Penang Day 7

Wow, I’m exhausted. The tour leader said it would hit us either today or tomorrow, and he was right. Began the day by playing jacks again – I think this is something I will be doing every morning. This time we moved to the stage area to read a book. Erin did the reading, while I looked at some of the other games the children were playing. One of them is a traditional Malaysian game, so I am hoping to get them to teach me how to play tomorrow.

The students are fascinated by Erin reading to them. Look at the little girl on the right!

The traditional game I hope to be able to learn.
The black counters are shaped like coffee beans, and the board is usually wooden (when played by adults)

We began the teaching day by being given extra classes, as they were short some teachers. Erin picked up an English class, and I picked up Living Skills, however, with absolutely no idea what they were learning in Living Skills, and no-one to ask, we worked on English – when were you born (months of the year). Erin taught PE, so I helped with that class. The children have their own warm-up routine that they have memorised, so that helps! Erin then ran some traditional indigenous games for them, but we had 15 minutes left at the end of the lesson. They were begging to play soccer, so that is what we did. They were adamant that each team was to have a name – one was the Super Strikers, the other was the Malaysians. Score by the end of the game: undecided. It is very difficult to be running around in the morning in the heat. I absolutely stank by the end of it, but there is nothing I can do. Deodorant only goes so far over here, even the super strength ones. I feel sorry for the other teachers that have to put up with me.

Kangaroo races Version 1

Kangaroo races Version 2!

Lunch was rice, with a chilli fish, and some Spicy Anchovies with petai. I sat with the teachers and students from the Special Education class. After lunch I taught my prepared English lesson. For the first time, the teacher stayed with me (thank you, Puan Susan!) The lesson was reasonable, but the snakes and ladders game I prepared needed some extra work – such as arrows to tell the students what direction to take around the board. I had decided to use coins as dice, with heads counting for 2 spaces, and tails counting for 1 space (it was only a small grid), however I had forgotten to organise counters for the students. They were able to use rubbers or sharpeners, but it says a lot for my lack of preparation. As I have said previously, no more going out after school. I also bought some vegetables last night, as one of the pages in their textbook was to practice saying "Is that a chilli? No it is not/Yes it is". Instead of doing it from the book, we did it with real vegetables. That went down a treat, and the children really participated well. We have a triple period tomorrow, and Puan Susan worked with me to decide what we would teach. I think between the two of us, we have come up with some good lessons, and we will be able to get them out of the classroom, which is always appreciated by the students.

We visited the library, as we have only brought a few books with us from home, so we wanted to borrow some more to read to the children in the mornings. The library has books in both Bahasa Malaysian and English. We were able to borrow a few story books. There is a big difference in the number of books in the library, compared to those in schools at home.

The entire library.

Puan Fazliani, the Librarian

After school today, they had clubs. It is compulsory for all students to join three clubs – uniform, marching and sports. The education department wants the students to be well-rounded, rather than purely focusing on a knowledge curriculum. There is a choice of Girl Guides, or Scouts or others that I have forgotten, for the uniform clubs. We attended Girl Guides, where they were learning to put up a tent! Thank goodness for those camping experiences during my schooling. The tents were actually very easy to put up. This was lucky, as we had to demonstrate it, then pull it apart 4 times to allow the girls to do it in groups.

Girl Guides Club, with a successfully erected tent!

Erin and I with Puan Nurul Ainda: Girl Guides Leader & science teacher.

Because I’m so tired, I’ve had to forgo a trip out tonight with the others. I am disappointed, but I need to get to bed, otherwise I won’t be able to go to school tomorrow. I am here for the teaching, after all, and who knows what classes I might have to suddenly teach! Preparation is everything…