CNY Holidays

Alhamdulillah, the holidays are finally here. Toward the end of week 6, I was getting chronically disoriented, totally frazzled and a bit insane.

I have serious time-management issues. Though I stay back after school and continue to do some work at home, I still couldn't keep my in-tray manageable.

Many times, I didn't come into class with a well-thought of lesson plan and the unmarked books kept on piling on my desk mercilessly. These unfinished tasks just made me feel like the most incompetent teacher ever.

So I kept praying for the holidays to come since Feb 1.

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Talking about time management, I read a very interesting interview in The Star the other day.

The person being interviewed was Steve Leung, a "trendsetting Hong Kong architect" who was named "World's Best Interior Designer".

He was asked, "When and where did you receive your training in design? What was the most valuable lesson you have ever learnt?"

His reply was: "...The most valuable lesson was in time management. I wasn't the most "hard-working" of students, only one-third of my time was used for study. I like sports a lot (all sorts of sports, such ball games, swimming, track and field, etc.). I was an athlete in several sports and I was the sports captain. Therefore, one-third of my time was for sports, training and leading my team. Another one-third of my time was for personal interests, including learning French and doing design-related freelance jobs. I wore several hats but needed plenty of rest at the same time, therefore, I realised the importance of good time management in order to succeed in all my roles."

I thought the answer encapsulates what educational institutions are all about. We learn so many subjects in school (Biology, Chemistry, Add. Maths, Grammar, etc.) that we may or may not use in real life.

But what will certainly be put to use are the values and skills subconsciously taught through all those subjects and through our involvement in extra-curricular activities and through other experiences that schools have to offer.

Values and skills like time management, public speaking, cooperation, learning how to learn, punctuality, discipline, problem solving, decision making, etc.

I've touched on this issue before but this is to illustrate again why our exam-oriented culture is detrimental to students in the long run.

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Anyway, the past three days have been great (i.e. stress-free); no lesson plans, no school-related work, no register, no students... Aaah *sigh of contentment*

As much as I love my students, some do cause me high blood pressure. So, a loooong absence is needed for the heart to grow fonder again.

I've been to 2 places so far: The National Zoo and the TIMES Warehouse Sale.

The former was for my nieces and nephew's sake but I had a great time as well.

The latter was very therapeutic. Book browsing has that effect on me. What makes it even more pleasant is that there weren't many people around. So, there was no need for jostling and I took my own sweet time checking the books aisle by aisle.

I wasn't planning to buy cheap books by the truckload since I still have many unread books on my shelves. But I found so many tempting titles which I KIV-ed. I only bought one so far which is Ali Smith's The Whole Story and Other Stories. What made me buy the book was its very engaging (and cute) opening passage:

"There was a man dwelt by a churchyard.
Well, no, okay, it wasn't always a man; in this particular case it was a woman. There was a woman dwelt by a churchyard.
Though, to be honest, nobody really uses that word nowadays. Everybody says cemetery. And nobody says dwelt anymore. In other words:
There was once a woman who lived by a cemetery"

So do come to Sunway Giza if you like book sales like I do :-)

Happy Chinese New Year!
Enjoy the holidays!

(Oh, btw, driving in KL is so pleasurable these past few days. The roads are deserted!)