Why I'm Still Not Bored After All These Years

When I first became a teacher, it surprised many of my friends.  I suppose there were different reasons... I wasn't obvious teacher material when I was in school.  I was too much of  a class clown at times, too bookish to front a classroom at other times... but the one person who was most surprised was myself.  The only reason that mattered to me was how I viewed the teaching profession as a boring one.  And I was more easily bored than I should be. 

I wanted to be a journalist with different assignments every time and never the same view to look at (so I supposed).  Unfortunately for me, the year I applied for a course in university was also the year major riots took place in my hometown and my mother was traumatised to see the reporters (and specifically one who was brother to my aunt) getting the best views in between the Federal Reserve Units and the rioters.  1986.. what a year.  Just a year earlier and I could have been a reporter now.  Ah well.  So I said okay, let's just get into a university with minimum trauma to the parental units.  My dad would've been 'traumatised' by my mum's drama if I had just steamrollered over her objections. 

I gave myself two years to work in a school before abdicating.  But before I realised it, it's been 24 years.  Have I been bored?  No.  Stressed?  Traumatised?  Amused?  Shocked?  Exasperated?  Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.  And more.

Shockingly there was much for me to find fascinating in school.  Besides the students and the multifarious ways their minds could twist and warp, school offered unlimited options for fun and discovery.  Of course I had to find these fun 'projects' myself.  One year, it was scuba diving lessons (teachers and students get discounts!).  Another year, it was weeks spent in various environmentally-amazing and refreshing spots like Batu Niah, Langkawi and Port Dickson.  Another time it was debate sessions in various towns and cities (for both students and teachers).  And that was just when I was a teacher in school.  Not counting the nine years I was in the administrative departments.

And still I meet colleagues who think it is boring.  Well, it wouldn't be boring if you looked for projects to do.  Even if just to put a fresh spin on the day.

So what am I doing now?  Last week, I came across a really fascinating singer on YouTube called Dimash Kudaibergen.  Besides his unique vocals, unusual ways of interpreting songs and an incredible ability to touch people's hearts via songs they don't understand, he also chose wonderful songstories to breathe life into. Okay, that sounded snarky but I'm serious about the way his singing could pull you in and make you laugh or cry. 

Part of my arsenal as an English language teacher is the bringing of stories into my classes.  My young students (fresh escapees from Form Five) usually need lots of input about the 'world out there'.  And also the world within their souls.  The easiest way to expose them to such things is to bring new stories into their classroom, preferably presented in an appealing package.  Happily for me, Dimash is a very appealing package.  Only 23 years of age, he looks like one of those Korean stars who are so important to my students. From the Chinese program 'The Singer 2017' alone, I have already identified five different stories to bring into my classes.

1. Culture Conflict (Song : Late Autumn)

2. Broken Promises (Song : Daididau) - although it turned out his wife hadn't really left him
3. Despair (Song : SOS d'un terrien en detresse)
4. How A Child Feels About Loss of Parents (Song : Daybreak)

5. Our Weeping Earth (Earth Song)

At the very least, I will have opened my students' eyes to opera (in small doses), songs in Mandarin, Kazakh, French, English... and of course, gorgeous and crazily-talented Dimash.