When there's a will

我想看看自己还能不能写一篇像样的华文稿。高级华文的同学请不要笑我OK?

糟糕， 这么快就没话说了，真是失败。我看还是不要在这里出丑，免得同学以为我想宣耀自己的“才华”。

PS: 以后给孩子取名的时候，千千万万别取一个什么Tammy或Annabel的名字。本来是蛮好听的名字，却被某些人弄得一文不值，声败名裂。

PPS: 很多人认为老师对学生有潜移默化的作用，我希望对华文有恐惧感的同学能藉我在这里大胆出洋相的例子，勇敢去克服学习华文的障碍。有志者，事竟成也。

Everyone say hi

...to my iDog.

Isn't he cute? I think it's a male dog and it matches my Zen beautifully.

LiHua says it's outdated because it came out the end of last year. That's nonsense. If that's the life span she's referring to, then I think 90% of the people in the class carry obsolete handphones and Jurassic era calculators. In any case, there is no need to practise slavish adoption of anything hot from the oven. Isn't it more prudent to wait for the price to drop a little before one gets any new gadget?

Anyway, my iDog has just been christened by me. His name is Victor. (Any resemblance to people you know is purely coincidental.) Why Victor? Ah...that's another story altogether.

Chinese language woes

Just finished reading Yew Ngee's rant about Chinese language learning and thought I'll address some of the issues here as I believe this is something that is not unique to Yew Ngee. In fact, I can empathise with some of his frustrations, having struggled with my Chinese before and seeing how my own daughter is barely coping with the language, despite coming from a bilingual family.

I am not sure what your Chinese teacher has told you about the changes to the way your MT exams are going to be like and I am not entirely well-versed with the details as well. But here's what I can gather from news reports.

MOE wants to move away from rote memorization of Chinese words as that is what kills the interest in many students for the language. I mean, how exciting can learning a language be when all that is required is memorising lists and lists of words? Do you know that in English, we do not have a list of English vocabulary that students MUST learn in order to pass exams? (The WordPower program is a GM program, not an MOE one). Do you ever wonder why most students find learning English not as dry as learning Chinese? One of the main reasons is because of this need to memorise so many words.

MOE wants the Chinese language to be taught in a more lively, vibrant and interactive way. So out goes the vocab list. However, that leaves students in a lurch because they don't know how to study for Chinese and they hate reading Chinese newspapers and story books.

This is how I would study for Chinese now, given the cataclysmic changes to the syllabus that have left so many of you high and dry. I would NOT ditch my vocab book. I would still study it, although I may not want to laboriously memorise every single word. And I will accompany it with reading newspapers or story books. This may require come compulsion on my part. I will target to read 1 article a day first, and it will be something simple and manageable to start with.

Yew Ngee is right, if your vocab is very limited, then reading Chinese newspaper is super frustrating. So there is no way you should throw away your vocab book and still hope to read a piece of Chinese article. That means your 9 years invested in learning and memorizing the vocab are not wasted! Don't believe what other people tell you that you have been utterly taken for a ride. How can learning words that form the core components of a language be considered useless?

Not everyone is adept at bilingualism. LKY's journey in learning Chinese is not typical of everyone. I struggled with CL1 (Chinese as 1st Language) in my first 2 years of secondary school. The rote memorization almost killed me. (We had to memorize chi yu and the cheng yu zi dian!) I have read fewer than 5 Chinese novels in my whole life and I don't listen to Mandarin pop songs. I read Lianhe Zaobao only to do newspaper cutting. But I watched the Chinese news on TV everyday. It was only in Sec 4 that I saw some improvements in my Chinese grades. Looking back now, if I had not been forced to memorize the chiyu and cheng yu, I wouldn't be able to appreciate watching the Chinese news so much as the language used would be beyond me. I eventually scored an A2 for Chinese. A nice reward, in spite of the many frustrations.

Having said this, my experience may be unique. Maybe I'm strong in language learning. I see my daughter struggle with tingsie and reading and I have many many gripes about how Chinese is being taught now. But I tell myself that in the worst case scenario, she will do CLB. I see no shame in doing that because I really don't think everyone is cut out to be effectively bilingual. My bigger hope is that the planners in MOE will study this issue in greater depth and find a solution to make learning Chinese less painful.

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We can have a class discussion on this so that we get to hear from the others how they deal with this problem. Our system is definitely not perfect, and I am glad you are finding your voice in articulating your feelings. I hope you won't feel defeated already though. There is still a light at the end of the tunnel. So lets all help one another to find it.

Recommendations

Do go and read Justin's blog entry about dealing with failure.

Nice, reflective piece. Justin: I wish you'd write more often. You have a really quiet, gentle and introspective spirit which I admire. :)

Secondly, anyone contemplating a career as a doctor should read about the pros and cons of being a doctor, from one of my favourite blogger, tscd.

Happy weekend reading!

A teacher's fear

Last night, a sudden fear gripped me.

That when I turn 50, and am unable to play a decent game of tennis or badminton with my students anymore, or wear trendy clothes, or listen to pop songs that teens like, will my students still like me?

Will they bother to check out my blog? Will I be become, in their eyes, an ancient relic, someone they can easily dismiss, as being too uncool to associate with? Will I cease to be relevant to them?

Do teachers have a short shelf life?

A new toy!

Just when I was going to close my blog and do some serious work, my husband put something on my table and said, "This is for you."

I have just become the proud owner of an I-Dog.

I don't know how it sounds like yet but I'll try it soon. The geek in me can't wait. But my work beckons. So stay tuned. Woof woof!

I need this!

Two straight days of playing tennis with people less than half my age. What was I thinking of? I must be insane.

The last time I played tennis on consecutive days (actually it was twice a day) was, hmm...more than 10 years ago?

But, Mdm Sng is undaunted. Mdm Sng wants to lose weight, lest she gets mistaken for being pregnant - again - by her mother-in-law to boot. In fact, she's so determined to shed those extra pounds that she won't even complain when those students whom she played tennis with made her run like a mad puppy round the court. When those kilos vanish like vapour into thin air, she'll be strutting around the school like Naomi Campbell, in her new wardrobe of figure-hugging togs. This image of a new svelte me is so powerful I'm willing to pound the courts in the scorching sun and risk skin cancer, tennis elbow and heat exhaustion. Yes, there's a high price to pay for vanity!

But more than that, I enjoy the company. It is really funny to see some of you and your antics on the court. OK, I'm not laughing AT you. I'm laughing WITH you, and it is very very pleasant to spend the afternoon with students for a change (instead of the many meetings with teachers!). Oh, and some of your parents too. (Say hi to Mr Seah!)

And now, to fortify myself, I have just downed a bottle of chicken essence. Yes, need the extra boost and energy to fight the young guns in court tomorrow. Grr......watch out! Mdm Sng, middle-aged tennis warrior, is here to stay. Be afraid, be very afraid.

Nothing to blog about

This is a post about nothing in particular since I can't really think of any major topic to blog about.

So why should I be blogging, you ask? Well, I'm trying to show you that even when there's nothing earth-shattering to blog about, you can still let your mind wander and sooner or later, something will come up.

Like now, yes, I just thought of something.

Do you think anyone in this class is keen to attend a talk given by a Nobel Prize laureate? I can't remember his name now because I'm not into this kind of thing you see, but someone I met this afternoon presented me with this proposal. Some big shot is coming to town, a very eminent scientist in fact. And he's going to give a talk, about the future of scientific research, and he's going to make it really layman so that even plebeians like me who barely understand static electricity can make sense of it. The talk is open to JC students and other interested members of the public, but because I was so kind as to entertain the organizer of the talk today, he said he could give us 5 tickets.

It's on 18 March. If any of you is interested, please let me know.

See, I've just blogged about something even though I started out saying I have nothing to blog about. Sometimes I amaze myself with insignificant skill such as this. *grin*

My happiness index...

is going up at the moment cos there are some of you who are finally showing some signs of interest in playing games after school.

So lets get into action and not just talk.

This Thursday : see you Susilo-potentials at the badminton court. OK?
Just let me know if you have remedial and can only play later (4pm?). I'll get the nets from Potassium Hydroxide (hahaha! I'm very tickled by the names you gave to your teachers. I wonder what mine is?) and some rackets. But those of you who insist on premium rackets please bring your own ok (another PE teacher told me it will only make 5% difference to your play, so there's no need to show off your $500 racket really).

If anyone is keen to play tennis, my happiness index will triple! Just tell me when you want to play. Rackets and balls are provided FOC (unless you keep hitting the balls to the PIE, then I will make you replenish my supply with top grade competition balls!).

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On a side note, I was very insulted that Uni didn't think I knew what static electricity was the other day. Hallo?? Are English teachers clueless about Science?? I read Isaac Asimov and Carl Sagan ok?! I can also recite to you the 3 laws of robotics in my sleep ok? So don't pigeon-hole English teachers into Shakespeare-spouting, dictionary-touting airy-fairy bimbos. I am a rojak English teacher, a Jane of various trades, and hopefully semi-masters of a few disciplines. *Ahem*

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Nam just reminded me half the class are badminton club members. Gee, why didn't anyone say so? Well, if I get slaughtered on the courts, I will just take my revenge during English lessons. Heh heh heh.....

Mdm Sng gives tips

Mdm Sng has just finished a game of badminton in school and with adrenaline pumping furiously and the blood rising rapidly to her face and hopefully to her brains, she is now ready to give tips (since Nacrasis asked for tips for improving compre).

Tips for making Mdm Sng happy : play badminton or tennis with her after school. So you think you are very stressed out? And you think I am not? Ever wonder why I love racket games? Because I get to wield a weapon of mass destruction and slam/smash/whack the ball/shuttlecock into my opponent's face/body/unmentionables. It is very cathartic for the soul. A great stress-reliever. And at the end of the game, if my opponent is decimated and humiliated, I feel a deep sense of delirium coursing through my veins. (If I lose the game, it'll just spur me to be more aggressive the next round.)

And now for the boring stuff.

Tips for scoring in comprehension:
1) Read, read, read. And not just a diet of thrillers if that's your favourite. Read newspaper articles, read National Geographic (especially the mountain expeditions, jungle trekking, river crossing stories cos for some strange reasons the O level setters seem to like such topics), read Time/Newsweek/Economist, read the Life section, read the Saturday & Sunday papers. Read for knowledge, read for enjoyment, read to show off to your friends, read so that you can think more clearly. Just read like you need to eat. Fill your mind with ideas, words, be consumed with such profundity and vastness of thoughts that your senses are so titillated and challenged that you are not willing to settle for mere mediocrity and simple-mindedness of thought and paralysing parochialism.

2) When you're truly able to do (1), then the comprehension passage that you encounter is not so daunting any more.

3) Look through past years' papers. Read all the comprehension passages to get a feel of the types of text that are likely to appear in the exams. Go through the questions, there are only so many types of questions they can ask you -- factual, inferential, vocab, irony. If you can understand the passage, then you can handle the questions.

4) Expand your vocabulary. I am still learning new words now. So how can you stop learning or think that what you know now is enough? A paucity of vocabulary actually leads to poverty of thought. You need a good command of language to think more clearly, more vividly and more profoundly.

5) Practise doing summary (since it takes up 50% of the total marks). Learn to extract relevant information and then put them together in continuous prose. Summary skill is actually one of the most useful skills you would need in your life. If you cannot extract information and present them succintly, you will write trashy, long-winded reports and make boring presentations in future when you work. So it is worthwhile investing time to master this skill.

Tips for surviving your O level year:
Work hard, play hard. And help one another. There is strength in numbers. Build up your class spirit and then you'll find studying quite fun. Believe me! Mdm Sng doesn't lie (although sometimes she tells white lies - which I hope you know what it means because some of you did not understand the phrase and wrote out of point in your test! - but she has very pure intentions!).

*Bonus* Tips for 4D:
6250. Which is the percentage of distinctions that your predecessors scored for EL last year. 62.5% ah! How, scary target to beat right?

My adrenaline's dropping now, so it's a sign to go home. Talk to you in class tomorrow.

Mdm Sng rambles...

It's Valentine's Day and I have a bit of time before my *ahem* hot date tonight so I shall sit here in school and type out some of my rambling thoughts.

Oh, I'm sure the nosey ones among you will ask what my hot date is about. Well, it's dinner with my husband, and my daughter. She insisted on not being left out, even though I had told her she could only celebrate Valentine Day if she has a boyfriend. Maybe she'll surprised me later by bringing a partner?? Who knows? Kids nowadays...

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Those of you who stayed back last Friday to witness the chaotic scene in the hall, I wonder what you were thinking when you saw those who were shrieking with joy, and those who were cursing under their breath when they realised they couldn't go anywhere with their O level results.

I watched the drama unfolding before me with mixed feelings. There was euphoria when I saw the students I personally knew doing very well. Then there were some who didn't and I was torn between giving them a comforting arm around the shoulders and telling them it's OK, they can try again, or just being silent because there really is nothing a teacher can do at this point. All the encouraging, teaching, advising, and yes, even the nagging, had been done last year. Our energy has been expended to the best of our abilities already. And if a student cannot bring himself to work towards his goal, or worse still, has no goal at all in mind, what more can a teacher do?

Anyway, I was very very pleased with my English class last year. They achieved way beyond my expectations. I can't explain their sterling results. I think it's got to do with their class spirit, as well as their individual efforts. They were a very close-knit class, and somehow that helped to spur every member to aim for the sky.

That's why I believe doing well in studies is not merely an individualistic effort. When it's done communally, the results can be pretty astounding. Hence I urge you all to share, to encourage, to lift up those who are weak. Then when everyone does well, you'll have a fabulous reason to celebrate.

Next year, this time, I want to see you all bring the roof down. And saying you have ALL made it, and no one is left behind. Can?

Music in your blogs

F41 bloggers:

I saw that more of you have uploaded music in your blogs. Perhaps you should read this and then decide if you should take down those music.

I'm not trying to be a wek blanket here but just trying to help you save your hongbao money for more meaningful things than to pay fines! From the article, it doesn't seem like the law is in effect yet. But why wait till you get a warning letter?

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I had a CNY gathering with my ex-secondary school mates and we all agreed that the best years of our lives were our secondary school years. I hope you all will experience the same good times that I've had. It's hard to explain such things to you and you'd probably think I'm being sentimental, but it's not easy to make close friends in JC/poly/university/office. Somehow, the environment in these places are not conducive for forming close friendship.

So treasure your last 10 months here. Study hard, play hard, laugh a lot. Don't get hung up on petty things. Then you'll be able to look back on your secondary school years, and reminisce over the good old GM days.

Look at the date!

Oh dear, it's February already!

I can't believe it. How time dashes past you, while you are busy marking scripts, preparing lessons, attending meetings, shopping, hanging the laundry and doing all sorts of mundane activities.

Some thoughts about the past month :

1. My daughter says she doesn't like her new form teacher because "she's old". What??!! I almost fell off my chair. Why do students like only teachers who are young? What will happen to me when I'm (gulp!) old? Will I still have students who like me or will they just grudgingly put up with me and my unsteady hands, wobbly knees and quaky voice? When is my shelf life over?

2. I actually like all the visiting during Chinese New Year. In fact, I look forward to it more and more. Must be a sign of old age (oh dear. See (1) above). It doesn't even bug me that the more visiting I do, the more ang pows I have to distribute. I just love meeting my relatives, cousins, cousins' kids, old friends and colleagues.

3. I am still as slow in my marking as before. I just never seem to improve. So students, you must must be patient with me ok. I cannot mark fast. I cannot overlook all the itsy bitsy grammatical mistakes you make in your essays. I must underline them, and make a note, and think about whether these affect your final grade. I don't know how to take short cuts in such things.

Soon, February will whizz by and it'll be March hols again! Come, Bintan come!
(Yes, I've started planning for my next break. Talk about kan-jiong!)