9 months.
It is finally coming to an end.
No regrets.
At least i can proudly said that i have tried. Rather than look back after 10 years and be plagued with the question of “what if i had taken the risk?”.
Goodbye.
Much will be missed.
Hello. To a new beginning.
In another 2 days time, we’ll be having our annual concert. This year, the junior school will be staging the musical Mamma Mia.
As exciting as it sounds, the whole preparation is crazy! We had our full dress rehearsal today and as the name itself suggested, it is supposed to be a “rehearsal”. But much to our dismay, much time were wasted on the setting up of the sound system and the stage. Today is the second and final time we’re there at the auditorium for our rehearsal.
When we were there yesterday, we had to wait for more than 1 hour for the sound system to be set up and after much waiting, we ended up rehearsing with much hiccups in it. The mics will not work, the song would not play and the whole situation is a mess. The children were bored of waiting and were thirsty because no drinks were provided for them.
Having gone through the chaos yesterday, you would thought they would’ve learned from experience.
I went there with much excitement to finally have our “real” rehearsal and ended up being disappointed again. What was the point of going there yesterday? They should’ve just spend the entire day there yesterday to set up the stage and the sound system. Make sure everything is ready. The moment the students arrive, we’re ready to rehearse and not wait there like a fool! Looking at how they handle things, you would’ve thought this is their first time having a concert. But then again, despite all the mistakes and chaos they have gone through in the past…no lesson is learned.
Tomorrow, we will be having our final rehearsal in the school. No more going to the auditorium. I hope they will for once give clear instructions. I dun wanna see my students and I making a fool of ourselves on this Saturday.
This blog has been so abandoned that i can almost taste the hint of dust and see cobwebs hanging at all corners.
In a glimpse of an eye, i’ve already been on my teaching career for almost 6 months, that includes the holidays of course. All i can say is how time flies.
Each day is a learning curve for me. Even though it has been 6 months, i have not fully grasped the teaching technique and how to be a good educator. I find myself being quite disorganized in everything..from planning the lab work, to the homework to the teaching in class. There are a zillion things to be done and i only see my students for 4 periods per week.
Each day is also a special get-to-know day for me. Every encounter is an opportunity for me to get to know my students more. Every day is also full of surprises.
I have this student in my class whom i have labeled as a kurang ajar and biadap girl. She has this air of nonchalance and arrogance about her and can be very rude when talking to the teachers or frens. One day, her classmate accidentally hit her on the head with a mechanical pencil and she responded by grabbing it and stabbed the eye of her classmate. My initiate response is to raise my voice and reprimand her for what she had done…and yes, i did that. When i was reprimanding her, i noticed a ring of bruises on her arms. It did not occur to me to be concerned. I was so caught up with my anger at her. It was later when i went home that i thought about it again. I realised that i should’ve shown my concern instead of anger. My manner of approach is wrong rite from the start. When i enquired the next day only i found out that it was her father who caused the bruises.
Sometimes, things are not as superficial as they appear. We need to probe further. Look beyond the surface.
I am still learning. Each day is a humbling experience.
a much dreaded day.
just over a month ago, the holidays seem too long to be endured. and now how i wish it could stretch for another month or so.
there has been a hive of activities for the past one week. meetings, trainings, orientation, activities…all in preparation for the big day.
5th Jan 2009.
i dun feel ready.
the expectation from the school, from the parents, from the students and most importantly, from myself! the exams, the paper works, the lab works. it has been causing me sleepless nites. the moment i close my eyes, the image of the classroom and the students will start to float in my mind. we have almost 2 tests in every months and it’s screaming deadline in big bold red letters.
this is my start.
i hope i start off well and end in glory.
12.13am
It is already the eve of Christmas.
I received my first Christmas pressie and the sight of the pressie totally melted my heart. Not because of what the pressie is, but more of the thought. And it was totally unexpected.
It was from my little Korean student. I gave her a cute pink hair barrette on Tuesday as her Christmas gift and I did not expect to receive one in return. She was very excited when she saw me and she even told me what the gift was the moment i stepped into her room. Haha…not just that, she helped me to rip the paper apart and took out the gift. The funny thing was she was way more excited with giving a gift rather than receiving one.
Teddy Bear
I guess that’s the real beauty of gift. It is more blessed to give than receive 
Merry Christmas!
it is only 2 weeks away.
and i will be back in school.
when the school holidays first started, i kinda felt like it was sooo long. but now that it is nearer the end of my holidays, i felt a pang of melancholy.
of course the excitement of meeting my students is there but i can’t help but feel a prick of nervousness as well. the challenge of teaching and preparing my students for their exams, the expectation from the parents and also from myself. the constant praises bestowed upon the previous teacher kinda made me feel challenged. i want to be as good if not better.
i aspire to be an educator and nurturer, one who educates and cares.
hoping 2009 will be a great start for me.
it was an innocent question.
but for the first time i was dumbfounded.
i tried to search for the right words.
“err…yes and er…not really.”
does celebrating mean attending church service on christmas day? getting involve in christmas related church activities? exchanging presents with friends? partying with friends? or just silently acknowledging it is the birth of Jesus?
for now, i no longer know.
it has been close to 7 years and for the first time, i doubt i have truly grasped the true meaning of christmas.
blessed christmas
Note: Greeting card image taken from DaySpring
“Teacher, teacher is Chinese?”
“Yes! I am Chinese.”
“Huh!!! Teacher is no USA?”
I was really amused at how my little korean student described me. Fancy imagining me as a country! Hehe..anyway, i think what she meant to say was she thought I am American. I dunno what contributed to that little idea of hers but I think it was because I speak English to her.
I have started teaching her for a week and i have enjoyed our lessons tremendously. I tried to inject some fun into our lessons and I hope i have taught her well. It will indeed bring great joy when i have finally taught her how to converse in English fluently.
“Teacher, don’t worry. What matters most is the inside. If you have a good heart, you will also look good and beautiful on the inside.”
These were the most beautiful words from my student so far and she is only 10 this year! It all came unexpected when we were in the library today.
She was rummaging through my stationeries when she came upon a ruler of mine with a photo sticker of my sis and i. the photo was rather blur though and it was taken when i had a really short hair style. i tried to crack a joke with her knowing how kids love secrets.
I whispered to her.
“Teacher looked so awful in that photo. Make sure you don’t tell anyone ya.”
And ended it with a wink.
That was when she came up with the most beautiful remark. I was really touched and impressed beyond words. It’s amazing how these kids even though they’re brought up in such materialistic world and having the words “beautiful! beautiful! slim! make up!” screaming in their faces everyday could actually realise that true beauty comes from within.
If only i could believe that.
i had my first one-to-one tuition class today.
and boy, it started out disastrously.
school holidays had already started but the teachers are required to be back at school for training for 2 days. and the training lasted from 9am – 4.30pm. so after the training, i was really tired and i reached home at around 5.10pm. tuition is at 6pm and well, i thought i had about 20 minutes of quick nap.
i never expected myself to doze off well past 6pm! i only woke up at 6.15pm when the dad of my student called up to confirm if i was going. what an embarrassment! of coz i didn’t quite mention that i dozed off 
on a more positive note, the lesson went quite well. the little korean girl was such a sweetheart. she said her please…excuse me…thank you in the sweetest and most polite tone.
there was this very funny incident we had. i was trying to teach her some simple vocab as i have yet to gauge her mastery in english. and well ya..i was going through the alphabets and i asked her for examples of words starting with the letter ‘C’. and she gave me a word..”cool”. i thought it was cool for her to come up with the word and i tried to link it to her.
“that’s a great word..”cool” are you “cool”?”
she gave me the most horrendous look and started shaking her head.
“No! No!”
i was puzzled. it was when she pointed to a picture of a cow that i finally understood what she meant! i burst out laughing on the spot. it was just so cute and funny! she had pronounced the word wrongly and there i was trying to say she is “cow” or “cool” or whatever.
teaching is so fun
