Normal Technical..

A few gestures by a couple of students made my day yesterday.

My friends and I are allocated to conduct an English enrichment course to a lower secondary normal technical (NT) class. I was initially quite worried as I've never had any encounter with N(T) kids. The first two lessons with them confirmed my stereotyping of them. Restless, hyperactive, not paying attention in class, talkative etc. The students were just not listening when we were teaching. They were also constantly breaking rules. As usual, the fault lie in the student.

But after the second lesson, it suddenly dawned on me that it ain't their fault. Being an observer in class, I finally understood why they were behaving this way. They were just not engaged in the activities we designed for them. In plain English, our lessons were boring. Our lessons would have worked quite well for the Express stream, but certainly not for N(T) class.

After the third session yesterday, I finally found the root of the problem. I was in charge of this 'cannot-sit-still and constantly speaking Mandarin' group of rowdy boys. I was initially in-charge of a group of guai girls, with the exception of one who's just a bit more defiant. Being Miss Nice, I swapped with my friend because she just couldn't tahan them anymmore. Anyway, the group of boys kept having loud private converstaions in Mandarin even when one of my friends was teaching. So as usual, I attributed the fault to them. Since the rest of the class could keep quiet, why couldn't they?

During the group activity, when I was helping the boys, the defiant girl shouted "Not fair one cher, you help them, never help us. You suppose to be here. I don't want to do already lah!" I explained to her that I had swapped with another teacher. I would no longer be in-charge of them. She looked a bit disappointed. (I had initially expected her to be pleased because I had constantly picked on her in the previous lesson.) The boys were quite pleased that their initial teacher was no longer with them. They said during their private conversations that their teacher never listened to them. Anyway, during the group activity, the boys were just not engaged in the activity. Pissed off, I told them, "Ok, no more private conversations." One boy retorted back, "Teacher jiang3 niao3 hua4." The rest of them started bursting into laughter. I found it quite funny but of course being a professional, I had to control my laughter and instead act annoyed. I stared at his eyes and told him "I'm not amused." "Huh?" was his response. (Probably doesn't know the meaning of 'amused') I said sternly, "If I hear that one more time, I'm going to take action against you." He got quite frightened and said "ok ok". Putting the incident behind, I told them to proceed with their work. Instead, I got this response in Mandarin "Cher, don't know what to do lah."

After explaining to them, they were still unsure. It then struck me that the instructions we gave them were too complex and perhaps we spoke too quickly. If a group of 5 couldn't understand when they were given individual attention, what more a class of 40? After glancing across the class, my suspicions were confirmed. The students looked lost and each of us had to repeat the instructions to each group. After working with them, I realised that their command of English language is really weak. All along, I thought they intentionally spoke Mandarin to irritate us. When I got them to read a short paragraph, they couldn't even do so. It then occured to me that they seriously needed help. So I explained to them and helped them along in their activity. I didn't have a chair then and I was practically squatting. Upon hearing that I said "I'll help you all", the boy who said that I jiang3 niao3 hua4 immediately grabbed a chair and told me to sit down. I was very touched and I started laughing. I've never seen a student so enthusiastic when I said I will be offering help.

Anyway, I had an enjoyable time teaching this group. Whenver I taught something, they will confirm in Mandarin with me what I just said. After a while, I just allowed them. At least they know what they are learning now. It's a vast improvement from before, when they didn't even know what they were doing. And I absolutely loved the way they volunteered their answers. With my help, they were more confident of their answers. Hence, they were motivated to raise up their hands and gain points also because theirs was the lowest in the class. By the end of the day, they managed to overtake another group. Boy were they happy about it! It also meant that for the first time, they need not rearrangement the furniture back to the orignial position. The lowest scoring group of the day had to do it.

I really empathize with these kids. With such a weak command of English language, the objective of teaching English to them is to make sure that they know how to communicate with the outside world, or rather in supermarkets, banks etc. Another is to teach them to understand what people are saying in English. Giving them comprehension passages and endless of tests would not help them in their oral communication and listening skills. For NT kids, a total different approach of teaching is needed to entice them to learn. But for a start, I think my group and I need to work on giving clearer instructions.

My views on N(T) kids are very different now. Despite being a little hyperactive, they are generally more appreciative of the teacher's help. They are also a very helpful bunch. When I was having difficulty sticking something on the board, one boy just came up to me and magically took out scotch tape from his pocket and helped me to stick without even asking. I was really grateful for that.

Now I finally understand why a couple of my friends prefer teaching N(T) kids.