Serious business

Some of you have asked me for details about the Headstart tests. Frankly, I thought you wouldn't want to know cos you would want to enjoy whatever's left of your holidays right? But, you folks surprise me some time.

OK, for those of you who 'die die must study', the schedule for Headstart is :

11 Jan - English (Situational Writing)
12 Jan - Science *
13 Jan - Science *
16 Jan - Maths
17 Jan - Humanities

* Sorry I have no details on which Science subject.

But seriously, I would advise you to chill out a bit and savour every last bit of holidays you still have. I know MY holidays have ended as the teachers are all back in school from today onwards for meetings.

Unless of course, you have played excessively this holidays and have not done anything remotely resembling school work, then you should feel really contrite now and hit the books.

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Some of you are obsessing about the English homework - like whether what you wrote on your blogs are counted as homework. Well, if you have been posting regularly (eg. weekly), you really shouldn't worry even if some of your posts do not resemble an essay. My point in getting you to do this is to cultivate the habit of regular writing. If you have been cutting corners, or just being plain lazy and dragging your feet about it and take no pride in your work, then you bet I will be very calculative with you and demand my 10 essays next week.

There is nothing magic about the number 10. I arrived at it as arbitrarily as I would randomly call out Toto numbers. My objective for you this holiday is to write regularly, whether in your blogs, or diaries, or, at the very least, in exam-oriented essay format. Because I know, otherwise, you would be playing computer games or sleeping. And I can tell many of you are not proficient writers yet because you are still making many gross mistakes. So you need to practise, regardless of whether you like it or not. An athelete has to train if he wants to be good. Same with a good writer. There is no short cut.

Some of you enjoy blogging. Some of you don't. You have an option. I don't point a gun at your head. I just want you to write. Your part is to be mature about tasks given to you and take pride in what you do. If you have a lousy attitude and think everything is crap because it doesn't fit your taste, mood or hormonal cycle, and consequently give a half-hearted attempt in doing it, then it speaks volumes about you and I will not hesitate to show you my lousy attitude too.

Do you get my point? I don't want to sound too harsh but I really want my students to offer their best in everything they do. Because there is no way I can know you 100%, I look at the work you produce, the words you say, the body language you convey, and I make a judgement. Everybody does that. So it is important you do everything to the best of your ability so that your work screams "This is me! This is my talent!". That is all I ask of you.

So don't ask me again if you have met the 10 essay quota. You, look at what you have done - in your blogs or hand-written scripts, and ask yourself -- have YOU written the equivalent of 10 essays this holidays? Have you really practised your writing? Or have you been procrastinating? If you are honest with yourself and know you have not done so, then redeem yourself and show me you are made of better stuff. You still have a few more days to do some serious work. Then look me in the eye next week, and tell me you have tried your very best. And I'll leave you alone.

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Phew! Now that's out of my chest, I will wish you a great New Year. And do go and watch Narnia and/or King Kong before school re-opens. I heard they are brilliant.

Cheers!