Sabah bah

Recently, I had a friend (who is also a junior in my TESL programme in UPSI) who was very enthusiastic about coming over to Sabah. Apparently, she wants to venture to another place and really loves the idea of living by the ocean i.e. Sempoerna. I think it's really good to hear that there are other people who are very enthusiastic coming into the battle.

Watch out! Orange power a comin'

Not just a fellow teacher... an English teacher. Aren't you welcome!! Besides Kota Kinabalu (which I still don't believe is flooded with English teachers) the entire state of Sabah or the entire country is in need of your power. Your caped crusading antics (I heard, she loves an orange cape) are all needed in this part of the world. Don't just swoosh in and leave an orange trail.

Help them realise their potentials.

I really like it that she's not just enthusiastic but apparently going against the wanted path by her folks. Talk about taking the road less traveled by.. (Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken). It takes a lot of guts and rebelliousness to take a whole new step in life.

I know some of those people who have been there and done that are looking at this and going,

Ah... young blood; always fiery and hot blooded at first.

Well, so what? Aren't we all supposed to be like that? What makes this even more necessary is that we want this to keep on as long as possible. We shouldn't snuff out this fire burning in this individual trying to go far and wide. It's all about passion. The driving cataclysmic emotion is important. Especially when you're young (including myself) you need this type of burning effect in your mind. Don't let the blue waves hit your beach just yet. Let the Krakatoa sink the island first, an isle will soon emerge with paradise right in the middle.

A mission.

If you're coming to Sabah with a mission in your head, I foresee great changes around you. In fact, I would love to say that the word changes undermines the true meaning of a situation that will definitely happen for your students when you start stampeding through; and that word is progress. We are not interested in change if you're just going to let the leaves wither around you as you walk. We invite people who are bold enough to step forward, claim that they will make a change, and indeed take the arduous steps to enforce those changes. The Martin Luther Kings and the Nelson Mendelas who take hold no prisoners in their believe that it takes just one person to flip the entire book of history...

... OK, maybe it isn't that dramatic.

But..

For those about to take such bold steps, it's important to realise that this is a step that you must choose without regret. There is no point taking this wonderful first step and then not willing to go through all the way. I will say this that any step you take after the first step is not as easy as they claim to be. Probably after many years, you might get used to many things but at the beginning, it's going to take some toll out of you. It's not meant to shut you down. It's meant to poke on your burning flame. You're supposed to burn it right back.

I welcome such fire.

Sabah bah.

THE TOP TEN LIST!!!

There's something about presentations that scare the hell out of people. I think the fact that you're in front, especially if a teacher is watching and analysing every movement of yours makes one person babble the funniest things.

THE TOP TEN LIST OF THE FUNNIEST THINGS KIDS TALK ABOUT TRAVELLING

10. I want to go to see the Dubai in India.
  
9. Student A: I want to see the many animal species in Africa.
    Student B: How many species there at Africa?
    Student A: 20 000
    Me: *Gasp. Hmmm... I don't think so... but I think he wanted to ask how many species do YOU tend to see there?
    Student A: Oh... 2000

8. I want to go to Australia. What I want to do there is to can touch the water.

7. I want to go to Mount Everest in India.

6. Hmmm.. Haha... Hmmmm... hahaha... Hmmmm.. hahaha... I want... I don't know

5. We go to the seafood restaurant in Tanjung Aru. We spend about RM1500.

4. We went to the India factory to buy the original saree. Is RM25.

3. The best is go to Japan and take plane to Horishima.

2. That Japan we arrive, then we take a boat to the city.

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...and...

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#1
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1. In Japan, we go to the musuem to see the animals. EH!!! No... zoo ka?

*insert big band jazzy ending with lots of elephants trumpeting

A picture paints more than a thousand words

I'm surprised.

Hmmm

I'm very surprised.

Hmmm Hmmm

Ghastly.

Yes sir.

Shocked.

Indeed sir.

... sorry. Just had to say a couple of modified lines from the Gulp and Gasp drama in the form 4 literature component.

The reason why I mentioned those words was because I realised that my students who are born and bred here in the beautiful land of Sabah are not as Sabahan as I thought they were. I mean, of course they are Sabahans but I realised that most of them... no, no, A LOT of them have not been to the places that I have since I arrived here to teach English.

When I talked about the beautiful island of Mabul and Kapaalai, they were in awe and bespectacled by the pictures and images that I show them. When I talk about the hot springs and canopy walks in Poring, they listen attentively as though I was talking about a journey to Phuket. Seriously, though these kids might be citizens here, I feel slightly more patriotic than them about Sabah. I guess that's kinda weird but not completely surprising.

 A picture is definitely worth more than just a thousand words

Anyway, as the person who has been to those places, I thought I'd share with them the pictures of the places that I've been to in Sabah. I told them to pretend to be promoters of these places. In fact, I told them about how the people who are tourist guides and trekkers were pretty eloquent in communicating in English even if they were very lowly educated formally (I have to say formally because being educated is such a relative term).

They have to know that being highly educated is not the due credit to become proficient in anything at all. It is not entirely dependable on the things you do in class that lead towards the improvement of English. It is the embodiment of your entire commitment to embracing the need and desire to learn the language that makes you move forward. I'm not kidding here when I say, if you only want to learn English in the classroom and expect it to make you improve without any other form of experiential learning; there is very little future ahead of you.

He huffed and he puffed and he blew the cot down

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ran8ZgE7uT0&feature=related

Sorry for not being able to post the video here... I'm honestly quite lazy to figure out the HTML needed to post the video. Anyway, let's not make this about me.

Just a couple of days ago (I know this is old news) I went to search for this purported (confirmed true now) video about a 2 year old toddler smoking packs like my uncle who has been smoking for the past 40 years.

2 year old toddler. That's right. Just in case you didn't take me seriously.

I mean, as a teacher, reading this sort of news, watching the video of the baby puffing Dunhills like it was a pacifier really makes me feel wrong. That's right, there's no other word to describe the feeling when I was watching the video. It was just wrong.

Just which part of the toddlers upbringing included cigarette training? Did the parents send him to cigarette training school? Did they look at him and say:

Oh look, he's crying. Give him a ciggy.

Oh look, he's tired of his toys. Give him a ciggy.

Oh look! He said papa! Give him a ciggy.

Oh look! He laughed when I peek-a-booed him! Give him a ciggy.

Something is imbecilic and perverted in the minds of those who educated him that way.
 
The people who caused his addiction or neglected in forms of inaction should be given some sort of punishment. 

2nd Semester, 3 Goals

It's been quite a while since I've posted anything in the blog or in my Facebook account. I guess being back in Ipoh really reverts me back to my old self where I don't even bother socialising virtually because I don't find the need to do that back home in good old Old Town Original Kopitiam.

This really reminds me of the need to utilise the internet facility back in Kinabatangan to the fullest. I really feel that the internet is an escape from the ongoing conditions of a non-English-speaking society in that area. Don't get me wrong; Sabah/Sandakan is a completely different place - I get to speak English almost everyday with the people I mix with. The tennis players and the social circle back in Sandakan is well-versed in English and the community there is similar to what I can find here in Ipoh. Besides, it's just about an hour away from good ol' Kinabatangan.

However, I must not forget my initial goal of staying in Kinabatangan. For sure the area is not English speaking primarily or secondarily; my goal is to create a schooling environment that forces/encourages/persuades (I personally like the last word) my students to learn English. The beginning of the second semester is the starting point. The second semester is the time where I cannot say:

I'm still trying to settle down. I'm still not sure about my own welfare yet.

I'm already settled down (I would like to believe so anyway). It's time to take some drastic actions now. I'm sure I'll face resistance and troubles from students or administrators as well. I'm sure enforcing English and nearly pushing aside their native tongue will come with significant resistance. It isn't just going to be a short NO or Cikgu, lebih baik jangan la ya... susah kalau buat begitu. It might be silent negligence or evasion from taking action (which to me is worse).

I have drawn out 3 main plans for my vision in that school. Being as realistic as I can (cause my girlfriend says I'm too idealistic), I figured that if I can get these 3 things going in the 2nd semester, I'll be pretty darn happy with myself.


Here are the 3 ongoing plans in my head right now:

My form 4 class is English Speaking Only. This is also extended to the 1st form 1 class that I teach too.
I told this to my form 4 class that I'll enforce penalty systems (monetary) and I'll make the class an English Speaking Only Zone (ESOZ) whenever I'm around. In fact, for the class that I'm holding, I become and ESO  teacher with monetary penalties that I see fit. They agreed to it - very encouragingly in fact because they never had anyone enforce such strict English Speaking rules to them before. They seem to be interested and afraid but most of them seem positive about this new amendment. I'm not going to back down on this one. We'll see how they rise up to the challenge. I hope it's not just warm chicken shit (translated from the famous Malay proverb).

English School Song
Of course this is going to be really difficult. I'm not going to change the melody nor the minus one because I don't have the facilities to record a new song altogether. I'll just think of a way to translate the old Malay song into an English one or rewrite the entire school song altogether in an English version. I feel that since the students are being forced to sing songs everyday in the assembly, getting one English song in there would be of great change (notice how I say change and not improvement; I'm not sure of its eventual effect). Also, I realised that in Ipoh, the good schools that are English speaking primarily all have English school songs. This brings up the question of: Did they have an English song because they are using English as their main medium of instruction or did they force this whole English school song to signify that they want to become English medium primarily? Either way, I feel that an English song would be fresh and LIFE CHANGING for all of the students.

 Form 1 Future Debating Team
Lets face it. The form 4s and 5s are alright but not that promising if they are sent to tournaments. I can't expect the school to dump out money as well for a team that I cannot promise any achievement at all as well. It's difficult to teach old dogs new tricks and although many of them are high in spirit, time is just against their interests. I'm really sorry as their teacher for saying such demotivating things to them but I'm trying to be realistic. If they wanna join as their own personal enrichment, I fully encourage them to do so; future tournaments in 1 or 2 years time, I'm banking on the younger generation. Train them for a year or 2, and send them to tournaments when they are in form 4 or so. (of course, the new form 1s that come in next year will be enrolled the same way. Pelapis (new blood) is important.)

My form 1 class is showing very good potential in speaking and forcing themselves to use English. I think due to their young age, acceptance to forced change is easier because they are more disciplined and are probably afraid of my stern-tiger-eyes. Anyway, as a reward for their excellent responses, I want to take 3-6 students out from that class and isolate them for hardcore debating practices. I don't care if they like it or not or see any future in their own life, this is my judgment as their teacher on what will help them become more competitive later on. Hopefully, this will spawn an elite English speaking group that is envied, revered, and sought after by all students who aspire to be good in English for a reason. That's right, if their society does not show them a clear example of when, where, and provide a platform for using English; Sir Adrian Tan will show them the yellow brick road.



 

Breaking it down

How is Sabah?

That's the typical question that they ask me when I get back to Ipoh. I don't really know how to answer the question because there are many aspects of the place (which I assume that they're asking about my teaching career here as well) that are too different to be chunked into one definitive answer.

Being the typical cynic, I always give an answer which doesn't directly answer the question but in turn questions back the person asking the question. I know who you are and I'm sorry. I don't mean to evade the question. I'll try to break down the answers here as much as possible.

Kinabatangan
Your typical semi-rural area. Not really a down-and-out place but just quiet enough to make you want to get out of it occasionally to let loose. The place has nothing interesting besides nature sites which you have to drive for a couple of hours to reach. Small town, definitely livable and comfortable if you don't plan to live in your typical 'terrace house' or don't plan to do anything but play sports all day (sports facilities that I go to are all free of charge: tennis, badminton, volleyball, soccer. Futsal is not free by the way). My place is a really low populated area which means you can get anywhere comfortably with a bike. Also, being a small place, everyone knows everyone. Even if you don't know their names, you know their designated positions in the area:
1. The Electrician
2. The Rich dude.
3. The Pirate
4. The teachers/PPD fellas
5. The Restaurant Fella
6. The Boss
7. The Samseng
8. The Nice Aunty
9. The Nice Uncle.

The list goes on, but you get the idea. Living there is OK I guess, if you're the kinda guy that can tolerate lesser standards and don't mind having NO entertainment besides sports and what you can get in your own home, Kinabatangan is a fine place to be. In fact, being the new guy there, everyone gets a little bit excited about you. Really.

Job
Nothing surprising. Nothing in the system can catch you off guard anymore. I'm not surprised by the lack-there-offs or the red-tape that comes with the job. I'm also not surprised by the level of education in the area or the one or two EXCELLENT students you can get  from such a place. In fact, I think the only thing that surprises me is the size of the school I'm working at vis a vis the size of the place surrounding it. Generally, the people there (colleagues and staffs) are very nice people. There are of course a select few that you wish you could burn alive but nothing surprising. I'm sure you find these sort of bums wherever you land in. The teaching aspect... hmmm... it's kinda challenging because I feel my TESL course is a little bit irrelevant most of the time. I feel that in most of the classes, a TEFL student would really feel comfortable because that's what it is most of the time... foreign.
But... don't let that get into your head. Being a teacher is challenging regardless of the type of challenges you're facing. You'll just trade off one for another so might as well be happy with what you are given. Just remember that whatever challenges you face is your problem, not someone else's. Give your kids a break; don't make them your outlet.

Holidaying
I've never been island hopping like this ever! There is not better way to write up about holidaying in Sabah than just giving you the link to my facebook page. http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/album.php?aid=182085&id=507101837

A picture paints a thousand words.

You have to experience it. Even the pictures don't justify the beauty that I've witnessed in Mabul and Kapalai. You have to go there and feel it on your skin. Come back, and post your pictures for others to drool at.

My Relationship
Long distance? No? Are we always together? Are there any problems stemming from career starts? I would say that everyday becomes a challenge in terms of having to understand each others' position. We've been having more bickering sessions (most of it coming from me) but I cannot help but think that I've been really lucky to have the best woman in the world. Whatever problems we could have now or would probably face in the coming years, the best thing that could come out from all of that is that...

... we'll be facing them together.

In the words of Robert Frost,

and that has made all the difference.

So, how am I going to answer the question,

"How is Sabah?"


My answer:

"Still feels like the fresh prince,"

Lazy Man's Chair

The best thing about being a teacher is....

After a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong semester...

... you'll have a loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong HOLIDAY!!!

3 weeks baby!

See you in 3 weeks!

Happy Holidays!!!

p/s: if you're not a teacher, BITE ME!

Cutting little holes

Haven't been blogging for awhile... as usual... busy busy...

and Mabul Mabul.. hehehe... check my FB profile for insane pictures.

Well, marking exam papers ain't that difficult. Especially if you're teaching weak classes where students sometimes hand in blank papers...

... so far, students have been answering as expected from their level of competency.

Anyway, that's not the reason why I'm blogging here today.

Lets check the Schedule for Giving Out Exam Slips

21st June 2010: Subject teachers give marks to the class teacher
22nd June 2010: Class teachers compile results
23rd June 2010: Teachers hand in the results to the office to be signed by the Principal
24th June 2010: Teachers take the results from the Principal.
25th June 2010: Parent Teacher Conference

Seriously... does it take a genius or semi-experienced teacher to notice the schedule is completely bollocks?

Poor teachers with classes of up to 50 students.

Poor Principal only given less than 12 hours to sign all 1000+ exam slips.

Good luck and happy holidays

They follow the pattern of the wind you see.

I think what our Education Minister highlighted in his Teachers' Day speech was indeed interesting. He mentioned 7 things that were going to change to improve the lifestyle of teachers in school. They are:

1. to reduce the number of positions and bureaus in schools.
2. to reduce the number of internal exams.
3. change or revamp the clerk system in schools.
4. to standardise important courses.
5. to give promotions to certain positions and grades.
6. to reward teachers who improve school results
7. to allow teachers in rural areas to transfer to town areas (under observation still).

These items definitely have received thunderous applause from some especially when there are important keywords like reduce, promote, reward and  transfer.

Mind you, I'm all for those things mentioned. I just have a few queries related to those things mentioned.

1. Reduce the number of bureaus in schools = are there any bureaus in schools now that are not needed or irrelevant? If yes, why were they established in the first place? If he did not mention this, would the bureaus in schools remain?

2. To change the clerking system? What is wrong with it? Is it because there is abuse? Do teachers feel like they're being dog-pounded by a very abuse prone system? Are teachers RIGHT NOW suffering from the current system? Has it reached a breaking point that there HAS TO BE some sort of change or there'll be serious repurcussions?

3. RM1800 for teachers who improve school exam levels? How is this going to be given? Raise in the basic salary? Annually? Monthly? Why aren't teachers in the current system being rewarded for good performances? If they are, why is it not enough? What is the current lapse within the system that does NOT recognise teachers' contributions?

4. Transfer transfer transfer. Isn't there a system now that monitors a fair exchange system? Aren't GURU CEMERLANGs supposed to be sent to rural areas because they get higher salaries? Isn't there a grace period where new teachers are supposed to replace old teachers in these areas so that teachers don't remain in those places involuntarily for too long? Is that system not working?

I find it troubling when these questions arise.

Me? Mock Daddy?

So, being a teacher means you go into class eh?

Lesson plans, eh?

Sports day, eh?

Going out bringing students for competitions, eh?

Going for courses, eh?

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How about bringing kids out to the doctors? Sitting in the waiting room waiting like an anxious father-to-be?

ehehehehehe.


Believe me. You'll have to play daddy or mummy while the kids are in school. Especially if they are young small kids.

WTF is THAT?!?!

Teaching a poor proficiency class is really challenging. It's challenging not because it is difficult to come up with a level which suits them. It's not challenging in terms of coming up with materials or exercises. It becomes difficult because you know that there is 1 kid that does not fall in the same category as them.

One of my form 3 class consists of very, very slow learners. It isn't their fault and it's really nothing to do with attitude entirely. I feel that these kids just lack direction and are of course a little bit slower in terms of their mental capacity. They aren't special ed kids but I would say they aren't too far away from that level. It really is very difficult for them to catch simple concepts and remember them. Drilling becomes a very popular choice here and to me, it is kind of effective for them.

That isn't the underlying problem in my class. I find it most disturbing that there is this one kid who is a clear level ahead of the rest of them. In fact, he is a good 5-6 levels ahead of the class in terms of English competency and mental capacity. I don't mind him being smart at all, the only thing I could wish for is for my kids to be as bright as they can be; the slower classmates become overshadowed completely by his ability to keep up with the materials that I present to the rest of them. 

Telling him to cool it and let others have a chance isn't helping him either. Being the active and exuberant kid that he is, he finds it very demotivating to be told to cool down and let others try to answer questions or solve problems that he could demonstrate very easily. At a student's perspective, I can understand how unsatisfying that learning process can become.

Having said that, I told the other teachers about this one kid who should be shifted to a class where he would benefit more from - at least in his English. Many other teachers concurred that he was a clear cut above the rest and some even said that his Mathematics belonged to the 1st class and was very hampered during these classes. I told the class teacher who also identified this issue and brought it forward to the administration. Here is the following excuse:

We cannot transfer him because he registered late in the school. He also has low marks for one subject (if I'm not mistaken, KH) and therefore cannot be shifted to a better class. More importantly, we cannot transfer him to a better class because of his late registration in the school.

I know...

You're going "HUh!??"

I'm going WTF is THAT?!!

Common Grounds

I guess it's just normal for someone who has been put out of place to seek refuge within their own walls of solitude. It's not really reflective of that person's personality and I personally don't think it has anything to do with insecurities as well.

Some like to give names to these conditions i.e. inferiority complexes or superiority complexes. Sometimes, names can get even more foul as the titles and nicknames that surface become more crude and unrefined. I think it's just normal for the people to lash out at something they find not fitting to their own norms before analysing the situation or individual past skin deep.

I would say that people just need to seek common grounds. It just takes one person, one situation or one topic of conversation to break the metaphorical walls surrounding that person. I also feel that in a working environment, there is more than just colleagues-at-the-office relationships. It is only human that people tend to develop more solid relationships surpassing work-related-professional-emotionless-hi-goodbye standards.

We're all in this together
                                 -High School Musical-

Being someone completely inept in EQ or SQ situations or discussions, it is quite intriguing to observe how people are so influenced by these qualities till it affects their life tremendously. Rationally, an adult would be more independent and equipped to deal with these emotions because of life's experiences but I commonly see the opposite of it. It isn't quite understandable from my observation as to why simple emotional issues could have been dealt with more maturely - or even better, shared.

It isn't really about seeking counseling or seeking help from professional psychiatric/social doctors. We just need some time off to rethink and reevaluate the situation. Time will definitely be tinkered for different individuals. However, time does not become an issue here, what is is neglect and denial. When someone is trying not to solve that quotient problem, then it isn't about when will the problem be solved, it becomes a choice about dealing with it, or running away.

To most people, running away becomes standard-operating-procedure.

I feel that in some people as much as I feel that it applies to me as well. Being a teacher in a different place calls for alterations and possibly complete flips in lifestyle. It's not wrong and it ain't something drastic too. Dealing with it seems like a more arduous choice but that makes someone stronger instead of a runaway.

In the end,

we're just fitting in, eh?

Snatched Saturdays

This Saturday, my school is having a Latihan Dalam Perkhidmatan (LDP) which basically means a course that teachers have to go through to improve their services in school. Great right? It's really great that the system is trying to take some initiative to improve the quality of its members.

The course we're about to take is stress management.

Stress Management

Seriously... stress management? Stress management?

On a Saturday? Dragging teachers out from their weekends to go to school for the ENTIRE afternoon to go for a stress management course? Dragging teachers from the only time they can let out all the stocked up pressure and workload back to school is supposed to be less stressful?

Say it with me...

You cannot be serious man!!! You cannot be serious!!!
                                           -John McEnroe- 

Speaking of tennis, yours truly was supposed to go for a tennis tournament this Saturday WHICH IS mind you, the BEST way he releases all the stress. How would that person feel if he is supposed to not go to that tournament and instead join a stress management programme in school?

On a SATURDAY mind you...

When he was able to go to a tournament just last week, he came back to school with such a big smile on his face and students all painted smiles on their faces as they basked in the shine of the teacher's glorious bright face. Isn't that good? Nothing beats the expressions of a teacher who has managed to get some time off from his regular routine to do what he loves. He comes back with more vigour and stamina to run the miles and hike the hills of the ever landsliding hills of PnP.


On a SATURDAY!

SATURDAY!


p/s: just love the text size changes. Should use it more often.

  

Journey to the Centre of the Earth

Students love watching the movie Journey to the Centre of the Earth. Even though some of them have watched the movie, only now they really pay attention to the details of the movie. They draw conclusions and make deeper analyses and comparisons that they wouldn't normally do when watching the movie.

All thanks to the graphic novel in the new literature component.

Jules Verne's book of the same name really is an interesting and easy-to-read book that really brings a lot of excitement into my classroom. Although I was supposed to do the short story Flipping Fantastic with them first, the healthy response from the students prompted me to start of teaching them the novel first. In no time, they grasped the characters and plot of the story because of the uber effective pictures and short texts in the novel.

Really easy novel, very easy graphical cues, very effective word association with the pictures, very simple language use, and tons of possibilities in terms of activity-creation. I found teaching this novel to be as simple as going into the classroom and just giving them activities to do. I highly recommend teaching this novel if you feel that your classroom seems rather passive and unresponsive at first. It's a good way to jump start their learning braincells.

Thumbs up to the novel.

Oh, probably Brendan Fraser helped too.

Making English Friends

Although I already did informal letter writing with the students, I thought that it would be wise to repeat the class one more time. This time, I told them to write to a pen-pal that they didn't know. The letter would be introductory and that someone in the class would be the recipient. They should take NO initiative to try to find out who they are and must try their very best to keep each others' identity a secret.

They really like that concept. I told them that since they don't have friends that they converse entirely in English, this is a good chance to mail each other letters in English. They sort of get an English Writing friend.

As a reward, if these mail system goes smooth sailing, I told them that I would try to get them real pen-pals from overseas. After researching for pen-pals online, I realised most of them are emailing each other instead of writing letters.

I think that should be fine. I can get my students to mail them personally and hopefully, responding to each other would be really good. I hope to get my whole class to make at least 1 foreign friend and mail each other letters till they are form 5. That would be really interesting.