Happy Teachers' Day
To all who teach in one way or another… My heart-felt appreciation to ya…Be Happy, dear teachers, not just on this particular day, but be happy every other day. =]
In the past 5 yrs, I would spend this day nua-ing at home as this is the only break or rest day for me. Before this day, I have had tonnes of test papers to mark and set, assignments to mark and set too. The daily administration work was unbelievable. I tell you, unless u r a teacher, or was a teacher, you wouldn't understand or be able to comprehend the amount of admin work we teachers have to do. Sigh...Ya ...it's a sigh..
Okie. My purpose of this entry is to appreciate teachers, not anything else. Better be focused. Wahahaha...
I am fortunate. I have the luxury at this moment to reflect and ponder about teaching as a profession. I love teaching. No qualms about that. I'm sure all my ex-colleagues and teachers came into this profession because of this passion we have to teach and nurture the little rascals. I love talking and listening to their silly stories and tricks they played. More than often, I'm their listening ear to all their woes regarding their struggles in school, relationships and family problems. My greatest joy came when they confided in me and allowed me to pray for them and let God be in control of the situation. Praise God. He answered our prayers every time and they would come back to me with smiles on their faces and tell me the results. To God be the glory.
Before I enter this profession, I'm aware that many children cannot enter junior colleges and polytechnics coz they failed their English at O levels, especially those in the NA stream. So, I told myself that I got to help as many students as I can, especially those from the NA to pass and do well in their English. I want them able to cross this huddle and move on in life, not be stuck or crippled as their friends move on.
Hmmm...
Teaching is like shooting an arrow with the goal of aiming at the bull's eye. A child is like the arrow. Every archer wants to aim the bull's eye and every teacher desires to groom and nurture a child to his or her best potential. To succeed is to have hit the bull's eye. What a joy!
An archer needs to train his arm's strength, standing posture and eye focus. He runs long distance and carries weights for hours to make sure his arrow will end up hitting the bull's eye. Similarly, a teacher attends courses and workshops to sharpen her pedagogical skills, plans and re-plans her lessons to make her lessons creative, interesting and innovative in the hope that her students' interest will be aroused, knowledge taught can be absorbed and ultimately, they can apply what they learn in the examinations and in practical living.
However, the winds and storms will affect the archer and the teacher. They come in different forms; expectations of herself, her superiors and her students and parents, and the attitude and learning ability of the students. The admin work and marking load can swarm her as well, especially if she is a double language teacher like me.
Marking English and Literature assignments is no joke. Hahah...It is laborious, eye-straining and mind boggling. Every student makes grammatical errors and many are weak in their sentence structure. The first level is to decipher their illegible handwriting. Then comes the comprehension of what they wrote. Most of the time, I'll be confused with their use of tenses. Is it past or present? Maybe they mean present. Then, after reading a few paragraphs..ah..they mean past tense lah..Aiyah..re-read entire essay.. Well, doing this for ten essays may be ok..but...most of us have two to three English classes. On top of that, I have at least three Literature classes. That's a few hundreds of them within a limited time frame. Aiyoh..For Literature, I'm told to be kind and gracious. Be oblivious to their grammar and spelling mistakes. Oh...that's so challenging..whahahaha...Then I must try to sieve past all that and try to understand their content only. That's if they write anything at all. Wahahah...Little did they know that we're happy if they leave blanks coz then we don't have to mark them. Wahahah.. Of coz, I mean this is during exam marking. Normally, my students are not supposed to leave blanks. I threatened them that for every question they leave out, I'll deduct their precious marks accordingly! Wahahah..Still, there are a few who tried to test me...Woe is to them! =]
My dear readers (esp those who are still students), please appreciate your beloved teachers, even if you feel that they may be unreasonable or mad at times. They are trying their best, really. Unknown to the public, they may have a bad night the day before marking your ungrammatical essays or they also may have family problems to settle too! Yah...They do. Teachers are human too leh! Wahahha..
To my fellow ex-colleagues, three cheers to u all!! Hip Hip Hooray! I salute u, dear folkies. While I am resting and reflecting my life, you are battling out there in the education field. Fret not, the results will come soon. Not the FY exam results, not the yr end bonus (hehehe), nor the possible promotion. But the "Thank you, Cher!" MANY YEARS from their facial expressions and changed behaviour. Some of our dodos don't know how to say 'Thank you'. You've gotto read in between their gestures and lingo. Wahaha...thus, not read between the lines but interpret between the gestures. wahhaahah.... Twill take a LOONNG time...heheeh...but the time will come.
By then, I might have returned to this teaching profession too...though not in this same form. Heheeh....tata...
Okie dokies. This entry is longer than intended. That’s all folks.
To all who teach in one way or another… My heart-felt appreciation to ya…Be Happy, dear teachers, not just on this particular day, but be happy every other day. =]
In the past 5 yrs, I would spend this day nua-ing at home as this is the only break or rest day for me. Before this day, I have had tonnes of test papers to mark and set, assignments to mark and set too. The daily administration work was unbelievable. I tell you, unless u r a teacher, or was a teacher, you wouldn't understand or be able to comprehend the amount of admin work we teachers have to do. Sigh...Ya ...it's a sigh..
Okie. My purpose of this entry is to appreciate teachers, not anything else. Better be focused. Wahahaha...
I am fortunate. I have the luxury at this moment to reflect and ponder about teaching as a profession. I love teaching. No qualms about that. I'm sure all my ex-colleagues and teachers came into this profession because of this passion we have to teach and nurture the little rascals. I love talking and listening to their silly stories and tricks they played. More than often, I'm their listening ear to all their woes regarding their struggles in school, relationships and family problems. My greatest joy came when they confided in me and allowed me to pray for them and let God be in control of the situation. Praise God. He answered our prayers every time and they would come back to me with smiles on their faces and tell me the results. To God be the glory.
Before I enter this profession, I'm aware that many children cannot enter junior colleges and polytechnics coz they failed their English at O levels, especially those in the NA stream. So, I told myself that I got to help as many students as I can, especially those from the NA to pass and do well in their English. I want them able to cross this huddle and move on in life, not be stuck or crippled as their friends move on.
Hmmm...
Teaching is like shooting an arrow with the goal of aiming at the bull's eye. A child is like the arrow. Every archer wants to aim the bull's eye and every teacher desires to groom and nurture a child to his or her best potential. To succeed is to have hit the bull's eye. What a joy!
An archer needs to train his arm's strength, standing posture and eye focus. He runs long distance and carries weights for hours to make sure his arrow will end up hitting the bull's eye. Similarly, a teacher attends courses and workshops to sharpen her pedagogical skills, plans and re-plans her lessons to make her lessons creative, interesting and innovative in the hope that her students' interest will be aroused, knowledge taught can be absorbed and ultimately, they can apply what they learn in the examinations and in practical living.
However, the winds and storms will affect the archer and the teacher. They come in different forms; expectations of herself, her superiors and her students and parents, and the attitude and learning ability of the students. The admin work and marking load can swarm her as well, especially if she is a double language teacher like me.
Marking English and Literature assignments is no joke. Hahah...It is laborious, eye-straining and mind boggling. Every student makes grammatical errors and many are weak in their sentence structure. The first level is to decipher their illegible handwriting. Then comes the comprehension of what they wrote. Most of the time, I'll be confused with their use of tenses. Is it past or present? Maybe they mean present. Then, after reading a few paragraphs..ah..they mean past tense lah..Aiyah..re-read entire essay.. Well, doing this for ten essays may be ok..but...most of us have two to three English classes. On top of that, I have at least three Literature classes. That's a few hundreds of them within a limited time frame. Aiyoh..For Literature, I'm told to be kind and gracious. Be oblivious to their grammar and spelling mistakes. Oh...that's so challenging..whahahaha...Then I must try to sieve past all that and try to understand their content only. That's if they write anything at all. Wahahah...Little did they know that we're happy if they leave blanks coz then we don't have to mark them. Wahahah.. Of coz, I mean this is during exam marking. Normally, my students are not supposed to leave blanks. I threatened them that for every question they leave out, I'll deduct their precious marks accordingly! Wahahah..Still, there are a few who tried to test me...Woe is to them! =]
My dear readers (esp those who are still students), please appreciate your beloved teachers, even if you feel that they may be unreasonable or mad at times. They are trying their best, really. Unknown to the public, they may have a bad night the day before marking your ungrammatical essays or they also may have family problems to settle too! Yah...They do. Teachers are human too leh! Wahahha..
To my fellow ex-colleagues, three cheers to u all!! Hip Hip Hooray! I salute u, dear folkies. While I am resting and reflecting my life, you are battling out there in the education field. Fret not, the results will come soon. Not the FY exam results, not the yr end bonus (hehehe), nor the possible promotion. But the "Thank you, Cher!" MANY YEARS from their facial expressions and changed behaviour. Some of our dodos don't know how to say 'Thank you'. You've gotto read in between their gestures and lingo. Wahaha...thus, not read between the lines but interpret between the gestures. wahhaahah.... Twill take a LOONNG time...heheeh...but the time will come.
By then, I might have returned to this teaching profession too...though not in this same form. Heheeh....tata...
Okie dokies. This entry is longer than intended. That’s all folks.
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