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1. Your name, matric number, date
Juliana Edora binti Amin Lim, A168347, 11/8/21

2. What have you done?
I have joined an online course on Coursera to learn about one of the most handy language used here in our very own country, that is Mandarin. In the first week, the videos shown has taught me on how to greet people and how to introduce myself in Chinese.

3. Points to remember from week 1!
Something unique about mandarin is that they have their own tones. There is 4 to be precise. There are many Chinese words with the same characters and the only way to distinguish them is by their tones. With different tones, they have different meanings. The first tone is high and flat tone. The second one is a rising tone. The third tone is quite tricky as the tone falls down then goes up as u say it. The fourth tone is a falling tone. In the end of every video, there are quizzes to answer. Believe me when I say I failed the quiz a few times as I can’t distinguish the first and fourth tone that easily.

4. Your feelings and thoughts
I was excited to learn a third language. But at the same time, I was nervous because trying to pronounce the right intonation for mandarin was quite tricky.

5. 1 good thing from what you did that you can practice now!
I can try to converse with my Chinese friends and can even try to understand a little bit of mandarin if I hear anyone talk.

6. Any difficulties/concerns? How did you cope?
Not being able to pronounce properly was my concern. However, I tried to overcome this problem by listening to the videos more attentively and practice more on saying the words.

7. 2 words to describe elective posting progress so far
Intriguing and fun.

8. Your plan for next week (Week 2)
To continue doing lessons and build up my understanding for Chinese.

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1. Your name, matric number, date

Theepan Sellamuthu, A166731, 21 July.

2. What have you done?

Attend mandarin speaking lessons. I contacted a mandarin school teacher, Miss Chock and attended classes via zoom. We learnt some basic things like introduction, greetings, and family members.

3. Points to remember from week 1!

Each pronounciation is different and important in mandarin. A change in pronounciation and mean differently. Intonation is also vital in speaking mandarin. Don't feel demotivated in class, it's just the start of something new. Be confident and practice well. Have a fun when learning!

4. Your feelings & thoughts

Excited and nervous to learn a new language.

5. 1 good thing from what you did that you can practice now!

Use the words to converse with friends.

6. Any difficulties/concerns? How did you cope?

Difficult to learn since I have no prior knowledge of the mandarin language.

7. 2 words to describe elective posting progress so far

Fun and exciting

8. Your plan for next week (Week 2)

Revise the lessons done so far.

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Nĭ hăo !

1. Hashimah Binti Ibrahim, GA04001, 4/8/2021

2. In the first week of learning Chinese at Coursera, I have learned how to greet people and introduce myself in Mandarin. I have also learned that there are 4 tones in Chinese that are important to know to make sure the Mandarin pronunciation is correct. This is because the tone can distinguish meaning in Chinese. For example (look at the difference tone marks), :
mā means mother.
má means numb.
mǎ means horse.
mà means scold.
The first tone (ā) is high and flat tone.
The second tone (á) is a rising tone
The third tone (ǎ) is a little bit difficult. The tone falls down first and then goes up.
The fourth tone (à) is a falling tone.
It looks confusing and hard, doesn't? Trust me, it's not that difficult and it is very interesting to learn.

3. The important points to remember from this first week of learning Chinese are to know and master the 4 tones in Chinese [ā, á, ǎ, à]. Tones are the essential part of proper pronunciation. In Mandarin Chinese, many characters have the same sound. Therefore tones are necessary when speaking Chinese in order to differentiate words from each other.

4. I feel so much fun learning Chinese and looking forward to the next lesson. Honestly, I never thought that I would be interested to learn Mandarin. I always thought that Mandarin was hard and I might not be able to learn it. But after trying it, learning Chinese is not as difficult as I though.

5. One good thing from this learning is I manage to understand a few Chinese words when Chinese people talk. Well, only a few words in a sentence. Haha.

6. So far so good. Just sometimes I got confused with the pronunciation of certain words. To cope with this problem, I repeatedly hear the words and practice the proper pronunciation.

7. Hěn hǎo ~

8. My plan for next week is to continue my lessons at Coursera while reading and learning Mandarin from other materials too.

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1. Minhalina Binti Mokhtar, GA04004, 3/8/2021

2. I have learn the lesson for the first week which is about introducing myself and others. I already knew how to greet people, introducing my name, my nationality, my education background and introducing my family members. I also knew how to ask questions pertaining those to others in making a conversation.  Besides, I learned to say thanks and the words to end a conversation. There is a total of 7 weeks in this course.

3. The points to remember from week 1 is pronunciation is very important in Mandarin for others to understand what we speak. This is because one syllable may have 4 meanings because there are 4 tones in Mandarin. For example, "ma" can means "mom, horse and scolds". The tones and the way we pronounce those differentiates them. Of course I dont want to call my mom horse hahaha.

4. I am excited to finish all the lesson. I think it will be hard but surely it's fun.

5. My mom and sister also used to learn Mandarin before but they have forgot some of the words. It feels good to be able to practice my Mandarin with them and remind them some of the words they forgot

6. Some initials are difficult for me to differentiate the pronunciation such as "c" and "z". Some tones are also difficult to differentiate. To overcome that, I listen to the lesson and other words from google repeatedly. I also ask for help from my Chinese friends and those really help.

7. Doing good

8. To learn 2 week lessons in a week because I want to finish the class as soon as possible so that I have plenty of time for the video.

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!Bienvenido!

Cyena Chaza Anak Kutiang, A167780, 3 August 2021

2. For the past one week of being a beginner at learning the language Spanish, I was taught its basic grammar which includes adjectives, articles, conjugations, formality and informality, feminism and masculinity, prepositions, pronouns, and verbs. I also had the opportunity to practice speaking with the correct pronunciations of the vowels and consonants. Interestingly, the Spanish pronunciation very much differs from that of Inglés (English) despite them having very similar vocabulary. There is a huge difference as well in terms of how the sentences are structured, and the intonation used during conversations. Aside from these, I was also taught to recognise the flags of countries who speak Spanish, their cultural celebrations, the Spanish cuisines and the seasons of the year that they experience!

To sum it all up:

31.02 hours spent watching video tutorials,
86 sets of short quizzes answered,

About 350 new Spanish vocabulary unlocked,

49 sets of personal notes made,

Also learnt to express numbers, the time and months of the year,

And am ready to continue with level 2 of learning Spanish!

3. Important points to remember from what I have learnt for the past one week were the basics in the grammar and pronunciation. With a good foundation in these two, I will then be able to improve at the subsequent level and better understand the language.

4. At first, I was anxious if I would be able to complete level 1 in time. It was getting more and more challenging as I progressed from one topic to another. Regardless, I acknowledge that I am a learner and that is what I should do, to actively learn and improve myself. With regards to the fear of not being able to complete the course in time, I figured that I should shift my focus more towards the journey of learning itself, and not just the destination.
Enjoy. The. Process.

5. Since exposed to the basic vocabulary, I have been trying to incorporate the language more in my daily life. For example, I have added new keyboard features on my laptop, mobile phone and iPad which will enable me to type in Spanish. Also, I have changed the language of my Instagram and Facebook profiles to the language that I am learning in an attempt to familiarise myself with it. I have also been greeting family and friends in Spanish! I mentally count in Spanish too!

6. As of now, one minor difficulty is to adjust to the speed of native Spanish speakers. Occasionally, it gets very difficult to gauge word by word what my tutors are saying when they speak at a bullet train speed. However, with more listening practice I believe I will be able to catch up on them.

7. ¡Excelente! ¡Feliz!

8. For my next week, I will briefly revise through the materials that I have previously covered, memorising the important grammars and routinely used vocabulary. Next, I will continue with Level 2 Spanish!

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1. Nur Alia Binti Muhammad Zaini (GA04009): 21 June 2021

2. For the first week, the course introduced me to the course overview and learning glossary of design terms. For example, ‘arrange’ which means layering of objects either by bringing the object to front or bringing the object to the background. Other than that, I learnt about terms of ‘align’, ‘rotate’ and ‘translucency’. These are the basic terms that I need to learn in order to understand the basics of Graphic Design.

In addition, I also learnt about how to recognize a good design and how to instill professionalism in design. I was taught that in order to know whether a poster has a good or bad design, I need to see whether the poster is conveying a clear message, whether the composition of the poster is balanced and whether the photo and text of the poster is well organized or scattered randomly.

3. Points to remember in the first week of Graphic Design course is to remember and understand the basic glossary and basic principle of graphic design. Other than that, I have to practice on how to determine a good or bad poster design by applying basic principles that Mr David has taught me.

4.  I am excited to learn more about graphic design. This course encourages me to be more creative and diligent in playing with colours, shape and text. I am very happy that Mr David made this course quite easy to comprehend and apply. I can't wait to dive into the graphic design world.

5. One good thing that I can practice now is to focus on the theme and message of the poster instead of focusing on making a beautiful poster.

6. My concern is to remember and understand the basic glossary and basic principle of graphic design. Although some of the terms are familiar to me,but  I always get confused when it comes to practicing poster designing. The only way to cope with confusion is to get familiar with the terms by practising on designing any poster.

7. Interesting & exciting

8. For week 2, this module will focus on other basic principles of graphic design such as importance of grid and understanding typography, colours and graphic elements.

Attached below is my first try of designing a poster while applying some basic principles such as align and arrange.

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1. NURUL SYAKIRAH BINTI AJIRUL
A168126
1st August 2021

2. Throughout the first week of my online Japanese class, it focuses more onto the introduction of Japanese language in general, such as the origin of the language and the important reasons to learn about it. It mainly focusing on the phonetics (the correct way to pronounce the words/sentence), grammar, writing and simple dialogues in Japanese language.

3. Points to be remembered on my first week of Japanese class would be the grammatical aspects of the language. Firstly, there are two types of words in a basic Japanese language which are content and auxillary words (auxillary words is always followed by the content word). Next, there are only two tenses in Japanese language which are past tense and present/future tense.

4. I am so excited to be able to learn more on this language. However I also felt a bit nervous because each section will require me to answer few questions in order to proceed to the next phase.

5. Learning new language makes me more aware of my surrounding. Since I’m currently learning on Japanese language and there is ongoing Olympic tournament  held in Tokyo, Japan, I couldn’t help but became excited to listen on any Japanese words that I could understand during watching the games.

6. Difficulty faced throughout my process of learning is  limited access to some trusted reading and learning materials that I could find on internet. However, I believe that this should not be an excuse to stop learning, therefore, I will try to ask my colleagues for any trusted websites to learn Japanese language.

7. Challenging, Exciting.

8. I believe week two will be more challenging as the learning process would go deeper and more details. As for my plan in week two, I will be focusing more on the writing and dialogue part as throughout week one, these two parts are only emphasised a little bit.

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First Week of  Mandarin Communication Intensive Class 

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First Week of  Mandarin Communication Intensive Class 

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by : Nur Nadirah binti Mahmood (A168444), 1st August 2021

2. our first class started with learning the differences between English and Chinese. Laoshi (teacher) told us about the different versions or dialects of Chinese. I learned the systems used in Chinese such as the logographic system, Hanyu Pinyin system to help non-natives to learn mandarin Chinese.

I learned greetings in mandarin. A few notable ways to greet people are nĭhăoma (how are you?) or nĭhăo (hello). next, I learned about self pronouns and common items that we use daily. for example; wŏ (I), nĭ (you), and shŏujī (shŏu: hand; jī: machine = handphone)

I also learn a lot of vocabulary in the first class. Laoshi paired the students to practice the vocabulary in dialogues for us to remember easily.

last but not least, we learned the phonetic system (Hanyu Pinyin). there were 4 tones that we need to familiarise ourselves with before the next class commences. hence, laoshi gave us homework to complete the Pinyin tone pairs table. Laoshi suggested using google translation to aid us with the tone pronunciation. if the robot can understand what I say, that means I say it correctly.

3. points to remember from the first class are the four tones. I need to say every word with the correct tones in order to get the correct intended meaning.

4.  Initially, I felt quite worried that I would find Mandarin hard to learn. but laoshi was very helpful and keep giving us the motivation to learn. Laoshi advice was to keep the momentum to learn going for as long as we can! if we have the will, we can do it!

5. I can practice greeting my family using mandarin every day!

6. my concerns are about vocabulary. I think I need to buy a Chinese Pinyin - English dictionary or I can use the help of the website suggested by laoshi. I also found an old Conversational Mandarin Chinese textbook in the store of my house so I think it will help a lot.

7. exciting and fulfilling. I have always wanted to learn a new language.

8. for next week, I will do my homework and revise the notes given. updates on my homework will come soon (peace fingers sign)

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Practice on Hangeul writing after watching each video.

In this picture shown below, I practised writing the vowels.

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1. Chang Wai Leng (GA03998) , 30/7/21

2.  In week 1, I have watched a few videos from the course ‘First Step Korean’ conducted by Professor Seung Hae Kang on Coursera. The first video is an introductory video that briefly explains about the Korean language itself.

In the following videos, I learned about the Korean alphabet, Hangeul in terms of writing, reading and pronunciation. At the end of each video, I learned some Korean words to improve on my vocabulary. After watching each video, I revised the notes that are available on the website and did some practices on my own. At the end of each subtopic, I answered the quizzes to check my understanding on the subtopic.

3.  To write in Hangeul, one should start writing from left to right and top to bottom. A character is made up of a consonant and a vowel with or without a final consonant or double consonant. There are 10 basic vowels and 14 consonants.

4. I am grateful to be able to learn a new language which is not commonly used in our community. Although it is  challenging to learn something new, I really enjoyed the process and I am excited for the next part of the course and looking forward to mastering the Korean language.

5. One good thing that I can practise now is reading and writing different Hangeul characters.

6. While learning about the different vowels and consonants, it was quite difficult to differentiate certain vowels and consonants from the others which sound almost similar when pronounced. In order to gain better understanding and ensure  accurate pronunciation, I decided to watch the videos for a few more times and practised reading and writing repeatedly.

7. Enjoyable and fulfilling

8. I will practise reading and writing the Korean alphabet more so it would be easier for me to pick up the next topic in Week 2 which is about greetings and introducing.

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My First Week of Japanese for Beginners Class!

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My First Week of Japanese for Beginners Class!

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1. Alya Najwa binti Mohd Khairi (GA03995), 1/8/2021

2. For my first week of Japanese for Beginners class using Coursera, I was taught about very basic grammar and writing in Japanese hiragana and katakana. I also learnt about how to enunciate in Japanese as there are some differences in pronouncing certain letters (ex: 'f' or ふ is pronounced in between of the sound of h and f. It is not pronounced as it would be in English).
Writing hiragana and katakana was a lot of fun! Albeit a bit challenging, it was a fun process. I used to remember how to write in hiragana when I was younger, but I have forgotten about it since I haven't practiced for a long time. So being able to practice writing again is great.

3.  Following a guide on how to write in hiragana and katakana is very helpful! It allows me to write according to steps so I would know how to write the letters properly without it coming out looking awkward. Practice is key as well; as of now, I still struggle to write some letters and have not been able to memorize all of the letters thoroughly. The goal is to practice and memorize the letters without having to refer to the pictures.

4. So far it has been going well. I feel content being able to use this time to learn a language that I have been interested in for so long. The feeling I get when I am able to recognize read hiragana and katakana, albeit not all of them, is amazing! Even though it has only been 1 week, but seeing the progress from not being able to read hiragana to being able to read some, is reassuring and exciting.

5. Being able to read hiragana/katakana in shows or anime!

6. Memorizing the letters can be a bit difficult at times. I often catch myself referring to pictures so I could recall how to write them. Using apps to quiz myself to better recall what I have learnt, such as using quizlet, helps me a lot. Another hurdle I came across was vocabulary. I do not have a wide set of vocabulary so, building sentences are often times impossible. The only way to expand my vocabulary is to google.
Also, the course that I have taken up in Coursera is free, however, to access quizzes and be given marks are locked behind a paywall, so I do not know whether the answers I have keyed in are correct, so it is a bit difficult to learn in that regard.

7.Fulfilling and fun!

8. My plan for next week is to be able to write hiragana without referring to pictures at all. Learning more grammar and building sentences is part of the plan too!

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1. Nadhilah Zulkifli (A168421): 10th of July 2021

2. As cliche as it it, ice breaking session is a must. For this session, I got to know a bit of others' backgrounds. The youngest one is a 15 years old boy and the eldest one is a 45 years old lady! Leaning is literally a process that has no boundaries. I am more surprised when I knew that one of us worked at Embassy of Japan in Malaysia hence encouraging her to learn Japanese.

Also, we learnt a little bit on how to introduce ourselves in Japanese. It was a short period of time but I still enjoyed it.

Plus, we learnt a few, new kotoba (vocabularies) and there was a quiz session to test our memories.

In addition, Japanese has three type of writings which are Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji. The first one that being taught was Hiragana. Therefore, we learnt it one by one, like we used to learn ABC.

Last but not least, the homework that was given to us was to write down our three favourite words in  Japanese. Mine was なんで (nande=why), なに (nani=what) and おねえちゃん (oneechan=sister).

3. Sensei (teacher) asked us to memorize kotoba (vocabularies) that being taught in class. She also asked us to practice Hiragana at home.

4. I felt excited since my sensei was very passionate to teach us. She made the class livelier and be patient when we were so slow to answer her questions.

5. I can write in Hiragana so others would not understand what kind of secret I am trying to hide!

6. Difficulties that I faced in this class is it requires me to speak more. It is difficult for me since I am an introvert one but for me to overcome it, I did very well.

7. ureshii (うれしい= happiness)
kandou shimasu (かんどうしました= I am impressed!)

8. For week 2, I planned to practice Hiragana as much as I can so I do not have to refer Hiragana table anymore.

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My 1st week of Cameras, Exposure and Photography

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My 1st week of Cameras, Exposure and Photography

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1) Leong Sher Mun (A172090) - 27th of July 2021

2) For the first week of this Coursera course, I was told to watch several videos involving the two professors and their background which are Professor Peter Glendinning and Mark Sullivan. They provided several reading materials involving their work and some websites involving interesting photograph. After that, we were introduced to the basic principles of photography which comprised multiple elements of a camera. This include the lens, sensor and camera shutter, exposure and full auto shooting mode. Along the way, there are quizzes for each element to ensure our knowledge is sufficient before proceeding to the next element. After understanding each element there is a graded quiz to summarize all of the lectures provided. Finally, before this week's course is complete, I was required to take some photos with my camera and review some of my peers' assignments marking the completion of this week's work.

3) Basic elements of shutter speed and aperture with its effects on the exposure. Full auto shooting mode of multiple cameras

4) I was very drawn and interested in the lectures provided by the professors. Some of the information might be a bit overwhelming but overall, I think I can handle most of it with relative ease. I believe the course would benefit my photo-taking abilities in the future.

5) Taking photos at the correct exposure would be one of the good thing i learnt from this week

6) So far, there are some minor bumps and hurdles on memorizing certain details for the quiz but it is not a huge obstacle that makes me uncomfortable

7) Intrigued and amazing

8) For my next week, I will revise most of the lectures provided for week 1 and ensure that my knowledge is solid enough to proceed for next week's course.

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My 1st week of Cameras, Exposure and Photography

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My 1st week of Cameras, Exposure and Photography

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My 1st week of Cameras, Exposure and Photography

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My 1st week of Cameras, Exposure and Photography

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My 1st week of Cameras, Exposure and Photography

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My 1st week of Cameras, Exposure and Photography

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My 1st week of Cameras, Exposure and Photography

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My 1st week of Cameras, Exposure and Photography

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