You think you have the first few weeks to slack it off and act funny but in reality you don't, because you will be sweeping up your own mess by the end of the short semester, which is just about 4 weeks of class and you can feel yourself literally dying from the stress.
Nonetheless, we accepted the challenge and embarked on an educator's journey to teach children of SJK (C) Chung Huah. Initially we gathered around 15 of us to go, but Deepavali caught us offguard so we had to choose only 6 of us. We met up, prepared some materials, plan our lesson, and all that's left is D day, trust me, we were all enthusiasts and 100% ready to go meet the kids.
Here's Simon and Joan drawing lines on the butcher's paper and writing titles for one of the lesson plan.
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It was such a beautiful morning, but we weren't expecting what was expecting us.
It's a Saturday, and the children still came to school, i guess they're really determined to have their English lesson (Or maybe it's their teacher who forced them to come, either one, it makes me happy) It reminds me of my last semester break where i taught at my mother's school, also a chinese primary school.
From the picture, you can see us comfortably sheltered (ok lah, no direct sunlight also that time), with tables that looked like chairs with super long legs and the students lining up to register themselves.
That morning itself, the children were energized and i believe they all drank Milo before they came (it's what the advertisement says, i mean c'mon, majority of us drank milo every morning don't we?)
And then there's me, directing an obviously unhappy little girl to another group because she obviously wants to be in the same group with her friend. I guess they didn't take us seriously because they think we're not the "real" teacher there.
And then there's the yellow shirt boy who's really thirsty.
3 Groups that day.
From the left:
Simon and I
Marion and Sharmila.
Christovery and Joan.
First is the ice breaking game, where everyone has to throw a ball and ask another person a question, but now we had to make a circle first, so we asked all of them to form a circle. The girls instinctively held their hands together, and when there's a girl boy pattern, that boy or girl will start screaming "YERRRRR" because obviously he didn't want to hold the girl's hand. Ok la, i was once a kid, i know how that feels, but now as a grown-up i mean, REALLY?!
One thing about halls is that, YOU HAVE TO SPEAK OR SCREAM REAL LOUD BECAUSE YOUR VOICE TENDS TO GET LOST IN THE SEA OF THE CHILDREN'S EXCITED SCREAMS. (**a moment of silence for my vocal tract**)
Phew. That's exactly what i did that day in the hall, there are 3 groups and 80+ students, and it's a hall, so obviously one group tends to be really loud, and the other groups are fighting to be even louder, and the cycle continues, and you strain your voice, and the next day you sound like a grandpa.
The following session will be conducted in classroom (phew!)
Sharmila's group activity will require the students to write all their names in a piece of butcher's paper, and from their name, form new English words from the letters available in their names combined. Should be an easy task for std 5 kids, but according to Joan and Sha, many students were struggling and having difficulties, thus you can see Sha directing them in the photo below:
Chris and Marion's session would be about using different kinds of pictures, and the children will have to pick a few pictures and form english stories/sentences based on the pictures given to them. This would be targeted on the children's creativity and usage of English words. But mostly creativity.
For me and Simon's part, we give the children cards, and based on the number on the cards, they have to say the number of things about themselves. At first i was expecting various creative answers, but when the first few groups started presenting, i know my job isn't as simple as i hope it would be. Most students didn't know what to talk about themselves, they know their gender, yes, but they mostly talked about their hobbies. The answers were of repetition, and majority boys replied "I love playing basketball" and "I love to play games".
For my part, i'm lucky to have 2 jars of candies with me. One jar consist of NIPS (chocolate peanut) and another FruitPlus (green), the students (some really competitive ones) raised up their hands and answers the question enthusiastically. But some just stay in a corner and be like "i'm a table, you can't see me here." Challenges after challenges.
Another thing i found difficult was the ability to control the classroom discipline and noise. The children play and don't focus on their friends talking in front, that's one part which gives me an utter headache. Hours of standing up, sometimes i just want to sit down and be like, are we done?
On that day itself, there were disputes and arguments. And not one, not two, not three, but more than that. And each time an argument broke out, one party would cry. It's heartbreaking to see children cry, but that's their nature, they cry to express fear, sadness or anxiety. In my class, a boy was scolding another boy for disturbing his water bottle, so that boy started crying after i moved him to another place. Maybe he thought i was blaming him. So i got the two together and started putting some sense into their brains. They shook hands, yes, but i don't think this matter is resolved as both of them aren't smiling nor looking into each other's eyes. I tried :( i really do.
Group photo courtesy of Mr. Lee.
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| UTARians and Lecturers Mr. Lee and Ms. Christina. |
We were famished after
And more shots together as we return to uni to go home and finally get some good rest.
I'm thankful for all the chances given to me in life.
kthxbai.
