Wednesday, May 10, 2006

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?????

5 comments:

Pais パイス said...

oooouu..soudeska???
how old is the one who doesnt understand even a bit of english? >.<

Minimalista Wannabe said...

well...that depends on their background. For those who speak English at home, they can speak English from the time they start to speak, but for those yang tak cakap omputih tu....sampai darjah 3-4 pun tak paham sangat. But they're learning, and reading...and making sentences...the most important thing....input. We try to get students to read as much as possible through the kumon worksheets. the info in kumon worksheets...macam-macam ada!!! Science, History, Geography, General Knowledge...etc...

Minimalista Wannabe said...

alamak....tercakap nama sebenar!!!!

Serendipity said...

I came from Philippines. When I took my IQ test, I remember a question which says:

An apple is:
a. shrub
b. tree
c. vine

I was in second grade and have never seen an apple in situ.

Yam Plant (: said...

Hi ende,
So funny the way u write ur blog! haha !!!!!!!!!!
maryam