Now that I'm jobless, (having quit my door to door sales promoter job with help from a very firm Louis Peter) I am quite free when we don't go down for pioneering. So I can update on all that I've not been updating! ^^ YAY~ then I will be able to come back when I'm 30 years old & think... WOW this is what my life was like when I was 18.
Louis was really very strict with me because I'm VERY terrible at rejecting people. He asked me, if you can't reject people, in the future when people ask you to smoke, will you smoke? =.= guys are forever so direct. yes means yes, no means no. there are no grey areas for them-.-") God, You must give me a husband who can watch out for me & complement this weakness of mine by being very firm. LOLS I think I'm a bit siao recently.
This is the gift my supervisor Mrs Katherine Low gave me.
She's really very very nice!!! I think God is really very sweet to me for giving me such a superb mentor!! ^^ She's really the kind of teacher I inspire to be. She has a very good rapport with her students, they really like her & she has good relationships with her colleagues. Salt & light. & she's really super understanding even though I keep having to leave early & all that. & I didn't choose to extend the internship, she told me to continue doing God's work & trusting in Him. When she messages me, she told me may the joy of the Lord be with you. It's so encouraging!
she always tries to "feed me with food." Cause during the internship period I didn't eat much, then she keeps asking me to go & eat in the canteen. (I only ate chicken burger thrice & chicken rice once from Chongfu Primary school canteen in my whole 6 weeks in the school @_@) She has snacks ready in her shelf and she will always offer it to me. Only in the last week did I decide to eat more. She was very amazed when I took the food she offered me. LOLS~She even gave me a hongbao for CNY & sometimes she would give me rides on the way back.
The gift is a blessing box with cards with blessings with Bible verses or quotes by famous christian writers (: It's supposed to fill me with joy everyday. hahas~My last day (last friday) was an E-learning day. So the kids were not in school T_T Hahas & Mrs Low had a lot of things to attend to on that day so we did not have much time to talk at all. I helped her to count the number of rounds she ran at Yishun Junior College. She was doing a run test along with some of the staff, with all the heart rate monitors & stuff.
I was sligjhtly disappointed that we did not have much time to interact on my last day. it was quite saddening. Then she called me at night & dropped by under my block in her car to pass me the gift & card. In her sms, she also apologised that she had no time to talk to me much that day because she really had so much to attend to.
(Note: Senior teachers really are VERY busy & she's in the Alpha committee+ steering comm+ discipline comm & she has to go church +cell group, take care of her 2 children & husband. I really admire how she juggles her time. & she never appears tired at work. She's always very energetic & hyped up to teach & attending to the never ending to-do-lists like preparing presentations for meetings, disseminating info etc)
I was so totally touched by this simple gesture that the moment I went home I lay on my bed, locked my room & just cried.
With a nice mentor like that, children who are really very friendly, with the chance to experience teaching, to do what I really enjoy working with children...It was really very very hard for me to tell God, heys my Lord & best friend, I'm not extending my internship because it clashes with pioneering.
Heys, I'm human ok?
AAAHHH & u know what's one of the worst things? I didn't even take a photo with her!! because I was so paiseh & she was so busy!!! AAAHHH! @_@ never mind, I will go back to see her soon (: the kids are having their CA next week.
The staff room door on the right side of the photo above. The staff goes in by an electronic card. hahas in the staff room we are allowed to wear slippers. LOLS~
Secretly snapped some shots in class during lessons last thursday. I wonder if it's even allowed. If I am sure it is 100% ok to take photos, I would have snapped one with every single one of the kids!!!! 
The kids really pay attention when mrs low teaches. I talked to Ruishan on MSN (the previous intern) & she said that whenever Mrs Low was away on course, it would mean havoc time for these little ones. I said, SAME here!!! LOLS~ it was quite a relief to see that I was not alone in having difficulties controlling them at some times, especially when Mrs Low was not around. This boils down to classroom management, which comes with experience. meanwhile, Chloe's methods to keep a class quiet are these:
1) Staring
2) Folding arms & waiting for them to keep quiet before continuing talking
3) Switching off lights & fans except the one blowing at me (: LOLS~
4) Shouting at the offender
5) Slowing down when talking & looking at the students who were not paying attention
6) Calling them up to do a question on the whiteboard
7) Name dropping, mentioning them in my example when teaching
8) Banging the table
9) Talking in a raised voice = ALWAYS backfires especially when they think you are willing to compete with their chattering so they keep talking.
10) Threatening to keep them back during recess (which I never have the heart to)
11) Changing their seats temporarily/asking the child to sit right in front of me
& of course this list is not exhaustive. most teachers have many more techniques up their sleeves. I'm still learning~ (:
Note the white card in the photo above. Without it, I can't enter the staffroom! & if you lose this electronic card, you need to file a police report! natalie (the other intern) & I always guard it with our lives. 
My journal, staffroom key & pencilcase. Things I always have with me. Initially I would just sit at the back of the class at a table & a chair very passively & just watch Mrs Low teach & write observations. Ocassionally I would walk about at the back & help mark corrections or help them with their doubts. I would have 2 red pens (in case I lost one) a blue pen to write & ink stamps to stamp encouraging words like "excellent" or "very good." Mrs Low has a sticker system with the children.
Marking soon became like 2nd nature to me after the first 2 weeks. I would just take the children's work on the desk & mark them automatically. Mrs Low really likes the help I render because she has time to concentrate on her other matters (trust me, even without marking, her to do list is still much much longer than mine) The only thing I don't mark is english compre, composition or their journal. I've even marked Science, though I don't have the courage to teach Science. (Believe me when I tell you I am VERY out of touch with Science)
Mrs low has a mini library at her desk in the shelf. So far I have read about 4 books (examples in photo above) & the PERI report which is about the proposal of all primary schools going single session & cutting the CAs/ SAs to reduce stress amongst students & to come up with alternative methods of assessment like project work. My timetable is quite full with many periods lumped together with no breaks in between. (In the 1st two weeks I drfited off to lala-land because I would meet my caregroup at night & work till evening every weekday. I really couldn't take it) but these books can be brought back home to read. & sometimes during breaks, mrs low will be busy with her work which I can't help in so I will sit at her desk & read. I don't have my own desk because chongfu staff room has limited tables. Anyway I like being near my mentor because we can talk. Mdm Aini, Mdm Teo & Mrs Ong sit near Mrs Low & the four of them have very good relationships. They would always talk & joke & share food (LOLs to the sharing food part, I think it's a teacher thing)
Chongfu advocates Co-operative Learning (short form CL). it's really something very interesting that they are bringing in in primary schools to teach children the importance of teamwork & learning together effectively. Methods include think-pair-share, round robin, circle of writers etc. It's really very very cool & I really think MOE should really be looking at such techniques instead of encouraging rote learning through assessment methods that are purely academic based (:
Miss Tang. LOLS~I usually don't wear contacts to work everyday because spects make me look more studious. My children are very cute. When they see me along the corridors, they will enthusiastically call out to me. & they also like to talk to me outside of class. ER- sometimes in class too =.= when Mrs low is teaching, I will ask them to keep quiet & I will answer them later.Their fav questions include: Miss tang, what's your age? Miss tang, do you have a boyfriend? Miss tang, how are you spending Valentine's Day? Miss tang, do you know Mr Chew or Miss tiong? Miss tang, will you come back after you leave? Miss tang, when is your last day?
Wanhao asked me a very random question. Miss tang, how long have you not cut your hair? His classmates all 'scolded' him by saying, why you ask something so weird? then he said, no what! her hair is so long, I curious mah~
I always try to maintain my composure when they say such weird things. They like to do stupid things too. I will usually scold them with a straight face & laugh about it later in the staff room or something.
This is my beloved space that I share with my mentor. hahas, you can see it as cramp or cozy. Brings back memories just looking at the photo (:I also took hockey cca, bring them to northland secondary every fortnight to about 5pm (rotated with Natalie). Got scolded by a parent who thought I was bringing the boys out in the rain so he insisted I let his child go home. He was quite rude and criticised me as "stupid." I was not even given the keys to the gate or to the storage of the equipment by the teacher who went for NS reservice, so I was already very flustered & irritated. then it was the first time it rained so I was trying to contact coach. Unable to maintain my composure, I teared. This was a HUGE mistake. In the end, I let the child go home with the father. it was quite traumatising because I did not know how to react.
I went to talk to the MOE superintendent with my mentor, Natalie & Natalie's mentor, Mr Lim nearing the end of our internship. Even though it was quite a frightening prospect to talk to someone of such high rank, & I have many really bad experiences with interviews, (I always emerge thinking I did alright but I won't ever get whatever I went to the interview for. A recent example would be the telemarketing interview x_x ) the moment I opened my mouth to speak of what I learnt during the internship, everything just flowed naturally because it was genuine. Everything that I said, I meant it. I really want to teach.
I spoke of the bad experience with the parent and Mrs Ong asked me what I would have done differently & what I learnt from it. She is really very nice & she was pleased with my answer about why I felt the parent had behaved this way. She said that Natalie & I were confident, passionate & I knew what I wanted, which was exactly what teaching required of the teachers. the drive had to be there. You had to know why you were doing it then no matter how tiring/bad it gets, you will persevere on.
This reminds me of what the dunman high principal said at the MOE talk. If there are 9 bad days out of 10 days, but when you tend to focus on the 1 day that makes you really happy & it really fills your life with purpose, this is teaching.
God will guide me in His paths & lead me in His best plan. Thank Him for letting me experience the 6 weeks & giving me such a great mentor & bubbly kids. I miss them already T_T but I don't regret of course.
Mat 6:20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal
2John 1:8 Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.
