Things I did during the school break...

I had been looking forward to a relaxing 2-week break (from 28/5 to 12/6), but a few days before the holidays started, I received news that my transfer application was approved. Much as I was excited to be finally back in my hometown Ipoh, I received the news with an equal amount of apprehension. Not expecting to get the transfer so soon, I still had many unfinished tasks in school, not to mention the plans I had for my students after the holidays. Now, it seemed that I had to make fresh plans.

The top priority in my to-do list was to finish my tasks in school within the two schooldays left. If I couldn't manage that, I had a maximum of 2 weeks to settle everything before school reopens and I am officially reporting in my new school. That was what I did, and I was relieved that all my paperwork had been cleared, together with the contents on my teacher's desk, and the mid-year exam papers were marked, and the marks entered into the system.

The next on my to-do list, but no least important, was the problem of moving house. Having stayed in the teachers' quarters for 7 years, I had accumulated quite a number of things in my house, the largest collection being of books -- novels, magazines and school-related workbooks. As if packing all these was not enough, I had to bring them all down from the 4th floor! Luckily, I had one month grace period to clear up the unit, which meant that I could come back on weekends and move my things out slowly. Seeing that I'm doing this with only my car, I reckon it would take at least 4 trips to complete the task. So far, I've done 2 trips, and am planning to do a third trip this weekend.

In the meantime, I've decided to give myself a break and do a bit of backpack travelling cum shopping trip to KL, which was what I had planned before I got the transfer news. I refused to let this new development in my career path interrupt my holiday plans, so I still managed to squeeze in a 3 days 2 nights trip to KL. Yesterday was pretty much uneventful -- just some window shopping in One Utama. Today, I planned to go up the Petronas Twin Towers Skybridge and explore Batu Caves, but after queuing up for an hour to buy a ticket up the tower and finally getting a slot at 2pm, I have to push the Batu Caves visit until tomorrow morning. But no worries, I'm here to relax right? I just have to rearrange my itinerary. So I'll just spend my day in KLCC today, and after the skybridge visit, probably head over to Mid Valley Megamall for more shopping, then call it a day.

Tomorrow's plans? Batu Caves in the morning, and One Utama again in the afternoon and evening. There's just not enough time to go all round the biggest shopping mall in Malaysia in just one day! Then, it's back to Ipoh at night, and back to moving my stuff over the weekend, and getting myself mentally and physically prepared for a new and exciting start in my new school. SMK Buntong, here I come!

A Memorable Teachers' Day

May 16 has been a day that everyone in school looked forward to. It was the National Teachers' Day celebration. Students got a break from their mid-year exams, no lessons were conducted that day (a welcome relief for both teachers and students!), teachers could look forward to presents (possibly 'bribes') from their students, and last but not least, it was the only day that students could get away for being mischievous towards their teachers.

In Malaysia, students traditionally organise programmes for the Teachers' Day celebration, and the highlights are always the games or competition between the students and teachers. This is their only chance to make life 'miserable' for us, seeing that they have to endure a whole year of misery being dished out to them in the forms of exams, assignments and homework. Naturally, teachers are a bit apprehensive when they are invited for the games, but most of us set a good example by bravely taking up the challenges. Besides showing appreciation to the students for organising the events, this is also the only day that we get to be our silly selfs in school -- and get away with it!

This year's games in my school was both interesting and exciting. Many of the teachers took part in the musical chairs, telematches and tugs-of-war. Probably because of the fierce competition between the teachers team and the students team, the rope for the tug-of-war broke, not just once, not twice, but thrice! Looks like we need to get a new rope for our Sports Day next month... All in all, it was a few hours filled with laughter, silly antics and camera flashes, and the weather was merciful to us as well.

So, a hearty Thank You from me to all my students for making this an unforgettable day for all of us. We hope that you enjoyed watching our antics, and also hope that for the rest of the year, you won't drive us up the wall with your antics... well, of course you would, but just try not to drive us too far up, ok?

Preparing for a VIP Visit

In a teacher's meeting last week, the principal dropped the bomb -- the Director of the State Education Department will be paying a visit to our district, and our school might just be on his itinerary. In fact, there's a good chance he'll stop by, even for a quick visit. Given our school's reputation for having one of the poorest academic performances in the district, and the Director's enthusiasm in raising the academic achievements of all schools in Perak, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that he is more than interested to pass on some advice to us in person.

Naturally, the principal is very anxious to give a good impression to the Director, that everything's in order, and basically everything required of the school under the directives of the Education Ministry and the State Education Department are executed efficiently. Of course, every school will have teething problems that need resolving, and our school is none the different. Aside from having a majority of students who prefer playing around than studying, the school building also needs a facelift. Graffiti on the walls, empty noticeboards, faded mural paintings, bare and messy classrooms, dirty toilets, all these need immediate attention, or else we'll all risk a serious firing from the Big Boss himself...

But how to do all these during school hours when students are having exams throughout the day, now that it is the exam season? Mercifully, we had school yesterday, which was Saturday, to replace a school day that we would be applying for leave in conjunction with the Deepavali festival towards the end of the year. This replacement day was really a God sent. No doubt student attendance was dismal (normal for a school day on Saturday), but they provided enough manpower for teachers who needed them to spruce up the whole school.

In those 5 hours, from 7.30am to 12.15pm, the school was a hive of activity, with students running around holding brooms , mops, paint brushes, stapler guns, and surprisingly, even the principal himself rolled up his sleeves to paint a part of the school wall that was filled with graffiti. The principal, in full batik attire, painting?? I hope someone took a picture of this...

Meanwhile, teachers who were not cleaning up classrooms were busy with their paperwork, making sure school files were updated and complete. Nobody wanted to be singled out for sloppy work. I, for my part, spent the whole 5 hours cleaning AND updating my files. At the end of the day, I got sore and tired legs in exchange for a great sense of satisfaction. I had completed a lot of things put on hold for far too long. Well, in between classes, homework marking, meetings and co-curricular activities, there's little time left for other things! At least now I have peace of mind knowing that I've done what I was asked to do. I'm sure all my colleagues felt the same way after school ended yesterday -- tired but relieved.

Now, there's just one more thing to do -- keeping our fingers crossed that if the Director does drop by next week, he will be satisfied with what he sees -- or at least, he won't have too many things to criticise us on... fingers crossed, everybody!

What's Going On?

Can you imagine being in a school, or any organisation for that matter, where nobody knows exactly what is going on? Well, that pretty much sums up what being in my school is like most of the time. You may start to wonder if we have a principal. Well, we do. Are there enough assistants to help him with his tasks? There are. In fact, we have enough staff in the school as dictated by the Ministry of Education to handle all school affairs. So why the chaos?

The problem lies in poor communication and leadership skills. My school has the tendency to make last-minute decisions which throws everyone into a state of unreadiness. Let me elaborate with some examples. Despite promising to notify us of any after-school meetings at least a few days earlier so that teachers can make any changes to their plans beforehand, we end up being told to attend meetings just one day earlier, or worse still, on the same day that the meeting is held! Mothers need to make frantic calls to their babysitters to arrange for a new time to pick up their babies, teachers have to cancel after-school tuition which they have promised their students, and these students are left stranded because they have no transport to go home. Or students are told out of the blue that there will be compulsory sports practice after school, causing them the inconvenience of notifying their parents at the last minute not to fetch them at the usual time. Worse still are those who rely on school buses to get home. There's no way they can ask the bus drivers to wait for them for a couple of hours more! There are also instances where students are told to stay back on a certain day, but when that day comes, they are suddenly told that they do not need to stay back anymore, because the activity has been cancelled. Needless to say, students are stranded with no transport to get home... again.

These are just some examples of what happens almost daily in my school. Teachers have reminded the administration time and again to at least inform the students a day beforehand if they need to stay back the next day, so that they can arrange their own transport. This is when I show what poor leadership we have in school. Despite being aware of these numerous problems and complaints, not a single concrete action has been taken to address the issue. The same problem crops up again and again, and yet, the principal seems oblivious to it. Oddly enough, he is the one who preaches on accountability and punctuality during meetings. If he values time so much, why is he wasting everyone's precious time?

What happened today and yesterday is yet another fine example of poor administration. Speech Day was held today, and teachers were assigned to specific tasks a few weeks earlier. Everyone did as they were told, and the vice principal asked us for updates during a meeting. All seemed well. However, he was not around yesterday and today because he had to attend a meeting somewhere else, and everything seemed to descend into chaos. Sure, the principal was around, but he wasn't coordinating anything. I would say that he was just making his presence felt, lingering around the school hall, not even the least bit disturbed that the rehearsal was not going as planned. With no one coordinating the rehearsal yesterday, nothing went smoothly, and there was another rehearsal scheduled this morning. Unfortunately, without a clear leadership again, it dragged on till noon and still, nothing seemed to be finalised. A full rehearsal never materialised.

Of course, this was not the only problem. With some of the teachers not entering their classes (as they were busy with the 'rehearsals') students were having a gala time in class. Some other teachers took the opportunity to not enter their classes as well. So, the whole school was in chaos, with students running all over the place, out of control. There were still a bunch of teachers who went on with their lessons, but the noise outside the classrooms was always distracting. I'm sure the principal was aware of this, but he did not do anything to rectify the situation. He also did not announce when school would end today to make way for Speech Day later in the afternoon, despite being asked about it earlier in the morning. Again, he should have made the decision a day before, so parents would know what time to fetch their children the next day. Students kept on asking teachers for the time, but nobody could give them an answer. All we could do was ask them to wait for any announcement -- but that didn't come either. Without a definite answer from the principal, the other vice principals and senior teachers dared not say anything as well. Eventually, teachers and students took matters into their own hands and dismissed at 12.30pm.

Personally, this is by far the most chaotic day in school. No one knew exactly what was going on; not the students, not the teachers, and I dare say, not the principal himself! Will there be another day worse than what I've experienced today? I dread to think about it...

It's Easy to Forget

I'm sure everyone agrees that a teacher should be patient and kind. That's common sense as we deal with children or teenagers on a daily basis, and these are a group of people who are still immature and rebellious. They do things to you that make you feel like strangling them... sometimes. At other times, you just wish you were somebody else in a different profession altogether. So, patience is undisputedly the most important virtue for a teacher.

But teachers are humans, too. We get bogged down with work, despite the illusion that we just work half day. We have feelings and self-respect, because we are not machines and robots. So, we get stressed up if we come into the class, all ready to teach, but find out eventually that students prefer to fool around rather than appreciate our carefully planned-out lesson. It's okay if it happens once in a while, but if this goes on every time you enter that class, you will eventually reach your breaking point too, I'm sure. That's when we turn into Godzillas, letting them know we are angry and hoping to scold them into submission.

This may work once or twice, but if used continually, students will grow 'immune' to it, and things will pretty much be the same as before. Students can also be deeply hurt by what we say to them, which is something we won't be aware of at the heat of the moment, but it can stay on with them for a long time, affecting their character and attitude in future. They may even feel more negatively towards us and be more rebellious in the future.

Common sense tells us that we should be patient with our students, but we always forget. This has also been my most recent experience. There was always so much negative energy around the class that I always came out of it feeling frustrated. I'm sure my students felt the same way, too. I would sometimes regret the harsh words I said to them as well. Negative energy just sucked the life and enthusiasm out of everyone. When I realised my students were getting more and more disinterested with the lessons, I decided that it was time to put a stop to this. I decided to bring in more positive energy. I tried to be more cheerful and relaxed in class, giving positive comments whenever possible, and smiled more. Not surprisingly, it worked. Seeing me more relaxed and enthusiastic, students were also more engaged and cooperative in class. At the end of the day, I felt satisfied that my lessons worked. Everyone was happier.

This is something I've learnt over the years, but tend to forget, especially when stress creeps in. Hopefully, this time around, I will not repeat the same mistake again. Experience is always a good teacher. In fact, all teachers should remember that a kind word does more wonders than a thousand harsh words.

A New Experience

Last Saturday, the preliminary rounds for the annual district level inter-school debate was held. As usual, each participating school was required to send 3 teachers to be judges on that day. My school pulled out the last minute, but the organising committee still invited us for the event. Having brought my students for the competition for the past few years, being a judge was nothing new to me. It was scary the first time, but I quickly realised that it wasn't that difficult after all. It only involved impromptu debate, where debaters were given the topic 30 minutes before the debate, and were allowed 2 to 3 minutes each to present their arguments. Short and sweet. Simple.

The final round was a bit tricky. Needing to find a team to represent the district in the state level competition, the format of debate on that day would be parliamentary style, which meant that students were given the topic 1 hour before the debate, and during the actual debate, each person was given 8 minutes to present the arguments. This final round was held last Wednesday. On Tuesday, I received a call from the teacher-in-charge, who asked if I could fill in for a judge who couldn't make it. I'd never judged in a final round before, and I'd seen how tough the competition was between two good teams, so my first reaction was to decline. However, the teacher sounded desperate, and reassured me that other experienced judges would be there as well. Ever the one to take up a challenge, I agreed, but regretted it as soon as I ended the call. I was honoured to be chosen, but very nervous at the same time. Would I be good enough? So I spent the night reading up on the pages of rules, hoping that I would not forget the criteria listed under the four aspects of style, substance, strategy and language.

Lucky for me, I was assigned to judge the match for the 3rd and 4th placing. At least it won't be as tough as the 1st and 2nd placing match. It was nerve wrecking in the beginning, but I soon relaxed and started to enjoy the debate. After sitting through the debate for an hour, diligently taking notes and cracking my head filling up the score sheets, I was glad to find that my verdict matched those of the other 4 judges. It was a unanimous decision. So I took it that I did well in my first attempt as a finals judge. No problem doing it again the next year. Well, I just hope they don't ask me to judge the 1st and 2nd placings... after all, I'm still a rookie!

Transfer Blues

One of the downside of being a civil employee is that you have to work where the government posts you to. Well, fair enough, as the government's task is to improve the quality of life across the nation, not just focussed on the urban areas, but including rural areas as well. Unfortunately, for the individual employee, he/she has no idea how long he/she has to serve in a particular place before being transferred back to a place of his/her choice. Of course, it is stated that a person should serve a minimum of 5 years at the place being posted to, before being eligible for transfer. Even if this criterion is met, the next step would be to see if there is any empty positions to be filled in the place that we are applying for.

I am now in this particular situation. I've been posted to teach in Beruas, a rural area in the state of Perak, Malaysia, and today marks the 8th year of my service in my school. I have applied for transfer twice, but it seems that there are no vacancies in Ipoh, which is where I hope to be transferred to. I've been told that there will be no vacancies for at least 3 years! Apparently, no English teacher is planning to retire anytime soon.

Applications for transfer are open twice a year, once in the middle of the year, and once at the end of the year. Word is that the more times we apply, the higher the chances we get to be transferred. However, for the two times that I have applied, I only did it at the end of the year, because I teach exam classes, and I don't think it's a good idea to leave them suddenly without a teacher halfway through the year, with their exams looming large before them. Getting a substitute teacher might take up to a month, and the students will be on the losing end. I can't bring myself to be this cruel to them! Unfortunately, this means that I only have one chance every year, which does not look very optimistic.

Having taught in the same school for 7 years, I really feel that it's time for me to experience working in another school environment, to meet new kinds of students and to have new challenges. Last week, I got news that there a school in Ipoh was short of English teachers, as one of them had left the school. Despite teaching exam classes this year, I felt that if this golden opportunity passed, there was no knowing when I could finally leave. So, I decided to give it a try. I called the school, but the clerks weren't much of a help. I tried calling the principal the next day, hoping that he might be able to help me transfer to his school. He didn't answer my calls. The following day, I decided it would be much better if I called the State Education Dept, but also, the officer in charge did not pick up the phone! By then, it was the end of the week, so I decided to meet this officer in person, but after driving for one hour and 30 minutes there, I found out that the whole department had gone to Penang for a meeting. What are the odds! Luck was just not on my side.

This morning, a colleague told me that she had heard that I could contact the District Education Office about the transfer, so I called the officer as soon as I finished my lesson. What I got was bad news. The spot had been taken. If I had known earlier that I could have just contacted this officer from my district, I wouldn't have to go through all the trouble calling everyone else. Sigh... maybe it's just not my time yet to leave. In the meantime, I'll just focus on preparing my class for their SPM exam, and doing the duties being asked of me. I'll still keep my fingers -- and toes -- crossed, that someday very soon, I'll get what I wish for.

I'm thankful that throughout this experience, many teachers have shown their support and given me information and advice, without me even asking. And most of them were Malay teachers! This in a country that has seen a lot of racial tension lately, is really something worth looking up to. Amidst my disappointment, I feel reassured that I am not alone in this, and somehow, with our collective positive thoughts, a miracle might just happen.