Day In, Day Out

On the last observation, my supervisor commented that I have a 'manja' personality. Today was a little bit different. He said: 'Anis, you're adventurous.' And as usual I replied: 'What do you mean by adventurous, Sir?' 'Yeah. Adventurous. You did things other practical teachers will never do.' I responded: 'Is it good, Sir?' Then he replied: 'Yes, it is. Your students will miss you when you're gone.' Ouch. My students, they made a pinky promise today but they broke it. Pinky promise (~_~). It is them who introduces me to that adjectival phrase.

Today, my school had a public speaking competition. Sitting on the audience chair brought me to reminisce days when I wasn't the audience but one of the participants. Everything began when I was in standard 2. It started with story-telling competitions. Mom is my biggest fan. She sews my costumes for every contest which I am in. When I was 8, I used to have a crow costume when I was telling stories on a crow and a witch's broom when I was telling stories on witches. All thanks go to my Omie. Then I get older and story-telling isn't made for me anymore. So I involved in public speaking competitions. My journey as a participant wasn't easy. At the age of 10, I began writing my scripts. When I was 10, Google didnt do a good job alike today so I spent damn lot of time reading and mapping points. I used to envy my friends who are daughters of teachers because they always got their parents to do their scripts. I had to crack my head, worked extremely hard but the winner w...

There was a softball friendly match in my school today. It was between my school and a good softball team from a nearby school. I saw my students (the girls) pitching and catching balls since 3.30pm. Yes, since 3.30 and the game might end around 6. Under the hot sun, they practised very hard. The weather was not an obstacle for them to give their very best. I was stunned. I was once a student and I was once an athelete but to have games around that time were next to horrible. I was sitting somewhere under a roof observing my students when a question hit me. What's the point of this? What's the point of having students bathing under the sun for the sake of ...?  Are schools manipulating students? Are schools using students to get extra money to furnish their schools? Hurm. If it is for students' health and stamina, we can have students having their matches at 5 when the weather is kind but not at 3. If it is for students' future, comeon, this is not a sport schoo...

Weehoooooooooo See you in JayBee this end of May ;)

Last Wednesday my lecturer as usual came to observe my teaching. It was good and I kind of predicted his comments. So nothing shocked me but a simple sentence not about my teaching but about me. 'Anis (he calls me that name.dont know why), you have a weird personality.' I was like gulp. Weird? Heloooo. I am not weird. Then he expanded: 'You can change your personality like in a blink of an eye.' And I was like whattt. Change in a blink of an eye? Helooooo. I am not an actress. Oh okay. Just ignore the look. People always have mistaken me as an actress by the way I look. Ahaks. Ok itu poyo. Then he continued: 'Are you the youngest of your family?' Only then I replied him: 'No sir. Im the eldest but mom says I never act like the eldest.' He continued: 'Yes. I can see it from your teaching. You've that 'manja' personality but not in a 'mengada-ngada' sense. It's just when I see you teaching I know you're the 'man...

Me: Is X the last person to submit my homework? Sts: Yessssss 5 minutes after that, 2 boys walking towards me and handed my homework. Me: (try to make a cunning laugh by producing the most annoying sound) Sts: Why do you make that sound Miss? Me: Erm maybe because I think I am cute with the sound. Sts: (burst into laugh) Btw, I believe that I have the right to say it out loud that I am cute. Ahaks.

It feels extremely good to lay on your bed. Being on my precious bed and having no one around enable me to reflect. Yeah, it may sound a little bit too academic to say that Im reflecting now but that is exactly what Im doing since this morning. And to be honest, Im having bundles of fun! Looking back to past weeks, I realise that Ive been doing a lot and applying a number of teaching approaches and strategies which I believe suit the learners well. I teach them the way I want my teacher to teach me, deal with them the way I wish my teacher deals with me and help them the way I hope to be helped when I was in school. To be honest, I want to give them world. They are motivated students who are eager to learn. However, I am just a practical teacher who just start realising the fact that it is not solely about getting a good TESL degree but it is the matter of how much you're willing to give your best and sacrifice your time, energy and money for your students. The best example o...