Pri 3s from Hell

Yesterday's lesson for the primary 3s was eventful & a good learning experience for me. I learnt that sweet girls who look demure with a voice of an angel can be very fierce & violent. I'm glad that I understand some Japanese w/o the students being reminded of it. And I handled the first crying case in class. All these packed in a 45-min lesson.

There's this girl who speaks well & has a doll-like face. She's always so sweet in class, always so well-behaved. But don't push your luck too far! The troublemaker in the class (this irritating boy who's ntg but trouble) had teased her with some awful nickname which i didn't catch nor understand. I let them be since lesson hasn't start. Next moment, I saw the girl raising a chair, threatening to hit the boy. Stopped it in time with no injuries. I hoped she was just planning to scare him & not hurt him!

I gave them a worksheet to do, with plans to re-distribute out to different students to mark it. The troublemarker & his frd couldn't finish on time & refused to give me the worksheet, so I had to take it almost by force. And they started saying in Japanese "Take it! I don't want to do the worksheet anyway". That really pissed me off. One girl who knew that I understand Japanese told them (that I understand) when she saw how black my face turned. The moment she ended her sentence, I shot the 2 boys saying 'If you don't want to do the worksheet, you can sit on the floor alone.' This shut them up for a while.

After the worksheet was games. Sitting in a circle, the students had to snatch some word cards in the middle. The "angel" (the one who threatened to throw a chair) changed her seat during the game & the class terror told her off rudely. The next moment, the "angel" started crying. I had to juggle between conducting the game & consoling the girl. Finally gave up & had another student to run the game.

Quite a learning experience where i learnt to pacify the crying girl while not exactly scolding the class terror. Class terror knows she was in the wrong for scolding the girl but refused to admit it but kept her head down throughout. So I left it as it is. As long as the crying is stopped, and the bully knows her mistake, it's case closed.

And yes, class terror is a girl. Super hyperactive, lousy in studies, tries to act like big sister. She refused to let this quiet girl sit beside her because she wanted her best friend (Miss Bulliable) to sit with her yesterday. That made 3 other girls angry coz they were concerned that the quiet girl will be uncomfortable sitting with a boy. I didn't interfere in this. All seats are first come first served! hehehe...

From Day 1 I knew the P3s are a difficult lot in terms of discipline. Both class terror & troublemaker are scolded by me almost on a daily basis. For your info, we're not allowed to punish nor scold them. I wonder how on earth you can discipline a bunch of monkeys by being nice only. I speak in a stern/fierce voice to make it like I'm scolding yet not quite scolding. I isolate them in class (e.g. sit on the floor alone at corner) as punishment. That's all I can do & I know most teachers use these methods too.

How do teachers in local primary schools survive in a class of 40 kids? Likewise how do the Japanese teachers handle a class of monkeys? I only have 13 in my class & it's hell for me! Thank god there're a few little angels around to light up my day.

It's hell here but I still enjoy teaching for now (^-^)

Super-RICH band?

I'm shocked. A digusting band consisting of people who:

1. Can't seem to play musical instruments (which i can forgive if i think of them as pop-band, but they are far from idol status)
2. Dance like ah-gong/ah-ma (i think some elderly can do better than them!)
3. Sing like they're learning to talk with voices that'll scare the dead out of graves

.....is STILL IN the band competition.

With a judging criteria of 30% judges + 70% sms votes, I believe the band members are rich. It doesn't make sense for them to be in when the judges had failed them. With that standard of performance, they should change their band name to XiaSuayFeng. Don't they feel embarassed to still be in the competition? so xia suay!

The 1st time we held hands....

He had it all planned out!!! That pig plotted to hold my hand BEFORE we were an item!! Almost exactly a year after that he confessed to it last night over emails.

The story goes like this....

After we met at the Expo, he invited me to his place for free homestay cum sightseeing. Miss Greedy me took up the offer. On the 2nd day of the trip he brought me to a place to see fireflies at night. And he chose a location where we had to walk down a slope. That's when he seized the opportunity to hold my hand on the pretense of supporting me from falling down!!

I was a little suspicious coz he didn't let go of my hand immediately after we got down the slope. On the other hand, I was secretly pleased coz I felt that bringing me to see fireflies is soooo R-o-m-a-n-t-i-c & I sensed that he likes me!! I felt good about him too but not love yet lah...

Anyway, yesterday he asked if I remembered seeing fireflies with him almost a year ago. I did & asked if he remembers that was the first time we held hands. He remembers clearly & said 「あの時は心がドキドキした」. Yes, his heart raced! I think mine too coz i was wondering if he likes me... hehehe

He said he wanted very much to hold my hand. And that's when the thought struck me --> that he had planned the trip to see fireflies so that he had an excuse to hold my hand. And I fell for it! Smart move. Or maybe i was stupid.

I asked & he admitted it. I find the whole incident amusing but sweet. I can't stop thinking about it the whole night & today.....kept smiling to myself when i replay the scene & emails on it... hehehe...

Yes, our honeymoon period isn't over yet. I hope it'll never end.....

Long boring weekend

So glad this long weekend is nearing its end. I was soooo BORED! No money for long weekend trips overseas. No money to go on a shopping spree neither. Can u believe it? I spent all 3 days at home! Wake up, eat, watch TV, sleep, surf net, study.... B'cos i slept so much in the day i'm wide awake at night, so that explains the many blog entries in 1 night! hehehe

The past long weekend was well-spent as i used it to plan & prepare lessons. I decided to give myself a good break this weekend & didn't bring anything home to prepare, thinking i'll devote more time to my studies. I did revise more than usual but also spent more time sleeping & watching TV!

No more long holidays after this till school holidays. I'm starting formal lessons using the textbook tomorrow. I wonder how the kids will fare. Will they be bored to death? Now I'm racking my brains on how to make my Wednesday phonics revision class interesting....any ideas? The kids are bored with phonics revision and I'm even more bored with holding the same revision plan 3 times in a day! Luckily that's only once a week....

Moderated comments

I'm such a sotong! I selected the moderate comments setting w/o really knowing how it works. And it's only today that I realised there were a no. of comments waiting for my approval to publish!

Raptor, Daniel & My Frog Prince, thanks for your comments. Appreciate it (^-^)