If only Singapore kindergartens are like this. Excerpt from here.
(Hmm, might explain why the Japanese are so suppressed... cos they're expected to be independent at such young age.)
12 things about Japanese kindergarten that have stunned me as a Chinese mother
Before coming to Japan, Tiantian had already gone through a year of kindergarten [preschool? nursery school?] in Beijing, so you could say that we are no strangers to kindergarten. But there are some things in Japanese kindergartens that have stunned me [are really weird/strong]. Let me share them with you.
1. The Ridiculous Number of Bags.
On the first day, they explained to us that we needed to prepare a certain number of bags of various sizes:
A schoolbag, a blanket bag, a bag for eating utensils, a box for eating utensils, a bag for clothes, a bag for for changing clothes, a bag for clothes after they have been changed out of, and a bag for shoes. Then that bag A had to be of such-and-such a length, bag B had to be of such-and-such a width, bag C had to fit in bag D, and E in bag F. I just couldn’t believe it.
Some kindergartens even ask mothers to make bags themselves!
After two years we’re used to it, and the kids become very good at putting things in their right place. I often think that the reason that the people of Kyoto don’t mind sorting their rubbish might be because they’ve been taught this kind of thing from a young age.
2. All These Bags Carried by Children, While Adults Carry Nothing.
This is a sight that really shocked me: when dropping kids off or picking them up, I noticed that the other Japanese adults, be they mother, father, or grandparent, were carrying absolutely nothing, while all those bags of different sizes (at the very least two or three) mentioned above were carried by those little cuties. What’s more, they were running really fast!
But us? Maybe out of habit, maybe because of a cultural thing, but I carried the bags, and Tiantian carried nothing. A couple of days later the teacher came and had a chat with me: “Tiantian’s mother, Tina does everything herself at school…” Japanese people have a habit of saying only the beginning of a sentence, and letting you work out the rest yourself. I immediately realized that she was asking about the situation at home, but seeing me thinking it over, the teacher continued, “… carrying her schoolbag for example …” After this tactful reminder, I let Tiantian carry her own schoolbag.
When the time came for a parents’ meeting, I told everyone that in China the custom was for parents to carry everything. It was the Japanese mothers’ turn to be dumbfounded. As one, they asked: “Why?”
Why? Is it because we Chinese love our children a little more?
3. Changing Clothes Over and Over Again
Tiantian’s kindergarten has its own uniform; when she arrives she has to take it off, and change into overalls for playtime. She has to take off her shoes and put on white ballet shoes, when she goes into the exercise yard she has to change her shoes again. After their afternoon nap the kids have to change clothes again. A real pain.
When Tiantian was in Chrysanthemum Class she used to be so slow changing clothes, and I couldn’t help but give her a hand. But I soon noticed that all of the Japanese mothers were standing to one side, not helping at all. I slowly saw that this business of changing clothes educated the children in living independently. Through things like their experiences at school, changing, sticking their daily sticker, and hanging their handkerchiefs, these kids start from when they are two or three years old to learn the habit of keeping things orderly.
4. Wearing Shorts In Winter
Children in Japanese schools wear shorts in winter, no matter how cold it is. My daughter’s grandparents in Beijing were very worried, and said that I had to talk to the teacher about it, because Chinese children can’t stand the cold.
Wouldn’t you know it, when we had just started kindergarten, practically every day she got sick. But when I talked to the Japanese mothers about it, their answer amazed me. “Of course! The reason we send our kids to kindergarten is to get sick.”
Seeing the healthy energy of the children charging about like little rockets, greeting me, it occurred to me that we shouldn’t spoil our kids too much.
5. 0-Year-Old Infants Competing in Athletic Events
All classes are named after flowers. Tiantian was a chrysanthemum, then a lily, now she’s one of the “older sisters”, a violet. But the little babies who haven’t reached their first birthdays are all in the “Peach Blossom” class. In Japanese they’re called もも, which sounds like 毛毛 in Chinese [and 'mo-mo' in English]. Japanese kana all come from Chinese characters.
These mo-mo, who haven’t even reached their first birthday, have not only already started going to kindergarten, but take part in all of their major activities, like sports competitions and performances. Seeing these little mo-mo crying while crawling forward, I usually feel bad for them.
6. Girls Playing Soccer
When children reach their middle year of kindergarten in Japan, they start taking weekly “Jumping” lessons, similar to our Physical Exercise lessons back home; when they get to their senior year, there is a soccer competition. When they’re not practicing their drumming all day, they’re practicing soccer. And they really play too, they even have competitions with other kindergartens. Tiantian has bruises from playing but her strength and bravery have been brought out.
To tell the truth, when we first came to Japan, Tiantian’s performance was really shameful. Japanese kids usually start shooting up at about three or four years old, before that they are a lot shorter than Chinese kids. In Tiantian’s class she was a giant, but was in actual fact quite weak. The Japanese kids would run about outside, but Tiantian? She’d get a grain of sand in her shoe and would have to tiptoe to walk. Once there was an excursion where they went up a mountain, and she could only come down with two short Japanese kids supporting her. These uncomplaining three-year-olds, who didn’t have the experience of allowing her to travel on foot up a mountain for an hour. She’s better now, last year at Shangrila, in that low oxygen environment she walked for four hours without any problems.
7. Mixed Education
When we were in China I saw Tiantian’s kindergarten a few times. Each class would have its classes separately, but in Japan this isn’t the case.
Before 9:30, and after 3:30, the entire school plays together. And in the yard big kids hold little kids, little kids chase big kids, they carry on like crazy. They get to really experience having “siblings”. Their feeling of growth is obvious.
For example in Tiantian’s and the other senior year’s last assembly a few days ago, after performing their taiko piece, they said something that made all the parents cry.
“In today’s assembly we’re very happy, because the children from lower years performed so successfully. This is our last assembly, and when we start junior school we’ll be sure to remember our friends and our kindergarten.”
8. Education: All “Smiles” and “Thank you”.
In this kindergarten, it seems like they don’t care at all about the children’s intellectual education. They don’t have textbooks, just a new sketchbook every month. In the school’s education plan, there aren’t any subjects like mathematics, kana, art, or music. Don’t even ask about English or the International Math Olympiad. They don’t learn roller skating or swimming.
When you ask what they teach, you’d never guess what the answer is: “We teach the children to be all smiles!”
In Japan, no matter where you are, or to who you’re talking to, “being all smiles” is most important. An girl who is “all smiles” is most beautiful.
What else do they teach? — They teach children to “say thank you”.
In everything there are things that they stress here that they don’t in China. But after three years I can see that Tiantian has improved in things like music, art and reading, and these improvements are from a comprehensive education.
9. The Number Of Activities
Looking at my calendar I can see the days when I need to make lunch for Tiantian to take to school. These are the days when she has excursions. I can’t count how many times she climbs mountains, how many lakes she’s seen, or how many animals or plants she’s gone and looked at.
Apart from that, she’s also gathered acorns, made cakes, been to sports carnivals, performed for community events, had sleepovers, celebrated festivals, been at assemblies, attended temples, exhibitions… let’s just say that there have been a lot.
10. All The Holidays Chinese People Don’t Celebrate — – Japanese Kindergarten Celebrate
This really floored me too. Like I mentioned above, Japanese kindergartens celebrate their own traditional holidays, Girls’ Day, Boys’ Day, Hungry Ghost Festival…. Not only this, they also celebrate Renri (held on the 7th night of the lunar new year, how many of you know about this festival?), and Qixi.
Today she came back, and said “Today, teacher asked how we celebrated these holidays in China, I said I didn’t know”. What a disgrace! Mommy doesn’t know either.
11. Teachers’ Abilities
In one Japanese class there are ten to thirty students, but only one teacher. In the beginning I had my doubts, if she was able to keep her eye on all of them she’d be pretty good. Then I found out that I had underestimated these Japanese kindergarten teachers. With just this one teacher, thirty children’s artworks, the lead for their drumming pieces (so professional), thirty children’s art, music, reading, thirty children’s birthdays, their major assemblies and sports carnivals are all organised methodically and thoroughly.
Look at the teacher, and she’s always cool and relaxed. And she’s about 50-years-old! I salute her!
12. Buddhist Influences
Kyoto has probably more temples than any other city in Japan, it has a kind of monastic ambiance. Tiantian has to go to temple every week for instruction. In the most important festivals she has to bow to Buddha, and there are activities on every Buddha’s Birthday and Nirvana day.
Tiantian is graduating soon, yesterday she went to Nishi Honganji temple to make a wish. Tiantian was the class representative and gave Buddha some flowers. I asked her what she wished, and she said “To always trust in Buddha, to always treat others with a thankful heart, and to always heed others’ words.”
I was expecting a registered parcel and was delighted when the postman identified himself on my security gate intercom. I buzzed him in and stood at my front door facing the lifts, waiting for him to arrive. Despite lots of lift activity, he did not show up even after 15 minutes.
Imagine my surprise when I later checked the online status of my parcel, and it was marked as "delivered to customer" on that very same day. Further tracking with the postal service showed that someone else had signed for my parcel.
Apparently the postman had gone to the wrong floor and unit, and that occupant had accepted my parcel even though he knew it was not meant for him.
The postman is now apologetic and trying to re-trace his steps, going to every floor to check and retrieve my parcel. I doubt it will be fruitful as it is difficult for him to identify the exact same unit. Even so, the occupant can 'act blur' and not return the parcel. The postal service has offered to reimburse me the cost of my item.
A few questions:
(1) The fact that a parcel is registered means that it is important the parcel ends up with the correct recipient. If so, why is someone other than the intended recipient allowed to sign for it? I would rather get a 'failed delivery' note in my mailbox and have to pick it up personally at the post office.
(2) The person signing for the parcel needs to write his or her name and sign on the acknowledgment sheet. However, details of the intended recipient is photocopied onto the same sheet as well. What is stopping the wrong person from copying down the intended recipient's name and signing as the latter?
(3) I appreciate that the postal service is willing to reimburse me for my loss. Yet not everything can be compensated with money. The point of using registered post is to safeguard the item that is being transported, which may have sentimental value or is of high importance to the sender/recipient.
As such, I believe that the postal service needs to improve their registered post system to make it more mistake-proof.
Maybe women get more competitive when they are pregnant. A 'survival of the fittest' thingy.
I have friends who are pregnant at this same time as me, so we do discuss issues such as nutrition and how our foetuses are developing. I've come to realise that one big insecurity that mummies-to-be have, is that their foetus is not growing enough.
That is understandable, cos if the baby comes out too small or malnutritioned, it will have an impact on their future health. Not to mention incur a really high bill due to their NICU stay.
In my second trimester, I used to be paranoid and worry all the time about my tummy being too small. Whenever we pass another pregnant lady on the streets, I would ask Hubby, "Who wins?" i.e. whose tummy is bigger. My paranoia only ceased when his answer began to be "You", as my tummy grew exponentially.
Now, it feels (and unfortunately also looks) like a huge watermelon, so much so that instead of wondering if it's too small, I wonder when the baby will finally be willing to come out! Can't wait to be able to breathe properly again.
It just miffs me that during my conversations with other first-time preggies, some of them insist on putting me down to elevate themselves.
I share that my tummy is too big for my comfort, and they say "No lah it's small." I ponder aloud if a dimple pillow will work to prevent flat head, and they laugh at me condescendingly.
Hello, it's not like you've been through it already and know better than me. If I'm feeling a certain way, it's not up to you to decide whether it's valid or not. Cos it is indeed how I am feeling.
Some who have already had children also tend to talk-down and give instructions in an abrasive way. I try to give them the benefit of the doubt --- that they are trying to be helpful. Maybe when one becomes a mother, a nagging and no-buts tone creeps into the voice naturally!
I was happily using my handphone on Tuesday when it suddenly hung. Repeated attempts to restart it by removing and re-inserting the battery didn't work. Neither did the 'old school' method of banging it hard with my palm.
So yesterday I lugged my huge tummy all the way to the Nokia 'care centre' at Century Square, braving the weekend crowd. But I didn't even get to step into the shop. A Filipino lady stopped me and asked if she could help. Taking a look at my phone model, she straightaway said that they are not fixing this model anymore as no more spare parts are being produced.
"Er... okay.... but maybe you just need to reset the chip or something," I wanted to say. But a Filipino male staff came over to chat with her and she decided not to give me further attention.
My handphone, Nokia 7390, is a grand old age of 2.5 years old, an eternity in terms of mobile lifespan. Most people upgrade their phones much more frequently than that. I didn't see the need to change it as it was working well, except for once when it also hung. It was also a birthday gift from Hubby, when he was still 'the boyfriend', that very year we got married.
Alas, Nokia has proven itself unstable again. Seems like hanging is a very common problem with Nokia phones. Since even their own staff is not interested to help, I don't see why I should help them by patronising their brand. Disappointed with Nokia. I've been a loyal supporter, using their phones ever since I started owning one, but this time, enough is enough!
So I've decided to switch brands. Wanted to get a HTC Cruise but too ex :((( Then came across this... and have ordered it online from Singtel. Coming on Thursday morning!
It's a sleek touch-screen phone in surprise surprise, pink again. At the price of $138 after trade-in, I figure it'll be a good progression from the medieval button-phone, and yet not too much a price leap to e.g. the high-tech iPhone.
Went to catch Michael Jackson's movie Moonwalker last night at Vivocity. Hubby wanted to watch it because he had played the Sega game when he was younger, but now the cartridge isn't working anymore.
We expected the movie to be reminiscent of the game i.e. follow the storyline of MJ saving children from the baddie named Mr Big (acted by Joe Pesci). Unfortunately, it was even lousier than a bad B-grade movie :( Was telling Hubby that the experience sort of tainted my memory of MJ!
There was no plot, the storyline didn't even make common sense, and some parts have no link at all. Basically it was like a collage of his extended MTVs, with snippets that he wanted to put in. For example, a sequence of himself turning into a Transformer-like alien spaceship -__-"
It didn't help that the seats suck and I was having backache after half an hour. The music was also blaring so loudly that Boy Boy started flinging his limbs in my tummy, and I had to buffer it with my sweater and bag and whatever I could find.
If we weren't sitting right smack in the centre of the row, I would have walked out, since the movie sucked. Fell asleep at some parts. I keep imagining myself pressing on the 'forward' button of a remote control.
Adding insult to injury, we exited the cinema only to see a video shop selling the exact same movie on VCD, at a cheaper price then both our tickets added together. Overheard a couple responding to the tagline "Like no other" that was splashed all over the video... The girl said "Of course like no other, it's so bad!" Hahaha... they must have just caught the same movie slot as us.
But to be frank, the MTVs were the best part of the movie, and watching it made me want to go buy either his concert or MTV collection. Was telling Hubby that it's very poignant:
Elvis was a legend of our parents' generation. He died the year I was born, 1977.
MJ is a legend of our generation. He died the year Boy Boy is to be born, 2009...
Footnote:
Yesterday we bumped into the gala premiere of Jack Neo's new horror-comedy "Where Got Ghost" 吓到笑, starring his usual cast again. Don't know why, I always feel that he's trying too hard. Like this time, he came up with another 'switch off your handphone' ad, which isn't as funny as the previous one. He should have just left it as it was. If not for the fact that a friend is slogging away as part of JTeam, I doubt I would even want to support Neo's movies.
Friend (A) put up a fan page link in his Facebook and asked us to support his friend, a comedian. I took a glance at the lady, and proceeded to comment on his post, praising the lady for her work on TV.
Checked back today to realise that I had mistaken her for another TV comedian. Friend (B) had commented after me, saying "Wrong person!".
My error. I felt bad, imagining how she feels being mistaken for another more successful peer.
What got my goat was the reaction of Friend (A). He commented "Uh Oh."
What kind of reaction was that? As a friend of both parties, I felt that he could have handled it better. What does "Uh Oh" mean? It only serves to make the lady more upset, reinforcing my mistake.
If I were Friend (A), I would make a joke to soften the situation. Maybe say "Wrong person lah! Hahaha!!!" or something to the effect of "Thanks for your support, she'll be as famous as that other comedian very soon!"
Just feel very duh about the "Uh Oh"... and what it says about Friend (A)'s EQ. But which is actually not unexpected, knowing him.
I never liked 品冠 Victor Huang's singing. I find it very clinical and emotionless. Have been feeling disgruntled over this for some time, and am compelled to write about it today because once again, I heard this song on the radio and felt so unjust for the original version.
Why do a cover version of a song if you cannot improve on the original? And he has been churning out albums based just on cover versions. URGH!!!
Here is the original by Malaysian group Baby.
This is the version where 品冠 kills the song. Totally does not convey the feel of the lyrics.
It used to be that "山顶人" were restricted to mountainous or kampung areas, supposedly where people were less educated and hence uncivilised. But now it seems they have invaded every niche of Singapore.
Hubby and I were pondering why. Is it due to the influx of less-cultured immigrants, that Singaporeans now see no need for themselves to upgrade their culture? Or is it that everyone is so caught up with bread and butter issues that they have no time to 'upgrade' themselves internally? Or are the immigrants the very people behaving badly?
Recently there have been a few incidents that brought up this issue again and again for us.
(1)
Last week Hubby and I decided to venture to Eastpoint as there is a big pet accessories shop there. We needed to get a new cat tree. Happily leaving with our purchase, Hubby told me to wait in the shopping centre while he put it in the car and return to have dinner with me.
While Hubby was on his way to the carpark, a furry padded corner of the cat tree accidentally bumped into an Uncle who stopped suddenly in front of him, in the very public area. Hubby apologised in English and tried to move on. The Uncle started scolding him so loudly in Cantonese that his wife and daughter tried to restrain him. Hubby apologised again in Mandarin, but the Uncle didn't seem to understand or take it in.
So Hubby continued up to the carpark, only to hear the Uncle shouting at him from downstairs. He rushed downstairs and asked the Uncle what exactly he wanted, mentally prepared to 'fight'. Luckily the guy's family pulled him away.
We left the place immediately, mood totally spoilt. Hubby was saying, luckily I wasn't with him when the incident happened, or who knows if the Uncle would have turned on the pregnant woman for 'vengeance'.
(2)
I was at a foodcourt. The man in front of me, in his 40s, ordered so many dishes that he left with his 1st tray, leaving the 2nd tray behind. I paid for my food and was waiting with my change and receipt on my tray.
When the man returned, I politely stepped back so he could access his 2nd tray. Instead, he started picking up my change from my tray. I said, "Excuse me, that's my change. Yours is still with the cashier."
He stared at me and put the coins back. Then on second thoughts, he started flicking the coins away so he could see my receipt, just to double-check that it was not his order!
I stared at him with disbelief. How rude. Then as the cashier passed him his change, he still dared to ask her if the money in my tray is his!!! Kudos to the cashier for ignoring him.
Stupid man!!!! Still turned and grinned at me before he left.
(3)
I was at AMK Hub. There's a Thomson Medical Centre clinic there, so there're usually many pregnant women waddling around. I was walking on this particular floor with the clinic when 3 boys came out of a tuition centre. Their mothers greeted them and continued walking ahead while gossiping.
As I walked in line with these mothers, suddenly the boys shouted "Make way!!!" and raced towards us from behind, squeezing in between me and their mothers.
Luckily my reaction was fast, as I jumped to the side and faced the wall. As the boys ran past I couldn't help shouting at them. Super angry.
In actual fact I wanted to stick out my arm and grab one of them by the collar so I could jerk him around and give him a huge dressing down. But in view of my own safety I decided not to.
My shouting did not make them even slow down. The mother closest to me quickly acted blur and moved away when she realised what her kid had done. Soon she herded the whole gang into the lift and away from the crazy woman.
I was even angrier because of the mother's behaviour. She should teach her kid basic manners. And to be careful, especially around the maternity clinic. Or at least say sorry on his behalf >:(
Or maybe AMK is a sua teng area and I should just avoid it if I don't want to be pushed to the ground during my pregnancy.
I was horrified one day when the Straits Times reported that pregnant women are in the high-risk group, and that 5 of them already died from H1N1 in the US. As if I don't already have enough things to worry about!!!
It doesn't help that being global citizens, everyone is flying everywhere, both for work and pleasure.
First, my younger sister went on trips to Melbourne, then Manila, and now she's in Thailand.
Then an ex-classmate came visiting from Manila, and I had to attend the gathering or it could be ages before we'll have a chance to meet up again.
And my brother-in-law just came back from Japan.
All countries on 'the list'!
Given a choice, I would rather err on the side of caution and see them only after they have been back for at least 7 days. But sometimes that is difficult, especially with my once-weekly dinner at my maternal home.
How do I tell someone to self-quarantine in case they spread to me? Such things have to be done in their own initiative.
And now, MOE decides not to extend the school holidays by one week. Personally, I don't have faith in all parents to be truthful and honorable in reporting their children's condition.
If I am a typical Singaporean parent and my child is having a slight fever, I would rather he pop a Panadol and go to school, instead of me having to 'waste' a day's leave to stay home and babysit.
An ex-colleague was sharing how she was reading a parents' forum and there were already parents discussing and scheming how to get their children past the screening process, even to the extent of forging their passport photocopies. Horrible!
So I am quite certain that there will be children exposed to the virus going to school next Monday. And knowing children and their bad hygiene practices, the virus is going to spread.
Hubby, being a teacher, will be exposed to a few hundred of these children, and if he catches the virus, he's ultimately going to bring it home to me.
Mr Khaw Boon Wan has advised that pregnant women wear face masks when they go out. I am now trying not to go out at all, unless really necessary. He also announced that preggies will be receiving flyers from MOH on how to protect ourselves.
Ok I am waiting trepidly, Mr Khaw... so chop! chop!!!
Being stuck at home nowadays, I figured it would be easier to order tingkat dinner for Hubby and I, rather than strain my mind on what to cook for dinner every night. Preparing dinner also takes up a good part of the late afternoon and evening, and leaves me tired and grumpy, especially if I need to do the washing-up as well when Hubby is busy with brought-home work.
So when a caterer dropped us a flyer with tingkat promotional trial, I jumped on it. Just $99 for 20 days of dinner for two, including 3 dishes and a soup. But as my brother-in-law likes to say... CHEAP THING, NO GOOD!
The menu from Serin Catering looked ok. But slowly all the dishes started tasting the same... tasting of the same MSG. The soups also all tasted the same; like plain water with MSG and random pieces of vegetables bobbing around in them. The dishes came in sambal, sambal, and more sambal. Sambal fishball. Sambal fish. Sambal chicken. Sambal sotong. Sambal kangkong.
Hubby started getting an unknown rash that popped up all over his body. Doctor said it was an allergy, but to what, we had no idea. But the timing coincided with the start of our tingkat service. I got so sick of the food; hardly healthy and nutritious as stated in the menu. Menu also changed 'subject to conditions'.
So 3 weeks into the service, with another 2 weeks to go, I said "bye bye" to Serin. You can keep the money. The great service I experienced when booking with them disappeared in an instant; no reply to my email, no phone call, no nothing. Talk about a bitter breakup. Oh well.
Hmm. Hubby's rashes have not appeared since. And I am so glad I can go back out and grab whatever dinner I crave!
Channel 8 showed the last episode of "My School Daze" last night.
I had started to follow the series, but later dropped out cos it was reminding me too much of my unhappy experiences teaching. But when the teachers in the show (played by Chen Hanwei and Rui En) quit the school system to work in tuition agencies, I started following it again, just to see what the final message would be.
After all, it is a very real situation today, that teachers find more meaning in teaching small-group tuition than addressing a huge class of 30-40 without any real impact.
The final message was that Chen Hanwei stuck to tuition, even charging half-price for needy students. Ok, can be done, if one does not really need so much money.
Rui En, inspired by one success, went back to school and asked to teach only the Normal stream. She gives an impassioned speech about how she too used to be a 'rotten egg', moving all her students, who decide to try hard. Hmm. Not so realistic. Anyway, that wouldn't work for me as I was never a 'rotten egg', so no credibility there.
In the initial part of the show, Rui En's character was a new spunky teacher who impresses her students with her cool convertible, rewards and interesting teaching methods. I personally think the 1st two ways are wrong, as Rui En later finds out. The students began to have greed only for rewards, without using their hearts.
Interesting teaching methods... Rui En hid strips of paper with Chinese idioms on them all over the school, and gave verbal hints. Her students had to run around to find the paper, and get a reward.
Will that work in real life? No. Firstly, too much noise. Secondly, as if Sec students will run around and get themselves tired and sweaty just for your reward. They will probably say "Lame lah, 'Cher."
--------------------------------
I had tried such stuff with my students too. We went all over the school to collect texture rubbings, and made artpieces out of them. I also did a play (complete with hastily-made props) with my Normal Tech class, instead of reading out the story to them as instructed in the material.
Some of my colleagues raised their eyebrows at the noise I was creating, but I felt that at least these activities connect more with the students, rather than boring classroom lectures. They had so much fun.
In fact, I was encouraged, when the uncle school counsellor happened to see the play in action, and said that he thought I should stay on as I was a good teacher. Alas, it was my last day of work, and it was too little, too late.
It is simply too tiring to have to have such activities for every single lesson, every single day, every single week, for the entire school year. Students need to learn to settle down too. It is not just the teacher's job to make sure they are 'engaged' 24/7.
So I still think quitting was the right decision for me. Just that... die, I think I am destined to still be a teacher someday, albeit in a different form. Perhaps teaching in an art enrichment class, or private tuition... or something.
The trauma I feel from my teaching stint continues. I believe I am unable to cut myself off from the notion that I 'am' a teacher, probably because my hubby comes home every day to share about his teaching. I also keep in touch with my students via my art class blog, as they clamour for more info about my pregnancy and keep asking me to return soon.
I have also started giving SMS tuition to a particular student from my most hated class. He was a troublesome boy, always walking around during class and I had to single him out for scoldings. But one day he approached me in the canteen for help with his Maths, as his Maths teacher 'did not have the time' to help him. So I gave him an hour's tuition.
At least he is willing to learn. So now and then, he will now SMS me with a Maths question and ask "Teacher, how to do this?" I help him because he always says "Thank you" after I explain the trick to solving such sums. It is at such times when I really feel the meaning of being a teacher.
A teacher gave his upper Primary students their NAFTA test recently and recounted these mind-boggling examples to me. They were doing the shuttle run.
Student 1: Goes to the teacher to take his name, and is told to get ready. He stands next to the teacher, far from the shuttle run, and gets into his 'ready' pose.
Student 2: Goes to the teacher to take his name, and is told to get ready. He goes to the shuttle run area, but stands in his 'ready' pose facing the wrong way.
Student 3: Starts running towards the beanbags, but stops when he reaches them, in a dilemma over which of the two to choose.
Student 4: Starts running towards the beanbags, but returns with a cone instead. The cones were used to demarcate the shuttle run area.
Student 5: Does everything correctly at first. Fetches a beanbag, then the other, but doesn't stop when he reaches the finishing. Picks up both beanbags and runs to put them back.
The teacher could not believe how dense his students were. These mistakes were still made after proper instructions were given, and they could see the performance of those running correctly before them. Many of them also insisted on doing the 'ready, get set, go' kneeling pose for sprinting, although told not to.
His supervising colleague, who had been lucky not to take the level this year, was in disbelief at how 'smart' this year's batch is. Really don't know want to laugh or want to cry.
When I read in the newspapers that Health Promotion Board has launched a new handwashing song for kids, for a moment I was pissed. I had written a little ditty (previous post) for the same purpose while I was working there, and the visuals flashed on TV news showed the poster I did. So had my song been hijacked for their latest campaign?
Luckily, it's a new one.
But I still attribute the concept to me, cos I had proposed a song as a reinforcement, especially for little children. My bosses never did pick up the idea, until now.
I was thinking, why was I feeling offended? Even if they had indeed hijacked my work, it was work done for the organisation as an employee, so I had no 'rightful claim' to it. Intellectual copyright is a difficult issue. Though personally I feel that as the creator, I still have the most rights to the work.
Feel bad for the design agency who did the poster for me then... their work has now been cut up and re-arranged to be used in this new song video. Isn't that an infringement of their copyright then? Although as with most working relationships in Singapore, the client is always right and always has the last say in what they do with whatever they pay you for. Especially when the client is the Gahmen.
(No, I will not call you 'Dr' because I don't think your integrity deserves such an accolade.)
On Monday May 18, you wrote in the ST Forum:
"On the day of the Aware EGM, the activist homosexual groups were out in full force, supporting the old guard. Many old guard supporters --- those in the meeting hall and volunteers outside --- were members of the activist homosexual group and spoke openly of their lifestyle. Many sexually challenged women were among the most vocal and vociferous supporters of the old guard...
It appears that homosexual activists seeking to impose their values by mainstreaming homosexuality have become a significant constituency of Aware. Anyone present at the EGM would have seen abundant evidence of this. Discerning Singaporeans can examine the evidence, in print and from online eyewitness accounts, to make up their own minds."
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In Philosophy 101 we learn how to spot fallacious statements. These are failures in reasoning that render an argument invalid, i.e. unsound arguments. Let's break down your points.
Point 1: Majority of old guard supporters = homosexuals = Aware supports them
The fact that many homosexuals support Aware does not mean Aware has turned homosexual-inclined. If I were a homosexual, I would have supported the old guard just because the so-called new exco was persecuting me. Of course I will support the enemy of my enemy. Or rather, someone that my enemy is bullying. That's common sense.
Point 2: Many old guard supporters = homosexuals = Aware has been overtaken by them
One can sign up for Aware membership online, as long as you can pay the subscription fees. Aware old guards had no control over who signed up, especially at the crucial time when they were fighting the new exco. We don't even know if they had control over the web administration, or whether it was the new exco approving all these memberships. To know for certain if "homosexual activists... have become a significant constituency of Aware", we have to wait and see what happens. It is up to Aware to moderate and balance their activities.
Your conclusion: Hence "anyone present at the EGM/ discerning Singaporeans... would have seen abundant evidence of this"
Conclusion is flawed because argument is flawed. I think discerning Singaporeans can only see how blinded you are by your own moral beliefs.
I am personally not homosexual, though I have friends who are. I admit I am a bit homophobic, especially with regards to lesbians. But I do not persecute them and I believe they have the right to explore their own lifestyles, even if I do not agree with them on a moral stand. But I will always believe in the right to agree to disagree. Stick to your own views all you want, but do not self-righteously impose them on others.
Another doggone problem! There is a pug living in one of my neighbouring flats. It's a cute little black thing; we saw it once when during our renovations, it charged out of its unit and into ours, freaking the painter out. We have nothing against it. In fact, when we met its owners in the lift lobby, we smile at and refer to each other as "the couple with the dog" and "the couple with the cats". It was peaceful co-existence.
But things changed this week. We usually keep our main door slightly ajar for fresh air, so the cats can have some action to look at and won't die of boredom. One night the cats were chilling by the gate as usual, when suddenly we heard Marvel hissing and puffing up like a pufferfish.
My husband went to pull open the door, only to see our neighbours hugging their pug, with a visiting niece and grandma in tow, all standing outside our gate. When exposed, they quickly turned without a word and walked briskly back to their unit on the opposite end of the corridor.
Obviously the couple wanted to show their niece what happens when cute little pug meets the cats. There was no reason for them to be standing outside our gate otherwise; they will reach the rubbish chute before our unit.
It was not the first time pug met cats; it had previously escaped from its unit and freaked Marvel out. So dear neighbour was aware that it was not a pleasant experience for our cats. And they still performed the 'experiment' for the kid to see.
And it happened again the next night. Our main door was closed and Copper was sniffing around it, looking at me and meowing. This is usually his signal that he wants the door to be opened so he can check things out. I had turned the knob and opened the door by barely 2 cm when I saw Copper jump and heard him hiss. Copper has never, ever, hissed before.
Looking down I noticed a black thingy outside the gate and quickly slammed it shut, yelling to my hubby that "THE DOG IS OUTSIDE OUR DOOR AGAIN!!!!" Because as I closed the door I heard dear neighbours talking outside in the corridor. I wanted them to hear our displeasure. Which they should expect, unless they are retards.
Hubby spent a long time soothing Copper. I told hubby I wanted to go over and tell them to stop it. But he pointed out that it could backfire as they could report us to HDB for keeping cats illegally (which btw is an incredibly stupid and illogical rule). So I came up with a more devious plan of asking nicely what time they let the pug out for his walk, so we can keep the door shut. But again, they have no obligation to keep to a schedule.
As for now, we're keeping the door shut once it's over 8pm. Just to be safe. Hopefully the message becomes clearer to dear neighbours and they'll stop letting the dog out cos there's nothing to see anymore. BOOOO. Inconsiderate dog owners!
Suki Sushi replies... but I'm still not going anymore :s
Thank you for your feedback to let us know the problems regarding the performance of some of our staff in Punggol outlet. We at Sukigroup strive to serve our customers with best effort. We do appreciate hearing from our customers, as their comments are vital for us to continue improving our level of standards.
The problems have been brought to the attention of our Area Chef. We apologize for the annoyance this incident caused. As a result of your concern, we have issued a written code of conduct for our employees. We will also ensure that the employees strictly comply with it.
Over the years, the National Environment Agency (NEA) has put in place various measures to improve the food safety standard. In addition, our department have been carrying out strict enforcement by conducting routine checks to detect malpractices.
We wish to also remind all our staff that observing good personal and food hygiene practices are very important. We have to ensure that all your food handlers involved in preparing the food, practise a high standard of personal and food hygiene at all times.
We once again extend our deepest apology, and assure you that we are putting in place the measures required to resolve the issue.
Since I'm on the topic of food hygiene, let me count the eatery stalls at my nearest coffeeshop. This is the only one within walking distance from my flat, although it's technically another estate away.
Stall 1: Chicken rice and porridge Stall 2: Western food Stall 3: Char kuey teow, carrot cake, hokkien mee, oyster omelette Stall 4: Indian food Stall 5: Seafood zi char Stall 6: Muslim food and nasi lemak Stall 7: Pasta and pizza Stall 8: Fishball noodles, lor mee, laksa, fish bee hoon Stall 9: Economy rice Stall 10: Fried bee hoon nasi lemak
There are a total of 9 stalls, but the ones that I actually patronise are dwindling. Because:
Stall 1: Spotted cockroach running all over the utensils tray; they pour containers of MSG into the porridge.
Stall 2: Super oily
Stall 3: Saw them pouring cooked sotong into dirty sink, then scoop the sotong back for cooking!
Stall 4: -
Stall 5: -
Stall 6: Open display of food is playground for houseflies
Stall 7: -
Stall 8: Ordered noodle soup once, only to find more than 20 small worms floating in it, apparently from unwashed vege. Showed it to the stall-owners, who waved me away and told me to take the bowl away from their stall! >:(
Stall 9: -
Stall 10: Super oily
Which means I only have 4 stalls left to choose from, for 2 meals a day, 7 days a week. HELP!!!! So sian. Especially now that I am pregnant and at home, I have to be more careful about hygiene and nutrition value :(((
My family had patronised your Punggol Plaza branch on Friday 1 May 2:18pm, and would like to offer our feedback regarding the visit.
We were seated at Table 02, which gave us a good view of the cutting boards and sauce/soup area of your open kitchen. We were shocked and disgusted by the poor hygiene shown in particular by 2 of your employees, Cheng Wu and Stanley.
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Firstly, Cheng Wu was wearing a disposable glove on only his left hand. His right hand was bare, and he used this hand to do everything.
He used his right hand to open the fridge door, to peel off raw beef slices from the storage container, to grab and arrange the raw vegetable salad, and to hold and transport fried cutlets. He did all this in continuous motion, not once pausing to wash his hands. In fact, throughout our 1-hour lunch, we were observing him and not once did he wash his hands.
Also, there were 2 cutting boards on the table, a big blue one, and a small white one. Cheng Wu used the white cutting board to cut raw prawns, then wiped it with a 'good morning' towel. Cooked fried cutlets were put on the blue cutting board to be cut and served, which was then wiped down with the same towel!
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Secondly, Stanley was scooping out some curry when he dropped the entire ladle into the curry sauce. He put his fingers into the sauce to pick up the ladle, and accidentally dropped it onto the floor. So he picked it up and just ran it under the tap, without scrubbing or using any detergent.
Then he proceeded to put the scoop back into the sauce, without wiping it dry of dripping water from the tap. Water was still dripping from his hand as he carried the plate to the counter for delivery to the customer, dripping all over the raw sushi that his colleague was slicing near the counter.
Stanley then dipped his wet hand into the container holding dried seaweed flakes to grab some and sprinkle over the dish he was preparing. This is despite the fact that there was a spoon in the container that he could have used.
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We also observed some other unhygienic practices by other staff, such as using their apron to wipe dry a spoon before dunking it into soup ramen for serving. A few bowls of ramen were also left unattended near raw food for long periods of time before being brought to the counter for serving.
After this experience at Suki Sushi, we will think twice about patronising your branches. We hope that such incidents are not prevalent in all Suki Sushi branches.
As a Japanese restaurant serving raw food, we would think Suki Sushi would put more emphasis on hygiene practices, especially with the recent Geylang Indian Rojak scare and MOH's clampdown on unhygienic eateries.
I'm not sure if you have been keeping abreast of the AWARE saga; a ST poll showed that most people seemed to be disinterested in what was going on, taking it as a catfight between two opposing groups of women who had nothing better to do.
Before the whole hoo-ha, I only knew that this organisation existed, but was not very sure or interested in what they actually do. Afterall, there are so many civil groups around, and I'm more into animal rights than that of human, or women in particular.
What got me drawn into the saga was the report of how the new exco 'won' the AGM. It was an obviously orchestrated coup, with new members joining just to vote their nominee into office. That alone was hardly honourable. And I felt that these people should not be allowed to get away with using such underhanded means.
When news surfaced about their religious connection and agenda, I got even more riled as it was clearly a case of them trying to impose their views on others. The fact that both their 'feminist mentor' and pastor were so self-righteous about their cause made me quite pissed, to be frank.
I am SO glad that the new exco has been ousted. They should have had integrity and stepped down long ago, as it was obvious that they were not welcomed. At least the whole saga issue has been settled.
But I was appalled that the 'feminist mentor' still wanted to get the last word in and commented that she was horrified by the type of women Singapore has --- simply because we had voted her exco out.
Hello? You do not get the privilege to comment on people, when you showed no integrity in the first place. Geez!!!
Frankly speaking, this incident has further tarnished my view of Christians. I've been on the receiving end of more than a few preaching friends, who are unable to accept 'no' for an answer. So this bull-dozing mentality cut it a bit too close to home. Luckily there were also Christians in the old exco supporters, and that has reminded me to not jump to generalisations :)
I like how the transport system is so orderly. Maybe it's got to do with the Confucius teachings their people study.
Signs for priority seats tell people to YIELD their seats. So much better than "pls give up". Most people we saw were very quick to stand up once someone more needy boarded the cabin.
Those in need can also get a sticker from the counter to wear, a justification that allows them to claim their seat. I think this is a very good idea, as it makes it less awkward for the needy person.
They also have clear instructions to speak softly or use sms. How I wish we have them too!
Look, everyone is following the lines. I think the problem with ours is because the lines are too short and there isn't actually enough place to queue, so no one bothers.
The stations have double-decker bicycle parking systems. So good...
Their 'love' campaign is so big scale they have competitions to enhance and publicise it. Not like SMRT's half-hearted efforts. Boo.
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