It was my second last day of work, but my kids simply did not give me a break. They became monsters running around the classroom. The monsters didnt pop out all at one go. In psychology, we learned this term called “minority influence”. This is really applicable to my situation. I have this little “leader” who “evolved” from a cute boy to some kind of screaming monster, making funny faces. Slowly, his actions influenced the rest of his friends around him and they started to follow the “leader”.

Day 58 at work – 31 march 2010

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHIR! My best partner back in my high school time. We worked together as angklung sectional leader and kulintang sectional leader respectively.

It was the last day of my work before taking a two month’s break for my exams. Instead of taking care of my own playgroup kids, I had to take over the K2 class. Taught them “He is”, “She is”, “They are” and “I am”. When I called each student one by one to the whiteboard to form sentences using the above, they were able to form it. And the k2 girls in my class were very cute. I don’t understand why they will want to crowd behind me to give me massage. I was at the same level with them after sitting on the stool. So the girls gathered around me – massage neck, leg. I did not exploit or misuse my authority okay? I just could not understand why they did that.

Before going off from work, I went back to my own playgroup class and hugged every single babies. I cant forget the smiles on their cute and sweet faces. After hugging the playgroup babies, I went to the K1 class to hug them or give them a hi-5. And guessed what? I banged my back on the table. It was not due to my clumsiness or stupidity but was because when I squatted down and hugged one kid, the others came and started to hug me all together. Duh? I wasn’t able to balance myself thus knocking my back to the table. My kids are just “over friendly”!

I’ve took a few photos of my kids and uploaded them on my facebook. You can check it out too. Aww.. I think I will miss my kids. But I think I will still pop by my childcare centre to say Hi to the kids.

After work, went to school to crash my friend’s poa revision class. But we could not get in since we do not belong to the class and the staff was stationed outside the lecture room. In the end, I went to the library to study. Saw my secondary school friend, benjamin in the library. I managed to sneak into the lecture room during the break after the staff went off. So in the end, I only managed to listen to the second half of the lecture. After class, daddy came to school to fetch me home.

All these weeks, I’ve been coughing like crazy since Chinese new year. On and off, I will have nose bleed or flu. It was a terrible feeling especially when I need to study for prelims and exams in the midst of studying, I went for a job interview and had reunion dinner after that. It was 23 feb and the reunion dinner started very late. We started around 9pm as we were waiting for da ge’s gf to knock off from work.

During my work, I got to know that one of my boy, Isaiah is leaving the school. Though he does not belong to the class that I’m in charge, he is someone who leaves a very great impression. If you have been following my blog/tweets, you should have known that Isaiah is a boy who came to hug me on my first day of work. He was crying desperately and when he found me, he kept hugging me and didn’t want to go back to his class. Since then, every morning when he saw me, he will greet me with his cheerful smile. And sometimes, he will look for me, crying. I can’t bear him leaving. but I know that he is going to somewhere better.

Then last Saturday, 27 feb after service, went to Pan Pacific Hotel for family dinner to celebrate my big aunt’s 60th bday. Played with my nephew and cousins. Let’s take a look at the food:

After the dinner, I felt burdened and wasn’t feeling great. Took some time to digest and I just find that it just too hard to accept. My close friends should know what happen.

God, give me strength and courage.

Blame it on my service provider for the unexpected intrusion of the hacker. Now, I can only blog about my work experience based on my memory and twitter.

Day35 of work(29 Jan): It was Jie Ni’s 3yrsold birthday and Zhi Ling’s last day in the childcare. I bought them crayons on my own expense and gave it to them. We sang birthday song for Jie Ni. Normally the birthday kid will bring a cake and we will have the cake cutting session etc. But Jie Ni didnt get her cake. So, we showed the kids the picture of a cake and asked them to imagine that we are feeding them the cake. Haha, one of the kids asked me to open my mouth so that she can give me the cake.

Day39 of work (5 Feb): When I reached the doorstep of my childcare centre, the kids shouted uniformly “Good Afternoon Teacher Jassy”. So sweet. They brighten up my Friday and gave a good ending for the week. I took care of the K1 class and read stories to them. After story-telling, I let the children to play toys. In the class, there are some naughty kids. Some “KPOs” kids came and told me “Teacher, naughty children cannot play toys okay? Don’t let Jing Chong and Janiel play”. Then, Issac called me “Teacher Jassy Teacher Jassy, I built a submarine. You come and take a look.” He grabbed my hands and pulled me to a corner to see his ‘submarine’. After that, I went back to my own seat and played with the kids. Then, Issac called me again “Teacher Jassy Teacher Jassy, I built a house. Take a look.” So, he grabbed my hands to a corner and showed me his masterpiece.

Day40 of work (8 Feb):Took the K1 class. Read the story ‘The Little Mermaid”. But the ending of the story is different from what I used to know. Haha..The ending is the prince marrying another princess and little mermaid died and rose up to the heaven.

Day41 of work (9 Feb): Normally, we will bring the kids to the playground for outdoor but since its the CNY week, we brought our kids out to the market to take a look at the pasar malam. We looked at flowers, Nian Gao, Pomelo, and anything that is related to chinese new year.

Day42 of work (10 Feb): Normally when it’s outdoor time, there will be two teachers in the class. But on 10 Feb, I went outdoor alone with another four kids.

On the way to school (11 Feb): On my way to school, I saw my k2 kid Garreth and my k1 kid Geraldine. When they saw me, they greeted me “Good morning Teacher Jassy” even though I’m not going to work.

Day43 of work (12 Feb): Took the K1 and playgroup class. I read stories to my kids. After some time, my kid asked me “Teacher, how come your voice so strange?”. Haha.. It was then I realised that my voice sounded worse than what I excepted. Chinese new year has not started and I’m already down with sore throat :s . Anyway, my k2 kid Shawn gave me a pair of mandarin oranges. Sweet

It’s Friday again. I’m supposed to go to school for poa class but I didn’t. Was quite tired and also, it was raining. So, I stayed at home the whole day to write mindmaps for Marketing. Then, around 330pm, I went down for work.

The first thing I heard when I reached my childcare centre today was my kid,zhi ling screaming to me “teacher jassy..you didn’t bring your waterbottle home”. Haha.. You should look at her facial expression.. That pair of innocent eyes and the mouth.

Then, one of my kids celebrated her birthday. Not sure is it because they were waiting for me to come then have the birthday celebration. It’s because my kids normally have their teabreak at 3pm. But yesterday they started at 330pm, which is my usual working time.

Vivian is 3 years old now. I don’t understand why all kids’ birthday cake is Barney. Barney Barney and Barney. All my children loves cake. They eagerly waited for the cake to be served. They will eat with mouth wide open. Then, some will eat until the cream fully cover their mouth, chin..then, with hands full of cream, they will touch their shirt. :s so after some of my kids ate their cake, I started to eat mine. Everyone was eyeing on my cake and drooling. Haha..

After tea break, took some kids to clean their mouth and wash their hands. Everyone was fighting to hold my hands. Aiyo.. They were very sticky to me. I must really “train” them to learn to partner with their own friends. After that, taught my kids to read some words like crocodile, eagle, snake, elephant, monkey. When it was Charlene’s turn, she pronounced elephant as ‘elle-fant’, snake as ‘ssss..sss’ cause snake hiss. Haha..

I always like to work in the afternoon from 330pm to 530pm. Cause when I’m leaving from work, I will hug all my 2 years old kids then they will hug me back. :loves: Then on my way out if I see any kids, I will either hug them or give them hi5. Then yesterday when I’m leaving, I heard one of the K2 kid said ‘I like teacher Jassy’. Omg.. Sweet right? My kids are adorable. Can’t wait to see them again

When 2010 kicked in, I have more kids in my class – more like having crying babies in my class. As the kids are new to the environment, they tend to look for their mummies, daddies or aunties. They look at you like some monster and keep running away from you. I think the little children need this thing called “Trust”. They first must trust you in order for them to listen to you.

You really need to go down to the kids’ world and try to understand them. It’s really challenging this year. When the new kids start to cry, cant sit still, they influence those “old birds” in the class. Like if the new kids start to run around, the “old birds” will be influenced and run around. Class was chaotic.

This is what I observed about kids after 2 months here in my class.

Different types of kids
1) Obedient Kid – They really listen to you 100%.
2) Little Teacher Kid – Nah.. they are not teacher’s pet. Kids whom I described as “little teacher” are people who can help you control the class. They are like prefect of the class. One example is Jie Ni. When the kid is running around, I will ask Jie Ni to go to the kid to tell him to sit down. Cute right? She’s only 2+ years old.
3) Sticky Pad Kid – Sticky Pad kids are kids who will listen to you but will stick you like sticky pad. Wherever you go, they follow. They want your 100% attention. They can be cute but they can be a bit irritating sometime. For example, when the other kids are running around and I need to tell them off, Sticky Pad kids will grab your hand, hug you. It’s sort of like an obstruction to you especially there are kids who really need your attention.
4) “Big Bully” Kid – They are violent kids in the class. Tend to bully people. What will happen if two violent kids come together? They will “fight” with each other. Luckily my kids are not that violent to the extent that they will slap, punch each other.
5) Petty Kid – They are kids who will “dont friend” with you if you scold them. Sounds familiar? It’s a common term that we used when we were young. But the funny thing is that the kid who “dont friend” you will come come to hug you like mad(like sticky pad kids) after throwing their tantrum.

Last week, I had a really bad day at work. I really hate people to misunderstand me, and that’s why it made me moody. I think it affected my whole mood of teaching and everything didnt seem to run smoothly. Today during my psychology class, Iasked my friend for advice. I felt better after talking to her. And on my way back from school, God gave me this divine chance to meet Calyn on the bus. I started to tell her what I felt about my work and she really guided me and I felt much much better after that. I wanted to take the bus back home (like what I normally do) but then took the train back with Calyn. After our conversation, I found out that it is very important to take captive of every thought and not let our emotions to figure out things happening in our lives. We should lean on God’s understanding and not ours.

I humbly took in the words Calyn told me, and told myself to accept with an open heart to people who misunderstood me.

Before my work, I really prayed very hard very hard. I went to the childcare centre and kept reminding myself to be humble, teachable. My principal gave me an assignment to do. She wants me to give the kids intensive reading etc. So, I tried out the “experiment” with the first group of kids. After that, I got a chance to talk to one of the teachers to ask her what should I do when the class gets noisy, chaotic.

And.. I had a fall on my back. Cause one of my kids came when I was not aware and then came and hug me. He just ran towards me, banged and hugged me.. Gosh.. Can he be more gentle? :p

After work, told my principal that I need to take a break to prepare for my prelims and exams. The conclusion is that I’ll need to come back at least twice per day during my study break. I cannot entirely stop cause if i stop, it will be hard for me to bond with the kids again.

Alrightx, today is a brand new start of everything. Pray for me that I will always have a humble and teachable heart.

What I want is to sustain my joy in work and with the people who can assist me in this.

I had a bad day on friday that I just hope that the clock will tick faster so that I can knock off from work. My bad friday was compensated with a nice dream that I dreamt. I dreamed about Jay Chou and I sitting together on the bench taking photos.