NAME : MUHAMMAD RAHIMAN BIN ABDULMANAB
MATRIX NUMBER : WIF180046
Salam everyone! It's me again with another update for my Social Engagement blog.
It has been roughly a month since our Kem Tekno-Belajar at SK Bangsar. A lot has changed since we first came to the school for the programme. Back then, the students were very excited when we introduced them about iLearnAce. I still remember how curious and eager they were on trying out every single feature that is present inside the online learning website. After all, their accounts were entirely sponsored by our sponsor, Rimba Bicara Sdn. Bhd. for about 6 months. Hence, they can utilise all the features and contents inside iLearnAce to their disposal until they're about to sit for their UPSR examination.
I knew and had a hunch that such excitement was only temporary. I mean, who doesn't get excited when someone sponsored you something and you get to use it for free? Not to mention that these students were, well kids. Of course they'll get super hyped. However, as I said just now, I figured that this exhilaration of theirs will only last for a short period of time. The real test for us step brothers and sisters is to try and maintain said excitement and eagerness in them on actively attempting and accessing their iLearnAce account even weeks after our programme was held.
And my prediction was correct. At least for my step brother, Hakimi.
It all began after their mid-semester break. Based on my previous post, I struck a deal with Hakimi on giving him only one exercise to do during the mid-semester break, provided that I'll be stepping up the level on giving him more weekly exercises to do once his holiday is over. I immediately Whatsapp him on Sunday. 31st of March to remind him of our deal, and inform him the list of exercises that I prepared for him to do throughout the week.
As you can see from our conversation, I took the liberty on even assigning which exercise he need to complete on which day. At that time, I informed him that he should complete said exercises given based on the day it was assigned. This is to avoid him from hastily completing all the exercises at once without studying beforehand, which defeats the purpose of instructing him to do the exercises in the first place. As usual, he asked me yet again on when will I be free to come and visit him at his house, in which I said whenever I have free time (which, honestly, is getting scarce by the day).
The next day, I received a message from Hakimi, informing me that he couldn't complete one of the exercises by that night because he had to attend his tuition class. I was a bit perplexed because I didn't assign any of the exercises for him to do on Monday. Clearly, as I thought to myself, Hakimi didn't really pay attention to what I said the day earlier. Knowing that he didn't fully understand my initial instruction, I'd decided on cutting him some slack and letting him do the exercises whenever he wants, provided that he studied before attempting the exercises.
After granting the freedom on letting him do the exercises whenever he's free, I patiently waited on receiving notifications from my email on whether he had completely any of the exercises given. It has been 3 days since I last texted him. I remember feeling anxious and worried on whether he even began studying for the exercises as I waited for the MRT bus on my way for my Information Literacy class at the Main Library. Coincidentally, I received a message from his father, Mr. Rostam, who inquired updates from me regarding his son's progress. Of course, I took this chance to not only update him about my plans for Hakimi but also raised my concerns to him about Hakimi's presumed lack of activity and how he could assist me in ensuring that Hakimi actively uses iLearnAce. It would be a loss from his side if he didn't capitalise on the free account that was sponsored while other kids had to pay monthly subscriptions for it. He replied by saying that he'll try and do his part. He referred me by the title 'Encik' which made me a bit uncomfortable because it kind of made me feel a bit old, to be frank. Eventually, his last reply was an OK sticker. Typical parent messaging style, I thought to myself.
It has been roughly a month since our Kem Tekno-Belajar at SK Bangsar. A lot has changed since we first came to the school for the programme. Back then, the students were very excited when we introduced them about iLearnAce. I still remember how curious and eager they were on trying out every single feature that is present inside the online learning website. After all, their accounts were entirely sponsored by our sponsor, Rimba Bicara Sdn. Bhd. for about 6 months. Hence, they can utilise all the features and contents inside iLearnAce to their disposal until they're about to sit for their UPSR examination.
I knew and had a hunch that such excitement was only temporary. I mean, who doesn't get excited when someone sponsored you something and you get to use it for free? Not to mention that these students were, well kids. Of course they'll get super hyped. However, as I said just now, I figured that this exhilaration of theirs will only last for a short period of time. The real test for us step brothers and sisters is to try and maintain said excitement and eagerness in them on actively attempting and accessing their iLearnAce account even weeks after our programme was held.
And my prediction was correct. At least for my step brother, Hakimi.
It all began after their mid-semester break. Based on my previous post, I struck a deal with Hakimi on giving him only one exercise to do during the mid-semester break, provided that I'll be stepping up the level on giving him more weekly exercises to do once his holiday is over. I immediately Whatsapp him on Sunday. 31st of March to remind him of our deal, and inform him the list of exercises that I prepared for him to do throughout the week.
As you can see from our conversation, I took the liberty on even assigning which exercise he need to complete on which day. At that time, I informed him that he should complete said exercises given based on the day it was assigned. This is to avoid him from hastily completing all the exercises at once without studying beforehand, which defeats the purpose of instructing him to do the exercises in the first place. As usual, he asked me yet again on when will I be free to come and visit him at his house, in which I said whenever I have free time (which, honestly, is getting scarce by the day).
The next day, I received a message from Hakimi, informing me that he couldn't complete one of the exercises by that night because he had to attend his tuition class. I was a bit perplexed because I didn't assign any of the exercises for him to do on Monday. Clearly, as I thought to myself, Hakimi didn't really pay attention to what I said the day earlier. Knowing that he didn't fully understand my initial instruction, I'd decided on cutting him some slack and letting him do the exercises whenever he wants, provided that he studied before attempting the exercises.
After granting the freedom on letting him do the exercises whenever he's free, I patiently waited on receiving notifications from my email on whether he had completely any of the exercises given. It has been 3 days since I last texted him. I remember feeling anxious and worried on whether he even began studying for the exercises as I waited for the MRT bus on my way for my Information Literacy class at the Main Library. Coincidentally, I received a message from his father, Mr. Rostam, who inquired updates from me regarding his son's progress. Of course, I took this chance to not only update him about my plans for Hakimi but also raised my concerns to him about Hakimi's presumed lack of activity and how he could assist me in ensuring that Hakimi actively uses iLearnAce. It would be a loss from his side if he didn't capitalise on the free account that was sponsored while other kids had to pay monthly subscriptions for it. He replied by saying that he'll try and do his part. He referred me by the title 'Encik' which made me a bit uncomfortable because it kind of made me feel a bit old, to be frank. Eventually, his last reply was an OK sticker. Typical parent messaging style, I thought to myself.
As the days gone by, it's already the end of the week. Spoiler alert, this was where the struggle really began.
Knowing that it's almost a week since I gave him the exercises to do, I've decided to message him and ask on the status of the exercises. I hesitated on doing this in the first place because I feared that I might annoy and stress him out a bit if I keep pressuring to do the exercises. Besides, these kids have such delicate attention and feelings that I ought to take good care of as a step brother. Wouldn't want to cross the line and made things uncomfortable between the two of us. I'm not a good consoler myself, so must evade such scenario at all costs. At the same time however, I mustn't pamper him too much. Otherwise, he wouldn't have the incentive to do any of the exercises given. Damn, such a thin line to thread.
Regardless, I sent him a reminder to complete the list of exercises. To my disappointment, he only 'seen' my messages on Whatsapp. Personally, I find it incredibly offensive if someone were to just 'seen' my texts on Whatsapp. I don't mind late replies, because realistically speaking not everyone has the free time of their lives to reply texts immediately. So honestly, I was a bit offended. But, I kept calm and convinced myself that maybe he forgot to reply my text. Hence, I sent him another reminder the following day.
This time around, he replied. Thank God that he did. Otherwise, I might resort on calling him instead. He told me that he forgot about the exercises and will try to do them as soon as possible. I let a sigh of relief. Never mind that he completed the exercises way late of schedule, as long as he did attempt them, that's fine by me.
However, two days had gone by, and I've yet to receive any notifications that would've informed me that he did in fact, attempted the exercises given. Again, I reminded him, this time with a straightforward message and a stern tone.
Another day has passed, and he didn't reply my text.
I remember venting my frustrations to my friend Afifah about Hakimi. I honestly didn't know what to do next. I mean, I could call him, but that'll be awkward. I could perhaps be slightly angry at him for not completing his exercises on time as he promised, but then again that'll risk making him sad and discouraged. I could also ask his dad to help me remind him, but to me that's last resort. So, I asked Afifah for her advice, in which she recommended that I ask him kindly on whether he has problems or not. Her advice hinted me to check his Instagram stories and see if he had shown any signs of problems. From my observation, Hakimi is the type of person who would vent his feelings on social media, specifically Instagram stories. So, I checked and to my cleverness, there was this one post where he was rather stressed and mad about thing. Something about his friends mocking him for his hobby and interest in motorcycles.
As I mentioned in my earlier posts, Hakimi has a problem on making friends. People generally don't like him, for whatever reason. From my point of view, he's a nice guy. But somehow he might've rubbed the wrong shoulders with some of his classmates and that made him got shunned by some of them, which is very unfortunate. In fact, a recap of my earlier post, Afifah's step brother Hamizan was once Hakimi's nemesis. They're both okay now, albeit a bit passive aggressive.
Knowing that Hakimi's not in a particularly stable state of mind, I've decided to follow Afifah's advice. I changed my tone of messaging and texted Hakimi on whether he has any problems that made him having issues attempting the exercises given. I carefully crafted my words so as to not offend him or show any signs of frustration or anger.
To my expectation, he replied by saying he was a bit stressed. It took me almost a week to reply him back, mainly because I was busy with college projects and being the forgetful person that I am, always forgot to reply him back. I wanted to reply but every time I had the intention to do so, I was feeling stressed. I decided that the best course of action is to wait until I'm calm for me to reply him back.
Once I'm ready, I first replied by apologising for the late reply, along with the justifiable reasons why. I gave him several advices, such as feeling free on sharing his thoughts and problems with me if he feels like he needs company or someone to listen to his problems. We've all been in that situation before, and we all know how incredibly relieving it is sometimes to have someone to listen as we vent our frustrations to. Eventually, I cut him even more slack by telling him that he can do the iLearnAce exercises whenever he's free. He apologised to me for not doing the exercises. That softened my heart a bit. I told him that it's okay and I understand his situation. What's most important is that he did the exercises given sincerely and without feeling forced or coerced by anyone.
He took note of what I said, and now I'm patiently waiting for him to complete his exercises. This post was rather special because this was the first time Hakimi had shown problems or signs of reluctance or inability to actively use iLearnAce on at least on a weekly basis. What I can reflect from this is that this had taught me on how to deal with my step brother when it comes to convincing him the right way on doing his work. As I said before, there's a delicate line that I have to thread in order to do it correctly. Otherwise, I'll risk making him feel angry or make him feel complacent. Lastly, this has also taught me a lesson about controlling my emotions and never presume anything from anyone. For instance, I assumed that Hakimi was being lazy and intentionally didn't do any of the exercises given, without considering the fact that maybe Hakimi was having problems that he had to deal with. For this, I have to credit Afifah for making me come to my senses and played my part as a step brother and be by Hakimi's side, at least by offering my assistance to him.
I guess that is all for this week's blog post. I'll update you guys again on my next one. See ya!
Knowing that it's almost a week since I gave him the exercises to do, I've decided to message him and ask on the status of the exercises. I hesitated on doing this in the first place because I feared that I might annoy and stress him out a bit if I keep pressuring to do the exercises. Besides, these kids have such delicate attention and feelings that I ought to take good care of as a step brother. Wouldn't want to cross the line and made things uncomfortable between the two of us. I'm not a good consoler myself, so must evade such scenario at all costs. At the same time however, I mustn't pamper him too much. Otherwise, he wouldn't have the incentive to do any of the exercises given. Damn, such a thin line to thread.
Regardless, I sent him a reminder to complete the list of exercises. To my disappointment, he only 'seen' my messages on Whatsapp. Personally, I find it incredibly offensive if someone were to just 'seen' my texts on Whatsapp. I don't mind late replies, because realistically speaking not everyone has the free time of their lives to reply texts immediately. So honestly, I was a bit offended. But, I kept calm and convinced myself that maybe he forgot to reply my text. Hence, I sent him another reminder the following day.
This time around, he replied. Thank God that he did. Otherwise, I might resort on calling him instead. He told me that he forgot about the exercises and will try to do them as soon as possible. I let a sigh of relief. Never mind that he completed the exercises way late of schedule, as long as he did attempt them, that's fine by me.
However, two days had gone by, and I've yet to receive any notifications that would've informed me that he did in fact, attempted the exercises given. Again, I reminded him, this time with a straightforward message and a stern tone.
Another day has passed, and he didn't reply my text.
I remember venting my frustrations to my friend Afifah about Hakimi. I honestly didn't know what to do next. I mean, I could call him, but that'll be awkward. I could perhaps be slightly angry at him for not completing his exercises on time as he promised, but then again that'll risk making him sad and discouraged. I could also ask his dad to help me remind him, but to me that's last resort. So, I asked Afifah for her advice, in which she recommended that I ask him kindly on whether he has problems or not. Her advice hinted me to check his Instagram stories and see if he had shown any signs of problems. From my observation, Hakimi is the type of person who would vent his feelings on social media, specifically Instagram stories. So, I checked and to my cleverness, there was this one post where he was rather stressed and mad about thing. Something about his friends mocking him for his hobby and interest in motorcycles.
As I mentioned in my earlier posts, Hakimi has a problem on making friends. People generally don't like him, for whatever reason. From my point of view, he's a nice guy. But somehow he might've rubbed the wrong shoulders with some of his classmates and that made him got shunned by some of them, which is very unfortunate. In fact, a recap of my earlier post, Afifah's step brother Hamizan was once Hakimi's nemesis. They're both okay now, albeit a bit passive aggressive.
Knowing that Hakimi's not in a particularly stable state of mind, I've decided to follow Afifah's advice. I changed my tone of messaging and texted Hakimi on whether he has any problems that made him having issues attempting the exercises given. I carefully crafted my words so as to not offend him or show any signs of frustration or anger.
To my expectation, he replied by saying he was a bit stressed. It took me almost a week to reply him back, mainly because I was busy with college projects and being the forgetful person that I am, always forgot to reply him back. I wanted to reply but every time I had the intention to do so, I was feeling stressed. I decided that the best course of action is to wait until I'm calm for me to reply him back.
Once I'm ready, I first replied by apologising for the late reply, along with the justifiable reasons why. I gave him several advices, such as feeling free on sharing his thoughts and problems with me if he feels like he needs company or someone to listen to his problems. We've all been in that situation before, and we all know how incredibly relieving it is sometimes to have someone to listen as we vent our frustrations to. Eventually, I cut him even more slack by telling him that he can do the iLearnAce exercises whenever he's free. He apologised to me for not doing the exercises. That softened my heart a bit. I told him that it's okay and I understand his situation. What's most important is that he did the exercises given sincerely and without feeling forced or coerced by anyone.
He took note of what I said, and now I'm patiently waiting for him to complete his exercises. This post was rather special because this was the first time Hakimi had shown problems or signs of reluctance or inability to actively use iLearnAce on at least on a weekly basis. What I can reflect from this is that this had taught me on how to deal with my step brother when it comes to convincing him the right way on doing his work. As I said before, there's a delicate line that I have to thread in order to do it correctly. Otherwise, I'll risk making him feel angry or make him feel complacent. Lastly, this has also taught me a lesson about controlling my emotions and never presume anything from anyone. For instance, I assumed that Hakimi was being lazy and intentionally didn't do any of the exercises given, without considering the fact that maybe Hakimi was having problems that he had to deal with. For this, I have to credit Afifah for making me come to my senses and played my part as a step brother and be by Hakimi's side, at least by offering my assistance to him.
I guess that is all for this week's blog post. I'll update you guys again on my next one. See ya!
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