Daring to be different

Today, I sat in for an enrichment class for some kindergarten children and there was a component of the lesson where the 5 year-olds had to come up to share with the class what they'd like to be in future. As the school made use of content from a standard ICT lesson package, there were pictures of people in different occupations shown on the interactive whiteboard; including that of a scientist, a teacher, an astronaut, a doctor, and some other occupations that are well sought after. The kids had to go up to the board and tap on the occupation of their choice so that a picture elaborating that job would be shown; I believe some of the children didn't really know what was going on and so, just tapped on the same choices that their classmates made.

There were a couple of kids who went up to say that they wanted to be teachers; but they couldn't really justify what was it about teaching that they like, and got away with killer innocent smiles on their faces. And a couple of other kids who wanted to be scientists and astronauts too; but all of whom couldn't provide any reason for their choice. I know what you're thinking, that I'm probably expecting too much from a bunch of 5 year olds. And that was exactly what I was thinking at that moment too, maybe I should just cut them some slack. After all, some of them are not even 5.

I continued to think that way until this little girl, who was last to come up, spoke. She told the teacher that she didn't want to make use of the interactive whiteboard; we thought that she might be a little shy to come up to tap on her choice, but she clarified that her choice was not on the board. Wow. How's that for knowing exactly what she wants?

"I want to be a fish!" she exclaimed. I couldn't help but let out a chuckle for her most unexpected choice, not because I thought her answer was ridiculous, but because it was most adorable. Without much prompting, she went on to explain that "I want to be a fish because I want to/can swim very well". How awesome is this kid? I had 2 thumbs up for her in my mind; one for having a mind of her own and not just following her classmates blindly, and two, for her daring to be different and not being afraid of classmates laughing at her choice.

I'm not going to go into how she may not have experienced enough failures in life or may not have had enough people laughing at her unexpected and different choices, but I'm just going to say thank you, little fish girl, for reminding me of some of the most important, but easily forgotten lessons in life.

I have an uncle; he used to be one of my favourite uncles until he became a parent, and I got into NIE. He's got two kids, a girl of 7 and a boy of 5.

I haven't been talking much to him of late, but "stupid MOE policies", "tuition teachers not doing much", "kindergartens too much fun for kids to learn anything" and topics like such make up any one of the conversations that we have.

He's usually asking if I've heard of so-and-so policy that MOE's just come up with, fills me in with what it's all about, and then starts criticizing it as though there's really no point in carrying them out.

Only yesterday, he asked if I've heard of some MOE literacy assessment programme that his daughter's school's just introduced. I said no, and he went on to question the need for the programme, and why are they only doing it in the later part of the year, why can't they do it at the start of the new year, etc etc.

Seriously, if I knew why, I'd probably be sitting in the education minister's seat, won't I?

I replied politely (only because he's an uncle) that it could be a new policy that's only just drawn up, and of course he was unsatisfied with my answer. I'm from NIE, I'm a teacher-to-be, of course I must know what are the uses of all these stupid policies.

He goes on to complain about how poorly his girl is doing in school, only achieving 70+ instead of his expected 90+ in exams, and how he doesn't approve of his boy having "too much fun in kindergarten". He's not even in primary school, for christ's sake!

The way he speaks scares me, a lot. Am I going to deal with parents who are all like that in future?

Are they all going be so competitive (read: kiasu), constantly comparing grades of their children, questioning the teaching methods of schools and teachers, and have the final say in what should or should not be taught in schools? Are they all going to expect teachers and schools to promise something and deliver something that's 10 times better?

I am absolutely terrified by the thought of that happening.

I've always thought my Dad was bad enough (insists that I should spend all my time studying, but nice otherwise), but I think I had it much easier than the two poor kids.

Children growing up in such environments, I can predict exactly what they're going to turn out to be. They grow up feeling they're never good enough for their parents, have crushed self-esteems because they never seem to be able to live up to their parents' expectations, and have extremely competitve natures. Oh, and joyless childhoods.

I really hope my uncle will just let his two kids grow up the way they should and want to, instead of setting so many expectations for them. It gets tiring for both the kid and the parent, and too much pressure is never a good thing.

Teaching Observations

Third day into the whole experience thing, and so far, everything's been great. We really don't do anything much apart from observing how the teachers conduct lessons, and giggling to ourselves when the students say something funny, or when your fellow NIE schoolmate says it.

The food that's being sold in the canteen are served in really small plates and bowls, and they're all just so cute to look at. Hur. And I really enjoy the (incredibly cheap) $1.50 meals that I've been having for the past few days.

Anyway, I guess H1N1's been pretty disruptive to lessons so far. Apart from the usual twice-a-day-temperature-taking procedures, students are required to sit in columns (seating arrangement during examination periods) so social distancing is maximized (seriously, what bullshit). It's really tough to carry out group discussions with their current seating arrangements, but I guess the teachers are finding ways to work that out. And speaking of which, they have all been really helpful to the trainees; always ready to offer advice when we needed any, and it makes me feel a teeny weeny bit of guilt since I'm having trouble trying to keep myself awake in classes sometimes (some things just don't change hur... ha).

Apart from trying hard not to fall asleep in class, I've been thinking about how I'm really looking forward to teaching my very own class when the time comes. I can imagine myself standing at the front of the classroom, imparting knowledge to my students, punishing them when they make mistakes, die from suppressing laughter just because they're so damned cute sometimes... I really can do this!

ps. They look really small sitting at their desks when we walk about in the classrooms, and I feel really powerful overlooking them like that even though I'm really not teaching. Hur hur.