By Siti Fatimah Azzahra Zawawi
Who would have known out of all the courses, Fatimah ends up taking Communication for her degree in IIUM? She herself personally did not expect this one coming as she originally applied for English as a Second Language course. She believed that it is the only subject she can do well, or better than other courses.
A student from ordinary schools at SK Gombak Utara and SMK Sungai Pusu, Fatimah always gets good grades for her English. Although she believes she is not better than other students as she was a lazy student and scored great in English just because she watched a lot of English movies and films with English subtitles.
Surprise, surprise. When Fatimah got into IIUM Foundation Studies, she was appalled that there was no one who was not great in English like back in high school. At first, she was glad to continue in the Communication programme because English is not a game she can play like she used to. But, it turns out that Journalism is not a joke either.
Personality and attitudes like Fatimah, people would wonder why she is in Communication course taking Journalism as she is shy, passive and quiet. Courses like public speaking, business studies, thinking skills in Foundation Studies, IIUM, have helped her prepare for what is coming in degree life.
Fatimah was convinced to change herself to be more outgoing, more confident in speaking, giving opinion and thoughts. She realised that this is a life skill one should master and at the same time she can improve her English too, but this time, properly. Reading is a hobby she left as a teenager, because for her, visuals are more interesting than just mere texts.
Fatimah started the hobby right after coming to IIUM, as for her, it requires more reading to make her study life more interesting. The more you read, the dumber you feel and the more you feel you need to read a lot more. As the famous quote from Imam Syafie goes, “The more I learn, the more I know my ignorance of certain things”.
In Communication, Fatimah chose to specialise in Integrated Media Journalism and write more for a bigger audience. She said feature writing is one of the best methods to deliver and express her thoughts and opinions.
Fatimahs family is very religious and prefers her to be involved in various religious sharings that will benefit the ummah. Therefore, she said it will be amazing to publish good writings and make them proud.
Even so, she is still worried about what others might say for what she wrote. She is anxious, has little confidence, and easy to give in to others judgment.
œIts hard that I always feel timid of everything I did, and also anxious of what people will think of me by my words, she claimed. However, Fatimah felt it is time to step out of her comfort zone and write as much as her heart desires.
Besides, she also gets to learn about writing news and feature stories. Fatimah joined IIUMToday last semester and discovered a new platform to publish her writings. As she entered, she gained a lot of experience and knowledge from varieties of programmes, talks and workshops to help with her writing skills.
Instead of writing more as she should, Fatimah continued to read more from her fellow IIUMToday journalists, lecturers and students. She is very impressed by how brave and creative these writers are when they express their passion into good writing.
It is very exciting for Fatimah to read from IIUMToday as some of the writers and journalists are her friends and classmates. By reading their content, Fatimah believes there is more to their personality and so little of what she thought she knew about them.
Inspired by others writings, Fatimah also wished to write better as the journalists of IIUMToday who are polishing up their skills everyday. It seems to her that she needs to read more of others writings, perhaps do an interview with them and find out what have been their inspirations to write. The motivation could boost up Fatimahs confidence and assist her to write more.
It is important to write more and it is completely okay to make mistakes as it will help you revise and make progress with your writing. Fatimah claimed that it is not easy to write with just good English, it takes many skills to attract readers to read all the way through and look forward to reading more.
Furthermore, it is wonderful to write if one is passionate because at the end of the day they will feel the satisfaction of completing their work. Fatimah said she did not even plan to be in journalism but she found her passion in it.
With more practice and reading, Fatimah is very passionate in writing about children, mental disorders and such. She said she would like to educate and remind people about what children need and what kind of environment would result in changes of behavior in them.
Fatimah intends to deliver and interpret messages from the childrens point of view. She believes people did not listen as much as they should to children. Plus, it would be very interesting to learn from childrens point of view and perspectives of the world.
Other than that, mental disorder is also an important issue one should be wary of especially during COVID-19 pandemic and physical distancing that is on-going. During this time, there would be more time to write and read about current issues that are very concerning like so.
Fatimah believes it would help many people and herself to write and inform people what has been going on and what are the solutions that experts are suggesting. Interviews with people would be nerve-racking for Fatimah but she said it would help if she aims to focus more to get all the important information she needs.
Following that, there are few research journals and news sites that Fatimah often visit to read more about current issues and particular issues that interest her. For instance, New Straits Times, CNN, NBC News, The Star, Awani News and other local news that are a must to read every morning.
After attending the KL WAPOR Asia event last semester, Fatimah is excited to explore their public opinion research. Aside from that, SAGE Journal is one of the recommended sites by her Public Opinion lecturer. There is a lot to discover and more interesting reading she can do to polish up her writing skills, Fatimah said.Â
Around four or five years from now, Fatimah aims to be a critical reader, and an effective writer that would make a great impact for her audience. By then, she would like to be more outgoing, active and motivated to present a brave and stronger personality and stretch herself out of her comfort zone.
Day by day, Fatimah is more determined to strive, learn new things and practise to write better. She does not want to be passive and introvert, and remain a quiet girl. There are more to give, to learn and to strive for because she believes everyday is a chance given for her to learn from her mistake, to not give up and pursue success.***
(This article is written as part of the individual assignment series for Feature Writing class)