'SELECT ' Programme by Brighton Group

On Monday, all the English teachers went
to Simpang Gelami to attend
a briefing on this RM300 000 project by this group...
It is sponsored by the Royal Trusts of Negeri Sembilan
for the rural area schools...
This programme will run for 7 months starting next week...
and each week the teachers will have to attend at least
one training session given by the trainers...
It is like what CFBT (Peter Bove) had for Miri division
in 2005 but that was a small scale...
designing communicative teaching materials
to be used in the classroom...
I'm looking forward to this training and
sharing of ideas because
i have been pushing the English teachers in UJ
to be more Student centred and use more activities in
teaching and learning rather than the scolding and
learning by rod method....
but yeah...new ideas are hard to move forward...
so well...i have great hopes that this select
programme will give the teachers
some initiatives to try something new...
and maybe i will some not so time consuming
way of preparing lesson materials...
Yay...finally....

Anyway....we were excited....or at least i was and am...
i can't speak for others right but i saw some excited faces too...
but in the midst of the excitement
2 wet blankets turned up to damped the
atmosphere....
One is a lady from the district education office and another
from the state education office...
Why do i call them wet blanket?
Well...for one thing there is no positive stuff that
came out from their mouth about the
English teachers...
one even said that "Do not let us resort to sending u show cause
letter for not attending the training session."
And that " awal2 tahun dah ade cikgu yang MC ye..."
Well...if u only sitting pretty in an air-conditioned office
dealing with paper work, well...u might as well
shut up.
I heard it from an ex-students of hers that
when she was a teacher...
she was not really a good one...
So her sarcasm is rather misplaced i should think...
Teachers are bogged down with non-teaching responsibilities
that drain their energy....
physically and mentally....
that most find it difficult to do or think of creative ways of teaching...
but at least they try once in a while...
and the effort of adapting materials and designing lessons
that students can understand can be really daunting
most of the time....
I know this for a fact because it takes me hours to just
think of ways to present something difficult in a simple manner
so my students can achieve the tasks for the day...

So...to me...why can't she boosts these burn out teachers'
morale by saying something that
encourage them rather than putting
them down before they even begin?
It is true that saying something that
can motivate people is more difficult than saying something bad to
people...
but i strongly believe that we should give it a try...
i know for a fact that there are people
who despite all the unfortunate situations
happening around them, they still can say something
positive that make people feel worthwhile...
and i have been trying to emulate this quality for years now...
from this lady that i look up to...
and each time i wanted to say something negative,
she came into mind....and the things she said
when i felt all the negative energies...
it makes me feel ashamed for not trying harder...

Anyway...back to this project....
i really look forward to it...
the English teachers will have to make
arrangement of their timetables themselves
in the meantime so that
we can turn up at 2 pm in S. Gelami.....

Brand new Dance Sneakers....

Yeap...the one thing that i have been waiting for
since October is here....
yay....yay....yay....
Yesterday was my salsa class....
i've ordered the sneakers for months now
and Sharon, my instructor always forgot to bring
but yesterday...her husband brought the wrong bag
that contained the wrong salsa shoes...
but somehow he got my dance sneaker bag correct...
Hahaha...Money (Wang) and Esther did not get their salsa
shoes but Esther did try to wear the sample salsa shoes
to dance....
Kewl....i used it for salsa...
and wallah.....no more painful feet....
the last time after a tough salsa session
with Sharon i got corn on my feet...
and usually the skin would peel off...

But yesterday....i could finally make a proper turn without
worrying that my feet would hurt....

But she's a slave driver...that Sharon...
she worked on perfecting our moves
especially the hips...
and man...
my hips simply refused to listen to me...
They refused to gyrate when i move....

Argh...grip and make a figure no 8....
hahahaha.....
my stomach fats refused to grip my hips and pulled
it upward...
"I want to fell the grip....
more hips movement...more..."

Ah...Sharon....
we need to get a grip of the proper movement first
before we can fly across the dance floor
with that sexy hip sways....
we sweated a tonne though yesterday...
and today my body ache a bit...
thought of practising the moves
but the knees and hips still ache...
so will give it a rest and practise on wednesday instead.

On a lighter note...Kak Liza has joined her first
line dancing class last Thursday? i think...
and found it quite bewildering...
Hang in there Kak Liza...
don't give up...
you'll pick up pretty fast after you get the hang of
the steps...
think of it as aerobic....only with more movements...
fluid movements that is...

New timetable....

This is such a boring entry....
yeah....i had something to say yesterday but
i was too busy to log in....

Oh yeah.....i was over the moon that Joshua won
So You Think You Can Dance
Season 4...
Yeah...Gwen told me the result months before
since she watched it already in Canada...
but i was still elated over it....
he has the moves man....pretty smooth....
anyway...that was yesterday....

Right...i was going to talk about the new timetable...
i know earlier that i am going to get
5 classes of English...
argh...that's a real headache man...
reading essays and essays...and essays....
but yeah...i think i had a long enough break of 5 classes
from St Co...
3 years to be exact...
so...bring it on....
i can face 5 classes...again...
I was expecting 4 Kreatif though....
not because it is the last class and less markings
to do...
but it is for that very reason that - them being the last class -
that i am taking them on...
it'll be a great challenge that....
trying to get them to pass....

But.....noooooo.....
PK1 cannot fit Azie into her current 4 Cem timetable...
so instead she fitted me in...
You see....
i've somehow memorised the timetable
from last year....
and i noticed that the arrangement of the subjects are more or
less the same...
they just fit the teachers into the timetable
and not the other way round...
oh...i digress there....whoops....back to my timetable...
So to make a long story short,
i am given 4 Cem instead of 4 Kre....
and Azie has planned out everything with that class...
that i feel bad taking over...
i know how it feels when
you have planned everything
and suddenly everything changed....
I did not take plan to take on good classes this year....
since i have set my path on giving the school result quantity
first rather than strive for quality...
but i guess quality goes hand in hand with quantity...
and circumstances forced me to take on
the good class...
so i guess....i got the 2 extremes...
What do i do...what do i do...what do i do...
inni mini myni mo...
whoops....
i think i stil have to go in....

On a lighter note....
the science students turn out to be a noisy lot...
a very different character from my last 5 science
but i still enjoy them...the same...
but they are more preoccupied with what's
happening among themselves....
gossipy yesh...
but on a different note...
i shall enjoy this....

New Dining Chair set...yay...

Our neighbour opposite informed us
that there's a 3 day warehouse sale in Senawang area
and that it is worth visiting...
she purchased 3 items at RM185 yesterday....
so today we planned an excursion there together
since they are looking for a bed for their daughter...

The furniture warehouse is quite difficult to find...
since it is located in the industrial area...
There were some big lorries loading the furniture when we arrived...
We presumed that these are the people
from the furniture shop who
got the furniture cheap and sold
them at higher price...

The first thing we noticed were the dining chairs...
just nice for our white dining table...
we dislike our black dining chairs...
so we had been looking for white wooden type for
so long now...
Ikea sells them at RM120 which is beyond our budget...
So this is simply perfect...
at RM50....
of good quality wood....
so we take 6...
then we saw a white bedside cabinet at RM50 too...
so we bought that too...
and finally...
a pretty console table....wood colour....at RM120...
this is perfection....
so we made our purchase...
and luckily our neighbour drove his
hilux so we could fit everything in....

Once at home, we put away the black chairs and
replace them with the white ones....
Woooohoooo.....
so....so....so....perfect....ah....
i simply love it...
and they're cheap....
a bonus...

Borak2 with Umi...

I haven't seen Umi for quite some time now...
Her ikan trubuk were stil with me...
So on Friday night, i brought her baju kurung and
went to her house...
then I drove her to the clinic...
Aisyah got ulcer as a result from
banging her mouth on the dashboard...
Umi jadik formula 1 driver kot...
on the way back from Nilai on Thursday....

We chatted all the while non-stop....
gossiping about UJ and Mantin...
macam2....
And it seemed that Friday night was not enough to gossip...
so on Saturday night i went to send her
ikan trubuk...
and we went for a drink and gossiping again...
Umi has 25 periods and she's also the teacher
in-charge of the school library....
so when she told the teachers who arrange the
timetable that she has no time to be at the library...
the taecher informed her that she had
blocked off the recess time...
so Umi mentioned that she had no time for break and lunch...
the answer was - masa free la...
UMI: Tapi my free time is the time you blocked off for
library....
Some people are just plain idiot...
Poor her...
she got tonnes and tonnes of work...
while some other new teachers
have only 1 or 2...
Oh...oh...she has got a juicy bit of info...
she met a teacher from Palung during one of those
Data Emis meet...
and the teacher asked about Mr G....
who was transfered to UJ...
The teacher's expression was:
die tu berkira sangat kalu bab2 kerja ni...
walaupun yang tu sebenarnye keje die...

Wakakakakakakaa....
Bukan sgt....tapi...memang....
Anyway....she was like...ha?
Cam2 rupenye...childish....
Umi hasnt seen the new setting of the staffroom...
so she couldn't believe that some of the old compadre
are no longer sitting together...
UJ...Uj....tak tau la ape nak cakap....

But we had a good time gossiping.....
Itu pun x abih lagi....
Hmmm....
i'll look her up again soon since i have
to send her iron to her house....
the farewell gift that she hasn't taken yet...

Jamuan Perpisahan at last....15 January...

Well.....finally we pulled off the jamuan...
though i kinda sad that some teachers did not even bother
to turn up...
i'll get to that issue later...

We settled the issue of location -
Bilik Seminar Kolej Komuniti jelebu.
Some even questioned why we decided to have it there.
Well...these are Jelebu people mind you...
Kolej Komuniti is like 1 km away from the skul...
and that is like so difficult for them
to go...they wanted it in the skul apparently...
or did i misread the hinted message here...

Anyway...at ten yesterday, Lin, Kak Yah, Effendy and i
went to the kolej to decorate the seminar room.
So we made it like a hotel...
Lin took us to her house to get the table covers and skirting
and also some cloths to make the crumpled
table setting for the dishes...
We covered the VIPs table....
and put flowers as the centre piece...
but the tables for the teachers were not
covered with any table cloth...
that was the only thing about it...
But Lin charged RM100 for the 2 parts of the setting
and of course she said discounted at RM50
but i still think a hundred is a tad expensive...
for only front and back setting...
anyway...she's one of the ajks...
and the club does not have much money...
we are after all a small school.
Anyway...i guess if we were to take from someone else it would
cost more...
i don't know....
i'm not into catering after all...
Anyway, the principal was quite happy with it...
and Lela too...said it looks like a hotel setting...
and that the majlis looked grand....hahahaha....

Funny things that happened:
1. We were so busy we forgot to send invitation letters
to the principal and PK1 and PK Hem and
pemangku PK ko-ko...
- Tn haji's statement:
eh...saya tak dijemput pun...
When i called him and said...
Tn haji...saya nak menjemput tn hj ni....
His answer: Ye Martina, nak ke mane tu...?
Buat lawak la Tn Hj ni...

2. As the Pengerusi majlis, i had to make a speech...
So i made my speech in English after
minta izin from Tuan Haji of course...
and in his speech...he jokingly mintak izin to make it
in Mandarin....but no one would understand of course...
perli aku ke Tuan Haji...
argh...but i tried to write a BM speech which turned
out weird of course...
so i gave up...
and wrote an English script instead.

The unpleasant things that happened:
1. None of the Chinese teachers turned up....
(they should realise one of these days that
i cannot be their WAKIL forever)
2. None of the Indian teachers turned up....
(Ravi takde kena mengena sebab anak die sakit
and initially he was the MC
and Ravi has always been their wakil)
They also should realise that ravi cant be their wakil
forever...
3. The principal made a remark about that....them not turning up...

The principal did make one remark tho:
People can work things out when they are put
together...even something Grand like this...
and NOT like some people who walked out of a meeting
when elected the Pengerusi...
Belum kerja dah mengalah...

Not all teachers turned up...
I know some teachers hold grudges against Lela
for all the things she did...
But it is an undeniable fact that she is one
of the longest serving teachers in the school...
and during her 23 years of tenancy...
she has contributed to the school...
and has helped many teachers...
(the back stabbing aside of course..)
But as her juniors we have to at least respect her for her
seniority and come to make amends with her...
show that we are a professional...
and that despite what she had done...
we still can face up to her and be professional about it...
The Chinese has an expression:
Beri muka (or directly translated as give face)
simply means we try to to protect Tuan Haji's image
as the BOSS by doing things for him
even though we dislike doing it...

i strongly believe this is OUR OBLIGATION
as the SUBORDINATE...
unless what has been done is TOTALLY and
UNACCEPTIONALLY against our principles...

So, i am sadden by this attitude...
should i call it unprofessional?
or selfish...
This is a school occasion
and as a member of the small school community...
its members are obliged to take part....
After all...it is only a sporadic afternoons...
once or twice a year...
Can't you people sacrificed ONE afternoon?
Considered yourself lucky that
you do not have to work under another Tuan Haji who
demands you to sacrifice many afternoons
and Saturdays...
and even nights...in school...

And this ....simple thing....
some people cannot tolerate....

One week into schooling...

It's only been a week..
and there were so many things happening at once...
and it felt like a long week for me...

Why did i feel that way?
Hmmmm.....
Thursday....
we had briefing in school...
sort of Kelab Staff dan Guru meeting...
Lin already hinted that she would put forth my
name as the candidate for
Pengerusi...
but i told her not to do so...
as i forsee a lot of work coming
with the new GC title...
Pengetua has seen me a couple of times
about the English programmes as well as improving the results
of the school...
I have been thinking and planning and
waiting for the Language department meeting so i can proceed
with the panel meeting...
so i definitely will not make a good
Pengerusi...

But still...LIN GATAL itu
suggested my name...
and the principal...
being him said...saya sangat bersetuju...
and i know that
that 1 statement from him
will change the whole course of the vote...
and true enough....
most people voted for me...
i was speechless...

But being me...
who do not know how to say no to responsibility...
my hand was forced to accept...
and LIN said she would help...
but well...
should i believe...or
should i not....
because in real life situation...
those who proclaim loudly that they would help
would be the one who would help least...
while those who are quiet...would be the pillar of support...
this is proven time and time again...
Only time will tell...

Am i angry with LIN?
Nope...
because it is not her who wants me to be there...
in that hot seat...
But God...
I have said to HIM in my prayer that
i will do things according to HIS will
and that whatever challenges HE puts
before me...
i believe...is HIS way of helping me grow....
and that i have prayed that i will not disobey HIM...
and that HE would guide me with every step
that i make....
and that i will reflect HIS way in every action
i take...every word i say...
in short...
be HIS instrument...

So God, you see me fit in this position...
and i will learn to accept...
and not ask WHY....

Argh...but i don't think that this will be easy...
Nope...not in a million years...

Spread the word of love

We are still at the end of the Christmas season of
goodwill when our country is plague with the unthinkable...
Events that we only witness happening in other
countries...
that we are sure not likely to happen here...happened..
alas...our comfort and safe zone is no longer safe...

We are shaken to the very core of our sense...
trying to make sense of what's happening..
trying to understand what started it all
and why...?

Fear germinates in our minds...hurt and grief...
sadden by the situation that we allow ourselves to be in...
just because of some opportunists who never
thought through their actions and the consequences of these...
before making it public.
and now the domino effect has started and
it is difficult to stop even if they want to...

I, of course, am talking about the what has happened
to 4 churches in the Klang Valley on
Friday morning.
My family is fearful of my safety here...
fearing that situation may become worse...
and that places of worship is no longer safe for
a moment of solitude with God...

Chin and I attended the evening mass yesterday
and the church was not as pack as before...
but Christian still feel safe to come together
to worship God and to pray for
peace and harmony...
In times like this, Fr Michael Chua
implores christian to remain strong and steadfast
in our faith and not to let
Fear to conquer our minds..
but let Love leads the way for us...
to forgive and to pray for healing...

Sin Chiew Jit Poh reported today that
the Bishop (as Fr Chua has mentioned)
has decided to continue to
fight for the Christian to use the
word 'Allah'...
as 60% of the Christian in Malaysia
comes from the east - Sarawak and Sabah...
and the language we use for prayer
is in BM...
and the Bible too are printed in BM and the
word 'Allah' is used...
The Ibans too use this word in their prayer as
i was taught to pray in Iban
before i know how to pray in English....
and i think the Bidayuh also use this word...
so...if it is banned...what word can we use?

I have a simple analogy to explain this
situation:
Imagine that...
since you were born you were taught to call your
father - father - in your mother tongue or
in the language you are familiar with...
And then oneday...
Someone simply announces that
YOU CAN NEVER CALL YOUR FATHER
with that word anymore...
and that you have to resort to other words
in other language...
for a mere reason that
other people may confuse your
father as their father...
How can that be?
How can people be confused of
who their rightful father is
if they are born and brought up
by that one father?
How would you feel if
you CANNOT call your father
-father-
ever again?
Knowing that you 'see' him, and
'talk' to him everyday of your life?

It is unthinkable..
but this is what will happen..
if this issue persists...
and if there is no tolerance...
or reason or rhyme...

First day of school 2010

Hectic...hectic...hectic....
I arrived in school at 7 am and students were
everywhere along the corridor...
It was stil drizzling so the students could
not have their assembly in the square...
The principal tried to fit everyone into the small hall
but it could only accommodate 2 forms...
Luckily the rain stopped after a while so we had the
assembly after all...

Form one has orientation until Friday so
the form 1 teachers are quite free...
It was good that the KB included diagnostic test for
those who got D and E for English and BM
in UPSR...
So everything was done pretty quickly and
the paper was marked on the same day...
I have yet to calculate the marks...
Anyway...
I got to teach 5 Gemilang (5SN) again
this year...
taking over from Kak Ti since she will be moving
to SMA KK soon...
So now i have 4 solid English classes...
But today...
the PK1 told me that i will not be teaching other subjects
since the Principal wants the GC to teach
all English classes...
so good...i will have 25 periods of English which
I do not mind at all...
Well....
it is a good start to the year since the PK1 gives the
classes according to my arrangement last year...
so i hope that this will somehow make a difference
in the result of this year public exam...