January 2020

Hello reader, 

Happy New Year and if you're a teacher, good luck making the transition on the white board from 2019 to 2020. 

Right, January is over, and I'm already struggling with lesson plans. LOL. My little joys in life include keeping track of how many leaves my plant has grown. Current count, 14! Apart from that, I have downloaded a pretty good version of taboo game on my phone. Can't wait to force my students to play! I've recently included a lot of my favourite game apps in class. Taboo!, Guess Up!, Charades and HeadsUp! I normally play them during the final 10 minutes, and the kids seem to like them, so that stays. 

Its the beginning of sports season here, and I hate the drama that comes along with it. In my current school, teachers really have to take charge of all aspects, including deco and the march-past and athletes. I distinctly remember in high school, decorating the mascot and members ourselves as students. But here, the teachers do everything, from A to Z, which leaves a lot to get stressed about. In Convent Klang, we were extremely independent, and I believe it came because we were entrusted with certain responsibilities. Here, it really is on the teacher's shoulders. It almost becomes a competition between teachers, rather than students. Likewise, we are accountable if our deco lacks a certain WOW factor. 

After all it is the kids sports day. They should be battling it out on the track as well as taking pride in the creativity of their house members. This calls for some change. This exact same thing for classroom DECO too! These days its all about how much you're willing to spend as a teacher, to get your class to be the most colourful. Again, in Convent, us girls did everything! From the duty roster, to the time table, to all the essential subject information on notice boards. 

What else has happened? Chinese New year break has ended, but fire crackers haven't LOL. We're having our school CNY celebration next week, and I'm supposed to sing a verse of the Gong Xi Gong Xi song. Agreed to share the mike with a student instead. 

I really like the classes I teach. The kids are all growing on me, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

I think that about wraps up January. All 5 weeks of it. Hello FEB!