Teacher Attachment in China (Sun)

(This is a pre-dated post uploaded after I'm back in Singapore.)

I joined up with students and teachers of Huamin Primary who were going on a leisure trip besides visiting their twinning school, a certain Sichuan Xiao Long Ren School. During take-off, once again I marvel at the miracle of heavier-than-air flight, the Physics of flight. The plane was an Airbus A319 -- a narrow bodied, small plane, which meant that this was not a frequently flown route. I had a late lunch on the plane at 1.50 pm -- Ee Fu noodles and triple chocolate ice cream. The flight had only 2 pilots and five stewardesses, surprisingly -- I did not know they made do with so few. One cabin crew leader and 4 stewardesses. And the Huamin kids were always going to the toilet. After lunch, there was a mad rush for the toilet.

After we alighted from the plane, along the long corridor of Shuangliu Airport, the AM (Eugene Tay) and the P's (William Pushpam) curiosity got over them and they chatted with me to investigate who this mysterious teacher travelling with them was. They were quite surprised that I was travelling alone. They thought it was because I was an HOD on some networking trip.

At immigration, I saw that they had immediate service level feedback buttons. Quite good that they are beginning to value service quality. I pressed the best button and the unsmiling officer (as they are the world over) broke into a smile. I think few had bothered to press a button and I was one of the few who did.

We were waved through without clearing customs as we were a school group -- just like how Changi Airport does it. We loaded up a bus to go to a Muslim restaurant to have dinner. There was a problem with the luggage though -- way too much to fit into the cargo hold of the bus! One piece had to go on the passenger compartment. We were in Chengdu. The tour guide was "Xiao Wang", "Jackie", female. We reached the restaurant soon enough. People smoke in the restaurant, which looks slightly Turkish. It is a Halal restaurant, since there were three Muslims in the group -- Aishah (Senior Teacher, Dean of Art), the P and his wife, who was also travelling with us. Was that a shisha pipe smoking corner? Maybe it is for decoration only... The group leader (Chen Jingyu) was most informative and professional, explaining the dishes to me. Not particularly hot -- I was expecting fiery hot stuff from what I learnt on TV and from friends / staff in Singapore. Perhaps they deliberately toned down the chilli.

After that, we went for a cultural show. It had the works -- percussion ensemble, Chinese opera, acrobatics, shadow play, changing faces, puppetry, drama, fire breathing, erhu master, etc. Puppets can change faces too! Very impressive stuff -- I think we should do this in Singapore. It was a teahouse setting and you drink tea while watching the show. I would doubt the quality of the performance in Singapore though. I'll find out if there are indeed such shows in Singapore. If there isn't, I'll get STB to look into it.

After the show, I saw a (propaganda?) poster on the wall which is about civilized society. Quite good that the country actually wants to progress and improve what they are weak at! we went to Huamin's place of stay for the night -- Dongpo International Hotel, which took a long time. We reached at 10.35 pm. After that, they arranged a taxi to take me to my hotel, MeiShan Bin Guan. One Chinese staff from the China tour company accompanied me. The teacher from Dongpo Experimental (Mr Zhu) was there and after sorting out the essentials, it was 11.30 pm. A quick set-up of the room, and I started work on my laptop, writing the day's journal and preparing the work the next day. I had decided to serve up the proverbs game to let them know that frequently, lessons in Singapore have to include games. There are parallel meanings in Mandarin, which is good. This would be followed by Hot Food, which is simple enough. They could watch the video of Damai students doing choral reading and of the author reading his work. If there were still time remaining, they could see the Damai PPT.

I spied what looked like a LAN point but found that the cable could not fit. There were no indications anywhere in the services directory that there was Internet access. I also checked for free WiFi -- there was one commercial one, but it was too weak. This probably meant that free WiFi was available somewhere in the city. It doesn't matter -- I'll be too busy writing daily journals, washing clothes or preparing stuff to surf the net.

Overseas Teacher Attachment in China

I'm going on a teacher attachment to Meishan Dongpo Experimental Middle School in China tomorrow. I'll be back next Sunday night. I'll be there all alone -- I hope everything turns out fine. I'll be teaching English as well as sharing about life as a Physics and English teacher in Singapore.

School Ranking Tables

The No. 1 school in Bedok is Anglican High. The No. 2 is St Anthony's Canossian and the No. 3 is Damai Sec! None of the other Bedok schools made it into the School Achievement Tables!

My Background

My military background:

I am an Infantry Combat Medic Specialist in an Infantry battalion. I was involved with four severe casualties as a frontline medic and have seen a gunshot wound to the chest. I have received a live Super Puma heli-casevac with that said gunshot wound. (He died.) I have made numerous patient runs too. I did a 2-day SGH A and E attachment and a 2-day CD ambulance attachment. I witnessed three resus deaths during these attachments.

I have served as a platoon medic, company medic and medical centre staff. I have gone on BRC and scouts medic attachment, including spending time supporting my recce team mates in the School of Military Intelligence. I held a Hendon camp pass for four weeks. I was involved in a classified Special Op as part of a 12-man CRT. (That's the most I can say.)

My teaching experience:

I am a Physics and English teacher, having taught the full spectrum and attended many content courses for both subjects. I was the runner-up in the Nov 05 Iron Science Teacher Competition in Singapore. I am thus a Wrought Iron Science Teacher. I taught in VJC from 1999 to 2003. I have been a teacher in Damai Sec since 2004.

I have done EWSS work for a year. I have also done SC and IT work. I attended the 3-day Connected Classroom Conference in 2000 in Anaheim, USA with another teacher from my school.

I have followed ODAC on a Twin Peaks Expedition (Kinabalu and Trus Madi). I was a robotics teacher and instructor, leading robotic and automation engineering projects, some of which were winning SSEF projects. I have led a short film team before -- downgraded to Special Mention in the SVA -- and have attended related workshops at the Substation, etc.

My sports experience:

I was in the volleyball team in secondary school for two years. We even had a coach from China. Hence I am familiar with what sportsgirls and sportsboys have to go through and am familiar with proper sports training. I have done some 10 km road races and two marathons in the past. I was also a recreational air rifle shooter when I was in JC -- not very good in that.

My outdoor education experience:

As a cadet scout in primary school, I was already doing ropes course without safety (1980s, you see...) and hiking in MacRitchie and Pulau Ubin. As a JC student, I took part in an 8-day camp with sea-ex, land-ex, abseiling, ropes course, etc. I went for the 21-day OBS course in 1996. I went for a Topper sailing course with the National Sailing Centre. I went to Mt Ophir twice, and have climbed Mt Trus Madi and Mt Kinabalu, the tallest mountains in Southeast Asia. I also went for the MOE expedition leader course in Australia, which involved training in dissimilar weather -- and a 44 km walk over three days in true wilderness, hours from the nearest road. I have a Kayaking 2-Star certification and have a PPCDL too. I have followed an NCC sea-ex as an NCC (Land) teacher officer.

My music experience:

I was in the String Ensemble in JC for 2 years, learning how to play the violin. I am not very good in that too, but I can play simple pieces with practice and can support as Violin 3 with rote. (Okay, Violin 3 is not normally written for most pieces - must modify from Viola part...) I was a Chinese Orchestra teacher for six months in 1999, so I am slightly familiar with running a music CCA.

Teacher who died of a CVA

Around this time in 1999, I was a new teacher in VJC. I had just returned from a stint in 3 SIR followed by a short vacation in Sydney. One day, my Bio teacher was a bit ill. She was coughing and taking a lab class, I think. After that, she went back to the staff room. Then she complained of a severe headache. She was moaning loudly. I had just returned from lunch. When I heard the awful sound, I thought a student had freaked out due to stress or what and was being seen to in the staff room. But when it became worse, I went over to check. It was my Bio teacher! Then she lost consciousness. They laid her down on the floor and called an ambulance. She was totally unresponsive, but was still breathing. Her symptoms were telling me "Neuro! Neuro!". The ambulance officer came and checked with us if she had hit her head -- they concluded neuro too. They whisked her to CGH. Then she was stabilized and sent to TTSH, where she was operated on by an ex-student. He pronounced it hopeless and closed her up. She had burst a blood vessel in her brain -- probably sub-arachnoid haemorrage. Maybe she had a weak abnormal blood vessel or an aneurysm. The coughing did her in. She was put on life support. The next day, school was suspended at 8 am and the entire staff turned out to TTSH to see her. Teachers' Day was suspended. Her parents did not want to switch her off. She lingered on a few more days before they decided to switch her off. She was buried in CCK Christian Lawn Cemetery.

Today is National Day. Singapore is a great nation. There's little doubt about that.

It was drizzling during the NDP but everyone gamely carried on. The Red Lions jumped, the Chinook and Apaches flew low, and the Black Knights showed that they were all-weather pilots on all-weather fighters.

I passed my PPCDL Practical on my first attempt! It was a borderline pass though...

I had to make a 2nd pass for the man-overboard drill. I made a lot of mistakes in the oral exam. But I have learnt from my mistakes.

I'll use my new skill to help others. Give back to society, that kind of thing.