karma chameleon

the boys whipped VS 9-0 in the National Finals. it was such an entertaining match, Syafiq was magic while Ali was brilliant. all my boys out there *beams like mother hen*. ok so you see my soccer vocabulary's not that great, but you can read about their feat in yesterday's Straits Times here http://www.sportsschool.edu.sg/legal/sss/wcm/SSS/Resources/ne22006/SSwhipV90infinals_300806.pdf

sure, people say "You guys SSS what!" ok fine. so sometimes we are seen as Public Enemy No. 1 in the schools sports scene, we win, they hate us, if we (ever) lose...well, we've never so far. but i see a different purpose with these kids. you see, the way i see, sports saves some of them. some of them seem like the kind who'd probably get into trouble if they are in mainstream school -- play truant, lose out in the study race -- the whole package which usually ends with dropping out and all. but being here, being in boarding and being watched hawk-eyed by coaches, managers, teachers keep them in line.

and it gives some of them this sense of purpose; that they are good, much better than others at something. ok so i gotta rattle and shake Syafiq and Farhan when they doze off like a gazillion times in class (kalau aku kuat aku dah lambung keluar tingkap), and it's a challenge teaching them things my previous students would normally lap up. but that's how they develop me as a teacher.

i remember the time the whole team dropped to their knees and cried when the final whistle blew in their Man U Nike Cup final match against India. it was the Asian leg of the tournament and the champions get to represent Asia at Old Trafford. an ultimate dream for all boys i guess, so it broke their hearts.

oh well, really hope they go on to bigger things.

on another note, we had Ultimate 80's The Musical just now. such a riot! *hoots* i didn't know that that Boy George song was "karma karma karma karma chameleon" ? i thought it was "come ah come ah come ah come ah camelia"!

now i know.

but Karma Chameleon? what branch of new age philosophy is that?

it's a phase & 80'an gerek

ilhan seems to have left behind his trinity of Barney-Bananas-in-Pajamas-Elmo and somehow moved on to 'PANTEN!', which is what he calls robots/power rangers/transformers. he's also into excavators and cranes, thanks to BoBede (Bob The Builder). i can't seem to figure out the semantics and etymology of the word  'panten' - how did this word come about? *scratch* *scratch* closest i could think of perhaps 'fighting'? what a word to learn at this age. but where did he learn it from? certainly not from home. hmmmm...... probably from his babysitters' kids.

so anyway, before Ilhan i was like all moralistic and decreed that no child of mine shall get sucked into these violent cartoon/fighting stuff like Power Ranger/Justiriser/Gransazers and like-minded friends. you know lah, we came those days of wholesome Care Bears, sweet Little Ponies and harmless Smurfs. so there, no fighting stuff.

but here i am finding myself on the hunt for some Power Ranger figurines and some transformable creature (you know, truck bukak bukak bukak jadi robot). such dizzying array of creatures and blardy expensive, may i add. why did i succumb? tell me how not to. haha. especially since we are getting on a flight again on thursday and i need to distract Ilhan lest he had enough of The Three Little Kittens and The Magic Porridge Pot (fav books of the month).

anyway, this thursday we supposed to come to school dressed in 80's fashion. i suppose i'm excused, since i was only in kindergarten-primary sch in the 80's? but colleagues so on about it, some wearing their fomer school u - those from branded schools, of course.

but what to wear? so orbit right? i remember big hair, garish make-up, spandex and pants/skirts up to your armpits. and hijab 80's style lagi orbit and tak-style - think Cikgu Bedah. hmm...tak payah lah eh.

ajaran sesat

Ujian Peribahasa Modul 5-6

ARAHAN: Lengkapkan peribahasa-peribahasa berikut.

1.   _________    _________  nyaring bunyinya.

 

2.   Pipit ________  makan __________.

 

3.  Bodoh-bodoh _______ tiada _________  __________  _________

 

4. Kalau tiada ________, belalang menjadi __________.

 

5. Takut ________ lalu ___________.

 

6. ___________   _____________  berat perut

amacam? boleh buat? :)

masa dah tamat. sila lihat jawapan di bawah. maknanya fikirkanlah sendiri.

Tong kosong nyaring bunyinya

Pipit lapar makan berhujan

Bodoh-bodoh sepat tiada makan pancing emas

Kalau tiada helang, belalang menjadi helang

Takut titik lalu tumpah

Ringan tulang berat perut

BUT here are some gems that some monkeys came up with:

Pontianak mengilai nyaring bunyinya

Pipit lapar makan katak

Bodoh2 sepat tiada benda boleh menipunya

Bodoh2 sepat tiada manusia mahu menangkapnya.

Kalau tiada nasi, belalang menjadi santapan

Takut kalah lalu jalan

Takut mati lalu lari

Saya sangat berat perut

 

wakakakakakakakaka!!! crack betul! i figured they must be hungry while they took this test. and to their credit, they weren't wilfully trying to be funny - they had the decency to leave blank what they didn't know. surprisingly, those who creatively came up with the above were the goody ones who must have wracked their brains in ernestness.

 

ini bukan kes cikgu kencing berdiri, murid kencing berlari..hahaha...oh i so love peribahasa.

 

full marks for creativity and trying :)

 

 

 

how we keep Ilhan occupied on long road trips

I know I'm his mum and all mums think their kids are superkids, but my untrained soccer-eyes tells me he's pretty good for a 20-month old. *beams*. hehe.

one step closer...

i drove a van today.  the SSS Mercedes Benz van, a real 11-seater van.

me and siak cheong had an orientation session with fauzi, and did a test-drive to friday's venue and back, parking et al. i didn't kill anyone along the way, and my passengers did not regurgitate their lunch or anything, so i guess i did ok.

and my parking was perfect on the first try.

i'm now one step closer to my childhood ambition of becoming a bus-driver. you know, those days when you put your fare in the OMO box and it swallows your coins in exchange for a ticket, those days when the roaring engine was right there next to the driver and the gear-stick was as long as a golf stick and buses had rattling wooden floors and rattling window panes.

the ultimate symbol of power to a 5-year old. he he he.

 

The Israeli Incursion - The Truth, Plain and Simple.

George Galloway on his usual warpath. The newscaster must be squirming and wishing she can get this interview over and done with. Classic case of 'menegakkan benang yang basah'. We'll never see this sort of action on channelnewsasia.

waxing lyrical

Good morning. A good morning indeed since today marks a week of no classes - three quarter of the school has left for Chonburi for the Thai Sports Schools Games. Hence we all sauntered in at 9 am and will spend the rest of the time meaningfully engaged in service-learning projects and trails.

For that same reason we had our N-Day celebration on friday. You know what's a sure sign of ageing? When you actually tear to the tune of We Are Singapore and the likes, and when you see a sudden burst of nationalistic/patriotic fervour from otherwise blase kids. ok, so i didn't tear, but I got some goosebumps. i admit though, that i teared when i watched the NDP on tv last year. I know what they say in Sociology 101, about all these pomp and pageantry serving to legitimise the state and all. so maybe years of drumming has gotten to me, but I think it’s due to a sense of syukur, primarily for being safe. Of course there are the grouses and all, but putting things into perspective given all that’s happening around, we don’t have it so bad.

On Saturday I handed over a set of my house keys to me tenants. *boo hoo hooooooooo sob sob*. On Friday I had gone over and vacuumed and mopped and all and I can’t help but feel sentimental about it. I mean like the house is some form of ‘labour of love’ for me and B, with all the arguments over renovation blah blah blah, scrimping and saving to buy stuff and all. And now, handing over the keys is so..definitive. of ending a chapter and moving on to the next, Brought Ilhan over on Sunday afternoon to pass the tenant some documents, and even he blinked at seeing strangers in the house and us leaving them behind. *sigh*.

Had late supper with some ex-studs at Aliff on Friday night. This is my Class of 2004 batch who passed through my hands from sec 1 till sc 4. I saw them morphing from squeaky 12-yr-olds through puberty to such nice young adults at 18. In turn, they saw me through a wedding and having a child. The best reward was of course, their brilliant O results (see jubilant picture).

Over the usual rounds of pratas and the-tarik I had my boost of morale seeing how they’ve turned out. They have such strong ideals about life, and I had to hold back from being the pessimistic adult. I must have done something good with these kids, and I pray they remain strong on the right path. And of course, repeat their feat and ace the A levels soon.

They reminded me the reason I teach. Simple.

...and the irony of it...

(if you’ve read my last post)…is that I’ve been arrowed by the corporate director to attend a youth dialogue session with the Prime Minister to discuss issues.

 

He (the corporate director, not the PM) must have been wondering why I have this constipated look on my face. I pleaded saying I’ve no burning questions to ask and no burning issues to discuss, but no…I must represent my age-group and generation who usually have lots of things to say, no?

 

There you have it.

 

but then again, i thought i sounded pretty ruthless in that previous post. so cold and unfeeling. shame on me. i just finished reading Tuesdays with Morrie, a moving piece of work which made me re-think my earlier sense of cold detachment. i'll do a review on that later on.

 

watched 9 Naga recently, very moving. will do a review on that later on too.

 

just had a chat with haryana over msn, and *sigh*...how i miss them so much. just over a short conversation she mentioned again how i never fail to inspire her. we were talking about language and identity and indonesian films and peter pan songs and malay  singaporeans' (youths, in particular) dismal (or is 'abysmal' a better word?) use of Bahasa Melayu. i thought them JC2 girls are into paris-hiltonism and all. i guess i was wrong. i'm proud of her.

 

how i miss my bp students. i miss those exchange of ideas and knowledge and passion, which sadly, is not happening where i am now. kids i taught used to lap up every lesson (and i look forward to every class) and whatever i teach i see in use in subsequent work. i feel like i was really a teacher back then. while now, well, sometimes i don't know what i'm doing now. things don't seem to click.

 

*sigh*. i've lost my mojo.