Penang Day 12

Today was hot. Humid, sticky, oppressively hot. The air simply did not move. I found myself stopping in a stairwell, simply because the covered concrete stairs gave a couple of degrees relief. There were no clouds, and no haze. Who would have thought I would desire haze? Malaysia has a haze index, just as we have a UV index. The burning of forests in Indonesia creates the haze. If it gets really bad, then the government will tell people to stay inside. Apparently last time it got that bad was the year the Princess Diana died, so it isn’t a frequent event.

Batu seremban. I think I'm getting better with practice...

I finally played batu seremban with my young friend, and I’m pleased to announce that I wasn’t thrashed as badly as I had expected to be. We had Monday morning assembly, same as last week. This time they were given warnings about truancy rates, and told that anyone with a truly poor attendance rate will receive a visit from the Vice Principal at home. That drew some shocked looks! They were also warned about asking to go to the toilet in class, as an excuse to get out of class, rather than actually needing to go to the toilet. Both of these things are problems in Australian schools also.

Many (not all) of the teachers of Seri Relau. The Principal is in grey, the two Vice Principals (as I understand!) are in yellow and green, to her right.

 Straight after assembly, it turned out they were having teacher photographs. The teachers were all dressed in their best suits, and made sure they were wearing their name badges. There were some beautiful outfits! There wasn’t an official photographer as such, Puan Grace used her camera on a tripod to take them. Straight after that I discussed my music lesson with Puan Grace. I had just returned to the staffroom to do some more lesson planning, when I was summoned to the computer labs. A class was studying traditional outfits for English, and they had co-opted Erin into modelling a Sari for them. She looked beautiful! I was then asked to model a baju kebaya, a 2 piece suit made from the lightest of fabrics. I was allowed to stay in it all day. I received some lovely comments from teachers and students alike.

Erin with the girls of 5A

Erin with the boys of 5A

Straight after the modelling, I had my music class. As I don’t have a recorder with me, I was unable to practice the song before teaching it, and I was certainly rusty. I began by explaining what a kookaburra was, showed a picture of a kookaburra, and played a recording of its laugh. I then handed out the music, and played an MP3 of the song, so they had an idea of how it should sound. We discussed the notes in the song, then before starting, Puan Grace suggested we clap the rhythm. We then slowly began to practice the song on recorder, with Puan Grace accompanying on piano … by ear! We blended learning the recorder with singing, and they picked it up very quickly. All this time, they were sitting on the ground, so I gave them a bit of a break by asking them to stand up, have a shake, and then we turned it into some kookaburra actions to get them to stretch and wiggle. Puan Grace played some appropriate music on the piano while we were doing this; it was fun! Finally, they were able to play the entire song, and sing the entire song, so we split the class into 2, playing and singing. I then asked them to play the favourite song they had learned, and to sing the school song (just because it sounds fun, and I wanted to hear it again!) Finally, we attempted to sing the Kookaburra song in rounds, which was also successful. All in all, it was a good lesson, but I was lucky to have Puan Grace and Erin there to help me with the little things. Always something to improve, and I am taking home the idea of clapping a rhythm before launching in to playing it.

Recorders and singing... "Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree"

 Erin and I then had our lunch. Unfortunately, all the ice had run out, so instead of cold drinks, there was only hot on offer! Lucky I like their coffee anyway. After lunch, I was to teach a single period of English, which I had planned for. The teacher asked if it was alright if she wasn’t there, as she is planning a dance for the award ceremony this Saturday. That was fine, and the lesson went well. After that, I was asked to teach the same lesson over 2 periods for a different class. That one was a bit more difficult, as the level of English comprehension wasn’t as high. I needed to modify it on the run to suit the children, however I think it went reasonably well. The only thing I struggled with is that they insist on writing down every single thing you write on the board – whether it is correct or not! I had let them make some mistakes on the board so we could discuss them, but despite my protests, most of them wrote it down verbatim, then had to make changes once we had discussed the reasoning behind our choices. Finally, it was time for Science. The students were beginning to learn about the solar system, so I simply helped in the class while Ainda explained the necessary aspects. It was an interesting lesson.

We had to stop on the way home from school to let these cows cross the road. After we contined, they stopped at the T intersection!

After school, Erin, Nadia and I went to the Snake Temple. I’ll let you read about it on the net. It was only small, but had pretty gardens, and some snakes hanging around in trees. There was also a monk who was praying with her eyes closed, and apparently as soon as Nadia pointed a camera at her, they flew open and she glared at Nadia! Spooky 3^rd eye…

Pretty snakes, all tuckered out in the heat.

Dinner was char kuey/koay/keow teow, along with a strawberry lassi, and carrot milk! Yes, I finally tried it. It is a bit strange, it tastes like carrots, only a bit sweeter. I liked it enough that I would order it again.

Char kuey teow (vegetarian), or so the menu said. It came with prawns!

Strawberry lassi and carrot milk.

When we returned, we found this big lizard (I’ve been told it is a monitor lizard) digging around the base of a tree for his dinner. He was a beauty!