Comments please

Just throwing up an idea to see if it is feasible with children between 13 to 17 years old. Please give frank comments but be nice in the process.

Do you know that the our Pledge exists in 4 languages?
Would you like to learn it?
Do you think reciting the Pledge in the 4 languages during morning assembly is meaningful (for example, on Mon and Fri - English. Tues - Mandarin, Wed - Malay, Thurs - Tamil)?

third world singaporeans in first world singapore

touched down in sgp in the wee hours of 181206 and within a few hours, back in sku, back to reality....

one thing that often strikes me when i'm overseas is that how come they are able to 1) understand that we need to keep to ONE side of the escalator,
2) allow ppl to alight before boarding the mtr and
3) treat waiters and waitresses as equals and NOT your maids.

why can't sgporeans do so?

A well-deserved break?

I have been acting like a little kid who has been promised a trip to the Zoo. I've been drooling in my sleep and fascinating about what's going to happen when I reach the place.

I'll be recharged to face the new year and once again give my best for my clients aka students. I promise.

I was a little boy all over again

To my beloved 5b2,

The chalet was one of the best times that I has spent with you guys. Thanks for the memories and yes, the photos (heh heh) will be delivered soon to the email addresses that I have.

And yes, I love 5B2 (Weihao and Jamessss, happy that you've gotten the answer?)

Calamities

1 Dec, World AIDS Day. Scary that the numbers are climbing despite the "efforts" made by governments to slow down the epidemic.

My heart goes out to all the children who got it from their mothers and women who got it from their husbands. Also to the group who got it through unclean blood etc....

Typhoon Durian
To all the people affected by this Typhoon, please take care and seek strength from the Lord. The pictures that I witnessed from the papers and TV news are heart-wrenching and painful. But I believe everything happened for a reason and like what Paster Lee had preached on Sunday

"I am broken to be made more beautiful."

THE match

Go Spurs! Let's do a Chelsea over the Gooners this Sat!!! *Sorry, joe and fred! but your team had better lose this Sat.*

Mummy!!!! It's over!!!

the year has come to an end. and all i wan to say is all the best and take care.

do we know what we want?

Another posting after a 2-month hiatus.

just in case you are wondering what I've been up to ... ... it's nothing. and isn't it kind of sad. Nothing spectacular actually happens in my life. Even my Spurs fail to lift up my spirits. sigh.

Which brings me to the movie that I caught recently... Friends with Money. Everyone in it is soooo sad going through mid-life crisis. They may be rich but are leading hollow lives.... sigh.

So what if we are loaded? Do you have anyone to share it with? And by that I mean, that someone has to be someone special to you and occupies a special place in your heart. I know we have found that person already so now we should start working towards accummulating wealth.

Hmmmm.... would we then turn out to be them in the movie... ...

a pseudo break?

21 weeks of mayhem have come and gone, and it has been a roller coaster ride for myself and the kids - the countless assignments, the oral communication practices, the marking and their groans when news of a test or assignment is coming their way.

It has been fun and satisfying for now I can officially say the 3 classes are mine and not some hand-me-down from another colleague. Of course, with ownership comes great expectations and responsibility and I would be lying if I say that I'm not stressed by this.

In my "quest" to whip them into shape, I must admit that I've been rather insensitive at times especially in class and have caused some form of embarrassment or another to some of them. A good thing that came out of this is I have learnt to say "Sorry" more often - something that I would never dream myself of doing on such a regular basis.

My first entry was on the irony of the school holidays and here I am again harping on it. My schedule for the month-long hols goes like this -
1) Week 1 - Oral exams in the morning, meetings in the afternoon.
2) Week 2 - A 3D2N camp in Sarimbun followed by more remedials on Thurs and Friday for my 3 classes
3) Week 3 - A "break" where my presence in school is not required except on Thurs
4) Week 4 - My Griffin Scout Camp 3D2N then meetings on Thurs and Fri

Don't fret and frown. I will definitely have time for you when you return.


If YOU happen to read this before or on May 30th - HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
Please return NOW!!!

I teach and I am PROUD of it

Finally found time and feel the urge to write. Went back to my squadron for a mobilisation briefing and my was it a "wonderful" get-together!!! People whom I've not met since ORD were cooped up in a stuffy hall and as usual, the customary handshake and "how have you been?" Then came the reminiscent, "remember that time when we did our business right in the open?!?!" blah blah blah... and these memories came back to haunt us...

I don't really enjoy these get-togthers cos the exchanges are all too fake. It's a chance for people to boast how well they've done, the girls they've managed to bed and the amount of money they rake in monthly... As for me, I get the you-are-now-a-teacher-cos-you-can't-find-job stare... sigh... What makes you people jump to conclusion that teaching is not my first choice. I don't envy the fact that you are a working in a huge accounting firm or as an oil broker, a personal banker or what not... What I can gather is whatever you do will only benefit or line the pockets of the rich and richer...

I enjoy my work as a teacher. No doubt the hours are long (7am to 7pm), I'm not complaining. In fact, I relish the hours spent in school. The close relationships that I've forged with my students is the very product of my hard work. They tell me of their problems, of their thoughts and of the things that they been through which I think their parents have no inkling about. And this drives me on. I know I'm making a difference to their life..... whether small or big.

So here goes - I AM A TEACHER AND I AM PROUD OF IT