In My Shoes

No skeletons in the closet please...

Stilettos, wedges, ballerina's flats, pumps, Mary Jane, peep-toes...you name it, I have had them all. For a girl who dreamed of owning a pair of Jimmy Choo at the age of 15 ( well, that was before I came across Manolo Blahnik), I certainly hold on to the adage that a girl could not have enough pairs of shoes and the premeire of Sex and the City : The Movie certainly make this all the more relevant I should say. Thus, it is only fortunate that my mum shares my fervent interest and my feet size because I can get her the heels every time I come home as Vincci and Nose have yet to open their stores in Alor Star. But then again, a wise friend once said that I only buy her the shoes that I like so that I can borrow later, so there you go again. While our collection is still a long way to rival that of Imelda Marcos', they are certainly my pride and joy.


now look, isn't this lovely and sweet?


here's a killer peep-toe in a cool shade

this is her 47th birthday gift which could also be handy for evening wear

the one which every shoepaholic could say no to...

Well, I don't know whether it is a blessing or disguise when these sweeties could not be brought to action during teaching practice as I am under the impression that we have to wear pumps that cover our feet, toes and all (which brings to mind, what is so indecent about peep-toes in the first place?) Nevertheless, it does save me from performing kamikaze on my own feet as no sensible teacher would want to climb 3 flights of stair and stand for hours in these killer heels all day. So, in light of the coming practicum, I have settled for something more demure this time.

This is one hot bargain that I bought at just RM29.90, can you believe it? It is rather comfortable minus the cut-throat prices of Hush Puppies and I scouted around for this shade of beige because it could go with most of my outfits. Even the heels are at a very sensible 2-inch-high.

With teaching practice being around 2 weeks away, shopping around for the few essentials (yes, they are really essentials) was one of the preparations that I have done. Actually I didn't do much to prepare myself for the past month, excusing myself partly by the fact that I am not aware of which form I will be teaching, which is plainly, just a lazy excuse. Guess I have to buck up these few remaining free days by checking out all the ESL activities on the URLs compiled on Sifu's site. By the by, need I also mention that I have coloured my hair to a darker shade of burgundy, which my mum insist is just plain black lah but some shades of colour can still be seen under the sun, this I must stress...

Reel Teachers

Little Miss Sunshine. Disturbia. After the Wedding. Intolerable Cruelty. There Will Be Blood. The Good German. Notes on a Scandal. La Vien En Rose. Michael Clayton. Atonement. Across The Universe. Provoked.

These are some of the movies that I had watched over the semester break. I am a serious movie buff you see and if only I can make a living out of watching movies someday. In between discovering that George Clooney and Shia LaBeouf have really nice eye lashes, I still have these DVDs to occupy me for the rest of my semester break.



Mind you, these are all pirated DVDs. Now, let's just pray that the optical discs-sniffing Labradors, Lucky and Flo would be miles away from my house. Therefore, with my amassed movie-viewing over the time, it is only natural that I have watched quite a few movies on English teachers over the years although I have never watched the classic To Sir With Love. Here's a look at some of my favourite English teachers on the silver screen.



Erin Gruwell, Freedom Writers

This could be one of the latest movie featuring an English language teacher. While I find this movie very inspiring with her enthusiasm and her creative approaches in reaching out to the students, it kinda freaked me out as well. Well, this is after all a fact of life as it is based on the real story of the Freedom Writers Foundation and the rowdy students portrayed in the movie could very well be any Bakar, Balakrishnan and Ah Beng in Malaysia. My only teaching experience was in a nursery and even those toddlers there gave me a hard time. Although I tried not to think of it, I would shudder at the thought of the students start bawling and throwing chairs in the classroom.




One of the methods that she used which I particularly like was when she divided the students into two lines based on their experience. To me, that was the most poignant moment when the students start stepping into the lines and realize that their teacher really cares about them. I think we would have come across underprivileged students in our career and I guess we just have to put ourselves in their shoes in order to reach out to them.


John Keating, Dead Poets Society
Now, this is my all-time-favourite English teacher whom I have watched again and again. It is also the movie which introduced the carpe diem mantra to me. While his style is rather unconventional, I mean lecturing on top of a desk and tearing pages away from books are not very principal-friendly methodologies but he does really teach his student to follow their heart. Which makes me wonder, what is it that I have to offer my students with me still at the crossroads in life?

Jeremy Brown, Mind Your Language

When it comes to English teachers, no one must ever forget the delectable Mr. Brown with his brood of foreign students in Mind Your Language. My mum said she never missed an episode of the show when it was on air in the 80s and now I find myself catching up with her after getting hold of the DVD box set (again, pirated DVDs, no guilts). Nevertheless, I don't think the Malaysian classroom would be as interesting and colourful as his, and come to think of it, his students must have a good grasp of English in the first place for them to make all the laughable mistakes.

Sheba Hart, Notes on a Scandal

Some people might say that there a few bad apples in a profession which spoilt the lot. The character, Sheba Hart which is played by the crafty Cate Blanchett may fall into this category because she had an affair with her student. I had read the book prior to watching the movie adaptation of it and I must say that this is one of the few where both the book and the movie-tie-in are equally good. She could be a flawed teacher but I think like every upbeat new teacher, she must have been disappointed by the unappreciative students who show no enthusiasm to learn at all. Her first few days in the classroom were described as a scene from Lord of the Flies. Eventually she found a student who displayed some interest and it is only unfortunate that the student had the intention of getting into her pants and she was too weak to resist the lure of the forbidden love.



Barbara Covett, Notes on a Scandal
Now, this is one teacher who is played to a chilly perfection by Dame Judi Dench which freaks my friend, another fellow TESLian out. You know teachers always have the reputation or emm, a higher chances of living out the life of an old, lonely spinster. Well, I am an only child so I have always guarded my privacy as if it's my birth right, therefore I think I might not have a problem on this area, hehe. But then again, to all the fellow singletons out there, let's hope our knights will not take such a long time to polish up their armours.


Louanne Johnson, Dangerous Minds

Finally, this is one good teacher that I have yet to watch or read. Wow, look, the cikgu is so rugged is with her leather jackets and her jeans. Someone in the class brought up this title in his presentation and I am still on the lookout for the pirated DVD version of it to add into my collection, :p. All in all, teachers seem to be quite a popular figure in the la-la land, other titles that can be checked out if you want to have an armchair experience of teaching are Teaching Mrs. Tingle, Music of the Heart, Kindergarten Cop, well, that's if you are game enough to teach in a pre-school.

Better late than 'pregnant'

As promised, I will deliver this tale of the spin-off version of the better known 'better late than never' adage which was related to us by our Assessment in Literature lecturer. You see, the good English teacher had set up the activity of asking students to fill in the blanks in the phrasal verbs. And the story goes that there was this one question i.e. "better late than _____" and this one smart alec in the class raised up his hand and said " Pregnant, the answer is pregnant teacher." Well, the student was certainly paying a lot of attention in his science classes and who could deny that his answer is technically correct, right? So, before we go on into the debate and brouhaha of bringing sex education into the classroom, the more pertinent question that our lecturer raised was how can we assess the answers from the students which are ahem, technically correct but not expected in the syllabus spectrum? Hmm, we can't blame the students for being too smart too, can we? One thing's for sure though, Angelina Jolie's belly will certainly get bigger than Jack Black with her twin babies there...