Another day in NIE

I'm so amazed tat so many ppl r joining teaching. To me, some may appear to be able to survive in this profession, and some not. Maybe i can tell just by looking at their faces, their expressions, their reaction over the workload and their cliques. There're a lot of fresh grads... but there're even more PRCs... their influence and numbers have spreaded even now, to NIE. I wonder if these r trainee teachers or NTU undergrads (if they're undergrads, then even NTU is not big enough to contain them?) I won't be surprised. But this place is so filled with PRCs that I feel like I'm in China!

I suppose i dun need to visit china with so many china people coming to s'pore. Come to think of it, it's so cool. We go overseas to spend money and relac one corner, but these pple come here to study, to work here and help us in our economy.. next time these pple may just replace me in my job. Heh, so what am I driving at? I don't like them? Yes, I don't like having them around. I don't know why? Must i have a reason? Ha ha, I'm not the Zheng Hu wat, so only the Zheng Hu knows why they're here. Yes I don't like them. But I'll still live with it anyway. As long as the cabinet not all china men can oledi.

Good practices in teaching #1

i'm starting this to help myself pick up good things as well as deter from negative stuff.
to begin with, i met 2 really cool tutors in class today, which somehow really gives me the feeling of a well-spent day at NIE.

Tactic:
- Have fun, be relaxed, be natural
- Model for students (if you wan them to read e notes, u can pretend to be reading)
- Proximity (Go near them to subtlely stop their -ve behavior)
(adapted from raymond tan - CPA)

Tactic:
- 10 - 15min warm up b4 lesson (to cater for late-comers)
- cartoons, magic, videos
- Exaggerate
- Mind reading trick (raise the stake!)
- Story of poor farmer (how to counter the cunning loan shark)
- Magic Trick/Teaching must have value
(adapted from katoh - Physics)

It's hard to find good teachers, even here in NIE. I really appreciate those who make the effort to enhance my learning in this short one yr. 3 cheers to you guys!!

HAPPY YEW NEAR!!!

"It is not good to have zeal without knowledge, nor to be hasty and miss the way." (Prov 19:2)

Yoz! It's been a while since I blog - no mood la, but I'm glad the visiting season is now over. Some slight improvement this year as I managed to talk to more ppl compared to the past years. I kind of detest them asking me the same question yr after yr, but this will inevitably be the most irritating thing that's gonna happen till I bring a gal back (for once I really hope that there were women cyborgs). The sadder thing is not that I'm not making any effort but I keep hitting walls.

Microsoft is having new updates again... haha... vista oledi come out still update for wat?

Come to think of it, I'm kind of glad I no longer have to go Bt Merah for svc every wk (wait, what am I talking about? I'm still going LOS at Bt Merah b4 svc leh... and the food sucks!!!) But I'm kind of glad cuz I dunno why I just dislike tat place. Can't catch cabs at nite. Always the same stalls that are open. Always so hard to get there (and get out of there w/o car). Somehow I just feel sick about it. Actually Expo is supposed to be worse but somehow the feeling is just different :D I know why oledi. The TCT floor is slanted, so whenever i try to dance my legs struggle. Expo doesnt have this prob. Am I complaining? Probably. But I'm glad we're out of the place. And I really hope we'll go to even better places.

Ohhh... how I wan a car.... I wan a car..... so so badly.....