The value of the ringgit!!!

Nowadays, the value of our currency is small. When I was 5 years old. you can buy a lot of titbits with 5 cents. Now what can you get for 5 cents? When irefelct back to the time when I was 5, I remember my grandmother who used to but sweets for me. Going to school at that time with a pocket money of 10 cents was a norm.

Yesterday was pay day. I am sure our salaries to to our loans, credit card payments, insurance etc. With the rising cost of food, we really feel the pinch. I went to the school canteen the other day and I learned that on an average the students spent RM2.00 for food perday. So the increase was 200%. This is Sibu. What about students in KL? I bet they even spend more!

Thank God the season of Lent has started. I think most Catholics will use the season to pray and fast for forty days and abstain from meat. Fasting in the Catholic faith is different from the Muslim. Catholics are required to forgo the things that they love most during the Lentern season. For example, eating half of the portion of what you normally eat, forgoing the best movie and most important is to pray. I remember that when I was younger, I used to get angry quickly on a Friday because my family abstain from meat on every Friday. The reason being the fact that when we eat only vegetables, we tend to feel hungry faster. But now, I am quite ok since I have to take care of my diet after a recent surgical procedure.

Today, I am a little bit under the weather since it is raining heavily now. I am a little allegic to the change in environmental climate and I tend to cough, which somehow has become my signature!!!

To all my friends who are still doing their Masters : Halezza, Malalini and Vasuki, all the best to you all. Enjoy the research work. The labour is hard but the fruits are definitely sweet!!!

To Foziah, thank you for your encouragement, your advice and your care and concern. I would like to say "Jia Yew" to you on your journey to become DR. Foziah!!!

A long week...

The past week was a long week for me, having to teach for 6 days with Saturday as a replacement for the 12th January 2009 when "the flood waters visited my school". Later, in the night, we had a farewell cum welcoming dinner with the ex-boss and the new boss.

Having to go through the routine of school work like conducting PLBS, checking the students' NILAM record and conducting PROBIM makes me ponder the fact that teachers now have a lot of paper work. Twenty years ago, teachers also produce very successful personalities in our society but they do not have that much paper work. I remembered my aunty, who was a former English teacher telling me that she asked her students to write an English essay every week and they did. That is how her students who were well-versed in Mandarin were able to master the language. These students were quite independent, not like students nowadays who are spoilt and "spoon fed". By right, students of today should be more language inclined as they have access to the internet and so on. Thus, my aunty's students are now successful businessmen who make their millions while their teacher is not as well off as them. But, she is rich academically, studying in the States until she earned her PHd.

Last week, we hear of cases that our Education Minister being sued for the PPSMI. Personally, I think we should be proud if our people are conversant in English. If we make it to the international arena, we do not need to exploy translators and can stand on our own. Few politicians claim that the rural students suffer. After spending billions to train teachers to teach Maths and Science in Mathematics, I feel it is a waste of money to stop. Like the saying goes, "If there is a will, there is a way" or in Malay, "Hendak seribu daya, Tak hendak, seribu dalih." Rural school teachers should take the initiative to use English to teach these two subjects, using teahing aids like pictures, realia especially if they are teaching primary school students. Do not use Bahasa Melayu (BM) to translate or explain to them. The rational is if you used BM to explain, they will be forever waiting for the BM explanation and thus, the PPSMI will fail. Researchers should look into the fact that if the English educated twenty years ago can master BM, why not the generation of today?

Think and ponder???

New boss

I recently have a new lady boss in my school. My previous boss was a gentlemen and he is very popular among the staff and students. Being a lady boss, most people think that she is going to be a difficult person to work with.

Personally, I feel all bosses are the same. If we complete our task and carry out our duties with full responsibilities, I think we are going to be ok. The culprits are usually those who tend to slack...

My idea of an ideal boss is one who not only gives clear instruction to his subordinates on what to do, but one who also takes care of the staff's welfare. I personally dislike bosses who yells at his or her subordinates when things do not go well as they like. Secondly, bosses also have to respect their subordinates if they wish to be respected. Simple words of appreciation like " Thank you" and encouragement, for instance "Well done" or "Very Good" can be very effective in motivating the staff to work harder.

Bosses should always remember to whom they owe their position to? Definitely, their subordinates who slaved for them in order that they can move up the higher ranks of position. If their subordinates do not put in their efforts, do you think these bosses are at the top?

When recommending their subordinates for promotion, they should not make them feel that they owe their promotions to the bosses. In fact, the bosses should use this opportunity to make them feel appreciated due to their loyalty of service to the organizationthat they served.

It is sad that to hear that some bosses in corporate firms owned by some of the richest men in Malaysia yell at their staff to get a job done. As a result of this dehumanizing behaviour, the turnover for the staff is high. Who can stand that kind of pressure? I think if not for the money, the staff will wake up each morning dreading to go to work...

So bosses, if you are reading this piece, be a nicer person and you will see a change in your staff behaviour???

Spare the rod, spoil the child...

It has been a hectic week in school. Even Monday was an occasional holiday in the school due to Chap Goh Mei celebrations, many students came back with a talkative attitude. Were they talking about the celebrations itself or was it about the heavy floods that occur the Friday before?
What ever it is my observation are that students in my school are quite obedient except for a handful. The Iban students deserve my praise. Coming from a suburban area, they are quite different from the Iban students that I had from my former school. However, some of these Bumi students had an illness called "Laziness".

Coming to the title, "Spare the rod, spoil the child...". I think if teachers are able to exercise canning on problematic students, the school will be a better place. Parents nowadays spoil their children too much. In my previous school, I was told that when parents are called to the school because of their children's discipline problems, they got angry and shouted at the teachers. No wonder their children have so much problems in school as the saying goes, "Like Father Like Son".

Recalling an incident in a class of Bumi students, I jokingly told the students that the students whom I canned before make it to institutions of higher learning and that I met these students when I was studying my masters in UM, one Iban boy said to me " Cikgu, bawa rotan hari Jumaat ini. I nak Cikgu rotan saya supaya I boleh masuk universiti..." I had a good laugh and told him that if he really wants to go to the university, he must study hard. Those that I canned were lazy students whom I thought they could get good grades if they work hard. The pain that they endured as a result of the canning became a constant reminder that they should always do my homework. The chain result is that the constant homework is the practice that they need to do well in the exams. In return the good results in the public exam pushed them into the universities...

So what do you think, fellow teachers?...

Bali Trip

Bali was a picturesque journey. Eventhough I fell sick upon arrival, I was able to enjoy the wonderful view. I also pick up some customs and traditions along the way.



For example, the children in Bali have prefix titles before their names. The eldest is known as Wayan,...third child as Nyoman etc.



I also was told that people who died and buried at the volcanic hills do not have any odour despite not being covered. Cremation is part of theburial custom and poor people who cannot afford the cremation ceremony can bury their dead first, but the corpse must be cremated before the fifth year.



Spending 5 days in Bali tells me the Balinese are very religious, praying three times a day and the numerous temples in the island is a good example of their religiousity.



I also noticed that the elements of water, pandan leaves , colour and art are an important part of Balinese way of life.

Welcome to my jottings...

Hai everyone,
I m still new in this blogging era...Coming from Sibu, Sarawak, I just want to share with all of you my thoughts about the surroundings around me...
Adeline