Saturday, January 12, 2008
Eating laksa at the wee hours of the night is so sinful and yet so satisfying. After braving the cold night wind, it's a relief to be able to eat something a little spicy. However, I don't have the habit of adding extra chili into my laksa. That's too insane for me but maybe not for others out there who like to blow out fire from their mouths hoho...
I was looking through a celebrity's blog when I realized that when celebrities post photos, they tend to portray an image of being chummy with everyone, from co-actors to the backstage crew. However, they stop short in posting photos of people who may be deemed as rivals (though the rivalry has not been declared openly...). It's like no matter how many photos they post, at the end of the day, they want to make sure that they are solely the lead even in photos and that they stand out. I wonder if it's just a coincidence or am I over- analyzing.
I've been with my class for only 1 and a half weeks and already I've seen many types of scenarios. I supposed in this line, you really can only learn as time goes by. It's not like a post in an office whereby, you just need to know what to key in or how to use the system and then you take off from there. In this line of work, you can't have someone more senior sitting next to you and directing you and teaching you step by step about what to do. No one has that kind of time for you anyway and secondly, it's not practical just to verbalize things. Many a times, you would have to trial and error too even when it comes to the way to behave or react towards the different characters of the pupils.
Something happened in class today which still gets me thinking about it now. Two boys (non-Chinese) came to me and complained that a classmate (who's Chinese) said something which they claimed was a bad word in their Mother Tongue language. I did suggest that the boy could have just been making a noise (you know how kids like to say stuff which are like sound words but don't really make sense) but the two boys were not appeased. They insisted that he said it intentionally. I had no choice but to ask the boy out.
Now, although I do not know them for long, I was very sure that the boy wasn't the type who'd do such a thing. He's not a troublemaker nor a chatterbox. He minds his own business and does his own work independently. He's quite mature for his age too and I would say he's the most obedient boy in the class. Of course he insisted he did not say anything offensive. In my heart, I did believe him. However, two against the words of one... I didn't exactly scold him but it did tell them three that one shouldn't poke fun at other races or languages. The two were satisfied after I said it.
What happened after my class was, the boy actually came and tried to tell me that he really didn't say anything of that sort. He was so earnest and it must have disturbed him alot for him to actually bring it up again. Usually children don't bother to bring up matters once you have chided them. He looked quite sad when he tried to explain to me. So all the more I believe that even if he said it, he didn't mean it as something offensive. It probably just happened to sound like words of another language. Coincidentally.
Till now, I feel that I could have approached the matter differently. How? I still do not know... Some children yearn for approval. So when they get misunderstood by an adult, it disturbs them alot and they get upset. Not with the adult but maybe with the matter itself.
But one of the best things about children is that they don't stay upset for long. They forget something very quickly and start talking to classmates whom they have an argument with no so long ago. For adults, it's tough to let go of grudges. Perhaps because adults know that fellow adults are old enough to think and be considerate. Thus, when something gets offensive, one would not be able to let go easily.
I guess I still have alot to learn about children's behaviour. However, there's insufficient time because proper lessons already take up so much time and I find myself rushing through and looking at my watch when I'm teaching to make sure I'm on schedule and finish what I should for that period. As much as I would like to, I hardly have the chance to get to know every pupil better, apart for those exceptionally good or infamous (read: notorious) ones who tend to be very high-profiled among all teachers who have taught them before. It would be good to know them better so as to have a greater sense of ownership and pride towards one's own class.Labels: Work
Serendipity believed today at 3:06 AM
