Two Weeks In A Row? Impossible.

That thought entered my mind as we sat there in a group, laughing 'till our jaws and stomachs hurt.

Last week, I just had a great session with this bunch and today, here we were again, laughing our heads off. I mentioned in the previous post that this class has that rare quality called 'chemistry'. Today, they've proved me right again.

It's not easy to work up a good hearty laugh when we're doing something as tedious, mind-numbing and boring as exams. But it's something we need to do, no matter how boring it is. I feel for my students. Many of them are going through tough times facing exams, strained family ties, problems in friendship and that touchy issue of 'love'. And some are even falling sick. But how do I balance the need for preparing them for SPM and having fun in learning?

Teaching is not as easy as some would think, simply because studying is boring stuff. And making studying fun is a real challenge in itself. I guess I owe it to my upbringing that I had the opportunity to be creative from a young age. My parents had a personal tutor at home, teaching me nursery rhymes when I was merely 3. I believe this was what sparked my interest and love for English, and with it, the passion for languages. And with this passion ingrained in my heart, I started writing poetry, which is an excellent way of expressing creativity. As I grew with an inquisitive mind, my creativity over-flowed into other areas of my life - art, music and drama.

I did not envision to be a teacher at a young age. Those who know me well, know of how I became a teacher. Life is strange in how it leads you to a destination you never expected, where everything falls into place. The skills I had gained since young are now applied shamelessly on a weekly basis. Just ask my students and they'll tell you that these 3 elements are ever-present in my classes. I draw, I sing, I dance, I act, I tell jokes - in many ways, I'm a one-man mobile entertainment machine! Haha!

All this is in good fun but it serves one purpose - my students. I try to make learning fun not for me but for my students. I understand the pressure they have to go through as a young teenager. All that stress just isn't good for young healthy minds. So, I try to inject some fun into their lives, hoping that it will relieve them of their stress. There's fun even when we're doing the boring stuff like discussing exam papers, essay-writing and of course, grammar (I swear I can hear groans from every corner. Haha!).


Not many people realise that I have to seriously crack my head for new ideas all the time. A good example are my group projects and last week's literature exercise, which I designed. Some exercises, like today's group-writing, were ideas I borrowed from the internet but which I modified to suit my classes. And then, there are some which I have to pull out of the hat when Plan A AND Plan B fail. Thank goodness I have quite a bit of creativity in my brains or else I'll be dead. Well, actually, I won't suffer that much but my students will really suffer having to go through a boring lesson if my main plan and back-up plan fail.

In the end, my students are what matters to me the most. A lot of people don't get me when I say this - I was happy to get my pay today but I was happier to hear the laughter and see the smiles on my students' faces. If I were to measure it in terms of money, then I guess this would sum it up:

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Stationery = $ 2.50
Writing paper = $ 11.90
Tables and chairs = $ 800
Laughing our heads off = PRICELESS

There are some things that money can't buy. For everything else, there's Mastercard. =)