My First Meet The Parents Session!

I had my first 'Meet The Parents' session with my P3.2 class this Thursday. This year, I teach maths at P3 level; whereas last year I taught English with another P3 class. For this year's P3.2 class, I find them quite adorable... & sometimes I feel like hugging a few of those adorable ones!

Yet there are times when these kids really get on my nerves & make me shout at them. I don't feel happy whenever I shout at them, because I know that they are aware of their misbehaviour, but still choose to misbehave & show disrespect to the teacher &/or their classmates. But all in all, I still enjoy teaching this class... at least so far...

I would estimate that about half the pupils' parent / parents / guardian came for this first 'Meet The Parents' session for Term 1. It was planned to be held from 1.45 - 4.45pm in the classroom. However, parents arrived as early as 1.15pm... (while I was scolding the pupils for not being able to line up properly outside the classroom) & the last parent arriving at 4.40pm... but it wasn't so bad coz we managed to end by 5pm.

I am glad that most of the parents are supportive (or at least they appear supportive, since this is the first time that I am meeting them). However, it is their children that are playful & not taking their studies seriously... but there is a chance... coz these kids are still fairly obedient... so far. Yet sadly, it was those kids who seriously needed help, whose parents did not come. Sigh...

All in all, I must say that I enjoyed chatting with the parents! It was to my surprise coz it was a very tiring day of lessons (in fact, it is my heaviest work day of the week!). plus I was also coordinating two events at the school hall on that same day. Thus, with an additional 3 hrs of meeting with parents, I had expected myself to be totally drained out. But thank God, I wasn't! Honestly, I was enjoying myself so much that the 3 hrs just passed! Suddenly it was 4.40pm! =)

I was with the form teacher of that class & she is diplomatic in speaking with parents. I could tell from her approach of conversation that her style is very different from me. I find that my style is relaxed, friendly & rapport buiding (occasionally through stories & humour). But its okay... everyone has their own style... or maybe she is really tired... which I was feeling too...

But all in all, I still must say that I enjoyed it! Yes, I did! =)

A Disaster Waiting To Happen...

It was the 'Meet The Parents' session for P4.2 this Friday afternoon... which dragged from 5pm to almost 9pm. Fortunately, I wasn't required to attend, especially since I have had 2 days of fully packed work days with almost no rest throughout both days. On Thursday, I had about 10 mins of rest for the whole work day till 5pm. On Friday, I had about 12 mins of rest for the whole work day... until 5.35pm. But oh well... I don't want to think about it... soon it will pass...

But the unfortunate part was that half my mind wanted to meet with these parents! Its because the pupils in this P4 class are REALLY messed up! So many messed up cases in this one class! I really wanted to meet their parents & see whether their parents are the same kind as well, which may explain their notorious behaviour that's well known throughout the whole school. Also, I wanted to give the parents a diplomatic piece of my mind & tell them the real situation about what kind of troubles & problem their children are getting themselves into in school.

Honestly, sometimes I get so frustrated with this class... up till this stage that I don't know what else to alert or warn them about anymore. Its not as if they don't know what is right & wrong. It is just that they prefer to do the wrong... & according to Rebecca (who attended the session), told me that even some parents don't know what to do with their rebellious children. Its very sad! =(

If these pupils do not wake up to reality, I am worried & afraid that some of them would become problems to society in future! It is too long to type down all their incidents, but they are varied & shocking. It makes me very sad & angry to teach this class... what's more since last year. Sigh... the way things are going... they are just a disaster waiting to happen... very sad... especially to see their faces appear in the newspapers for a criminal offence... Sigh...

A Playful Injury...

Sigh... I feel like giving up on these pupils sometimes... I also don't know what else to say to them. Teachers scold (there is a huge limit to the kind of discipline allowed nowadays) until they also give up scolding. And today, another playful accident happened in one of my P4 class. They are supposedly (honestly, its true in every sense of the word) the most notorious P4 class in school.

This international pupil from China decided to play a prank on another female classmate in his P4 class during the art lesson by their art teacher. When she was about to sit down on her chair, he took away the chair, such that she fell hard onto the floor! It wasn't that bad that she hit her buttock, but the worse part was that she fell & hit her neck on the floor! It must have been a hard fall!

Two of her female classmates gathered around her, trying to comfort her... while the female art teacher tried to ask if she was okay. Apparently, she was in pain & had difficulty turning her neck. So she sat there with her head down, no able to move her neck... for quite a long period of time. When the art lesson ended, I came in for social studies lesson & was told of this story. The class was in a mess... apparently, apart from that two female classmates that were comforting her, the rest of the class was having a jolly good time... as usual, screaming, running around, etc.

Thus, I went straight into action, trying to calm them down... & it took 1 - 2 mins (as usual). Thereafter, I asked the female art teacher & the 2 female classmates to bring her down to the general office to rest at the sick bay. Then, I carried on with my lesson, before this injured girl came back to the class after 10 mins, to continue resting at her desk.

What amazed me is that this China boy didn't even look the least remorseful. At that time, I don't even remember him apologising or even coming up to ask how she was. This is terrible! He went about the class, as usual... as if nothing had happened. Its so shocking! And the rest of the class didn't even seem to bother about this possibly 'fatal' accident. I can't believe it & I'm very angry about this. This class' form teacher was informed, but she insisted that the art teacher write the accident report, coz she wasn't at the scene. Reasonable explanation, but oh well...

Sometimes I don't know what else to say or scold these kids. What else has been left unsaid? I really don't know... even if I did... would it fall on deaf ears as usual? Sigh... I just hope that girl would be okay... SIGH...

Technical Assistant From Johor Bahru!

There is a friendly & soft spoken Technical Assistant (TA) working in my school. He has an interesting name called 'Poobalan'. Hahahaha... I remember that last year when he just came to work in this school, there was once that I joked with him & called him, 'Pooh Balan'! Hahahaha!

I have always knew that he stays at Johor Bahru (JB)... but I never realised until today when I asked, that he wakes up at 3.30am every working day, so that he could reach school on time! My jaw dropped when I heard that... 3.30am?! What the? I must be still in dreamland (when I have dreams, of coz) when he wakes up!

I really don't know how he manages every day. There we are, staying in Singapore & grumbling about less than an hour journey to work... & this fella wakes up at 3.30am, so that he can reach school at 7am! That's tragic, considering the typical mindset of Singaporeans... or at least for myself. And this poor guy told me that rent is expensive in Singapore, when I asked why doesn't he rent a place here instead. Oh well... Sigh... I feel sorry for him... maybe its difficult to get a job in JB... hmm...

Chasing Away Good Teachers...

Personally, I think that poorly behaved & disinterested pupils are the REAL culprits in chasing away the good teachers in this exclusive profession. It is disheartening to see that even very experienced adjunct teachers sit down & stop bothering to keep the pupils quiet during assembly. It is obvious that all the shouting & scolding is not working... even when done on stage.

I'm beginning to see for myself, just how pointless to try and try, and try... and try... to keep pupils quiet in my primary school. The discipline & respect for anything & anyone is just not there. They are living in their own world of friends & themselves. Their mouth & hands are just unstoppable... & teachers are not able to lay a hand on them... WORSE of all, the pupils also know this. Oh well, what the heck...

Young Lives Wasting Their Lives Away... Daily...

I REALLY don't know what our pupils are doing every day in school. They are plainly wasting their life away. Apart from a handful who try, the others are just not bothered. As a senior teacher commented recently, pupils nowadays don't like to read. They just want to play PSP & talk. I was also told that pupils don't do well in their Science exam because they are not interested to read... or not able to read... SIGH... how... like that... =(

Dumping Their Child In School?

I have seen an increasing proportion of international pupils in schools nowadays & the primary school that I'm teaching in, is no exception. For these international kids, I see two distinct types - those that are strong in their subjects (sometimes even stronger than our local pupils) & those who are exceptionally weak in their language (especially English language).

In one P4 class that I used to teach last year (they were in P3 previously), I have noticed that half of the class are international students! I think probably about 17 out of 38 of them! In this class, there are pupils from (i) Vietnam, (ii) China, (iii) Japan, (iv) India, (v) Bangladesh, (vi) Thailand & (vii) Myanma. Its so diverse that I couldn't believe it... & I'm the co-form teacher of this class. These kids are playful, roudy, no interest in their studies, etc... but I find them a nice & friendly bunch... unless my other P4 classes. Aiyoh... headache...

What REALLY puzzles me is why do the parents of these international kids just fly from overseas into Singapore & drop off their child in a primary school, expecting the school to make a MIRACLE out of them! I have probably guessed that they wanted their child to go through the Singapore education system because it is sound & established... but the problem lies in that their child comes straight into P5 or P6 without knowing English!

Let's face the truth - if a child doesn't know how to spell, speak &/or write, they are REALLY going to have problems catching up in school. Its not that the school isn't able to help them... we can, but it takes TIME for a child to learn! I have two P6 pupils from China who are going to take their PSLE this year, but they are not even able to speak proper English! Furthermore, they can't spell & write properly either. Even when the child injures himself, he needed to ask for another boy to accompany him down to the general office, because he is not able to tell the office staff about what happened to him. This is dangerous! Isn't it? Aiyoh!

Personally, I think that these parents do not know that they are ruining their child's future because their child is not able to cope with all the pressure & pace of learning in school. I mean, let's face the truth - proficiency in a NEW language isn't learnt in a span of a few months! Even for an adult, it can be challenging... what more for a child?

Schools have a bridging program for these weaker international pupils (which is a good proactive effort) but would a few months be sufficient for them to pass their PSLE? Especially when there are local pupils who go through 6 years of primary school & STILL have problems passing their exams. I really don't know... but personally, I think its rather late to suddenly throw a child into P6, especially when he/she is very, very weak in English. Furthermore, this lack of proficiency would affect all their other English medium subjects too. SIGH... why...

Marking CA1 is Demoralising...

We have just finished 3 days of marking the CA1 exam scripts (English, Maths, Science) from last Friday to this Tuesday. Each marking session typically lasts between 2.5 hrs to 3.5 hrs, as we only have a maximum of 4 classes per level (its a small neighbourhood school).

Personally, I feel that marking exam scripts is always something that some teachers do not look forward to, as we usually take the tail-end classes where the grades are atrocious... & I mean this description as true as it can truly mean. Its a discouraging time, especially this time round, because even the best classes are not performing up to standard (or even on par with their previous standard). The top classes can be scoring around the 60% mark range, on average... can you believe it?

I also get to mark exam scripts that score as ridiculously low as 1/65! I mean, how can this be?! This is truly something that shocked me out of my skin! I had even start to lose count of how many scores that are 1.5, 2.5, 3, 4, 6.5, etc... upon 65 marks. Its just so ridiculous! How in the world are they going to sit for PSLE in a few months time? No wonder my colleague can reply, "Can... just use pencil and correction tape can already... & for OAS (i.e. MCQ shading), just use pencil..." I mean... its a joke... but to the pupils, do they think its really a joke for them?

And the worse thing is that many can still go about school every day... smiling, laughing, pinching, fighting, pushing, shouting, chasing, etc. Oh yes, even wrestling on the ground! Can you imagine that??? I see P4 pupils wrestling on the ground in the classroom! What on earth??? They are behaving like animals! Making noise, fighting, squabbling, etc! No sense of shame or awareness about what is going on. So ridiculous! What is society going to be with them? SIGH!!!