Saturday, January 22, 2005
The Relief Teacher Strikes Back
After 3 days' worth of primary school relief teaching, I'm firmly converted to Legalism. Young children are like little savages: unschooled, undisciplined and lacking basic social inhibitions. Oh, they
are kind of adorable, to be sure - when they are not running amok, screaming, crawling around on the floor or fighting one another.
Because the regular teacher usually does not provide me with a lesson plan or learning materials to keep the children occupied, it has been improvisation all the way. But I've decided that I've had enough (already?). I am going to prepare my own 'educational materials'.
However, since I have no inkling whatsoever of the primary school student's mind, the things I have in store for them will probably be grossly overestimating their capabilities. Besides, I used to be rather merciless in primary school. In P1, I organised an art competition, coldly judged the submissions and gave myself the 2nd prize. In P3, I drew up a list of obscure acronyms and gave it to my friends to decipher. (I was sincerely surprised when they couldn't do most of it.) In Nanyang, er... hmm, nevermind. I was truly horrible then (although, to be fair, I wasn't conscious of it) and I'm not much better now. But no matter: I'd rather have baffled silence than the usual unmanageable cacophony.
Oh, I'm
so going to enjoy this.
words were spilled on Saturday, January 22, 2005
