PSLE Marking

The PSLE marking days were fantastic, each and every single day. I had the time of my life!! I marked with a bunch of really awesome and fun teachers. Which proves my theory right. Being a marker is tons better than being a recorder.

I really hope that I'll bump into them in the future.

Sounds Like A Terrible Idea to Me

I can't believe he asked me out. I'm trying my best to believe that it's innocent and that he means nothing more by it than to catch up and have dinner.

But why is my gut telling me otherwise.

Food That Never Dies

I came across this link and it is scary. As if watching Fast Food Nation didn't gross me out enough. A NYC photographer created a Happy Meal Project by photographing the meal everyday for 6 months (180 days). Yes, she left the meal (burger and fries) on a table, waiting to see what happens. As the days pass, you will notice that the meal looks the same. No mould, no bugs, no worms. She commented that the smell of the meal disappeared after 2 days. Others who tried a similar experiment commented that even their pets (dogs etc) would refuse to go near the meal even after a day of it being left out. Still hungry for a cheap, quick meal?

Style Me Poor

Watching The Style Network is going to make me a poor person. Well, at least I'll look fabulous!

Saras' ROM

I still cannot believe that she is married!!

For many reasons. One, she's my age. Two, I've known her forever and now she's moving on with her life while I'm still at where I am since I first met her. It's not just her actually, a whole bunch of my peers have moved on; married, with child or soon-to-pop-with-their-first. I feel no pressure to move on. Just putting it out there.

It's truly at times like these when you realise how time flies and how grown up one has become. 6 years of friendship and counting.

We couldn't get a shot with her... but that's me in a sari! A ready-made one but a sari nonetheless!

Don't I look so grown up and womanly?

I am so very happy for Saras and I wish her all the married bliss in the world.

Students teach Teachers

I still remember my first year at Cat High. Technically, it was just 6 months as I was posted in Semester 2, so I only had to teach a class for 2 terms in the second half of the year. I was a terrible teacher. I was too strict, unforgiving and not that compassionate. I was very by the book and I'm pretty sure I wasn't well-liked. But I did get the grades though.

4 years on from that day, I have toned down considerably. I am still strict but I allow some leeway and only under extreme circumstances do I enforce punishment. But I still do get the grades. And I am a whole lot happier teaching now than I was when I first started. The main difference is that I connected with the boys. It took me some time to realise that they are people too and they have feelings. They have their off-days as well and need some time to themselves. I can't force them if they're not mentally up to it. Just like adults. That to me, is the difference between a good teacher and a great teacher.

Yan Wei, from my P5 Health Ed class invited me to his 11th birthday party. Now, I have been to a couple of birthday parties but what made this special for me is that this kid is in a class that I teach only a period a week. I see them once a week for 30mins. His class has 40 pupils and in a single period lesson, I would speak for the majority of the time while the rest would have to listen to me. The unruly and the talkative ones would get my attention. Yan Wei, is quiet. He'd be the kind of kid you'd often overlook. I knew him the year before because of the musical but we didn't have a chance to interact. So it came as a surprise to me that he invited me! Obviously I had to go. Imagine the amount of courage he had to muster to invite a teacher he hardly spoke to!

Go, I did. And I am glad that I did. I saw the boys of the class in a new light and they saw me in a new light too. I am not uptight and I do not put on the teacher act after school hours and especially not outside of school. I enjoyed their company at the party and I am sure they enjoyed mine too. We got to know each other on a more personal level and a newfound respect was built. They are still kids after all, and tried to push the boundaries but they knew their limits too. I honestly felt sad to part ways and head home when the party ended.

I still stand by what I said, the pupils whom I have taught, have taught me to become a better teacher. Now that's something NIE doesn't teach you.