Relief Teaching.

These 2 days, I got to try my hand at some relief teaching for the first time after getting a call from a neighbourhood secondary school. It was certainly quite an experience and I must say i kind of enjoyed it!

The classes i took were mainly the lower sec classes, so being highly energetic 13 and 14 year olds, it was difficult for anyone to possibly control them. But i have certainly never seen such genuine joy and carefree attitudes in any Singaporean students that I have known. Usually, people are always worried about something. Which leads me to the conclusion that the less you know and the less you compare, the happier you are.

One of the most fun and funny ass moments I had was in the Tamil and Malay classes for the lower sec students. No, I wasn't there to teach, just to ensure that those guys do the work which their teacher had set for them. But the reality was that many a time, they would just say "tcher.....very boring leh..." and start chit chatting with each other. I guess there was only so much i could do to push them, but the onus really is on the individual to get his/her work done and learn as much as possible.

In the end, I spent most of the time chit chatting with them, laughing at their jokes which though simple and crappy, can certainly make you laugh your head off and brighten your day. One attention seeking boy in my Malay class tried to do a 360 degree spin on his chair...he was like, " 360 degree spin! whee!!!!" then splat! His rotund and flabby frame slammed into the ground to a chorus of laughter of the whole class. That really cracked me up and I just laughed till tears trickled out of my eye!

I've just strengthened my resolve to at least learn some basic Bahasa Melayu. Its appalling that though the Singapore population is 20% Malay, I can hardly construct a proper sentence in Malay! It will certainly be necessary to know some Malay in future as a doctor. (or maybe the rather demure looking Malay-Chinese girl in my class just captured my heart for an instant!)