A story from One woman standing

November 2008

When I got to know that I will be sent to a Chinese school, I freaked out. I told Miss Amyzar that it’s a pity for I will not get the opportunity to teach my ‘own people’. But she said: Teaching is still teaching regardless who you teach. So, I eased myself that I would get a new experience and that I can continue using English just how I used to want. So on the 1st of August, I went to report duty…and there I was in a school called SJK(C) Chee Tong, located some 15 minutes from home…This school is not bad. Facilities are more than adequate. Teachers are very welcoming. GB and GPK are ok. This school even owns a GYM! What are they going to use this for? I was rather excited till I forgot to ask the GB one essential question: What was the proficiency level of the pupils in the school? But after a briefing from the head of English panel, I got the idea that English might not be so important to these students as limited time were allocated for English subjects; 2 periods for level 1 and 4 periods for level 2. I started to feel queasy about this. I started to ask myself how can I finish the syllabus when so little time are given to me? But still being the usual positive me, I told myself: It’s ok…things are not going to be that hard. Anyway I always envisaged that pupils in SJK(C) were rather hardworking and they were brilliant kids.

But what I could tell you now is that, first impression and blind perception might sometimes be wrong. This is the moral of the story number one. My perception now towards this school has totally changed especially of the pupils. I thought with the learning culture cultivated in a Chinese school, pupils are more focused and determined towards their success. No, they are still normal kids, playful. They will wait until they are asked to take out their books. They could not find their own papers if they don’t bring books unless they were asked to. They will not go and share textbooks with their friends if they don’t bring thiers. Those initiatives are very hard to find from them. Not like us in our younger days I guessed.

Being the only Malay woman standing in that school is rather tough and challenging as it sounds. As the pupils in this school have got used to Chinese teachers being around them, they find it difficult adjusting themselves to me even though there are 3 other Malay male teachers as my companions. Respects are very hard to gain from them. I could still remember during my practicum, my friends who went to the same school as me always said that I’m stern and pupils respect me. But now? I’m a small ant to the pupils’ eyes. I find it difficult to be closed to them. I tried hard to build a rapport between myself and the pupils but somehow barriers still exist. Maybe the language barrier is the thickest and highest among all. Until now I still can’t believe that out of 40 pupils in a class, only 10 or less that 10 could understand Malay and English. The rest, they can’t even understand simple expression like ‘Hand in your book to me’ or ‘Paste the paper in your book’, ‘Take your chair and come here’. If I let out these expressions without any gestures to accompany, those who don’t understand me will give me a simple cue; they will turn to the friend sitting next to them and asked : “Lau Shi chiang samo?” I had a very hard time communicating with them. 3 months I had to swallow the tired and sad feeling for not being able to convey the message that I intended to. But this month, I cried finally. I cried to Fatihah. But it’s relieving you see! Seriously it was. So, moral of the story number two: letting the uneasy feeling off your chest will make you feel better..haha!

But looking on the flipside of the book, there are benefits behind all that happened. Once I was afraid that I will lose my English when I got posted or to be exact, to get posted to a rural school, whereby English is being used one-way and during English period only. Now I am no longer worried because I have no other options than to use English to the fullest with the teachers and the pupils most of all because that’s the only language to communicate with them since they don’t understand Malay and I don’t understand Mandarin. Moreover I am an English teacher in that school. Code switching will only make things worse for them. So my usage of English has expanded beyond the English classroom circle. I use English during my Physical Education class, my music class, my netball training, during ‘gotong royong’ and even when I am on duty standing behind the gate looking after the pupils every Monday morning and afternoon. Day by day, I am more serious into looking for materials to be exploited in the clasroom. I would think hard to simplify whatever that is hard. I had to do homework, research and much reading. As my words can’t rescue me when I am teaching them, I had to use a lot of pictures, realia and ICT resources so that they could understand and become more interested. I also had to rely very much on hands-on activities. For example is when I’m teaching Science (Moral of the story number 3: You may not get your teaching option when you get posted!). In order to make them understand a concept, I had no choice than implementing all the experiments just to make sure that they understand because if I talk about a concept for half an hour, they might end up chatting and dozing off in my class!

The teachers too could be pain relieving most of the time. Even though we are different in race and religion, they act professionally and helped me as much as they can. Up till now, there are no single things that I asked help from them that they refused to help me. No office politics. They concentrate on their works, submit duty on time and do things systematically. When I got a little frustrated with the pupils, thinking of them could sometimes make me feel better.

So, moral of the story number four, we have two choices in our lives; either to be sad or to be happy. Thinking about how sad it can be when pupils don’t understand you will bring you no where. So, stop thinking! Try by all means to tackle this problem as Daus once said to me, An educator is the person who makes difficult things easy. So, the ease and the difficulties come from us. Just enjoy what you do. When you feel sad, think of something else that can make you feel happy. Insyaallah, your days will be brighter and this idea will always come to mind: TOMORROW WILL BE BETTER.