Life's got to go



(Source: Google)

   I have been abandoning this site for ages.... now it's already 2012. I have never intended to leave this blog unattended for more than one month, but due to unforeseen circumstances- I did not manage to update it. For the past half of the the year, I had to adapt to a new environment, my set of clientele has definitely changed. I no longer had the privileges to teach an eager-to-please set of 13 to 14 year old teeangers. To tell you the truth, I missed teaching those 13 year old kids. They are full of questions, some made me laugh, some made me shudder. Many teachers seemed not to enjoy teaching those young teenagers, they said that  it was difficult to think of fun and attractive lesson plans, however,  I beg to differ on this.

    During my 12 year stint of English language teaching, I had the chance of teaching these young teens for five and half years. The experience made me creative and I was always on the look out for fresh new ideas. I was not pressured to get those  exam marks up to the par, it was fun all the way. I have enjoyed teaching those kids, and they readily embraced my teaching albeit those low-end classes. This was when I explored songs to be used in my teaching. But, as they say, nothing lasts forever- in June 2011, I was asked to teach Form 4 and 5. Imagine my horror of  having the free, creative way of teaching- and suddenly being pushed to cover the syllabus of SPM. I scrambled through all related books, looking for new ideas and facts to deliver as this time I had to cater to a new pool of clients- those hormone wrecking set of teenagers.

     Luckily, being IT savvy helped. I improvised along the way, finding information from the net, giving a lot of tips to my students as they prepared themselves for their SPM. Sometimes, my fifth formers would ask me many questions that I did not even know the answers, but I made sure that I gave the most logical answers, oblivious to the fact that I was learning as well ( For example; STEP BY WICKED STEP by ANNE FINE). Having to adapt to a new environment was one big task to me as I had to sharpen my rusty mind. The last time I was teaching fourth formers was in 2004 and MUET in 2003. But being a teacher, there will always be a YES, for  CHALLENGES in teaching. Yes, I did screw up at first but I think my students deserve credits as well- for believing in me. They did not compare me with their former teacher as they believed I deserved a chance to prove myself. Therefore, it could be said that no matter which level you are teaching, if you enjoy teaching English, that's all that matters. Now, I could say that I enjoy teaching my 13 to 17 year olds, they made me think why teaching English is truly my calling, despite some headaches or occasional misadventures...