Teaching boys with gang connection

One year, I was assigned to teach Form 3C1, the last class of Forms 3. When I stepped into the class what greeted me were faces that gave me the don't-expect-us-to-learn-anything-from-you look. True enough, all of them were the least interested in studies. As I was teaching them Malay, I had to say goodbye to normal teaching and resorted to my own teaching method.

I asked the first boy in the front row to come to the board to write a word which I asked him to write. He kept saying that he did not know how to spell the word I dictated. So I pointed the finger to the second boy but he gave me the same reason. After a few attempts to get any boy to write the word on the board, I gave up.

Later, I learnt from my colleagues that I was dealing with boys with gang connection outside. It gave me a fright as I did not see any sign that anyone of them belonged to any secret society. However, my next lesson with them put me in a nervous situation. Luckily they were passive boys who were more interested in football than anything else.

When I was teaching Kata Nama (Nouns), I had to think of very simple words that they could relate in their daily lives. For filling in the blanks, I had to construct very simple sentences so that they could supply the right answers. Sometimes, I had to spoon feed them to get the blanks filled correctly. Their writing was horrible and full of spelling mistakes.

I could not believe my eyes when eleven of them passed the Malay subject in the PMR and only two of them failed.

Releasing tension in class

One day, one of my students suddenly misbehaved. He frequently put up his right hand to answer the questions I asked to test the students on the lessons taught earlier. Not only once did he argue about his being correct when the answer he provided was wrong. Suddenly he shouted, "I don't want to study anymore because whatever I say is wrong.'

Later I summoned to the staff room and talked to him personally. From our conversion I really he was undergoing great tension because of family problems. His father was about to leave his mum for another woman. He would not accept the divorce of his parents and he could nothing about it. Hence he released his tension through making his presence felt in place.

A friend in need is a friend indeed

One year, I had retina detachment and had to be operated upon. The eye surgeon extracted the vitreous humour from inside the eye ball and put in a sulphur gas to inflate the eye ball so that the retina could be pushed against the back of the eye ball. He lasered the retina too. When the operation was over, I could see only a black speck. The speck became bigger and bigger and after a month's recuperation, the speck disappeared and I could see again.
I had to go to school. My son drove me to school on his way to his college in Tanjung Bungah. For my journey back, a kind soul, Cikgu Sabariah Awang gave me a lift back without fail every day until I could drive on my own. Through this post I would like to thank her for being a friend in need. I had mentioned this help which she had rendered in the the MBS school magazine. Many thanks to her again for being such a kind soul.

The experience of staying in a wooden house

When I went to SM Jerantut, Pahang to start working as a qualified teacher, I stayed in a wooden house owned by an ex-teacher, Mr Kok. I paid RM40 per month for the rent. Actually, I was occupying the room of another teacher, Mr Tan Chap who had gone for a three-month Bahasa course. When he returned, I had to vacate the room and stayed somewhere else.

I was staying on the first floor. The room had very good ventilation, an electric ceiling fan and windows around. As it was January, the cool air at night and in the morning made me feel that I was staying in an air-conditioned room.

The only disadvantage of staying in Mr Kok's house was that I would know who had come back. There were 8 rooms on first floor. The footsteps on the wooden floor told me that someone had come back or he had come out of his room because needed to ease himself in the washroom.

Mr Kok ran a grocery downstairs so we had no problem getting our personal effects there. Snacks and instant noodles were available too.
After some time I got used to the sound of footsteps outside my room and continue to read my books or doing preparation for teaching for the following day.
My school was five minutes' walk from where I lived.

The punishment in class that bore fruit

One night while attending the dinner to raise funds for Methodist Boys' School where I served as a teacher many years ago, I met my former student who was doing his PhD in a local university. I could not quite recognise him as it was in Form I that I taught him Science. A lapse of 12 years really changed the face of a 13-year old boy into a 24-year old man.

He told me that the punishment that I meted out to the boys that talked and did not pay attention like him really helped him to progress until postgraduate level. At first I couldn't recall the form of punishment I administered to them. He told me that I asked them to stretch out their hands and hold them straight in front of their chests until I asked them to stop doing so. It was a cruel punishment as I came to realise later because I tried it out myself and my hands were shivering after some time. I really admired how they managed to carry out the punishment then. Later I gave up the sadistic punishment and resorted to caning the naughty boys on their palms. The meter rule in the lab became my 'cane'!

Blogs bring old friends together

Many a time I blogged about my life as a teacher in Jerantut. My posts had brought my former Principal to this blog, leaving a comment for me to contact him.
Hence, I e-mailed him straight away and now we are talking like old friends again via the exchange of e-mail. We recollected events that took place in the past. He told me a lot of happenings since I had left Jerantut. I always look forward to reading the things that he related to me through the e-mail.

Hidden Talent

One year, on the last day of the school term, I allowed my boys to show their talent in drawing.

I told them that it would be a competition. Hence I ruled 3 columns on the board and asked those who wanted to draw to come to the front.

I was surprised to see the pupils who were very quiet and looked innocent in class could draw very well. There was untapped hidden talent among them. It was really an eye-opener for me. To show appreciation of the works on the board I gave grading according to my liking.

They felt happy to have spent their time doing some creative work than listening to boring language lessons.