Oxymoron In The Tropics

I learned early how to excel at something.  I just needed to do it over and over and over again until others have given up and until I know it better than anybody else in the vicinity.  The only thing I had to overcome was my tendency to get bored fast.  So I also learned to short-circuit this tendency by switching focus to other things but things that are still related to that something I wanted to excel at.  For example, in university, I had to master Lewis structures.  After a few dots and dashes, it got a bit boring.  So I diverged into finding out who Gilbert Lewis was and where he lived and why he came up with these structures (and who came up with dot diagrams)... well, you get the picture.  I went to the library (no Internet in my day) and borrowed books that had nothing to do with my upcoming exams.  None of my friends wanted to study with me.  But I understood Lewis structures a shade better than my other course-mates.  Altho...

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 rep...

When I first started teaching Form Six students many eons ago, the only things on my mind were finishing the syllabus (I was teaching Literature, besides English Language) and polishing their abilities to retain information, organise information into the form required by the question and present the info in an academic fashion.  However now, things have changed.  Not only do I have to scrabble my way along the minefield of today's schools (mines that begin with e- or online-), I also find myself having to deal with social pitfalls.  Not MY social pitfalls,  THEIRS. And one of the most interesting is their chosen email addresses.  Yeah well, let's deal with one social pitfall at one time.   One of the ways I make sure my MUET students at the very least know how to attach a document to their email is by asking them to send me their homework via email.  I do this because I want to ensure that they arrive at university campuses with rudimentary knowle...

I am moving workplaces again :) Last Friday I received a letter calling me to a briefing for Form Six Academic Teacher placements.  My whole day perked up.  Would I finally be able to go back to school?  The word 'promotion' was also in the title so that made things a bit more shiny and bright and sparkling.  At this point, I am tempted to use the synonyms 'dazzling', 'gleaming', 'radiant', 'resplendent' and  'CORUSCATING' but that may be overkill. Anyway I went for the briefing last Monday and HOORAY I'M POSTED BACK TO SCHOOL! The strange thing was that after nearly three years at the PPD, I finally accepted my fate.  In December, I began planning for 2012.  I had BIG plans.  BIG programs.  All of a sudden, I have to abandon all those plans.  It's so ironic that the moment I stop hoping for something, it happens.  But perhaps there is a lesson for me to learn here :)   

One big hassle for teachers is homework.  They have to plan it, hand it out, chase after it and in some cases, get really worked up over it.  Well, they don't HAVE to get worked up over it but then that would mean that they just don't care about it.  Tough choices. However, the fact remains that homework is one of the most important tools for a student to master a topic.  For an English teacher, homework is about the only way for her to get students to finish an essay or a project involving more than 300 words.  For a Math teacher, homework is the only way she can get students to acquire skills in solving math problems. As a student, I used to have to do around ten to twenty sums for every sub-topic before I could reach that oh-so-sweet level of ' looking at a problem and instantly knowing the solution '.  I was definitely a product of constant slogging.  I have a few colleagues who religiously keep a log of their students' homework.  It is no...

FFacebook poses a special problem for teachers... from my point of view.  The advantages are many and multifarious but so are the diadvantages. As usual, the most nagging headache would be TMI or in full, Too Much Information.  Especially information about personal things.  Information is always good unless interpreted in a way not expected or not wanted.  As a teacher, I most especially do NOT want this, when it comes to students. Allow me to illustrate.  And I shall use the example best known to myself : Me. By default, I tend to be relaxed, sometimes flippant, almost jolly most times :).  But I knew I couldn't be 'relaxed, flippant, jolly' at work.  It was practically an imperative at my first posting : SM La Salle.  The boys in La Salle were a motley bunch; mostly rambunctious, mostly interested in earning some certification but mostly in need of rigid supervision and monitoring.  You can't monitor boys very effectively with only sm...

Or should I call them survival skills? Skill No. 1 : How To Be A Team Player The school organisation is like wheels in a cog, fitted together, sometimes well, sometimes awkwardly.  But STILL fitted together.  Those who aren't team players will find themselves facing hard times.  They'll still get on... but not as easily as when they take the team into consideration. Skill No. 2 : How To Identify Team Leaders In The Staffroom Every school staffroom has leaders.  They could be the Loud Busybody or the Strong Silent GC or the Smiley I-Love-Everybody Gossip.  They could be the principal's first cousin or the Education Director's wife.  But usually what they say goes.  And it tends to go a long way.  Getting on these people's good side is usually the smarter thing to do.  Unless you really have no choice.  Then I wish you luck. Skill No. 3 : How To Identify Clique Leaders In The Classroom In any group of people, there will be the followers and there will be the leade...

Frightening to be a teacher?  Sounds laughable, right?  But I do feel fear when I am in school as a teacher or an administrator.  Some people would call me paranoid but I think it is better to be paranoid than to be in a dock in some courtroom or at a hospital bedside some place. Let me twist a Robbie Burns poem How do I fear thee (O' burden of a teacher)? Let me count the ways... 1. In Loco Parentis In English, that means 'in the place of a parent'.  In legal terms, that means a teacher is expected to be as responsible as a parent for the safety of his or her students while they are within the school grounds or under his or her care.  And they may be liable in the same way a parent would be, where the law is concerned. I attended a course by an IAB lecturer way back in 2000 and listened in horror as she detailed the many different ways I could've been in trouble with regard to the way I dealt with students.  If a rock falls on a student within ...

As a teacher, I have had many memorable experiences but one of the most fascinating has got to be observing my colleagues from other states as they deal with their first days in Sabah. Born and bred in Sabah, I never really had much reason or opportunity to question what sort of image Sabah presented to the outside world (which includes other states in Malaysia) until I went to university in Kuala Lumpur.  And, of course, when I began working as a teacher. My first inkling of how 'scary' Sabah can be to outsiders came during my third year in university.  I had coursemates who quickly got married ... it was the first time I had ever heard of 'nikah gantung'.  Apparently, they could get married but it was a sort of 'marriage on hold' (if such a thing exists..).  What mattered was that they could get a marriage certificate that would help 'save' them from the jungles of Sabah and Sarawak.  Then, during the briefing I attended to receive my first posti...

A junior teacher once asked me... what should she focus on in school? She was finding the multitasking a bit wearing and she was losing focus. She found herself deep in typing worksheets, analyzing numbers, preparing powerpoints and she instinctively felt that she was going the wrong way. She was lucky because she asked a senior teacher. I didn't ask... and I only figured out the answer for myself after about four years of teaching. To give you an idea of how busy I was, just picture a cat running around after its tail...LOL... Anyway, this is what I told her : A teacher's most important duty is to make the student hunger and thirst for knowledge badly enough that they will take charge of their own learning. Not to finish the syllabus or textbook chapters Not to prepare and grade test papers... Not to sit in class and make sure everyone is doing something. And most definitely NOT to condemn a child for his disinterest in his books. I have a secret to share : when a colleag...

What breaks my heart every time it happens is watching a student fail to continue his or her studies because of financial barriers. I have lost count of the times I have personally witnessed a student do well in exams but cannot continue because of money problems.  C was one of the top three students in a previous STPM exam.  She could've easily got a place in university but for reasons known only to her, she chose to help her family in their shop.  Q was in the top TWO in his school in an SPM exam.... but family pressures and financial obligations steered him away from a confirmed place in matriculation.  Now I do not know where he is. J was the TOP student in a school.... but because his father didn't live up to his responsibility as a parent, J dropped out of school. I cry inside when I see these things happening for I know education is their best route to a brighter future.  I feel so so SO frustrated because if it is not their own family that 'drags' them down,...

Last weekend, I met some old friends who talked of the problem of undergrads who 'outsource' their assignments.  They said it was difficult to get these students to understand the importance of doing their own work.  Then we segued into the topic of degrees, universities and rankings.    I used to wonder why a degree was such a big deal.  Does a period of four (or three) years in an institution really make you a person fit for employment and induction into the officer & managerial ranks?  Can a certificate encapsulate your skills, talents and potential?? But by this 'ripe old age', I have learned what a degree represents to potential employers.  First of all, that cert testifies to a certain capacity to withstand stress while having the discipline, patience & sheer tenacity to see a course of study to its fruitful end. Second, it attests to the ability to collect data, analyse the collection of data and distill a year's worth of research &reading i...

Teaching English in Sabah, Malaysia is a major challenge. If only because some of the students won't open their mouths and say a single word in English. When you ask why, they grin shyly and say," Malu ..." (I'm too shy...) There are also contemporaries who make fun of them if they speak English or worse, accuse them of showing off. So how does an English teacher break the vocal ice? Well, if you're creative and you're open to all sorts of ideas... there's PLENTY you can do! Exempli Gratia.. a) Make them pronounce the words or phrases displayed on the whiteboard or flash cards. b) Read! Poems, articles, speeches, ads, labels...whatever! c) Do jazz-chants. d) Sing karaoke songs! e) Do choral speaking in class. f) Tell stories in relays (e.g. story chains) And here is one lesson I carried out with my Form Sixes : I presented one poem by Edwin Morgan in class (with a reasonably solemn face) and after the class had recovered their composure, I mad...

And the best way to learn this is by getting involved in debating!  Yeah, I'm a bit of a debate fan...:P  Some call me a fanatic.  Fan, fanatic, what's the difference..only four letters..heh heh heh... I always tell my students that the most important skill in life for them is the ability to speak because it is through speaking that you convey information, opinions, ideas, arguments... in fact, it is through speaking that you show people WHO YOU ARE.  Some people say the window through the soul is the eyes...yes, that is true but most people only get to 'see' your eyes after they have heard your voice. For teachers, their speaking is integral to their job specification for how can they convey information and elicit response if they cannot speak?  I am sure there are people out there who are unable to speak but are still able to teach...however, these are very rare cases and these teachers are probably very exceptional people working in very small groups with special...

Today I was on the phone, calling up English teachers I knew (and didn't know!) to help out during an international event in my city. It wasn't a difficult task for the teachers...all they had to do was become tour guides to Kota Kinabalu. Qualification? Ability to speak English well, cheerful personality and proactive mindset. It wasn't the first time I've been asked to get English teachers together to do something not related to English teaching. English teachers tend to have a reputation for being willing to do all sorts of stuff (er...can I read that as being creative?) and bundling in lots of loud laughter in the process of doing the job. I've noticed that TESL grads are extremely marketable in my part of the world. Quite a number of my TESL buddies have 'abandoned' the MOE in search of greener pastures elsewhere. One even found an employer willing to pay off her substantial bond to the government! A corporate friend of mine told me that these gr...

I was reading a friend's blog post where he expressed his frustration with teachers who just didn't care. It is sad to meet such teachers as actually they are suffering inside.  Either they have forgotten the magic of teaching and seeing the light of knowledge in their students' eyes or they never really knew that magic at all.  But then why are they in the teaching world at all?  Teaching is a VOCATION, which means it is a career you are called to.  Something you have a need to do, a strong inclination towards.  For me, to teach is life.  I MUST teach, I NEED to teach...otherwise I feel dead inside.  When I teach something new and a student says,"Oh wow...I didn't know that...", my day is made.  If I teach and I see a bored expression on a student's face, I cannot rest until I find out why that student is bored and how to dispel that look.  If you are a teacher and you're reading this and you do not understand, then you should ask yourself why on ea...

However the heat has merely shifted to English Language... Published: Wednesday July 8, 2009 MYT 2:42:00 PM Updated: Wednesday July 8, 2009 MYT 3:55:24 PM Math and Science back to Bahasa, mother tongues (Update) KUALA LUMPUR: The Cabinet has decided that the medium of instruction for Maths and Science will revert to Bahasa Malaysia in national schools and mother-tongue languages in national-type schools from 2012 onwards. The reversal of the Teaching of Math and Science in English (PPSMI) policy will be done in stages, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said on Wednesday. He however added that there will be greater emphasis on learning the English language. English literature will be re-introduced, as will subjects on grammar and composition. Beginning 2012, students in Year One and Year Four in primary schools, and Form One and Form Four in secondary schools, will learn Math and Science in Bahasa Malaysia. The change will not affect those in Form Six and...

Well, they did it. Wednesday July 8, 2009 Mathematics and Science to be taught in BM, vernacular languages The Cabinet decided on Wednesday that Mathematics and Science will be taught in Bahasa Malaysia and vernacular languages in stages from 2012 onwards. Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who announced this, however, said more emphasis would be placed on learning English. Follow the announcements on Twitter It's a pity, actually...as I've always found it easier to learn Science in English.  In university, I used to buy my Chemistry, Physics and Biology books in English so I could understand the concepts faster before attempting to answer the questions in Malay. We are all at the mercy of our politicos.

In today's News Straits Times... KUALA LUMPUR: The Education Ministry wants to hear from disgruntled teachers. They have been asked to submit their complaints to the ministry through their respective unions. Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said during his meeting with various teaching unions last Friday, among the issues raised were the improvement of the teaching profession and the welfare of teachers. "It was a very cordial meeting. I have suggested that they submit their views formally and from time to time we will look into them as we want to see those in the profession not only honourable but happy." Muhyiddin, who is also the deputy prime minister, said this after a visit to the Education Ministry's educational technology division at Bukit Kiara yesterday. The visit was to find out the progress in the use of Information Communications Technology (ICT) in the education system. Teachers have long complained about their heavy workload,...

I was discussing career paths with old friends and we realized that with all the new changes in the Ministry of Education, the old ways of thinking of our work and the old preconceptions about places of work (insiders know what I'm talking about) don't apply anymore. Teachers can decide to work towards becoming administrators or academic Form 6 teachers or Teaching Institute lecturers or time-based teachers or even joining the department and ministry divisions. There's no place that is 'better' than the others because there are so many new posts now. More opportunities...although, frankly speaking, the schools have MORE posts...if only because there are so many more schools than institutes or offices. Now that I've been dragged (literally!) into the PPD, I have to be more on my toes about this... PPDs don't have many posts up for grabs :( Last year, I filled in the application for the DG48 Form 6 academic teacher post. That would mean leaving admin and go...