my dirty little secrets.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
This is unbelievable.
I AM ACTUALLY ACHING ALL OVER FROM DANCE CCA TODAY =/
I AM ACTUALLY ACHING ALL OVER FROM DANCE CCA TODAY =/
the girl next door;
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Chinese New Year is here! But why is it that I've got no mood at all :( To me, this cny is just a break from school and REST. Maybe after baking 200 tarts yesterday and having a steamboat reunion dinner last night, the festive mood starting to set in...
Below are some of the cny goodies I baked this year, hahah my family said I should sell them next year :)
Honey Cornflakes
Pineapple Tarts
Blackcurrant Jam Tarts
Chocolate Cornflakes
So it has been 2 week of school, this week being exceptionally crazy due to all the funny incidents that happened. Now that I've got the time, I can blog about the weird incidents which happened to me. Haha I think it'll probably be the highlight of teaching in this school HAHA.
1) This student said to me in class "Ms Tan!! Why you speak so loudly!" Omg I was so embarrassed HAHA I came home and told my family they all burst into laughter. In the first place, those who know me probably knows I tend to speak quite loudly and fast. On another day, the same student said I spoke too fast. SUPER MALU =X
2) I brought this class to Queenstown library tgt with another teacher. We were merely walking along the road and talking and guess what he said to me "Teacher, your voice like screaming like that! My ear very pain." Haha kind of inferred he meant my voice very high pitched haha another embarrassing incident.
3) The ultimate scare: I went with ZY and his class to Great World City for a field trip. These 2 boys, openly said to me that they wanna marry me =/ Omg under normal circumstances, I'm sure I'd have ran away. But of course, I couldn't so i asked them if they even knew what marry meant. It was quite amusing they were like blushing I think?!?!? And the funniest thing was, while we were walking past the canal, some of the students asked ZY to jump into the canal. When he asked them why, they replied so that I could be their teacher. HAHAH so hilarious. He couldn't stop teasing me after that. At night still sms me hope I don't get nightmare. TSKTSK.
4) I went for CCA late and when I entered, the most talkative girl just came forth and hugged me! I was really shocked and stunned for a moment, then when she said she missed me I felt so touched! After all, that was the 2nd time I saw her only.
5) This other girl cried on my lap when she was freaked out by a call from a stranger. Somehow I felt really sad too.
6) Meet the parent session. Hahah it was quite weird. Just imagine, you're the parent and you're speaking to a teacher who's the same age as you child. Haha you get my point?
7) My student added me on facebook!!!!
Even though there were quite a number of weird things which happened this week, it still has been quite fun. When you're in this school, you really feel for the students, and you feel so thankful that you're so fortunate. One of my collegue revealed that she went home on the first day and cried because she felt the students were really pitiful. And it's true, that there are many people who would like to help them but are not properly taught how to. Just like us teachers, as my friend described it, we're like being thrown into a deep sea and left to swim all by ourselves when we hardly know how to. So now, whenever people around me are very critical of my students, I tend to get very very mad. Perhaps it's cos now I understand their plight much more than before. So when I'm here, I'm gonna try to do as much as I can to help them :)
Below are some of the cny goodies I baked this year, hahah my family said I should sell them next year :)
Honey Cornflakes
Pineapple Tarts
Blackcurrant Jam Tarts
Chocolate Cornflakes
So it has been 2 week of school, this week being exceptionally crazy due to all the funny incidents that happened. Now that I've got the time, I can blog about the weird incidents which happened to me. Haha I think it'll probably be the highlight of teaching in this school HAHA.
1) This student said to me in class "Ms Tan!! Why you speak so loudly!" Omg I was so embarrassed HAHA I came home and told my family they all burst into laughter. In the first place, those who know me probably knows I tend to speak quite loudly and fast. On another day, the same student said I spoke too fast. SUPER MALU =X
2) I brought this class to Queenstown library tgt with another teacher. We were merely walking along the road and talking and guess what he said to me "Teacher, your voice like screaming like that! My ear very pain." Haha kind of inferred he meant my voice very high pitched haha another embarrassing incident.
3) The ultimate scare: I went with ZY and his class to Great World City for a field trip. These 2 boys, openly said to me that they wanna marry me =/ Omg under normal circumstances, I'm sure I'd have ran away. But of course, I couldn't so i asked them if they even knew what marry meant. It was quite amusing they were like blushing I think?!?!? And the funniest thing was, while we were walking past the canal, some of the students asked ZY to jump into the canal. When he asked them why, they replied so that I could be their teacher. HAHAH so hilarious. He couldn't stop teasing me after that. At night still sms me hope I don't get nightmare. TSKTSK.
4) I went for CCA late and when I entered, the most talkative girl just came forth and hugged me! I was really shocked and stunned for a moment, then when she said she missed me I felt so touched! After all, that was the 2nd time I saw her only.
5) This other girl cried on my lap when she was freaked out by a call from a stranger. Somehow I felt really sad too.
6) Meet the parent session. Hahah it was quite weird. Just imagine, you're the parent and you're speaking to a teacher who's the same age as you child. Haha you get my point?
7) My student added me on facebook!!!!
Even though there were quite a number of weird things which happened this week, it still has been quite fun. When you're in this school, you really feel for the students, and you feel so thankful that you're so fortunate. One of my collegue revealed that she went home on the first day and cried because she felt the students were really pitiful. And it's true, that there are many people who would like to help them but are not properly taught how to. Just like us teachers, as my friend described it, we're like being thrown into a deep sea and left to swim all by ourselves when we hardly know how to. So now, whenever people around me are very critical of my students, I tend to get very very mad. Perhaps it's cos now I understand their plight much more than before. So when I'm here, I'm gonna try to do as much as I can to help them :)
the girl next door;
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
What an eventful day. Tramuatic, amusing, weird, freaky experiences all in a day. ZY keeps disturbing me argh I hope today was just a one off affair.
Anyway times have changed, everything is different from now. I must be more thrifty and think wisely before spending.
Anyway times have changed, everything is different from now. I must be more thrifty and think wisely before spending.
the girl next door;
Saturday, January 17, 2009
The weekend's here! :D
Haha you can probably guess how happy I am to enjoy these 2 days of break, without having to wake up so early in the morning to go to school. Now I understand why my parents are always looking forward to the weekends, and why people have monday blues. School has just been extremely tiring, even though it's only my first week. Being a relief teacher in DSS is not the same as being one in an MOE school because the time and effort you put in is definitely worlds apart. Your working hours are similar to that of a permanent staff there, and the number of classes you have may be similar. Plus there's CCA and meetings you have to stay back for after school too. Guess I shouldn't really complain, haha as ZY said out of all the relief teachers, so far I'm considered the free-est already in terms of job scope. I don't have to submit lesson plans for each week yet (which can be as long as 9 pages!) haha but my turn will come in a few weeks time when my mentor leaves for childcare leave. Oh and monday's my turn to take minutes for the meeting, I hope I won't make any blunder by failing to record down impt details people say. All in all, as much as this week has been mentally draining, I'm still enjoying myself and learning alot here! The dynamics for each class varies so each lesson is a whole new experience. And you've got to be really patient with the students cos some of them are very slow learners, so in a way a 2 hour long lesson is actually quite short in terms of what they can really learn. There are also students with extreme behaviour that you must really be careful when dealing with them. I got scared by a student who suddenly came to my desk and laughed hysterically haha I literally jumped out of my seat when he tapped my shoulder. But such incidents are just rare so I don't get scared all that often :) At least this one week is sufficient to change my perception of many issues. It's only when you work with people of special needs do we realise just how fortunate we are, and really makes you empathise with them. You would want to help them more, to live a life similar to yours. I must admit when I was back in Crescent, everytime I see these students at Redhill MRT, my friends and I would definitely shun them. But after getting to know them better, you know they're humans like us too so there shouldn't be any reason why we should scrutinize them. My collegues and I were pretty much angry when we brought them out to tiong bahru for Numeracy lesson and soemone actually commented in Chinese "they're here again." That's really very evil, and many passersby actually stared at the students as we were moving around. Some people whom I know even asked me, why do I even want to work in this school. Oh well, I guess I can't really blame them either, at least I find this job very enriching! :)
Anyway, work aside, I've an urge to bake very very badly!! Chinese New Year is just round the corner maybe I shall bake tmr after tuition. Honey Cornflakes and Pineapple tarts! If they're both successful I shall bake them again next week :)
Haha you can probably guess how happy I am to enjoy these 2 days of break, without having to wake up so early in the morning to go to school. Now I understand why my parents are always looking forward to the weekends, and why people have monday blues. School has just been extremely tiring, even though it's only my first week. Being a relief teacher in DSS is not the same as being one in an MOE school because the time and effort you put in is definitely worlds apart. Your working hours are similar to that of a permanent staff there, and the number of classes you have may be similar. Plus there's CCA and meetings you have to stay back for after school too. Guess I shouldn't really complain, haha as ZY said out of all the relief teachers, so far I'm considered the free-est already in terms of job scope. I don't have to submit lesson plans for each week yet (which can be as long as 9 pages!) haha but my turn will come in a few weeks time when my mentor leaves for childcare leave. Oh and monday's my turn to take minutes for the meeting, I hope I won't make any blunder by failing to record down impt details people say. All in all, as much as this week has been mentally draining, I'm still enjoying myself and learning alot here! The dynamics for each class varies so each lesson is a whole new experience. And you've got to be really patient with the students cos some of them are very slow learners, so in a way a 2 hour long lesson is actually quite short in terms of what they can really learn. There are also students with extreme behaviour that you must really be careful when dealing with them. I got scared by a student who suddenly came to my desk and laughed hysterically haha I literally jumped out of my seat when he tapped my shoulder. But such incidents are just rare so I don't get scared all that often :) At least this one week is sufficient to change my perception of many issues. It's only when you work with people of special needs do we realise just how fortunate we are, and really makes you empathise with them. You would want to help them more, to live a life similar to yours. I must admit when I was back in Crescent, everytime I see these students at Redhill MRT, my friends and I would definitely shun them. But after getting to know them better, you know they're humans like us too so there shouldn't be any reason why we should scrutinize them. My collegues and I were pretty much angry when we brought them out to tiong bahru for Numeracy lesson and soemone actually commented in Chinese "they're here again." That's really very evil, and many passersby actually stared at the students as we were moving around. Some people whom I know even asked me, why do I even want to work in this school. Oh well, I guess I can't really blame them either, at least I find this job very enriching! :)
Anyway, work aside, I've an urge to bake very very badly!! Chinese New Year is just round the corner maybe I shall bake tmr after tuition. Honey Cornflakes and Pineapple tarts! If they're both successful I shall bake them again next week :)
the girl next door;
Monday, January 12, 2009
Tonight, I feel for you. You hope to hear words of consolation, hoping that no one would blame you for what has already happended, or rather look back and regret not having done certain things earlier. Well no one did, guess just disappointd? As you said, better not have any expectations than to be disappointed over not reaching your targets. Sometimes I don't understand what's the use of comparing? Where has all the 'as long as you've done your best' gone to? Does that 1 or 2 marks/points really matter? Sigh. I'm really worried and scared now too.
the girl next door;
Saturday, January 10, 2009
HOME SWEET HOME.
Being back in Singapore feels good, everything around being so familiar and the air is so much fresher :) Nevertheless I enjoyed the trip to KL, food there was awesome. We probably ate about 5 meals each day which makes me scared of food now. Hahah I kind of dread eating somehow. 4 days of American breakfast plus Secret Recipe cakes, Starbucks, Baskin Robbins, Seoul Garden, Teppanyaki, Madam Kwan's etc etc haha you can just imagine how much we've eaten over the five days. Everyday we simply walked shopped eat and went back to the hotel to sleep at night. Taking public transport around was relatively convenient, allowing us to save alot on taxi fares. So this has been a great trip and certainly eventful cos of 2 incidents. On the first day when I was walking down this aisle with my brother, outside Giant where there were 2 rows of makeshift stalls, holding Gwen's hand, this random salesman came forward and asked 'Is that your son?' OMG firstly, she is not a boy and secondly do I look that old to be her mother?!? Haha and he must have though my brother was my husband then haha so rubbish. The next incident was at One Utama this super huge shopping mall. We intended to spend the entire day there after travelling for an hour plus who knew that a stalker would have spoilt our day! This crazy pervertic man actually followed us all around starting from FOS. We thought we were just being paranoid so we tried to confirm our suspicion by walking around the pillar and to think he actually did the same=/ It was so freaky we made our way to the Information Counter to inform the security and that insane man definitely knew we complained abt him yet he was still smiling so cheekily. My family and I were so scared I tell you, in my head I was still thinking what if he just whip out a knife to hurt anyone of us. So in the we were escorted by 3 security guards to the bus stop. Think we can all remember how he looks like still. Anyway pictures uploaded here.
Looks like it back to reality now, from now onwards my days will be packed with school and tuition. Here's how my schedule looks like for each week:
Monday: 7.30am-3pm School
Tuesday: 7.30am-3pm School. 7.30pm-9pm Tuition 1
Wednesday: 7.30am-3pm School. 7.30pm-9.30pm Tuition 2
Thursday: 7.30am-3pm School 3pm-5pm CCA Day.
Friday: 7.30am-1230pm School
Saturday: FREE :D
Sunday: 10-12pm: Tuition 1. 1215-215pm: Tuition 2. 3-7pm: Grandma's house
And one more night for Tapestry meetings. Hopefully, it won't be as tiring or stressful as it seems and that I can handle it well :)
Being back in Singapore feels good, everything around being so familiar and the air is so much fresher :) Nevertheless I enjoyed the trip to KL, food there was awesome. We probably ate about 5 meals each day which makes me scared of food now. Hahah I kind of dread eating somehow. 4 days of American breakfast plus Secret Recipe cakes, Starbucks, Baskin Robbins, Seoul Garden, Teppanyaki, Madam Kwan's etc etc haha you can just imagine how much we've eaten over the five days. Everyday we simply walked shopped eat and went back to the hotel to sleep at night. Taking public transport around was relatively convenient, allowing us to save alot on taxi fares. So this has been a great trip and certainly eventful cos of 2 incidents. On the first day when I was walking down this aisle with my brother, outside Giant where there were 2 rows of makeshift stalls, holding Gwen's hand, this random salesman came forward and asked 'Is that your son?' OMG firstly, she is not a boy and secondly do I look that old to be her mother?!? Haha and he must have though my brother was my husband then haha so rubbish. The next incident was at One Utama this super huge shopping mall. We intended to spend the entire day there after travelling for an hour plus who knew that a stalker would have spoilt our day! This crazy pervertic man actually followed us all around starting from FOS. We thought we were just being paranoid so we tried to confirm our suspicion by walking around the pillar and to think he actually did the same=/ It was so freaky we made our way to the Information Counter to inform the security and that insane man definitely knew we complained abt him yet he was still smiling so cheekily. My family and I were so scared I tell you, in my head I was still thinking what if he just whip out a knife to hurt anyone of us. So in the we were escorted by 3 security guards to the bus stop. Think we can all remember how he looks like still. Anyway pictures uploaded here.
Looks like it back to reality now, from now onwards my days will be packed with school and tuition. Here's how my schedule looks like for each week:
Monday: 7.30am-3pm School
Tuesday: 7.30am-3pm School. 7.30pm-9pm Tuition 1
Wednesday: 7.30am-3pm School. 7.30pm-9.30pm Tuition 2
Thursday: 7.30am-3pm School 3pm-5pm CCA Day.
Friday: 7.30am-1230pm School
Saturday: FREE :D
Sunday: 10-12pm: Tuition 1. 1215-215pm: Tuition 2. 3-7pm: Grandma's house
And one more night for Tapestry meetings. Hopefully, it won't be as tiring or stressful as it seems and that I can handle it well :)
the girl next door;
Saturday, January 03, 2009
First Day Of School.
Just like other schools, we had the usual Principal's session where she'll welcome the new kids to school, go through some of the rules and expectations. But the difference for me this time was that I had to stand throughout the 1 hour long session, no longer a student sitting in the Hall listening. Basically, I didn't really get to sit at all the whole day while I was in school. So by 1230 when school ended I was extremely tired. I feel quite lucky cos I got a year1 class track2. Track1 is the highest functioning level. Almost everyone in my class is outspoken and jovial, except for 2 very shy and quiet ones. And I realised that being a teacher, standing in front of the class with 14 pairs of eyes staring at you is really quite a different feeling. Hahah it's a little scary, like when my collegue( the form teacher, I'm the co form teacher) had to leave the class to take something, I was told to go through the school rules with them. It was quite funny how they pretended they had no school rules back in Tanglin and I started to joke with them. Oh and I don't know why but it seems like it's easier to remember your friends' names when you're a student as compared to remembering your students' names when you're a teacher. After the first meeting, I knew all my collegues names in the Literacy department(though I've been deployed to the Numeracy Department now), but up till now I can't rber all my students names still! :( But it's obvious who are the responsible ones after one school day haha and somehow I've in mind who I wanna nominate to be a prefect alr hahaha.
Met QL for lunch after that, as usual I was the only one eating, feel like such a pig eating so much. Haha and I felt so old walking around in working clothes=/ Went home for dinner before leaving for tuition again. Somehow or rather, tuition seems very fun lately? The boy had many stories about his first day of school and he kept trying to scare me as he claimed there were ghosts at the playground if I leave late. I was quite amused by his silly actions frankly. But by the time I reached home I was really shagged and had a good night rest. Wonder how things will be like when I return from KL and begin teaching full time. I'm thankful for next week's break, enjoy a week before I get all busy once again. Hopefully shopping and food there would be great :D
Just like other schools, we had the usual Principal's session where she'll welcome the new kids to school, go through some of the rules and expectations. But the difference for me this time was that I had to stand throughout the 1 hour long session, no longer a student sitting in the Hall listening. Basically, I didn't really get to sit at all the whole day while I was in school. So by 1230 when school ended I was extremely tired. I feel quite lucky cos I got a year1 class track2. Track1 is the highest functioning level. Almost everyone in my class is outspoken and jovial, except for 2 very shy and quiet ones. And I realised that being a teacher, standing in front of the class with 14 pairs of eyes staring at you is really quite a different feeling. Hahah it's a little scary, like when my collegue( the form teacher, I'm the co form teacher) had to leave the class to take something, I was told to go through the school rules with them. It was quite funny how they pretended they had no school rules back in Tanglin and I started to joke with them. Oh and I don't know why but it seems like it's easier to remember your friends' names when you're a student as compared to remembering your students' names when you're a teacher. After the first meeting, I knew all my collegues names in the Literacy department(though I've been deployed to the Numeracy Department now), but up till now I can't rber all my students names still! :( But it's obvious who are the responsible ones after one school day haha and somehow I've in mind who I wanna nominate to be a prefect alr hahaha.
Met QL for lunch after that, as usual I was the only one eating, feel like such a pig eating so much. Haha and I felt so old walking around in working clothes=/ Went home for dinner before leaving for tuition again. Somehow or rather, tuition seems very fun lately? The boy had many stories about his first day of school and he kept trying to scare me as he claimed there were ghosts at the playground if I leave late. I was quite amused by his silly actions frankly. But by the time I reached home I was really shagged and had a good night rest. Wonder how things will be like when I return from KL and begin teaching full time. I'm thankful for next week's break, enjoy a week before I get all busy once again. Hopefully shopping and food there would be great :D
the girl next door;
Thursday, January 01, 2009
HAPPY NEW YEAR :)
So it's 2009, a new year, the time where people make new year resolutions after reflecting back on how the year went for them. I still find it hard to believe how quickly 2008 had passed, where everything just zoomed past just like that. Thankfully, 2008 was such an awesome year, way better than 2007 :) There're so many memories I shared with different people last year, none of which I wish to forget even many years down the road. As far as I can remember, Cross Nats and lousy results were the 2 things that made me really upset and disappointed. Apart from that, everything generally went well. Forging stronger bonds with my classmates and friends, feeling happy most of the time, enjoying school life and who would forget the historic moment of getting 4th for Nats, the first time in my 6 years in Track that my team got top 4th :D Well there're many great things which happened this year actually, haha but currently I'm not in the mood to reflect so much and type my thoughts down. Heh I'm having the first day of school jitters =/ But this time not as a student, but as a teacher...
I guess it's only when you start working and earning money that you'll realise what your parents are going through. Now I gotta pay for my own transport, no more allowances, pay for my expenses etc.. I've spent hundred over dollars the past few days and I feel the pinch, like calculating how many hours I must work before I can earn back the amount. Haha but I'm sure there'll be a whole new experience teaching in a special school, I can imagine how stressful it'll be yet rewarding and fufilling too. Now my only worry is the inability to cope with all the commitments I've taken up for this year. Full time teaching, tuition, Tapestry.. So if anyone stays in the West and is willing to give tuition to P1/2 student, please lemme know! Your kindness will be greatly appreciated :)
So it's 2009, a new year, the time where people make new year resolutions after reflecting back on how the year went for them. I still find it hard to believe how quickly 2008 had passed, where everything just zoomed past just like that. Thankfully, 2008 was such an awesome year, way better than 2007 :) There're so many memories I shared with different people last year, none of which I wish to forget even many years down the road. As far as I can remember, Cross Nats and lousy results were the 2 things that made me really upset and disappointed. Apart from that, everything generally went well. Forging stronger bonds with my classmates and friends, feeling happy most of the time, enjoying school life and who would forget the historic moment of getting 4th for Nats, the first time in my 6 years in Track that my team got top 4th :D Well there're many great things which happened this year actually, haha but currently I'm not in the mood to reflect so much and type my thoughts down. Heh I'm having the first day of school jitters =/ But this time not as a student, but as a teacher...
I guess it's only when you start working and earning money that you'll realise what your parents are going through. Now I gotta pay for my own transport, no more allowances, pay for my expenses etc.. I've spent hundred over dollars the past few days and I feel the pinch, like calculating how many hours I must work before I can earn back the amount. Haha but I'm sure there'll be a whole new experience teaching in a special school, I can imagine how stressful it'll be yet rewarding and fufilling too. Now my only worry is the inability to cope with all the commitments I've taken up for this year. Full time teaching, tuition, Tapestry.. So if anyone stays in the West and is willing to give tuition to P1/2 student, please lemme know! Your kindness will be greatly appreciated :)
the girl next door;
LYNETTE ♥
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