1st week of work

I am really enjoying my working life thus far.

My school, SMK ---, is only 10-15 minute drive away from my house. So, I'm still staying with my parents. I usually leave home by 6.55am to arrive at the school a few minutes earlier than the 7.20am clock-in time. My driving routine also involves tuning in to IKIM.fm to listen to Doa Pagi. I like hearing my name in the song :-)

The school has plenty of parking spaces. This may seem somewhat irrelevant but coming from my practicum school where parking spaces are scarce, this is a huge blessing. No longer are lessons interrupted by "Kepada pemilik kenderaan WXY 1234, sila alihkan kenderaan anda sekarang juga" announcements. They were my pet peeves - I can still recall the announcement wording verbatim!

I am given 3 classes to teach: 3B, 3E and 3H. That means I'm only teaching 15 periods a week (excluding reliefs). It's a temporary arrangement. Teachers usually get around 25 periods per week. The school administrators are in the midst of reshuffling the timetable. So after Chinese New Year, I will probably be transfered to the afternoon session and be given a more gruelling schedule.

Further, I still haven't been assigned to any extra-curricular activities. So, I'm pretty much coasting right now :-)

Oh, and the school is short of English teachers. Therefore, I get to teach English and only English. I wouldn't know what to do if I were asked to teach BM/History/Civic/Math instead.

My current students are a mixed bunch. I have trouble controlling class 3H; the boys are extremely boisterous that my classroom management skills are tested to the limits. Class 3B is a handful too. But my biggest challenge is not keeping the class in order - it's getting the students motivated to the learn the language. They seem to have very low motivation levels. Yesterday, they were supposed to present their group work, but not one group bring their mahjung paper. I tried to implement Plan B, but none bring their textbook as well! Habis tu, double period nak buat apa?? haish...

Fortunately, my 3-month practicum had somewhat prepared me for situations such as these. When the students said, "Kelas kitaorang memang macam ni Cikgu". I just replied, "It's okay. I've handled worse" [For the record 2 Cekal, I said this in the most affectionate manner :-)]

But hati terubat with Class 3E. It's not fair to play favourites - I know. But Class 3E is just a joy to teach - the epitome of model pupils. Give them any task: groupwork, role-play, discussion... and they are up for it. Today, we role-played Chapter 1 of the novel Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. It was one of those great teaching moments.

Work ends at 1.30pm (if there's no meeting to attend to) and I am always very tired when I reach home. My brother teased, "Apa ni Adik? Kerja baru seminggu dah pengsan".

My sisters chipped in, "Ntah. Dah la pukul 2 dah balik".

I just replied, "Ada tak kerja korang kena layan 40 lebih orang SEKALIGUS??"

Hah! I rest my case.