继续加油

今早我的教授来给我做了第二次的评估。

我已经开始掌握到我的学生的个性了，对于那几个比较爱捣蛋、爱打瞌睡、爱发白日梦的家伙，我时常会在教书的时候叫她们起来回答问题，或者是去白板上演算答案。基本上而言，只要他们都在状况之内，是没有什么大问题的。

之前她们都在holiday mood，没有上课的心情，这次就不一样了。一切的比赛、活动都已经结束，学生终于可以好好上课，老师终于可以好好教书，真的是皆大欢喜！

上一次教授来给我做评估，学生们告诉我说，她们不敢问问题，因为我的教授坐在后面看她们，她们怕会被骂。这班小女生真的是好可爱又好好笑啊！我告诉她们说：“什么都不必害怕，一切就如平常一样，有问题就问，不明白就说出来，没有人会骂你们的。” 她们这才放下心来。

这次的上课情形，学生们一有不明白的地方就会主动发问，有人不专心也会马上被我叫来回答问题，就和平常的上课情形一样。基本上而言，坐在后面的教授似乎不存在，一切都不受影响。

我要的就是这样！教授来或不来，根本就不是重点，课始终都是要上的，不是吗？

当然，我还是希望接下来，一切都会越来越顺利！

继续加油吧！

我的学生们

星期六的补课，中一那班三十五个学生，竟然只有七个人出席。现在的学生还真的是很“行”啊！

最后两节的老师今天有事情没有来上课，我自告奋勇取代课，加上我本来一节的数学课，所以我连续待在那班三节。学生人数少的好处是，我们可以很融洽的畅所欲言，学生没有那么拘束，也更加勇于发表意见或是提出疑问。

和她们复习昨天教过的内容，再教一些新的内容，给了好多的例子让她们在白板上作答，然后再给了一些功课，剩下的时间就是和她们一起聊聊天。

几个女生表示，她们认为我教的比之前的老师好，因为之前的老师满口英文，不会用国语来对马来学生作出解释；而且，她教的速度很快，就算学生表示不明白，她也是照教不误。她们还说，本来是很讨厌数学，但是自从我开始接手她们的班级，她们就开始爱上数学课。

当她们知道我再多教三个星期就会离开学校，到时候会由之前的老师来教回数学，她们发出了那种“呜呼哀哉”的呻吟。她们要我继续留下来教她们，还说要去跟校长说让我继续当她们的数学老师。

她们说喜欢我的教学，是出自于内心的感言，又或是想要讨我的欢心。不过，听到她们对于一些老师的评语，我真得想要认真思考一下身为一位教育工作者的态度。

如我之前提过的，学生的明白与掌握，还有课程进度，真的是很难两者兼顾的。很多学生的负面态度，真的是如同一大盘冷水往老师的头上浇，将老师的热忱都磨去了大半。越是资深的老师，越能体会这种心情。初生之犊如我，自然仍是满腔热忱，拥有很多的理想与期望。

最近我在班上给的quiz，学生们都很受落。想要吸引她们对于课业的注意力，的确不是件简单的事。我自掏腰包，准备了很多quiz给她们，减少她们对功课的恐惧，增加她们对于计算的乐趣，再加上“凡得到三个quiz全对就可获得奖品”的诱饵，的确是有其效。

听到学生们给予我正面的评价，当然是振奋我心；虽然所有的准备工作要花很多时间、心思和金钱，但是能够让她们爱上数学，也是一种满足感。

我想，教书其实还是乐趣无穷的。

Life in school

I will need to go to school this Saturday for teaching as there will be replacement for the holiday during Hari Raya.

Well, I think that it is good as I will have more time to finish up what I have to teach =)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Do not have much of private leisure time recently. I am busy with lesson planning and preparation most of the time. Then I do not dare to nap in evening as I am afraid that I might end up imsonia again at night. So I rest a while after I come back from school. Then I will start to do my job.

Usually, without my notice, it is already evening when I completed my job. Then I will spend some time to browse through the daily news on web. And I go to bed when it is about 10.30pm.

Sounds to be a quite healthy lifestyle, right?

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Teaching process goes pretty smooth till now. Students are adorable at times, and also made me fed up at times. The Form 1 class has been scolded for a few times as sometimes they will just be too noisy in the class until I could do nothing but just to yell at them and gave them warning. However, I am glad that they will listen after I scolded them =)

Too many school activities can really be a problem. I have missed four periods for my Form 4 class as the Sports Day and Hari Koperasi. A lot more to catch up and I lost the chance to let them do experiments.

Three weeks left. And my supervisor is coming to evaluate me again on this coming Wednesday. Hope that I can do better this time.

Makan again

It's makan day in school today.

Pn. Yem who has passed her PTK gave all of the teachers a treat on very tasty nasi lemak this morning. Well, pass the PTK means that she will be upgraded in her level and also her pay!!!

Thanks for the treat! It's really so nice to teach in this school =)

Very tasty, still hot nasi lemak with egg, cucumber, sambal and ayam masak merah.

Sports Day

Stadium Petaling Jaya

Students watching performance

The effect of not applying sunblock

*Edited @ 10pm *

I forgot to mention about the silly games that I played today.

Teachers have to take part in the games too. But of course we are not going to run 100m or 1500m. So we just played some funny games.

Game 1:
From the starting point, bounce a basketball to another point. Eat a doughnut there. After finish the doughnut, carry the basketball back to the starting point and pass to the next team member. The team which spends least time will be the winner.

Game 2:
Eat a banana at the starting point, then run to another point. Dig out green beans (which are mixed together with beans of other colours) from a basin that is full of flour with a big spoon. Then, carry the big spoon with the flour and beans back to the starting point. The team with most green beans and spends least time will be the winner.

I was nearly choked to death by the doughnut. It is a big doughnut with about 12cm in diameter. Never hate doughnut that much.

However, won a gift in the first game =) And the students enjoyed watching teachers playing the silly games.

Tuesday

Has been receiving lots of gifts and eating lots of delicacies (mostly cakes) since I came to this school.

Today I got one goodie bag from a teacher whose child is getting married. The Teachers' Club gave her child a present and she gave us goodies bag in return.

(But actually we trainees are not the members of the club! So we are untung to get it =p )

There are scented dry flowers, face towel, chocolate, biscuits and candies in it. All nicely-wrapped. It's really a very special gift.

Hope that the newly-wed will live happily ever after.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

My students are so enthusiastic with the quizzes. Oh! I forgot to mention that I give quizzes in my Form 1 class. Prizes will be given for those who can get three quizzes all correct. For those who show improvement, they will receive prizes too.

After the first simple quiz yesterday, they were so happy this morning when I gave them Quiz 2.

Conclusion: Kids love prizes and encouragement.

After school holiday

Back to school after the holiday. Assembly in the morning is a long one. Many prizes and medals are given to the winners as there were quite a lot of activities and competition during the school holidays.

My lessons went smooth today. Everything can be completed in time. And students were responding well when I was teaching. Hope that the learning atmosphere will be that encouraging and motivating always!!!

p/s: The desktop and LCD projector in lab are functioning well!!! I was just over-worried for a bad dream =p

Happy Teachers' Day

(Left) Students sitting on the floor.
(Right) Cake cutting ceremony by the Penolong Kanans.


Dance performance from the prefects


Presents from the prefects and PRS (Persatuan Rakan Sebaya).

It is interesting to have a teachers' day celebration. I used to be one of the students who were sitting down there under the hot sun to watch the ceremony for teachers' day celebration. But now, I become one the teachers sitting up there watching the students in a ceremony like that.

When seeing the prefects showing a banner with "Happy Teachers' Day" on it, my eyes were moist. Yes, it's 热泪盈眶 kind of feeling.

A song entitled "Guru Penjana Modal Insan Gemilang" is composed for the teachers this year at national level.

(It's a nice song, but just a bit too long for teachers to remember its lyrics =p )

I have started to appreciate better the responsibility and importance of my role.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Next, there is a concert (or performance is a better word) at the school hall.

(Left) The cute hosts
(Right) The students


(Left) Choir
(Right) Drama


(Left) Indian Dance
(Right) Singing by the Chinese Society


Fashion show!!!


(Left) Modern dance
(Right) Dikir Barat

It's a fantastic day. Tired, but had fun.

Holidays coming next. I need to have enough rest while prepare for the lessons after the break. Have to try harder to make my teaching more effective.

Food again!!!

Some pictures I took in school today. Students are having a project regarding food from different cultural. They have the exhibition at anjung and all of the teachers can enjoy the food!!

(Teachers got so many things to eat!!!)

Chinese traditional kuih.


Beautiful peacock, arranged with colored rice.


Indian food.


Malay kuih.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The girls are serious in adding me in friendster and MSN. I have received their friend request in friendster and also chatted with some of them in MSN.

Maybe this is a way to know them better?

Wonderful Thursday

I wore baju kurung to school today. When I passed by my Form 1M class, my students said that, “Cikgu pakai baju kurung hari ini!”, “Cikgu, cantiklah cikgu pakai baju kurung!”…

And I have the students in Form 4J during my relief class saying that, “Teacher, you look good in baju kurung.”

Haha… Girls, thanks for the compliments! Guess that the very broad cutting of baju kurung hide away all my fat and make me look better =p

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Taught the Form 4T girls for the second time. I only have 15 girls in the class, four were absent and another five went for some activities and rehearsal.

Everyone is in holiday mood and some of them eventually yawned many times in the class. However, things become better after some group activities. Think that I should have more activities rather than just showing PowerPoint.

The girls asked for my friendster and MSN. Duh! They will be seeing my funny pics in friendster!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I went back to campus this afternoon to see Prof. Wong as he missed out marking for one session in my evaluation form. Then I talked to him over my problem.

I have three to five students in the Form 1M class who cannot perform simple basic number operations, i.e. the girls have problem to solve “8-5=?” or “6+9=?”

Well, I have to admit that their level is too differing. Most of the Chinese girls in that class have quite strong basic. The Indian girls have average basic understanding. But most of the Malay girls have very weak basic. I will show you a simple summary of my girls’ performance here.

• I have 18 Malay girls. 2 of them passed their mid-year mathematics exam. (Actually I added one mark to one of the girl as she scored 39, less one mark to pass.)
• I have 11 Chinese girls. 9 of them passed. 3 of them scored are the top three scorers.
• I have 6 Indian girls. 3 of them passed.
  

Big trouble, isn’t it?

Prof. Wong said that my class is actually harder to teach as the difference in the girls’ ability is too great. I agree with that as I actually have the dilemma when doing my lesson planning after considering their ability.

It is a great challenge to teach a class with students of differ ability. I cannot go too fast but at the same time I cannot go too slow! I think that I am going to re-teach the integer part after the school holiday as I know that they will sure forget this part after two weeks! But this is an important fundamental skill for the following topics!

How can I make them remember and master the skill?

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Had my posting submitted this afternoon too. The feeling is like… Handing out something that is going to determine your future.

Who knows what is going to happen then?

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Best news of the day.

First, it is Thursday. Tomorrow there will be a belated Teachers’ Day celebration in my school. After that will be TWO WEEKS HOLIDAY!!!

Second, my Geology exam result is released. I scored A =)

矛盾

一个实习老师的教学进度，应该跟着课程纲要进行、根据学生的程度、根据老师的教学计划、还是跟着评估教授的要求，来决定呢？

那班学生今天都很安静，但这不是我要的，我宁愿她们像平时那样活泼，有问题就马上发问，而不是像今天那样，不懂装懂，搞得乱七八糟。

经过两个星期的考试，我之前教过的内容，她们早就忘得一干二净。但是，没有看到之前上课情形的教授，只看到今天一大半学生们的不明白，就认为我的教学目的没有达到，认为我所做的不够。

要在有限的时间里教完课程纲要，按照已经拟定好的教学计划来授课；还是不管时间和课程纲要进度的限制，一直解释到所有的学生都明白为止呢？

难以抉择啊！

悠闲的一天

又是个悠闲的一天 =)

学校里的气氛很不一样，到处都很热闹。大家似乎都已经开始有了假日的心情，学生们都很忙碌、不想上课，都在忙着其它的事情。

一整个早上，学生们都在进行运动会的步操练习。而明天就是课室美化比赛的评选日，学生们都趁着今天作最后的冲刺。

我那班 1M 的学生，今天本来是要继续讨论考卷的，但是她们要进行美化课室的工作，所以我就做个顺水人情，让她们完成手上的工作。

其中一个学生 Nisa ，今天在玩她的计算机。她用计算机按出了我的名字，还很得意的拿给我看，我还真的是受宠若惊。

明天 Prof. Wong 就要来对我的教学进行评估了，我已经事先和我的学生沟通，要她们记得带课本和练习簿。后来, Pn Chuah 又很热心地到我班上通知所有的学生，要她们明天务必要跟我合作，不要胡乱捣蛋。

老实说，其实我也不怎么怕她们会捣蛋，因为我已经摸索出一套“整治”她们的方法，上课的时候都有办法让她们乖乖坐着听课。毕竟她们只是十三岁的小女孩，没有那么叛逆，都还会遵从老师的指示。

无论如何，希望明天一切都会很顺利！


p/s : 天从人愿！今天又有蛋糕哦！是4MPV的学生送来的教师节礼物，好贴心的学生啊！


* 编辑 @ 晚上十点钟 *

教师办公室里面有一块白板，是用来记录当天的代课时间表。每天早上七点多的时候，负责老师 Miss Yee 就会更新当天的代课时间表，所有的老师就会引颈长盼，那感觉就像是彩券开彩一样 =p

在学校四个星期，我代了不少的课，大概一天平均都有一、两节。每天都会看到白板上写着很多 K.K 为代课老师的名字，但是我一直都不知道谁是 K.K 。

今天，再次看到很多 K.K 的出现，终于忍不住问了另外一个老师。

我终于知道了，原来 K.K = Ketua Kelas （班长）。

恍然大悟……

（就这么简单，怎么我这个猪头就是想不起啊？）

Good start

Had my first assembly in school this morning. Actually assembly is quite boring for students. They have to sing four songs in assembly including the national anthem, state anthem, school anthem, and a song named "Keranamu Malaysia".

The girls' discipline is not as good as how I first thought. They will make use of every little chance to chat and create chaos. As my school is located at Bukit Gasing, there are monkeys around the school, especially the area nearer to the forest (i.e. the hall). Some girls noticed a few monkeys this morning during assembly and started to scream. Then the other girls started to make noise even though the monkeys are actually very, very far away from them. The prefects failed to control the condition until Pn. Tan (the GPK HEM) had to shout and scold the students then only the girls calmed down and kept quiet.

People said that "three women equals to one market" (三个女人等于一个巴刹）. I think that explains of why the girls were so noisy during assembly =p

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Went to the Chemistry laboratory to have a look at the set up of desktop and LCD projector there. Spent an hour to fix the things as the lab assistant actually knows nothing much about it. Then the LCD projector isn't fixed properly as it is at a weird angle where students might have difficulties to look at the presentation.

However, the problem is solved after I stood on the table to adjust it manually and fix its position manually with a rope.

(Hope that none of the student saw me while I was standing on the table.)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The students are not as ego as I thought. They enjoyed the PowerPoint presentation and computer simulation. They said that none of their teacher has done teaching in PowerPoint presentation before. So, I am actually the first!

Everything went smooth =) And I actually used less time than expected! Anyway, I just let them did the practice in the class while chit-chatting a bit with them.

It's a good start!

Cakes

YB Dato' Dr Lim Thuang Seng (Bukit Gasing state assemblyman) sent a HUGE cake to our school this morning. He wished all of the teachers a very happy teachers' day. Heard that he sends cakes to every school in his "territory".

(Well, he is really a considerate one.)

(But some teachers commented, "...because it is going to be the next election soon..." )

=p

A very big cake. It occupies the whole table.

This is the biggest cake I have ever seen or eaten in my life. As you can see, the cake actually measured 19" x 33". I think that there are 6 or 7 kgs of it.

Luckily I was in the staff room when the cake was sent in this morning. So I was able to take some pictures of it. Just 20 minutes later when I went back to the staff room again after a visit to the computer lab, the cake has been cut and eaten some of it.

This is the second cake for the week. The first one was bought by Pn. Lim (guru penyelia petang of the school) for teachers' day on Wednesday (however, the school celebration for it will be this coming Friday). Now this cake is the second. I sincerely hope that there will be more cakes coming in next week =p

I welcome all cakes~! Haha...

教师节

时间过得好快，才刚刚觉得星期一很令人讨厌，一下子就已经是星期三了！

又是一个下雨的早晨，撑伞站在路边截德士可真的不是什么愉快的经验。今天还蛮清闲的，只有一堂代课，和一堂数学，学生们还没考完试，我只是进去课室负责监考，老实说，这其实是挺浪费时间的。

去吃早餐的时候，食堂大娘给老师们送上教师节礼物，我原以为是什么蛋糕，打开来才发现是很精致的tarts，能够收到教师节礼物，还真是挺开心的 =) 另外还有老师买了蛋糕在办公室里分享，今天真是吃了好多东西。

现在还是考试周，学校里的教师节庆祝仪式要等到下个星期五才举行，到时候好像有表演之类的，老师们还说好了要穿上青色的衣服，那天应该会很热闹吧！

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

批改了我那班中一学生的数学考卷，四十题选择题，最高分者答对了三十七题，最糟糕的竟然只答对了五题。我原本已为她们的程度应该是中等，但是看到如此悬殊的差距，看来我还真的是有一点高估了这班学生。

明天会批改数学试卷二，我想，应该会更加惨不忍睹吧！幸好我的心脏还算强壮，不然的话，我怕我会无法承受这样的打击……

Daily life

It's bored in school, as I have been reading and making notes of electrochemistry for the whole day. Invigilation of students when they are having exam is even more boring. Sigh... I hope that the exam will last longer (then I will not have to teach!) but at the same time I hope that it will end soon (so that I can have other things to do).

Copying notes from reference book.
The owner does not allow me to have her book photocopied =/


Making holes on objective answer sheet.
I will mark the paper of my Form 1M students tomorrow.

It's batik day. I do not have any batik so I wore baju kurung to school today. Looked so Malay-ish. Actually it is quite convenient as I can walk in big paces and sit whatever pose I want =p But it is quite hot and sometimes I might get tripped down by the long skirt.

Another day is over. Time to continue with my preparation for class teaching.


* Edited @ 11pm *

I sprained my backbone this noon in shower room =(

I heard a clear and loud "crack" while I bent over to clean the toilet bowl.
(Okie... not THAT loud actually. But I just can hear and feel it.)

It's still hurt now, even though I lied on bed to rest and sleep for the evening.

I am aging...

KFC Day

It's Tuesday, and Tuesday is KFC day =)

Pampered myself with a meal from KFC as late lunch with WF, since we have passed the first week of our teaching practice successfully.

Pn. Yeap (one of the school teacher) is so kind and offered us a ride back home just now. She said that actually we should take the initiative to ask the teachers for a free ride since many of them will pass by Jalan Universiti.

Mmm... Indeed I have thought about that before. But... We are new there and do not actually have the chance to know all of the teachers yet.

About my roommates... I back to my room this noon. The room is smelly... Actually it's some very strong smell of jasmine flowers. Maybe it smells nice to some people but I really cannot tahan the smell like that. And I don't know who moved my things in toilet and removed the shower curtain as well. Sigh... I don't think that I can tolerate with all of these.

Well, I went to make an application for room change. I applied to move to Kennice's room since ML has checked out and her place is vacant. The person-in-charge was not in when I went to make the request just now. The other girl asked me to fill in the form first and go again tomorrow.

Hope that my application will be approved.

New roommates

New roommates are here. They are two Indian girls from MAHSA.

Hmm... MC management gives me two Indian roommates. My school has a lot of Indian students. There are quite a lot of Indian teachers in my school too. It seems like I have been meeting a lot of Indians recently.

No offend! No discrimination! This's just a penny of my thought.

I am glad that the people I have met till now are all very nice and friendly.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

An Indian girl in Form 1M told me it's her birthday today when I was about to leave the class. I wished her a happy birthday and she gave me a candy, my favourite Choclairs of Cadbury.

She is just so sweet!!!

It's Friday

I am so happy to announce that, it's Friday =)

There is one interesting thing with the school. There are always interruptions on electricity. It can happen for 3 or 4 times in a day! It is said that the school is old and so there are quite a lot of problems with the facilities and so on.

Photo on right: Staff room without electricity.

Start teaching the Form 1 class today. They are indeed quite weak, but generally they are still okay since they show the willingness to learn.

There are 19 Malay, 10 Chinese and 6 Indian students in the class. Many of them have problem in understanding English. So I have to repeat and explain slowly in very simple language so that they can understand what is being taught.

The girls like to switch places too! Actually there is a seating map of the class and they should sit according to the seats which have been fixed. Pn. Chiam mentioned about this to me before. I told the class that in next lessons, if I ever know who switches her place with another, I will keep calling the girl's name and let her answer all of the questions in that lesson. Hope that this trick will work.

Even though I was told by Pn. Chiam to be strict to them, but that is really not my style. I hope can be a friend or big sister to them. I need more time to know more about them. Hope that they will cooperate with me.

Had a relief class for Form 4T, which I will be teaching them for Chemistry. They had their Biology exam and I was there to invigilate them. When the exam ended and I had collected all of the answer sheets, two girls curiously came to me and asked, "Are you the teacher that will teach us Chemistry?"

"Yes," I nodded. The girls smiled and walked away. They seem to be nice students. I mean everyone of them in Form 1 Mawar and Form 4 Teratai.

Well, I believe that actually there is an angel living inside everyone. If I treat them nicely, sincerely; they will be able to feel that.

I have to work hard, to let them learn in an easier and more effective way.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

There was a teachers' meeting after school. My friends and I were formally introduced to the other teachers. The meeting is about the sport's day, school fees, teachers' club annual fees, exam weeks, teacher's presence in any extra activities, bla bla bla... It lasted for 2 hours from 12.30pm to 2.30pm. Phew~~~ What a tiring meeting...

Actually we the trainees are not really involved in the school activities. But, since we are also part of the school staff, so it is actually better for us to take the initiative to be a part in the school and be ready to contribute if there are things that we can help.

So, I am ready to be given tasks.

(But please don't ask me to dance or perform during teachers' day celebration or sport's day la...)

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Back to MC at 3pm. Went to campus after that to meet my supervisor, Prof. Wong. He bought WF and I drinks when we had a chat at our faculty cafe. Well, he is a nice man, totally different from the impression that he left to me when I took his Linear Algebra last year.

Had a light moment chatting with him regarding our work in school. He had also determined the dates which he will be going to the school to supervise us.

I also went to see my academic advisor (who has actually NEVER advise me anything) to get his signature for some graduation procedures. Then went to the admin office for some paperwork.

Felt extraordinarry-tired after a long day of spending much time in school and walking so much in campus.

TGIF~~~

After a short break

Have been having sleeping problems recently. I am DAMN tired, lay on bed by 12am. But, I just could not fall to sleep.

Am I worried over teaching things? Basically, I am pretty confident with myself in teaching. *a-hem* Teaching Form 1 mathematics should not be a trouble for me since I have done with all of my reading and planning. All I need to do is just to follow what I have planned.

Then why I cannot sleep nicely? Guess that is because of me haven't getting used with my new routine. Well, two days of public holiday after first day of starting new life in school have messed up my life =p

(Ok la... I am lazy and lack of self-discipline actually...)

What have I done in school today? Well, no class for me as Pn. Chuah wanted to have some revision with the class before their exam. I drew my timetables, which are to be submitted to the admin office of the faculty. Then I re-planned (actually just did some amendments) my lesson plans after consulted for Pn. Chiam's opinions.

The day ends smoothly =)

I will start teaching tomorrow. Hope that I can smoothly conduct what I have planned to.