:: teach ::

I took the wrong bus home from tuition.
Hey, its not a surprise coming from someone who could lose her laptop on a bus-stop seat.
Thankfully Singapore is small. I find my way home, safely and crankier.
Pissed for not making use of the two classes of license that I had. Heck, if only dad can show more generosity for his pampered daughter.
Fine.
He is punishing me for not saving up during my 'richer' days.
I'd say I am trying, real hard.

I enjoy my Sundays.
Being in the company of chatty children and inquisitive minds.
Posing questions like 'Does a komodo dragon lives in Antartica?'
Err. Thank god this well-read science fiction boy saved me and started explaining to the class about komodo dragons.
Yes, we teachers can never know enough.



Beginning teachers, don't be disheartened if you have put in so much effort preparing materials that you think will arouse their interest and ended up getting the opposite response of what you expected.
Truth is our kids have so many stories to tell yet our culture does not really provide opportunities for them to vocalize their thoughts.
Honestly, it can get exasperating. Receiving responses like, 'Boring r cher.' 'Ok r cher, the article' and even 'Cher, so lame man'.
An inspirational story told by a 14 yr old girl who decides to commit suicide and then changes her views on life totally after seeing her classmate dying of brain tumor equates to LAME?
An observation judging by their reactions are that the boys tend to not show their 'emotional' side, lest not wanting to be engaged in discussions that require more of EQ than IQ.
The girls, however, are so shy when it comes to expressing their thoughts that its impossible to get an effective discussion going on in a class.

Thankfully, this Sec.1 boy started the ball rolling. He is a delinquent. Period. Recounted stories of his detention classes, getting thrown out of classes for forgetting to bring books. And its a wonder these type of kids are pretty much more mature in their thinking. Thus, I was surprised that this 'delinquent' actually bothered to respond to the readings I gave them today.

To which he wrote. The original (uncorrected) version.
"My understanding for the passage is don't thing about going to jump. It is a very bad thing and a silly thing to do. Always look at others live and not look at your own if you are thinking of going to suicide. Why not look at other who has cancer and others which can lead them to death and they wanted to live also cannot. So always think of the positive, dont think of the negative."
(It sounds very ah-beng-ish. With quite a number of grammatical errors. But it impresses me still, especially coming from a delinquent who keep complaining of the insurmountable load of work)

I got other equally good responses.
They are aware where this stress are coming from.
Expectations from parents, teachers and even within themselves.
It's horrifying to see what these kids are going through.
At our age then, school had been pretty much a breeze.
I can't recall being sent to 4 different tuition centers. Neither could I recall being occupied with revisions and practicing assessment books.
I still had time to play catching. Climb the monkey-bar and waving at my mother.

But how much can we contribute to this generation that we are responsible for?
At the back of my mind, I figured for now, this is the best I could provide.
A white space time. When they can vent, reflect and ponder on things that have been overlooked its importance. Simply living life as a kid. Not an automatic robot completing a routine in a context of school.
Afterall, the best lessons in life come from experience ain't it.

And I'm brought back to the real reason I looked forward to my Sundays.
I, too learn, a lesson. From the kids.
'I can never know everything.' :)