Hello Ms C,

I just wanna say thank you to you for scolding the whole class. I realise that by sitting down doing nothing will not help me in my exams for the end of year. So, i decided to study. I'm happy that i'm going 2A next year. I had fullfill my mother's wish.

I also wanna say thank you to you as you are the one who give me motivation for the 2.4km run. I really appreciate that.

From: S

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Can't think of a more perfect way to end the school term =) In all honesty, i can't remember what i scolded them about and what sparked that on. Maybe she's the only one my scolding made a difference to, but just like in that starfish story, at least it made a difference to her. Never really thought my SCOLDING would actually work tho. Heh. Found out recently, that i'm not just fierce in the way i perceive myself in my head. I AM fierce. In fact, it seems i have a reputation for being so, both from the perspective of students, as well as teachers. Hah. That's new.

This year has been eventful. In spite of all my rantings and grumbling, i really do like my students. Sometimes when i think about them, an involuntary wave of compassion would wash over me, that makes me wanna do something to make them feel loved. As if they were my own kids. Soppy huh? Well, it doesn't happen too often you know =)

Today, the announcement was formally made. HE's leaving... There was some sort of celebration and students were made to sit in a formation spelling out the words "THANK YOU". It was kinda cool to see that. Tributes were paid from several teachers and students, thanking him for his contribution to the school. And as the video presentation was played, to my surprise, quite a number of teachers and students started to weep. Ok, maybe i'm not surprised with students weeping. They do that ALL the time. Like faucets, they are. But yah, i was very surprised when the HOD sitting next to me started sobbing noticeably. And that made me wonder. Do these ppl REALLY like him? Or is it just a thing of the moment? I wondered too, if i was just plain hard-hearted. I mean, he went around shaking hands and hugging the teachers and his eyes were obviously wet. And while many gave him hugs (some had no choice), i was content to proffer a firm handshake which said that was all i was gonna offer. I really believe i dun have a soft spot for him at all! Am i really hard-hearted?? I really dun feel anything leh...

Today was wrought with crying. I met a parent of a student yesterday. Basically, i din think this student was problematic, so i did not make it mandatory to meet this parent. This mother, however, seemed to think that she was at her wit's end with this younger child of hers. She said she didn't understand why her 2 sons are so different, and why my student (Y) couldn't be more motivated. Like his brother. I didn't understand what the problem was actually. Cos i felt he was fine in class leh. Somehow i had an idea of what Y might be suffering from at home. Dunno how i got that idea. I tried to gently enquire from the mom if she often compared the 2 boys at home. As expected, she was defensive and did not feel that was the problem. Today, i decided to sound him out to see if my little theory was correct.

I called him out while i was in class. Everyone was busy doing their own thing, so in spite of being in front of the entire class, we ironically managed to have a private moment. I mentioned that i talked to his mom and i asked him if he was often compared with his brother. Said a lot of other stuff as well and to my horror, he started to cry. Mind you, he's no mummy's boy, so i was rather shocked that it happened. I guess so i hit the nail on the head with my little theory. My heart really went out to him. I know how it feels when you're always being compared to people you could never match up to. So i told him how responsible he was, and assured him that it doesn't matter if he wasn't as good in his studies because i was sure he has his own strengths. Told him too, to communicate with his mum, let her know that it hurts when being compared with another person. So off he went, after our little session, wiping his tears away and trying to hide the embarrassing fact that he cried from his classmates. 30 min later, he was back to his cheerful and playful self. That's the good thing about kids. They're really more resilient than we give them credit for sometimes. Meeting with parents and having one-to-one sessions with my kids always gives me plenty to ponder about afterwards. And i remember once again, why i didn't end up teaching in the more prestigious schools. Guess i like the neighbourhood schools for its problematic students.

Just when i thought things were gonna be more relaxed now that students are no longer having lessons...sigh.

Have been busy all week with post exam activities...bringing them bowling and tmr bringing them to the Healthzone. Today was really stressed up cos we were conducting a Health Quiz for the restless students. It didn't help that my colleague who was supposed to be in charge of this event totally forgot about it, and we had to cover for her. The whole of yesterday was spent rushing through daiso trying to find suitable prizes and then rushing back to school to rack our brains for quiz questions and putting them on powerpoint. No thanks to that irresponsible teacher who left everything last minute. As a result, i ended up with a huge headache towards the end of the day. Been getting headaches more and more ever since i started this job. I used to be able to get rid of the headaches by either sleeping it off or bathing. But now, even panadol doesn't help. Yesterday was esp bad because after waiting in vain for the headache to go off by itself, i finally gave in and took a panadol only to find myself feeling NAUSEA on top of that headache. Then cold chills came and i started to feel really sick. Retired to bed at 8pm as a result. Am so glad i was back to normal when i woke this morning. But then the students had to drive me nuts. Sigh.

My committee (The Healthy Lifestyle Committee), has got to be the least supported committee in the entire school. We were stuck with the entire secondary 1 and 2 levels...that's 16 classes....with absolutely no help from the other teachers who had totally disappeared from sight. Any idea what unsupervised kids after exams are like???! I felt like i needed 2 more heads to bark and glare at misbehaving students while keeping score of the quiz AND giving the right answers at the same time! There are only 4 of us in the comm. 1 was emceeing, 1 was clicking on the laptop, 1 was dunno-where, while i had (stupidly) planted myself right in the middle of rowdy boys trying to keep them quiet AND keeping score of the quiz AND providing answers that my emcee friend was unsure of. Never have i ever needed more heads than today.

Not for a long time, also, have i felt so much like ....like....STOMPING on the head of a student like you would on an ant!! This INSOLENT PEST OF A BOY had the NERVE to be DOWNRIGHT RUDE to ME!! If i hadn't any self-restraint i would have slapped him all the way to TIMBUCTOO! ARRRGH!! If there's anything i can't stand, it's rudeness from students!! I gave him no peace for the next hour. hmph. After which i talked to him nicely with patience that must only have come from God. Seriously. I think he was listening to me. Either that or he's a really good actor. Sigh. These NT students ah... really exhausting. Anyway, i severely warned him against being rude to me, or teachers for that matter.

Other thing i did today...confiscated a whole lot of loot. heh. After exams the students really all boh zeng hu...(no government)!! I mean, since when is it alright to play card games, read books, listen to mp3 and play guitar (??!) while a competition is going on??? So i just went around being a reverse Santa Claus, taking all those things away...ended up with like 5 storybooks (chinese and english), 2 stacks of cards, 1 mp3 player and a guitar! cool huh? Kinda fun actually =)

Next few days are gonna be real hectic. Tmr i've got to meet parents all afternoon till evening. Fri there's a school function till night. And next week i've gotta worry about my work review, many many reports which take very long to write, and skits and mimes to write for my cambodia trip...oh, and there's volleyball training too. Sigh.

Thanksgiving tho, for my colleague Simon, for kindly agreeing to take over my duties in december so that i can go for the cambodia trip. Am so grateful to him for agreeing so readily. I mean, his replies were "Consider it done.", "No prob.", "what am i here for? Sure." So nice to have christian colleagues like him =) God is so good. Am noticing that every year, He is bringing more and more christian colleagues into the school. The new vp that just came in is apparently christian too. My HOD also. Oh and btw, SOMEONE is leaving soon... heh. Can't say out who tho. Those who know me would prob be able to guess. Can't be too careful about what i say on blogs these days man...

oh, and would those with good memories pls remind me that there ARE medicines that i'm apparently allergic to? Discovered them this year. All along, every time i'm required to declare my drug allergies, i've always put "None that i know of". Perhaps that's cos i've always been pretty healthy and never had to take much medication. This year however, i've found out that i'm allergic to a certain type of cough mixture, and some muscle relaxant called Anarax. Was really scary. Started to get heart palpitations in the middle of the night on Mon i think. Had problems breathing and couldn't sleep cos my heart was racing. By the time i fell asleep from exhaustion, it was time to wake up. Felt so tired and stoned the next day. And my hands were shaking as tho i had taken drugs. Not a good feeling man.

Anyway, congrats to those who made it past my rambling above and gotten down to this line. I'm done with my grandmother stories at long last. =) Till my next rambling...

This is a collection of leave letters and applications written by people in various places of India...
1. Infosys, Bangalore: An employee applied for leave as follows:

Since I have to go to my village to sell my land along with my wife, please sanction me one-week leave.

2. This is from Oracle Bangalore. From an employee who was performing the "mundan" ceremony of his 10 year old son:

"as I want to shave my son's head, please leave me for two days.."


3. Another gem from CDAC. Leave-letter from an employee who was performing his daughter's wedding:

"as I am marrying my daughter, please grant a week's leave.."


4. From H.A.L. Administration dept:

"As my mother-in-law has expired and I am only one responsible for it, please grant me 10 days leave."



5. Another employee applied for half day leave as follows:

"Since I've to go to the cremation ground at 10 o-clock and I may not return, please grant me half day casual leave"



6. An incident of a leave letter

"I am suffering from fever, please declare one day holiday."



7. A leave letter to the headmaster:

"As I am studying in this school I am suffering from headache. I request you to leave me today"



8. Another leave letter written to the headmaster:

"As my headache is paining, please grant me leave for the day."



9. Covering note:

"I am enclosed herewith..."



10. Another one:

"Dear Sir: with reference to the above, please refer to my below..."



11. Actual letter written for application of leave:

"My wife is suffering from sickness and as I am her only husband at home I may be granted leave".



12. Letter writing: -

"I am in well here and hope you are also in the same well."



13. A candidate's job application:

"This has reference to your advertisement calling for a ' Typist and an Accountant - Male or Female'... As I am both(!! )for the past several years and I can handle both with good experience, I am applying for the post.

Someone should write a book on this. Usable and reusable quotes on how to end a letter to a friend. These students of mine really need it. Here's why...

They wrote:

"I hope that we will see again..."
- What?! Are they presently blind or something??

"Now i saving my pocket money to look upon seeing you again..."
- HUH???

"Until here only i can say..."
- ditto the above

"I have to stop my pen..."
- Ohhhh....does it have a life of its own then..

"I drop the pen here..."
- This one i like...my jaw dropped along with the pen.

Here are some other interesting jawdropping atrocities...

"I really like the sineries at your country..."

"Many things i like about your country, like the rooster coollar at the funfair..."

"I really missed your mom's cooking. Good until make me drop my saliva..."

Hmm. Interesting.

YES! Finally...marking days are over...although not forever..but still....a 2-month break from marking is pretty good already, don't you think? Not good to be too greedy ya?

Marking day ended yesterday. 3 marking days starting monday, so got to sleep in a little longer. No see students means less stress. I just realized how much i actually like doing admin work. Was just commenting on that to another colleague and he readily agreed. Somehow, it feels good when u can actually tick off the stuff you have completed on a checklist. I actually ENJOYED writing a list of mundane stuff i had to get done and ticking them off afterward as i got them done. Ha. Even stupid things like booking millions of buses for post-exam activities, writing remarks for report books, keying in MSG grades and doing up marking reports....hmm...sheesh.

Yesterday, i felt the most accomplished of all the days. i dutifully set to work the minute i stepped in to work and worked with feverish enthusiasm. Took longer than i thought to finish, but hey! When i left at about 2 plus, the rest were still around. I even managed to finish stuff that was due end of today. Felt even more accomplished because i managed to get some tricky calculations and IT stuff done right and was thus tasked to help others having problems. Heh. 'Humble' is so not my middle name right? Only downside is my tummy had to wait abit long to be fed. I have this bad habit of wanting to get everything done before i eat. Don't like to break the continuity. So it was around 3pm when i finally got my lunch, after a breakfast of vitasoy and crummy biscuits i gobbled down in hunger about lunchtime.

Am enjoying the break from teaching, i am. Met my students today after their long weekend, and just being in the class with them for an hour kinda drained me. Altho i kinda enjoyed it also in a sadistic way. Ha. Students have this strange conception that teachers LURVE them. Dunno why. One actually tried to get me to admit that its a privilege to teach them. PAH! Here's my response to her "It's a privilege and joy to come in here to teach us right??" - *Rolls my eyes*... "Pardon me while i vomit." Funny, this people.

Other nice thing that happened today...i'm starting to feel better about my job. That i'm actually not too bad at what i do. That's a good feeling. Like you're not so useless afterall. Today i asked my HOD which level of classes for English she would given me next year. Just out of curiosity. I wanted to request for sec 1 actually. Prefer younger students cos that age suits my teaching style better. Rather handle kiddy problems than complicated friendship and BGR probs. *shudder* Anyway, she said she hadn't decided and wanted to know my preference. Told her lower sec but she insisted that i take at least one upper sec, preferably an NT class, better still a graduating NT class. In dismay, i demanded to know why. I mean, ever since i stepped into this school i've had to teach graduating classes! Wasn't it time for me to take a break from graduating classes??? She said,"Because your grammar is quite good, you just need to improve your strategy abit."

Wat say coming from a strict person with limited praise, that's like a real compliment lor! =) Then i told her that i may not definitely stay the entire year so better not give me graduating class. Then she almost begged me to take at least 1 NT class. I was horrified.

"NOOooooooo.....Dun want la! Why every year kena NT?? I dun want....why me?? Isnt there anyone else??"

She said no.

"Whaddaya mean no one else?? So many English teachers, can't someone else do it?? How about V? She's fierce!"

"She volunteered to do O levels next year lah..."

"The REST leh??"

"They can't handle the NT students lah.."

"??? Then i can MEH??"

"YAaa...."

Hmm. New revelation. Strange. But feels good. Heh.

In case there are those of u out there who have no idea what NT means...it stands for Normal Technical. Students in this stream ultimately end up in ITE and hence many people, teachers included, give up on them. They also often give up on themselves or cannot be bothered. And to be honest, it's hard not to when u have to teach them. Sometimes the worst attitudes and behaviour come from them. They behave like small children trapped in huge, beefy, strapping bodies which look almost adult. These are the bengs and lians of the school, who strut around not caring if u are teacher or peer. They pierce every conceivable part of their body which is remotely possible to pierce, they do the most unbelievable, ridiculous things and that includes throwing chairs around, not to mention beating one another up in jest or over a silly prank.

Anyway, this class of mine came to my thoughts today. They were taking their Art and Maths paper today and i was invigilating. Invigilating, btw, has got to be the biggest waste of time. I could have more fun watching my toenails grow. Anyways, I started thinking about the stupid kinda things that happened in my time with them over the past 2 years．

Scene 1
I was walking past their classroom one bright, sunny day...i looked in and lo and behold, i saw a couple of the boys frantically squirting water out from their water bottles with what looked suspiciously like enthusiasm. As a result of their squirting, there is a large puddle of water on the floor. I looked up and squinted at the walls, curious to know what in the world they were squirting at. I saw a dark yellow patch of dubious liquid on the wall. Being well-equipped with a good dose of common-sense, i assumed it was paint, assumed those fellas had been playing with paint after their art lesson and had vandalised the walls in the process. (i wouldn't put it past them to have thrown paint on the walls on PURPOSE). I asked them what they were doing.

"Cher, trying to clean the wall lah!"

"What is that on the wall?? Paint ah?"

"No...curry...."

"WHAT THE.....??!!"

Scene 2
I walk into class with a head-full of rebonded hair. Wolf-whistles sail thru the air to my disbelief. I'm a TEACHER!!!

Anyways, i stand stonefaced in front of the class waiting to be greeted. One student quips,

"Cher, you getting married ah??"

My response: ????!?? "What rubbish are you all talking about??"

"Teachers like the rebond their hair when they get married mah...So, who are you marrying??"

"???? I'm not getting married lah! Stop talking rubbish!"

"Oh teacher, you marrying Mr Tan ah...."

Frantically scans my brain...who in the world is Mr Tan?? Hey...waitaminute, there's NO MR TAN!

"Where got Mr Tan in this school?!?"

In my haste and confusion, i start talking like them.

"Who's Mr Tan???"

"Who's Mr Tan? The one you're marrying lor!"

Arrrgh...this is one battle i SOooo can't win.

Scene 3
I am in the midst of my droning. I pause for a moment and am about to continue when i notice something is not quite right. I take a quick glance round the class and i stare curiously at one of the students. What is that THING??? Like one of those game machines you see at the amusement arcades, you know, the kind that has like 5 'gophers' or something like that, popping in and out of the machine while you hammer at them valiantly, mercilessly, albeit to no avail sometimes. Ya, so like that machine, i saw a tiny needle-like object popping in and out of a student's mouth with alarming velocity. Somewhere in the vicinity of the chin area. I thought i was seeing things. I started to stare. The student suddenly became aware of impending disaster and stopped the activity abruptly. But it was too late. Doomsday had come for him. *heh* With an alarming snarl i pounced on him and demanded to know what that thing was and what it was doing in his mouth. To cut the long story short, i made him spit that disgusting object out and was going to bring it down to the DM for confiscation. But being the kind soul i am, i returned it to him after much beseeching, begging and grovelling, on condition that i never saw it in his mouth during class again. I promised that if he broke that rule, i'd be sure to throw that disgusting object out of class, mouth, boy and all...

Scene 4
It is their final lap. The N level paper. It is the final day of the exam and there are 2 papers. Art in the morning and Maths in the afternoon. There is a 4 hour break in between papers. The students happily go off for lunch after the Art paper and returned punctually for the 2nd. One, however, looks strangely like a ribena berry. Boys, having not been blessed with the privilege of wearing their locks long, are highly conspicuous when the colour of their face or neck deviates from the norm. Being black and dirty in one thing, the norm i might say, afterall, they're such dirty creatures. ha... But being beet red is quite another matter. His entire face, neck and ears were all RED! The paper had already started, scratching sounds could be heard of pens on paper. The students were all scribbling their answers with gusto, eager to finish the paper, except ONE. His beet red head was lolling around precariously on his beet red neck. In a couple of minutes, his head collapsed on his table in drowsy stupor. I strode briskly to his table, rapped him on the head with his ruler, and was greeted with a wave of foul-smelling ..... alcohol??! My gosh! Is he.....DRUNK???!

He admitted he had two beers. Sigh. So smart of him to drink just before the last paper when he could have waited a few more hours till the end of the papers and drunk all he liked at home. As a result of his genious, he attracted hordes of teachers, HODs, the P and VP....all came in disbelief and for discipline purposes. Dunno what became of that guy eventually. Dun think he cares either.

Epilogue:
Brilliant eh, this class? Their antics are hard to believe, sometimes hard not to laugh at. i've had many a guffaw, as well as a good jaw about them. Will kinda miss them when they're gone. But then again, there're also a lot of things i won't miss =)

Teeheehee....

Actually, this isn't funny.

Put yourself in my shoes. Or at least in my family's shoes.

Supposing you've had your home number for time memorial. It's easy to remember and everyone can get you. Even neighbours and friends from decades ago. How open and willing would you be to change your number at this point of time?

What if there's nothing standing between you and your way (i.e. keeping your time memorial number for more decades to come) except one thing? An irritating creep who refuses to stop calling. A creep who calls you several times a day. Sometimes to hang up after one ring. Sometimes to hang up upon hearing your "hello?". Sometimes to keep silent while you bark out hello after hello in rising fury, only to hear the other end go 'click'. Wouldn't that make you wanna tear out his hair in frustration?? If only i could get my hands on his slimy neck.....grrrrr.....hmm..then again....

I say 'his' because i know for sure it's a guy. Before this smart ass realized i could track his number via caller id, i'd called him once before to blast him for his irritatingly childish behaviour.(i'm pretty sure it's a 外国劳工). I interrogated him in my fiercest teacher voice and threatened him before hanging up violently. But he continued his game using a public phone...Oooooohhh.....*cracks my knuckles*....*snarl*

Today, as usual, he was at it. At first, i ignored it. But the persistent ringing drove me nuts. Finally, i picked up the phone, wanting to scream at him and bite his head off. Then i thought, "hmmm...why should i get angry and get my blood pressure up?" So i bided my time and waited silently to see if there'd be any response on the other side. I simply just picked up the phone and said nothing at all. Not even a "hello?". And i thought since he wants to waste my time, i'll waste his money. Assuming he's calling from a public phone. So i hung on the phone and watched tv. Heh. After a while, he got impatient and finally ventured several hellos. I kept quiet. Then a thought struck me. "I know!! I shall freak him out!!" Having thus been motivated, i proceeded to summon every ounce of acting blood in me. I pictured how a mad/villainous/evil woman/witch would sound while brewing some bloodcurdling plot.... and then.....i let it loose.

I gave what i hoped was an evil, witchy, goosebump-inducing, high-pitch laughter....the kind you might associate with the likes of sadako in the middle of the night. I let it loose. Loud and long. There was silence on the other end. Then i hung up.

And then, i cracked up. 哈哈哈... i found it really hilarious. Tried to picture his reaction. I hope it haunts him. heh heh heh...Sure beats getting angry and making my own blood boil.

Here's a thought: sometimes it's worth taking a step back and taking a different (better still if it's also hilarious) approach to situations in life. Do it differently from how u'd usually do things. And get some joy out of it. Ha. For me, now he can call all he wants, i'll just make sure i waste his time and his money, and cook up more hare-brained schemes on how to freak him out samore =)

Any ideas, anyone?

p.s. i can do a demonstration of that laughter if anyone wants to hear it...teehee..

I've finally heard another song that makes me happy every time it comes on....

You know how some songs just perk you up no matter what? And makes u wanna bounce and hum along as it goes on? yeah well...not many songs do that to me. For the record, there's been only 2 songs which have the ability to make me wanna bounce. Both chinese. Strangely i can't rem the name of the first one....then again, for someone like me, that's not really strange...haha...The second song is relatively new. It's called 快乐. How apt right? =) Don't even know who sang it...sigh.

Started the day with a bout of gastric that would not go away. Hadn't had it for some time, so had no idea where i left my medication. Made me feel very sick. Pukey. And not to mention grumpy. Sigh. My students weren't on their best behaviour to top it off. Made them sit on the floor cos i told them that if they wanted to behave like monkeys, i'd treat them like monkeys. And monkeys dun get to sit on chairs. Nor use tables. Also drove the culprits who didnt finish their work out of the class till they completed it. That kinda did the trick, cos when i went into class the second time, they were seated quietly doing their work. Such a miracle for a class like mine. Sometimes feel like a dog. Always have to bark at them. They probably think i love doing that. Yah right. It irks me that they dun seem to have the right perspective of their exams. Their next paper is on fri and they can still look so relaxed and play their free time away. GRRRRrrr...

Couldn't tahan gastric in the end. Got permission to go home to rest for a bit. Came back in the early afternoon for n level invigilation. Felt real bloated and sick till i took my ginger pills. Kinda works, it does. Now staring at my pile of marking and wondering if i can get it done by tmr. Sigh. Hate marking summary. Just a mass of words that makes my mind whirl.

Hmm...kinda think of it, this is one of the few times i'm blogging with nothing in my mind i really wanna say. Think i'm just wasting time so i dun have to mark. Keep feeling lethargic and sleepy and without motivation these days. This is probably gonna be the most boring blog entry EVER! Arrgh....

Am trying to enforce the notion of TRUST in class. Instead of threatening and scolding them (actually u can never really get away from scolding them lah..), i asked them if i could trust them to do their work on their own even when i'm not there (had to invigilate mah..)Sometimes it works. And i'm glad when it does. But conversely, when it doesn work, it makes me feel i can't trust them.

There's this particular boy in the next door class. I'm form teacher of E class. This boy is in D. Started absenting himself for no reason and for a long bout of time. When i finally saw him, he had lost quite a bit of weight and i actually felt xin tong. Asked him what happened, he said he was beaten up by his gangster brother for being rude to his parents. Sheesh. So unbelievable. He disappeared again after a while. I learnt that he had been running away from home and that he was on very bad terms with his family. I felt it was such a pity cos i know he's capable of good work. He had never given me any probs all along till now. Now all his teachers are after him for work and tests that he didn't take. Poor chap. Decided to have a talk with him yesterday. Asked him to be frank with me and tell me what was really the matter. He admitted that he was on very bad terms with his parents and that he had played truant on 2 days. Asked him to put himself in his parents' shoes and to be more understanding. Also told him that i wanted to see him graduate at the end of sec 4 with flying colours and not drop out becos of this. Told him also that he had potential to be a student leader and contribute to the school, and that i wanted to be proud of him. And u know what? i think he was listening. i dunno if one day i'd be disappointed, but i think for now, i choose to believe him.

Went to the pantry for recess after that and all the teachers who taught that class had a conference about him. His form teacher was convinced that nothing good wld come out of him. When i told her that he had promised me to take his english test today, she was sure that he would not turn up. I was obstinate. I said i'd trust him this time and see. And u know what? He came today =) I'm glad.

Had another talk with him before his test. Asked him where he went when he ran away from home. He was honest (i think). Told me he slept at a playground. I did the necessary teacher-talk about that and then told him about TRUST. Told him that there were people who didn't think he would come today, but i trusted him becos he promised to come. But also told him frankly that if he didnt turn up today, he'd have broken my trust and i would not be inclined to trust him again. Told him nicely not to ever break my trust in him. So lets just see how things go...=) crossing my fingers and praying hard.

Then there's this other boy in F class. All the teachers hate him. I din like him either but then, there was something about this boy. Kinda see a challenge in him. Feel also that he responds very well to praise, but becos of his terrible behaviour, everyone only scolds him. Yesterday, he was at it again. I pulled him out of class along with the other noisemakers. (I don't teach this class, i was next door) Talked to him one-to-one about how irritated i was with him. Told him very frankly how shitty the life of teachers can be and how many things we had to do....yadayada... Asked him to be more considerate because his behaviour did not just concern him, it affects the rest of us, including the teachers, so would he please be more considerate. Wat say...he actually listened. And when i asked him what i told him, he could actually remember! hmmm...am pleased. Of course i dun expect perfect behaviour from him, but i'm just glad that there's some positive response. I believe in giving people second chances, in spite of the little devil in my head that says otherwise.

Think i need to remind myself now and then of these little perks in working life. Otherwise i really dun think i can stay here very long. Thank God i can remember these things in spite of my horrible memory =)

She's at it again!!

We made an arrangement to alternate in producing work for our classes. I was supposed to do the first 2 weeks of term 4 and she was supposed to do the next 2 weeks which includes this wk. Articles for this week are for tuesday (which is tomorrow), wednesday and thursday, and were supposed to be handed in for printing last week! And wat do u know? She not only didn't hand in her work for printing, she even absented herself today!! And who do the printing ladies come after?? MEEEeee...

This is ridiculous! The reason why we share the workload is because we do the same stream but different levels. I do the sec 4s while she does the 3s. But both the levels do the same articles. My class is having their N levels now. They aren't even doing any reading articles this week! That's why i told her to do this week's articles! Makes sense rite?? Basically she's just doing articles for her own class lor. I dun see how i come into this particular picture when i dun even teach her class!!

Grrr...its not funny when i have to clean her ass all the time...even more not funny when i have to clean the asses of the 40 asses in her class as well lor!! I can't believe this woman!! It's not enough she tries to rip my test paper using the lousiest of excuses (her comp crashed and she accidentally took home my stuff, she says..PAH!), she has the nerve to shed tears in front of the HOD to get out of doing the orals (guess who had to go in her place? I did it last year too lor, and she's never had to do it before!). What's more, she even went to the HOD in tears just cos i gave her black face for passing me her workload! I mean! She should be glad i din throw stuff in her face and scream in her ear! what's a black face compared to the other things i'm capable of??? Wa lau... i'm already being very kind ok. She's always absenting herself and her class always makes noise next door when i'm having tests or trying to teach. So i go over to her class and take pity on them for not having a teacher in class and end up TEACHING her class cos i'm worried they can't do their english! I even marked the test papers of those in her class which i caught for making noise. (the punishment for noise-making was to join my class in a test) Gave her class the same assignment i gave my class and taught them how to do letter-writing! Am i not kind enough?? ARRGH! Need to scream. And she's not even sure of her work! She comes over during lesson to ask me wats the format of her students' exams, and even comes to me when she doesn't know wat to do with her rowdy students! And i punish HER STUDENTS for HER!! GRRRRRrrrrrrr..... I really think i'm doing alot for this woman oredi lor! And this is how she repays me....

I'm going for a long run...