Teacher Attachment in China (Mon)

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

This morning, I woke up early at 7 am. I forgot to mention that the room does not have a bathtub, only a shower. I popped over for the Chinese buffet breakfast, which was interesting and good. The system here is that you get a breakfast voucher when you check in and use it the next morning. I got tomorrow's one tonight. Some local dishes, and porridge, etc. Fried eggs too. The teacher came to pick me up at 9 am with another teacher who drove. I did not catch what car he drove but he drove fast. First, we had a meeting with the principal (Mr Ge), VP (Mr Bai) and key staff of the programme in the conference room. They gave me a big bouquet of flowers. Then HOD Mr Song took me on a quick walk around the school. Pretty normal exteriorly, just like in Singapore. They have a hostel and a cookhouse. They have their lunch in class after collecting it from the cookhouse, explaining why there were so few seats. The roof apparently was damaged during the earthquake but is fixed already. I peeked at a class and besides the large class size of more than 60 and small tables, it's about the same. Students were well-behaved. No activities seen due to the space and large-size, but there's nothing wrong with that. They have subject notice boards done by students, as well as a board dedicated to Damai Secondary School! They also have a duty system like in SAF camps. They have a duty administrator, duty teachers, etc. every day. They also have motto, values, etc. statements like us.

After that, Mr Song took me to the San Su Museum and San Su Ci using his Chevrolet Spark. The museum focuses on the life and works of Su Dongpo (Su Shi), his father (Su Xun) and brother (Su Zhe). Su Dongpo was an exceptionally talented man who hailed from Meishan. The museum was world-class, what you might expect from any other city. There were English panels too, but they were simpler. I definitely did learn more about these three men. The San Su Ci was Su Dongpo's original villa. It has large garden grounds, but being autumn, the lotus were dying. There is also something about Yin Xing (Gingko) trees that the people like.

Lunch was at a restaurant nearby, with the Principal, and also some of his teacher friends from another school, Su Ci Zhong Xue. Some dishes were spicy, but it was acceptable save for the dish with ma jiao (I think), which numbed my mouth. I had to drink beer, but I did not drink that much, probably two glasses. We talked during the later part of the lunch when most of the others left. Mr Song then took me back to the hotel where we rested for a while. He explained the many TV channels in China. There are many free-to-air channels -- all covering different things! News, Drama, Law and Order, etc. There's even an English International Channel, a competitor to our Channel News Asia!

We went back to school for the lesson via Chevy Spark. Mr Song drove slowly but I think that is good because traffic there is chaotic. When you are slow, you can brake. Pedestrians are everywhere too, as are bicycles. You frequently go against traffic too. He applies the horn very frequently. The idea is to warn the others that you are there and tell them not to make any drastic moves because you are going to.

The first lesson was not good. Their level of English was much lower, so my original plan of using a "tourist English" lesson should have been used. In Singapore, I had been worried that it would be too simple, based on initial feedback by Mr Seetoh. Our English HOD had also said that it might be appropriate to use more English as it was an English lesson, and that we should get them to think up the answers instead of having items that they either know or don't know. But our Chinese HOD was very comfortable and it turned out that she was right and my original plan (lesson packages 1 and 2) was the most appropriate. Mr Seetoh had Sec 3 students while I had Sec 1.

The students were amused at the pairing of boy and girls but basically, they could only understand the Chinese explanations. I also should have the Chinese done up in the PPT and worksheet, but this was the English package -- only packages 1 and 2 were entirely in Chinese. They were not the sort to copy the Chinese explanations that I gave verbally. If I convert this to a Chinese lesson, it would be excellent. But that would be for next year... or for Vietnam.

Hot Food was fine as the vocabulary was simple and the students could elicit the meaning of each sentence from the words. But again, the students were not the sort to take notes. I will probably change the lesson package back in Singapore (no printers accessible to me here) so that they copy words only in Chinese, and maybe they can use it for Vietnam. Since many could not read properly, I got them to look at a PPT on our school.

The English teacher there reflected that proverbs were too difficult. The explanation in English is difficult to understand and since I explained in Mandarin as well, I might as well do away with the English. The topic of proverbs was interesting though as there are Chinese equivalents, which the students knew. The teacher remarked that even she herself did not know the meaning of these English proverbs until today. Hot Food was easily to understand but learning about poetry was probably not what they needed.

So I decided to serve Lesson Package 1 the next day. A good thing I prepared eight packages instead of two, with one difficult, four medium and three simple. I looked at their textbook and it was very simple (P1?), with a word list. I sent in my worksheets for printing. Walking past another EL class, I saw that they recited the phrases that the teacher read. That would be just the thing for Lesson 1.

After that, we talked a bit in the VP's room and then we went back to the hotel. I put back my things and then we went for the welcome dinner, which cost more than RMB1200. They had local dishes. This time I had to drink even more, Chinese "white wine", Dongpo wine -- much stronger. Each one of them toasted me, 13 of them if I recall correctly. I downed almost all those glasses, except for two, which I drank half because the alcohol fumes were getting to me. Also, Mr Zhu and Mr Song did not drink alcohol. Luckily, I made sure I had enough food in the stomach, so strangely, I felt little effect.

After dinner, there was quite a bit of food left, so that was their culture I guess. They left to play mahjong in the games room (qi pai shi) and I went back to rest in my room. Mr Zhu was surprised at how little effect the wine had on me. They thought I could hold my alcohol, but I told them that I seldom drank in Singapore. The secret was food in the stomach. I was very tired and so went to bed at 8.30 pm, no doubt the alcohol doing its depressant thing. I woke up in the middle of the night to write this.

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.