Reflection

REFLECTION (CHAN MEI ZHEN 920229-14-5278)

I have been given a task from my lecturer of English Language Proficiency subject, Madam Yee Bee Choo. I had spent a few weeks in order to complete this short coursework. Our class had been divided into five groups. My group mates are Chin Jia Yi, Loi She Chi and Wong Kai Yeuh. We had chosen the theme of social issue and the topic of the social issue is about missing children. By doing this assignment, I have learned many things about missing children. Firstly, we had gathered and presented factual information from four reliable sources about missing children. The four sources about the title of missing children are from internet, books, newspaper and magazine. I was responsible to find an article about the causes of missing children from the source of book. I had learnt many vocabularies and I have mastered the correct way to use a dictionary to look up for the meaning of those vocabularies. Then, I had learnt how to analyze and evaluate the information that I had gathered in the form of graphic organizers. I also had learnt how to put the main ideas and supporting details from the article that I had found because we can only insert simple sentences into the graphic organizer so that the graphic organizer is neat and clear and can be understand easily. My ICT skill had also improved while doing this part of coursework. Secondly, we had to write a forum script based on the title of missing children. We had used all the information that we had gathered in the forum. In the forum script, I had improved my grammatical competence through creating the forum script and I had also learnt the correct way to write sentences to form coherent paragraphs in the script. Thirdly, my group mates and I had to perform the forum script that was created by us in the class. I had learnt how to speak with correct pronunciation, enunciation, and intonation through the forum script. Now, I know the basic skills on which sentence to stress on while we are talking or

discussing in the forum. Besides that, my self-confidence had been improved while I carry out the forum in front of my classmates. In this short coursework, I had learnt how to cooperate well with my group mates. My speaking skill had also improved during group discussion because we need to express our own ideas and opinions to complete our forum script. Other than that, I had learnt how to arrange my timetable systematically because there are many more of coursework to be completed at the same time. In a conclusion, I had learnt a lot of things from this short coursework and thanks to my lecturer and friends for their copulation that lead to the completion of this coursework on time.

REFLECTION (CHIN JIA YI 930411-01-5102)

Regarding to this short coursework, we are required to find out four articles from different sources and compile all the information into graphic organizers in the first part. Our class had been divided into five groups and i was in the same group with Chan Mei Zhen, Loi She Chi and Wong Kai Yeuh for this coursework. After we got the coursework, we have discussed and divided the first part of the task among ourselves. I was in charge in the search of article about real examples of missing children from the magazine. I have spent one whole week looking high and low for a suitable article and quickly analyze the content of the article to be inserted into the graphic organizer. My summarizing skills had also improved because I need to express the content of the article which is a thousand-over-words long in a simple graphic organizer. This was definitely a challenge for me to overcome.

Besides, I had learnt how to manage my time better in order to handle a few sets of coursework from different subjects at the same time. Handling multiple coursework at the same time can really be a juggling act and a kind of stress to me, but luckily with the useful advices and suggestions from the lecturer and my group mates I was able to cope with this conflict. I had succeed in dealing with this pressure by making my own timetable to keep my coursework organized and can be completed and submitted on time.

For the second part of this coursework, we need to come up with a forum script about our topic, Missing Children by making use the information that we had gathered earlier and look up for more related details. This part of coursework had taught me the method to use correct and appropriate language structures in different types of writing and academic papers by sticking to the right forum format while writing the script. My skills on writing well-reasoned and well-understand paragraphs for the forum script had also been improved to a higher level than I was before. But, I noticed that I am still

quite weak in the aspects of pronunciation and intonation while presenting the forum script in front of my classmates. I realized that as a future educator, I must be able to speak fluently and confidently for a variety of purposes. Therefore, I had decided to brush up on my speaking skills by setting the rule with my roommate that we must speak English in our room after 5p.m every day.

Other than that, while we were brainstorming for ideas in order to create the forum script, we would voice out our own opinions and had a little debate to choose which opinion or point is better and more outstanding than the others so that our content of forum is compact and informative for the audience. Although there had been a few conflicts happening during our discussion but we all know that this is for our own goods and we will keep in mind about others critics or comments and then improve them. After the discussion session and completion of forum script, our friendship had been brought up to a closer level. There is also a part of forum that includes the interaction between the speakers and the audience. Audience will address some questions to the speakers so the speakers need to be alert and give clear and understandable response to the question that was being asked by audience. Via the forum presentation, I have the capability to speak confidently in public through forum participation. Ability of speaking with confidence in front of public is one of the vital aspects of being an educator because an educator must teach their students by speaking in front of the classroom.

Last but not least, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my group mates and the lecturer again for making this short coursework happen and to be completed on time. I am very grateful that I had participated in this coursework because this coursework had contributed to my self-development in various aspects.

REFLECTION (LOI SHE CHI 930901-08-5998) On 22 March 2013, Chin Jia Yi, Wong Kai Yeuh, Chan Mei Zhen , and I Loi She Chi have been assigned into one group to accomplish one interesting task that we have never tried previously. This task was basically a forum presentation entitled Missing Children. Since there were 4 members in our group, we discussed and decided to assign ourselves with the relevant subtopics respectively. Likewise, I was assigned to do the part on "what to do if your child is missing" if we face this kind of situation. With huge credits to the advancement of information technology, I have managed to search a lot of information on that particular sub-topic mostly via Internet. Meanwhile, I also paid visit to library to look for more details. "Missing Children" is one of the hot topic all around the world and is a never ending story. Therefore the resources of information are vast and omnipresent. Without further challenges, I was able to gather all the relevant information without squandering much time on that. After that, I proceeded to the process with analysis and extraction of gists based on my findings. 10 main points were basically extracted from the findings and here came a challenge for me which was converting the main points into a mind map. The reason I said so was the requirement of good properties of a mind map. I cracked my brain to make the mind map more interesting and attractive so it would obtain great attention from our audience. Of course, in the end of the day, the mind map should be simple to be figured out and not too complicated. Throughout these processes, I deeply felt that I have learned how to do analysis as well as extraction of main points from a reading material. Apart from that, I also learned how to organize my findings properly so I can do my analysis and extraction easily. While I was doing this assignment, I have read through lots of information on what should be done by parents, or maybe us as well if we are facing "children missing". Indeed, all these information are very useful and helpful as children missing might just happens on one of us in someday. We must remain as calm as possible if children is missing just unfortunately occurred on us. Many parents have no idea on how to confront this case.

They would be very nervous and upset and we should know this kind of attitude is not encouraged at all under such circumstances. Instead, they should promptly make a report to the police if they found out that their child is missing. Seek help from neighbours and friends. do not forget to find those places where their children always frequent. Nevertheless, I must concede that most of the time the parents do not keep their eyes on their children carefully and this would directly results in bad consequence especially in this era which is getting inhuman. After mind mapping the idea, the other members and I compiled the whole assignment and then we began the preparation of our forum script. Nonetheless, some of the problems were inevitable and they arose during our discussion. Four of us had our own opinions and we kept holding on our stands. at last we decided to seek advice from our lecturer. Fortunately, solutions came to us and we were able to be back on the right track. Honestly speaking, we were truly grateful. We knew that after this forum we would learn to be more considerable and tolerant in our future discussion as only good communication among the members can get things done nicely. Then,our preparation of forum script was done and we conducted our own rehearsal of the forum for a few times prior to the real forum presentation. On 8 April, we managed to carry out our forum presentation from 8 to 10 pm. After the presentation, we received some comments from our lecturer. Firstly, our attires were not appropriate since there were some professors taking part in the forum. We were supposed to dress up more professionally to show our respect. All of us were mostly dependent on the notes on our hand while giving out our presentation. We were asked to omit this kind of habit as Eye contact is indispensable in any presentation. However, our presentation did not go bad at all. Yet, we also received some good comments from our lecturer. We were glad to hear that everyone of us managed to voice out our speech loudly and clear and Audience were able to follow our forum.

REFLECTION (WONG KAI YEUH 930326-14-5818)

This English Language Proficiency assignment is divided into two parts. In first part, we decided to find some articles about missing children. I do not face any difficulties in this part because we had the experience of collecting related articles from various sources such as magazines, newspaper, internet and book. Actually it is quite hard to find the suitable article from all the sources because we need to find an article which is about the same theme but with different topics. My group members and I have gone through a lot of newspaper and magazine in order to find this article. Next, we are required to sort and insert the information from each article into graphic organisers respectively. I was able to do the graphic organisers well because of my past experience of doing mind maps during lecture presentations.

In the second part, we need to write a forum script about missing child. This part of work is very difficult for me because I am very poor in English. Fortunately, my group members English is quite good and they are willing to correct my grammar mistakes all the time. I feel very lucky to be in this group and I appreciate their help and advice very much. We have developed a better friendship through this coursework. Another problem that I faced is on the aspect of pronunciation. When I was rehearsing the forum script with my group mates, I always use "BESTA" electronic dictionary to learn the pronunciation of some word in the script.

I had memorised the content of the forum beforehand but I still feel very nervous when I was presenting the forum in front of the classroom. I have learnt something new after the lecturer gave us some suggestion to improve our way during presenting a forum. For instance, we should wear formal attire as a way to respect the event and we should use some hand gestures while we are presenting so that we look natural when we are talking among ourselves.

APPENDIX

1.a

1.b

1.c

1.d

THE CAUSES OF MISSING CHILDREN

Just imagine, why do children go missing? Why this problem arised? How to overcome it? First of all, lets look the definition of family. Family can be defined as the collective body of persons who live in one house, and under one head or manager; a household, including parents, children, and servant. A child to be considered as missing if he/she is absent f rom his/her place of residence wihout authority to a degree or in circumstances where the absense causes concern for safety of the child or there ia potential danger to the public. Missing children is not a normal issue. Most of them are girls below 18 years old. Normally, the reason their missing are always related to run from home. Only several cases involved abduct, and sexually abuse. Why this problem arised? The first causes is family problems. Family problems can be in terms of financial problems, misunderstanding with family members, lack of intention and in search of freedom. Financial problems occured in a poor family with many children. They need moneys to survive in their life. Parents are busy with their works to get money. They do not have enough time to spend with their children. Children become alone and pressure and as a result they run from their home to get freedom. The second causes is looking for job opportunities. Most of the childrens were missing are children in the 14-17 age group as most of them would be of school going age. They not interested in studying, so they looking for the job to gain the money thus they can buy anything they like. The third causes is influencing by their friends. Influenced by friends can give a positive and negative effects to them. Based on missing children cases, most of the children were missing because of following their lover. This is because that children feel that their lover can give them freedom and better life. It cannot be denied that the number of cases may actually be higher than what is reported because families may be embarrassed about reporting such cases.

Next, the causes is adolescent problems. The teenager is in with the wrong crowd, in unhealthy or harmful relationships. The teenager has personal problems that the parents dont know about like relationship problems, pregnancy, school failures, drug addiction, alcoholism, abuse and others and wants to escape. Then, the next causes is lead to the abduction of a child by a parent. Often, kidnappings by a parent occur as a result of a problematic separation or divorce gone wrong. The parent feels that they were treated poorly by the judicial system or may not have been heard during the arrangement for the custody of the child. Besides, the parent is from a foreign country and upon the termination of the relationship, wishes to return to their country with the child. Other than that, the parent wishes to get revenge on the other parent. The parent feels worried that the child might be the object of abuse or of poor treatment, even presenting signs of paranoia to the other parent because of mental illness. In addition, the parent is given the right to make decisions about their child and imposes them on those around him without their consent. Beside that, the causes lead a stranger to take a child is pedophile. This reason concerns the majority of kidnappings by strangers. Often after children have been raped, they are released by the kidnapper. In this situation, the kidnapper is most often a loner, unmarried, unrelated to the kidnapped child and doesnt have frequent contact with children. The others reason that would lead a stranger to take a child are related to money, violence and mental problems. As a conclusion, in responding to and managing an individual childs absence from care, both Social Care and Health and Police Staff should beware of dismissing the potential significance of multiple abscondings by a young offender.

WHAT TO DO IF YOUR CHILD IS MISSING

First and foremost, do your best to remain calm. If you are reading this because you suspect that your child is lost, abducted or has run away we know how stressful the situation can be. You are most likely filled with anger and other emotions. However, you will need to remain as calm as possible. Law enforcement and professional detectives can help you easier when you remain calm and keep your wits. Whatever the case and wherever your child has gone there is a proper and effective way to find their safe return. Keep this positive emotion in mind as you deal with the situation. Notify your local police department or county sheriff immediately. Provide them with as much information as possible. Ask them to fill out a normal police report. Let them ask questions and answer them honestly. Remember, they are professionals and know what to ask, what to look for and how to best proceed in your best interest. It is very important that you communicate with law enforcement in a factual, yet truthful way so they can best serve you. Do and act accordingly as they instruct. If you sense your child or teen has runaway, call the NRS or The National Runaway Service. Their number is toll free 1-800-RUNAWAY or 1-800-7862929. They are staffed with a switchboard of well trained volunteers who will offer advice and provide support right away. Moreover the agency will provide you with many excellent services free of charge that can assist you. These include crisis intervention, "home free" via Greyhound bus as well as act as a center for messages between you and your child. On your first phone call, leave a message for your child or teen. There is always a chance they will call and receive it. Spread the word to as many people as you know that your child or teen is missing. Ask them to report to you any information they may have regarding the whereabouts of your child. Be sure to tell them that you have reported them to the NRS and that they will act as an intermediary for messages. It could be that your child or teen's friends know more than they will admit, but

there is a good chance they will at least pass along contact information. It is important that you stress to everyone you and your child knows that you are not angry, just anxious to be reunited with your child. Besides that, you also can contact the media meaning all the local newspapers, TV and radio stations in the area. Give them as much information as possible including pictures and posters of your child. Be sure that they have your telephone number, yet keep it confidential. Your child or teen may call them if a story is reported. They will do whatever possible to help you. Visit your child's school. Talk with the principle and teachers. Inform them and ask if they have any information that may help. Many teachers can tell you of behavior and differences in behavior that can be helpful. Lock down your child's computer. Turn it off and do not let anyone have access to it except for law enforcement or a reputable private detective. This is very important because your child's computer will have many clues as to their whereabouts and how they dissapeared. The computer has already stored valuable information that will assist professionals such as visits to Social Networking sites, chat rooms, perhaps even chat history and so on. Gather up important paperwork that may provide more hunts and clues to what happened. These would include things such as phone bills, e-mail activity, cell phone/pager records, credit card activity, bus or airline dockets, bank statements, and employment records if your child was employed. Organize these records and keep them in a file stored in a safe place. You will want to provide information to appropriate professionals as quickly as possible. You may also want to make photocopies for distribution to law enforcement and private detectives. Install Caller Identification on your phone and be sure your answering machine or voice mail service is working properly. You may hear from your child or someone may phone you with an anonymous tip. The message may be valuable and even more so if you have the time, date, and caller identification information. Be good to yourself and others around you. Take care of your spouse and other children. It can be a juggling act because of the emotional roller coaster

you're on, yet it will not serve you well to increase tension or problems with those who remain close to you. Keep your wits, remain calm and follow the steps in this plan of action. Your chances of success are far greater.

WHEN A CHILD GOES MISSING WHAT CAN YOU DO TO KEEP YOUR CHILD SAFE? By LISA GOH

Having a child go missing is probably every parent's worst nightmare. Just the mere thought of it is enough to make Louise Ng, a mother of two, shudder. "When I first heard the news about William going missing, I was very troubled. I really felt for his parents, and I can identify with their agony. I even had trouble sleeping," says Ng, whose two boys are at ages seven and three. Ng has every reason to be concerned - she lives in USJ, Subang Jaya, just next door to Putra Heights where Yau went missing. "The incident practically happened in our own backyard. It really hit close to home. I told myself and my elder son that we had to do something to help the missing boy, in whatever way we could," she says. William, six, was reported missing on Jan 16 at Jalan Putra Mahkota, Putra Heights, Subang Jaya. He was said to have alighted from the family car to look for his parents who had gone into an electrical shop. Eight days later, his decomposed body was recovered near the jetty at Kampung Sungai Sired in Port Klang. His high-profile case is just one in a string of cases of missing children. Last year, between Jan and Oct, 4,804 persons were reported missing, according to the Royal Malaysia Police website (www.rmp.gov.my). Of that, 2,332 were found, while 2,472 are still missing (826 males, and 1,646 females). A total of 109 missing persons were below the age of 12, about 1,068 were between 13 and 17 years old, 1,111 were above 18 years old, and 184 cases were of unknown age groups. Ng raises an interesting question: What can members of the public do when a child goes missing?

She wonders if it would be possible for residents' communities. "I went to the Subang Jaya Police station to ask them if there was any way I could help - whether it was to contribute to raise the reward amount for information on the missing boy, sponsor more posters, support the police in their door-todoor search, or if there was anything we could do as a community." "I wanted to help, to do something...but I didn't know what to do. In the end, after talking with my cousin, we decided we could pray for the little boy, and so we started a prayer chain for him," Ng says. According to P.Nagasayee Malathy, executive director for Protect and Save The Children (an organisation which works towards building safer communities where children are protected from sexual abuse and exploitation), members of the public can encourage and support the child's family to lodge a police report, if that has not already been done, with accurate and appropriate information immediately. "The public can also approach civil society organisations working on such issues for networking with enforcement agencies, and assistance in terms of intervention." "People can also spread accurate information regarding the missing child to concerned individuals, groups or organisations to trace the child, and even check with nearby children's homes or shelters to see if they might be there," she says. Malathy adds that the community should work together in supporting and motivating the family of the missing child to help them cope with stress and trauma. Selangor police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Tun Hisan Hamzah agrees. "When a child goes missing, it is very, very important that a police report is lodged. Information is vital for the police as it will determine the manner of the operation we carry out. Our priority is always the safety of the child," he says. However, he stresses that a case of a missing child must be distinguished from that of an abducted child. "In the case of a missing child, where it is not known whether the child is missing or has been abducted, or if

a child has gone missing in a mall, then yes, by all means, spread the word around so more people can look for the child," he says. "But if it is a case where a child has been clearly abducted or kidnapped, then it would not be wise to spread information out like that." His reason for it is that spreading the word out may jeopardise the safety of the victim. "There is a very fine line we tread between wanting to disseminate information, and keeping the victim safe." Criminals, he says, always have their eyes and ears open to know what the authorities have got on them. "If they find out the police knows their car make or licence plate number, they change cars. If they know the police are focusing on an area, they will move and try to conceal the victim." "They're very good analysts. They're always analising their own mistakes, or mistakes of their friends. They learn from it, and come up with better ways to cover their tracks. Dissemination of information doesn't necessarily work in every case," he explains. So what about search parties organised by a community? Or following the police on their door-to-door search? "When the police are doing door-todoor search, we do not want the public to come in as it may create unnecessary problems. Police officers are trained for this, and when they search a house, they search very thoroughly - even in washing machines and refrigerators, DCP Tun Hisan says. "There are also certain procedures to be followed. If the parents, relatives or friends want to follow, it might be more difficult for the police to focus on doing their job. But if members of the public want to set up their own search parties in open areas (where the child has gone missing) - fields, parks, bushes - that is not a problem." What is also important, he adds, is what parents can teach their children to do should they get separated from each other. "For children who are older (eight and above), parents can show them where the information counters are on every floor, and teach them to go there if they get separated.

Always use the same entrance when you enter a mall, it makes the mall more familiar for them," DCP Tun Hisan advises. For younger children, Parents, a US-based parenting website (WWW.parents.com) has a few suggestions too. 1.Teach your child to stay put: Don't teach them "don't talk to strangers," but "don't go anywhere with anyone without asking for permission first." 2.Teach your child to call out using your real name: It will grab your attention better than "mummy", and should they ever become lost, they can tell someone who their parents are. "Predators are looking for the kid who is not drawing attention. The kid yelling for her mum is too much trouble," the website says, quoting Samantha Wilson, a former police officer who founded kid proofusa.com. 3.Teach your child to ask another mother for help: If the first two step do not work, the next step is to ask for help. Approaching mothers with children would be the safest step, as preschoolers can't yet distinguish uniforms from other types of dark clothing. And if the Malaysia public should come across a child looking lost in a mall or on the street, Malathy has two suggestions. "Approach and talk to the child to see if the child is lost. If he/she is, then bring her to the nearest authority, or take the child to the police for protection and to trace the family. People can also call Childline (a 24-hour helpline for children in Malaysia) at 15999," Malathy says. With so many children still missing, Ng voices her hope as a parent:"I hope William's death can lead to a change in society, how we look for those children who are still missing, and also how we, as parents, care for our children and never take things for granted."

REFERENCE 1. Book James N. Tedisco, Michele A. Paludi. (1996). A Psychological Approach To Understanding The Causes And Consequences Of Stranger And Nonstranger Abduction Of Children. United States: State University of New York Press.

2. Internet What To Do If Your Child Is Missing. Retrieved 18 March 2013, from http://missingchildreninternational.org/articles/missing_child_action_plan.html

3. Magazine Glynis Horning (August 2012). Taken. Reader Digest, pg 124-133.

4. Newspaper Lisa Goh (2013, February 2013). When A Child Goes Missing. Star, pg 23.