reply shortly or be quiet when I asked them a few simple questions. Overall, I can also conclude that the children at the Tree house had chosen English language as their Second Language Acquisition.

REFLECTION

        What I can reflect from the visit was that I can see the various signs of ALLAH’s Greatness. It is said that children are miracles from ALLAH. Now I can see why. The moment I stepped into the Tree House, I can hear laughter and joy all around. I felt the calmness straight away. When I interacted with them, they responded to me in a very good manner. They were also thought to read, to pray and to make du’a so that they will be blessed by ALLAH. This had occurred to me that if you want your children to remember ALLAH and have good manners like Prophet Muhammad P.B.U.H., you have to teach them from an early age as their heart is soft and they thirst for knowledge. 

            This can be proven in Surah Al-Iqra’ verse one which stated for us to read in order to gain knowledge. So, it is our responsibility to teach them about knowledge. They were also called as ‘khalifahs’. This is to acknowledge the younger ‘khalifahs’, they will sooner be older ‘khalifahs’ and have a lot of responsibilities towards ALLAH. So, from my perspective, the Tree House had done an excellent work by teaching them in the ways that ALLAH had blessed. I hope that they will grow up to be the best ‘khalifahs’ with manners as excellent as Prophet Muhammad P.B.U.H.

From : Shahirah Bt Nazarudin

           Nur Amalina Bt Kamal

           Nurul Athirah Bt Masoud