The end of Practicum Phase I
It's the 3rd day back in college, and I'm already having a splitting headache.
Well, the headache actually started yesterday. No idea what caused it, but I'm blaming it on the stress and workload. =P
I miss my kids. Not a day goes past without my thinking of them. It might be the fault of that great yellow USB fan sitting next to my laptop (a gift from one of them). Teaching is really addictive and you can get so much satisfaction out of it when your kids can spell and understand new words days or weeks after you had taught them. Of course, one can't do much in a month, but kids are really sponges that can soak up new information.
The only frustrating thing is that sometimes it's so much easier to just give instructions or translate new vocabulary for them in Bahasa Melayu...that cuts the delivery time in half. But it's not encouraged. I mean, I understand that we want the pupils to be exposed to as much English as possible, and not be conditioned to wait for BM translations. However, the English language does not only consist of lexical items, it has PLENTY of function words and connotations that you just can't describe or draw a picture for. So my plan for that is to use only English sometimes, and when I see no other way out, to use Bahasa Melayu. At least the pupils won't be conditioned to tune out when I'm speaking English because they don't know if a Bahasa Melayu translation will follow.
Despite planning and preparing for hours for just a one-hour lesson, it's rewarding to see them enjoying the lesson and learning new things in English. Like the amazing facts about starfish, which I had to teach for two days because they could not get it the first time. But hey, when two days later they could spell "predator" and tell me that it meant "haiwan yang makan haiwan lain", I felt a warm fuzzy feeling deep down in my heart. Or when one of my pupils wrote a card for me in English...AWWWWW.
Next semester, it's a 2-month-long stretch. I hope I'll love those kids as much as I loved these kids, and that I'll enjoy the experience thoroughly again.
Well, the headache actually started yesterday. No idea what caused it, but I'm blaming it on the stress and workload. =P
I miss my kids. Not a day goes past without my thinking of them. It might be the fault of that great yellow USB fan sitting next to my laptop (a gift from one of them). Teaching is really addictive and you can get so much satisfaction out of it when your kids can spell and understand new words days or weeks after you had taught them. Of course, one can't do much in a month, but kids are really sponges that can soak up new information.
The only frustrating thing is that sometimes it's so much easier to just give instructions or translate new vocabulary for them in Bahasa Melayu...that cuts the delivery time in half. But it's not encouraged. I mean, I understand that we want the pupils to be exposed to as much English as possible, and not be conditioned to wait for BM translations. However, the English language does not only consist of lexical items, it has PLENTY of function words and connotations that you just can't describe or draw a picture for. So my plan for that is to use only English sometimes, and when I see no other way out, to use Bahasa Melayu. At least the pupils won't be conditioned to tune out when I'm speaking English because they don't know if a Bahasa Melayu translation will follow.
Despite planning and preparing for hours for just a one-hour lesson, it's rewarding to see them enjoying the lesson and learning new things in English. Like the amazing facts about starfish, which I had to teach for two days because they could not get it the first time. But hey, when two days later they could spell "predator" and tell me that it meant "haiwan yang makan haiwan lain", I felt a warm fuzzy feeling deep down in my heart. Or when one of my pupils wrote a card for me in English...AWWWWW.
Next semester, it's a 2-month-long stretch. I hope I'll love those kids as much as I loved these kids, and that I'll enjoy the experience thoroughly again.
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