How do you like your teacher?

Here's the thing people, when it comes to teachers, the images that most people conjure up would be those of the no-nonsense, frumpy ones. However, there is an emerging breed of new English teachers from the graduation year of 2009 who are set to bring a breath of fresh air into the teaching profession. So for those of who have made it into the hall of fame, so sorry for exposing the candid teachers in you ya. Please don't be offended ok, it is all done in good humour.

The Joker, Angela Teo


The Musician Wannabe, Jennifer Tan


The Tough One, Chee Hwei in a gender-bending role ( she's so going to kill me this time)



The Crazy Teachers

Crazy Teacher 1 : Poay Ling

Crazy Teacher 2 : Joan Kan

The Scary Teacher, Jefeft Aw



The Food Connoisseur, Shih Min


The Opportunistic Photographer, Kenny


The Beautiful Teacher, Ainul Saadiah

Mabel in the background is also beautiful lah


The So- I -Think- I -Can -Dance -Teachers, Oliver, Kenny,Ben & Kean ( 1st yr)
It's a bit obscene here lah, dude

The Benevolent Teacher, April Ong


The Funny-Faced Teacher, Oliver Kee




The Oh, so Lovely Teacher, Tracy Looi


The So-Good-To- Kiss-Teacher, Ying Ying

Or is it Angelina Jolie in one of her pre-Brad Pitt moments?

What do you think about this one?

Me lah

To Miss With Love...

Here's a confession, I was a very, very bad student when I was in school. I passed up my homework on time and all that but like some of the smart-ass students in a so-called " good" class or "good school" for that matter, I was very teacher's nightmare who did her add-maths tuition homework during BM lessons and skipped school when there were double periods of BM and English, yes, you heard me, English.

Therefore, it is only ironic that I am choosing to take up a teaching course and perhaps this could be the karma pay-back time now that I am embarking on my teaching practice in 4 days' time. Gosh, I even thought about my poor, poor history teacher, whom we all nicknamed as 'The Rock' for his big stature and who was never listened to in any of his classes on the morning when I was preparing to meet my school's principal. Looks like I am letting the past to haunt myself here.

But then again, I have always tried to reason my poor record as a student by justifying that those teachers I did not pay enough attention to were not that good in their teaching. I am not saying that they are not good teachers and I should say that they are actually very good teachers who really have their students' interest at heart. In fact, me and a bunch of equally lousy students kept in touch with them years after we had left school. Perhaps the exam-orientated education system in our country could be blamed for producing the lot of students like me.

You see, I came from a Chinese school which fits the stereotype of most Chinese schools i.e. very kiasu students, exemplary results in maths and science and very, very, result and academic orientated only. This phenomenon is even more apparent in the first few classes. On the other hand, one may beg to question about how bad students like us could be straight- As-flyers? This is because when I said that we were very bad students, we were also excellent students on other periods. However, this only happened to lessons which were taught by the subject specialists teachers who also happened to be marking public examination slips and much-sought- after-tuition teachers at the same time. Mind you, the attendance on those periods were always full and some of my friends only came to school on the periods that those teachers were teaching. Notwithstanding, those teachers were really marvelous and very clear in their teaching but they could only remember the name of the monitor out of a class of 40 plus students.

Looking back, I am certainly not proud of myself or my friends. Indeed, our behaviour at that time could only be considered as nothing but arrogant and we really owe all those teachers that we have ignored an apology now. While I have stereotyped the situation above to that which happened in Chinese schools, I think this phenomenon is also quite apparent in other schools across the nation as well. In fact, one could also say that this is almost the norm in most urban schools. Thus, this is going to be such bad news for us English teachers.

Why am I emphasizing on English teachers alone? On the one hand, English is a subject which has no formula nor theorem ( if you do not consider grammatical rules as theorem, that is). Besides, I think that sometimes teachers could not make a huge difference to improve the proficiency of the students at the upper secondary level. I honestly believe that English teachers only play the role as facilitators in language learning. Therefore, we should not expect the students to be eager and attentive at all if our lessons are not INTERESTING. Nowadays, the students are even more smart-ass than we were and they can really tell whether we are passionate and good enough to teach.

Back when I was in school, the English periods was a chance for us to relax after the cramming of the formulae and I must admit that we had fun and paid attention on those lessons which were very well prepared and thought after. I still remember a very interesting set induction that my English teacher did when I was in Form 3 even though I did not know the technical term of set induction back then. She was teaching us a chapter on smoking and she tried to lit a money bill and we naive students (yea, still not so smart-ass yet at Form 3) were pleading her not to do that. Consequently, she explained that smoking is akin to the act of setting money on fire. Don't you think that it is a very good set induction to do in the classroom?

On the whole, I think we will be facing the most challenging 10 weeks in our somewhat idyllic 4-year-course. I can only tell myself that it is going to be fine and I am going to enjoy myself. Worrying ourselves to insomania will only add dark circles and positivity could not be more relevant at this period of time. Therefore, to all of my friends out there, we shall do our best and the rest is just up to God I guess. Just as Ying Ying has said, bon voyage and don't forget to have fun!

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...

Something's COOKing here...

Hail to the newly crowned American Idol David Cook! Call him scruffy or Daughtry-wannabe if you like, but his raspy voice is just so so sexy and who can forget his redition of Mariah Carey's Always Be My Baby ? Besides, him singing with his tear-stained eyes on the results night just spelled sincerity, honesty...oh...completely tucked at my heart string. Ok, ok, here I go again with with my new-found pet artiste but with my taste leaning more towards the rockers' edge, it's no surprise that I put my bets on Cook (opps, I'm here in Malaysia here, cannot vote) than say his contender, the wide-eyed David Archuleta.



This younger David was the favourite to take the crown and I know there are many young girls who are swooning over him. I do not want to sound old here ( which I am certainly not because I believe that we will always be young at heart) but his style or approach just do not appeal to me. A crooner of ballads who has the habit of keeping his eyes shut to the world during 70 % of his singing, I mean come on, we don't need another Barry Mannilow here! But then again teenage girls around the world are peeling Nick Carter's posters off their walls to make way for Archuleta's because he is just so irresistibly cute to them, just as Cook is to me. Which brings to the point here, have I grown up and beginning to lose touch with what the average 16, 17-year-olds are thinking?

Well, why am I talking about this? This is because I will be teaching these 16-year-olds in more than a months' time and as I want to get into their books, I hope I will be able to reach out to them in one way or another. I think I am still in their generation and a gap such as the dirty Sungai Gombak ravine could not have existed ( hey, at least I am still watching American Idol ) but somehow I feel that I may not be able to understand their MTV yo, duh speech so well anymore. Come to think about it, I am just at least 5 years older than them but I think I may need to make a little effort to discover my adolescent side again.

Which is why I am making myself free every Wednesday 10pm to catch Gossip Girl, the latest It show in the US. I used to watch O.C., One Tree Hill and my favourite, favourite Gilmore Girls when I was growing up but I'm more into Ugly Betty and House these days. Gossip Girl is fine but the antics of the queen bee and the lot of beautiful, rich youngsters just do not really float my boat this time. I really hope my future students are not brats like them. All in all, it is really not that difficult watching TV anyway. Besides, I can claim to know the US Top 40 like the back of my hand and I do know which team is winning in the EPL although the NBA's just lost on me, so tell me do you think are my worries valid pals?

A picture tells a thousand words...

I simply love this picture. This is a picture of a Palestinian Muslim woman carrying an Israeli girl which was taken in the conflict-torn Gaza strip. I used this picture as the concluding picture for the series of picture slide shows in my pre-reading activity when I was teaching the poem The Man He Killed by Thomas Hardy.

In that, I brought to light the on-going conflict between the Israeli and Palestinian sides to contrast against the theme of the futility of war in the poem. Overall, I am glad to say that the presentation was quite a satisfying one with my ever creative partner, Ying Ying who had contributed to the brilliant idea of having a mock press conference in the while-reading activity. We have both loved The Man He Killed by Thomas Hardy and what is better than teaching something that you truly enjoy yourself?



Nevertheless, our lecturer took that opportunity to guide us into a discussion on whether it is appropriate to bring sensitive issues such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict into the classroom, with all due respect to our country being a Muslim country. However, I should also say that this kind of activity can only be applied to a high-level classroom as the students would need to have some previous knowledge on this issue for the pre-reading activity to be effective.

Subsequently, it was the picture which saved the day as it summed up our non-confrontational approach in tackling the 'sensitive' issue of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Appropriate or not appropriate aside, we also voiced out our opinion on bringing the discussion of current issues into the classroom. Ultimately, being the open-minded TESLians that we are, we concluded that we have no qualms about the discussion of sensitive or current issues in the classroom, hey, after all, our duty is to educate a generation of thinking Malaysians, and not yes-men right? Pn. Noraini also gave her blessing in this as she felt that we could not find a better time to talk with our students about this relevant issues than now. As have been said, better late than never (or pregnant, that's another story with another lecturer...)