The Gherkin Analogy Part II

Still on the subject of 'master teachers' whose purpose of being allocated to various institutions is to help teacher trainees who will be teaching English Language in local schools, with their English. This, according to one imaginative person who has seen too much of Alice in Wonderland, will improve the English Language of these teacher trainees who, at the end of their training, will be posted to local schools where a majority of the students would not have English Language as their mother tongue. Imagine this scenario! A dedicated teacher with full mastery of English Language, thanks to the 'master teacher' and the Alice in Wonderland fan, now face to face with not less than one hundred of these local students! This teacher happily thought, with the particular skill bestowed upon him, he would be able to impart similar knowledge to the students. But to his dismay, he found it impossible to accomplish this because, unlike him, the 'master teacher' and the Alice in Wonderland fan, these students do not have basic command of English Language. In a nutshell, every one starts by building their own Wonderland, thanks to Alice and her 'fan'.

The Gherkin Analogy

All of us sit in utter silence holding our breath and await the outcome of this 'master teacher' programme where at this initial stage, about 300 English teachers from the UK are placed in several institutions to help future teachers with their English Language. With the lack of information in the media, it is assumed that one 'master teacher' is appointed to help and guide, let's say, not less than one hundred teacher trainees. I have the strange feeling that these 'master teachers' must feel exactly like the local teachers when they are placed in local schools. Let us imagine these 'master teachers' as a small cucumber each and the local environment including the teacher trainees as pickling brine. What do you think would happen? The end result would have the cucumber taste like the brine because it is immersed in something that overcomes it. You will never get the pickling brine to taste like the cucumber! Talking about cucumber, how cool is that analogy!

In The Midst of Hardship (2)

This is what we at the form 6 teachers' room are feeling right now. An unfortunate incident happened when I reached the room this morning to find that the door had been pried open. That was not the extend of the damage! Two CPUs and a printer were stolen! We had to go through a lot of difficulties to get those things only to be stolen by some heartless thieves. Some of us brought our own monitors to complete the set. One teacher even sponsored a computer table. To say that we all chipped in is understatement. We actually put in a lot of effort to get those things. Still, when the police arrived, I had to make a statement about the robbery to one of the officers, who will be doing all they can. I am skeptical that the stolen equipment will ever be retrieved.

The Fruitcake Special - A Resource (Part 2)

This is the second Resource Material for teaching 'The Fruitcake Special'. I used this interesting video for my Set Induction as a prelude to teaching the idea of the effects of perfume on a man. I used this video with my proficient students, who found it interesting, not because of the content of the video, but because of the unthinkable effect that a perfume can have on a man. The fact that the video is in French also garnered some interesting discussion about what was being said in the video. Have fun using this video in your lesson. Be warned that I used it with my group of students whom I am sure is matured enough to accept the content of the video!

The Fruitcake Special - A Resource (Part 1)

I've finally decided to write about what I am most passionate about and that is Resource materials, especially those that I produce myself. This first entry for my Resource collection is for teaching the Literature component 'The Fruitcake Special'. I used this activity for my set induction as a prelude to teaching the short story. Of course, this is for the lower proficiency students, who would find an activity that requires them to merely match pictures related to 'Nice Smell', not too challenging. I always stick my Resource inside my Record book. If you would like a copy of this activity, do leave a comment with your e-mail.

In the Face of Hardship....

.....is where we all are now. Skeptical? On the one hand, funds are being lavishly thrown here and there, but on the other hand people like us are being made to scrimp and save until we scrape the bottom of the barrel. I earlier wrote that a nation's wealth should be common wealth, but as usual this is not true, and if those high and mighty people have their way, it probably never will. We are the people who feel the pinch. We are called for meetings but wait! No mileage claims! We are asked to hold functions, but surprises of surprises! No allocations! However, in a different situation let's give this high-flying school with it's group of extraordinary teachers and even more extraordinary students, oh! a meagre sum of RM750,000.00 because those genius students have proven that they are really genius! Others? What others? Oh! them! Let those daily schools with the mediocre students and overworked teachers die a natural death while we syphon money meant for them to these handpicked schools! He says this is a dog-eat-dog world, and he is the top dog while we are the underdog. Excuse me! If you choose to be a dog, you are welcome to it! At the end of the day, all I can say is let sleeping dogs lie. People like him, don't have anything better to do. After all, you can't teach old dogs new tricks! Tricky I'd say!

He Had Such Quiet Eyes...

.....until I realised the truth behind them. Gotcha there! No, this is not a review about 'that' poem, but it is a review nonetheless. In a way, all of us have been duped by those pair of quiet eyes, into believing that he would be our champion. We realise only too late to find out that he is not here to give our profession a boost but to make us regret joining this profession. With all the allocation that is going to be pumped in, how many youngsters can actually make football their livelihood? And what is the rational of applauding schools with the creme de la creme of the student community and saying that they have done well in academics, when they are all excellent to begin with? And why lavish them with thousands of ringgit, when they can actually afford being there in the first place? So, to make up for this spending spree by that man with the quiet eyes, the rest of us have to tighten our belts, poor students are deprived of their free food and milk rations, no more free uniforms for the needy and tuition vouchers for students from lower income families, disappear. Alas, we, like the Malay saying goes, are mere cucumbers. If we roll, we get damaged. And if we are rolled, we get damaged too. All this for the man with such quiet eyes....