storytelling time with my kids

Hello class!

haha..today for once i went to sch and i went home feeling purposeful.

God does work in miraculous ways only yesterday i felt like shit n giving up and i just prayed to give me a purpose to push on and today just before recess i got my prayer answered :)

I had to relieve 3M class for 1 hour. they were like the last class out of 10 classes. the teachers said they were a rambunctious uncontrollable rude freaky bunch so it kinda put me on my toes the moment i stepped in. True enough by the first 10 minutes turned into horror as the malay boy threatened to punch the lights out of the Indian boy next to him for reporting to discipline teacher about his smoking escapes in sch toilet. To escape so much tension in their small confined class i took them to the library. omg..the journey to the library itself set 15 of them running in different directions n i had to scream threaten n play hide n seek to catch them back. they were even hiding under the fire extinguisher hose, under the bench, behind curtains n some standing between ledge to make fun of me searching for them! haiyo such rascals indeed!

After much screaming n merciless running around i caught all of them into the library to read or just sit around FAR from each other to ease the tension and just stop fighting among one another. (dont be surprised as quiet little tudung girls will suddenly get up, scream, box n hit boys back right in front of ur eyes n they both will be yelling obscenities at the top of the voices even with me around)

after 45 minutes i was walking around and to my great astonishment the naughtiest rascal in class with a scruffy face and untucked shirt looked up at me n said "ticer, ajar i baca buku cerita english speaking la"

So i took the nearest kindergarden picture book and we opened the 1st page n i asked him to read the 1st sentence " Once upon a time, there lived a poor boy named Jack and his mother". The kid could not even go past the first 3 words n choked n looked to me for help. Oh no, the boy could not read. at 15 years old i realized so many of them in this class COULD NOT READ. it broke my heart...i mean WHAT WERE THE TEACHERS BEFORE THIS DOING?!!15 years just wasted?! how could this happen in today's modern society?!

Seeing how difficult it was i didnt want to discourage the poor kid so i helped him thru the 1st page n without realizing we had a little circle sitting down to listen as i translated n gave meaning to each word. It was a miracle as i narrated the story and pointed at pictures n made sound effects as if i was clowning, the boys just sat there n KEPT QUIET listening instead of talking for the 1st time ever!

 So 15 minutes later on when the story ended, the same boy looked at me and said "best lah ticer, minggu depan kita baca cerita lain ok?" and he smiled at me. i had made friends with a notorious kid which was actually quite nice inside :) and i smiled back.

Can u ever believe it, the whole bunch had NEVER heard the story of " Jack n the Beanstalk". NEVER HEARD before in their lives. and i was so ignorant thinking everybody shared the same good childhood i once had. what an eyeopener this was.. 

later on, i went to relieve 5 Landskap also the last of the last form 5 class and i just talked to the 7 of them and found out that all of them have night jobs cause their families were soo poor, they have never heard of a Chinese wedding, never heard stories of Penang and its wonders and they just told me random funny things like asking me to go eat cendul or rendang at their pasar malam stall . The worst of the bunch are actually the nice, hardworking decent ones because they have so often been misunderstood n alienated just because they dont perform well academically other ppl just label them as "hopeless" which is so sad as well.

Its weird to have to have little people calling me "Ticer Ticer" or "Sentra" in the hallways and repeated telling the class, good morning sit down or keep quiet!! Stop fighting!! Sit down!!
 I'm trying to get used to malay girls kissing my hand (salam) in respect when the class ends and i'm trying to adapt to the limited choices of food in sch n surrounding area (penang food has made my tongue very picky indeed). Heck, i'm even trying to speak BM in one straight line without adding any hokkien or english or halt trying to think of a translation in my brain. its all so new n so tiring! haha

and today was the first time, even though i was not formally teaching in a classroom setting, i had done something worthwhile in my life. and i went home so tired but satisfied for i had turned into a student n learned new things from my students. see la, how ironic how the world works...