Venting

At the moment, everything at the centre looks and feel alright. The number of staff I have is enough for me to add 30 to 40 more students. We lost a lot of students during the struggle with H1N1 and during the year end holiday in 2009, so many decided to take a break. This year most of them suffered from slow progress. It's expected but they still did it.

This year, I must start writing to parents about the reasons why it's better not to take a break from the program. Many mothers don't understand or failed to make themselves understand how important to have a consistent study. After a break, they can be the ones coming back to me with complains why their children are still not progressing.

It can be pretty tiring for us instructors when what we have explained need to be explained again. However, I'll again share this piece of information with them through the newsletter for April.

One of those day!

Waking up today, I didn't feel like springing out of bed. However, I managed to reach the centre on time. Throughout the day, things happened around me and I felt better by end of the day.

During our class hour, we had all the "big shots" children coming all at the same time and they were stuck at the centre because of the stormy weather. They know each other from their family circle of friends, so the centre became noisy. I enjoyed it somehow....but I was not sure if the parents at the waiting area were.

In the afternoon, I received a letter from my pen friend of 27 years. She's from Finland. She brought happy news for me. She planned to travel all the way from Finland to Phuket for new year. I am trying to make my way there during the first week of January to meet her for the weekend. This is awesome because I have something to look forward to.

happy happy!!

Completer of mine

Last month, a boy I nurtured from the age of 6 completed his Maths program. I felt so proud when the office announced he passed his completer's test. After 9 years of sweat and tears, he finally can relax and not see our worksheets anymore.

He came up to the centre to give me back some solution books he was using and to my surprise a present for me. I didn't want to deal with my emotions....and sent him off with just a simple good bye. I'm used to heart breaking good-byes by now....I even know how to avoid them.

Tanusia oh Tanusia

In April this year, I approached a mom with down syndrome child to try out during our Free Trial campaign. I shared with her the success of an existing student. My existing student was 4 when she joined us. She is now 6 years old and doing the last part of Addition and Subtraction. She did her test and should be doing the next level of multiplication.

Back to Tanusia. She's 11 and has never been to a proper school. Her mom was reluctant to enroll her. I let her watch Rhea (existing down syndrome student) did her work and Tanusia's mom was very impressed.

Tanusia has been my student ever since. She's now filling in the blanks with numbers (up to number 220). I tried testing her, but she's not quite ready yet. By end of this week, she should be ready.

Tanusia gives me so much joy in being a teacher. She makes me laugh and smile all the time when she's at the centre. She'd imitate the way I sit, and sometimes would come to the centre with earrings and lipstick. According to her mom, it's just to show me how nice she can look.

It's been tough!

I must admit that life has been tough as an instructor lately. I felt the pain since August this year when we were hit by H1N1. It so happened that it coincides with the International Schools' summer break. We lost so many students. Even though 90% came back in October, the two months they were not around did enough damage.

When people talk about running a business, they talk about big money. They talk about making money!!!! As an educator, when people ask me if I'm making money....I can't say much. I am not!

Most times I keep my head high, in my quiet time, I feel I can crumble.

I'm still loving my job as an educator but slowly not liking the business aspect of it.

I've been away.....from the blogging world!

I've not visited this page for a long time and I am totally lost. Not even knowing how to get to the writing bar. I was so into blogging when I first started it. At some point I was told not to disclose too much about myself. I became rigid and not sure how to deliver how I feel. I must start to write freely. I think that's what blogging is all about.

Newly set focus

I've settled the differences with my Area Manager. Now, my focus is to start my worksheet studies. It's something I've not done for a long time. It's not a good sign, but it's never too late to start.