I guess I have a lot to be thankful for this year. Dad has recovered (although giving us quite a few false alarms on the way) and I had graduated from PGDE (the graduation ceremony is tomorrow). Work is fine so far this year, and the boys are as bad as ever (with the cute ones cuter than ever). Sometimes I think I like them too much for my own good. As for studies, I am enjoying it much better than HKU. It's not easy since I am not English major, but I am having a grand time hanging out and studying with my classmates. We are like old friends eventhough we have only known each other for 5 months, and let's not forget our age difference too. The weirdest thing is that one of the boys in our group is in fact an old boy from the school I am teaching now. I could still remember his face when I said I taught in the school, and he paled thinking that I might have taught him in his last year of school there! LOL!
Anyway, looking back that it's almost 4 years since I came back, I think I am still getting round to the idea that I am now a teacher, and more recently, a qualified teacher. I have never thaught that I would be a teacher, but fate is a funny thing and I love where I am now, and I hope it would stay that way for the coming year at least.
Happy Chinese New Year! 新年快樂!恭喜發財!
~ Calbee
- Mood:
cheerful
Don't worry, I am not getting married! My firend is, and she didn't tell us until two weeks ago, so I have been spending any free time I have to make her a special wedding present. Thankfully, it's almost finished...
~ Calbee
- Mood:
exhausted - Music:For the beauty of the Earth
- Mood:
bored
It sure is a roller coaster day in Hong Kong today. First we have the suspension of the schools starting from tomorrow, and then I finally got the last of my PGDE grades!
I have got a B for Educational Studies last year, and a B for my Literature Elective this year. And today, I went to pick up my grades for my research project and my teaching practicum. I got a D for the research project and a C for the teaching practicum.
They are pretty low marks, but with her threatening to fail me in both these modules, I am very happy that I passed no mater what the grades. I have to say a big thank you to the second examiner for my teaching practicum, whom I know had fought for the higher grade that I was not expecting. Thank you, Winnie!
Well, I passed all my modules... So... it's GOODBYE HKU and HELLO POLYU! I am really happy to have got my PGDE finally, and I can finally move forward for my language master degree in POLYU!
Back to the suspension of the schools. Because of the outbreak in one of the secondary schools in HK, all primary schools, special education schools and kindergartens are suspended for 14 days. That means that the UK trip in August with the students could be cancelled. Well, fingers-crossed, it is not going to be cancelled. If not, I can always use the whole summer to lose more weight. LOL!
~ Calbee
- Mood:
ecstatic - Music:Lollipop by Mika
However, because of the irresponsibility of my MM tutor, we were told that the grade would be released today instead of last Friday because she hadn't finished marking them. And guess what? she sent us a email last night that because her daughter is ill and she is not in the mood to do any serious marking, so she will have to delay it until further notice. WHAT THE ****!
I might sound very petty for not considering the impact of her daughter's illness on her mood, but we handed in the assignment to her as requested at the end of April, which is a month earlier than we should have, and she is telling us she still hasn't finished marking our work?! This is absurd and not fair to us as we need to rush our assignments while the other classes don't need to. AND this is NOT the first time that she couldn't meet the deadline.
*huff* I am so not going back to HKU for anything once this is over.
~ Calbee
- Mood:
annoyed - Music:Allegro, Opus 3.3 a.m by Eason Chan
I have to say that I am both relieved and disappointed at the same time. Relieved because I am still not sure if I can handle being both a subject teacher and a class teacher, and then disappointed because I thought I am more than qualified to be a teacher.
I talked to my dad about it, and he said they might be two reasons. One, the school has no extra resources to make me a teacher, and two, maybe my headteacher didn't want to make my workload too heavy because I am starting a new master degree this fall.
Of the three colleagues whom I talked to about my contract, they all said I should look for another teacher job, but with the economy like this, I dare not risk looking for another job right now. I had done some research in the past months discreetly, and it doesn't look good. There are posts for primary English teachers, but they are either too far away from where I live, or they didn't say what school it is recruiting teachers. I'd rather stay put right now than risking it all.
Am I being stupid to renew the contract and stay put?
~ Calbee
- Mood:
pensive - Music:Wisemen by James Blunt
Last night, I went out for dinner with two of my PGDE classmates to celebrate the end of our PGDE, and some pretty interesting conversation came about.
As I might have mentioned before, in order for me to be a registered teacher of English, I need to have a PGDE, a pass in the LPAT and a subject knowledge degree. Since i am ot really young anymore, my goal is to meet the requirements before I turn 30, which is only a few years away. So far, if everything goes as planned, the only thing left for me to get is the subject degree, which i had accepted an offer from Polytechnic University to do their MA in English Language Studies.
Last night, we talked about that, and I felt a little bit belittled by my classmates. I know they might not have done it on purpose, but still I am a little bit upset about it, though I didn't let it show on my face. As I said before, I idn't have a good time studying in HKU for various reasons, so I did not apply to HKU this tme. One of my classmates asked about it during dinner and my other classmate said she is staying in HKU for the language degree, while I said I am going to PolyU for it instead, and that. Then we, or they started discuss how it's better to stay in HKU for it, and how I should have ground my teeth and apply to HKU instead of PolyU. They were even more displeased when I expressed that I originally chose to go to Hong Kong Institute for Education (HKIED) for my PGDE, since HKIED was not a university.
I told them clearly that I made my choices according to the course details and not the school name, especially that at the end of the day, a PGDE is still a PGDE, and a Master is still a Master, whether it is awarded from a college or university. Well, they thought that i am crazy. Well, not crazy, but they couldn't seem to get my view, and from the way they said it, they made me feel like I had lowered my standard. They gave me the feeling that since we are all overseas graduates, we should have the most prestigious name and not the quality of learning or learning that fits for our needs for teaching the children.
It seems petty that I am still upset over this, but what is so wrong about attending a course by a less prestigious school that can give me a wider scope of knowledge for work? Why is it right to attend a course by a prestigious school which gives you very limited help with dealing with your everyday teaching? I couldn't get this out of my mind. I didn't talk to my dad about this, because he would say that my classmates were the unreasonable ones, but are they really?
This is not the first time that the word 'naive' flashed in my mind since I came back to Hong Kong. I would not say I am wise beyond my years, but I pride myself on being relatively open-minded and more mature than those of the same age as me. Still I wonder if I had the wrong perception of myself and I am the one who is naive here?
~ Calbee
- Mood:
thoughtful - Music:Read my mind by Sweetbox
I'll write a bit more later tonight, but just let me rejoice in FINISHING MY RESEARCH PROJECT!!!
This is the last assignment I need to hand in for my PGDE, and I just got it done this morning. I couldn't believe how thick it is, with all the samples of my student's work. Think about it. The report itself is 8 pages long (about 3500 words), but the rest is all the samples of work, pre and post activity!
I am handing it in this evening, which is also the deadline. >_< This is the first time I hand in an assignment so neeeeear the deadline. Eeeek! Still, it's done and i would rejoice to have this course over and done with.
I am not sure when i would get the result back if i pass the course or not, but i am not going to think about it. It's out of hands anyway. I have tried my best.
Tonight, I could finally clear out those messy notes and useless reference books!!! I have my room back finally!
~ Calbee
- Mood:
relieved - Music:Allegro, Opus 3.3 a.m by Eason Chan
WHAT A MONTH! Although it was insanely busy the last 3 weeks, but it is worth it. Give me a FIVE!
( Open House 2009 )
( Chinese Culture Days )
( Aladdin the Musical )
~ Calbee
- Mood: relieved
- Music:Lollipop by Mika
Haven't updated here for a long time, but then it IS a busy year and luckily all the madness would be over by February 2009.
First of all, I am so glad about the students I have this year. I cannot stress enough on how cute they are, and how better behaved they are comparing to my last year's students. However, last year's students are special because they are my first students in this school. For this year's students, I know some of them quite well from last year, but it feels a little bit strange now that I am teaching them, like they are more my friends when I knew them last year, and now they are my students.
Some fun on Halloween. See how creative they were in front of the camera!
Edwin on the left and Wesley on the right. Wesley is one of my students who would follow me around. My personal little stalker!
Wallace on the left and Mark of the right. I already know Wallace before I teach him this year. Very sweet but also very stubborn. See the ring on my finger? He made it for me. He especially made it in blue and silver because he remembered that my favourite colours are blue and silver!
Mark is very very very sweet too, but I want to kill him at times. Toooooooo naieve and too forgetful/forgivable as a student. Personality-wise, he is a good boy. Reminds me a little of Amber from Clamp's Wish at times.
Mark is very very very sweet too, but I want to kill him at times. Toooooooo naieve and too forgetful/forgivable as a student. Personality-wise, he is a good boy. Reminds me a little of Amber from Clamp's Wish at times.
My last year's students. Heywood, Angus, Ronnie, Horace, ToTo and Terrence. They are the few who have 'matured' this year, but still, you can see they are mischievious if they want to.
On the home front, my dad is now fine, but at times, I wondered who is having more problems, Mum or Dad. Dad would mope around a little at times when he is bored or upset, which is normal for him even before his illness. Then Mum would throw a tantrum (because of my da moping) so big that I would literally lock myself in my room. I want to help my dad against mum, but... my mum is SCARY when she throws a tantrum. I guess my mum is still not used to my dad's retirement time at home.
On a side note, my dad mentioned once that why did I not inherit some of my mum's tantrum temper so I could royally scare my boys/students into behaving... in front of me AND mum... Well, things went flying about at my dad's poor attempt at humour... *sweat drop* it would be alright with me since I inherited my dad's weird sense of humour, but not mum... She is very sensitive at anyone commenting about her temper.
For the new year 2009, I have the following goals which I hope would come true...
1. Lose 20 lbs by July so I cam fit into something nice for my PGDE Graduation!
2. Get all my research materials scanned and filed in some sort of order.
3. Try not to get sick too many times (I was sick for at least 8 times in 2008).
4. Get started on MA English Language Studies (fingers crossed, they are going to take me on for the programme)!
I might add more to it, but that's about it for now.
Happy New Year everyone!
~ Calbee
P.S. Some photos of how the malls in Hong Kong had decorated for Christmas 2008.
On a side note, my dad mentioned once that why did I not inherit some of my mum's tantrum temper so I could royally scare my boys/students into behaving... in front of me AND mum... Well, things went flying about at my dad's poor attempt at humour... *sweat drop* it would be alright with me since I inherited my dad's weird sense of humour, but not mum... She is very sensitive at anyone commenting about her temper.
For the new year 2009, I have the following goals which I hope would come true...
1. Lose 20 lbs by July so I cam fit into something nice for my PGDE Graduation!
2. Get all my research materials scanned and filed in some sort of order.
3. Try not to get sick too many times (I was sick for at least 8 times in 2008).
4. Get started on MA English Language Studies (fingers crossed, they are going to take me on for the programme)!
I might add more to it, but that's about it for now.
Happy New Year everyone!
~ Calbee
P.S. Some photos of how the malls in Hong Kong had decorated for Christmas 2008.
- Mood:
contemplative - Music:The Scientist by Coldplay
I couldn't believe that it is already two months since the start of the new school year. How time flies.
My PGDE course is going as fine as you could expect, and fingers crossed, I should be able to pass my assignments this year.
As for school, the boys are extremely... cute! They are good boys and also bad boys. Still, they are only 7 years old, no matter how bad they are they have no way of outwitting me. Mhahahaha!
As for the good boys, they are so sweet that I sometimes feel embarrassed about it. Once when I went on duty in the hopscptch area, the boys (about 5 or 6 of them) in my English class followed me around in the Hopscotch area. I asked them why didn't they go play, and they said they liked to stay here with me. Awwwww.
One of the boys, Oscar, even wrote in his moral education booklet that "I love you to teach us English".
Also, I think I have a few poets in my classes this year. One of the boys, Janson, wrote this for me.
Halloween Night
It is Halloween night!
Dark with monsters in the night!
Witches, black cats everywhere,
Walking pumpkins, scary ghosts.
I will scare you with my look,
Only if you treat me good!
Cute, isn't it? Bearing in mind, he is only 7 years old whose English is not on native level (actually his academic results are in the lower half of the class).
I'll try to snap a photo of them and show them to you. They are just so cute!!!!!!!
~ Calbee
- Mood:
drained - Music:Life is cool by Sweetbox
I just checked my grade for my 1st year PGDE, and I got a B!
I got a B- and C+ for my two assignments, but aomehow I got B overall. I guess like my colleague said before, my two tutors are rather harsh markers, so now I get an upgrade in my final result.
YAY!!!!!!!!!
~ Calbee
- Mood: ecstatic
- Music:甜甜的by周杰倫
After reading ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
gryferin's entry, it makes me thinking too.
I have no regret about or sad about the past either. If you tell me ten years ago that I would be a teacher... Well, I am sure that my response would not be at all eager. At 17, I wanted to be a writer or photographer. I wanted to make a living with my pen. And now ten years later, I am extremely happy where I am, and even if I am offered to be a writer or photographer, I don't think I will jump at the offer.
I have my up and downs, happy and sad times in the last ten years, but I won't give it up for the world or anything else. What didn't kill you makes you stronger, and in my opinion, makes you look at life differently, and you would appreciate everything around you better, for better or for worse.
It is just so hilarious that you want one thing at one time and then to realize later that it might not be the one thing you really want. Sure, I like writing and taking photos, but after ten years, I come to the understanding that I could do those things as well as being a teacher at the same time.
I am absolutely happy with my choice even if it has its hazards from time to time. Nothing is going to turn me away from being a teacher now. Well... maybe until I get fed up with irresponsible and unreasonable parents... or the boys render my vocal cords useless... *wink* Still, it would be a long time before that happens.
- Mood: contemplative
- Music:My Generation by YUI
Oh my God Oh my God Oh my God Oh my God Oh my God Oh my God!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am freaking out right now, and please please please bear with me. I would seriously go crazy if I don't get this out of my chest now.
I just went in to see my Headteacher. She is a very nice lady, but sometimes I wonder if she is touched in the head. Or it is me who is touched in head. I guess you could say she is sometimes like female version of Dumbledore.
She first congratulated me on my passing LPAT (Language Proficiency Assessment Test for teachers who want to teach English), and then she told me that because of some unforeseen reasons/ situations, next year I would not be teaching General Studies. I would be teaching 2 Grade 2 English classes instead. As one more class of English is considered a heavy load on top of my Drama club duties and my own teaching and studies, I am going to be awarded the salary of a registered teacher for do this.
*hyperventilating*
I am not sure if I should be happy or not, as I like teaching General Studies, but I know the boys in Grade 4 next year are more than a handful. Teaching ONLY English would be a new experience for sure.
And the pay rise.... I will be earning around HK$2000 (£130) more per month. Seriously a shock to my system. If I am really getting that pay scale, I would be able to save at least HK$5000 (£300) a month!
One thing is for sure though. It is not going to be boring next year!
- Mood:
groggy - Music:甜甜的by周杰倫
- Mood:
relaxed - Music:糖不甩by薛凱琪
I was a little bit nervous today. Not just because they are having their English Exam, but also because I will be getting my own assignment results too.
Back to my boys first. It is a big surprise gift they give me today. Most of them have improved although they still make some sort of careless mistakes (which I would drill them about it when reviewing the paper with them). Last time, five of them had marks higher than 90, and this time seven of them get marks higher than 90. Most of the rest get between 70 to 89, with one or two 60 something. Even My two weakest students V and H passed the exam. H even gets 79.5marks! Last time, he got 64.5 marks! Such a big jump!
As for my own assignment result, I got a B, which is out of my expectation. This tutor of mine is quite hard to please, so I never would expect to get a B from him. Also, concerning my other English Major assignments... We didn't get our assignments back today, but we were just told today that regardless of the grades we get for our assignments, we are going to go into 2nd Year English PGDE... I guess you could say that's a relief, but still strange. In a way, that also marks the end of my first year PGDE studies.
P.S. The South Korea trip is set. I am leaving on the night of 6th August, so we would be there in Korea bright next morning ready for the trip.
~ Calbee
- Mood: relieved
- Music:糖不甩by薛凱琪
( I am going to Macau with my friend, Wing, in July; then going to Sapporo Japan with my family in July and; going to South Korea with my colleagues in August. )
( I passed my LPAT! )
( I have a promotion in the staff list! *scary* )
P.S. If anyone would like a postcard from Japan, South Korea or Macau, drop me a note or send me a email.
~ Calbee
- Mood: ecstatic
- Music:明日への勇気by吉成圭子
As most of you know, I am teaching 19 lessons plus afterschool drama classes per week this year, and it is seriously stretching my time on top of my studies.
Apparently, there will be no afterschool drama classes next year because we will be doing a musical i.e. I don't have to be in charge of the whole thing on my own. Also, they have cut back my lessons to 16 per week. Hurray! I just hope that this new schedule is not implying that the musical would be a pain in the ass to do.
Fingers crossed.
P.S. Headteacher is very happy with my performance this year. Yay!
~ Calbee
- Mood: contemplative
- Music:Wisemen by James Blunt
Don't worry, I am not hinting on anything like suicide, but merely... I am giving up hope of my last year's PGDE studies. Even if I do pass this first year (although I think there is a very very slim chance for that), I am seriously considering and seeking to transfer to another university for the rest of my studies.
Granted, juggling work and studies are hard work and I admit that I am not as hardworking as I used to be when I was in full-time education, still the kind of hard work I managed to put in and the pressure I am under really make me think if it's worth staying in this so-called prestigious university.
Even though I am learning, it just seems that it is not helping my teaching and the tutors are not considerable to understand that with the school I am teaching in, I am not facing the same problems or questions as my fellow classmates have i.e. my assignments are quite different to that of my classmates because of the high quality of my students. I cannot teach them the way they requested me to because those methods are unsuitable for them, and if I do use their methods, the students' parents would have my head. I am not learning what I could teach in reality.
I still have 3 weeks befor the deadline for my assignments and another 2 weeks before I know their verdict if I pass the first year.
Should I or should I not transfer if I pass this year?
~ Calbee
- Mood: pensive
- Music:Seek Ye First by Karen Lafferty
Anyway, I got my assignment back yesterday, and I got a C for it.
Frankly, I am happy to get that mark, coz, I more than passed the module (the passing mark is a D), but I am a little bit disappointed if not expected.
The assignment asked me to write about what I learnt from the module, and/or what kind of new ideas you got from the module and you work in school. Well, I have to say, I said quite a bit of controversial ideas i.e. 1)Gifted Education being a kind of streaming; and 2)integrated education is not working in schools because of the lack of training for teachers in this area.
My tutor, whom my classmates believe that she likes me very much and considers me her star student, told me in the feedback session that she thought the essay was good, and "you are not afraid to speak my mind but that made you off-task". Well, shocking, isn't it? Even more shocking was my classmates' response when they see my grade --- "C". All of them said no way since I presented myself so well during class and my thoughts were so thorough as well.
However, when they heard what I wrote about in the essay, most of them said more or less the same thing with my tutor "being too bold", and my mum, who heard about it as well, said, which strangely I took it as a compliment, "You are just like your dad. Always say the things that people don't want to hear (even though you are right)."
WEll, what I can I say? The assignment asked me to do a reflection on my studies, how it interacts with my work and/or the teaching beliefs I am developing. So I did as it said. What's wrong with doing it like that? It's not my fault that I didn't do it the way that all my classmates did --- writing about the norm and writing a self-reflection like an academic science paper. (No offense to all you science majors out there, but you know what I mean.)Speaking my mind and back it up with theories and case studies is what the assignment asked me to do.
*sigh* I respect my tutor. I really do. However, I wonder at times if I am too trustful of everything written on paper, and ignore the norm of what my classmates were doing with their assignments?
P.S. I took my LPAT Speaking paper yesterday, and I think it went well. I might not get a high mark, but I believe a passing mark should be of no problem. Fingers crossed.
~ Calbee
- Mood: annoyed
- Music:甜甜的by周杰倫
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