Sunday, September 28, 2008

The Cameraman

Even as a teacher, I could not escape co-curicular activities which I dreaded since my primary school. I could not comprehend the concept of wasting time to do something which does not bring any benefit to me. (I was not tempted to build my character or my leadership skills)

Each teacher has to get incharged of an activity and I was not spared. I knew about this during the first day at school. The principal was trying to think of a suitable job for me. I guess he could not find any for me judging from my looks (I do not have the looks of a sportsman nor do I look like a man with leadership skills). After awhile of thinking, he finally told me to take photographs during events.

I took many photos of that school. And during my stay which was somewhere between January to July, I have gone to almost all of the events of the school as most of the events are usually held in the first half of the year so that tbey do not clash with the year end's examination.

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Its PJ time



The kids there go wild when they noe its PJ. And me? I hope it RAIN!!! I hate PJ. Even from the beginning of schooling, I dislike the idea of changing shirt and pants in the classroom for everyone to watch. And then, when I was a teacher, I hate PJ too. The reason is simple. I fail at crowd control... big time! Imagine 30 adolescents going berserk each time the bell rang. And on top of that I have to take 3 classes for PJ each week =( This is the greatest demotivation ever.

Besides the crowd control problem here is a list of 'other' problems which plagued me
1) Students asking me to play along with them!
2) Its either football or sepak takraw! (Girls will play badminton)
3) Games usually ended with a fight
4) Students do not want to go back to class
5) Some seniors or tai koh will join in the game and create havoc
6) Few wants to put the balls back to the store room (I have to do all the work whereas the students just run for recess =( )
7) Atmosphere in class after PJ is worse than New York Stock exchange

Like any other lists, I would say I can continue on but then I ran out of idea. This would definitely make me some kind of person with a huge experience and personality. But honestly, I ran out of idea.

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Food For Thought

Just as I was a student, I looked forward for breaktime everyday I go to school. The process is like this. Wake up at 6.30am, look at schedule, fight the urge of skipping school, if urge not strong enough, wash face, wear uniform then off to school. The only motivation I manage to find each day is breaktime because in my alma mater, there are a whooping 10 different stores to choose from. Note.... stores, not dishes. Anyway, I digress. The fact is that the process of going to school still remains the same except that i wake up a little later... at 7am. I still look forward for the breaktime, although now there was only a store selling. The reason is simple. The malay dishes there are simply delicious. It was to die for.

I recall the first time I made the attempt to enter the canteen. I think it was the second day of work. I was shy and didn't explore the school much. Anyways, people working in this school is accustomed to free meal. Once every 2 weeks someone from the office will 'buy the canteen' out and the teachers there eat for free. I was lucky. It happened on the 2nd day and thus begins the love story of a teacher with the food.

One teacher, Mr Thandapani told me that anyone who work there is guaranteed good food for their entire years. I couldn't agree more. Who can forget the Ayam Rendang, Daging masak pedas and kari ikan there?

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

A Failure?

The sight of him puffing still haunts me even after a few weeks have passed. I failed as a teacher. I could give myself some consolation though. I was young and I'm no motivator. I also did not go through any teaching lessons. What I taught was through my experience of being a student for the past 14 years. So does that mean my teachers fail?

So many thoughts racing and corrupting my mind each day. Help me Lord. Why did I fail as his Civic Lesson Teacher. I told them not to smoke. I explained to them the dangers of smoking. I even demonstrated the effects of smoking to them through pictures and newspapers articles. What did I do wrong?

Nobody is perfect. Nobody will be perfect. I know that. But why? Why him? Why me to receive this blow? Did God put me into this for a reason? i guess.... Only time will tell. But until it is explained, I remain a failure....
The Smoking Top Boy

Actually, the real reason for me to start blogging again is because of 'him'. Honestly, I couldn't remember his name and I do not want to create one for his sake. (Not a trait of a teacher huh? Well, not a trait of a future Doctor either)
Well, this boy was alright in his english. Defitinion of 'alright' here refers to the ability to construct a sentence with less than 2 errors. And with this 'alright' status, he was entitled to a score of (if I'm not mistaken) 70 over for his English Test.
He was form 1 when I taught him and I thought he would be a great achiever in the future. To be honest, those thoughts were 2 years ago.
I saw him again a few weeks back when I was driving around that school. I saw him riding a bicycle with his friend. I wanted to talk to him as I was eager to know how is he now. I made an U turn and headed for him. He was wearing a sports T shirt, a sign that the Sukan Something is coming up and he was there for some compulsary practice thing.
I was about to stop the car when I saw him stop his bicycle and started puffing. Enough said.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

The Prodigal Sir

After 2 years, I'm surprised this blog still exists. The reason why I stopped writing this blog was because I was LAZY. Many things and events happened during my days as the young sir. I took them for granted you see. I thought it is just a waste of time to write them down when none of my friends will be reading it.

How wrong was I. The experience I learnt when I was in that school was really amazing. It is applicable in my uni life. It is applicable in Nasi Kandar. And it is even applicable in the TOILET! Of course, there are so many mini stories worth telling. I promise I will go slowly. Each as detail as my memory takes me.


Next blog ---> The Smoking Top Boy

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Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Day 8 : Sit Down Class ! – Part 2 (21/2/2006)

Today’s timetable is quite challenging because I have to teach on the first periods. Unlike yesterday, which was too easy. The first lesson I had was Civic. (not again) And to add to my misery, the class I had to teach was the worst class in Form 1 . Furthermore, I failed to prepare for today’s lesson because I was extremely busy yesterday night. But anyway, the lesson was not good at all. I ran out of ideas to teach after 30 minutes and I had another 50 minutes to go before lesson ends. So eventually I came up with an impromptu exercise and asked the students to do it. I think I have gone from a bad teacher to a worse teacher. I am totally not motivated to teach today.
Another thing worth mentioning was that I was given an EPF form. Later, I learnt that , I had to open an EPF account because the government is kind enough to give me EPF.

Day 9 : Sit Down Class ! – Part 3 (22/2/2006)

A boy was caned today in the staff room by the discipline teachers. It was weird though, because this is the second time I actually eyewitness a caning ‘ceremony’. I think I didn’t mention it before but on the first day when I arrived to this school, 2 schoolboys was caned because they smoked . The whole caning incident happened in the staff room too. I am beginning to wonder if repetitive caning students will bring any effect into the mentality and growth of those teenagers. Will they use brute force to solve their problems later on in life? Who knows?
I was out of the school’s compound during recess. I had to go to the EPF’s office to open an account. Nevertheless, the experience of getting out if the office was great =)

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Day 5 : Sit Down Class ! – Part 1 (20/2/2006)

Its Monday, the day which pupils hate. Why? PERHIMPUNAN !!! (Assembly) But now that I am a teacher, I have the privilege to sit during assembly. This school’s assembly is an eye opener to me. Other that the usual ‘talk’ by all the teachers-with-post, this school requires students to perform a drama or ‘lakonan’ on stage. This Monday, an unlucky class which was picked last week, had to perform for the whole school . It was an ultra meaningless drama, with only three characters and badly spoken English. I forced a weak smile throughout the whole torture.
Today’s timetable is another weird one. I have no class until 10.45 am… ( the assembly finished at around 8.30 am ) 2 hours and 15 minutes of free time or so what I thought. I WAS WRONG! At around 9.20am, the school’s clerk came to me and asked me to sign a paper which stated that I have to relieve a class at 9.45 am. Unwillingly, I signed the paper. When she was gone, I had a thorough scan on the piece of paper. There was a mistake. I had to relieve the class until 11.00 am. , which was an impossible task for any human, since no one teacher can look after two classes , situated 100 meters apart at any moment .
Immediately, I set to find the Assistant Principle. He was free, luckily. I told him the problem and he quickly apologized to me. He told me to go back and he will send a another paper later…. But it turned out he didn’t… which was good…