My Story - Volunteering at a primary school

Posted to Facebook on 31/3/2020 3:44 AM
My Story - Volunteering at a primary school"

I am very fortunate that the school I volunteer in trusted me to assist teachers in three different Years in a single day.

In a normal class, a teacher can only use one method (teaching style) to teach the students. However, when the class teacher assigned me to help small groups each are generally of the same competence level, I can use different techniques to help them understand better.

In my opinion the problem is not about the class size, but the student mix. It does not matter how a young teacher is mentored, they will still be frustrated because the one-size-fits-all method will not achieve an optimal outcome. It is sad that the system got rid of streaming, and therefore the end result is that the overall performance is just average. That my be what Australian culture is about - chopping down the tall poppies!

How can a young teacher deal with a student rolling on the floor crying, or the student keeps saying she is a failure? How can a young teacher cope with naughty or mischievous students who cannot be punished or reprimanded? How can a young teacher just use generic words to describe exact nature of the students' behaviour or the actual performance of the students in the "report card"?

It is not just the young teachers having problems. In fact many experienced teachers are as stressed and frustrated when they write the individual reports.

Thank you for reading.

'Mass confusion': Classrooms thin out as parents pull kids from school

Posted to Facebook on 17/3/2020 at 12:04 PM
Commenting on “'Mass confusion': Classrooms thin out as parents pull kids from school”
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/mass-confusion-classrooms-thin-out-as-parents-pull-kids-from-school-20200316-p54aly.html

This is why I am so dissatisfied with the state Government and Chief Medical Officer of their wish-washy instructions and indecision in closing the schools.

The number of deaths caused by the COVID-19 has been estimated by some experts to be between 50,000 and 150,000. Why don’t theses procrastinating pendulums just call the shot to close down the schools now, just like the Grand Prix?

Is it possible to have social distancing between teachers and students? Have they seen how Prep or lower primary school children behave in the classrooms, and in the school yard? Do teachers just let the little angels walk by themselves, or stay 4 feet away?

The news article in the following Comment presents a totally different view by the author why keeping the schools open for the sake of the kids.

I believe this is the opportune time for the Education Department or educators to develop and implement online remote teaching classes, like using Google Education / Classroom, a concept that has been in my mind for a long time.

In fact some less sophisticated form of webinar or podcast have been around, and even church services are recorded for the absent congregation.

There are many factors that hinder the use of such method, particularly the cost factor whether to be borne by the parents, and how well the students can operate the computer or similar devices.

Thank you for reading.

'Mass confusion': Classrooms thin out as parents pull kids from school

My Story - A day helping at a primary school

Posted to Facebook on 23/2/2020 at 3:24 AM
My Story - A day helping at a primary school

Written on 23 February 2020

On Monday, 17 February 2020, I dropped by at the primary school I volunteered in last year to check with the teachers when I should resume my service this term.

Two out of three teachers I helped are using different classrooms, except the Prep class teacher. The former Year 5 teacher is teaching Year 1 this term.

Only the Year 4 teacher was ready, while the other two asked me to delay for another week or two when they get things sorted out.

Tuesday, 18 February, the rain bucketed down as I was about to walk to the school. I had no choice but to drive for just half a kilometer in order not get myself drenched. This was the first day I sat behind the steering wheel after my surgery.

I met the Year 4 students. They were doing maths on number value and position. My role in the class is to help a designated group of students when necessary, otherwise I just help whoever require my attention or assistance.

I am a very strict teacher, and when I see a student makes a mistake, I want it fixed without delay. However, I make sure the student understands why the mistake was made, and how it can be fixed. I do not like to see a straight line crooked, not drawn with a ruler, or a mistake not rubbed off properly, before new information is written over it.

The class teacher pointed out to me two students who were rather difficult to manage, because they seldom followed instructions or paid attention. I did have a chance to deal with one of them, and I put him "straight" by doing it my "proper" way.

Children do need to learn to behave, especially in a group environment, and do things properly in order to build a firm foundation for future undertaking.

There were two girls reading with their books held at very close distance. Both were not wearing glasses. I asked them to mention to their parents that they needed to have their eyes check out.

For about half an hour, the class was switched from maths to English. I then supervised the students doing some English activities.

The class teacher asked a girl who just joined the school this year to read me a story from some printed sheets. She had a soft voice, and a problem with her diction. Many people, not students only, speak with monotone.

I stopped her after she finished the first page. I just wanted her to relax and had a casual chat with her. I asked whether she liked acting, or made a speech on stage in front of an audience. She had a smile on her face, and replied she liked acting. I told her she could make it if she listened to my advice.

I never mentioned the word confidence to her; I did not tell her about her "negatives", but I advised her not to bend her neck, look at the sentence first before reading it aloud; and raise or drop her tone according to the punctuation.

With my guidance, she no longer read the story; she was telling the story confidently with expression and proper tonation. Most importantly, she enjoyed my lesson!

Thank you for reading.

An art lesson in Primary 1 that triggered my right hemisphere to like arts

Posted to Facebook on 10/2/2020 at 2:03 AM
An art lesson in Primary 1 that triggered my right hemisphere to like arts

Written on 9 February 2020

An art lesson in Primary 1 that triggered my right hemisphere to like arts I was in Primary 1. The classroom was at the far end of the school; in fact it was the very last one in the school building which was in the shape of the Chinese characterd for mountain 山. I never complained about the location, because it was closest to the toilet block, and that came in handy. It saved me a lot of time and energy to walk there. Can't you remember what I just told you that I was in Primary 1? My legs were much shorter then.

My class teacher was a lady, slightly plumpish, and wore a pair of glasses. The students including me addressed her as Teacher Liang. She was approachable, and carried a smile on her face most of the time. Besides teaching us reading and writing in Mandarin, she also taught us singing, and drawing / painting. She played the piano.

Despite having a memory like an elephant, I could only remember one or two things about Teacher Liang and her teaching. I remember I visited her at the end of the year with Mum to thank her for being a good teacher.

During those days, there was a big "dark green board" mounted on the wall in front of the classroom. I was not a tall boy, and therefore, lucky me, I sat in the front row just facing the board. I could see the board without straining my eyes, and hear clearly what the teachers delivered. I did not care about other students making noise in the class.

White chalk was used to write on the board, except when the teacher wanted to highlight something, then colour chalks were used.

Besides that, colour chalks were used for drawing. On this particular day, Teacher Liaung drew something that changed part of my life, not the whole life, but only the development of the artistic part of my brain. Teacher Liang drew a lot things on the board before, but this gigantic drawing filled in purple and green was something unusual about it. It was a vegetable, not the usual one I was familiar with.
It was a Brinjal. Oops, the brinjal I knew was not a big fat one like that. It should be like the size of a cucumber instead. I should know this, because Dad had a market store in the Central Market in Kuala Lumpur, selling all sorts of fresh vegetables.

When I arrived in Australia years after, I learnt that Australians had no idea what a brinjal was. The big big fat "brinjal" Teacher Leung drew was known as an Egg Plant.

Purple was not a common colour that I encountered in daily life, and the shape of the brinjal drawn by Teacher Liang was similar to a baby's milk bottle. Was there a correlation between the two features? I could not figure out even until now. Strangely, I can still recall that image just like when I first saw it drawn on the dark green board.

This experience convinces me that what children learn in early childhood and in primary schooling will have an impact in their future development and undertakings. However, most people do not realise, because they never think those early days matter.

I shall write more about my "artistic skill" development in my future blogs yet to be written and published in my special interest group.

Thank you for reading.

My Story - A day with the Prep, Year 4 and Year 5 students

Posted to Facebook on 31/10/2019 at 2:31 AM
My Story - A day with the Prep, Year 4 and Year 5 students

Never I felt so good before. The teachers were so pleased to see me back to help in their classes.

The Prep students learnt Skip Counting using a calculator. They also learnt grouping.

For the second exercise, a small group of students exhibited much stronger cognitive ability by grouping objects by shapes, sizes, thickness, etc instead of colours. Grouping by colours is the simplest and most obvious method used by the rest of the students.

In Year 5, the students learnt function rule, and algebra. In Year 4, the students learnt multiplication of three digits by two digits, with some exercises involved decimals.

I can see a better way to teach the students more efficiently and effectively, but my hands are tied. I am not a teacher, but just to help out.

Many people, including the students, are not good at identifying their shortcomings, and therefore they have problems identifying problems. Without knowing what the problem is, there is no way to remove the hurdle to have a smooth run in the future.

Thank you for reading.