Here's a brief review of the forms I have taught and the national English curriculum for year 2017-2021.
When I was young, five years of anything sounded horrifyingly long.
Being friends with someone for five years sounded like we are going to be friends forever. Supporting the same idol group for five years sounded tiresome. Attending the same college for five years sounded mundane.
Now that I am 28, I realized that five years actually went past in the blink of an eye.
Being friends with someone for five years is precious, but it does not mean that our friendship will certainly last forever. Working in the same school for five years is enough for me to learn the ropes and try out many different roles, but I don't feel like I have achieved much. And that's perfectly okay, for me at least.
Even after five years of working as an English teacher in a government school, I am often amazed by how I end up here.
To begin with, English used to be my second weakest subject in school. Secondly, I used to dislike the ideas of staying in the same place for a long time. I wanted to get a job that would allow me to relocate to different cities every few months or years. Thirdly, I am never a fan of forming deep connections with many people/students. In fact, I recharge only when I am alone.
Nevertheless, I am actually quite satisfied with my job now.
To counter my own arguments, firstly, I have never thought of myself as an English expert who is a lot better than my students. (Of course, I would say that my English proficiency is still higher than theirs.) I am merely an instructor. My goal is to assist my students in using their class time meaningfully for constructive learning, be it through individual assignments or collaborative work.
Next, despite the dream of going on adventures and becoming the king of the pirates is still ablaze in me, I have more important responsibilities to attend to. There are people who need my physical presence here. Therefore, it's okay. As long as I take good care of my health, it's never too late to begin chasing after my dream even at the age of 60.
Finally, I have come to terms with not building very deep connections with my students. When I first became a teacher through Teach For Malaysia, I was rather stressed because of how quickly my batchmates found their calling and built intimate connections with their students. Some of them have decided on their niche areas very early on (SEL, foot drill, public speaking etc.) Some of them still keep in touch with their ex-students now. I am still searching for my niche area, but in the meantime, let me be that adult that gets out of my students' way when they want to do other (beneficial) things. I am sure there are some students out there (how ever small population they are) who share similar sentiments as me - let's just each do our part in class and go home in peace. I might never get a thank you from them, but hey, you're welcome. (wink)
Moving on, here's the summary of my experience as a teacher.
2017 - Life is like a box of chocolates.
2017 was tough for two reasons. Firstly, I was a fresh graduate, so everything was new and challenging to me.
However, the most important factor that shaped my 2017 was a befuddling decision from my ex-principal. Because of him, all the afternoon session classes switched classrooms daily. Every day before school started, we would get a list of where our classes would be at on that day. My English class might be placed in the same room as another Mathematic class. My students might be placed at the canteen or even the empty square. Through this frustrating experience, I have learned to be flexible and go with the flow. I have also learned different ways of capturing my students' attention (for a brief moment) amidst the chaos.
2018 - Go big or go home.
2018 was the year when I went all out. I joined many initiatives and frequently brought my students out of schools for various events. Besides that, I experimented with many pedagogical methods in class. I was stretched thin, but the fulfilling experience brought me closer to my kids and I saw endless possibilities and potentials in them. Unfortunately, I think I pushed myself too hard and it took me a long time to recover from the burnout at the end of the year. I wrote 6 articles in 2018/2019 about the initiatives I joined. If you are interested, feel free to read them here.
The picture below was taken by my friend Ngui Sui Yang during a Local Focal event.
This next picture shows an artwork of my Form 3 students. We were learning the poem "Poisoned Talk" by Raymond Wilson.
2019 - Remain steadfast.
I continued teaching as a contract teacher for four months before my official placement was approved. The greatest benefit I got out of it was that I was exempted from all the co-curricular activities. By the time I was an official teacher again, all the major sports events and foot drill competitions were over. Therefore, I was able to focus fully on developing my pedagogy. I learned to create effective worksheets for all forms and utilize the new CEFR syllabus for better learning experience. On top of that, I think I mastered the trick of clearing paperwork quickly, which is an important skill for every teacher.
It is a known fact that all teachers and parents grow more than a pair of hands.
2020 - Wait...teachers actually worked in 2020?
2020 was a confusing year for me. I hesitated a lot, for the fear that my decisions (to have online classes and etc.) might pose a greater burden on my students whose families were already struggling to make ends meet during MCO. Thankfully, most of my Form 5 students were very mature and they already had clear goals in mind. Therefore, it was easy for me to provide them the academic support they needed to pass/excel in SPM.
To be honest, I don't think I did enough as a teacher in 2020. Nevertheless, I know that the deliberation I had was not in vain. The experience, or rather the lack of experience, further shaped me and helped me to become a more effective teacher in 2021.
2021 - Embrace the changes.
2021 is an exciting year because English is fully taught in all forms using CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages). CEFR is more structured and I personally like it better because students are assessed fairly on all four skills, namely reading, writing, listening and speaking. My students enjoy the new format too and this is reflected in their performances.
Since the academic year has not ended technically, I think it's more appropriate for me to show you some of my work progress instead of sharing with you my year-end reflection.
This is a screenshot of my Excel sheet for attendance.
This year, I made quite a number of PowerPoint decks since the students are learning online via Google Meet. These are screenshots of my folders.
A few students said that they like my slides because they are colorful, informative, organized and not too wordy. Needless to say, I think so too.
At last, we have come to the end of this very long article. Thank you to everyone who read through the entire thing. I hope you too, will enjoy whatever job you choose to do.
May the good Lord bless you with good health in 2022.
