cannot follow the sec 1 chinese language lesson that i observed today in terms of the vocabulary and evaluating the questions and answers. what i know is the poems used in the lesson were very effective at stirring up the nationalistic feelings in the children. The chinese language teacher read the poems with gusto (coupled with appropriate hand gestures) and she expected the students to read it the same way. A boy was made to read it again because it didnt sound like "你爱我们的祖国”。
this is what is lacking in our EL teaching (or for that matter, in all subjects)since we have the liberty to choose our texts i.e. infusing national education into our teaching and learning. we can talk and discuss until the cows come home about infusing NE into our lesson but if the teacher does not believe in it or do not pretend to like it, the intended outcomes will not be met. haiz.
spent the afternoon cooped up in the hotel doing up the term 3 paper 2 so that i can hand it over to TC. then did the ASPIRE document so that i can arrow the others to fill in their ACTIVE and BRIGHT sections, heh heh. hopefully, they can keep to the deadlines and i will be to get the necessary stuff prepared for the back-to-school meeting on 17 June. Life when i get back is going to be so hectic - school starting, oral one-to-one, N level orals, moving my stuff back, picking up the pieces, move forward, and get healthy :P
havent ran since i reached suzhou so training for my half-marathon has come to a standstill O.o (dave is running 10km every now and then le). but i have been diligent in push-ups and crunches tho the space available in the hotel room is limited. looks like i have to up the ante when i get back.
the people here will be bringing us to visit the gardens and watch some performances tonight. hopefully, the dinner that is provided is hassle-free so that we dun have to “敬酒”repeatedly.
till then ... ...
Army of 1 (for now; physically la)
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
Day 3
had severe pain on my lower back where my right kidney is in the morning. maybe my low threshold for pain made it seem worse off but i seriously think that on a scale of 1 to 10, the pain was definitely worth an 8. not sure what was the cause of it, but when i was printing my notes for the lesson, the pain subsided and i went off to sit in Soon Yeow's lesson.
did a short film of him while in action and took some photos for him so that we have something to share with the staff. afterwhich, it was my turn to do my thing with the students. had 2 classes today. the first was great, had about 4 teachers observing my class, taking photos and video taping my lesson. kids were responsive and managed to deliver my newly improved lesson plan. the vocab was easier for them as i have placed the Chinese equivalent next to them. I also had to give some instructions in Chinese to faciltate the flow of the lesson.
Apparently, this is a common practice for all the EL teachers in this school. They also do a lot of chorus reading that NIE frowns upon and the teachers use commands like, "repeat 1,2" and at the count of "1,2"the kids repeat the word that the teacher pronounced. then there is another command that makes them read the list of words twice in quick succession. all of them opened their mouths and REALLY read, unlike the kids back home.
so after observing the Xu Lao Shi's lesson that demonstrated the commands, I used them in my next lesson so at least the kids know how to pronounce the zodiac signs. it was wierd at first cos they behaved almost like robots. no lag time between instruction and action.
however, in this second lesson of the day, where only soon yeow is around in the class, the kids were a little more talkative, rowdy and difficult to control; but they are not as troublesome as those at home. kids are kids afterall, when their own teachers arn't around, the horns reveal themselves.
The next lesson observation was an eye-opener. apparently, the observation culture is so strong in this school that each teacher has a book to record and reflect on all the lessons that they have observed for each academic year. For a first year teacher, they have to complete 20 (!!!) observations and pen them their learning for submission. As you gain more experience, the number of observations per year decreases. When we arrived at the classroom for the lesson ob, there were 2 stacks of plastic chairs outside the class. When the bell signaled the start of the lesson, there were 16 (!!!!) teachers seated at the back of the classroom observing the EL lesson conducted by this pretty EL teacher who looks like Renee Liu (Liu Ruo Ying). There was even video taping.
So the lesson went on and all 16 of us took notes of the good, bad and ugly. Thereafter we had to adjourned to a meeting where teachers who do not have lessons come together with Liu Ruo Ying and share our findings. All was done in the spirit of professionalism. i shudder at the thought of our teachers going thru this, picture all the defensive walls being erected when comments and feedback are shared.
day in school ended abt 330pm for us. so we went back to hotel to change and get out of the district that we have trapped in for the past few days. Went to the shopping area in suzhou and it was quite ok. finally bought my nike sandals so that i dun have to wear my birkie after playing tennis, a t-shirt from izzue.com, and added another polo-t to my Y3 collection (yay!).
dinner was finally NOT chinese food. had the brazilian churrasheria (yes, wrong spelling) but u get what is it.
did a short film of him while in action and took some photos for him so that we have something to share with the staff. afterwhich, it was my turn to do my thing with the students. had 2 classes today. the first was great, had about 4 teachers observing my class, taking photos and video taping my lesson. kids were responsive and managed to deliver my newly improved lesson plan. the vocab was easier for them as i have placed the Chinese equivalent next to them. I also had to give some instructions in Chinese to faciltate the flow of the lesson.
Apparently, this is a common practice for all the EL teachers in this school. They also do a lot of chorus reading that NIE frowns upon and the teachers use commands like, "repeat 1,2" and at the count of "1,2"the kids repeat the word that the teacher pronounced. then there is another command that makes them read the list of words twice in quick succession. all of them opened their mouths and REALLY read, unlike the kids back home.
so after observing the Xu Lao Shi's lesson that demonstrated the commands, I used them in my next lesson so at least the kids know how to pronounce the zodiac signs. it was wierd at first cos they behaved almost like robots. no lag time between instruction and action.
however, in this second lesson of the day, where only soon yeow is around in the class, the kids were a little more talkative, rowdy and difficult to control; but they are not as troublesome as those at home. kids are kids afterall, when their own teachers arn't around, the horns reveal themselves.
The next lesson observation was an eye-opener. apparently, the observation culture is so strong in this school that each teacher has a book to record and reflect on all the lessons that they have observed for each academic year. For a first year teacher, they have to complete 20 (!!!) observations and pen them their learning for submission. As you gain more experience, the number of observations per year decreases. When we arrived at the classroom for the lesson ob, there were 2 stacks of plastic chairs outside the class. When the bell signaled the start of the lesson, there were 16 (!!!!) teachers seated at the back of the classroom observing the EL lesson conducted by this pretty EL teacher who looks like Renee Liu (Liu Ruo Ying). There was even video taping.
So the lesson went on and all 16 of us took notes of the good, bad and ugly. Thereafter we had to adjourned to a meeting where teachers who do not have lessons come together with Liu Ruo Ying and share our findings. All was done in the spirit of professionalism. i shudder at the thought of our teachers going thru this, picture all the defensive walls being erected when comments and feedback are shared.
day in school ended abt 330pm for us. so we went back to hotel to change and get out of the district that we have trapped in for the past few days. Went to the shopping area in suzhou and it was quite ok. finally bought my nike sandals so that i dun have to wear my birkie after playing tennis, a t-shirt from izzue.com, and added another polo-t to my Y3 collection (yay!).
dinner was finally NOT chinese food. had the brazilian churrasheria (yes, wrong spelling) but u get what is it.
Monday, June 02, 2008
Day 2
finally can get onto blogger after 20 minutes of trying... network here really sucks.
i can only post but cannot view my own blog. dun ask me why. ask the chinese govt why the network is in this state. imagine how the thousand atheletes will feel in Aug 2008. lol
Day 2 began with my first time public speaking in Mandarin. the usual butterflies my stomach, the trembling hands and knocking knees. luckily i have soon yeow to write the script. it was a good thing that we made the speech cos it was a good conversation starter for many teachers who came to speak to us.
my lesson on adjectives and the 12 western zodiac signs could have been better. The time management was not ideal and at the end i had to improvise the lesson plan while keeping in mind the lesson objectives. In the end, i only get to introduce some new adjectives to the kids and i must say although i had 3 teachers sitting at the back of the class, i did ok.
Kids were breaking out in laughter at the correct moment and hopefully, they can remember the 3-5 adjectives that best describe themselves. After the lesson, lunch at the school canteen was pleasant but food in Suzhou is really salty.
Walked ard the main branch of the school and boy, it was beautiful and huge. The gardens, rock formation, the greenery made it picture perfect. It was almost like a movie set.
then a heavy downpour helped to lessen the effect of the hot summer.
The school hosted us to a dinner and again, salty food again and did many many rounds of "wo jing ni yi bei" cos they like to do this when conversation runs dry. So the whole night was "wo jing ni (then we stand up)".... "wo zai jing ni (then we stand up again)" and the cycle continues and continues. The good thing was the Suzhou beer (like our Tiger) is very tasty. LOL.
Still gotta do some refinements to my lesson plan today. will have to add in some chinese words to make it easier for the kids.
k, gtg. i'll hope to be able to blog tmr.
i can only post but cannot view my own blog. dun ask me why. ask the chinese govt why the network is in this state. imagine how the thousand atheletes will feel in Aug 2008. lol
Day 2 began with my first time public speaking in Mandarin. the usual butterflies my stomach, the trembling hands and knocking knees. luckily i have soon yeow to write the script. it was a good thing that we made the speech cos it was a good conversation starter for many teachers who came to speak to us.
my lesson on adjectives and the 12 western zodiac signs could have been better. The time management was not ideal and at the end i had to improvise the lesson plan while keeping in mind the lesson objectives. In the end, i only get to introduce some new adjectives to the kids and i must say although i had 3 teachers sitting at the back of the class, i did ok.
Kids were breaking out in laughter at the correct moment and hopefully, they can remember the 3-5 adjectives that best describe themselves. After the lesson, lunch at the school canteen was pleasant but food in Suzhou is really salty.
Walked ard the main branch of the school and boy, it was beautiful and huge. The gardens, rock formation, the greenery made it picture perfect. It was almost like a movie set.
then a heavy downpour helped to lessen the effect of the hot summer.
The school hosted us to a dinner and again, salty food again and did many many rounds of "wo jing ni yi bei" cos they like to do this when conversation runs dry. So the whole night was "wo jing ni (then we stand up)".... "wo zai jing ni (then we stand up again)" and the cycle continues and continues. The good thing was the Suzhou beer (like our Tiger) is very tasty. LOL.
Still gotta do some refinements to my lesson plan today. will have to add in some chinese words to make it easier for the kids.
k, gtg. i'll hope to be able to blog tmr.
Sunday, June 01, 2008
day 1 in suzhou
arrived in pudong T2 abt 3pm and by the time i was transferred to Suzhou, it was 5pm le...
walked ard the school grounds and was shocked by this long bright red banner that has my name and soon yeow's to re(4) lie(4) huan(1) ying(1) us. AND they got one of the characters (the "de") in my name wrong :/
that was still not too bad since my "de" is the less conventional one. the real shocker is our hotel room that was so small that we couldn't find space to open our luggage to unpack. We had to open our luggage in our beds (nope, there wasnt even floor space for that!), take out what we need, close the luggage and put it upright again. sigh. luckily i received a call that helped to alleviate the dire situation, Lol.
looked ard for another alternative hotel but we can't switch cos it would mean that singaporeans are very hard to please (which is sometimes the case). So we will be cooped up in the dingy hotel room that soon yeow said is really meant for sleeping.
while we were waiting for the lift, the corridor next the lift had rooms on both sides. But it looked so errie cos the lights were not switched on. this dong wu hotel is a perfect location for horror films :o
now gotta rush with lesson planning so that it can be delivered tmr.
sorry, no photos now cos i forgot to bring the cable out to this non-aircon and smoky i-net cafe in suzhou china.
walked ard the school grounds and was shocked by this long bright red banner that has my name and soon yeow's to re(4) lie(4) huan(1) ying(1) us. AND they got one of the characters (the "de") in my name wrong :/
that was still not too bad since my "de" is the less conventional one. the real shocker is our hotel room that was so small that we couldn't find space to open our luggage to unpack. We had to open our luggage in our beds (nope, there wasnt even floor space for that!), take out what we need, close the luggage and put it upright again. sigh. luckily i received a call that helped to alleviate the dire situation, Lol.
looked ard for another alternative hotel but we can't switch cos it would mean that singaporeans are very hard to please (which is sometimes the case). So we will be cooped up in the dingy hotel room that soon yeow said is really meant for sleeping.
while we were waiting for the lift, the corridor next the lift had rooms on both sides. But it looked so errie cos the lights were not switched on. this dong wu hotel is a perfect location for horror films :o
now gotta rush with lesson planning so that it can be delivered tmr.
sorry, no photos now cos i forgot to bring the cable out to this non-aircon and smoky i-net cafe in suzhou china.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
et go home
things are definitely looking up.
felt really weird when i called home to inform my mum that i was not going home for dinner and will be back late cos it's mitch's berfday. it had been eons since i last did that O.o
my return also led to my first hug with my dad =]
its such a pity that i have to spend the next 2 weeks in Suzhou after coming home for abt 5 days. well, there are many more days for me to laze and hang ard when i get back.
hopefully i can achieve wat i set out for myself for this trip.
need to plan the lesson le... will post again when i reach suzhou
felt really weird when i called home to inform my mum that i was not going home for dinner and will be back late cos it's mitch's berfday. it had been eons since i last did that O.o
my return also led to my first hug with my dad =]
its such a pity that i have to spend the next 2 weeks in Suzhou after coming home for abt 5 days. well, there are many more days for me to laze and hang ard when i get back.
hopefully i can achieve wat i set out for myself for this trip.
need to plan the lesson le... will post again when i reach suzhou
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
what's the purpose of our journey?
The trip to science centre proved to be somewhat useful, at least we get to know another group who is in the same kind of shit as us, lol. Cam-whored while cabbing over to science centre, oblivious and nonchalant to what the taxi uncle is thinking.
I guess if I am the guy from Conrad and am meeting up to 12 people for this sharing session, I must be thinking what the hell are these people wasting their time on? Shouldn't they be doing things that is more closely related to their core business like teaching & learning and brainstorming for relevant and interest exhibits to entice and engage their students and visitors? Well, for this, I have an answer which is too long and troublesome for me to verbalise, think as long as we know what we are doing, it is good enough.
However, I was watching this lecture series from some China Prof on Channel U last night and she said something that knock the sleep bug out of me - "Sometimes we are too caught up with our journey that we forget why are we embarking on it in the first place." Think we should make a conscious effort to schedule time for mile-stone checks so that we always what is the meaning and purpose of our life, ya? elsewise, burn out will set in which is very prevalent in the teaching profession.
Had a talk with QM over Nuggets (i only ate 4 out of 9, phew) and Coke Light and we have a new money-spinning (hopefully) project which is useful (definitely) for students to work for this year. So am looking forward to get rid of the inertia and complete our proposal by Oct 08.
funny how a one-liner from someone who has been on your mind helps you to see things from another perspective. sometimes we can have the cake and eat it too.
I guess if I am the guy from Conrad and am meeting up to 12 people for this sharing session, I must be thinking what the hell are these people wasting their time on? Shouldn't they be doing things that is more closely related to their core business like teaching & learning and brainstorming for relevant and interest exhibits to entice and engage their students and visitors? Well, for this, I have an answer which is too long and troublesome for me to verbalise, think as long as we know what we are doing, it is good enough.
However, I was watching this lecture series from some China Prof on Channel U last night and she said something that knock the sleep bug out of me - "Sometimes we are too caught up with our journey that we forget why are we embarking on it in the first place." Think we should make a conscious effort to schedule time for mile-stone checks so that we always what is the meaning and purpose of our life, ya? elsewise, burn out will set in which is very prevalent in the teaching profession.
Had a talk with QM over Nuggets (i only ate 4 out of 9, phew) and Coke Light and we have a new money-spinning (hopefully) project which is useful (definitely) for students to work for this year. So am looking forward to get rid of the inertia and complete our proposal by Oct 08.
funny how a one-liner from someone who has been on your mind helps you to see things from another perspective. sometimes we can have the cake and eat it too.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
back to reality
My 3-week hiatus has officially ended, (*&^%$#@#$%^
If you have been waiting anxiously for an update on my attempt to clock under 10min for e 2.4km run, I have gooder (dun go tsk tsk tsk, cut me some slack. I am entitled to some bad English at times, especially given the exposure I am subjected to on a daily basis) than good news. Not only have I managed to achieve what I set myself (09:48), I came in ahead of two 20-year-young officers. lol. At the end of the run, I sat quietly at a corner and indulge myself in effervescence of pride and huge sense of achievement. Looks like the weeks of running with Dave has really paid off and it just goes to buttress the notion that there will not be success without hardwork. Really looking forward to experiencing this again in Aug 2008.
With reality rearing its ugly head and leering at my impending doom, the only consolation I can get is the teacher exchange to suzhou. Getting kids to love and appreciate the language is what I want to achieve in Suzhou unlike what I have been doing in SGP which is to get them to do well at the EL O levels. With the success that I have experiencing at preparing the kids for the O levels, I would like to see if I can ignite the love for the language which I think SHOULD be the mark of a true language teacher.
Tennis this morning was spiced up by this guy who approached us and asked if he could join us. Since there were only 3 of us, why not. And woah, is he good. While playing, three 1-week-old balls (the new ones we used when we played on Wed, yes with you) went cui. This just goes to show that the usual 3 musketeers haven been hitting the balls hard enough as we have never encountered this before. Anyway, we had a hell of a time trying to defend his shots and tire him out. Naturally, we played a little longer than usual since it was more fun, until Dave needs to zao. Looks like we still very amateurish despite having bought control racquets and played for close to 5 years.
so it's 2 weeks of pandemonium before I get to spend 2 weeks in Suzhou. Then the whole cycle starts again. Wish me luck and I know you will be there always =]
If you have been waiting anxiously for an update on my attempt to clock under 10min for e 2.4km run, I have gooder (dun go tsk tsk tsk, cut me some slack. I am entitled to some bad English at times, especially given the exposure I am subjected to on a daily basis) than good news. Not only have I managed to achieve what I set myself (09:48), I came in ahead of two 20-year-young officers. lol. At the end of the run, I sat quietly at a corner and indulge myself in effervescence of pride and huge sense of achievement. Looks like the weeks of running with Dave has really paid off and it just goes to buttress the notion that there will not be success without hardwork. Really looking forward to experiencing this again in Aug 2008.
With reality rearing its ugly head and leering at my impending doom, the only consolation I can get is the teacher exchange to suzhou. Getting kids to love and appreciate the language is what I want to achieve in Suzhou unlike what I have been doing in SGP which is to get them to do well at the EL O levels. With the success that I have experiencing at preparing the kids for the O levels, I would like to see if I can ignite the love for the language which I think SHOULD be the mark of a true language teacher.
Tennis this morning was spiced up by this guy who approached us and asked if he could join us. Since there were only 3 of us, why not. And woah, is he good. While playing, three 1-week-old balls (the new ones we used when we played on Wed, yes with you) went cui. This just goes to show that the usual 3 musketeers haven been hitting the balls hard enough as we have never encountered this before. Anyway, we had a hell of a time trying to defend his shots and tire him out. Naturally, we played a little longer than usual since it was more fun, until Dave needs to zao. Looks like we still very amateurish despite having bought control racquets and played for close to 5 years.
so it's 2 weeks of pandemonium before I get to spend 2 weeks in Suzhou. Then the whole cycle starts again. Wish me luck and I know you will be there always =]
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