School Experience @ Assumption English School

I’ve been away for my school experience at Assumption English School (AES), and has been occupying most of my time for the past 3 weeks. It has been a uniquely enriching experience for me, and each day has been filled with new challenges. It has been a satisfying school experience, and in case I forget them in time, I just want to chronicle some of the shocks I’ve sustained, the lessons I’ve learnt that I will hold to in the coming years, and as well, some of the experiences I’ve enjoyed over the short time I’ve had here.

SHOCKS SUSTAINED
The first shock I received upon coming to the school was the extent of the friendliness of the staff. Mr Andre Michael was extremely friendly and helpful and made all of us feel at home almost immediately. Then as we were taking a walk around the school, most of the staff had fatigued yet cheery faces. I suppose every teacher in Singapore has a similar experience in schools : students wear you down, but yet they can bring cheer and joy to your life.

The second shock I received was the different school environment as compared to what I was used to in Singapore schools. I wasn’t exactly terribly upset though, as I had been in similar environments before, but it was the first time I was immersed deeply in one. When we were talking with the school counsellor, Mrs Alice Chu, she revealed to us that most of the students here come from dysfunctional families. The teachers here spend more time handling discipline problems from the students, than doing actual instructional teaching. Most of the students were also generally unmotivated to do study hard. Failure seemed to be a given for them. In a Sec 1 Normal ‘Technical’ class I was taking over, I tried to play ‘hangman’ with the class. But words like “success” and “motivation” did not seem to be part of their vocabulary. When I gave them the chance to be the game-masters however, phrases in the same vein as “I want you to die” were recurrent themes.

The third “shock” I received was when Mr Benedict Keh, the school principal, told us that “the top scholar in our school only has a PSLE T-score of 220″. Even in the top classes, the students are still relatively weak in comparison to the circle of friends I grew up with. But still, it was only Mr Ong Chuan Hock, my coordinating teacher, gave me a relatively hard topic (”Linear Law”) to teach a class that is already rather weak. I spent a lot of time thinking hard about how to present the concept to them. In the classroom when I actually delivered the lesson however, some students could understand what I was saying, but a vast majority were still unable to understand what I was trying to say! It was an extremely humbling experience for me to have to repeat what is otherwise obvious to me many times so that the students could understand.

LESSONS LEARNT
In reflection, I feel that I can apply the following things as I continue my training as a teacher :

1. Always bring myself down to the level of the student’s understanding.

2. The less you set yourself to do in a lesson, the slower and clearer you will explain and the more the students will understand.

3. Give the students regular opportunities to work on questions by themselves in class, and use these opportunities to check their understanding as they work on the questions. Reward understanding and reinforce important concepts at regular points.

4. The personal touch always helps to bridge the gap. If you can catch your students’ attention, they will find it easier to understand what you are saying.

5. Many students are already unmotivated : the greatest challenge a teacher has is not to communicate the information but to motivate the soul to want to excel and succeed.

EXPERIENCES ENJOYED
My time has not been all a bed of roses, but I can count more enjoyable times than mortifying memories. Here are a few of those times:

1. It was one of the first few Co-ordinate geometry lessons. Nicholas had asked me for help with one of the questions on the Midpoint of two points, and I guided him to derive the formula required. He then said something to the effect of ‘wow that was easy. Since when was Maths so easy?’ I am just glad that I had helped him to find a bit of joy in doing Maths.

2. I was sitting at the benches outside the staff room, and the Sec 3/2 boys all came around just to chat with me. They had found out that Wednesday would be my last day, and were asking for my msn account and email address. They were also sad to see me go. And all the time I had with them was 4 hours worth of lessons.

All in all, the past few weeks were satisfying. I believe I will miss some of the students dearly. In addition, I learnt a lot about myself and the way a school works, and I do hope I will be better equipped to become a teacher in time to come. And I know that the experiences I’ve had here will count toward whatever God has in store for me in the future. Cos all things work for His good.

Once more unite our youthful voices
Amidst our halls the strains to raise
With rapid swell the heart rejoices
When Virtue is the theme of praise
We follow those who have trodden uprightly
As well in sunshine as in rain
Pupils old and new we do fashion tightly
Enduring links of one long chain
We pupils of Assumption English School
When God from on high sheds his light on our way
We pupils of Assumption English School
The White and Blue shall be known far and wide
The White and Blue the White and Blue
Shall be ever Boys’ Town’s pride

Glorified

Lord I come into Your holy place
Stand in awe of Your cleansing grace
Who am I that You would care for me
I glorify the One who died for me

Glorified glorified
Let Your Name be lifted up and glorified
Let the earth tremble at Your Name
Let Your Name be lifted up and glorified

Into Your hands I commit my life
Day by day as a living sacrifice
Who am I that You would care for me
I glorify the One who died for me

A Gift for a Friend

The past few weeks have been quite eventful, as you can probably infer from the lack of posts. School resumed and my BB boys resumed their usual school-going routine. A bunch of TTB Year 2 boys, (John Justin David and Shaun) started a little prayer group every morning though, and invited me to be a part of their group! It was great praying with them every morning, and I was a little sad to have to leave in July when I started my teaching attachment at Assumption English School.

Over at Assumption English, the experience has been a unique one thus far. It turns out that my supervisor is actually a member of Faith MC! It was quite interesting attending some of the classes as well. According to the principal, the top scorer in the school only has a T-score of 220, which is honestly quite a low score. Oh well, I guess I will make the most of my time there, to learn as much as I can about teaching.

Recently, a really good friend of mine received a new appointment in life, and had to leave for a far-away place for a period of 1 year. He felt ambivalent to the prospect of going away; on one hand it was a great opportunity and a step nearer to his dream, on the other hand it meant leaving behind friends, family, and most importantly, his ministry here in church. Things were taking shape and the youths under his charge are growing at exponential rates. Through all the times I’ve talked with him, prayed with him, this issue of him having to leave has bothered him for a long time.

So as a friend, after much prayer, I decided to give him a farewell gift that I believe he will appreciate much. And in turn, the gift multiplied into a magnitude larger than even I was ready for. This is a gift that took a lot of me to give, yet driven by a greater vision beyond myself, I gave it to him. And interestingly enough, this gift to him will not just benefit him, but many others around him and around me as well.

I just do pray that even as I give, God will be faithful to bless me as well in return. But even if not, I will still have given it all the same, for a friend who I deeply cherish.

Sometimes that’s simply what we’re called to do, to serve one another in the love of Christ. Ministry ought to be like that : building each other up in the name of God and being willing to support each other. To be one in vision, one in Christ, in hope and in love.

I really need to learn to be more giving, to the people who really matter to me.

Thank You for the chance to live again
For Your grace that never ends
Always I will sing Your praise

ONE Camp 2008

(here’s post 3)

So I reached Singapore on 16th June at about 11 pm, and immediately rushed down to the BB/GB Campsite for the combined TTB, BB/GB and FaithActs camp, aptly called the ONE camp. The moment I reached the campsite, I was greeted by the bunch of excited Sec 2s, including my very own BB boy David Leong who forgot to call me sir. He earned a friendly glare from me.

Had a good time that night chatting with Darren and Shaun, and I was glad to hear that the camp had been enriching for them. I was a little shocked to hear that I had been nominated to act as Darth Vader for the group’s commissioning night (i.e. night special) skit. Oh well, at least the two of them were getting to know more people around, and were increasingly connected to the church community around. I also had the chance to share my experiences at the recent mission trip, and to have a good time of brotherly fellowship with them.

Unfortunately for me, I could only get to sleep at about 4 am (due to time zone + sleeping habit differences), and I had to wake up at about 6 am, so I was pretty zoned out for much of the next day. Was the station master for “the Name Game” along with Surath, one of the BB Primers, and it took a lot for me to really helm the game given that I was rather tired. Then we went to the nearby Sembawang park to play the wet game. The idea was pretty good; getting the people into groups constrained by raffia string and having them work together to hit a target. I’ve got some ideas for future BB wargames

Then we had the commissioning night thing. My rendition of Darth Vader earned most people’s amusement. But I think two skits of the night were really good. One was Milton’s group : they did Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Asher Lim did a really good Chinaman spoof, and really kept me hooked throughout the whole time. The other was Silas’ group, who was given the task of doing a skit about the Power Rangers. They reopened an age of my memory long forgotten (more than 10 years ago), especially when the group did a Megazord to defeat the monster! Hahahaha…

The camp was on overall a good time of fun and fellowship for the 3 ministries. I’m glad the 3 ministries came together in the unity that Christ died for, and I do hope this bond will continue to be strengthened in the months to come. I am also happy that I had the chance to know so many more of our youths and leaders through this camp.

Kudos to the organisers, Brian, Timothy and their team, for a job well done!

Jesus’ love is sweet and marvelous
Jesus’ love is sweet and marvelous
Jesus’ love is sweet and marvelous
Oh oh marvelous love

Khon Kaen June Mission Trip 2008

(here’s the 2nd post in a series of posts about the exhausting yet exciting 13 day journey I just went through).

Immediately after my music ministry retreat, I rushed home to pack for the mission trip to Khon Kaen. I went with a sense of expectancy for this trip : previous trips had been marked with God’s presence and I believed this trip would be no different. It was special for me in the sense that 3 of my beloved Year 2s, Joshua Michael and Brian, would be coming along, and I had made it a personal objective to follow through the mission trip experience with each of them.

The first few days were quite relaxed. We didn’t have much to prepare for for the English Camp, since most of the material were prepared by a team of professional teachers from Singapore. So essentially all we had to do was to go there, break into the 10 small groups, and conduct the lessons. I took the chance to take a good break from the hectic weekend back in Singapore.

English camp started on the 3rd day and we made our way down to a nearby army campsite. I was expecting really poor living conditions for the team, as like the time in my first English Camp back in 2002, but to my surprise, we had nice aircon rooms with beds! Although the beds were a little hard, they were still better than what I expected.

I was paired up with Michael for the English Camp to teach a group of 11 children. It was a humbling experience having to speak slowly and to think of simple words to say to them. In addition, I was also thrown last minute to be a game master on both days, especially on the second day when it rained suddenly. Nonetheless, I’m glad the kids had fun. I was also glad to hear that Michael had the simple faith to pray that the kids would have fun.

The team also had the chance to minister to the Thai kids on the second night of the camp, when there was an altar call for those who had no chance to experience God’s love. I could tell that the very sight of the Thai kids crying shook many of the team members, and they were all moved to hug them and to tell them that God loves them. I had the privilege of playing for both nights of worship, not knowing the songs half the time. But God was teaching me to put my trust in Him, since He had everything under control.

After the English Camp, it was mostly rest, relaxation, and observation about the many ministries in Khon Kaen. On one of the nights, I had the chance to talk with my Year 2s. What was intended to be a short 45 minutes sharing ended up as a 3 hour long discussion. Oh well but it was good just to share with them my heart for the Year 2s and to encourage them to keep on praying for the rest of their cohort. I am glad they came for this mission trip, and that God has touched their hearts.

In addition, God also gave me the chance to minister to the other boys. One of them was feeling confused about his future, the other was confused about why things were happening the way they were. In both cases, I thank God for the privilege of being able to share my perspective with them so that they can learn.

We have many things to thank God for through this trip : the team members were generally focused and on task, their eyes were opened to the needs around, and the children were blessed.

I do hope that whatever that God has taught the team will be cemented firmly, and that the team members will not swerve from the convictions they’ve gained at this trip.

The team : Mr Gregory Loh (Leader), Mr Jeremy Lee, Mr Clement Yan, Mr Allan Lee, Mr Jonas Chow, Caleb Lin, Timothy Liang, Chua Lee Yang, Zacary Tan, Mervyn Lim, Shaun Ling, Luke Oon, Shane Yeap, Joshua Ong, Michael Wong, Brian Wong.

Hello how are you hello how are you
Hello how are you
I’m fine I’m great I’m okay
I’m happy I’m wonderful today