Teaching in Sabah...

Hmm.. Stay in Sabah has come up to the fourth month now! Wow, time flies like nobody's business. I realize that I have grown to love the place I am teaching, the kampung people, the teachers, the goats and cows (oh ya, crocodiles are quite rampant in my area-- were they once tame??), and not forgetting, my darling students!

One thing that always lingers in my mind is-- The tidiness in whatever they do! I had my teaching practice back in Penang and was teaching in the heart of the town where pupils there were mostly from well-to-do families and did not have much of a problem as much as financial and education are concerned. I had hard times reading their untidy writing although they were darlings too! But in the place where I am teaching, the kids neatly wrap their textbooks with rice plastic packets or even the black plastic bags which we use as garbage plastic bags here!

To see that disheartens me a lot. But what makes me go all out to teach is their determination. They are indeed very poor in many aspects. Financial wise, they are given everything for free by the school. From school uniforms to pencils and erasers and also the free milk drinks (I had some too..wink wink)

Teaching and learning in class at times tire me a lot. All because there still are pupils who don't even know their ABCs although they are already in Year 4 or 5 or even 6! My question is-- What were the kids doing when they were in the primary classes? What did the teachers do then? To my surprise, when I asked around, I got to know that there were only 4 teachers (the HM, PK1, PK HEM and the one and only surviving Ustaz Wan) to teach 60 pupils all the subjects!

Then I got the answer for my dilemma. What I am doing presently is just drilling the kids whom I am teaching -- Year 1, 4 and 5, with reading. We only did reading lessons for the past three months and subsequently, we came up with writing and speaking lessons. Thanks to lecturers in I4p and UUM for giving us materials during our course which helped me a great deal in teaching songs and simple stories to the kids.

One fine day, my HM asked me-- "Noor, kau tak rasa malu bah menari dan menyanyi dengan tahun satu?".. Blushingly, I answered "Tak lah, lagi seronok ade!" Then he added, "Kau lah cikgu lelaki pertama yang saya tengok rilek2 je bile menari dengan budak2. Baguslah, sekurang2nya ada jugak budak2 tu nyanyi2 lagu orang putih kat sekolah dan rumah diorang, bah!"

wink wink... My HM spies on my class???!!! Ceh!