Thank god for the sun!!!!!!!!

Today was a challenging day for all of us at the centre. With rain outside, and the frog croaking, students coming in wanting extra homework for one week (school holiday!), 30 students came at the same time demanding for attention, phone ringing non stop, mommies and daddies wanting to drop by to say hello, one side of my heel came off..... ah well...at least it rained and kept the earth wet, there are still frogs jumping around happily, I still have students who still want to learn and willing to do homework to become better in what they are doing, there are still people calling us wanting to talk to us, there are still mommies and daddies who are friendly to us, I still have shoes to wear when walking outside. ..... I should not complain.

Tomorrow is the beginning of the 2 weeks holidays for the students. When we started the class today, little hindustani boy came. Little hindustani has 5 yrs of history with me. I think somehow he feels like I'm his sister or auntie. He was diagnosed with ADHD and has a slight autism. Today, he came in grinning from ear to ear..... but 10 minutes after arrival, when I told him that we'll still be around next week and not closing, he immediately became agitated. I just laughed because I knew he was going to react that way. But what's hilarious was, telling me that I should be closing next week, because he doesn't think anyone would be coming and was annoyed because he thinks I only think about money. I laughed hearing it coming from an 11 yr old. Only if he knew...... he must think I'm running a supermarket ....

back down in memory lane............

Today I wanted to just relax and chill out with my best buddy and her daughters. I was there from 11 am till 6:30 pm. I was fed, and treated well...as usual. In the afternoon, we fetched the children from school. I wanted to see and meet an old school friend. I was told she is a teacher there. What nice memories I had back in 1978. We went to school together, we had the same school bag (red all over!), and.....we used to adore...JOHN TRAVOLTA!!!! SHE could even dance like him (like in Staying Alive). I reminded her and we really laughed!

Sometimes, when I look at all the sophisticated toys the children have now, it made me realize how lucky we were back then when we could even have fun dancing like John Travolta (he's still my favourite!)

As a kid, I enjoyed my time the most when I was 9 to about 14. Most of my students are now around that age. When I see them, I can still remember what's going on in their mind most of the time.....school work, home work, friends, tv, teachers.......i've been through it all.....

I can remember back as far as when I was 5 yrs old. When I was in my preschool, I had the best time of my life learning how to read, write, play in the sand box, spend my morning doing the monkey bar non stop...just to show off to the boys that girls can do it too...in fact better, baked chocolate chip cookies once, went for a school trip, first to the museum....and I got scared of the whole scenario...i don't know why and that's when my teacher gave me a hug and comforted me, which I try to apply nowadays when I see little faces that looks like they are so afraid of their teachers, and seond trip was to the candy factory. I can still remember how candies were made. oh! so nice...I love my childhood.

Till this day, one thing that made me want to go back and tell my teacher (in preschool) is why was I never allowed to stand on the stage on Monday to hold the flag when everyone else were singing NEGARAKU???? (our national anthem) even though I always cut my finger nails???? They should know that those things are important.

When I was just startin'

The first year of teaching and running a business at the same time was a great challenge. It was a great challenge for someone who has never been into any kind of business.....do you count selling insurance as building up a business...well if it is, it lasted only for 5 months. I think when I was 19 someone approached me for Tupperware Selling....well, I didn't even start to do it. I was always bad in trying to sell something. I didn't have the heart to take people's money that way.

When i first had a parents' meeting, i was shivering all the way. If i were one of the parent, I'd not believe a word i had said. However, 12 parents were there and all signed up. That's how it all started.....12 students for 3 months. After that it went up to 30 for the next 9 months. From the business point of view...the business wasn't growing well!!!!

However, from day 1, my fascination was more on meeting new faces, and looking at the little ones. 4 times a week I'd wake up in the morning feeling nervous about the day's challenge. When I say nervous, i meant really nervous, like I'd skip breakfast, and would lose sleep the night before.

NOw.....I can't wait to go to the centre!!!!!! to face the day. It keeps me going.

Happy Teachers' Day!!!

How can I stop writing when writing eases my tension from stressing out day in and day out??? I find solace in writing. Even though it's nothing to do with the way I'm feeling at the moment. It gives me so much joy to just share.

Yesterday was Teacher's Day. I thought it was last month....that's when I started the block. I didn't hope to get anything, but i did. Little Labenese Girl came to me with a conch shell and 6 packets of nougat. I later shared the Nougat with my staff. The "cool handsome" brothers gave me a porcelain picture frame...a shape of a sun, with colourful motives around it, and the New Boy in Town.....he gave me a card thanking us for all our effort in making him comfortable whenever he's there.

My staff, Mrs. Admin, Ms. Environment, Ms. Bollywood, Mrs. Mommy, Ms Italianno and Abang (big brother), make such a good team. Happy Teacher's Day to all!!!!

Sometimes, children do feel a little bit shy to talk to adults, especially their teachers. Little Expatriate came yesterday and her mom made her say what she had to say to me herself. She looked so awkward and I could hear her voice trembling. So I gave a friendly approach, asking her what I can do for her. It was of her not being able to find one of her homework.

How do you approach a child when she's never met you??? In my 8 years, I've met almost 2000 children around the neighbourhood. I still see them once in a while even though they're no longer my students, I would still wave to them....sometimes I get a wave back, sometimes I get funny looks. Looks that say "Who the .... ..." and sometimes, they just ignore.

For this year's teacher's day, I should have a resolution. Let me think of one.

ok ok ... I already have one. I would like to see more children start to read with me. I'm going to delegate more mathematics responsibility to my staff, and I'm going to concentrate in English. I want to share with the children the joy of reading! I'm going to introduce more books to them and would even make time to read books to the little one. I must brush up my story telling skill.

I love all my 200 over children at the centre!!! Including....Mr know all, Mr snutter, Ms chatterbox and Ms I don't care about my future......

Break time.....

HI!...gonna take a break from blogging for awhile. Till next time.........................

mind your language

Learning a language is never easy. Coming from a non English speaking background, I know what it's like. As a Malaysian, we're lucky to be exposed to English Language in our daily life. TV, Radio, people around us....books are easy to get too.

As a child, I seriously started to become aware of the importance of speaking English at the age of 7. That's when I started my primary school years. I mixed around quite well and had Malay, Chinese and Indian friends. We started to speak broken English and were so proud of it. I can even remember an incident where I told my Dear Aunty to excuse my bahasa because I was used to speaking English.....ha ha ha...funny huh?? PERASAN!!!!

Nowadays, when marking the students' English papers, sometimes it brings back the memories of my struggle with the language. Some of the answers given can only make you laugh. I'll make notes in the future so that I can share it here.

Now that I can understand English quite well.....I take it for granted that students should also know it. What may be simple to me, may not be to them. In order to understand their difficulties again, I started a new foreign language. Why don't you try it too.....to understand what it's like to learn a new language....or if you're adventurous enough...take up music!!!

tonight....I'm just blabbering

FLOWGI

Today, I get to spend time at home doing nothing......so I get to surf around. I remembered once I was introduced to a charity foundation that's based in Netherlands but mainly working to contribute to children in Bali, Indonesia. I managed to find the web site again and found a lot of progress since I last visited it. I always associate Bali and Holiday Resorts, but never crossed my mind, how poor the people there are. Just for sharing, here's the web site add .... http://www.flowgi.org/
Don't you think it's a good idea we start something similar for our people??? I have seen school children who have close to nothing and still have the desire to learn. As an educator, one of our aim is to see as many children gets a chance to learn.

Thanks to the founder of FLOWGI ; Kees and Wayan Hoekstra, they've opened my eyes that giving, sharing and helping is always needed in this world......to World Peace!!!!!

a writer???

From this blog, two ppl actually told me I should try to be a writer. Hmmmmmm. Children's book? How about something like anpanman????? Like Pais said....apam man. Not bad huh??? I can include my everyday life in the apam man's adventure!!!

i remembered a story from a good friend, one day she asked her student with LD (Learning Disability) of his ambition. Having LD, he had speech problem as well. Mr Smarty pants answered her seriously. He proudly said "I want to be a pirate". Good friend smiled and corrected Mr smarty pants... "you mean a pilot?????" While closing one eye with one of his hand....he repeated what he said earlier...."I want to be a PIRATE!!!!!"..... Was he influnced by a movie??? perhaps!!!!

Teaching students with LD is never easy, but to be able to see their progress no matter how small.....means so much to an educator.

I was thinking earlier....we have a saying in Bahasa Malaysia, "guru adalah seperti lilin..." (teachers are like a candle...) I could never imagine how that feels. Now i do. It is painful at times, but it brings happiness because it brightens someone else's world. ah well.....something like that!!!!!!!!!!!!

chaos, chaotic, psychopathic

This week has been chaotic. Our new English area has been set up, and we're out of English teachers. I managed to get one last week, but on her very first day, she had to leave because her grandfather passed away. She never returned the day after because she claimed that her grandma also passed away right after that from heart attack. Real drama huh???? Anyway, things happen, but whether it happened for real or not......only she can tell. Anyway, she's been sacked......even before she got hired. That was quite funny!!!! never heard of such a thing.

Anyway, last week, the English students were excited about the new area. Little chubby face....was grinning all the way. When she was asked to listen to the CD, she did and even laughed uncontrollably. I was curious what made her laugh. In the end, I found out this was what made her chuckle......"THE MONKEY LAUGHS!!!" she found it was amusing to have a monkey laughing. I never (in my 8 yrs) felt amused by that worksheet....but somehow, now, to think of it, have you ever seen a monkey laughing????

This morning, Ms Round (the now, ex English assistant) was complaining about a student not understanding a word of English. She claimed that even simple instructions were not understood. Well......to me, that is nothing to worry too much about because they are still learning, so I let her go on and on. When she asked for my opinion, I asked her to imagine herself hearing a foreign language for the first time. I asked her to imagine our Indian cleaner instructing her to lift up her chair so that she can sweep the floor.....in TAMIL!!!! Can you imagine that yourself?????

ANPANMAN....

Today, I'd like to share about anpanman!!! have you heard of him? He's the latest craze in japan now. It's interesting how the Japanese could come up with such a character.

Although loved by millions of pre-school children throughout Japan, Anpanman is virtually unknown outside of his native country. Luckily, Anpanland stands to spread the legend of Japan's greatest living bread superhero throughout the English-speaking world!

Who is Anpanman?
Anpanman is a superman born from a popular Japanese snack called an anpan. An idealist, Anpanman is the fairytale hero of the bread world. When he fights for justice, he often gets badly hurt, however, with the help of Uncle Jam, he can be revitalized over and over again.
What is an anpan?
An anpan is a sweet roll filled with bean jam.
How does Anpanman feed the malnourished?
When Anpanman comes across a starving creature, he lets the unfortunate creature eat part of his head.
How does Anpanman replenish his head?
Uncle Jam bakes a new one for him.
Who is Uncle Jam?
Uncle Jam is the kindly old baker who created Anpanman by baking the first dough and praying to God for "living bread." From his bread factory nestled deep in the forest, Uncle Jam is able to revitalize Anpanman and all the other bread-based superheros (e.g. Currypanman and Shokupanman).
Who is Baikinman?
Baikinman is a supervillain germ, the arch-enemy of justice. Like light and shadow, Anpanman and Baikinman are eternal rivals.
Who is Currypanman?
Currypanman is one of Anpanman's superhero friends. Whereas Anpanman's head is made of the sweet anpan-bread, Currypanman's is made of the spicy currypan.
Who is Dokinchan?
Dokinchan is a female germ, Baikinman's partner in mischief. Unlike Baikinman, Dokinchan has a kind heart. Dokinchan has a crush on Shokupanman.
Who is Shokupanman?
Shokupanman is Anpanman's closest and most handsome superhero friend. His head is a slice of white bread and he is the patron superman of school lunches. Shokupanman's secret headquarters is deep inside of Toaster Mountain.
Who is Batako?
Batako is Uncle Jam's androgenous young female assistant.
Who is Cheese?
Cheese is Uncle Jam's "super watchdog." Anpanman found Cheese stranded in a deep ravine where the poor dog was starving and being pummeled by giant snowballs (courtesy of Baikinman, of course). Anpanman defeated Baikinman, revitalized Cheese by feeding him part of his yummy head, and brought the dog to Uncle Jam's bread factory.
Who can fly, and who can't?
Anpanman, Currypanman and Shokupanman can fly; Uncle Jam, Batako and Cheese can't. Baikinman and Dokinchan cannot fly of their own power, however they both own high-performance flying saucers.
Who created the Anpanman series?
The Anpanman series was created by Takashi Yanase (pictured at left with a giant, stuffed Anpanman). He was born in Kochi Prefecture in 1919. He began serializing "Anpanman" for Frobel-kan's monthly "Kinderbook" in 1973. He has received the Special Prize from The Association of Children's Songwriters in Japan (1989) and the Grand Prize from the Japan Cartoonists' Association (1990). Besides picture books and cartoons, Takashi Yanase writes lyrics to children's songs; his best-known musical contribution is "Turn Your Palm Into Sunlight."
What media has Anpanman appeared in?
Anpanman has appeared in comic strips, children's books and TV cartoons, on record albums, and on a myriad of toys, clothes, foods and other licensed products.
Is Anpanman Shampoo any good?
Not really. While the bottle is certainly cute and collectable, the shampoo itself smells too strongly of bubblegum and leaves long hair tangled and unmanageable.
Why isn't Anpanman as popular as Hello Kitty?
The Anpanman stories and characters uniquely reflect the Japanese experience; their complex cultural references do not necessarily translate well to international audiences. To a non-Japanese person, the concept of a living bread superman who fights giant germs and feeds the hungry with pieces of his head may seem bizarre. Apparently, a person needs no frame of cultural reference whatsoever to appreciate a talking cat with cute animal friends.
Are the adventures of Anpanman an analogy of the mission of Jesus Christ?
No. While both Jesus Christ and Anpanman were immaculately conceived, and while both were born in humble locations beneath a bright and shining star, and while both live(d) selfless lives dedicated to relieving the distressed, and while both exhibit transubstantiation (whereby ordinary bread becomes, in fact, living flesh), and while both ascend into heaven, and while the images of both frequently and miraculously appear in tortillas, hubcaps and oil spots...the similarities end there.