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~

Paper Planes...

I'm one of those teachers who are just never disciplined enough to write detailed lessons plans before entering classes.

In fact, I work best under spontaneity.

Probably my weakness which coincidentally could also be my strength, I am often unprepared, but with an idea or available resources, I could somehow whip up something... Which is the case of this lesson of mine 2 days ago~~


It was once again a double period with my notorious 2A4. Since it was the first lesson with them after a two and a half week break, I was kinda unsure of what to expect. Wasn't exactly a good thing that the class was right after our school assembly, meaning I had no time to make a run for my desk to grab some worksheets or whatnot... Oh well, I had literally no one to blame except for myself since we actually had a rather comfortable break (which I as a *self-acclaimed* passionate educator should have used wisely to plan my activities in advance)....

I sat on the chair, throughout the assembly, trying to think of something to do with them. But no, my brain decided to go dead on me, possibly still hibernating... oh yeah, I haven't had my caffeine fix which is the most crucial part of my day....

Soon enough, assembly was over, students dismissed and I entered the class, still clueless and a lil worried lol..

At least it was a relief that only 19 was present out of the usual 30, with most of the troublemakers not back at school yet... Not the best inner thought to have but I was thankful for their absence, because I had no confidence that I could handle all the craziness at such an early start of the new semester...

After the salam and doa, I found myself just picking up my marker pen and wrote the word 'HOLIDAY' on the board, asked them what does is stand for, proceeded to explain the difference between 'HOLIDAY' and 'VACATION', and got them to share with me what have they done during the holidays or whether they went for vacation.

After all the noisy and rowdy 'sharing', I shared about my trip to New Zealand, which somehow led to questions on how long was my flight and which airline did I take....

Next thing I know, I got all of them to fold paper planes...

Yup,

Paper planes.

Since they were rather weak not only academically but also in simple motor skills, some actually had difficulty folding the most basic and simple planes... I had to teach them how to fold a plane step by step. @_@

There were a couple of them who actually came out with more complicated designs and looked pretty damn proud lol.

Once I made sure everyone has a plane, I taught them to label parts of a plane.

'WINGS' - Both wings were labeled

'TAIL' - They cut the end of the plane, folded it upwards to create the tail

'ENGINES' - They had to draw the engines below the wings

'WHEELS' - Obviously they had to draw the wheels.

'COCKPIT' - Drawn on as well

After that, I quizzed them to make sure they remember the parts before moving on to teach them two verbs - 'TAKE OFF' and 'LAND'...

With their planes in their hands, they have to act it out when I shouted  'TAKE OFF' or 'LAND', much to their amusement.

I was even more amused by how excited they were. A glimpse of innocence could be seen underneath all the rebelliousness, the 'bajet pandai', the annoying antics, the rude comments, the stupid and uncouth jokes and the laziness....

Unfortunately, activities as such would not be quiet and peaceful or even orderly. Some of them started 'flying' their planes or even grabbing others'.... But thankfully, when I managed to obtain order again, I tested them and they could still remember those words that I taught earlier... Learning objectives achieved!

Tiring it was, but who would have known that simple resources such as unwanted papers could bring laughter and learning into the classroom ;)

lesson learned

When you learn that it's more important to please God than men, everything just makes sense.

Two days ago, marked the National celebration of Teacher's Day. 16th May 2014 for me was a really low key affair, since it falls on a Friday, which is our weekend here in Kelantan. As expected, social media was buzzing with heart-warming dedications, pictures of gifts and events in the schools.... It was definitely a 'feel-good' day for teachers.

It brought me back to my first Teacher's Day here in Gua Musang, back in year 2011... which.. was unfortunately non-existent. Sad as it was, we didn't get to celebrate Teacher's Day but instead were assigned to use the funds and resources for our then-principal's farewell @_@

Then came 2012, and still... no Teacher's Day for me... We had a 'state-level' Teacher's Day held in our school instead where principals and Assistant principals from all the schools in Kelantan were celebrated while we had to do all the donkey work since our school was the host @_@

And finally in 2013, I had my first taste of Teacher's Day, which was organised by Nadia (as the president of KIB). But, both of us were the ones mainly handling most of the behind-the-scenes work... While it was a really successful event, it was also maybe a little disappointing to realise the lack of gifting culture among our students... We are humans after all. Though we do not expect our students to spoil us with gifts, but it still feels nice to be appreciated. In fact, it still saddens me that our students easily ask teachers to 'belanjo', to give them 'satu ya' and even proudly declare they find no shame in 'minta sedekah'.... It's a culture that shocked me fours years back, and still frustrates me till this day... :'(

They are always, I repeat, always, wanting to be at the receiving end. They have no concept of giving... and they want to be rewarded for basically everything.

Imagine, they demand for any form of reward just because they handed in their homework.
Yes, we are talking about homework. Something they should complete out of obligation and responsibility...
Worse still, when they demand for reward just for passing English with 'E'.

As much as I try to be positive in my classes, mentality of this sort from them breaks me. Sometimes I just could not comprehend how is it possible for them to be so shameless... One of my worst outburst happened when a student took my pen without my permission, and when I asked for it, that student yelled that since I am a teacher earning thousands I should not be so stingy with my stuff and that I should just go buy a new one!!!!!

Total disbelief.

I just could not bring my mind to comprehend that form of logic. Even when I was a student, I don't remember any friend of mine with such guts and lack of manners, especially when talking to teachers!!!!

So I started to develop favourites, and dreaded certain classes (2 to be exact). In fact it was apparent in the amount of effort I put in towards different lessons with different classes. Deep inside I knew I shouldn't be so, but it's easier to be nicer towards those who appreciates your effort than those who couldn't be bothered....

Then, I remembered what my dad always told me... "Please God, not men."

I took a really deep breath, stared at my messy table full of books and all sorts of resources, picked up a book called William's Dragons, a stack of plain papers, my 'Learning Tools Box' and walked into 'that' class.

It was still a rather rough battle. As usual these kids were late, some were playing truant, some decided to come in 20 minutes late, some sneaked out, one kept running out from the back door and back from the front door and repeating that stupid action, some belting out in songs, some throwing their bags from one end to another, one for no reason went around kicking people, some blantantly told me  they wanted to go out for a smoke, some screamed out of nowhere..... It doesn't matter how many times you scolded them, slammed the table, showed your displeasure... They can be just plain impossible. And they themselves will happily tell you that they are 'kureng' - mentally ill or retarded. I HAD NEVER, EVER, HAD SUCH A DIFFICULT CLASS OF STUDENTS BEFORE.

Still, with no idea how I managed it, I read them that book, and got 'some of them' to repeat after me, phrases to phrases. At the end of the book, they gave me a round of applause lol. I proceeded in giving them a piece of paper each, and told them that instead of William's dragons, they will draw their own dragon... Not surprisingly their first reaction was that they can't do it. Even with much coaxing, some of them refused to do the task and even wasted the paper I gave them... However, there were still some who told me they can't draw but will give it a try... I actually thanked them and gave them full use of my stationery... It was then I realised, they really can't draw.

They had difficulties drawing simple shapes, little to no confidence in whatever they are doing, especially when you have the ones who couldn't even try, going around mocking their drawings... I really could not stand that 'bullying' mentality! Very quickly, I went to their defense and sternly rebuked those naughty boys that they had NO RIGHT to criticise people when they themselves couldn't even produce their work. I made it clear that I never look down on those who are weak, but I have NO RESPECT for those who couldn't even try. Soon after, I saw them picking up a paper and started doodling... Though their drawings were rather ugly (probably worse than kindergarten kids), at least they were trying.

Come to think of it, I regretted for not taking any pictures of their drawings. I wanted to but they were too ashamed of their work for me to snap pictures of it.

Anyway, while they were busy drawing for their lives, I was just chatting with this boy who is often bullied in the class. I was shocked to learn that he lives in Kuala Betis and had to take a 2-hour ride to school every day, departing at 5am in order to arrive at school by 7, in a small, crowded school van. He is definitely one of the weakest in the class, could hardly copy correctly, and possibly very low IQ. But this boy, albeit being very shy at first, thanked me for reading them the story... He said he had never been read a story...

That was exactly what this job is all about.

It finally made sense.

I was stupid for dwelling on my own negativity to the extent that I had limited myself on what I could do for my students...

When my class ended, this very same boy helped me to rearrange my Learning Tool Box and carried the box for me to the staffroom, without me asking.

And on our way to the staffroom, I too found out that he had two stepmothers, five step siblings, and though he hates getting bullied in school, he finds it better to be here rather than staying at home. He even apologised to me for being stupid and so weak in English, but tells me he likes my class...

Though I know he would never come across my blog or even understand what I had written,
to that boy,
thanks for reminding me that I am a teacher,
thanks for being my student.

New Obsession

Truly and deeply, I have always believed that we are our biggest enemy, and everything boils down to 'ATTITUDE.'

It's just not a secret that when your attitude changes, everything else changes for the better.

Looking at my situation,

I thought I could rejoin my husband for good, but it was short-lived and I have to come back to Malaysia...
And on the sideline, there were so many challenges, misunderstanding, discouragement and confusion, caused by people who matter...

But by the end of the day, my husband and I knew that this was the right decision, for me to be back for now.

So, how does one deal with been woken up from a beautiful three months of experiencing togetherness with your husband (after 5 years of LDR and you thought it would be over), been thrown back to a school that had kinda given you a send off, and been allocated all 'weak classes'...

Mopping definitely would get me no where.

Thus, I chose to make the best out of my situation... and wouldn't have wanted it any other way...

Never would I have imagined the huge contrast between my teaching life now, and three years back. I mean, I am still teaching in the same school, with the same colleagues, so how different could it be?

For starters, I am not focusing on teaching upper forms anymore (which was what I had been doing for the past few years - preparing students for SPM).. They only gave me one Form 5 class in which I became the class teacher too...

Second, I am teaching 4 lower form classes which are involved in PBS (which I had no clue at all).

Third, I am teaching 2 classes of Asli students - as in two classes of only Asli students.

There was just no time for self-pity or doubt, it was all about diving in, and making sure it was a strong dive. And soon, I find myself doing something I should have been doing for the past 3 years - falling in love with teaching.

Don't get me wrong, I have always loved teaching and it IS my first choice. And although I do conduct creative projects and lessons for my students, I also stumbled with the balance of getting them to pass and actually teaching them the language. But this year, because I was given classes with 'low expectations to pass', I was able to focus on motivating them to learn this scary, foreign language - which is a situation I find myself very blessed to be in!

And as I look for ways to get extra resources for my students, I was hugely encouraged and inspired by so many generous givers out there. Many of whom I have lost contact with, be it relatives, friends, and also acquaintances from all over the world. It really cheers me up knowing that there are many people who cares about education and are willing to be a part of your effort - no matter how big or small they are.

Wonders from social media (if put to good use), I get so many packages delivered to me in my school that it gets so much interest lol.

so much so that I have more than enough stuff for my Asli kids (there are even more not shown in the pictures above) that I started distributing these awesome goodies to other students I deem deserving or needed that extra boost of encouragement.

To all you wonderful people, no amount of thanks is enough, but you have my word that I will make sure these go to the right kids for the right reasons :)

Oh yeah,

My title of the blog is about new obsession...

So what am I currently obsessed about?

Bahasa Temiar!

Yup, you read it right. Bahasa Temiar!

My little teachers, (mark the 's') have been very patient and excited about teaching me their language. I would probably be generous and teach you guys some of it on my next entry ;)

Till then,
YEAK SAYEK MAHAK!

How I came to love my Asli kids...

I remembered the first day I entered their class. They were a bunch of kids, passive, timid, and very quiet. I wasn't quite sure whether they even understood me albeit me speaking in very simple, 'baku' Malay... I was being enthusiastic, while not really getting much response from them.... At the back of my mind, I kept hearing voices from my fellow colleagues saying, 'mereka senang nak ajar, suka salin nota dan tidak bising.'

Suddenly, a big group of Malay boys walked past the class, playing truant as usual. Clothes untucked, loud and disrespectful... these boys were shouting 'babi', 'kotor', 'balik hutan lah' etc and I could see the pained faces of my kids. Immediately, I stood out of the class, called them out for being 'kurang ajar', and telling them that these kids who chose to be in the class instead of 'derak' like them have higher chances of succeeding. "At least", I told them, "these kids have the will to learn while you are out wasting your time and your life, doing stupid things while thinking too highly of yourself."

Right after that, I went back to the class and told the Asli kids, not to be affected by the hurtful words from the boys, and don't bother stooping down to their level. They suddenly became rowdy and started telling me how often they were teased, bullied, and even pushed around by those students.

That was exactly when, I felt the need to reassure them to be proud of their roots. I started telling them that "I respect them", which led to them looking at me in disbelief.

I said, I could not imagine having to leave my home as young as 13 (or even younger), go somewhere hours away, being put into hostel life, forced to eat food I am not accustomed to, being asked to study in languages I am not accustomed to then labeled as academically weak because I could not perform well when everything I learn is in a foreign language, being frowned upon for being different, being misrepresented and misunderstood, and not having the luxury of confiding in my own family whenever I need to.

I told them that they are brave. And despite all odds, they have a beautiful culture and background, which are the essence of who they are. Hence I started aligning my lessons with them, with a stronger focus on their Temiar heritage.

We had so much laughter in the class and they excitedly described to me how they prepare their yam balig (pronounced as nyam balik) and tried to convince me that roasted bats are yummy lol.




For one of my lessons with them, we created lil handbooks of these. 

Much thanks to the generous supply of stationery I now have, the students had real fun creating their lil books. Even though it was already their recess time, they refused to go to the canteen and asked whether I could stay a lil longer while they try to make their books prettier. How could I say no to that?

 

 

And so I sat down, and those who had already finished theirs came crowding around me, asking me questions, telling me stuff, while taking turns to stroke my hair (seriously, they been telling me that they love my hair lol). Then one girl asked whether I like Kpop, which I answered that I know quite a bit about it... Then she proceeded telling me that I look like 'onji' from 'epen'... which totally made me go 'what?'... I later figured out she meant Eunji from Apink lol, and apparently they all chimed in and said I look like her... I told them I think that celebrity is quite young while I am old. They, such angels, told me I am young too because I am only 21. SO SO SO FREAKING HAPPY OKAY. lol

How not to love them?

PS. They want to teach me how to dance Sewang too
PSS. The boys actually help me to rearrange my 'Magic Box' every time after they used the stationery

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 :)

.
.
.
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!

If I were to start a school...

So, several days ago I had some sort of an identity crisis; more like identity moratorium (just to sound more intellectual, and yes I’m quoting Marcia). Though technically, if according to Erikson, I way passed that stage (8 year to be precise) and should only be concerned about ‘intimacy vs isolation.’ Sorry Erikson, still pretty much a late bloomer who is only panicking about her identity at this age, but as consolation, I did manage to sort out that whole intimacy issue as according to your stages’ time frame (pats self on the back)…

OK.. Back to the topic. Note to self: stop making weird imaginary conversations with dead theorists.

Anyhow, I posted this on my Facebook at 8.54pm (New Zealand time), watched the TV for a lil bit with the husband, and went to bed. Gosh we have such exciting married life.

When I woke up, I was stunned by the response of that post. 

Because obviously, I’m no one special nor popular, but mostly because I’m freaking touched that there are sooooooo many (exaggerating a lil) like-minded people who actually agrees with me, do not ridicule my idea (giving the stare to some wet blankets of my life) and want to be part of this grand dream!

And if you looked carefully, there’s this person called ‘Peh Kim Hock’ who literally comments on ALL my facebook posts – well, he is my dad. 

Yes, my dad is cool like that. 

While most of the time he just trolls my posts and statuses with his lame jokes *cough*, he also puts out some super wise comments occasionally. And he made a real point. It is easier to work around the system with your best than trying to change an impossible situation. 

In fact, these are his actual words and I quote, “The system we have may not be perfect but it can be workable. It is just the implementation by certain parties who want to look good in front of their bosses with fantastic numbers and percentages. Let's just work around the system for the sake of our students.  Being a modern day teacher is very taunting. Having dreams is a very motivating thing which drives one to become better. But just as Prophet Nike says; JUST DO IT or Cesar Milan who says LIVING THE MOMENT; just go to your students, try to impact and inspire their lives apart from just teaching. What will happen tomorrow or ten years from now, let us come, don't lament. Teach our students like there is no tomorrow. Enjoy the moment and make the best out of it. My wife and I being teachers for nearly 30 years strongly adhere to these beliefs. We try to become role models who are not perfect but we try. Our living testimonies are felicia and joel peh and soon joshua. Giving God all the glory!”

Yup, like I said, my dad is cool.

Then again, sometimes I have my own mind. Do I really want to keep working around the system, or create something that I personally believe in?

We are so accustomed to accepting and adapting and even reviving something that is dead. What about building a new world?

As I mentioned in my facebook post, I would never know whether this dream will come to fulfillment. And if it does, it will take me a whole lot of years, if it is indeed God’s will and He guides me through it. Yet, it doesn’t mean I should just bask on the short term ego boost and not do anything about it right? I decided to do some research.

Out of so many private schools out there, I found myself attracted to the Montessori Education as well as Oprah’s Leadership Academy for Girls. While the former is fundamentally strong and rich in history, the latter is inspiring and ground-breaking. I love their philosophical values and learning programmes. Then again, my dad always reminds me that our Malaysian Education Philosophy and National Education Programmes are all great in theory; it is always the implementation that makes the difference.

Anyhow,

If I were to start a school, these would be what I would aim for:

• -          Self discovery
• -          Personalised learning
• -          Meaningful learning

Very different compared to schools we now have isn’t it? Yup, there will be no grade levels or adapted curriculum. Just a school that aims to do what a school should do: to cultivate learning. 

You might think I’m being extremely vague here. 

What? A school that doesn’t focus on any internationally credited examinations? 

A school that doesn’t focus on learning subjects such as the sciences or arts?

Let’s see what I actually have in this complicated mind of mine ;)

For me, this school will of course focus on two huge areas that define what we learn: Literacy and Numeracy. Students, regardless of age group will be taught these two skills according to their level, for better and more effective teaching from the teachers. One may argue that this will create self-esteem problems for older students who are placed in a similar level with the younger ones. Well, to enter this school, one must be prepared to be a learner, and not treat the learning process as a competition. There is no one better than the other; you learn based on your own capabilities as you know yourself better. Which brings us to the first aim – Self discovery.

1. Self discovery

I believe in Multiple Intelligence, and that everyone learns differently. 

When I was teaching in the ‘last class of Form 4 and 5’ in Gua Musang, I was accountable for the learning of a big group of ‘rejects’, the ones who are ‘hopeless.’ Being the idealistic person I have always been, I went in to those classes thinking I could create miracles with these group of students and that no one is dumb. Right at the beginning of my teaching journey, I was slapped right in my face when these students can’t even list down the letters in alphabetical order or spell the word ‘Monkey’ or even follow very simple instructions that I repeatedly demonstrated with much patience. 

I came to acknowledge the fact that there are just students who are and will always be academically weak or have learning issues. BUT, this does not mean that they are dumb. These kids are way more talented than me in a lot of other ways. For instance, in a parallel universe where one be tested in cars repairing or rubber tapping or even sewing, I would be labeled as the DUMB one.    

So, my school will encourage self discovery. Most kids at their young age does not know what they want or even what they are capable of. So the teachers would facilitate the self discovery process through exposing the students to different skills, through workshops and events or even through observation, reflection and questionnaires.

2. Personalised learning

This is a tricky one. 

My school is kinda like taking home schooling to a whole different level. 

Students will be taught to be responsible for their own learning and will be given credit hours to complete. Other than their literacy and numeracy classes, students can decide what they want to learn and how much time will they allocate that learning for. Teachers mainly act as facilitators, to guide the students and to get them the resources if needed. For example, the child wants to learn about baking. The teacher could arrange the child to intern at a bakery for 3 hours a week to fulfil a part of the credit hours. Or, if a senior student who really loves Physics, wants to allocate 2 hours a day for that subject, he could do his self learning through books or the Internet, while the teacher supervises or even help to search for more appropriate learning materials for that student.

3.  Meaningful learning

Learning should be on how to live, how to play a part in this world, how to identify one’s purpose of living. Not on spending years on logarithms or algebra and not knowing how to apply them in real life. (Okay, maybe some of you out there are in the field of Mathematics but for a commoner like me, nah ah, haven’t found the use of that yet.)

How to make learning meaningful? 

Perhaps I could teach the students about the horrendous flood in Philippines, and put them in groups to come out with fundraising efforts to collect funds for the flood victims. Students will not only learn about leadership and cooperation, they learn business, marketing and publicity, world events, empathy, social issues etc.

Or for a Mathematic class (since we mention those topics that I dreaded as a learner), groups are given a set budget and have to create an enterprise of their own. Throughout that learning period, students will have to learn accountings, finance management, actual skills needed to create the products they sell, art of speech and communication, responsibility, business ethics etc.

And if the students decide for themselves (maybe even with parental advice) that they want to pursue certain Examination standards (for example IB or CIE or even the Malaysian SPM if it still exists), the teachers will guide them to arrange their learning schedule accordingly and once again facilitate them to self-study the needed subjects. Basically, students are in charged of one’s learning, and teachers have to be multi-taskers and great support system that constantly keeps the students in check of their own learning goals.

Of course, at this very moment, this is still just my idealistic thoughts to a grand personal dream. 

I won’t even push the thoughts that I may alter the vision of the school as I learn more and evolve my thinking. Or instead of starting a school with such ideology, I would just practice them in my teaching and whichever classroom I am given.

Gosh,

I am so not used to having so much free time.

I really do miss teaching.

Hopefully soon enough God’s plans for Alex and I will be revealed soon and we could take the right step towards the future. And there’s a saying that goes ‘One does not need a classroom to teach, just be a teacher wherever you are.” So, I should probably look harder for opportunities to teach, or maybe I should start teaching the husband some Malay phrases, other than the ones he prided on learning by himself – ‘api’ and ‘tandas’ hahahahaha. By the way, I totally just made up that saying lol.  

What else would you expect or wish to see in a school? 

Motivate-a-kid

It feels really weird reading about my teaching peers who are obviously back at work in Malaysia; while here I am, sitting down in front of my computer, wondering why is it so bright even at 9pm (Auckland's time).

Regardless of my current situation, I am and will always be a teacher at heart. I could always feel myself bubbling inside, wanting to be able to teach kids, someone, anyone, to see them excited to learn, and to find myself learning from them. But of course, my future is still pretty much uncertain and I'm still dealing with legalities stuff with my husband, which I really hope in God's grace, would be unveiled really soon, so that I can further develop myself in the education field (wherever that would be).

Last year, was a bittersweet year for me. Not knowing whether it would be my last in Gua Musang and Malaysia, I went all out to provide my students with the best experience I could offer. One of the exciting (in my opinion) things that I did was - using my social media as a platform to enrich my students. Basically, I posted a status on my Facebook, asking whether there are any one who might be interested to send a postcard / motivational note / token to encourage some of my very deserving kids who were facing their SPM shortly. I wanted my kids to know that the world is much bigger than the small town they were accustomed to, and that there are people (professionals, and working adults) out there who care about their education and future. When I posted that status, I was praying inside asking for at least some responses... BUT who would have known that I have people messaging and calling me to be involved in this small project of mine :')  Many of them were actually a pleasant surprise! I mean, we were probably acquaintances from before with no further contact and they were the ones approaching me with such excitement and commitment! Lots and lots of thanks to all of you!

Special thanks to Shazana really! Shazana not only showed me her enthusiasm, she managed to get a big group of her friends involved, which led to my kids receiving postcards from all corners of the world! I never seen some of them so proud of their packages. Some even framed up the cards they received, some told me they wanted to do replies, and most of them are just super thankful.

I would be thankful too if I am the one receiving these...

My biggest regret was that, quite a number (around 1/4 of the contributions) arrived late, maybe due to snail mail and also the many public holidays in Kelantan towards the end of the school year. Some of them arrived during the school holiday when I was no longer around. Thankfully, Nadia (my dear friend and awesome colleague) helped me to obtain my mail, informed me whose letters arrived, so that I could get my students to collect them in year 2014. Well, better late than never. I was also informed that some mails might be missing, especially those from overseas :'( Then again, some of the cards that Alex sent me from New Zealand never reached me too so I was not as surprise but still very sad and disappointed by the Malaysian postal service.

Before I end this post, I just want to cheer my fellow teacher friends on~
Be strong, and conquer that battlefield that each one of you have been placed on. You guys are an inspiration, not only to your kids, but also to me :)

And to Nadia,
Sorry that I wasn't around to help ease your burden in school. I know its going to be a crazy ride, but you can definitely soar through. You are awesome! Remember that. Miss ya babe~