Let the hair down!

And so it was Teachers' Day yet again.

Teachers' Day used to fall on 1Sept but it has been changed to the first Friday of September. This is one of the best decisions ever made because that will mean that in the last week of school (before the September hols), there will only be 3 working days!  Thurs - celebration , Fri - actual Teachers' Day so it is a school holiday, followed by the weekend, and then it's Sept hols!

Most teachers would still have to work during the Sept hols but it is , at least, a break from preparing everyday lessons!

There was the usual celebration that Thursday morning, with my form class  and then with the rest of the school in the hall. I love the cake that my students baked...so cute! And it was surprisingly really good as well!

 

 

My Lovable Form Class 3A1



It's not the size that matters..... heheheh.....



 

 

 

 



That very same night, we had a dinner function at Crowne Plaza (the one linked to Changi Airport Terminal 3).  The theme for the function was 'A Night at the Movies' and we were supposed to dress according to any characters shown on the big screen before.

 

 

 

My table decided to be Team Hogwarts!

 

 

 

 

It was pretty fun to see teachers dress up. We also had Princess Aurora. Viking and Minions!

 

It was a good night spent after all the hard work in crazy Term 3!

 



SYF 2013 - Distinction!

One reason why I have been horribly busy and lack rest is the SYF.

It is our second attempt at SYF and the instructor and I decided last year that we would be trying out Malay Contemporary dance. 

It definitely has been a tough  journey for the students - teaching them the true meanings of commitment , discipline and endurance. It was not easy for the teachers either. There were hiccups along the way and that included handling students breaking down , misunderstandings between them etc. 

But I am really glad that over the 4 years of the dance club, we have managed to instill the right values in almost all of them so problems were minimal.

The last week leading up to the event was really intense and on the day itself, I think everyone's heart could not stop beating fast. There was so much expectation from everyone else but more importantly , every student had their own expectation and I just had to pray and pray that no one would be disappointed and that their hard work would reap results!

They had to report at 7:30 am and gosh , everyone looked so tired! Thus, warm up exercise was intensified so that they would wake up!

What made the whole thing even more nerve-wrecking was that one of the girls had a fall the day before and couldn't  go on her knees. So that very morning itself, my instructor had to change their positions and took her out from some scenes.

Lining up to be made up!

Before the performance.....

Hehe.....they were supposed to have that angsty look for the dance.

Finally going in...... 

After an energetic and impressive performance, it was time to chill!

Results came up 2 days later and omg, I was so nervous for them ..... I couldn't focus on a lot of things because of the anxiety! Hahaha.....

Imagine the joy when our HOD announced they received DISTINCTION (GOLD if referring to previous SYF term) for their performance....priceless. Really priceless. 

These kids really deserve that recognition for all their sweat , hard work and scoldings received for 4 whole months. I hope this will be a great motivation to spur them to put in their best in whatever and anything that they do. 

Till the next SYF in 2015 - it has truly been a wonderful journey :) 

Back for 10 mins!

I hereby plead guilty for ignoring my blog and for not even bothering to think about what to blog. 

It has been such an arduous term 3, this year's being one of the toughest with my added workload. Not that I am not enjoying my work. On a sadistic note, I am enjoying what I have been doing but it has been really tiring and draining that I have almost zero energy left by the time it's time for dinner.

It doesn't help that it is the holy month of Ramadhan whereby I should be levelling up my number of deeds. It saddens me to think that we have already passed the mid-month mark of the fasting month yet, I do not feel that I have done enough. Time passes by too quickly that it scares me.

The recent week has been pretty crazy. I have no idea what made the school management decide on this arrangement but we had the EL paper for 'N' Level prelims, common tests for Sec 1 -3 and mock exams for Sec 4E/5NA all on the same day! It was never like this ...it used to be a lil more spread out so that teachers do not get overwhelmed by the huge loads of markings to be done -  all at one go.

I have not been spared , of course.... so this is where I spent the whole of this weekend at...

My messy table

I know, you can hardly see the top of my table . This is just the one at home, mind you ..I have yet to show you my cubicle in the staff room. As you can see, I am doing my marking while surfing the Net as well. I have to do that if I want to get my markings done.

I use the laptop as a motivation. Mark five scripts, go to one website/check facebook/ read a blog for about 5 - 10 minutes. After that , back to the markings ...and I try to increase the number of scripts for each interval. That is the only way to keep me from falling asleep.

I have just finished one pile of 'N' Level essays. I wish it stops there but that's just wishful thinking on my part.

In that bag, there are 2 stacks of Mock Exam papers to be marked and in that folder, are the class testimonials that I have to edit by tonight. Everything else has been left in school because I did not want to be unrealistic by bringing everything back .

Even now, I very much doubt that I can finish whatever I brought home . So much for trying to be realistic!

Sheesh.

Alright , my ten minutes is up. Back to work with my best friends for the weekend!

:P

Buddies for the moment :P

FIESTARI 2012 - their first!

Yeps, you guessed it right.

I have been super busy. Term 3 is always a mad rush because there are the mock exams, prelims, oral exams on top of all other school activities and everyday lesson preparations and markings.

I have been trying to fight the impending flu because I just could not afford to miss lessons.

But I finally succumbed to the flu bug :( . The continuous sneezing, coughing and feeling feverish are enough to make me unable to go to work. Oh well....so might as well blog, right?

Last Saturday, the girls took part in FIESTARI - a Malay dance competition organised by Cheng San CC. When I was still teaching in my previous school, we did enter the same competition twice and both times reaffirmed my view that standard of competition is very high. The current group is relatively new and we are not really a Malay dance group (more like ethnic fusion) but I thought the girls could do with more exposure.

It is always good to learn from others who are better than us, isn't it?

So there went the whole of Saturday! I really salute the girls for having so much energy - they had to attend Sports Carnival as early as 7:30 am , rushed to school to make up etc and finally down to competition venue for stage blocking and any last minute preparations. We only reached school again at 11pm! It is amazing how youths do not seem to feel tired. It is either the adrenaline rush or the food they eat! haha....

Some photos while waiting for their turn..

I managed to watch some of the other schools' performances and I was really impressed by NTU and East Spring Sec. However, almost every group that performed was good that I was just hoping and praying the girls would not falter.

We did not bring any supporters (with the sports carnival on the same day, I was sure the rest would be dead tired!) so it was quite cute that there were cheers for the girls during and after their performance. Looks like the audience was entertained!

The following photos were taken by one of the instructors on that day , Rizal. The official photos will only be out next week.

Nanyang Polytechnic took the championship (they were perfect in almost every aspect), followed by Republic Polytechnic and finally, East Spring Secondary School. I wished NTU had been in top 3... I really like their item :)

We didn't win anything but it was really a good experience for the girls to see how fantastic others were. 

Overall, I think the event was very well-organised , unlike the 'typical' Malay events/activities I have attended before.. hehe... My only issue is that I strongly feel there should be separate categories for secondary schools and tertiary institutions. Having more years of experience in the dance arena has a huge impact on profiency of skills and level of stage presence and confidence.

Otherwise, good job, organisers!