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....