getting to their level

There has been a lot of heat recently when a PHD student wrote a public open letter to a rather controversial yet popular news webpage, telling teachers to use L2 instead of L1 in the classrooms and was very against word-to-word translation, indirectly blaming Malaysian English teachers for the downfall of the overall English proficiency among students.

To be perfectly honest, while I feel victimised by her opinions, I looked at the teachers around me and would give her credit to a certain extent.

Of course, no language teachers would choose to teach the target language in the students' mother's tongue if they have a choice. Speaking for myself, I would choose to teach in English above all else in a really ideal situation. But how often do we get an ideal classroom?

The truth is, there are HEAPS of lazy teachers.

Those who are only concern about their salary and their 'claims', those who do not enter classes, those who enter classes but do not teach, those who never even bother coming to school, those who leave the school way before they should, those who use school hours to run personal errands, those who hand out answers to students during exams to ensure his/her class score well, those who never step foot in the school assembly, those who eat in the canteen during school assembly, those who get students to run tasks for them while they laze at their couch smoking, those who blatantly stand up and leave the meeting room even when the principal is still giving his speech, those who are more concern about selling things than their lesson plans, those who constantly trying on the array of tudung, those who do not enter the exam classes to invigilate and give students the permission to cheat, and those who take the easy way out.

(the examples above are found in my school.)

And I have also come across English teachers who teach in L1, simply because they do not have the competency in L2.

There is an obvious lack of creativity, passion and dedication among many of our teachers. Of course they have to take the blame to a certain extent, but I also see the great burnt out as well as lack of motivation amongst them, simply because many of us are stuck in very discouraging situation.

Most of them are struggling with long-distance-marriage, our students are a tough bunch to teach, the students' parents do not value education, and mostly, for the bright and enthusiastic teachers, their fuel easily runs out simply as there is a great lack of professional development, acknowledgement or even support.

I really enjoyed my time teaching the Catholic High Students. They are highly proficient, witty, and a whole lot of fun to teach. Not only was I able to apply whatever I've learned in teaching, I taught only in English, was able to maximise my lessons with help of technology, and students often surprised me with their end product.

But now,

I teach in a high school in Gua Musang, Kelantan.

We were apparently ranked at the very bottom of the high schools in Kelantan, and Kelantan's SPM achievement was at the bottom tier out of the 13 states.

To better show you my students' level, here's a glance of their recent results:

Most of them scored below 25 marks and those marks are already from their effort in cheating during test. (3 out of 5 classes admitted to cheating when I threatened to retest them after seeing the obvious attempts in cheating; while the other 2 were just too weak to even cheat).

I don't know whose fault is it that at the age of 14 - 17, many still can't identify the meanings of very basic vocabulary such as 'trees' and 'bread'. I wanted to blame their previous teachers but then again when I tried my hardest to teach them, they seemed to have learned it well on that lesson but very soon forget everything the next day and even had the guts to claim that I had never taught them that before.

TEACHING IS HARD.

It is a profession that brings you a lot of disappointment, if you fully invest yourself in it.

It is a profession where your pay does not equate to the time and effort of your toil.

It is a profession with the highest risk of stress-related illness.

It is a profession with little respect and regard in our country.

It is a profession highly misunderstood by many.

It is a profession you either hate or love.

But, when you have GOOD TEACHING DAYS, or a simple ACKNOWLEDGEMENT or APPRECIATION from your students,

ALL THE NEGATIVES WILL BE OVERWRITTEN.

Satisfaction, pride, relief, joy..... It is also a profession that brings you meaningful experiences.

I would not bash this particular person for her opinions, as she does have valid points; but as a senior of mine had pointed out, WE WANT TO BE SHOWN WHAT TO DO.

To be fair,

I give you the situation of my classroom, and how I handled it. I am open for constructive feedback, as I believe that's how we actually learn to be a better teacher.

I have a class of 41 students, aged 14. They are a mixture of Malays, Chinese and Asli.

Here's the thing, only 2 out of 41 could make simple sentences, very simple SVO or SVC type of sentences.

The other 39 couldn't even tell me what's the past tense of 'sing' and have yet produced a single, unguided, error-free sentence. I can safely say, they are only at 'word-level'. I even had them tested and out of the first 1000 common English words, most of them scored 50 and below. We are talking about them not even knowing the meaning of 'care', or able to differentiate 'you' and 'your'.

The Chinese students to my horror, could not understand Malay. Possibly due to their family background and the strong racial sentiment in this place, they would rather fail in the Malay language.

The Malay kids are not even proficient in Malay, as they use the 'Kelate' dialect. I have been using 'Standard Malay' for my translation and even that proved to be hard for the students. Interestingly, the Asli students were the ones with better Malay proficiency, having learned it the 'baku' way.

We could easily say that to them, English has never been a L2. It is FOREIGN.

Now, the question is,

HOW SHOULD WE TEACH A POEM (PART OF THE SYLLABUS) TO THIS GROUP OF STUDENTS?

Do be mindful that in any Malaysian classroom, we are very time-constrained and are expected to finish our syllabus before their exams while our classes are often cancelled due to many school programmes and constant new launches by the government from time to time.

As for me,

I TRIED MY BEST TO USE AS MUCH ENGLISH AS I COULD WHICH UNFORTUNATELY IS ONLY 30% IN THIS CLASS.

The other 70% consists of explanation in Malay as well as Mandarin, followed by a lot of drawing and acting. I even had to use their different L1 to elicit responses in English from them.

The poem I had to teach was 'The River' by Valerie Bloom.

Using google image, I sourced for pictures, and drew them onto a Manila card.

Then I started off my lesson asking them in their L1, what comes to their mind when they think of a river.
Their answers were, "water, stones, fish."
Yup, that's all they could offer as a whole class.

I then proceeded to write six words on the board - Wanderer, Winder, Hoarder, Singer, Baby, Monster. 'Which of these words, do you already know its meaning?'

Not a surprise, they could only identify 'Baby' while a few boys yelled out 'Monster'. I was actually taken aback that none of them knew 'Singer'.

I then explained each of those words with a mixture of L1 and L2, and got the students to match my pictures with the 6 words. Thankfully, it was easily achieved.

As none of them brought their literature textbook (though I repeatedly reminded them before), I had to write down the poem, stanza by stanza on the board, explain to them word for word, and make sure they copy down neatly in their writing books.

As you can very well see, I had to teach in three languages.

At the end of the lesson, I tested their vocabulary by yelling out the L1 of the words, and having them give me the answer in English. Even the weakest in the class was able to provide me the right answer, which was a relief to me.

Lastly, I told them to draw the different characteristics or persona of the river beside their notes, in hopes that it will help them to remember better.

So that was how I taught the poem of The River in 70 minutes to this particular class.

Even if I tried, I would have not been able to teach completely in L1 for my lesson objectives to be achieved. It could be of my own lacking, so I would really like to know, how would you have taught differently with this particular group of students?

Any form of suggestions and ideas would be very much appreciated, as I truly want to be shown of new ways / perspective / techniques to teach my students.

If you feel like commenting on a more personal space, feel free to drop me an email on

felicia_p7@yahoo.com


If you are a fellow teacher and wishes to collaborate in any way (I have actually done quite a number of collaborations and thoroughly enjoy them), do drop me an email too :)


That's all for today,

God bless~

Who dare say teaching is easy???

I get really emotional and annoyed when someone tries to downplay the role of a teacher... At the back of my head I would be yelling 'COME, I GIVE YOU MY CLASS. JUST TEACH FOR TWO PERIODS THEN YOU TALK.' lol.

Though I have been updating rather frequently on Facebook about my school adventures and misadventures, I realised I have not penned them down here on this blog. Then again, I too feel like I'm repeating myself which kinda demotivates me from writing lol.

Just to recap, I have been given three different levels to teach - Form 2, 3 and 5... It's a lil unusual (teachers are mostly given only 2 different form levels) because I came in late March, so I was practically given all the classes with least expectation to succeed (the important classes would have been allocated permanent teachers while my classes went through several replacement teachers whose main job were to 'babysit' them). Needless to say, I have my doubts when I saw my time table... Not only I would be teaching PBS classes for the first time, I am teaching all the 'back classes', which subsequently means 'problematic students' with very very very few passes in English.

One of my five classes was possibly labeled as the worst class in the whole school.
Teachers would complain and asked to be removed from teaching that class.
Teachers would warn me about the students from that class.
Many serious disciplinary cases in the school are related to the students from that class.

Yup, and I am just teaching them English, a subject they have no interest in, a subject no one passed.
No biggie.
lols.

First week itself, I walked out from that class. In fact, this was what I wrote on my facebook.

After much reflection, I was determined not to give up easily, though I contemplated asking to be removed from this class and take on another class...

...
I would be lying if I said it doesn't feel good to be receiving so much kind words and encouragement. But to be perfectly honest, I wasn't exactly posting stories of how I deal with students or my personal reflection to 'fish' for compliments or acknowledgement. In fact, I always feel that social media is over-saturated with negativity, gossips, ads, and more often than not, teachers are often misrepresented and misunderstood by the larger community (though there ARE a lot of rotten apples in the bunch). You can say that I want to have my voice heard, to spread some hope, to encourage my fellow teaching friends not to give up, to state that 'Hey, I know how it feels. I am on that same bloody boat. Let's keep on working so that we won't drown', and most importantly, to glorify God.

The only reason why I work hard in school was not to seek for approval from my 'bosses' or colleagues, it was mainly to please God, to be a living testimony for Him, especially when I am the ONLY Christian teacher.

Anyhow, here are some other teaching stuff that I spontaneously came out with or planned, for my lessons. Somehow my lessons are much better when the ideas come minutes before the class starts lol. I for one am someone who really does not follow my Rancangan Pengajaran Harian :p


Took advantage of the free Manila Cards from the school storage to make posters for What Does The Fox Say!

I wanted to teach them 'feelings' so I used a 20 cent coin to draw circles, had the tasksheet photocopied and went through each of the emotions with my Asli kids. I love teaching them because although they are weak, they have the best learning attitude and it's a nice class size of 20 students. After all the drilling and some games, I told them I would test them with a spelling test on the next day, in which they exclaimed in utter horror. To 'bribe' them, I said those who scored all 9 correct, I will give them lollies from nz 

And so the spelling test was given.

.... I gave out 26 lollies (2 lollies each). So freaking proud of them.


Also, I used various brain games to teach my students simple vocabulary.

Made simple readers with students, and hopefully be able to get them to read the books to their family members.

Started a mobile library, fondly called by me as "Library in a box" lol

 ...
and the most recent project...

Trying to teach English while acknowledging students' first language as Bahasa Temiar, inculcating pride in one own's culture among the Asli kids :)

.
.
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Last but not least, I posted this on Facebook...

 
 Within seconds, I had friends messaging me through various means, offering help and pledges and all form of contributions!!!

As I am still waiting for some exciting packages to arrive... here are some stuff that I have managed to gather for my Asli kids ~~~

 

Yippie!!!!!!!!!

I have sets of stationery for the kids, communal stationery for language arts and creative activities, and I know there are MORE coming!

So to all of you , those super kind-hearted ones,

I AM REALLY GRATEFUL that you are willing to partner with me, in the journey of educating the students with needs.

In fact, with the extra stationery, I plan to bless my other classes, including 2A4, as I believe, they too deserve the opportunity to learn the best they could.

Thank you.

There will never be enough 'thank yous'.

You guys really made my day!

Class Parties =D

This is the 3rd year of me teaching here in Gua Musang, Kelantan.

What? It's the 3rd year already???? Just seems like yesterday when I first had my mild meltdown upon knowing about my posting lol.

Anyway, in 3 years, I have seen so many teachers and even administrators go in and out of this school: mainly because our school is a transit school. Located an hour and the half away from Cameron highlands and 3 hours away from Kota Bahru, our district has been known as the 'first entrance' into Kelantan, and only government servants would know HOW TOUGH IT IS TO GET INTO KELANTAN. Yet, by God's will, I (not a Kelantanese), was sent right into this place albeit not having this state in any of my 3 options. Now that i look back and think about it, I wouldn't want it any other way ;)

The cool thing about teaching here is that my admins (we had so many transfers that I was under 2 different principals, 2 senior assistants of administration, 2 senior assistants of students' affairs, 2 senior assistants of co-curriculum, and 3 different Head of English Panel within the 3 years I've been serving here lol) really supported me and allowed me to do just about anything I deemed right! I pretty much had the freedom to experiment with activities and programs, and I have good colleagues and great moments in this school too.

And although in all 3 years I was given the role as a class teacher on top of my many other positions, it is probably my favourite role as a teacher. First of all, you just get to build so much more rapport with your own homeroom kids, develop a team, inculcate values, and even become their 'mum'. I grew the most as a class teacher, having to dealt with disciplinary cases, talk to parents, visit students in hospitals, and to lead your group of students. It is also an exceptionally tiring job, simply because the students here lack exposure and leadership qualities - something I learned to accept and not to criticise. Most of them came from really big family of more than 6 siblings and they do what they are being told at home and in school, to get by their days. With weak role models of non-educated parents or older siblings who did poorly in school, their main concern was only to 'get money', and are contented just doing rubber-tapping, selling in the market and becoming a worker in Econjaya (our only supermarket)... There was no need to step up or to go beyond their expected duties.

My teaching philosophy has always been - 'get real.' I aim to expose my kids to the real world, create lessons with real and authentic examples, and to teach them how to live well in real life. And with so much of me invested into them, I do get rather emotional during our year-end farewell parties.

For 3 years, I was given Form 5 classes as my homeroom class. So for 3 years I dealt with kids anxiously preparing for their SPM and worrying about their future. Therefore, I want to give the students something to remember about their high schooling days, before they go forth into the real complexities of adulthood... And I try to do that through our farewell parties...

In 2011, my very first homeroom class was 5S1..

That was my first year organising a jamuan kelas. I didn't want them to just prepare food, get teachers to eat, they eat, clean up and go back (which is the norm and culture), so I brought along my projector, taught them to create a slideshow, perform, do gifts exchange, make speeches, and wear oogly glasses just to spice things up a lil ;)


Then came 2012. I was class teacher of 5A2. This group of students were unexpectedly weak in their academic, but have the best attitude! I knew it will be hard to get them to perform as a class, so we did a coloured theme party instead. I gave them permission to bring accessories and we had a blast.

and...

Today, 24th October 2013, we just had our #5A2kickassparty !!!
Compared to the previous 2 years, I was actually a lot more involved in this affair.
These kids are a whole lot weaker than the previous lots, to the extent that 1/3 of them are not passing or barely passed their Malay language. Communicating with them was really tough in the beginning as I had never taught them in the previous years, and I don't speak or understand the kelate dialect well.

But they grew on me. Sooner than expected, I was part of their lives, went for meals together, they sent me home (often in an entourage of at least 3 bikes lol), secrets were shared, life-size questions were asked, and as much as they pissed me off sometimes, they are just really good kids.

And out of my previous batches of students, this group lacks thinking skills, but they counter with pro-activeness.
They lack leadership; they counter with great attitude and surreal enthusiasm.
They lack experience and maturity; they counter with willingness to learn.

So imagine my pleasant surprise when I saw this on my table yesterday...

I told them to prepare invitation cards for the teachers who do teach them, and they came out with scented invitations done in an actual printing shop (by forking out their own money!).

I told them to decorate our plain wall (we had a class change to everyone's horror as we had to part with our actual classroom that won first prize for best class decoration to a shabby one), so that we could take better pictures.
They came the afternoon before, sourced their own materials from home, and did this!

I too promptly prepared some props for them to take pictures with~

..many of which are not shown in the picture as the kids got over-excited with the accessories lol.


I too taught my kids the current trend of a 'dessert table'...
and this is their attempt~

Some of the items are homebaked, and there are more hidden underneath the table for later refills lol.

What really caught my surprise was this,
They created a Guestbook Corner.

That big scrapbook / Guestbook was quickly filled with words of encouragement from teachers who came in while the kids occupied the blank pages. And then, everything you see on that table - the photoframes with pictures, and that book, was gifted to me so that I would remember them :')

After a quick snap, the craziness began when the teachers came in huge groups at the same time @_@

The teachers just kept coming... I was actually getting worried as the food was finishing real fast and I really didn't want to starve my kids. Thankfully, being totally understanding, they served the teachers first and when our crowd was slow, only did they go for the food *proud mama*

Our menu of the day included Nasi Kerabu with Ayam Goreng, Nasi Ayam, Laksa Penang, Bakso, Koey Teow Goreng, Satay, Akok, Pudding, Cocktail (kelantanese ver), Colek, lots of agar-agar, cakes, cookies, lollies, crackers etc. (some food not in picture). By the end of the day, I could safely say that we fed about 130 people today lol.

After our last guest, I went straight into our own 5A2 intimate session.
We had speeches, and came the time to reveal our 5A2's Hall of Fame.
A lil backtrack first: During a previous lesson using the Hall of Fame song, I had the students voting for their classmates according to 12 titles. They range from The Hidden Gem, Masterchef, to even characters like The 'Robin Hood' and The 'Donald Trump' lol. After that, I told them that I will only announce the results during our class party.

So, I made the sashes... and their response during the announcement of the winners was plain hilarious!!! We all had a good laugh at the winning speeches too.

Unfortunately, as I was rather busy running around the whole time making sure everything is in place and our guests feel welcomed, these are all the pictures I managed to capture. Other moments worthy of remembrance include our 57 years-old principal wearing a giraffe mask with a pink headband for pictures with my students, I had the confetti bomb 'popped' at me twice, and my kids brought all the food in those huge containers by their bikes!!!

I lost count of how many times have I said 'terima kasih' to my kids. I was just filled with pride throughout the day, hearing praises from teachers and admins about how delicious the food was, how well-mannered my kids were, how 'happy' the atmosphere was. The principal even made an impromptu speech saying that 'Cikgu Felicia ni nok nikah jauh jauh, meme kerugian besor sekola kito dan jejaka kelate.' OH MY GOSH, the laughter and cheers from the teachers and my kids cracked me up so bad lmao. 

I'm just glad everything went well. Of course there were hiccups and lots of spontaneous problem-solving needed.. But today, I just feel really really proud of my kids.

The Teacher

I am many things, but one of the coolest identity I have is - I am a teacher.

Growing up in a family of teachers, I always knew the real deal behind the myth of 'Its a Half-Day Job.'
Growing up in a family of teachers, I was well-taught since a young age and understood the importance of education.
Growing up in a family of teachers, I had many opportunities to teach, to play 'the teacher' role, since my teenage days.

I've taught over-enthusiastic pre-schoolers, boisterous primary school kids, teenagers facing puberty and identity crisis, hipsters / tertiary students, those old enough to be my grandparents, foreigners-who-thought-Malaysia-is-part-of-Singapore etc.

Let's just say I did manage to dip my feet into quite a wide-range of learning groups. YET, it never ceases to amaze me at how little I know of teaching and how much more I learn from every teaching experience.

Being a teacher is really not all about being in control of the class and the lesson, but also to be humbled enough to be taught.

Here, I just want to share a few examples of how I was 'slapped right in the face' or how I was shaken up, being a teacher here in Gua Musang.

#1
Today while handling my class's return of textbooks, I realised this girl of mine (let's call her A) who has been absent for a long time didn't even turn up to return her books. She was branded as a problematic girl, been failing in nearly all of her subjects and does not have many friends. I called this other girl (Z) whom I used to see hanging out with A about her. To be honest, I was quite annoyed to see A absent as I could not get hold of her for so long and really wanted to talk to her personally; so I wasn't proud of my sarcastic tone when I inquire Z about A.

Z just looked at me and said, "Teacher, I don't know why is A absent, but I know that she has no family to turn to."

So with a little more digging, I found out that A has lost both parents, and none of her extended family wants to care for her and her siblings hence they were sent to schools with hostels. But because she has been failing in nearly all of her subjects, they felt that it's a waste for her to remain in school so they asked her to return to the village to work, and make herself 'useful'....

That was a real stab into my heart. It is so easy to label a student as lazy, get frustrated by their occasional horrible attitude and overlook what they have been going through.

If only, I could take back my sarcasm...

................................................................................................................................................................
#2
Then there's this boy, S...

He gets into the nerves of every teacher in school. He was even caught in the act of performing 'coitus' in the school grounds and nearly got expelled. When I knew I had to teach his class, I really dreaded it, after hearing so many stories about his misbehaviour.

True enough, he doesn't disappoint. He is loud, attention-seeking, and really tests my patience.

When I got that class to do an 'honest hand' activity (something I came out with spontaneously on that day), I was nearly brought to tears. Basically I got all the students to close their eyes and only raise their right hand if they could identify with my statement. I started with easier questions for example, "I am a girl", I love football" to "I am good-looking." The students were following the activity really well with some chuckles here and there... Slowly, I went on with harder questions that require a lot of honesty and bravery to own up to, such as "I feel that I am useless", "My parents hate me", "I don't like coming to school", "I get bullied", "I don't like going home", "I am worried about my future." 

To my surprise, not only hands were raised up in rather big numbers at each of those questions, I could see some of them shaking. When I finally asked them to open their eyes, I could see eyes getting watery, while some looked rather defeated. There was no bickering, just silence and solemnity.

I told them that I was going to change up my lesson. I was no longer their English teacher for that period, but just a concerned teacher. I explained how it is alright to feel vulnerable and to admit your weakness; but more importantly is how we respond instead of react in those situations. I then got them to take out their writing pads and told them that they are allowed to use any language that they are more comfortable in to express their answers to the questions that I was going to throw at them. I reassured them that I was in no means to embarrass them, but to know them, beyond these four walls and my assumptions of them.

They understood and wrote quite a bit. So as I reviewed their answers, my heart sank deeper and deeper.

Some of them lived in families as big as 14 siblings and 2 stepmothers.
One girl's biggest desire is to have a meal with her complete family.
One boy's parents separated and as no one wanted to take care of him, he lives with his step-sister.
One said that she had to often go to bed without dinner because there was just not enough rice for 10 siblings.

and then I read the writings of S..
He knew that he hurt his parents. He knew that he embarrassed his family with his past scandals. He felt really apologetic to his mum who fought real hard for him to remain in school. He even wrote that he does break down in tears when people talk behind his back but he could only hide all those feelings by being a class clown. He also mentioned how his father is only a labourer and he has 11 siblings. So he has to help his father to collect scrap metal after school and wash cars to help support the family's expenses....

My mind shut down for a little while, overwhelmed by the information I just came across.

It just shows that, behind every mischievous smile, every nasty reply, every disrespectful attitude probably hides a whole lot of stories and pain.

I have been trying so hard to get my kids out of their shells, not realising how deeply rooted their problems are.

Will I be able to achieve my current success if I had to go through what they did?
I don't even think so.

I realised that I am so BLESSED. Compared to them, I do have this life a whole lot easier. Supportive parents, God-fearing upbringing, comfortable living, education emphasis, healthy social circles just to name the least.

I started to see how wrong I was to judge them from my standards.
I learn empathy, I learn to listen, I learn to understand before I judge.

Just as how I was taught to go church with expectancy of God's word on that day instead of treating it as a weekly routine; I have since been very blessed and recharged. Now, I apply this heart of expectancy as I go to school each day.

It is easy to see teachers and fellow colleagues around me getting complacent, complaining about every possible thing and join the bandwagon of self-pity / self-interest. But do we really want to end up like them and burn out so soon?

Just try this with me. If it works for me, it will definitely work for you.
Everyday, at the moment you wake up, don't just reach for your phone, but say a prayer to thank God for a great day ahead. Ask for His strength, wisdom and guidance in this new day, then prepare yourself to expect a lesson or two in this day.
Don't let a day pass by meaninglessly. If nothing significant happens on that day, you make something happen, make that day count.

So, to all my teacher friends who are still fighting strong in this crazy battlefield we have, DO NOT BE DISCOURAGED. At the end of the day, we are still human, and it is ok to admit that we don't know everything, and that teachers are just not all-knowing. Make a few mistakes, experiment, cry, curse, take a break, and let us never stop learning.

Keep up the good fight! Do know that a lot of you are my encouragement and inspiration :)