Journey to A Teacher's Haven...

2008-07-12T00:50:00.029+08:00

This Post is Specially Dedicated To... KEENE...

who is leaving for melbourne to further his studies in abt half a day's time... Even though we generally talk more online than offline, you've been an interesting and great fren to whom i can freely and comfortably chat with. :) And oso someone who usually is one of the first to make comments on my msn nick whenever i change it... :P

May God guide you each step of the way as you embark on the new chapter of your life, that He may always keep you close to Him. May the peace of God which passeth all understanding be with you always... =) Remember to:

Keep trusting in Him

Ever be faithful to Him

Ever be at peace with Him

Never give up

Ever be joyful in your heart

And, also remember to take great care of "keene" ya... whether anot he gets to go to australia wif Keene... LOL :P In the meantime, Bon Voyage as you're about to embrace your life of freedom & independence... =)))

Will chat wif you online again soon, hopefully! :D

2008-07-02T00:21:00.003+08:00

It's Already Been Almost A Year.....

Yes, time flies.

Just came back from prayer meeting today.

Realised tt it's been almost a year since I started praying for you whenever i attend prayer meetings every tuesday.

Ever since 13th July 2007, the day you embarked on your new chapter of life, I'll always mentally add you to the list of items stated in the prayer list, praying that God will preserve and protect you, so as to bring you back safely every week...

Apparently, my prayers were answered, as I believe you have been doin fine so far.... =))

Though we may not talk to each other, it nevertheless still feels blessed to be able to pray for you, that you're still remembered in a different way...

Good nite, and may God's protection and guidance continue to be on you throughout the rest of this week.

2008-06-24T23:43:00.002+08:00

Juz a quick update.....

1) I have NO CLASSES EVERY MONDAY!!!!!! (very helpful in curbing monday blues...)

2) I juz had my very first lesson today!!! Was a 1.5 hr lab session. Went on without much hiccups lah... the classroom environment's rather diff frm practicum though. In fact, it's VERY different. For once, classroom management did not hav to ALWAYS be put into action. Academic engagement is now more crucial.

3) Can really save money on food expenses when working in school!!! Cheap food, but i too tend to avoid the canteen when there's long long queues of students. I'm not a queuing person..haha! In buffets, i'll juz sit and wait for others to finish taking their share, and then i'll go and take mine when there's no longer much of a queue! LOL!

Okie, tt's all for now... =)

2008-06-14T19:16:00.004+08:00

The End of Home-Alone...

My home-alone period juz ended @ 1640... when i received an sms frm my bro asking me to go to church and fetch em back.... :(

Now it's back to the dreaded normalcy..... =(((

But at least i'll still be free on monday, tuesday, wednesday next week. So that makes me glad.... and sad too, cuz those 3 days will mark the end of my irreversible honeymoon period in my teaching career....

miss NUS days....
miss NIE days... (even the days of induction when we juz hav to come and listen to lectures all day...)
miss Hua Yi days too.... (tink i din treasure my time and the people there as i ought to...zzz)

Nostalgic feelings make me sad....

=(((

2008-06-13T00:55:00.009+08:00

Home-Alone Part 2

YAY!!! I've just received news tt i only hav to report to sch on thurs and fri next week!!! So tt means 3 more days of holidays!!!

Went for a tour to ITE (East) ytd. Super far! But it definitely wasn't a trip wasted, as it was really a great eye-opener! ITE's very well designed in terms of it's building's infrastructure (compare ITE Dover and NUS which are facing each other and u'll noe wat i mean), very well equipped with the relevant facilities for various courses, has very very interesting courses, like Hair Fashion & Design, Beauty Therapy (beautician, manicurist, pedicurist!!!! Me oso wan!!!!), Pastry & Baking, Culinary Skills. Basically very specialised and hands-on courses, as opposed to drilling theory thru rote learning.

But, the BEST part of it all, is that, the government subsidises 97% of each student's school fees!!! Such that each students pays only abt $300 each semester!!! Which is like 10 times less than my uni school fees!!! Very cheap and good place with many good and up-to-date facilities for u to send ur child to!!! (I'm not trying to advertise anyway lah..haha!)

Heard tt they do accept part time students, and my fren asked if ppl like us can go there to take part time courses (esp the beauty therapy and hair design courses!!) anot, but the conclusion is tt we better not snatch places from the students lah, cuz the courses were intended for em, who need em more than us to stay marketable. Plus, they were saying tt the courses' design were mainly geared towards a teenage audience, and "old" ppl like us joining em might hav problems fitting in..haha! Indeed, it's a very huge investment from the government. However, it's nonetheless a worthwhile investment, as prevention is better than cure. It's better to invest to prevent the social problems tt might occur due to unemployment and high school drop-out rates, than to invest in a cure to the social problems.

Plus, for the beauty therapy course, we actually asked if there were any boys taking it. Apparently not...yet! They did not restrict boys frm taking the beauty therapy course, just tt it still haven't attracted the boys yet. The person-in-charge of the beauty therapy course was saying tt nowadays, there's been an increasing number of males who actually patronise beauty services... I know of a particular beauty salon which has 30% of its customers as males, and hav seen guys doin manicures & pedicures too (as in not colour their nails lah, but juz trimming and cleaning up their nails to make em look clean, neat and presentable) And it seems tt guys r usually more malu when they patronise such services, and dun really feel comfortable asking too many questions (maybe cuz all the staff at the salon are females..haha). Hence, it might help em a little if they're served by male staffs..hehe!

So, given the increasing number of males patronizing beauty services, there might be a possible market for males to work at beauty salons! Imagine one day when u're greeted by male staffs at beauty salons... and have males performing manicures and pedicures for customers!!! LOL!!!! Who knows??? Hahaha!!!

Anyway, below are some pix of the places where students in the Beauty Therapy course are trained at ITE... they really hav good facilities that model the real salons in the market! And during classes, they actually perform the hands-on practice on each other! Can get free facials, mani, pedi sia!!!!

The place where students learn to perform facials. Really looks like a real salon!! Even the ambience is correct too!!! So cool!! =))

Place where students learn to do manicures =)

"Debriefing" area, a modelled place where students are taught how to entertain customers after a facial or spa. =)) Nice decor rite!!!!

2008-06-12T17:15:00.010+08:00

More Pix...

Here's more pix to the previous post. =)))

The 5 of us!!! Ex-Hua Yi teachers' power!!! hahaha... (except for mr kok...)

Preparation Phase...

Here's the product!!!

And our hungry faces!!!

=)))

2008-06-10T22:55:00.005+08:00

Home-Alone Part I

Had a gathering wif the frens i got to know at Hua Yi ytd @ my place!!! =)) We decided to try our hands at whipping up our own dinner, and in the end, we managed to come up wif a satisfactory meal of spaghetti, cream soup, and mango pudding dessert! We were all sooo full cuz the dishes were quite creamy and cheesy. (Pictures to come once mr kok sends it)

And after our meal, mr kok intro-ed us to this game called "Saboteur". Quite an interesting and exciting game, one tt involves strategy, and one tt can give u away by ur body language if u're not careful.. Quite funny, at first, i was still kinda blur abt how the game goes.. If u're familiar wif tis game, in one of the rounds, Alvin and I were supposed to be the saboteurs, and mr kok, peiling and lingzhu were the miners. Miners are supposed to build paths to reach to the gold, and saboteurs are supposed to sabo the miners by destroying or stopping their path to the gold. So at first, i tot saboteur can oso collect gold, on top of destroying the miners' path... and so, i was the one who completed the path to the gold when i was supposed to destroy it instead!!!!! -.-''' So in the end, Alvin was the person I sabo-ed instead..LOL! Haha, a saboteur sabo-ing another saboteur...Haha!! But it's really an exciting game overall once u've gotten the hang of it... highly recommended to be played if u've not played it b4. =))))

So we ended everything at abt 12 midnite (thankfully the next day no nid to go nie sia...), and i became their chauffeur to drive em back to their doorstep..haha! Anyway, here are some pix tt we took for memories... (cuz forgot to take pix wif em on last day @ Hua Yi...)

Alvin Lee!!! The saboteur I sabo-ed... when we were supposed to work tog to sabo the others -.-'''

Mr Kok!!! He kept on saying "FOOLISH" throughout the game.. LOL!! His strategy I guess...haha!

Pei Ling!!! The female PE cher who's more tanned than mr kok!!!

Ling Zhu!!! The chief cook and living laughter!!!

The group pic and other pix will be posted once my kok sends em. =)

And for today, when i wanted to watch TV, i realised tt the cable TV channels were "not working". Notice the inverted commas. So, no one to ask to help me, so called customer service 1633 lor...and it turned out to be a technical error in having to adjust the TV to the right "mode" first b4 being able to view the cable channels. I rem my bro saying sth lidat b4, of having to switch the TV to a particular mode first, but din really get it, cuz whenever had such problems, it's my bro who usually settled it for me. But this time, thanx to experiential learning through the hard and independent way, it's really more effective! Thankfully that customer service officer tt helped me was very patient! =) Seems like i always learn best through the hard way, once i've experienced the difficulty of a task... Like i only truly understood the game of Saboteur after the blunder of sabo-ing i made..LOL :P

Later, i went to place some of my stuff at my newly posted sch, cuz i hav the car to transport my heavy stuff conveniently!!! But haven arranged them out properly yet cuz it seems like the previous teacher of that table hasn't cleared everything yet... Then I took a walk around the school.. nothing's changed too much ever since i was studying there... din hav much problems navigating around the school lah...afterall i've been there for 2 years...haha!

Also went to Delifrance, which made me happy, cuz i ordered sth and it took quite long to come. When i approached the stuff, it turned out tt they apparently forgot abt my order!!! And cuz of that, they gave me a complimentary bowl of soup!!!!! YAY!! haha, service recovery!...

Tomorrow wil be goin to visit ITE (East), which is so far for me!!! Looks like Singapore has done quite alot in developing ITEs and introducing the EM3 stream to help reduce the school drop-out rates. And comparing ITE (Dover) and NUS which are facing each other, separated by AYE, the difference is apparent in both buildings, and it shows the effort invested in setting up such institutions. I heard sumone once saying that when a graduate is driving a car, and it breaks down, he will juz probably call AA and wait for help to arrive. But if an ITE students drives a car, and it breaks down, he will be able to try and repair the car and drive on to get more help. Meaningful and makes sense, and shows that everyone is good is his own way with his own unique good points, such that no one is indispensable in this world. =))

Ok i shd slp now.. gd nitey! =)))

2008-06-09T00:46:00.002+08:00

Home-Alone Experience Prelude.....

YES!! I'm gonna be home-alone again for the whole week!!!!!! Hope I dun turn the whole house upside down..lol.. Basically my family's goin for church camp at Kuantan, but i'm not taggin along cuz MOE has planned activities for us during this week...they've choped us very very long ago liao, like abt 1 year ago when we first joined em...smart move..haha!

Ok, it feels kinda weird wif everyone ard me busy preparing for camp, but not me... but nvm, such a good waster of time like me wil surely be able to somehow find stuff to occupy myself wif..haha! And one thing tt hav kinda occupied me is a RPG (Read Pray Grow) book in bahasa indonesia which is produced by Calvary Batam. Somehow, it feels exhilarating to be reading stuff in bahasa once again, and being able to make sense out of it!!!!!! The copy tt i picked up is actually the one for april till june, but i'm starting to read it frm april anyway.. =)

So the theme of it is "Panggilan Seorang Pelayan Allah (I)" which i translate it to be "The Calling of a Servant of God (I)"...maybe u might hav a better translation? hehe... anyways, the servant of God in focus is Paul (Paulus), where it talks bout how he was first a persecutor of christians (penganiaya orang kristen) turned servant of God, through God's calling. However, what's important is that, if one wants to be a servant of God to spread the Gospel (Injil), he muz first be saved by the grace (kasih karunia) of God through faith (iman). =)

And just like the format of the usual RPGs, it ends of with a "Thought" (renungkan) and "Prayer" (doakan), and here's how it goes:

Renungkan: Sudahkah saya menerima Yesus sebagai Tuhan dan Juruselamat pribadi saya? (Have I already accepted Jesus as my God and my personal Saviour?)

My answer: Iya, sudah. Karena iman, saya percaya. (Yes, I have. By faith, I believe) [haha the bahasa part might not hav been expressed correctly, but the intended meaning is in english]

Doakan: Terima kasih, Tuhan, karena telah meninggalkan tempat-Mu di surga dan turun ke bumi untuk hidup dan mati bagi saya orang berdosa. (Thank you, Lord, because you've left your place in heaven and came down to earth to live and die for me, a sinner.)

(Words in brackets are my translations ^_^)

Doing translations can give a sense of exhilaration too!!!!!! =))))))

Prayer Requests:
1) Family and other campers goin to camp for journey mercies
2) Keene - accomodation in Australia
3) Bendick - exchange in HK to go smoothly
4) Jeffrey - Overseas posting in job
(Wah so many ppl goin overseas sia....)
5) Me to be able to adapt to my new working environment (which is in beloved singapore)
6) Me: that there wun be any big flying cockroaches appearing at my house during my 1-week home alone experience..LOL!!! (cuz my bro who's my roach-catcher is on leave for a holiday at kuantan...haha!)

2008-06-07T01:42:00.003+08:00

Results are OUT!!!!!

Just a short post (hopefully), results are out!!! Quite satisfied wif wat i got lah, considering tt i'm not expecting sth wonderful either, got a Credit overall! Thank God! =) Last sem my average score was 3.14, but it went up to 3.5 now, which is a credit just on the dot!!

And realised a trend in my results... for those theoretical modules tt teach us stuff like the pedagogy, educational psychology, and basically the theory part of teaching, i dun do well. Mainly Bs and Cs. But for the more pseudo-practical (cuz at nie, it's still not really a REAL classroom yet, hence, the word pseudo) parts like microteaching (pretending tt ur peers r ur students and teaching em like in a smaller-sized classroom setting) and communication skills (where a major part of the assessment is making a 3-min school-based speech to either parents, students, HODs, MOE officials, based on the scenario given, with only 10-mins preparation time), it is where i get my As. Haha.... I cant very effectively digest the theoretical stuff tat u throw at me well, but ask me to do it out hands-on, i can manage better... or maybe i've learnt the art of smoking, cuz those mods where i got my As are those tt require much speech delivery for assessment...LOL!

Seriously, i tink tt the art of teaching is best learnt on-the-job than theoretically in the classroom, where they always assume ideal classroom conditions which hardly ever occur. Plus, most of the things learnt can only be applied practically in the REAL classroom if there's an unlimited supply of time, and ideally, smaller class sizes. Hence, i feel that i've learnt more during the 10-week period of practicum at a REAL sec sch than the 7 mths odd at utopia NIE . And i got a Credit for practicum too!!! =) Quite expected lah, cuz my NIE sup kinda hinted it to me b4.

Personally, I can say that I've achieved the practicum target i set for myself. =) It's somewhere above a credit, but below distinction, which can be achieved without a moderator coming, and I never had one cumin. Shall that disclose wat exactly the target was that i set for myself lah, but juz happy to hav achieved it. Glory be to God!

And btw, i was already told tt i'll hav to take a class for JC project work tog wif another tcher. And thankfully can virtually interview Keene on some of the latest "developments" of it..haha! I tink tt interviewing a recently graduated JC kid is better than looking at the MOE website on PW to gather info on it...haha! More dynamic! At least now in case if asked on wat i already know bout the latest in PW, got enuf things to "smoke" abt lah..i hope..haha!

Okie, i shd sleep now, bye!

Peter Pan Syndrome.....

Singletini.....

(random words tt revolve in my mind..but nvm, gd nitey!)

2008-05-15T00:22:00.052+08:00

Another Hurdle Down!!!!!

Practicum's over....which is the reason tt enabled me to start bloggin again... Initially, i had planned to shout "Yay!!! Practicum's OVERRRRRRR!!!!" the moment i stepped out of the school on my last day...but upon realizing that i probably might never step into the school to teach again, it felt kinda sad... (if i were to come back again, i wld hav to wear a visitor's pass..LOL!) =( guess i've started to miss the school, the students, the teachers, and everything there... Oh wells, all good things have to come to an end... just be thankful that i had a fun and fruitful experience there, which I'll elaborate more later... (which means tis post is gonna be uber uber long....)

Perhaps it's really human nature that we only appreciate things better when we no longer are in accessible access to it. And on my last day home, i had to call a cab, cuz lazy me only started packing up my stuff on my very last day!! And i ended up wif 2 big boxes, 2 big bags, and 1 long umbrella to transport home... the taxi driver probably tot i got retrenched seeing my 2 big boxes..LOL!

But anyway, once i got home, i realised tt i forgot to sign out on the record book in the office, and i forgot to return my toilet pass!!! (as in the pass for students to go toilet...see pic below...haha!)

Toilet Pass!!!

So, just in order to avoid any complications, i went back to school again to sign out and to return my pass... at the same time, i spammed pictures of the school... just to make my trip back more worthwhile..haha! But the school was soooo empty and quiet though.... =(

The fountain tt greets us at the entrance =)

Bonsai! School's unique culture... :)

More bonsai plants!!

Even more bonsai!!! haha! (But sadly speaking, i din learn to appreciate plants more :P .... i still feel rearing plants is nt neccessary unless u hav all the time in the world... :P plus, it eliminates a likely source of dengue fever..haha!)

The ummm...CANTEEN!!!

More of the umm.... canteen!! LOL...

Thanks to tis place, i learnt i new word, that is, QUADRANGLE. Dictionary.com says tt it means a 4-sided area surrounded by buildings on all 4 sides :P makes sense! haha!

More of the quadrangle...haha, at first i tot de name sounds like "quarter triangle"... :P

Rock-climbing wall!!!

Classrooms in the school compound =)

Yup, so that's the school I've been teaching at for the pass 10 weeks. =) In the end, i did not get posted back there... Happy and sad lah... i got posted to a school (my alma mater, in fact) where students need not hand in their HW.... teachers need not mark students' HW.... students hav to be responsible for their own learning... teachers do not need to chase students for their subject files... students keep a file on their own if they wish to.... students hav lectures and small group tutorials as opposed to classroom teaching in a size of 40 odd all the time...teachers do not need to prepare notes for every single lesson... teachers are able to interact with students more freely without being afraid of students climbing over their heads.... (cuz they shd be more mature by den...hopefully! haha!) students might challenge the teacher more academically though...basically, a more laisse faire kind of teaching environment, where students have to be more self-motivated and responsible for their own learning, instead of having the teacher to chase em for stuff... hopefully students are lidat, if not i'll chase em back to sec sch... :P probably u can guess by now de school i've been permanently posted to, rite? (haha, i never mention the names of the schools i'm at since blogging is public...)

Besides the school building itself, the people there also play a part in making it an enjoyable place to be at.

To Ms Chiang & Ms Wong:

Thanks for all your advice and guidance! I will bear them in mind when I teach in future. Thanks for letting me take over ur classes! They have been great!! And thanks Ms Wong for the treat too! =)

To Mrs Wee:

Thanks for your all your help during this period! You've cared alot for us, especially our welfare. =) You're a great senior teacher!!! =)))

To Ling Zhu:

First thing i wanna say to u is,

"Heal the world.

Make it a better place,

For you and for me and the entire human race....." :P

And she'll probably respond to me with JJ lin's

"Xing tiao luan le jie zou,

Meng ye bu zhi you...."

Haha! Just want to thank you especially for always making me LAUGH!! (the word is laugh, not smile, ok!) If u tink tt i'm living excitement, den u're living laughter! LOL!! And it's a compliment to u ya...not tt i'm laughing at u cuz u're funny... haha! Anyway, all the best to you as u continue ur teaching career, and rem to keep in touch! =) Thanks oso for ur unique card wif my chinese name's unique characters! (See pic below)

My unique chinese name!!! Tink it's called diao zhuan. =)

To Kok Sing (aka Mr Kok):

Thanks for ur jelly beanies!!!!! And congratz on ur re-posting ya... continue to duo duo guan zao my students ok?? and make sure i get to teach em again in a few years' time after they graduate..haha! It's been fun knowing a helpful colleague like u. You truly are someone not plagued wif "jadedness" =) All the best and enjoy life!!

To Peiling:

Thanks for ur chocolates!! It's been great having makan sessions wif u too! =) Hope u're satisfied wif ur posting, and may u continue to touch the lives of the students over there. =) Too bad u cld not join us for the relaxation cum chit-chat shake legs, long lunch sessions on the last week of practicum.. but nvm, we'll make up for it at my place during the week b4 we report for duty. =) All the best!

To Alvin (aka genius, commando, wu shu-er, cross country runner, etc... in short, modern day's wen wu shuang quan):

Wow, u sure hav a long list of achievements, but u noe wat? What impressed and touched me wasnt ur long list of achievements, but ur filial piety which made you reject your offer into Uni of Cambridge to go into NTU instead... All the best to you as u start on uni life, u will make it big one day..haha, but dun forget me once u've made it big ya!! Stay focused on ur goals, and u'll definitely make it one day! =) Live life to the fullest and enjoy life! All the best! =)

To 3E3 & 3E4:

My class of 3E3!!! A little sth frm me to em =)

My 3E4!!! (btw, does 3E4 have a class blog?) Their souvenirs frm me =)

Thanks for being a great audience! I tink that teaching ur classes has been a very gd preparation for me to embark on JC teaching. =) Thanks for spamming me wif questions on chemistry the day juz b4 ur chem exam on msn! LOL! :P It has helped me to understand better the common difficulties u face. :) Continue to work hard, and be more disciplined to take ownership of your own studies. I really hope to see as many of you as possible in a few years' time in the school I'll be goin to. =) All the best and may you work hard towards your goals! =)

To 2E5:

2E5!!! More souvenirs for my students!!! Looks colourful with everyone's test tube together as a class!!

Some cuties of 2E5!!! With Nicholas the thorn, surrounded by the 7 roses, Jia Min, Jin Xia, Li Min, Miao Si, Shu Juan, Eraine, Jin Yi!! Haha, "snow white & the 7 dwarfs" versus "Nicholas the thorn & the 7 roses"... LOL!)

Haha, a random shot during Sports' Day which had Jeremy & Shawn in it!! Jeremy caught red-handed for scratching head and not standing still!!! And Ms Wong's in the pic too!! Haha!!

2E5, thanks for the noise u've made in class, which ironically, made the lessons more interesting and exciting! I hope that you'll continue to work hard for ur math if you hope to study A math next year... Remember that there's no student who gets an A grade in math that cannot do algebra, so do continue working at it till it becomes your fren and nt ur enemy. =) Plus, thx for your wishes on ur class blog! =) All the best & may you get the subject combi u hope for! =)

Finally,

To Alister (2E5), Chu Kai (3E4), Nelson, Wei Kong, Kai Xiong, Sharifi, Wei Lun (3E3, sorry ar, i haven figured out who exactly the main AVA rep is in 3E3 cuz diff ppl help me each time. Hope i din miss anyone out :P):

Thanks a million for helping me set up the equipment in class, especially when I fumbled with the visualizer. :P You have been a very great help much needed in order for the lesson to proceed smoothly! Thanks for your service to the teachers, your class, and the school! (Btw, why are there no females who are AVA reps????)

Once again, thanks a billion to my dear students for ur gifts & cards! I really appreciate em! It's always the thought and sincerity that counts. No matter how simple or insignificant a gift may seem, it is sth precious as long as it's given in sincerity. =) Thanks for the gifts below, it was really unexpected! =)

Firstly,

and

with the inside of the glass thingy above as shown below,

are stuff which i tot students wld give their bf/gf instead of their teacher...haha! But thanks anyway! it's de thought that counts!!

A water bottle! Looks juvenile, but i'm always young at heart... =) so i'll use it when i go to my new school. :)

More gifts and candies!!! Thanks! Towels for me to wipe sweat when teaching?? haha...

A book of love letters frm my students!!! SOOOO SWEET!!!!

The inside of the love book above. =) Thanks alot! Rather touched by ur words...I enjoy reading ur well-wishes over and over again... some were kinda hilarious though, like telling me to watch an anime called "code glass" (or sth lidat) and also telling me that he is cleverer than another student in class... LOL! Thanks for all ur beautiful words!! =)))

A HUGE GIGANTIC PEN!! A cute gift! =) I'll use it as much as possible, but where do i get the ink refill ar??? :P

This pic is to show the hugeness of the pen, that it's almost the length of my arm! The previous pic isn't huge bcuz i enlarged it on camera... :)

Finally, a lovely bookmark wif a lovely card! Thanks alot!! (Reminds me of the cards i made when i was their age too...haha!)

Thanks again everyone for ur wonderful gifts! I appreciate & treasure em! =)))

Finally, rem in one of my previous posts, I mentioned tt as a teacher i need to learn how to not laugh too heartily in class when i see sth hilarious? To maintain composure as a teacher. I tink that during my 10-week stint, I had quite a number of oppotunities to practise doin that.. LOL!!

Oppotunity #1:

A female student asked me, "Cher, who do u tink the cutest male teacher in our school is?" Such a random qn..haha! Fortunately, during tt time, i was just in my first week there, so i cld reply that, "Ermm...i just came, and haven seen all the male teachers properly to make a fair judgement yet." LOL! (though i now have an idea who her expected answer was..haha!)

Oppotunity #2:

During a class, a male student was trying to be funny and said that he was tired and needed a bed. So, I replied by saying that he can buy a bed, but cannot buy sleep. And then, another MALE student nearby rebutted by saying, "CAN, (meaning he can buy sleep) if he sleeps wif me!" LOL! I was trying so hard to bite my tongue to prevent myself frm laughing when i heard tt... or maybe i turned my face away frm em and started to laugh...LOL!

Oppotunity #3:

During a relief period, students were left to do their work assigned by the teacher who was absent. After awhile, they started to gather in groups. I decided to pick on a group that was the largest to reduce the noise level. So, i approached em and asked, "What are you doin? Finished ur work already?" And one of them replied, "Cher, he trying to anal me." And for a moment, i tot tat he meant "anal" as in the shortform for anal-retentive, meaning to be picky to the minutest detail. But it doesn't make sense, plus, those students only sec 3 leh, english where got so good sia... considering tt i only learnt the word anal-retentive tis year. So i realised which "anal" he was referring to when i saw tt he was sitting on another male student's lap!!!! AIYOH!!! Have to admit tt i was abit stunned and dunno wat to say!!!! So i juz tried n act blur by telling em, "If you want to work in groups, please do so quietly." And guess how that same student responded? He said that, "Anal cannot do in groups one, very tiring, muz do individually..." Wah!! Cannot take it sia...really wanted to laugh at that time...so started biting my tongue profusely while trying to aum chio.... In the past, students are cute and innocent, now, they are ermm...still cute, but not too innocent.. LOL!

Oppotunity #4:

I saw a student pretending that his badminton racket was a guitar, and started strumming the racket!!! LOL!! I called out his name, and the look he had on his face while quickly putting away his racket made me want to laugh too... LOL!

Yup, so those were some of the interesting memories i had with em..maybe they're nt tat funny to u..cuz u din view it live! Or maybe i'm juz too easily tickled lah..haha...of course, there were times when i was angry and depressed too... due to the long assemblies that always eat into my first periods especially during the times close to exams when teachers are trying to rush syllabus... the deadlines can be quite pressing at times too...but well, still managed to survive till today! =) So, once again, when you can't explain how u managed to meet all of those pressing deadlines, it muz be through God's grace & strength. :) Even if you could explain how you did it, it's also by God's grace and strength. :) Thank God for giving me wisdom and strength through this challenging 10-week stint, and also for the precious memories and experiences I've gained and learnt! =)

2008-02-11T14:02:00.000+08:00

MY MIND PAINTED ME A PICTURE.....

Here's how it goes...

In a particular youth fellowship meeting, the game "Blow Wind Blow" was being played. Everyone will sit in a circle, and someone will shout "Blow those who wear specs/red shirts/socks" and what not, and those who are under the mentioned categories will have to exchange their seats with someone else in the circle who also falls in the mentioned category. Whoever is left without a seat will have to be the next person announcing "Blow those who....".

So, someone said, "Blow those who are Christians." And everyone got up from their seats and ran frantically looking for someone else's seat. And the person without a seat went on to shout the next item out. For the next few rounds, it was blow those who have sisters, brothers, wear Nike shoes, study in co-ed schools.....and so on...

Then came the next round. "Blow those who are GROWING CHRISTIANS."

Some were about to lift their butts from their seats, but hesitated, seeing that not many others were actually moving. Others were frantically looking around at their neighbours, trying to decide whether they should move or not. Or maybe they were indecisive as to whether they belonged to that category.

The minority who mis-heard it for "Blow those who are Christians" were quick to lift their butts from the seat to find another seat fast....but became confused when they saw that majority of the others looked deep in thought and were not moving, they wondered if they were doubting their salvation. Upon realisation that they had mis-heard the command, that it was supposed to be "Blow those who are GROWING CHRISTIANS" instead, they hesitated while being stuck standing in the middle of the circle, unsure whether to retreat back to their original seats, or to exchange seats with the few others who were standing up, being caught in the same plight as themselves...

"But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen." - 2 Peter 3:18

2008-01-31T00:15:00.000+08:00

Another Microteaching DONE!!!

Yup, another of my microteaching is completed! The math one, in particular, the one on Percentages, remember? Can say tat it went on quite fine, 80% of wat i expected of myself lah. Once again, i realised while rehearsing for it, tat my weakness in planning lessons is tat i tend to over-plan, and once again, i was only able to carry out 3/4 of wat i planned within tat time frame...really need more practice on tat to ensure tat everything can be completed even w/o rehearsing b4hand.. and anyway, this time i rehearsed when i was alone at home...haha!

I guess the 20% which i'm not satisfied with myself was during one part of my lesson when i kinda "lost myself" and ended up laughing wif the class for awhile at the "joke" i created. Well, the "joke" came frm one of my slides which was supposed to intro to em wat GST is, and it basically looks like the pic below, with the heading of "GST (Goods and Services Tax)", and a scanned pic of a receipt below. My original pic only had de red circles, no blue ones. I meant it to focus the students' attention on the part of the receipt tat mentions the GST to be paid, BUT, instead, they were paying greater attention to the stuff bought even though it was nt completely scanned, as shown by the blue circle. Since it wrote "Anti-wrinkles", "Blemish control mask", they were like asking "Cher, why u buy anti-wrinkles stuff?" and the whole class started giggling.... and ME TOO!!!LOL!! I kinda expected such a reaction from them lah, but din expect it to be so extreme..LOL..haha, my peers really noe how to pretend to be real sec sch students sia!!! And cuz of that, i started laughing wif em for a few seconds in between words too, which sounds bad..haha...lost of composure as a teacher! But nvm, at least i now noe tat i'll hav to learn how to not laugh too heartily when i hear a joke in class while teaching...HAHA! (Bottling up one's tears is unhealthy, hope bottling up one's laughter wun be..haha!)

But on the whole, I felt tat my math microteaching class did a great job in pretending to be real students to mimick real classroom situations...at least compared to my chem microteaching class who always give correct ans and quite quiet one, the math class is much better..haha! At least it not only gives us a feel of doin teaching in class, but it oso gives us the chance to perform classroom management. Great job guys!

Anyway, microteaching does hav it's limitations too. Like when i teach in real classrooms, i'll hav to speak at a much louder voicer than during microteaching. And in real classrooms, we'll hav to battle wif a higher surrounding temp than in the air-conditioned microteaching classroom. When teaching in real classrooms, i'll hav to handle cold sweat and warm sweat too (LOL!), but in the air-conditioned microT classroom, it's abit hard to sweat ya.... During microT, ur peers tend to "give u face" more (so tat they dun get sabo-ed by u during their turn to mictoteach..haha), but in real classes, students can't wait to see u make mistakes and crumble..(well, maybe nt all students r lidat lah, but i prefer to prepare myself for the WORST-CASE SCENARIO..) but having microT is still better than nothing at all b4 putting u in the real test in schools.

Today oso had a "Teaching in the social context" lesson, and we discussed on the teacher appraisal system used by MOE. Muz admit tat i came out of class rather disoriented (but not disillusioned, thankfully) upon knowing better what is in stalled for me in terms of teacher appraisal. But nevertheless, a good mental preparation for what is to come. The EPMS (Enhanced Performance Management System) does tend to promote politics among tchers to ensure tat u get a reasonable grade for appraisal, which is bad...wats more, the size of ur bonus and capacity for promotions will be affected by it too..oh wells, tats life i guess...Not to mention, there'll be more work on documentation of de stuff u've done for de year oso... apparently, a teacher's job isn't only to teach and teach well, he/she has to be all-roundedly proficient too (juz like students) in terms of management skills, teamwork, administrative skills, and any other skills u can think of.

But i guess at times, whether one gets to shine or not depends quite alot on the oppotunities he is given (some call it luck) and not merely on one's abilities. True to a certain extent i guess, but i'll call it God's provision instead of luck =) Just like in microteaching, i feel tat the topic u get to teach does play a part in how much room for creativity and innovation in teaching u have.

In any case, I believe that the Lord who has helped me through 19 years of stressful Singapore education system will be able to also help me thru seemingly minute matters like staff appraisal =) "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth." - Psalm 121:1-2 Pray that i do not get disillusioned in my purpose of teaching bcuz of things like appraisal and politics. NOTHING should make you crumble and fall when you know that you have God as your 24/7 helpmate. Honour God, and He will honour you too. Lord, please help me to be the teacher You want me to be.

2008-01-17T23:13:00.000+08:00

Ms Loh Feels Liberated!!!

Yeah, i noe NIE does a great job in preventing me frm blogging at regular intervals, but for now, there's a few reasons which makes me feel LIBERATED!!!

1) MY QED523 GROUP PRESENTATION IS OVER!!!
Yup, that's the grp proj where we hav to facilitate a class discussion for AN HOUR!!! First time doin such a proj apart frm the usual presentation ones. But it din turn out tat bad, cuz afterall, de facilitators are not the ones who do most of the talking, active participation shd come from the participants. The social issue we chose was on primary sch streaming - the hoohaa of EM1, 2, 3. At the end of the day, i still feel that i agree wif streaming, mainly cuz it helps in the long term to fill the rice bowls of academically-less-inclined students. Even though the problem of "branding" or "labelling" will surface, i feel that they shd take tis oppotunity to cope wif it and be exposed to it frm a young age. It's a cruel world, we cant escape frm labelling in Singapore since ranking, which inevitably gives room for labelling, is done so often, such that we always hav the mentality to be number 1. Even without EM1, 2, 3 and ranking of schools, the labelling of "academically-good schools" and "neighbourhood schools" inevitably still exist. So, one should learn to cope wif it since it's likely to be here to stay. If dealt with positively and properly, the academically-less-inclined students not only will find themselves not dropping out of school so easily but having their rice bowls filled, they'll also learn to deal with their social labelling in life. Or maybe i'm being too optimistic considering that i'm not a parent of a kid in EM3. Perhaps. But i still feel that it's better to "suffer" labelling than to hav an empty rice bowl in the long run. Who knows? Perhaps suffering frm being labelled might just be the impetus for them to prove their worth, which was pretty much the source of my motivation as someone who grew up in neighbourhood schools.

2) MY TRIAL CHEMISTRY MICROTEACHING IS OVER!!!
Yup, trial chem microteaching is done, and it went on relatively smoothly lah. Microteaching is basically treating your peers in your tutorial grp of 12 as students, and teaching them as if u're in school. I taught on the topic of percentage yield. Basically after my teaching and after the class gave comments, the tcher was like saying, "So, besides the good comments, wat bout some criticisms?" (hee...i din mean to boast or anything lah) And the criticism I received from him was on the definition on "Actual Yield" on one of my ppt slides. Can say that he's quite sharp for his age..haha...the mistake was tat i completely followed the textbook definition, which was nt wrong, but the way I applied tat definition to the activity i was doin wif the class made it somewhat incorrect, and incomplete, maybe. So i shd be more careful when it comes to the words and definitions, that i dun end up explaining concepts which clash wif scientific principles. Other comments i received from my fren was tat my handwriting on the whiteboard needs improvement (which i totally agree!), i tend to use fillers like "ok", "right" in teaching (yup, agreed!), and i seem more suited to teach in JC cuz i tend to ask thought-provoking questions which are indirect(do I?) haha... And my preparation for this microteaching was quite funny. I wanted to rehearse the day before, but my sis was in the room too, den i malu to rehearse and talk to the wall in front of her..haha..cuz she'll laugh at me!!! LOL!! So wat she did was listen to music using earphones at the loudest volume, while i talk to the wall and my students - bolster, pillow, fan, blanket, minnie mouse, twinkle, lion, and door. LOL!!! And i realise that i tend to overplan my lessons only after i actually practise teaching it out. I tend to plan too many activities in my lesson, such that i actually can only teach about 3/4 of wat i plan within that time frame. Have to practise more on this. =)

3) CNY!!!
I realised that this year, CNY falls on a thur and fri!! Which means a long long weekend from thurs to sun!!! (Wah those wif mon as free day even better lor! hav holiday frm thurs to mon!!)

4) EVERY FRIDAY IS MY FREE DAY!!!
Yup, i hav 4-day week for this short semester in NIE! And fri free = long 3-day weekend! muz start planning how to enjoy tis period b4 the dreaded practicum begins! So if wan to go out can ask me out on Fridays!!

5) I DRANK ANDERSONS ICE-CREAM'S MILKSHAKE FOR 2 CONSECUTIVE DAYS!!
Yeah! I realized that buying milkshakes frm Anderson's is more worth it than buying ice-cream! Double scoop ice-cream costs $6, milkshakes (milk + 3 scoops of ice-cream blended tog) costs $5.80! And the portion is quite large too! somewhere like the medium size of McDonald's drinks. Rum & Raisin is still my all-time fav! And of course, it has to be part of my milkshake too! Yummy! Another "delicacy" to be added to my list of fav foods!! haha...

6) 2-DAY WEEK FOR THE WEEK TO COME!!!
For some reason due to efficiency, i wont be having chem microteaching classes next week! And maths lecture juz ended too! So for next week, only hav to go to NIE on mon and wed!! YAY!

And now, for some reasons which make me feel less liberated... =(

1) MICROTEACHING LESSON PLANS TO BE DONE
Math lesson plan in particular, to be done by this monday...and hav to start thinking of the chem assessment microteaching too...

2) PLAYING ORGAN FOR SERVICE THIS SUNDAY
So it's back to practising my organ again since the period of intense practice for Christmas. BUT MUST SERVE GOD WIF JOY IN MY HEART!!!

3) GESL WORK TO BE DONE
Just when i tot it was almost over, it's not! More gesl work to be done...seems to spoil my beautiful thurs ya...oh wells, i need to put more positive thinking into place...

4) PRACTICUM MIGHT COME SOONER THAN I'M READY FOR IT
25th Feb is the day i return to schools to teach and interact wif students. To me, interacting with students is more enjoyable than the teaching part of it, but not when they start climbing over your head...hopefully i can prepare myself well for it when the time comes...

Okie, tats it for now...but overall, still feel more liberated than un-liberated lah...haha! Gd-Nitey!

2008-01-06T00:28:00.000+08:00

A Beautiful Fullstop to my Holiday!!!

Yup, my holiday's ending soon, and it ended with lots of organ practices for christmas and year-end service, choir practices, and a sumptous dinner in celebration of our church's 35th anniversary!!! And i tot it was a nice way to end my holiday, because, through these events, i saw and appreciated church unity better. Could sense that we were all united in gratitude to God for preserving our church for 35 years =))

Firstly, I was kinda surprised tat most of the choir members turned up for the extra choir practices for church anniversary =)) Thank God for the sense of commitment He has given to us in our service to Him! Despite the late hours of extra practices, we still made an effort to attend them. Thank God for preserving our voices too. (Got once i ate laksa juz b4 a choir prac...haha) Hope that our items sounded fine, but more importantly, hope that we have sung with the right heart to praise and glorify God, that He may find our service acceptable and glorifying in His sight. 1 Corinthians 10:31 =))

On top of that, the 35th anniversary celebrations were even more meaningful as it was also for Rev Chan's retirement from pastoring the church to do mission work in Thailand. Last Tuesday during prayer meeting, when Rev Chan went up to request prayer for his travels to Thailand for a month, it somehow felt different to me frm the times before when he requested prayer for safety in his travels. This time, although it's only for a month, it felt like he's goin to be gone for a long time before we can meet him again...Maybe it's juz a psychological effect on knowing that he's retiring from being our pastor... His "last words" as our pastor during his sermon at year-end service was especially meaningful, particularly the part where he advised Sunday School teachers. (I guess one's "last words" are usually meaningful and impressionable...) He was saying that bible teachers should dig deep into the Bible to search for quality materials like gold, silver and precious stones to use as the materials to build the foundation based on God's word in the children's lives, instead of using only wood, hay and stubble which can be easily found anywhere (metaphorically). It made me realise that more often than not, I do not spend enough time searching the Scriptures when I prepare to teach in Awana. It's rather last min, and i tend to use a "quick-fix" of juz reading the teaching materials given, instead of looking into the Bible. Perhaps I shd make it one of my resolutions tis year to be more focused in preparing for Awana story-telling, such that the children may learn of the life-changing truths frm God's word, to build the foundation of their lives and character based on God's standards.

As a teacher-to-be in NIE, I have been taught the importance of treating and preparing each lesson seriously (like writing a very super detailed lesson plan). Since school textbook teaching has to be dealt with seriously, what more the teaching of God's truths in the Bible which can change lives? Consider the amount of time and effort that goes into preparing a single 35 min classroon lesson in school, should the preparation in teaching children from the Word of Life and it's far more precious and unchanging truths be any lesser? Furthermore, a lecturer in NIE likes to talk bout this thing called the "multiplier effect". It goes something like, "Every year, about 240 chemistry students go thru you, and if u teach a concept wrongly, 240 students will live in misconception. And what will happen if these 240 students become teachers in future too? How many ppl will now live in misconception? The multiplier effect will apply in the propagation of the misconception....." Since, it is a rather serious matter to teach wrong concepts in school, what more in the teaching of the Bible? Tis might just give heresies the chance to creep in subtly. So, I should dig deeper into the Bible each time instead of juz relying solely on the teaching materials given to prevent myself frm teaching wrong things. Afterall, the teaching materials are written by man and subject to fallibility, but the Bible is written by God, who is infallible! Psalm 19:7, 2 Timothy 3:16-17 =))

Okay, and the anniversary dinner was great too! Had yummy food to end the day of our church's birthday. I remembered someone once preaching on what is the best birthday present to give to the church. And it's undeniably bringing in lost souls since the purpose of starting a church is to win souls to Christ. And if x people each bring a lost soul to Christ as an anniversary bday present for the church, then there'll now be 2x ppl. And during the anniversary next year, if each of the 2x ppl bring a lost soul to Christ as their present to the church, there'll be 4x ppl... and so on.. and the multiplier effect will now apply too, but in a good way. =))

Yup, and it's not impossible to accomplish, if only we all try. Ok, and it's time to sleep now, so good nitey!

(dun ask me why i put Mickey Mouse pic ok??? Reason is bcuz i like Mickey Mouse lor...haha)

2007-12-30T00:44:00.000+08:00

WHAT TO BLOG ABOUT???

Hmmm....wat do ppl blog abt when they have nothing to blog abt?? Their routine life? Their pets? Their dreams? Hahahahaha.... Anyway, supposedly still on holiday, but the kiasu-ism made me start thinking of my microteaching topics liao (mini-teaching of school topics in NIE)... haiz...typical singaporean....

For maths, i've been assigned to teach percentages to sec 1 NT, and for chem, i'll hav to teach "O" level redox... tried doin some research for creative materials to teach it, but haven come up wif sth constructive yet.

For percentages, i've found:
-use 100 squares, colour some red, blue, green, yellow...cyan, magenta, maroon, indigo, blah blah blah and teach de concept of "out of 100"
- Role play, give students a budget of vit M to spend at diff shops wif diff sales and discounts (ermm..might be quite messy to be done in class..haha)
- Use animations and online games on percentages (found a few nice ones, but dun noe if bring students to com lab, wil they end up doin stuff like blogging or chatting instead...LOL)
- Teach by showing students real stats of the votes for Singapore Idol or Star Search, and ask em to analyse de percentages (if i can actually find de real info, or if not juz fake sth out..haha..trying to get into their "world")

For redox, haven really done much yet, but so far, some ideas:
- show a video on "magic" of green leaves in spring turning reddish-brown in autumn in a few minutes (i actually saw tis as a participating entry on chao ji bian bian bian b4 last time...trying to find such a video if possible)
- haven tot of any other more interesting ideas yet :P

Hmmm...last time when i was in sec sch, my tchers din use such methods to teach me lor :( always juz de normal textbook, notes, whiteboard... but i still studied though, guess it's cuz of singaporean kiasu-ism tat kept me goin most of de time...quite sad :( Kids seem more "spoilt" nowadays to need such creative teaching methods to get them interested in studying... maybe de fear of failing "O levels" isn't such a strong pull factor for studying anymore...

Anyway, I once tot of an "interesting" way to intro the topic of trigonometry... which was quite CMI and lame according to my sis..LOL...and i tink i agree too..haha.. here's how it goes....

Remember a Mr Bean show where he took an exam?? He basically tried to cheat throughout cuz there were actually 2 topics to choose to do from in the exam, but he tot there was only 1, and apparently he mistakenly realized tat the topic he studied was not goin to be tested, but the other of the 2 topics (which he din study) was to be tested instead...so obviously he din noe how to do, n tried cheating!! BAD STUDENT!! does it ring a bell?? if not, juz click de link below to view tat video on the show...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KV_r7OXPhkI

So, wat i'll do is to let the students watch tat video, and then ask, "So, what is the name of the maths topic which Mr Bean studied on, but he wrongly realized tat it din get tested?" (Basically, the 2 maths topics given as options to choose 1 from in Mr Bean's exam paper are Calculus and Trigonometry) And the correct answer wld be "Trigonometry"....."And so, the topic we'll be starting on today is something tat Mr Bean studied oso - TRIGONOMETRY!!!" (sth lidat lah..LOL)

OK, and i've started laughing at my kinda lame idea of intro-ing trigo to a class... hahaha... and r u laughing too??? lol...

2007-12-25T00:34:00.000+08:00

Christmas Thoughts.....

Yeah, it's the supposedly snowy time of the year again, Christmas! And the things that come to my mind are presents and christmas carols. Well, what is the best christmas present? (apart from salvation, the gift ot life, definitely) To me, I think the best present is a sincere christmas greeting handshake from family and friends, encouraging each other to serve God more fervently and love Him more. Christmas is actually quite aptly planned to take place towards the end of the year, that we can reflect on our lives, whether it has been glorifying to God, and then, make plans to dedicate our lives to God in the new year to come. :)

So, here are my sincere christmas greetings to some people i really want to wish.

My Family:
Thanks for always being there for me no matter what!

My NIE frens (Philisa, Jiahui, Karen, Wendy, Theresia, Swee Xiang, Shi Hui, Zhi Hui, Hui Min, Rita, juz to name a few):
Thanks for your friendship and encouragements in NIE! May we continue to keep in touch even after we graduate from there. (Which is abt in half a years' time!! Quite fast sia...)

Flang (tis is the real person Flang, not the Flang in "Minnie & Flang"):
Enjoyed chatting wif u lately :) We seem to be in the same plight ya... but anyway, here's an encouragement for u which i received from a friend. Even as we find a life partner, may we also focus more on developing ourselves the way God wants us to be, rather than on the ways of finding the right partner. If we want to find a good partner, should we not also first make ourselves worthy of that partner in God's sight? Hope things will turn out fine for u, :) and it will, if it's in God's will (Romans 8:28 - "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.") ^_^

Keene:
Really enjoyed chatting wif u lately too! Esp musically, scientifically, and academically too! Haha! (He's a student who really studies way way way beyond the textbook, and I won't be surprised if he has better general knowledge than me scientifically..lol) May God direct you in your studies and in the matters of life too. (Psalm 37:4,5 - "Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.") ^_^

Uncle Bernard & Aunty Jasmina Moey:
Thanks for giving me the oppotunity to serve as an organist in the church choir! Though challenging at times, it had still always been a joy serving God in this ministry at the end of the day. Somehow for some reason, the english church choir will always be a ministry special to my heart. So may God continue to grant you wisdom and strength to serve Him with your talent and voice! (Philippians 4:13 - "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.") ^_^

Nerissa & Mabel (ppl, whom I'm quite surprised, that actually reads my blog, and also to other "cute ppl" out there who consider themselves to be cute...haha):
Thanks for your continuous support...LOL! You are still young and full of energy, so may you use your energy and vigour wisely for God's purpose! (Ecclesiastes 12:1 - "Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;" - a verse that adults gave to me when I was once young like u too =) not tat i'm tat old now lah...haha)

Okie, tat's it for now, have a Blessed Christmas, everyone out there reading this! =))

2007-12-18T00:16:00.000+08:00

PRACTISE, PRACTISE, & MORE PRACTICE. FOREVER PRACTISING...

Haha, first of all, I must say that I'm rather surprised that Nerissa reads my blog! And if u're wondering which Nerissa I'm referring to, it's Nerissa Tiong.. haha... tat's de gd thing bout not having a tag board or counter on my blog, u get to give urself a surprise when u realise tat ppl whom u dun expect to read ur blog actually reads it..haha!!! And the good thing is also tat Nerissa cant respond to me here if she wants to.. HAHAHA!!!

Anyway, what I've been doin today and also will be for the next 2 days is practising and practising my organ.

What to do after breakfast? Practise.
What to do after lunch? Practise.
What to do after dinner? Practise.

Hmmm...is this the life of a musician??? Forever practising only. I've been slacking too much, so now I'm paying the price for it... =( And time actually passes quite fast when I'm practising my organ too...and it's a race against time too, only that this tests my coordination instead of application of knowledge...haha...I've been mainly playing the organ using piano scores, something which I'm not really used to reading, cuz it's still quite different from the organ scores i was brought up with.. but i'm still learning lah...no wonder i take quite long to settle a song. Sometimes, i feel tat most church music scores are more piano-centred than organ-centred... but it's not surprising lah, considering the number of ppl who learn piano and those who learn organ. But with God, all things are possible! So hav to jiayou and finish practising all the 8 songs... about 2.75 down! 5.25 more to go!!!!!

2007-12-16T02:53:00.000+08:00

Highlight of the Day!!!

Yeah the highlight for today is dinner wof family @ Long Beach Seafood Restaurant in celebration of my belated birthday!!! Yummy!!! Especially the black peppered crab!!! I tink I've reached a higher level in the skill of eating crab.. LOL!!! Somehow, adults like to choose restaurants which serve chinese food for big occassions, instead of dining at restaurants that serve western food. But I can now understand why my parents chose Long Beach!!! The black-peppered crab is simply super delicious!!! Go and try it!

And my mom also gave me a Minnie Mouse soft toy hp holder! Thanks mom! And my sis said that i'm happier to receive that soft toy as b-day present than jewellery...haha, and i tink it's true!!! hahahhahaha....somehow i tink there will always be a part of me that will be child-like... well, it'll help me to stay young at heart. Someone, or rather, Mickey Mouse, once said that he likes Disney stuff to help him stay young at heart (or sth lidat), and i might have been partially influenced by wat he said...haha, well, who knows???

2007-12-14T23:39:00.000+08:00

My Solitude's Finale - Solitude Day 5 - MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

Firstly, thank you so much to everyone who sent me birthday greetings!! Really appreciate them alot! You guys r awesome for remembering my b-day!!! Which makes me feel guilty cuz i dun always remembers all of ur bdays... =( Well, I thought that i'll be satisfied with the greetings i've received, but i now know that somehow, somewhere deep within my heart longs for birthday wishes from someone, or rather, Mickey Mouse...albeit juz obligingly...something that material gifts can't replace...something that's worth much more than all the material gifts added together... But, oh wells....that's juz life, i guess....

Anyway, back to the activities of Solitude Day 5.....

1) Woken up by a birthday SMS from Uncle Swee Tiong & Aunty Lye Chan!! Glad that they still remembered my b-day! Thanks! They gave me the verses 1 Thess 5 : 16-18, which is a good reminder for me to rejoice, pray, and give thanks to my Lord!

2) Went to buy Chao Kuay Tiao for brunch. Yummy!!!

3) Watch TV and eat... something which i've learnt to multi-task..haha

4) Go for facial!!! Yeah, b-day muz relax!!!! (Can't imagine how someone so easily tickled like me cld endure 20mins of massage..lol)

5) Go for more birthday shopping!! One of the things i bought was a laptop casing, which, when i reached home, realised it's too small for my lappie!!! GASP!! So quickly went back to exchange for a bigger one. Thankfully it all went fine... phew!

6) Did msn catching up....cum waiting for something...haiz....

7) Blog about the finale of my days of solitude (wat i'm doin now)

8) Read Bible

9) Sleep when my hair is dry..haha...and of course, dream of stuff beyond reality...maybe the dream of receiving birthday wishes from someone, or rather, Mickey Mouse, will come...hopefully...no wonder dreams are called dreams....

OK! Tink the chipmunk fever is still on, which makes me happy!!! And for the next few days, one thing's for sure, I'll have to start BIA-ing in full force to practise the carolling and church choir item songs...haven been practising much these few days, thanks to CHIPMUNK FEVER and BIRTHDAY SHOPPING!!!!! So really have to BIA already!

Lord, please grant me wisdom & strength to do it.

2007-12-14T02:32:00.000+08:00

Solitude Day 4

First of all, thank God for the year-end bonus I've just received =)))) "All good things around us are sent from heav'n above, then thank the Lord, O thank the Lord for all His love!!!" Now, for Day 4's activities:

1) Wake up to an empty house

2) Watch TV

3) Saw a bee fly into my house... Yeeks!! Waited for like abt 20mins for it to fly out, den closed ALL the windows in my house for the rest of the day...

4) Cook lunch with leftovers =(

5) Do housework while listening to music (orchestral/choral music can distract u as much as pop/rock style music from meditating on the words of a song if your heart is not having the right motive towards listening to a christian song.)

6) Went for the "Meet and Greet Session" with Alvin & the chipmunks!!!! Chipmunks Fever!!!! Took pix wif de 3 of em...pix r below...so malu sia, most of de ppl taking photo wif em r kids or parents wif their kids...i'm like de very very small minority of adults....malu sia... But who cares!!! Chipmunks r tooooooooooooooo CUTE to be missed!!!! The pix below tell it all...LOL!

7) Went shopping for bday presents for myself!!! Yay!!! Initially wanted to get myself a watch, but dun hav nice ones, so ended up treating myself to lingerie...hahaa!

8) Watch TV

9) Msn chatting in btw red wine....whoa....

10) Blog about solitude day 4

11) Read Bible before sleeping (to-do-later)

12) Sleep and dream of dreamz which can only be dreamz.....

Enjoy my chipmunks pix!!!!

It's Alvin, Me, & the Chipmunks!!! I specially wore my glasses to match Simon's specs one leh!!!!! They look so small on screen, but here look bigger than me!!! Yeah Simon Alvin Theodore!!! CUTE to the power of INFINITY!!!!!

A random shot of the 3 of em!! I love Simon's specs, Alvin's shirt, and Theodore's butt (watch de movie n u'll noe wat i mean..haha)....LOL...

Simon!!!! My favourite chipmunk!!! Thanks to his specs!!!

ALVIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! & ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tried my hands on a PI job, and found Alvin & Simon kissing!?!?!? LOL... And Theodore's jealous!!!! Juz kidding!!!!

2007-12-13T01:41:00.000+08:00

Solitude Day 3

Here's Day 3's activities:

1) Woke up and my mind juz wanted to recall and confirm some chemistry concepts..lol...so looked at de chem textbook right after i got out of bed..LOL...

2) Watch TV

3) Go to Macs for lunch followed wif youghurt gelato!!!! Yummy! Sweet mixed with sour!! Best! Probably my next fav ice-cream flavour after rum & raisin!! (tasted spicy ice-cream b4 too!! it was GREAT!!!)

4) Go for waxing... Ouch! Vanity!

5) Went to watch "Alvin & The Chipmunks"!!!!! SOOOOOO CUTE SIA!!!!!!! Alvin wears red and has red eyes. Simon wears blue and has blue eyes. Theodore wears green and has green eyes. Nice contact lenses... LOL!!! BUT STILL SOOOOOO CUTE SIA!!!! ARRRRRR!!!!!!!!! (btw, chipmunk is "hua shu" - "flower mouse" in chinese..haha)

6) Watch TV

7) Cook dinner for mummy & me

8) Watch more TV

9) Read Bible (completed 1 John. Thank God for it!)

10) Do msn cum webcam catching up

11) Blog bout solitude day 3 (wat i'm doin NOW)

12) Maybe continue writing "Minnie & Flang"

13) Sleep wif sweet dreams beyond reality........

Seems like really too much TV..haiz...but chipmunks are still SOOOOOOOO CUTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I wan to hug one...........

2007-12-12T03:01:00.000+08:00

Solitude Day 2

Ok straight to the point for Day 2's activities ya... Think miss loh's been too good a waster of time recently even without stuff like Facebook and Friendster..haha

1) Wake up to an empty house

2) Watch TV

3) Heat up ytd's leftover fried rice for lunch =( tmr muz go n eat some gd food liao..haha

4) Do some housework

5) Practise carolling songs (but not as productive as ytd...)

6) Power Nap

7) Woke up in time to watch TV

8) Felt hungry after that but the ominious sky looks like it's gonna rain heavily, so juz made a simple tea-break snack of bread, cheese, milo at home

9) Tried reading the chem books I bought ytd (but not very productive too...)

10) Listened to the choir songs mp3 on the computer with better speaker

11) Had individual choir practice by singing the alto part along wif the mp3...(i'll only do tat when i'm alone at home)...haha...satisfactorily effective lah....managed to practice 2 songs (O Lord I Will Praise You & The Majesty and Glory of Your Name), which are the only 2 current choir songs which I hav the mp3...haha

12) Mummy bought dinner back, and had early dinner

13) Wash up dishes

14) Watch TV AGAIN!!! (abit too much TV liao lah....)

15) Go for prayer meeting and collected sis n bro's soiled clothes frm camp...lol

16) Do quiet time, read bout Jude and 1 John. Just finished the series on Jude in prayer meeting, so it was good to recap on it during QT =) With false teachings appearing, a christian should build himself up in the faith, pray as guided by the Holy Spirit in the will of God, keep himself in the love of God, look for the mercy of God to have eternal life in Christ, and, keep others who are tempted from falling into the trap of false teachings. Contend for the faith in the midst of false teachings!

17) Continued working on the "Minnie & Flang" story I started writing....trying to be an author, inspired by Low Kay Hwa..haha...btw, the "Flang" bears absolutely no resemblance to my real friend Flang. I wanted a female name starting wif "M", and a unique male name starting wif "F", so "Flang" came to my mind, thanks to my friend, the real Flang, who named himself that..hehe...(Haha...maybe I'll post the completed story on my blog one day....or maybe not...haha who knows?????????????)

18) Play some rice cum vocabulary game in between writing my story...haha thanks to Karen!!! It's at http://www.freerice.com/index.php Try it! Fun but addictive...beware!!!! and keep the dictionaries away to make it more fun!! (dictionary.com included....haha)

19) Blog about Day 2 of my solitude

20) Sleep and dream about things out of my reach in reality

Haha miss loh seems to be able to keep herself satisfactorily well-occupied...hehe..
Nitez......... =)

2007-12-11T00:41:00.000+08:00

Solitude Day 1

For the next 5 days, it'll be solitude from morning to evening for me...cuz my sis and bro hav gone for their YF camp for the next 6 days, and my parents wil be at work in the day. So it'll juz me the house and me!!! Not always a bad thing to experience this solitude though...but i tink i've gotten abit too used to solitude and doin stuff alone, to de extent of enjoying the quietness and time to myself, such that company becomes something unwelcomed at times... Guess i experience more solitude than the average person, and according to Le Chatelier's Principle, will there be a day where the equilibrium position will be shifted due to the presence of excess solitude? The day when I get tired of solitude and yearn for company.... sometimes, i do fear that day may come...soon? or in a decade? century? hmmmm.... hope it doesn't come too soon...or else it'll affect the state of dynamic/static equilibrium in my life..(lol...can't decide whether my life is considered as having dynamic or static equilibrium..haha...tink it's dynamic lah...)

Anyway, here's wat happened on day 1 of my period of solitude:

1) Wake up to an empty house

2) Watch TV

3) Cook maggi mee for lunch

4) Practice carolling songs (Wah take on average 20mins to settle one song....quite long..)

5) Felt lost...dunno wat to do next....so went to watch more TV

6) Felt hungry, so went to Long John's Silver for a tea-time snack...(only realised tat i haven draw money yet when i was ordering halfway...haha...but managed to pull it off though..haha...phew!!!)

7) Went shopping at popular to finish using as much of my LDS claims as possible (it's de $400 MOE gives tchers a year to spend on useful resources for our development..haha watch concert oso can claim one leh!!!) Can you believe i spent like $168 on "A" level chemistry books at one go??? guess i'm quite kiasu, really... which makes me left wif $2.57 of LDS claims..lol...any suggestions on how to spend my $2.57?? Have to finish spending it by 31 dec 2007...haha...

8) Come home to cook fried rice for mummy & me

9) Do dishes and washing up

10) Watch the last 15mins of a TV drama (thanks to my slow cleaning up..haha)

11) Submitted my LDS claims online

12) Chatting on msn....realised tat there's 2 weddings on 22nd dec...haha..or maybe even more...izit such a good day?? haha...everyday is a good day if the wedding is according to God's will =)))

13) Blogging bout Day 1 of my solitude (which is wat i'm doin now...)

14) Read Bible and pray (I must rem and be disciplined to do so!!!! wat I hav to do after activity 13..haha)

15) Sleep and dream of things out of my reach in reality.... =((((

Lastly, juz a little something to share... Last Sunday at church choir, I learnt a new song called "The Majesty and Glory of Your Name", and it had been a favourite played over and over again in my ears and head =) Thanks to a fren who gave me a beautifully crafted mp3 (both in lyrics and musically ^_^) of a choir cum instrumental composition of that thought-provoking song! =) It's the line "And what is man that you are mindful of him?" that drew me to the song. It's a song largely based on Psalm 8, mainly from verses 3 to 9 =) The verses certainly brings out the meaning of the song!!

Psalm 8

1: O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.

2: Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.

3: When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;

4: What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

5: For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.

6: Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:

7: All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;

8: The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.

9: O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!

Gd Nitey!!!!!

2007-12-03T02:39:00.001+08:00

"I'll rather do something which i might or might not regret later in life, than to regret not doing it at all..."

Tat's a phrase i once saw on my fren's msn nick, and i tink it's very true to my heart... and de pix below very aptly remind me of tis adage...i noe it's not of very good resolution, but i purposely make it unclear one..haha...maybe i'm too adamant. Too adventurous. Too stubborn. Too persevering to de extent of wasting my time. But i never regretted it! I dun tink i hav anything to lose...so i'm still willing to "waste my time" (if u choose to see it tis way) instead of regretting not "wasting my time" in future...probably these pix r de proof of my adamance, perseverance, stubborn-ness, or, my "waste of time" (which i never tot of it tis way, and never ever will...).....

A farewell treat to someone...

A farewell gift to someone...

A CD from someone... nice nice songs! =)) (the front)

A CD from someone... (the inside)

A CD from someone... (the back)

A birthday gift to someone and a gift to myself...

Well, I guess there might not be anymore to be added to the collection above, but it's still not a waste of time....I decide whether i'm wasting my time anot...NOT YOU!!! YOU MAY THINK THAT I'M STUBBORN, BUT I HAVE NO REGRETZ!!! =)))

2007-11-28T00:32:00.000+08:00

PAID LEAVE PART I

It's been 2 days into my paid leave...haven fully completed any stuff i wrote in my To-Do List yet, but started working halfway on 1 or 2 only....need more discipline!!! The worst thing bout having holidays is tat u get urself in a situation where u dun noe wat to do n end up wasting time. Though I admit tat i waste time to destress myself (ever heard of such a method??? lol...), de type of wasting time amidst your busy schedule and wasting time when u're already so free are 2 diff things. The first one makes u destress, but de second one might make u more stressed cuz u're knowingly "throwing away ur youth"..haha...

So for these 2 days, i've mainly been working on my 6 ppt slides assignment, which is a minor asignment which can be submitted thru email...so no need to go to NIE tis week!!! so considered on paid leave liao..hehe...Then today at prayer meeting, i was asked to be a musician for carolling, and was given a booklet with a compilation of the christmas carols to be sung. Quite meaningful and nice songs...and some new songs too :) so will hav more songs to practise now.

Thank God for giving me a chance to serve in the music ministry even though i know that i'm quite a stage-fright person when it comes to playing music in front of many people. When I first started learning the organ when I was young, i never imagined that i would be used by God to play in church services. So I thank Him for leading me to serve Him in this avenue. God's will is perfect, and He'll definitely lead you to where He wants you to be....if u're willing to be led by Him :) I admit I still get kinda nervous and stressed when I have to play in front of alot of ppl, maybe i haven been praying fervently enough...but I know that my Almighty Father will not leave me nor forsake me when I need Him most (Hebrews 13:5) =)

Recently I've heard a song that goes "And although there've been times I've been out of His will, I've NEVER been out of His care..." I think it's a very great comfort to Christians who have a best-est friend like Jesus! Even though we've strayed from His will wilfully, God still loves His children, which reminds me of a song which someone changed the words frm the children's song: Jesus loves me. Here it goes:

(To be sung to the tune of the kid's song, Jesus Loves Me, This I Know)
Jesus loves me when I'm good,
When I do the things I should.
Jesus loves me when I'm bad,
Though it makes Him very sad.

Yes, Jesus loves me (x3)
The Bible tells me so

=) =) =) =)

2007-11-26T00:02:00.000+08:00

My To-Do-List during PAID LEAVE!!!

haha i saw my fren blogging bout her to-do list, n i thought of writing one up myself too!! Only that i'll modify it a little, by classifying it into my "Need-To-Do List" and "Want-To-Do List", so that it'll help me prioritize on what i shd start doin first..haha..hav a feeling that de "Want-To-Do List" will be longer than the "Need-To-Do List"...LOL...so here it goes....

I Need To:

1) Practise my organ more, so that I can be a better organist for God's use in church. :) Hope to practise all the songs in the church hymn book (which is about 560++ hymns!!!!), and also the choir presentation songs!!!!

2) Have a more regular quiet time (a usual struggle which has to be dealt with.)

3) Revise my chemistry and maths content. (especially needful if i happen to be posted to JC to teach chem)

4) Dig out useful teaching resources. (so tat i wun suffer too much during practicum!!!)

5) Exercise more regularly!! (it's more for being healthy rather than to lose weight...haha)

I Want To:

1) Go shopping!!! (thx to female genes...)

2) Be more disciplined to save money. (seems to contradict de shopping item above...hmm...)

3) Do sth special for my family & frens tis christmas. (but haven tot of wat yet...)

4) Consolidate the stuff I've learnt in the Romans Bible Study which juz ended. So that i wun forget the precious lessons frm His precious Word. =)

5) Go for facials, manicure, pedicure n de usual...(but tis is dependent on de bonus to come..haha)

6) Try out one session of SPA (not school practical assessment k!!! it's de one to relax!!), anyone?? (lol...i heard a fren say tat she dun dare to go for spa cuz once u've taken off ur clothes, they'll start pushing u to buy their products, n if u dun buy any, they wun return u your clothes..haha really meh???)

7) Complete reading "Anak Semua Bangsa" and if possible de rest of de books in tat series of 4. (it's a bahasa indonesia novel, dun wan to lose touch wif de language!!!)

8) Revise my spanish & italian!!! i took only beginning courses for em, but sadly hav forgotten most of it liao... sadz... :(

9) Savour yummy food!!! Anything to recommend??? (i tink i spend almost equal proportions of my money on food n shopping..haha...to me, savouring nice foods is more impt than dieting..haha)

10) Learn make-up. (my dad always asks me to go for make-up course..izit cuz i dun apply make-up correctly??? hmm...but i actually still believe in letting one's natural beauty shine....)

Yup, tats it for now...might add on more another time!!! haha... =)

YAY!!! It's over for now!! On PAID LEAVE!!!!!

2007-11-24T14:25:00.000+08:00

YAY!!! It's over for now!!! On PAID LEAVE!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes! One semester's over at last, n it passed super super fast actually!! Such tat I had no time to blog until now...sadz...Anyway, life in NIE is like, u dun need to complain bout monday blues on sunday, cuz friday will come again in no time..hahahaha!!!! so is tat gd or bad??? hehe....Thank God for strength through the semester! :)

So, de last week of school juz ended, and as usual, de last week is one of de busiest week before can go on paid leave..haha...firstly, i had quite a major chem assignment to hand in, and i actually only started working at it (includes detailed lesson plan, slides, student copy WS and ans too..haiz..) one day b4 de submission day. So tat costed me a nite wif only an hour of sleep, and de best thing is tat de next day, i had an oral test (on de spot make a 3min speech wif 10min preparation time given), and after de oral test hav to go to a primary sch to conduct a day camp for em...quite a busy day!! And de reason y i din start doin tat assignment earlier was bcuz on de daybefore, I had to bring kids to sentosa for an excursion...haha fun but tiring....

Anyway, de sentosa excursion thing n de day camp at a sch were part of my GESL proj, a proj where we hav to do community service as a group. So at Sentosa, we went to underwater world n dolphin lagoon, which I've not been there for a long time liao!! (and fortunately we din go to the insect and butterfly park...cuz i'm quite terrified of having insects flying around me..haha i'll use an umbrella if i hav to go to tat kind of place) Then we had this walking trail where we had to bring our group of kids around sentosa like hiking in a quest to answer some questions in their booklet...abit like a mini form of Amazing Race. And I had 3 kids in my group together wif another leader, 2 boys, 1 girl. 1 boy is de typical kind of pri sch kid who dun like to get close to girls, another boy is the kuai and cooperative but kinda nerdy one, and de girl turned out to be quite accident-prone cuz she fell down twice throughout de whole hike.

But de whole hike was quite interesting lah, cuz i had de chance to go places in sentosa where i seldom go, and it seems like sentosa's been renovated quite alot! Haha..n i realized tat de kids r actually quite smart too! Like there was a question in their booklet that goes, "I can grant you your wish. I appear in many stories and help the kind characters. I live among the flowers. COme find me! (Hint: I can fly)" Can guess de ans?? haha de ans is a fairy, and de kids cld guess it quite easily! But when i was tinking bout it, i was tinking along de line of sth tat is a living thing that flies n lives among flowers haha...seems like my child-like imagination is not working too well anymore... And they also had to ans questions like give examples of 5 different insects/mammals/fishes, and they cld actually rem their science quite well!! Thankfully de other leader wif me is a bio tcher, so he noes those stuff...haha if it were me, i tink if de kids juz whack any uncommon insects wif funny names (like leafy dragonfish, madagascian hissing cockroach...), i might not know if that is an insect anot...haha.. worst still, i might not even noe tat such an insect or mammal exist...lol...so they can bluff thru quite easily if i were de one testing em...haha but tat wasn't de case..hee...

Anyway, here r some pics taken during de project... :) enjoy!

The 3 maple kidz at Sentosa!!! (They named our grp Maple Kidz..haha)

Ellis & the peacocks!! (eh, maybe it's peahen..)

David & Ernest waiting for lunch...

Waiting to watch the dolphin show @ Dolphin Lagoon!!!

Dolphin Show!!! I'm not gd at taking photos at de exact moment of drama lah..abit too slow haha...

The kidz of Woodlands Primary!! Took me sometime to convince em to take juz 1 shot wif me lor!!! They're actually camera shy..lol..

The Assignments Haven't Got Me Down!!!!

2007-10-12T23:29:00.000+08:00

The Assignments Haven't Got Me Down!!!!

Yeah!! For the past few weeks, i was mainly killing assignments and knocking them down, and thankfully, I was the one knocking em down and not them knocking me down..haha...and tats probably de reason i din blog for such a long time...

Really thank the Lord for helping me thru all this while for all my presentations, assignments and essays...they managed to be completed satisfactorily..hehe... first it was the maths presentation which I could say, was rather well prepared as I had group members who were super meticulous, and I was actually quite shuai bian compared to them...haha...which made me realise that i'm actually quite a carrot-stick driven kind of person, driven mainly only by extrinsic motivation (except for a few situations where i can truly admit that my actions were driven mostly by intrinsic motivation). I seem to treat studying in NIE different from studying in NUS, for the simple reason that the impact of grades in NIE is not as "great" and "impactful" on your future as in NUS. Somehow to me, the amount of effort i put into doing something is directly proportional to how much it'll really affect me. To put it simply, scoring distinctions in NIE doesnt really help to increase the big bucks u earn, but the class of your honours degree in NUS does...hence the amount of effort put in and my level of "shuai bian-ness" varies proportionally. To me, it seems practical, but probably not everyone will agree wif tat. But being more shuai bian wasnt totally a bad thing actually, as I actually experience lesser stress, and under a less stressful environment, I feel that I get to enjoy the classes better...

Just like when I was in NUS, there were a series of modules which I could frankly say that I enjoyed studying them, and was not studying just for the sake of studying...and it was mainly because the lessons were conducted under a non-stressful but fun and engaging environment. And those modules were none other than my bahasa indonesia language modules!!! Many thanks to the patient Ibus who never failed to make my day with their lessons!!! Basically, bahasa classes were a time to de-stress, something much needed during my NUS days... There was once when I actually considered taking up a job tat deals with some form of translation of the language, but dropped that idea in the end for teaching as there's bound to be a greater demand for teachers than translators... sadz.... :(

BUT all was not lost!!!! I thank God that He actually gave me a chance to try out a bahasa translation job as a translator at Singapore prisons for research purposes for part time!!! Was really glad for that oppotunity, as I was once praying that God would grant me a job that I truly enjoy doing. My translations were mostly done verbally thru interactions with the inmates, but there were some written translations to be done too...and it was from this job that i realised man's weaknesses when it comes to translations..It's just IMPOSSIBLE to translate every single part of the article word for word to give the exact effect of the intended meaning in the original scripts!!! Only God can do that. Maybe you might think that bahasa in only my 3rd language, and I might not be sufficiently proficcient in it yet, but I did try translating it to chinese, a language which i shd be more familiar wif, and the conclusion's still the same! Through that job, it actually convicted me of my stand on a certain issue which was going on in church some time ago (might be sensitive...so shall not mention it here) But i guess u noe wat i mean if u attend the same church as me. Oh well, each person is entitled to his own opinion anyway...

Haha...written quite alot liao...so shall stop here now...actually was initially intending to blog bout presentations, assignments, projects n essays at NIE, but guess my chain of thoughts digressed into what u see above...haha... Oh but there's another thing I want to thank God for too, that is for giving me so many christian friends at NIE, which actually helps in creating a better working environment...and u dun actually need to teach at a christian missionary sch to hav christian teacher colleages. At the neighbourhood sch i taught at for a month recently for ESE, God has blessed me with many christian colleagues too!! Thank God for that!! Will blog bout it more next time, assuming my train of thought doesn't digress...haha.....

A few pix to share...

2007-08-26T20:22:00.000+08:00

A FEW PIX TO SHARE.....

Hello! I'm back again after quite a long time ya...nothing very very exciting happened to far...juz work as usual..haha...so juz wanna share some pix i took over tis period..enjoy!!!

I tot tis was quite an interesting pic!!! It's shot by a little girl in church haha...de tortoise in de middle is my hp keychain which i named "cute-cute". Cute-cute is sitting on my bag which i was carrying, and beside cute-cute is my hand and my waist, which is wrapped in a new blouse i juz bought haha....i like de angle at which tis pic is taken...quite unique considering tat it's shot by a small gurl!!! :)

Dinner @ Azaru Sabo with Lee Yong, Jolander and Hui Si...There are 2 teachers and 2 lab researchers here...Guess who is which!!!!! All the best, gals!! And keep in touch!!!

Seafood jap cold noodle @ Azaru Sabo's!!! Yummy!! Esp wif de mayo sauce!!!

Desserts @ Azaru Sabo r simply de BEST!!! Ice-cream on top and ice (like those in ice-kachang) below, toppled wif chocolate sauce!!! (it may look pink, but it's actually chocolate..hehe) My fav dessert for de day!!! :))

A ice-cream cum fruits kind of dessert...sounds like healthy food...hmmm....

Half-eaten green tea ice-cream with red bean paste...tastes very japanese...haha

Finally received de grad pic of my glorious moment which i ordered...haha...

The start of my NIE life...

2007-08-08T00:46:00.000+08:00

THE START OF MY NIE LIFE.....

haha yeah! finally i'm being paid to study..hehe...dats de privilege tat NIE students get haha, so join NIE if u wish to be paid to study!! haha i sound like i'm doin propaganda ya...but i'm not..hehe.. And so far, i've gone thru my first week of lessons at NIE and for dat first week, i only came to NIE for 2 days!!!!! out of de 5 weekdays!!!! get paid to slack at home for 3 days haha...but of course, de worse is not here yet...de "time freedom" which i'm enjoying now will be paid for in de weeks to come when i start to be busier. Tat's life, i guess.....

So far, i've attended classes for my educational psychology , ICT (IT stuff for student-centred learning), and maths teaching courses, and all of em actually involve group work and projects...haiz...guess i'm dreading it cuz i'm juz not used to it. You dun always end up in de same tutorial group as your frens, but tats ok if no group work is involved, but tats not de case. So, you've gotta form groups wif ppl whom u're not very familiar wif, ppl whom u've juz met for de first day in class for juz abt an hour or so, and you'll be double blessed if u can find sumone in ur group tat u can click well wif. Finding urself a group is not much of a problem, but its de part on clicking wif de ppl in ur group tat is sometimes de problem... but again, tat's life! Just hav to learn to get de hang of it since NIE seems famous for doin group work n projects all de time. But thank God tat so far, I havent met anyone whom I die-die cannot click wif one... haha...

And in NIE, we hav this project on service learning tat we hav to complete. Every group hav to organize or do something tat wld benefit de community, like organize a survival kit course for primary 1 kids, or bringing disabled kids out for an excursion, or stuff along tat line lah... i find tat i'm de type who wan to faster get tis over and done wif, and choose sth simple w/o too much preparation work...haha..but i tink de ppl in my group r de more meticulous type, maybe cuz they got more experience in community work than me. Oh well, juz hope tat tis whole project wld turn out positively though..heard tat got one group who wanted to organize an outing for disabled kids, but last minute de owner of de home for de disabled kids said tat they've had enuf wif volunteers cuz a kid injured himself during an outing organized by volunteers. Hence, de whole meticulously planned outing had to be cancelled cuz de home din wan to risk anymore kids getting injured, so to put it "not-so-nicely", all their efforts went down de drain n they had to start frm scratch...sianz....juz hope tat such things dun happen to my group can liao... Maybe i'm really too comfortable in my comfort zone, and shd do more community work instead..hmmm....

Yup and this week is quite interesting cuz i get to meet up wif my frens in uni!!! Met Meena for dinner on tue at Secret Recipe, and gonna eat jap food wif my honours chem frens on sunday...yay!!! Feels good to be able to indulge now tat i'm financially independent..haha...juz hope tat i'll be able to be thrifty in my spending and be able to save de target amount i set for myself per month (to buy car..haha). And of course, not forgetting my tithing oso, which I tend to forget...which makes me feel like I'm owing God money lidat... Need to do sth bout it, which requires discipline. I remember sumone ever telling me b4 tat we shd be stewards of our money too, and for him, it is during months when he faithfully tithes tat he finds tat he gets enuf to spend, but when he doesn't tithe, de opposite wil happen. Irony ya? but i guess it's God's way of honouring him for his faithfulness in tithing. And I always remind myself of tithing from tis sharing :) Well, at de end of de day, I find that discipline is very crucial in maintaining a fruitful spiritual life. QT, praying, tithing, maintaining glorifying testimony all requires discipline.

Anyway, my next pay day's cumin soon too!! YAY!!! and hopefully, i'll be a faithful steward of my money :) ....my hair's almost dry..lol...so i shall stop here to go n sleep now...haha...till next time, cya! ^_^

My Teaching Memories...

2007-08-01T00:50:00.000+08:00

MY TEACHING MEMORIES....

Yup my 4 weeks of enhanced school experience has juz ended....and i can say tat those 4 weeks passed by very fast! But it was generally quite an enriching teaching experience, which did not dampen my interest for teaching :) Throughout those 4 weeks, i got the oppotunity to teach coordinate geometry & trigonometry ^_^ Probably one of the most memorable things I received from tis experience was the VERY VERY loud and enthusiastic "GOOD MORNING MISS LOH" greeting i received from my students on my last day wif em...and of course, not forgetting the little farewell notes that some students passed to me. Even though they wrote it kinda last minute, those notes are stuff that i really treasure (even more treasured than love letters...haha), and I will definitely keep them for life. I recently read sth from a book entitled "1000 Best new teacher survival secrets", and one of the secrets was,

"Remember when friends are receiving holiday bonuses that you receive your bonuses from much greater things. The bonus includes students saying thank you, telling you that you are the best teacher, little notes and formal letters, and general job satisfaction." :) :) :) :))))

And i totally agree wif it especially when i personally received those little notes from some of my students :) So even till the very last day I had to teach, my class mentor did not enter the class to observe me and i was allowed to run the show by myself throughout, or can say, throw me into the ocean and let me learn to swim on my own. Which was actually a good thing, cuz having the chance to teach and manage a class on my own was actually the thing that made my teaching experience meaningful :) And on the last day of teaching, I gave each of my students a farewell card (i had 28 students, and hence 28 cards to write...it indeed trained up my hand muscles...lol) which i hope might motivate em to study harder (and oso remember miss loh..haha) Will they rem me?? hmm... Well, at first i tot of juz buying some small gifts like chocolates for em, but i tot tat after they eat my chocolates, they might forget bout me, so decided to write each of em a card, which is more "eternal" than chocolates, so tat hopefully, they'll rem miss loh, at least for as long as miss loh remembers each of their names..hehe...hopefully...

Well, the next time i'll get to do classroom teaching would be during my practicum in Feb 2008. Not sure of i'll get back to the same school though...but in de meantime, i'll be back at NIE to be trained to become a full-fledged teacher. The first week back there was really boring in comparison to the sch teaching experience, cuz it was juz briefings, briefings and more briefings... :( boring... but anyway, NIE is the last chance for me to be a student, so its back to wearing jeans, bermudas and mini skirts instead of formal wear!!!!! hahahaa....hopefully i'll get used to the lessons at NIE which is very much group-work based, which is sth i'm not very used to doin yet cuz most of my modules in NUS don't practise that. Yup, so i'm back to being a student again!! For the last time... my final chance at being a student... :))

Anyway, I took some pics on my last day of school to capture the precious teaching memories I had at that secondary school. It was the very first sec sch i ever taught, and so that maths class tat i taught shd feel honoured to be the VERY first sec sch class i ever taught in my life!!! It has indeed been a valuable experience, kids! Thanks for it!!! Let the pics below do the talking for now, enjoy!! :)

Mr Ang the maths teacher and I, a soft-spoken and gentlemanly teacher who made it to the discipline commitee!! He muz really be something!! The kids should learn to respect him more!! Thanks for giving me the chance to teach your maths class, it made my whole teaching experience meaningful! :)

Miss Lim Ai Hong the chemistry teacher & I. Thanks for letting me observe your class, it has really been an eye-opener! Thanks oso for all your teaching pointers and advice, I'll bear em in mind! :) a pity i din get to take a pic wif my other chemistry teacher, Mrs Yeo... :(

Mr Nick Lee the HOD of science & I. Thanks for the textbooks! And of course, not forgetting the sweets!!! hahaha...

Yuet Sim, Kelly, Hui En & I. My colleagues! Thanks for your company during my 4 weeks at enhanced school experience! Keep in touch and all the best for your endeavours!! :)

Miss Chong Hui En and I. Had fun sharing the table wif u in de staff room for de first few weeks! All the best to us as we start our classes at NIE!!! :) haiz..forgot to take a pic wif Jamie, another colleague on ESE...and Steve too...in any case, all de best!!!

Now, for my dear students, my very first secondary sch class i ever taught...All the best to all of you!!! :)

Min Chi, Miss Loh, Zakiah, Stella. They sit at the left-most (frm their perspective) row in class, more towards the front. (Thanks to tis pic, I can observe my handwriting better on de board in de backgrd, and i tink it needs "renovation" to be neater..haha)

Annelise, Miss Loh, Syahidah, Shalania. They sit at the left-most (frm their perspective) row in class, more towards the middle. (Annelise's de class chairperson, thanks for helping me to chase ur classmates back to class! ^_^)

Joel, Lysa, Sharon, Miss Loh, Shi Yan, Doris. A great group photo! They sit at the second left-most (frm their perspective) row in class, towards the middle and back. Joel sits at the right-most row at de front. Lysa n Joel are holding the card I gave em!! Hee...i tink in tis pic, my clothes blend in quite well wif their sch uniform..haha (And of course, not forgetting Nazrul in the backdrop of de pic..lol)

Nabil, Miss Loh, Shahrul, Khairul. They sit at the second left-most (frm their perspective) row in class, towards the back. Thanks to the backgrd of tis pic, i got to know Nabil's b-day!!! haha...

Nazrul, Miss Loh, Ziyaad. They sit at the second right-most (frm their perspective) row in class, towards the back. That's de card I gave each of em that Nazrul's holding. And thanks to the backdrop of tis pic, I know the b-days of some of em..hahahaha... (Ziyaad's de other class chairperson, thanks for helping me wif de class attendance stuff! ^_^)

Ervina, Miss Loh, Selvina, the 2 gals frm Indonesia! They sit at the second right-most (frm their perspective) row in class, towards the middle. Thanks for practising bahasa indonesia wif me dat day!!! It reminded me of de time when I was at Indonesia...memory lane...

Christopher, Alex, Miss Loh, Jun Lin. They sit at the right-most (frm their perspective) row in class, towards the back. Christopher & Jun Lin are holding the cards I gave em!!! (There's a mysterious hand on Jun Lin's shoulder..haha..guess who it belongs to???)

Saifuddin, Miss Loh, Ryan, and a few hands behind... (Ryan's de first student I called to go to de board to solve a maths problem..haha, remember??? cuz his name was de first one i knew when i heard Saifuddin calling out his name..hehe) They sit at the second left-most (frm their perspective) row in class at de very front.

Yong Liang, Ding Yang, Ying Yao, Miss Loh. They sit at the right-most (frm their perspective) row in class, towards the middle. The board in de backdrop of tis pic is another reminder to me to improve on my not-so-neat handwriting..lol..(Ying Yao's de AVA rep in class, thanks for helping me wif de laptop n projector stuff! ^_^)

Glenn, Miss Loh, Amos. They sit at the right-most (frm their perspective) row in class, in de very front! If I dun rem wrongly, either one of em were de ones involved in spraying perfume in class (on themselves, not as an air-freshener to make de class smell nice), such tat it made de class smell "aromatic"... or maybe overly aromatic..lol...

Some notes frm my students...stuff tat r more precious than love letters, which i'll keep wif me for life... :)

My temporary abode at the staff room...

A glimpse of my table at de staff room...quite messy..haha

Miss Loh at her table marking stuff in the staff room...

Yup tat's basically all of my fond memories at the very first secondary school I recently taught at!!! :) Pictures really speak a thousand words, and capture memorable moments for a lifetime... ;)))

Teaching and teaching and teaching....

2007-07-21T19:38:00.000+08:00

TEACHING AND TEACHING AND TEACHING.....BUT OSO GOT RELAX LAH!!

Wow it's been a very very very long time since I last posted sth on my blog...muz hav been really busy recently i guess...yup, basically teaching & teaching & teaching & teaching & teaching.... even though I only have 1 class to teach, i still felt busy. Maybe it's bcuz i made it a point NOT to do any work on Saturdays, or if not, the whole weekend...hahahaha...I wan to enjoy work first before the full load of NIE assignments come in... Anyway, just to update on my homework chasing, making the kids stay back on Friday to complete their HW b4 they can leave was quite useful. At least most of the HW came in, even though there were some HW which were BLATANTLY copied. Nevertheless, it was still not a 100% submission of HW though... haiz... maybe next time shd nt give HW, so that no need to chase. Just let them do all de work in class, but tat'll take up quite alot of time, and not everyone would actually do it, and tat wld result in blatant copying again... wat to do?????

Well, at least besides teaching and teaching, managed to take time off to relax oso... On Wednesday (11 July), I went out with a friend for dinner...wanted to go to rice table at first but it closes quite early, so we went to lemon grass at heeren instead. It was quite a nice and memorable dinner cuz tis dinner was one which I can say that "I "fought" for it!!!"... If not for what I had previously done with unexpectedly amazing courage which somehow came to me, tat dinner would never possibly materialize. If you actually knew what I had done that day on 24 June, you'd definitely be shocked and surprised at what I was actually capable of... Wanna bet??? And it was actually a treat from me to my friend, but frankly speaking, my money was spent more for the company of that friend (even though it lasted only abt 1.5 hr at most) rather than the food itself. Cuz we only started dinner at about 8.45pm, but somehow, i wasn't hungry at all, especially in front of that friend...so needless to say, we left some "tips" (a nicer word for leftovers..haha) for the waitors and waitresses to clear...hehe... In retrospect, even if after all that I've done to fight for what I wanted, things dun turn out the way I want it to, I will still not feel that my efforts were in vain. At least for that moment, I was satisfied with myself that I actually possessed such courage to really fight for what I wanted...hmm...is tat an indication that what I was trying to pursue was sth that i really truly wanted??? Somehow, I tink that I take greater pleasure in the PROCESS of pursuing something rather than the object of my pursuit itself, such that when I successfully obtain the object of my pursuit, it somehow starts to lose its appeal to me... quite an irony..lol... So far, regarding this episode on the dinner thingy (which might be considered part of the process of my pursuit of sth...), I hav yet to successfully obtain the object of my pursuit...wonder if one day, if i ever successfully obtain the object of my pursuit, would it likewise mark the beginning of its loss of appeal to me???

In any case, to that friend whom I treated dinner that wednesday, all the best to you as you embark on a new phase of your life... :) May the trials and testings you've gotta go through during this period make you a stronger, better and more mature person! May God grant you not only physical strength, but also a strong willpower to overcome all that you have to! Trust in Him always and He shall direct your paths! :)

My Convocation

2007-07-06T16:34:00.000+08:00

MY CONVOCATION!!!!

Yup, had my convocation on 4th July, and it marks de end of my education life, and the start of LIFE!! Cuz i dun really hav plans to do graduate studies for now..hehe..Many thanks to de 3 most impt ppl who helped me to make tis day possible!! They are de first 3 ppl whom I took pics wif as shown in the pics below... Saw many of my chemistry honours frens and took lots of pics...Realised tat quite alot of em r oso in teaching career right now, so we'll be course mates again in NIE!!! Everyone had his/her glorious moment of walking up the stage and shaking hands with the prof, receiving the degree scroll..but i tink we were oso quite nervous to make sure tat our "cat-walk" on the stage looked ok...haha... Although it was graduation ceremony, it din really feel like one to me, cuz de next day still hav to wake up early to work...and to make things worse, i was falling sick too...so had to teach wif a throat that is in a not-so-ideal condition. It's sth like u did well for O levels, but cant truly enjoy, cuz u've got another problem at hand to handle, which is A levels...it's unlike getting A level results tat time, when u r really on holiday during tat break b4 entering uni, and can truly enjoy it (f u did well) cuz u dun hav any major problems at hand..haha... Anyway, pictures speak a thousand words, or maybe even much more...so I shall nt elaborate more, but let de pics do de talking... de pics of convocation r below...enjoy!!

My super happy Mum & me!!!!

My dear Dad & I!!!

My "mr-nice-guy" honours proj boss, Dr. Adrian Michael Lee!!! Apparently I dun rem ever being scolded by him...either he's super nice or i'm a super obedient student..hahahahaha!!!!!

Me in my gown talking on de phone...

My Glorious Moment..haha...captured by my parents!!

Meena frm Mauritius...frm food sci...can spot de diff b/w sci & applied sci gown?? (i mean de hood..haha...)

Philisa & Me!!!!! 2 future teachers!! Wah! Lots of stuff to hold!!!

Jiahui, my future NIE course mate :) see u at NIE!! Enjoy ESE for now..haha

Hui Si, all de best in ur lab job!!! :)

Thu, Hang & me!! The 3 musketeers!! Enjoyed NUS life cuz of ur company!!! ;)

Yay!! We've graduated!!!!

Chemistry Honours Class 2006/2007!!!!

Yeah!! I've tossed my motar board!!!!

Jeremiah, my chem junior who is older than me..cuz of NS...haha...all de best for ur honours year & honours project!!!! :)

Wen Li & me!!! All de best in whatever u choose to do!!! :)

Pei Yi, my previous lab partner for CM2101!! Had fun working wif u!!

Finally, Chee Koon & me, another 2 teachers-to-be!! Do we look like teachers?? haha.. Glad to hav known u thru UCLA summer prog last year!!

A Mad Chase After Homework!!!!!!!

2007-07-05T17:38:00.000+08:00

Youth Day celebration school madness!!

A MAD CHASE AFTER HOMEWORK!!!!!

Wah! chasing after HW as if it's Great Singapore Sale lidat...it turned out to be a task harder than i imagined...Tat day, after I gave em HW, i told de kids to hand it up to their class chairman, and the class chairman will pass the whole pile to me at 2.15pm. And that day, i actually finished lessons at like 9.15am, which was like so early and can like zuo bo...but cuz i told em to hand it to me at 2.15pm, i had to WAIT and WAIT and WAIT for 2.15pm to come...if not i cld hav left at 1.40pm liao...den after that long long WAIT, when de class chairman came to look for me, guess how many pieces of HW i received??? 5 out of 27 students!!! LOL...so much for de long WAIT...i was at least expecting maybe half to hand in, but 5 is like only about one fifth of de class...LOL...was kinda surprised though i had expected problems wif getting students to submit their work..haiz...

So tis method cant work...hav to tink of others liao...hmmm...den de next day, i approached my mentor, and he told me that i could mark their HW on my own cuz i'll be taking em for classes for now...and i realized i dun hav a red pen..lol...wow i sound like a real full time teacher haha...feels and sounds good, but it's nt good, cuz students take a long time to hand in work...i'm nt even expecting all to hand in on time leh, can get all to hand in for now can liao..lol...need to tink of other methods..haha...

And to complicate matters further, de school had New Zealand students visiting de sch for something like an exchange programme. So to celebrate youth day, de kids were allowed to set up boothes where they cld sell stuff (a smaller scale of NUS bazarres..erm..dunno how to spell lol..), and of course, de New Zealanders had their boothe too. The whole school really came alive with de kids roaming around in excitement. See de pic. Music was blasting and song dedications were read by a student who showed satisfactory emcee potential :).. But the worst thing was tat, right after the allocated time for students to roam around the boothes, I had a maths period wif de kids frm my class...It's like right after having fun at de mini bazarre, who is in de mood to study lor...and i wasnt very surprised when i stepped into class tat abt half of de class disappeared... Band, choir, guzheng, cheerleading (yes, my sch got cheerleading CCA and I hav a male cheerleader in my class..), prefect, AVA members were excused as they had performance, but apart frm tat, got others who seemed MIA too. Wah! lidat is like how to teach??? Wan to chase em for their HW oso so hard, cuz they no mood to tink of work liao lor.. Oso cant do much teaching, their minds will be wandering, so ended up playing de catch phrases game wif em, but apparently it wasnt as well-received as de other class i played wif..haha...to em, it was more lame than brain-boosting lol...but thankfully still shd be able to finish de syllabus on time i hope. Managed to use this time to chat wif a few kids too, to get to noe em better, and I realise tat it's actually de interaction wif de kids which i enjoy more than teaching :)

Yup, but den de HW problem remains unsettled...tmr i'm taking their 2 last periods, so maybe wil do wat their maths tcher usually do, make em stay back n do and can only leave after i see their HW...hehe...wil tink bout it...

Day 2 in class...

2007-07-04T11:54:00.000+08:00

DAY 2 IN CLASS....

This is day 2 teaching maths now! Had only 1 period wif de kids today. What I mainly did was go thru their homework qns wif em to reinforce on wat they hav learnt, assuming that they've actually tried their HW beforehand at home...which i realised was an assumption that cannot be lightly made..lol...most of em who diligently tried de HW beforehand generally had not much problems wif it.

But today, my mentor actually left me on my own in class to teach de kids!! i was a little surprised at first..lol.. tot tat he wld stay in a few more times first b4 letting me run the show on my own...haha.. But nevertheless, the absence of my mentor allowed me to experience wat real teaching is like. It exposed me to reality of having to handle a class, to get em to pay attention, to test whether they've understood, all on my own without any external help.

I have 2 more topics to teach to de kids within abt 1.5 weeks' time, hopefully i can finish on time.. and feel tat i've got to start preparing more interesting materials for the kids, if not, they might start to find me boring..hehe...for maths i find it quite inconvenient to teach using computer and IT..it's unlike other science subjects like chemistry & physics which allow more room for creativity...personally, i've never ever been taught maths using computers or powerpoint in schs b4..lol...everything was mainly done on de board, if not on transparency.. n i feel tat de board is better as i can write stuff as and when i wan conveniently..harder to do tat on com unless its a tablet, which i'm nt familiar wif yet oso.. so probably hav to work on producing some handouts wif interesting stuff on it to gain their attention and interest in studying..so tat as i go thru de lesson, they can write it down oso instead of juz listening to me n getting distracted wif wandering thoughts after sometime. That wil mean MORE WORK TO DO!! hahahaha so i'd better get started at it now..haha till next time, cya!!! ;)

My Very First Lesson in class!!!!

2007-07-04T10:50:00.000+08:00

MY VERY FIRST LESSON IN CLASS!!!!!

Yeaah!! Today is de first day i actually conducted a class!! Was rather excited bout it as i was glad to be given the chance to have a go at real teaching even though i'm still considered untrained and not required to do teaching yet. Thanks to my maths mentor, Mr Ang, who is also part of the discipline commitee! For that day, there were some changes made to the timetable, such that we had 3 maths periods straight in a row instead of 2...haha n i was wondering if it was gd or bad cuz either i wil end up having to tink of stuff to crap wif em as time-fillers if i finish early, or it'll be good that i'll have more time to cover wat i planned to. In the end, i could finish my talking earlier than expected, so juz went thru more examples wif de kids.

The kids r actually quite fun-loving ppl though sometimes playful too, but most of em actually know when they shd get down n be serious in their work. Hope they'll continue to hav a satisfactory level of discipline instilled in em throughout life :) Young ppl wanna hav fun and hav a life too, so cant expect em to be perfect students all de time. :) Even I myself wasn't a perfect student all de time, muz admit it..hehe!! The topic i had to teach for tat day was that area formula for any polygon under de topic of coordinate geometry.. quite a tedious formula actually if u still remembered it.. so i kinda went thru it step by step, but i tot it might hav been easier for em to follow if i had given em some handouts, but that'll take more work..lol... But thankfully, majority of them generally could catch the gist of it when I walked around to check if they cld do the exercise correctly. And after that, I assigned them homework to do, and heard sighs of distress as usual...quite common lah..was wat my class did last time in sec sch oso..haha

Frankly speaking, I was feeling rather apprehensive before i started my lesson..after all, it's my VERY FIRST time teaching a lesson in a sec sch. But at least it did not make me feel as nervous as playing organ for church service...lol...but i tink it got better along the way wif more interaction wif the kids, who were thankfully, rather responsive ppl and not de quiet type of student. And i learnt that kids these days wan a tcher whom they can see more as a fren rather than a person wif authority over em..so i guess it's an art to strike a balance between being firm and being friendly and approachable to em.. it's sth i've yet to master, but wil try to wif more practice..practice makes perfect right???

The classroom's actually quite warm, and having to speak in a sufficiently audible voice most of de time under such conditions can be quite a tiring task. Hence, I now understand why my JC maths teacher was sweating while teaching...lol...and after that, was afraid tat i'll stink, so started using some perfume...and apparently, i over-used it, such that when i went to my next class, some students were like asking, "Who put perfume ar??" in chinese when i walked pass em..lol...diaoz.. ok shall stop here for now :) hope to hav more interesting stories to share as time goes by... ^_^

Youth Day = Teacher's Holiday!!!

2007-07-02T22:56:00.000+08:00

YOUTH DAY = TEACHER'S HOLIDAY!!!

Today's youth day, and thanks to it, teachers get extra bonus leave!! yay!!! And to me, tis 1 day of holiday is definitely something i really need at de moment...had de privilege of having 1 more day to prepare my lesson for tmr, which is on Amaths coordinate geometry...tried to tink of means n ways to teach tis technical topic "interestingly" but cant seem to come up wif anything solidly interesting at de moment...haiz... :( Besides tat, tis 1 day of extra holiday oso gave me a chance to charge up my physical energy...n probably emotional energy too....

Recently, I've juz done something tat i've never ever expected myself to hav de courage to do so...(but tis is not a gd example of trying out new things n enterprising spirit though..lol..) 24th June 2007 was de day i did it, and i tink it'll take me quite awhile to forget bout it. Muz admit tat i'm rather affected by de aftermath of it though...But thankfully, so far, it has not affected or taken a toll on my work...it's my aim to be professional at work, and i tink i hav been able to do so thus far. :) But when i get home or when i'm alone, i tend to get more affected by it, and wld feel kinda sad over it...hopefully it'll end soon...Perhaps i shouldn't hav done wat i hav done, but i tink i wld feel worse if i had not done it...wat an irony!!! but nvm...wat's done cant be undone...so far, i've only shared de whole episode and almost every decision i made throughout de whole episode wif a person whom i tink is a good adviser on the things of life...he's only a few years older than me, but i can tell tat he's been thru much more than me...you know who u r..haha so if u're reading tis, thanks for all ur advice over dinner tat day! It made me feel better! :)

Ok gotta get some sleep soon...cuz tmr is back to routine of waking up at 530am to go sch again.. realized tat i really treasure weekends once i start working haha...n i'll be teaching my very first lesson tmr, so pray tat it'll go fine...i tink i'll be quite nervous..but hey, there's a first time to everything right? (just like dat "courageous" thing i never expected myself to do... :( lol...) it'll get better wif practice. Practice makes perfect! Yeah! gd nitey.... ^_^

It's such a small world!!!

2007-07-02T21:16:00.000+08:00

IT'S REALLY SUCH A SMALL WORLD!!!!

and i really get amazed at times at how small tis world can be!!!! and how we're actually interconnected one wif another!!!

In juz 1 day, i was amazed by 2 instances where i remarked, "it's sucha small world!" Firstly, it happened tat one of my colleagues in school was actually in de same pri sch band as my sec sch band senior!! And my colleague remembers my senior in his full name!!! It really gives me a warm feeling to know tat we are all somehow interconnected in one way or another... :) Just like when we go to a new sch n meet new frens, we usually ask which sch they were previously frm, and if we noe sumone frm their sch, we'll usually go on n ask de new fren if he/she noes tat person. And if tat new fren does noe tat sumone, it seems to help in closing up de gap of awkwardness tat exists during de first time we meet new ppl. Just like how speaking others' language helps to bridge the gap!

Then another more "dramatic" incident is tat another of my colleague who is here for practicum, happens to be a friend of de guy who banged de back of my car during a traffic accident i encountered in December last year!!! Wow!! I was so shocked and surprised when i found out bout tat!! It's quite hard to believe tat even ppl whom u unexpectedly get acquainted wif (like thru traffic accidents lol...) are oso somehow interconnected in ur network!!! Simply amazing!!!

Given tat these 2 events happened on de same day, I was really shocked n surprised...so to you, de reader out there reading this, you may be my friend, but who knows, u may oso happen to be my in-law's in-law's in-law's in-law's in-law's in-law's in-law's in-law!!! LOL!!!

My First Band Practice in dunno how many years...

2007-07-02T20:20:00.000+08:00

MY FIRST BAND PRACTICE IN DUNNO HOW MANY YEARS...

Yup, went to see de band kids during their CCA...theirs was a military band, same as my sec sch tat time.. The main band teaher-in-charge brought me to see their band room. We passed by de band store room, and the smell of it reminded me of my good old days at band...it smelt somewhat of a mixture of rust tat appears on de instrument and the stuff used to grease de instrument's valve as well as de polishing liquid to make de instrument look shiny...Not exactly aromatic, neither was it a stench, but nevertheless, it still reminded me of de past... :)

And after that, de tcher introduced me to de band, saying tat i'm a new tcher who wil be joining em for 4 weeks, and tat i was previously oso frm band and was a french horn player..I was a little paiseh when he said tat to intro me...cuz i haven been touching my french horn ever since sec 4...lol..haha... The band was standing at attention like in marching, and they greeted me..can tell that they r quite disciplined. :)

Next, they splitted up to do sectionals...remembered last time when i was in band, during sectionals, de whole place wil be quite noisy..cuz everyone playing their own stuff haha...and after sectionals, i joined em again to hear em play...haven been hearing band music for quite some time already, so it was a good feeling to refresh myself hearing their music... they were practising a piece called "circle of life", and i wanted to listen to em playing de whole song, but their conductor kept on cutting n cutting n stopping halfway... :( everytime they started playing, i tink it lasted for 15 bars at most.. but can see tat de kids r working hard for their concert cumin up!! keep it up! jiayou! ^_^

Personally having experienced being in band for 9 years in total, i can say tat band actually helps quite alot in instilling discipline in me...it was in band where i learnt de bulk of my discipline, teamwork and unity, and of course, we had fun too! Especially during footdrill, we were really taught to be disciplined, and it trains us up to endure hardships esp during de times when we had to march under de hot sun or stand still for dunno how long to wait for the arrival of the VIP during Speech Day. At the same time, can learn abit of malay too.. :) Because of tat, my impression of band members is tat they r committed and disciplined ppl to de band, and wld seldom give serious discipline problems... hope my hypothesis is correct!! :)

And of course during SYF competitions, we learn to work as a team, as every member's contribution is juz as important in determining de results we get... In my 4 years of secondary education, i only managed to participate in SYF once, which was during sec 3...when i was sec 1, they said tat i was still not ready for SYF even though i had pri sch band experience... mainly bcuz in pri sch, i played de euphonium n trombone, but changed to french horn in sec sch cuz they need ppl n i din really like reading de trombone score which was in bass cleff..lol...And for tat SYF, we got a bronze, n naturally many of us were rather sad, cuz for de previous SYF, we got a silver and so, means tat de standard dropped...but hey, wats more important is tat we learnt to work together as a team in unity, and we gave our best. Just hav to work even much much harder next time and learn frm our mistakes. Besides tat, oso remembered tat we wld come slightly earlier before sch starts to do some additional practice for footdrill during tat time when we joined de Marching Band Assessment...it was actually only like 15mins earlier b4 sch started, and at first i was like tinking "only 15mins, cant do much.." but hey, 4 days of 15mins wld actually add up to an hour! and 2 weeks wld amount to 2.5 hours of extra practice! So, muz tink positively! In de end, we got a Grade 2, but we were hoping for a Grade 1...was kinda disappointed, but at least, we can truly say tat we've worked as hard as we cld for it..even de band teachers-in-charge oso told us dat de whole sch cld see us putting effort into this assessment when we come early for extra practices.

Hence, I feel tat for competitions like SYF or marching band assessments, we shd try not to focus solely on de end result or medal tat we hope to get...Instead, shd oso remember de learning process and de things learnt during de journey towards our goal. But most importantly, muz put in effort and be committed, and give your BEST on dat day of competition. I'm sure tat if u can truly tell yourself tat u've given your utmost best, u shd be satisfied wif whatever results u obtained. At least u can say, "I've given my best!" And this reminds me of a verse in the Bible and sth i learnt during church camp 2007...

"I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:" - 2 Timothy 4:7
Hope to be able to say that in every of my endeavours! :)

7am to 5pm in school...

2007-06-28T14:27:00.000+08:00

7AM TO 5PM IN SCHOOL...

7am is de time i usually reach sch...cuz i dun like to squeeze in de bus wif students...lol...and so far, i've only managed to go home early once, which is on de first day of sch at 2.15pm...de other days hav to stay back either bcuz of meetings, if nt CCAs...CCAs r quite fun, but meetings can get quite boring...as usual lol...but thru meetings, i've gotten to learn more bout how de sch works n oso how they analyze students' exam results, as well as how they plan stuff...so actually there's new things to learn too.. :)

Hmm...ever since I started this sch stint, many ppl hav repeatedly told me that teaching takes much passion to stay long in tis field...apparently de turnover rate is very high!! It's passion that makes u willing to wake up early in de morning n come to sch, and passion that makes u wan to make a difference in de students' life...hmm...do i really hav tat passion? maybe i'm still discovering i guess...heard tat teachers usually stay in sch frm like 7am to 7pm...how did they manage to do tat?? its passion i suppose..hehe..

"An effective teacher is not one who delivers lessons well, but one who is able to make students learn effectively." (a quote i heard frm a senior teacher)

Personally, I agree that de gimmicks tat tchers hav been encouraged to use (ie. demonstrations, interesting ppt slides, project group work n other stuff to make lessons interactive n engaging) do not actually help em to do well for their final exams. (which is de ultimate aim, right?) Those gimmicks can help students better understand n relate to de concepts taught, and maybe learn more effectively, but it does nt neccessarily mean tat they wld be able to answer de exam or TYS questions...Hence, i ever pondered whether its really useful to use those gimmicks to engage de kids in learning..well, perhaps if de tcher juz followed textbook n de students juz cao mug intelligently (which i feel is an easy method to score if u actually put in REAL effort, intelligently, of course), they might be likely to get de grade they wan.. And i admit this was wat i mainly hav been doin throughout my whole education life...i enjoy being spoon-fed as its an easy way to learn n can score as long as u cao mug...BUT den, i realised tat de setback is tat i end up forgetting de stuff i learnt VERY VERY easily..CM3231 on quantum chem is a gd example, sorry Dr. Lee...such tat when i hav to re-teach it to others, i find myself having to spend sometime refreshing myself wif de concepts...but for stuffs which i learnt thru project group work, i find tat it actually stays longer wif me, and i can remember em more easily...Plus, dat senior tcher oso said tat pedagogy research hav shown tat students learn better in groups than individually...no wonder got more n more group work in class... I believe if students learn things today, n return it all to de tcher de next day, teachers will feel quite sad :( so maybe incorporating those gimmicks r still worthwhile in de long run to help students to rem things they've learnt.. :)

A pity I haven seen anything REALLY interesting n innovative frm de teachers i hav been assigned to observe...maybe wil hav better luck next time... :)

My Look on 1st day of sch!!!!

2007-06-27T16:47:00.000+08:00

MY LOOK ON FIRST DAY OF SCH!!!

By the way, tis was how miss loh look like on de first day of goin to school...do i look fierce n stern?? Not in de least bit i guess...haha....

Enhanced School Experience Day 1!!!

2007-06-27T09:55:00.000+08:00

ENHANCED SCHOOL EXPERIENCE DAY 1!!!

Yup...today's my first day in dunno how many years back in sch again...but as a tcher haha...after 4 years in NUS and being able to wake up at like 11am to go sch, i hav to start waking up early like a student again..haiz...by de way, de sch tat i'm posted to is de sec sch of former project superstar winner, Kelvin Tan!!!!! haha...their pride!

Usually, schs shd hav their general office juz somewhere near de entrance rite? but seems like tis sch's general office abit hard to find..den my fren n i were like walking like tourists around de sch trying to find de office..haha...den was led to de staff room...and gosh! it was damn crammed!! lots of files, books, papers chucked everywhere...really messy n definitely a fire-hazard place!!! And they actually had too many new tchers cumin in, den got nt enuf tables..so got to share..haha...de sch shd really consider renovation..hmm...

Den after tat, had to go 4 assembly...haha such a long time since i did sth lidat...reminded of my good old days in sch..hehe...n as usual, students dun sing national anthem...haha...only tchers sing haha n maybe a few patriotic students..hehe...but it was really a gd reminder of de good old days in sch...And after assembly de principal intro de new tchers to de sch...thankfully no need to say anything...juz do de miss universe wave..haha...

Had a chat wif de principal n VP...quite formal hehe...n den de VP asked us to take on a CCA oso..and she was like saying, "Let me noe which CCA u wld like to take.." And I was like wah! can choose ar?? cuz i heard tat usually they'll juz assign since most CCAs taken up liao...immediately, i tot of de military band!!! tats my CCA frm pri 2 to sec 4!!!! haven been wif band for sumtime liao, so wanted to experience de feel of it again...enjoying de music we produce n oso de sectionals wif seniors...n of course nt forgeting de camps n farewell parties oso...good old dayz..haha...thankfully de VP readily agreed to let me take band...it made my day!!! was so glad!! :)

Received my timetable n it was nt very packed lah..mainly juz had to do observations in class...so seems quite relaxed...2 out of my 3 assigned tchers actually told me tat i need nt teach...juz sit behind n observe can liao...but doin observations only does get a little boring...sometimes i felt really sleepy n had to try hard to not doze off...(bad example to kids!) hav to start pinching myself...hehe... but de 3rd tcher i got, my maths tcher, was actually quite frenly n nice...n he was like saying "it's up to u whether u wan to teach anot.." tot it might be gd to try, instead of juz doin observations behind the class, which can be a sleep-prone task especially right after lunch and during double periods...n since its a sec3 class, they r nt too stressed to rush to finish de syllabus, so still got time for newbies like me to teach...haha...he doesnt use powerpoint or computer to teach..juz mainly follow textbook...so relatively little preparation work...hehe...maybe i'll start teaching it next week... :) As for now, juz sit back n relax a little first...looking forward to band practice on wed!!! :)

Pre-ESE, Post-TPP

2007-06-25T21:29:00.000+08:00

PRE-ESE, POST-TPP

Hmm..i juz realized an uncanny resemblance...de teacher which i previously mentioned running out of class in tears cuz being bullied is oso a miss loh...hmm..same as me..but hope i wun hav tat same experience as her..lol...so i've juz finished de 2-day teacher preparatory programme (TPP) n waiting to start my 1mth enhanced sch experience (ESE)...tink i rem more on de trainer's stories n experiences rather than de theoretical stuff on pedagogy she crash-taught us...haha...

Well, talking bout teaching experience, i dun actually hav sec sch teaching experience, but i'm goin to teach in sec sch..help!! hope it wun be tat bad, cuz i ever taught sec sch tuition though..but of course it's 2 completely diff matters lah..And after my first tuition lesson wif em, (they r sec 4) de kids were like saying, "florence, i learnt more today than wat i've learnt in sch so far..". And I was like ermm...r u praising me? or shd i be worried tat i'll hav much more work to do?? And there was one thing peculiar bout my guy tuition students (it was a group tuition kind of thing..)..got once i tot of passing tis tuition grp to a male fren to take over cuz i starting uni soon but de guy frens r still free-er cuz they had to serve NS first, n they were like super-disagreeing wif tat idea...saying tat they wanted a female to teach em...their main concern was tat dey din wan a MALE tuition teacher...lol...wat pschology is tat?? haha maybe i'll learn more bout tat on education psychology in NIE..hehe..do guys study better wif female teachers?? n vice versa?? lol....

As for real sch teaching experience, all i hav is primary sch relief teaching experience, which wld be quite diff frm sec sch...did tat during de break after "A" levels. I had to mainly teach primary 1 students, n sum pri 5 classes too..preferred teaching pri 1..cuz easier to handle..haha..but got sth interesting tat happened to my pri 1 class tat i'll never never forget!!!! It was quite juz after their recess time, n de students were having lessons back in class again..Of course, 1 of de most common qns tat my pri 1 kids as me is, "teacher, can i go toilet??" Since at tat time, it was after recess time, i tot tat toilet-goin was nt encouraged UNLESS ABSOLUTELY NECCESSARY...(at least tat was wat y tchers did to me in pri 1)..And as a new freshie teacher, i haven mastered de art of telling whether a student REALLY needs de toilet, or juz wans to get out of class for fun..so most of their toilet requests were rejected cuz it's really quite disrupting 4 de lesson if pupils keep on asking 4 permission 4 toilet...all was well, until students started sniffing some unusual stench in de class...n i smelt it too...n it took me awhile to figure out where it was cumin frm...so i traced de smell by its intensity (like a dog..hehe), n yah, as u cld hav guessed, a gal poo-ed in class, n it was "big business".. I was like STUNNED!! Oh no shucks! wat shd i do?? my fault due to misjudgement of students' "toiletry urgency"!!! will her parents complain bout me?? wat wil de sch do to me?? So, in de middle of my STUNNED-ness, i let her go to de toilet, n asked for a cleaner to come n clear de mess...i was really afraid tat de poor gal wld be scared n embarrassed n wld cry..i felt kinda guilty oso, cuz its partly my fault oso...but thankfully, when i went to see how she was doin at de toilet, she was actually nt crying at all!! she's really quite brave! she was juz calmly cleaning herself up, n i heaved a sigh of relief..phew! i tink i'm n exactly very gd at comforting sad ppl..so really thank God tat she was so brave n nt easily embarrassed..haha.. And thankfully, I din get any complaints frm her parents or de school too..was very fortunate tat time..phew! So, after tat "impressionable" incident, on de next day in sch, i persistently reminded my class to go toilet during recess time..however most of de toilet requests, including IMMEDIATE ones right after recess, were readily consented by me.. dun wan history to repeat itself...once bitten twice shy...haha!!

Yup, looking forward to teaching next week....Pray tat God will grant me sufficient grace to overcome all that He wans me to, like dat poo-ing incident in my class..lol...

A new beginning wif Teacher Preparatory Programme...

2007-06-25T20:55:00.000+08:00

A NEW BEGINNING WIF TEACHER PREPARATORY PROGRAMME...

I'm about to start my journey of teaching...will I stay for long?? or will I back out halfway?? God knows! Either way, I juz wanted to track all my teaching experiences frm Day 1, n so tis blog was created...Thanks for ur support..haha!!

Just started reporting 4 duty on 18th June, juz de week right after my church camp holiday at Genting...quite sian...as i din hav much time to get over my "jet-lag" or rather, "holiday-mood-lag" since genting n here got no time diff..haha...but thankfully got no vigorous brain activities for tat week...mostly settle admin stuff except for a 2-day teacher preparatory programme, which was a crash course to teach us de ropes of teaching cuz we hav to do enhanced sch experience 4 a mth b4 starting NIE courses...de trainer I got for tat crash course was like..WOW..she's been in teaching for like 38 years liao!! wonder if i can stay tat long...haha...n she's earned her position as a cluster superintendent, so i guess her 38 years were well spent!! And she was oso ever de discipline mistress...haha...n she had an innovative way of punishing students..hehe..cuz de demerit point system makes students feel tat de more points they hav, de greater they r...apparently it din work..so she actually stopped it, n punished em by making em stay back in school to do cooking instead...n those who were punished were actually guys...quite LOL...haha but it worked!! Those students were proud of de pizzas n snacks tat they made, n proudly shared it wif others... So, moral of de story, an effective punishment requires innovation too..hahaha...den she gave us de theories of how to manage a class effective, they were gd, but nt sure if i'll actually rem n apply em when i'm teaching..hehe..but we had a gd time though, listening to her stories n experiences in school..haha..got to noe sum others who oso teaching chem n maths like me..hee so we can share lesson materials next time..hee!!

I've gotten my posting 4 enhanced sch experience liao...n it's to a neighbourhood sch..n i'm actually glad abt tat!! but shall nt reveal which sch it is for now first..haha...heard tat most ppl wld rather nt handle neighbourhood schs due to its discipline problems...but i tink i'll rather handle discipline problems of students rather than de high expectations of parents n students frm gd schs..stress...well, actually both hav stress, but I myself having grown up in neighbourhood schs (I'm frm jurong pri, jurong sec, jurong jc btw..haha n i stay in jurong east oso.. a pity got no jurong uni..haha), feel tat i might be able to relate better to neighbourhood kids rather than those fm gd schools...yup, so quite looking forward to my 1mth stint!! Only thing is tat I dun tink i look fierce enuf...or rather, firm enuf..students see me wil tink i can be bullied one..lol...my former sec sch teacher ever got bullied by a class n she ran out crying in tears...hope tat doesnt happen to me..it'll be one of my worst nightmares!!! Jia you miss loh!!