1st day in SSS

I started school today, as some of you would have already known. Thanks, those who remembered!! Really really appreciate your well-wishes =D

Today was nothing like what I had expected. After hearing from my lecturer about how some schools may make us teach if they are really short-handed, I was prepared to go in and start laying ground rules to prevent them from bullying me. But nothing of that sort happened.

Firstly, I took the wrong bus, all thanks to the inaccurate board at the bus stop. THEY SHOULD CHANGE IT. So all my efforts to wake up early and rush myself without daydreaming went to waste.

Because I took the wrong bus, I was too late to take another bus back and then change bus. So I decided to cab there. Haven't cabbed by myself since SPH. Haha. And this time it was with my own money T_T I didn't want to leave a bad impression on my first day at work you see, and my NIE lecturer had said that they can't assess us on our teaching so they would pay particular attention to our professional attitude and attire. If I am late on my first day, they might hate me!! Hence the cab. $5.80. Blah.

Secondly, my initial thought that there would only be 3 of us miserable trainees and the 2 others being male (which would be terrible...SH prefers females =P) was dispelled. It turned out that there were SIXTEEN of us altogether. Freaking 16. Yes, the 3 of us were doing the PGDE (post graduate diploma in education) and having our Enhanced School Experience (ESE), but there were also other groups doing practicum (exam at the end of the NIE training), contract teaching and then ESE like us, teaching interns and those who were posted there for attachment as part of their degree course in NIE.

So there were lots of girls, yay =P Made friends with the friendlier ones. Haha =P The 2 other guys in my group were not too bad too.

Thirdly, I had absolutely nothing to do from 7am to 2pm today. NOTHING. Heard stories like how the classes are usually very rowdy, and saw their compositions and thus gauged their standard of English to be horrendous. I wonder if I should mark their compositions strictly and show them they have no hope for the 'O' Levels so they should buck up, or try not to hurt their feelings and mark according to a bell curve. Argh. Incidentally, the first sentence of this paragraph was not for nothing. The school staff had no idea what they were doing, and in fact they didn't even know we (the 3 of us) were arriving today. They didn't even know what the ESE was about, and had to ask us what we were supposed to do -_-"

I had actually called up the school last Wednesday to ask what time I should report. Lemme re-enact the conversation:

Me: Hi good afternoon, my name is SSH. I'm an NIE trainee who has been posted to your school for the Enhanced School Experience that starts next Monday. May I ask what time I have to report?
Her: Err...you are?
Me: (I repeated who I am)
Her:Oh...are you supposed to report to Mrs Thia?
Me: Err...(while wondering who on earth Mrs Thia is and wanting very badly to say, "I've never even heard of your school before, much less your staff...") I'm not sure.
Her:Hmm...it's ok, I think you should be reporting to her, let me transfer your call to her.
Me: Ok sure, thanks.
(long wait for Mrs Thia to pick up her phone. Meanwhile, I had to pay to listen to the music while being on hold because I was out then and using my handphone to call)
I then gave up. Blah.

Second call, later in the day:
Me: (Repeated all that formal stuff)
2nd Her: Err...you are a teacher?
Me: Yes, a trainee teacher.
2nd Her: Oh...should be 7am.
Me: And I report to the general office?
2nd Her: Err. Yes.
Me: Is there anything special that I have to bring, like my certs or something?
2nd Her: I think that one you'd have to ask Mrs Thia...is she the one you have to report to? (OMG. Please don't transfer me to her again)
Me: I'm not sure...maybe...
2nd Her: Then I don't think you'd have to bring your certs lah...because...(I forgot)
Me: Ok can, thanks very much, bye!

Phew. What a cold welcome, as compared to my friends who had been posted to other schools. Their CTs SMSed and emailed them, and already knew that they were going to arrive at their schools by Friday. Mine didn't even know about that today...they insisted that they didn't receive anything about us from NIE. Sigh.

Fourthly, THE CANTEEN FOOD SUX. I heard from the other teachers that the 2 Malay stalls are the best. They are the most hygienic and sell the most palatable and appetising food. Weird stuff have been found in the food from other stalls, like hair, cockroaches, beetles and even coins. Goodness. *shudders*

Fifthly, a lot of teachers I have met have nothing but praise for PL. Hurray!! =D Was so proud to say I'm an ex-PL Lite =D I really hope I would get posted back for my practicum. At least the culture isn't the kind where everyone feels that education is useless and the teachers don't have to waste time disciplining the students because they actually respect the teachers. I used to think that all schools have students who are made to greet their teachers when they see them anywhere, but I realise I'm wrong. PL is probably one of the rare schools that teach us to respect our teachers.

In this school, I found myself wishing to slack. It's easier to say "I wanna slack!" than to say "I wanna do work so that I can learn more." I believe that if I were in a more structured school like PL (as I'd heard), they'd attach me to a teacher and make me co-teach ASAP. Hard work, not something I'd look forward to, but at least I'd learn. And it might increase my passion for the job. I want to be like that, not the slacker me. But SSS does not have classes that are easy to handle, and what I heard is that new teachers are usually made to teach the worst classes. How to build up my passion like that? (Hmm should I even be blaming the school for my attitude? =P)

I also realised today the power of culture. If a student were going to enter SSS from primary school, she'd probably think studying is useless, teachers should fall sick more often and try to skip classes as much as possible. But if she were to go to a school like PL, she might be taught the value of education and the importance of respect for teachers. It's hard to change a culture. If I were to attempt to teach a class in SSS, I would probably have to give private tuition to everyone so that I can break them away from the influence of their culture, for starters. If they are together as a class, it's going to be very, very difficult to change their attitude towards education. But I guess my solution isn't feasible.

Actually so far what I've heard about them is from the teaching interns. I'll probably get a chance to see what they are like tomorrow, so hopefully I'll have a good impression of them after all. Hmm...