Zoo for a day

No, I don't mean going to the Zoo for a day. It was the students' parents who were at the Zoo. And here when I say Zoo, I mean the english classroom being the Zoo compound, and me, the teacher being the main Exhibit.

It's "Open Day" today. And I hated it. All the other teachers hated it too. Imagine more than 10 parents squeezing at the back of the class looking at you teach for 45 mins, 3 times a day. Some even took photos! Other jap teachers, HOD, principle, parents.... they just popped in some time during the lesson to watch u. The students seemed fine, prob coz their parents were there.

We had to submit lesson plans for this day, ensure that the lesson consisted of some games besides work. This was ok for me since we've to do that often anyway. I'm so glad that my students behaved themselves well. Esp my Pri 3s. They were like angels today! And I didn't warn any of them to behave (the day before). I guess they wanted to act their best in front of their & their friends' parents. Anyway, all of them deserve a nice sticker from me tomorrow! :)

Miss Sotong me forgot to leave the comment slip at the prominent spot for the blind P2 parents who didn't see the slips & none of them wrote any comments for my P2 lesson. My HOD didn't seem annoyed by this, but I can't help feel stupid about it. And a little disappointed too coz that happened to be my best class. Sighz....

For all the effort I put in, some parents just aren't satisfied. One commented that the lesson (for P1) seemed to be games/playing only. Another commented that there was too much free time (while waiting for other students). Excuse me? In a class of 13 with varying levels of English, how do you expect all 13 to end at the same time? There're bound to be those on express train who finish early & self-entertain themselves by reading, coloring etc. And some who're crawling, demanding more attention from me. Irritating! I can't please everyone. I do what I feel is best for the students.

As if parents aren't irritating enough, I had this fellow English teacher (who's a native Japanese) who had to be a real kaypoh. She really pissed me off when I was already feeling a little lousy about my performance today. When I was reading through 1 of the parents' comment slip (which was written in japanese), she peeped and pointed at 1 of the lines & said "that's negative". And she gave a faint smile. Hello?? Did I say I'm japanese illiterate? Did I ask you to help me translate? And when did I ask you to look at my comment? Such a kaypoh! I was so annoyed I had to complain to another teacher abt it who in turn told me she had to check this kaypoh teacher's flashcards after she spotted a mistake (which Ms Kaypoh didn't even know is wrong). Ok, some bitching here.... seems like other teachers aren't impressed with her ability to teach. Her classroom is filled with japanese words -- translations of almost everything! I heard ydy she prepared a flashcard with the word "Jaket". What's that? Go figure it out.

I wonder if local schools have 'Open Days'. Apparently there were 2 'Open Days' last year -- 1 for normal lessons, the other for Jolly Phonics (JP). That's another nightmare, coz my JP kids are totally out of control. Yes, I admit I'm not good at controlling kids. Coz I'm afraid if I'm too strict, the students stay away from me. Or worse, I get complaints from these little emperors & empresses' parents.

A fellow teacher who started 3 wks after me felt that this job's isn't worth it. She felt shortchanged coz our HOD had told her "this is a laid back job". This certainly isn't a laid-back job!! Yes, official hours are short. But the amount of preparation needed....this is like a full-time job. I've lost count of the no. of times I bgt my work home on wkends to prepare. I never had to do that during my office life. I'm fine with it (teaching) though. I still enjoy what I'm doing. All jobs have their ups & downs....gd & bad pts... just focus on the happy moments, or look forward to the happy moments.... things will get better i hope...

Figured out what's jaket?

It's actually Jacket. The above's what my students will spell. Coz they simply translate it from japanese romanji (something like hanyu pinyin). And we're talking about an English teacher here.....a kaypoh one at that....

Egoistic guys from online dating

Sometime in late Nov last year, I met this 37-yr old S'porean guy on a online dating site. (MSN's match.com) I wasn't keen in him coz (1) he'll sure act like he knows a lot than me coz he ate more salt than me ate rice! (2) he's still single at this age, is he ok or not? (3) his profile just didn't interest me that much (4) he seems really serious abt finding a life partner

I was just play play online! hey, i'm all prepared to be married off to Japan leh... dating online is just for fun. I don't want to give people false hopes. I don't want to waste people's time. BUT I still replied his email coz his email to me was really very sincere, so I felt no harm in replying & making friends.

We chatted on msn about job etc... but I never disclosed I'm attached. He didn't ask anyway. At one of our chats, I was in a bad mood and was irritated with stupid questions from him. I sort of told him off. After that no more msn/email.

On V-day I dropped him a note, wishing him all the best, to which he replied he's attached with someone from Match.com. After that no correspondences btw us till tdy when he msn me out of the blue, announcing he's married & his wife is expecting. Am I being over-sensitive here, thinking he's just out to show that he succeeded in a relationship?

And he kept saying good luck to me (for my relationship with Teru, and I replied I need luck for getting a job in Japan only), wished me luck in finding happiniess (I replied I've already found it!), said true love is more than sugar & honey (coz I said we've overcome many barriers for our r/s, and I replied we're beyond that), emphazised that age isn't a big factor --> he & his wife are matured so they got married soon after knowing each other... (I feel it's bullshit --> he's desperate!) Then he said another lady he met in Match.com married a Jap guy, and he reminded me not to forget that I'm a Chinese... that last one is really nonsense to me! Dating & marrying a Japanese doesn't mean I become a Japanese!! I'm still a S'porean & I will always be one! Living overseas doesn't mean I'll lose my roots, esp when I've spent 27yrs of my life here!

Anyway, back to the egoistic guy from Match.com. I'm just so glad I don't have to resort to that to find Mr Right, coz based on those I've met, none meets the mark.

The Class Terror

As mentioned in my previous post, there's a female class terror in my P3 class. She's noisy, bullies the rest, and it's very clear that she isn't popular in class. Once I had an extra chair, and the rest preferred to squeeze at a small table rather than sit with her.

Yesterday I realised that she's a super attention seeking child who can be violent too, and that really scares me...

They were doing a mini cut/paste project and I think she quarrelled with her team mates over some pictures for it. When I went to check on their progress, she was crying. The rest simply ignored her. I tried my best to console her but she continued crying, so I left her alone a while coz I had to check on the rest. Next moment when I came back, I saw her using a pencil trying to poke thru the project paper. The scene of her grabbing the pencil tightly, poking at the table, moving towards the paper, is quite scary. You don't know when she'll go crazy and stab someone with it. Remember there're many cases of children killing classmates in Japan....

Her team members kept moving the paper away from her. Then she tried to tear off a picture from it. All these while with her face down, covered by her hair. (imagine Sadako aka Zhenzi from "The Ring"). Finally her team members moved onto the floor to do their work. She went over, and cried again. This time with her face facing down on the paper, as if she's out to ruin the project paper with her tears since she couldn't snatch/destroy the picture earlier on.

Anyway she cried till the end of lesson and left just like that. The rest continued ignoring her, and a classmate even laughed saying it's the 1st time he see her like this.

It's not easy teaching children. I finallly understand that now. I've done my best to prevent/stop fights, console them when they're sad.... but it just doesn't seem enough... haiz...

Now I know why my supervisor came up with a form for us teachers to report on difficult kids, so that their form teacher can talk to their parents or counsel the kids... I'll not use the form for now & hope I don't ever need to resort to that....

Life of a 2 part-timer

I just started on another part-time job last week. Income from my school isn't enough, esp. when I'm used to an expenditure based on my previous income. And since I end work by 1pm everyday, I might as well use the time to earn more $$$.

Initially I wanted to take up tuition assignments. However the market's too saturated with tutors. Parents are also more fussy & demanding compared to those during my uni days. And for that bit of money, I've to rack my brains for more teaching materials, get stressed up during exams etc... it just isn't worth it.

Working in the mornings means I've lesser chance of getting a part-time office job. I'm not exactly keen in F&B nor telemarketing. Retail sales isn't really that attractive coz I don't wana burn my weekends. So here comes the perfect part-time job -- worksheet marker at a commercial education centre.

I just need to work 4 days a week, incl. Sat, totalling 20hrs/wk. Just sit down & mark papers. I've admin duties too, but yet to start on it. I don't earn a lot from this, but it's better than nothing!