Bangkok Trip..

Was greeted with 2 consecutive days of rain upon arrival in Singapore from Bangkok. It was a great time for me to sleep-in, finish reading my 514 page book, take naps and attempt to solve a Sudoku puzzle which up till now, I've yet to complete.

The trip was a relaxing one though I'm ready to swear off shopping cum eating trips in major cities for my next few holidays. After a while, it gets a bit meaningless hopping from one shopping centre/mall/market to another, looking aimlessly for cheap things to buy. The thing that I enjoyed most was map-reading. It's exciting to read the map and navigate from Destination A to Destination B. And it's extremely pleasurable when I get it right since my female travelling companion relies heavily on me to navigate our way through.

The number of items that I bought can be counted using the fingers of one hand. Yes, that's shocking considering I am a female, who's supposedly a shopaholic. T-shirts, bags, shoes and many other goods are so cheap that I fear for their quality. Afterall, I'm a firm believer of "you get what you pay for". And I simply can't bring myself to buy a 150baht (S$6.50)T-shirt. Perhaps I could wear them at home but I am perfectly comfortable with my decade old T-shirts.

My source of amusement or entertainment comes when my female companion engages in bargaining with the sales people. It's funny because I know jolly well that she can afford the items but she makes it sounds as if the difference in 50 baht really means a lot to her. I simple walk away when I can't contain my laughter. Bargaining is never for my forte. I think all the shop owners at the flea markets love me simply because I can't be bothered to waste my saliva on slashing down prices. Call me stupid but it's really beneath my dignity to bargain for a S$2 reduction for something that costs S$8. I seriously think those people need the S$2 more than me. I could always go without recess.

The moment that I enjoy most was going back to the hotel after a tiring day of walking. I admit I'm getting old. By 9pm, my legs are exhausted and I just can't wait to get back to my hotel room for a hot steamy shower and watch tv before retiring to bed. I have no energy left to chill-out or explore new places. Or maybe it's because subconsciously, I know that I paid S$90 per night for the hotel room. I'm cheapskate. I feel contented staying in the confortable hotel room rather than loitering in the streets of polluted Bangkok.

The most nerve-wrecking moment was when we almost missed our flight back. The queues at the immigration were so freaking long. As each 5-minute block passed, I felt like screaming at the inefficiency of the immigrant officers as the queue hardly moved. We tried out best to persuade the people in front to let us go first, but each time our efforts were thwarted by fellow Asians, who told us "no cutting queue", even though we pointed to them at our boarding pass that the boarding time is 1220pm, and it was already way past the time. Only the kind Japanese man in front of us let us go, perhaps he could see how desperate I was with my constant pacing up and down. We finally got past the immigration at 1245pm, which was the departure time. The ground crew were frantically looking for us and I bore the brunt of the scoldings simply because at every stage, I was ahead of my friend, who couldn't run because she was wearing sandals while I was wearing track shoes. I never ran so fast in my life. I was cursing and swearing that the boarding gate had to be so far away but I was thankful that our seats on the aircraft were the 3rd row from the front. I would never forget the old hag air stewardess barking at me the moment I stepped into the plane, " Where did you all go????!!!!" After this frantic experience, I've learnt my lesson to board-in early.

One more week to enjoyment before school starts. Sigh.

Teacher Man..

Just completed Frank McCourt's Teacher Man. An interesting insight to what I may be experiencing in the years ahead though I doubt I will be encountering flying sandwiches across classrooms. Perhaps flying paper aeroplanes or rubberbands may be good substitutes.

One of my favourites from the book:
Professors of education at NYU never lectured on how to handle flying-sandwich-situations. They talked about theories and philosophies of education, about moral and ethical imperatives, about the necessity of dealing with the whole child, the gestalt, if you don't mind, the child's felt needs, but never about critical moments in the classroom.

Well, looks like this issue is not only happening in Singapore. Most of the tutors, lecturers and professors here only harp on theories from eminent psychologists such as Piaget and Vygotsky. And frankly, majority of the tutors here have only taught in JCs, autonomous and independent schools. Many of them have no idea what it takes to teach in neighbourhood schools. Their closest experiences of stepping into neighbourhood schools are supervising practicum trainees who are being posted there. Therefore, they fail to share with us any experiences on dealing with difficult students. Flying-aeroplane situations are not a norm in their teaching experiences. Students who challenge them intellectually and listen to them almost obediently are what they are familiar with. It's a major pity that they only got experienced teachers to come share with us the realities of teaching right at the very last week of our whole course. I fail to understand the rationale of it. The rest of the 8 months or so were wasted on doing projects and writing assignments based on theories, theories and more theories. To be fair to them, it is indeed difficult to teach us how to manage a class and how to react in critical moments. After all, there's no fixed formula to it. It all depends on the type of students, the teacher's character and style and the situation. Perhaps it's a good idea to scrap off certain time-wasting modules and instead put us into schools to learn first-hand from experienced teachers.

Another thought-provoker:
Serious students are not satisfied. They argue that in other classes, the teacher tells you what you are supposed to know. The teacher teaches it and you are supposed to learn it. Then the teacher gives you an examination and you get the grade you deserve.

which brings to..

What is education, anyway? What are we doing in this school? You can say you are trying to graduate so that you can go to college and prepare for a career. But fellow students, it's more than that. I've to ask myself what the hell I'm doing in the classroom.

One of the best ways to capture exam-oriented students' attention is to forewarn them that the next section that the teacher is going to teach will be coming up in the next test/exam. This works well for the more motivated students who are not quite at the elite level but certainly do not fall under the below-average category. I applaud them for their effort in at least knowing the importance of doing well for examinations. But as an educator, I constantly tell this group of students that getting good grades is not everything. No point getting straight As if your character sucks. This reminded me of a particular instance when a student shot back at me that character does not matter if your grades can't make it. Although it would be unfair to label him as a representative of the next generation, it saddened me a lot that a 14 year-old would be thinking this way. It is moments like this that I question myself as a role of an educator and what the hell I'm doing in the classroom. Teaching the subject is pertinent, but certainly there are more important skills in life than getting an A for that particular subject.

The ability for me to relate to the novel was what kept me captivated to the book. A message that I brought back after completing this book: story-telling is one of the best ways to engage unmotivated students.