Dear frens,
After 2.5 months, I think all of us have come down to the real world. Your experiences are just part of what could be worse. On the second week of my returning to my 'alma mater', I almost killed a boy.
In a Remove class, I tried to teach them BM when I went for relief. I wrote answers on the board and asked them to copy from the board. One boy took his friend's book to copy from it. I got annoyed and took his friend's book away and asked him to copy from the board (I don't think my writing is that bad at all!). As I turned around he shouted in Hokkien, "I don't know what the COCK WRITING you're writing!"
I turned back and gave him a tight slap across his face but he stupidly turned his nose to my palm and I slammed his nose making it bloody. That quietened the whole class :-). Until today, no more nonsense with me everytime I went in for relief.
I went to see the boy after his nose had dried and consolled him. Talked to him till he cried out of guilt. Two days later, his mother met me and I told his mother of the duty of the school and a teacher to help parents educate their chilkdren to prepare them to face the society and a whole lot of BS till the boy's mother too brokedown and cried.
Hmmmpphh... Satisfied. Managed to make both mother and child cried out of guilt. My PK Ko-K was shocked that they both ended up crying instead of like other parents going home angry.
Incident 2
Yesterday, 12 Sept 2008, I was walking down the stairs to the staff room to get home when a boy walked along side me and said that one gang of students are waiting for him in a lane behind some houses outside of the school gate because he was attacked and faught with another classmate earlier and had reported to the HM and had caused his attacker to be sacked from school this coming week. He's just 15, thin, quiet, mild, and at times jovial (from the last class of form 2 and academically not promising at all but with pleasant manners). Another boy were actually escorting him to the place of rendevous. It was just like in CSI! Tha boy that the other boys sent to escort this boy was a huge boy almost the size of Faizal with the height of Daniel!
What to do? I asked this small boy to go into the staff room with the pretext that he's being reprimanded. I then asked the huge boy to follow me to the office to give me a hand. Confronted the huge boy in front of the Disp Head and told him to get off not to meddle in it or he'll be expelled as well (he's been twice suspended, a third will get him out). I went back to the small kid and had no choice but to escort him home. He on his bicycle and I on my C70. Oh, this small boy lives above my apartment.
This is my 'alma mater'. A temporary juvenile prison.
More gory stories to come. Of teachers, students and administrators...
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2 comments:
hallo fellow tesolians!!
u have not seen me for quite some time as i was tied down with school work n not to mention handling my chaotic students.so tht explains y i am always so tired at the end of the day n thus, can t find the time to touch the keyboard of my lappy.i have read all yer stories so far abt yer students' havoc in school n let me tell u, w, the new teachers are not the only ones. recently went 4 a course and met so many senoir teachers n they seem to have the same prob as us too despite the numerous years handling these teenagers. what i have summed up from the 2 days of intense chatting with these teachers, i learnt that, students these days mostly if not all have the same screwed up attitude.(excuse the lg,but it s the result of disappointment n fury).it s just tht the generation today seem to give a ****about teachers.a lot of things annoy me such as not greeting teachers, not asking for permission when drinking water, not adressing us as"teacher" when they talk but prefer using "you","awak" instead,sleeping during classes, having their private discussions in grps even though teacher's teaching in front, using foul lgs in their mother tongue n the list goes on and on....and this makes me really sit down n think whether this is all worth becoming a teacher.it s suppose to be a very rewarding career where they seem to say that students will appreaciate you one day.maybe 3 months is too early to see the results, but i don t even see the sign of appreciation coming anywhere in the near future.i know i have crapped a lot but in a nutshell, what am actually trying to say is....u r not alone.like it or not we have to face these students n teachers, it s not yer fault that they r like that, so quit blaming yourselves.everyday i try new things out with my students n from there i know what to adjust to get them to just sit in the class during eng. have got a long way more to get them to do anything independently in eng.so don t give up as we have so many years more to go(unless u wanna take optional retirement but then again u ll loose all the privileges).things may improve or detiriorate but make sure yer students know who s the boss.take good care of yourselves...cheers!!!
My story cont...
This morning I naik berang in another class again :-)
It is 1E now. An Indian boy, Shanmugam, who has got two elder brothers in school was beaten up by me.
This boy is a total contrast from his two brothers. I taught his eldest brother before I went for studies and now he is in Form4. His second brother is in my 2E class. Both these elder brothers are angels and reliable, though not the brightest in the las class. But Shanmugam, being in the last class did not make him an angel like his two brothers.
It happened that I went in for relief at 1230 just now. When I reached the class they were already rather restless and were talking loudly. I commanded those on duty to clean the class before school ended at 1310. This Shanmugam tried to be a hero by speaking for his fren that that fren had already swept the floor in the morning and told his fren to ignore my order. I kept pressing the other boy to sweep and ignored Shanmugam. The boy gave in and went to sweep. Then this Shanmugam continued muttering in Tamil and said to his fren that he was stupid to listen to "this pundek Chinese"!!! I understood what he said with my smattering Tamil. I confronted him in my meagre Tamil and gave him a stern warning not to continue his instigation.
He cooled down, for a while. Then busied myself with the boys who were sweeping the floor to waste my time away in the class. I didn't want to teach because they were too anxious to go home then.
Out of a sudden, I heard a chair being dragged and looked up to see that this 'angel' Shanmugam was ready to throw a chair at another fren!!! I shouted at him to stop. He stopped but only not to throw the chair; he chased his fren around the classroom. Again I told them to stop but he ignored my warning and continued as if I was not there.
When he ran past me, I caught hold of his arm, but he twisted himself free from me. I then caught up with him and slapped my palm onto his back so hard that he stumbled two steps forward. He turn to face me his face as angry as a bull, with his nostrils all opened up and puffing away (he is actually an inch taller than I). I faced him and added another two slaps on his chest and that pushed him back a few steps. After that I ordered him to sit but he refused. He stood up against me. I so angry then that I put my fist up and told him that if he doesn't sit right then, I'll shatter his face. That got him very frighten. He was shivering by then.
I turned back and wrote the borang Demerit. After a few minutes, seeing that he had cooled down, I went to tell him that I hit him for the sake of his parents and his brothers. I slao said that he has shamed his whole family today. He turned his face away from me when I talked to him. I left him to himself.
After the bell rang, I told him to follow me to the staff room but he turned his back to me and walked off saying that he's father is already waiting. I went off the other way. No point chasing after him.
Five minutes later this 'angel' came climbing into the staff room and looked for me and apologised. I don't know what got into him, but he just came back. He made a verbal promise that today will be the last time he misbehaves in school.
I don't know how true those words are but I will watch him carefully.
More later....
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