Choonie

New addiction

2009-10-17T19:51:00.006+08:00

I am sorry.
Really sorry.
This blog is practically dead.
Not that I have nothing to update but lazy to update.

Plus lately, I am addicted to 面书，facebook.
Instead of blogging, now I am facebooking.
But it is so not good.
hahaha...
My mistake of adding my students.
Now, they follow whatever that I post.

Beside that I am also crazy with Barn Buddy.

I am thinking of harvesting all the time.
Worrying that friends stealing my fruits.

Facebook has so many links.
I am not only good in planting and *stealing*,
hihihi,
I am good in gambling too.
Sorry...
I know I shouldn't gamble but this...
It doesn't involve any money.

GodGameMJ
Online mahjong and I get to play with real people.
Yeah....

Aside from that,
my sister one year old dog just delivered 7 puppies.
sorry... no pics.
After the death of the first dog, I started not to love them too much.
Or else the their departure from this living world will be too much for me.

Beside being busy with my school's work, the greatest secret is hubby and I bought a new house.
yup... I think Bengbeng knows about it.
He knew when we were hunting for one.
We bought it last year and only started renovating almost two months ago.
Hopefully everything runs well and I can move in before December.

No pic of my new house.
Really, not a single one.
I don't know why.
May be I lost my passion in photography.

Will update later about it.
Meanwhile, time to go back to facebook.
Yeah..

Three legged human

2009-09-08T12:05:00.000+08:00

The five legged elephant from Sri Lanka.

From http://sixthseal.com.

This pic reminds me of a chinese joke I once heard about the third leg of humans.

A: 当你躺下时，把双腿他打开，
你会像个大字，还是像个太字?

B: 我想因该是像个木字！

Do you understand the joke?

Creative Students

2009-09-07T17:02:00.001+08:00

A colleague of mine told me that students wrote something at the notice board.
She asked me to have a look at it.
This is what they wrote.

******************

Study = Not Fail -------------- (1)
Not Study = Fail -------------- (2)

(1) + (2) : Study + Not Study = Fail + Not Fail
Study ~~( 1 + Not )~~ = Fail ~~( 1 + Not )~~
Study = Fail

******************

It is quite true.
Indeed, it is very logic.
But I think I can write a better one.

******************

Study = Pass ----------------- (1)
Not Study = Not Pass -------- (2)
(1) + (2) : Study + Not Study = Pass + Not Pass
Study ~~( 1 + Not )~~ = Pass ~~( 1 + Not)~~
Study = Pass

******************

Old Memories

2009-09-05T22:20:00.003+08:00

I saw this pic in one of my cousin's friend's facebook's photo album.
Immediately, I recognised the place.
This is the place I grew up.
This is the place I used to play marble, play 'police and thief', play the game, 'London Bridge is falling down', play the rope game 'zero point', play sand, cycling, learned how to park my car in the narrow space, etc.

My mum used to have a small garden to plant some herbs for cooking and medicine remedy here.
I used to sit around this place while studying.
When I was young, there was an old man staying in this narrow space between two shophouses.
He used to sell sugar cane juice at the waterfront's bus stop.
He kept a lot of sugar cane here.

Once, his stall was burnt down in the middle of the night.
I called 999 to send the firemen over immediately.
I was piss off that time for the lousy telephonist service.
That old man was once robbed in the middle of the night too.
This place used to be very dangerous at night cos it was a bushy and dark place.

Anyway, I miss this place very much.
I moved out from that place in year 1995.
I was quite reluctant that time.
I wasn't happy even though my father bought a better place for our family.
My family spent more than 40 years there.
But now it left only with memories.

Ubah Gaya Hidup

2009-08-31T16:22:00.002+08:00

To my babe,
From tomorrow onwards,
I will not be afford to feed you with your normal food, ROM97.
You got to change your life style.
The government says so.
We love our country and we love our government.
We will follow what they say.
Ubah Gaya Hidup.

So, just bear with RON95.
They say it tastes the same.
You will not have problem with it.
You will still bring me around like normal.
All your internal organs will still function as quiet as always.
No knocking, slack of power, as the government says so.

We need to change our life style cos mummy is getting poorer.

A week off

2009-08-28T10:45:00.003+08:00

I am having my one week holiday now.
Though it is a week off from going to school, but I am still working from home.
Life as a teacher is not that easy.
I do not like people saying that life as a teacher is wonderful because of the long holiday.
It isn't.

The life is wonderful not because of long holiday.
Life is wonderful because you get to see your students become successful in life.
They are my fruits of success.

Well...
Still there are teachers are always looking forward for the holiday.
I do so sometimes.
Just to unload for a while.

We were talking about school holiday a week ago.
My colleagues were saying that they will just forget about their work and enjoy their holiday to the fullest.
How they wish they can retire now and still getting paid.
But I told them that sometimes, I wish to be in school instead.
I found that lately I seldom grumble about waking up early to go to school.
I think I want to work till I am too old to work.
I would like to work for three days in a week.
Monday, Wednesday and Friday only.
hahahaha....
Only doing Maths.
Solving Maths problems.
No other administration works.
No public examinations.
No boss to control me.
Life like that is good... not stressful at all.
hahaha...

But nay...
Just my imagination.

I just wanna 三八！

2009-08-23T16:29:00.006+08:00

劉德華正式以“朱家女婿”身份與太太朱麗倩、女兒，在一片“傘海”下喬裝送岳父朱金城走完最後一程。（圖：星洲日報）

One of the hottest news in Malaysia's local Chinese paper is about Andy Lau (劉德華) attending his 'father-in-law' 's funeral.
Andy Lau has never openly admits that he is a married man and Carol Zhu (朱麗倩) is his wife. I read that the media suspects that he even has a daughter and recently, a son too.

Well... I am ok with him keeping his personal life to himself but I feel that the way of him handling this matter (the funeral) is just not right.
I think he should let the old man has a much proper funeral (风光的葬礼).
I read that only the closer relatives are allowed to pay the last respect.
At the last journey, all the relatives have to hide themselves underneath the white umbrellas.

If I am Andy Lau, I would rather hide myself in Hong Kong and the let old man has a proper ceremony.
If he wants to pay his last respect, he can do it after the funeral.
I think the late old man will understand better than anyone.

I know I am being a 'kaypoh chi'.
But I don't understand what is he trying to hide.
I think his fans are actually very mature now.
He is almost a 50 years old artist.
He is not any 20 plus years old artist where by fans will commit suicide when he is married.
duh...

If I am Carol Zhu, I will not be very happy too.
She can't even company his father till the grave yard.
And I think if I am Carol, I am letting my father down.
He can't even openly admit that his daughter is happily married.
But, yes, I know, I am not even the old man.
I don't know what he has in his mind.

Actually, I thought I am the only one not happy about it. Hubby doesn't read the entertainment column.
When I talked about this matter with my hubby in the coffee shop today, we overheard the coffee shop's taukeh was busy discussing the same matter with his customers too.
So, I guess most Malaysians are not happy with it too.

Well.. we are just outsiders.
We just talk here and forget.
We will let them determine their own life.

Phew....
I feel better now.
I am indeed a 三八！
hahahaha..

Creative T & L

2009-08-11T14:52:00.002+08:00

I had a very creative teaching and learning lesson today.
I managed to attract all my students' attention.
We had palm reading today.

I am currently teaching the very last chapter of my Form 6 Mathematics T syllabus.
Geometry Deduction
I find this as one of the toughest topic to teach.
So, I let my students to choose to study or not to study this chapter.
Well, a small numbers of them decided to follow my lesson.
The rest will just do their own revision while listening to my lesson on this particular chapter.

Strangely, today, since we had a cool morning, my students were in a good mood.
They were in a good mood of joking around rather than studying.
As the famous Choonie who is so easy to 'runding', let them have their way today.
But the actual fact is, I hate this chapter too and want to take a rest, relax and have fun with them.

I don't know how and why suddenly, I let one of my students to read my palm.
It is just for fun.
But she is good.
She only tells me the good and keeps the bad for herself.
hahaha...
All of my students had fun this morning and I was worried that they were too loud.

Instantly, a student of mine said that,
"Don't worry, teacher. We just tell them that we had a creative lesson today.
See... we can see so many lines on our palm.
Parallel lines, intersection points, similar triangles, congruent triangles, angles, rhombus, parallelogram, etc."

They are really creative and applying what they have studied in actual life!
I am such a creative teacher!
hahaha...
(Masuk bakul, angkat sendiri!)

Especially for English Teachers

2009-07-23T17:46:00.005+08:00

To Suituapui,

What is your comment about this?
I think he deserves a 100% for his creativity.

Change

2009-07-14T17:46:00.003+08:00

PPSMI is not going to be abolished anytime this year yet.
However, our Pengetua has started to care less about this PPSMI.
The usual morning prayer in English has changed back to Bahasa Malaysia medium.
The usual morning greeting, during school's assembly, in English, has changed back to Bahasa Malaysia.
I hear him telling the students that they cannot understand him in English and it is easier to present his speech in ~~Bahasa Sarawak~~ Bahasa Malaysia.
Gee...

I read also in papers that the ministers started to say the bad things about PPSMI.
How things cannot work in English.
That one cannot understand the subjects well if they cannot understand the language.
It is true.
I admit it.
Especially for those students with very poor command of English and even Bahasa Malaysia.

But why at first, no one dares to say something about it?
Why everyone starts to 'bodek' when the new boss says the other way round?
Do they remember what they had said before?
Aren't they embarassed with themselves?
It is so sad to see this things happen.

Kevin Skinner, the next Susan Boyle

2009-07-12T19:08:00.002+08:00

If tomorrow never comes, one of my favorite songs by Garth Brooke.
But the below video is another country song version by Kevin Skinner.
He took part in America's Got Talent 2009.

If Susan Boyle is the hottest performer in Britain's Got Talent,
will he be the top performer for America's Got Talent.
I sure hope so.

PPSMI scraped

2009-07-08T19:10:00.002+08:00

I just read in Malaysiakini that our government has decided to switch back to teaching Science and Mathematics in Bahasa Malaysia.
It will only start to implement in year 2012.
It will start of with Year 1 and Year4, Form 1 and Form 4.

I am happy I am not teaching any of that categories in year 2012 (keeping my fingers cross).
I got my promotion DG44 as Guru Akademik Tingkatan 6.
I received my letter of offer during the school holiday.
Though it sounds like a promotion, but actually there is no change in my salary.
I am receiving the same pay yet I have to work till 4pm.
I am accepting the offer because I enjoy teaching the upper form.
Now, I am more glad that I accept the offer.
I can still continue to teach in English.
Form 6 and matriculation will not involved in this change.

Actually, a lot of my colleagues enjoy to teach Science and Mathematics in English especially those teaching Form 6.
But I know that it is really tough for the lower secondary students to understand the subjects well in English.

I am teaching a class of Form 4 students.
All of them cannot master English well.
It makes my teaching miserable.
They cannot understand me in English.
I need to translate in Bahasa Malaysia.
But when I tend to do it every time, they take it for granted.
They will ignore my lesson in English and waiting for my translation instead.
Yet, they still cannot understand well in Bahasa Malaysia.
They actually prefer Melayu Sarawak, which I know nothing about it.
So, my communication with students is like chicken and duck，
鸡同鸭讲。

Anyway, there are pro and con in scraping off PPSMI.
I am sure this is going to be the hottest topic in the staffroom tomorrow.

Dream of SHIT

2009-06-24T19:57:00.005+08:00

By now, you guys should know that I am a dreamer.

I always have weird dream.
Like the chinese says,
日有所思，夜有所梦。

From the title, you guys should know that this time I dreamed of SHIT.
A toilet full of shit.
In the bowl, on the floor, on the wall, on the water tap....
every where.
I have no choice.
I need to poo.
That is the only available toilet.
I
I need the water to clean myself.
I saw a tiny space on the water tap that is clean from SHIT.
I tried my best to turn the knob without touching the SHIT.
But I failed.
I had the SHIT on my finger.
It was so yucky and then, I woke up.

Although this is a yucky dream, according to the Chinese's belief, this is a good omen.

·梦见用手捏着大便,暗示正在进行的事业或投资一帆风顺，不久的将来就会发大财。买彩票是个很好的选择，有可能中头彩发横财。
·梦见满地的大便,这是非常好的梦。如果梦见满地都是大便，暗示富贵之神将会垂青于你。如果你是企业家，将会在他人的协助下事业获得成功，给你带来荣华富贵。
·梦见大小便弄脏你,这可是难得的好梦。梦见大小便弄脏你的身体，暗示你将会得到一笔不菲的财富。如果你是企业家或商业中人，事业之路将会一帆风顺，给你带来滚滚钱财。
·洗手间内大便横溢的梦,若用一句话来概括，这是招来财福的金钱梦。洗手间横溢大便的梦，暗示你将会得到意外的横财，而不是通过辛勤的劳动得到财富。

I am keeping my finger cross.
hihihi...

Pass in English?

2009-06-10T13:15:00.002+08:00

I am not saying that I agree or disagree with the current issue on making it a must for every student to pass the English subject.
I rather think that it will be better if the government will bring back the old time system, where a student has to make sure that they pass their standard 6 before continue their secondary education and so on.

I find the students nowadays take the free 11 years of educations system for granted.
They know that even though they do not study well, or even if they fail, they will still gain a place to study for the coming year.

Even on the issue of free textbooks for all students, I find many of them do not take good care of the government's properties.
They do not wrap their books, scribble in the books and misplace their books.
They do not care for their juniors.
They expect the school to get new books for their juniors.

Taking things for granted is so common among the students.
I hope the government does not pampered them too much.
I think the MCE system is still the best.
May be our government should really think about it.

Forgive & Forget

2009-05-27T23:42:00.005+08:00

I think I need to let everyone know this.

The boy who used handphone in my classroom on Monday apologized to me personally yesterday.
I am happy that he knows that he is wrong and yes, I raised my voice quite high when he came to see me yesterday.
I don't feel nice about it.
I am not quite over with him though I acted as if nothing had happened in the classroom.
He even dared to ask me question and as a teacher, I answered him politely.
I know I have to forgive and move on.

Well...
After some talk with my colleague, I found that he is a very special student.
He wants us to accept him as what he is now without thinking about others' feeling.
He can't thing the 'hard way' but we have to be 'soft' with him.
Anyway, I raised my voice cause I wanted him to know that I am really not happy with his attitude.
Plus, the way he apologised sounds very not sincere.

Anyway, he is just a student.
He deserves a chance to be forgive.
I have move on.
I will forgive and forget.

handphones in school

2009-05-25T15:23:00.003+08:00

Today it should be a just another normal day for me in that school as a teacher.

Everything should be just the same.
My Form 4 as the most rebellious among the three classes that I teach.
The Upper 6 as the class that I enjoy to teach.
Later, the Lower 6 class is the class with the most foreign faces.

But today, one of the lower 6 student at the very last minute,
just right before the bell rings,
fumes me.

I just finished with my lesson.
I walked from table to table so that I can approached students with any problems.
Later, I saw a boy in my classes usinghis handphone in the classroom. I came from the back of the classroom.
He did not notice me at first.
So, he was caught red handed yet he dare to say that he did nothing wrong.
He claimed that it is time to go home.
I asked him if he hear the bell rings.
And he lied again and told me that he did hear the bell rings.
He still pretended and dare to make me sound like a deaf teacher.
*celaka*
Luckily, one of the girl student said it clear that he lied.

At that moment too, the bell rang.
I told him that he has to obey the school rules when he is in the school.
Even if the bell rings, I am still in the classroom and the lesson is assumed still going on.

But I think I am being too nice.
I ignored him but I pulled a long face.
I walked to the front, collected my things and just walked out from the classroom.
I had a meeting to rush to.
Remember, today is Monday.
My usual aka 'short briefing day'.
*sienz*

This is my second time with students using hand phone in the classroom.
The first time is more ridiculous.
The student was about to hide her handphone in her underwear right in front of my eyes.
hahaha....
That happened just two weeks ago when I don't have the access to my blog.
Will write about it next time.

*phew*
I just feel better when I have all of it written down.
Thanks for reading.
Another day of a teacher's life.

老婆大人

2009-05-24T08:39:00.004+08:00

I found a new thing to do lately.
Watching movie using PPStream.
Actually I had the software since last year but I don't know how to use it till lately, my hubby's nephew readjusts the setting and voila...
your Choonie is almost off from blogging, playing Bejeweled but
watching tvb series almost everyday.

Just Love II

I am watching 老婆大人II at the moment.
I am so crazy about it that I rewatch the whole series of 老婆大人I.
Too bad, I can't find the cantonese version of 老婆大人I.
I have to bear with the mandarin version.
But I don't mind to watch the first series again if I have the cantonese version.
hahaha...

What is so interesting about of 老婆大人?
I don't really know.
May be it just brings me joy and the warm of a happy family.
A good husband that almost every woman will envy.
May be he is soft sometimes, but he is a good man in the series.
He listens to his wife and respects his wife.
He will do anything to win her heart.

On the other hand, the wife has a very strong character as a wife and at the same time, as a judge.
A woman who can takes her work seriously and at the same time, has a husband to worry about the household chores.
But she is not always that righteous.
She is also a normal human being.
She also has moody periods, feels jealous, envy, etc.

Well...
I have one more week to watch this series.
I think I know the ending.
It is not going to be too surprising.
But still can't wait for the 老婆大人III.
hahaha...
Not sure if there will be the third series.
But I feel that the first one is better than the second one.
Let's wait and see.

*********

P/S: I encountered a lot of problem login into my blog lately.
I don't know why.
I can't even log into some of my favorite blogs.
That's why you guys dun see me dropping by.
I hope it is just the line's problem and not my laptop's.

Fulfiling day yet a bad day too....

2009-05-04T20:45:00.003+08:00

I had a busy weekend.
It was suppose to be Labours' Day.
But I ended up doing the programme book for my school's coming Sport Day.

Actually I was given a different task.
I am suppose to work on the actual Sport Day.
But a good friend of mine requested me to help her instead.
By helping her, I will be totally free during the actual day and I don't have to stand under the hot sun or get myself wet in the rain.
My stand is she has to make sure that I have every piece of information to complete the book and printer must be prepared.

There goes my holiday.
But I managed to complete everything today.
I even had the cover designed.

I still need to polish my Photoshop skill.
I want to learn how to use brush,
how to design very chic background,
how to manipulate the pictures.
I still have a lot of things to learn.
I enjoy the task though I think the students should do it instead of the teachers.

Anyway, today it is a fulfilling day but it is also a bad day for me.
I was stucked for the normal briefing till almost 2.30pm and continued with another briefing about the orientation week for the new Lower 6 students.
It is suppose to be briefing
but
it turns out to be a meeting.

I hold my hunger till almost 4pm.
I think I am going to have my gastric pain.
I excuse myself earlier and was burst out when I found out that the management staffs have a luxury lunch before the so-called briefing.
That's why they can have the 'briefing' for such long hours without taking in consideration of those teachers teaching for the whole morning straight without lunch.
Really very inconsiderate.
I did voice my dissatisfaction in front of the PK Ko-kurikulum.
I hope he will tell the management that
we, teachers do not like them to treat us like
DOGS!
We are human who still needs to rest and eat!
Who is going to pay for the damage of my stomach being burned a hole by the acidic environment in it?
God...

Now, I end up not feeling very well.
My stomach is still very gassy.
I can't take in solid food.
Feel like vomiting.
Hope by tomorrow everything will be better.

曾经拥有

2009-04-28T21:40:00.003+08:00

Yeah...
I am proud to announce that I manage to put myself at the first place among my friends now.
Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook
201900 points!!!
Incredible!

My friend even asked me how did I do it?
She is furious to defeat me.
The answer is....
I ALSO DON'T KNOW!!!

I just click, click, click....
Play again, play again, play again....
And I never realised that I did it.

Till now, I cannot crack my own point.
So, I think I better stop playing it.
Let me retreat during the peak period.
hahaha...

Chinese says,
曾经拥有就很满足

ASM, ASW, ASS?

2009-04-27T18:18:00.003+08:00

Today, almost everyone in the staffroom were talking about ASW 2020.
A few of the teachers managed to buy a few lots of the share.
We were informed around afternoon that the shares might sold off in any time that hour.

I can only envy my colleagues.
It is a smart way of saving but only to those who has extra cash.
I am very quiet compare to any other days in the staffroom.
hahaha...
I am really sad that I didn't buy any of the share although I have an account since 1996.

Well... when I analyse back, those who are buying are the real senior colleagues.
After working for certain years, I am sure they do have a strong saving compared to me.
Currently, I dare not touch my extra cash due to a 'big project' that I am having at the end of the year.

I can only envy for the moment.

Semakan keputusan kemasukan ke tingkatan enam rendah 2009

2009-04-27T10:18:00.000+08:00

Update: During my meeting this afternoon, the Form 6 teachers were told that name list for the Lower 6 students will be released on the 8th May (Friday).
We were also told that the students will have to come to school for registration on Monday, 11th May.
For those entering my class, lesson will start on Thursday, 14th May 2009.

The sad news is all students have to be back in school on Saturday, 16th May 2009 too.
Sorry... It is the nation wide Teachers' Day.

How I wish it is a holiday for all teachers.
Teachers Day should be a day for the teachers to relax and release the stress of working, right?
Now, I have to be back in school, sitting in the heaty hall, listening to the long long speeches from the Minister, Principal, the YDP of PIBG, etc.
Tiu....

******************

To those who are waiting to enter Lower 6,
you can check your entrance status on the
8 May 2009
at the KPM's website
http://www.moe.gov.my

I hope to see more students studying Form 6 this year in my school.
To those who has doubt of studying Form 6,
it is really not a bad choice although it is tough.
It is quite easy to get a place in the local university.
But I know there are worries of not getting the course you like.
Quota system sucks.

But studying at the private colleges is not as easy as you think.
I know people keep on repeating the same papers, over and over again.
All this cost $$$$.
Studying in the local university is still cheaper compare to private colleges.

But the choice is yours.
Just make sure it is the right one.

Labour of Love

2009-04-22T21:00:00.005+08:00

I read the article below from Malaysiakini. I found it very interesting and ashamed of myself after reading it. I know I cannot be like Apik. I am glad if I have 20% what he is doing now. We need more people like Apik to make the world a better place.

******************

Apik's love of learning

Keruah Usit | Apr 22, 09 7:14am

Apik can survive in the rainforest, completely alone, with a parang and some salt. He hunts, dives for fish and makes a bed for himself under the forest canopy.

MCPX

He climbs trees to harvest honey from wild hives. He picks ferns and bamboo shoots to cook, and finds edible fruit and roots. He collects herbs to heal, and uses ipoh, a tree bark, to prepare poison for blowpipe darts.

He travels to neighbouring villages in a wooden longboat, with an engine modified from a grass-cutting machine. He manoeuvres the longboat through rapids strewn with giant boulders, as expertly as KL folk weave through rush-hour traffic.

If he finds snakes on jungle trails, he picks up them up with twigs and branches, moving them away from the paths, and from other travelers. He makes fishing nets, and mends them, with a dexterity associated with more delicate, less muscle-bound, maidens.

He can remain underwater for an astounding length of time, looking for fish or a missing propeller. He rears puppies, teaching them to hunt for barking deer and wild boar. He can carry a wild boar heavier than himself, on his shoulders, through the forest, for hours.

His real passion, though, is teaching. He teaches pre-school and primary school, in his small, remote Orang Ulu village in Sarawak. His students adore him, trailing after him after classes, pestering him to go swimming with them.

He takes them down to the river, to cool off and indulge in some horseplay. The children mob him, climbing all over him. They beg him to push them around in their makeshift dinghies, made from truck tyres. They perform somersaults, shrieking and splashing into the water, to impress him.

“I like watching the children grow up, watching them grow in knowledge and understanding,” he says. “It’s a wonderful feeling - hard to explain.”

He says kampung students are far easier to teach than urban children. He endured a nightmare, during his training, teaching in an urban school, trying to get students to listen.

When asked why, he ventures, “Maybe it’s because the kampung children get more attention. When the children go to their neighbours, they’re made welcome and cared for, as if they were their neighbours’ children.

“Parents in the ulu talk to their children all the time, even when they are bathing the small children. And then, of course, there’s not much television,” he smiles.

No IC until he was 25

Apik came to his calling late in life, graduating when he was nearly 30. He could not attend teacher training school when he completed secondary school, he says, because he had no identity card until he was 25.

“I didn’t think I could ever get to teachers’ training college,” he remembers. “To tell the truth, I was lucky to get to Form Six. The headmaster in my boarding school encouraged me to stay on, and he turned a blind eye to the fact that I didn’t have an IC.”

Apik was born to farming parents, in a quiet Orang Ulu village. His parents had been born and bred Sarawakians. Apik’s father even had a shotgun licence given him by the British colonial rulers, dating from the 1950s. But they could not obtain ICs for many years.

“My father served as a border scout during the Konfrontasi with Indonesia in 1963,” Apik says.

“He helped keep Sarawak part of Malaysia. Yet he couldn’t get an IC. My parents went to the towns to apply for ICs, many times. The journeys would take a week by boat, down fierce rapids, to the Registration Department.”

Many times, Apik’s parents were told the decision to confirm their Malaysian citizenship and ICs had to come from KL, and the decision took time. When Apik’s parents asked when they should return, they were bestowed the time-honoured advice of the bureaucracy – “just wait”. They waited for the letters from the Registration Department, but the correspondence never came.

Apik’s parents obtained ICs eventually, in the 1990s. The Registration Department had established “mobile units”, traveling to remote communities. Apik says the villagers appreciated these visits, because they could not afford the cost of travel to town. But the visits were rare.

He walked four days to school

“My parents were highly respected in the village,” he says. “They were always good to their neighbours, including the Penan communities who were beginning to settle down near our village.

“They spoke Penan fluently, they helped the Penan with farming techniques, and helped make relationships easier with the rest of the village – many of the people in my village looked down at the Penan.”

Most of Apik’s fellow villagers grew to accept the Penan, thanks to Apik’s family.

Apik went to primary school in the next village, where Penan children formed the majority.

“I learnt a lot from them,” he remembers.

“I learnt to be gentle, to respect my neighbours, and respect the forest. I learnt to value the trees and animals in the forest. The Penan are the best trackers around. They can walk for hours. They share what they have, so I always knew I wouldn’t go hungry when I went hunting with them.

“And they never waste. If they hunt a bear, and the dead animal’s young is left behind, they take the cub in and care for it.”

Apik went on countless hunting trips with Penan friends.

“Every time I went into the forest, the first few days were hard. I was tired all the time. But when my body settled into the routine of walking, I began to appreciate the beauty of the forest. The streams, the waterfalls, the animals, the trees, the wildflowers… he stillness.”

After primary school, Apik moved on to the nearest secondary school. Children in Apik’s part of Malaysia often walk for several days to reach school.

“I walked to the Sekolah Menengah, Form One to Three, when I was 13 until I was 15. Twenty of us, schoolchildren, walked four days, carrying our food rations, sleeping in the jungle.

“Some parents asked me to look after their young daughters, so I ended up carrying their books, food, clothes, even packets of sanitary pads… I ended up carrying 30 kilos,” he laughs.

Teachers ‘parachuted’ into rural schools

Many rural children suffer far worse than walking for days to get to school. Children are bullied by fellow boarders and even by teachers.

Penan children, especially, are shy and unfamiliar with shouting and aggression. They often leave school because of bullying and loneliness, and sometimes because their parents take them away to help in the harvest.

But Penan children do well if they stay on, according to Apik. Many become top students, both in the classroom and on the sports field.

Apik gives chilling accounts of teachers beating and bullying rural children.

“Children from my home village tell me how one teacher in their secondary school lost control of himself, and chased them with a parang.

“Another teacher threatened them with a shotgun. The headmaster knew, but took no action. The school has received many complaints from parents, but nothing has improved,” Apik says bitterly.

Few teachers volunteer to work in rural schools, and there are few trained local teachers. Apik himself has been posted to an urban school in the past, even after he had requested to teach in a rural school near his village.

Teachers “parachuted” into the rural schools experience culture shock. Many of them are poorly motivated and ignorant. They receive little support from the education authorities in the towns.

Apik likes to tell the story of a teacher from Peninsular Malaysia, posted to a remote primary school. The young teacher had never heard of the place, and did not know the school is nine hours’ drive and three hours’ boat ride from the nearest large town.

The teacher arrived at the airport, climbed into a taxi, and asked the taxi driver to take him to the school, Apik relates with a smile.

Contractors profit, children suffer

The schools Apik teaches in are dilapidated, without adequate electricity supply, treated water or clean dormitories.

The children bathe in the nearby river, downstream from the rest of the village. Scabies, head lice and worms are routine (left).

One rural primary school had toilets installed and closed down the same day, because of the contractor’s sub-standard work. The children used the bushes for months, until the toilets were repaired.

During lunch hour in another school, the children’s usual meal is rice, tinned food and cabbage. The schoolteachers say the food supply contracts are determined and awarded “centrally” by the Education Department.

Vegetables and fish supplied from the towns are often rotting, so that well-connected urban food suppliers can make their hefty profits. The teachers would prefer to buy chickens and fresh vegetables for the children from the villagers, but are not allowed to.

Many children in these schools have no shoes. Their families struggle to buy them stationery and uniforms. Poor rural children are meant to have an allocation for these items, and are exempted from paying school fees.

Yet many children are still forced to pay fees in rural schools, according to headmen and parents in remote villages. Why? the parents ask. Incompetence, overzealous bureaucracy, or most likely, corruption.

One headmaster in a rural school provides an analogy: “The allocation provided by the Education Department starts out in the towns, loaded onto the transport.

“But the amount gets smaller and smaller as it makes its way upriver. By the time it arrives, it’s a tiny amount. Most of it has fallen off the transport, on the way to the ulu.”

Long walk, with a helping hand

Poor rural children throughout Malaysia face the same hardship. Some overcome astonishing obstacles in getting to school.

A rural indigenous girl used to walk for days to school in Sabah. She left school after Form Three, to work as a domestic helper for an urban Chinese family. Her employers knew about her family’s poverty, and decided to pay for her to complete her schooling, while she was helping in the employers’ household.

Her results were good enough to go to medical school. Her employers helped her through university, for five lonely, trying years in Peninsular Malaysia. She works as a doctor now, and supports her family and community.

Some rural folk, doctors like this young Sabahan, and teachers like Apik, seek education, so that they can contribute to their poor communities. They support their neglected communities as best they can, in their labour of love.

How many of us, the other Malaysians – educated Malaysians – do the same?

KERUAH USIT is a human rights activist - anak Sarawak, bangsa Malaysia. His ‘The Antidote’ column, which will appear in Malaysiakini every Wednesday, is an attempt to allow the voices of marginalised people to be heard all over Malaysia. The writer can be contacted at keruah_usit@yahoo.com.

Bejeweled Blitz

2009-04-18T16:39:00.004+08:00

Now you guys know why there is no post for quite sometime.
I am busy and moody lately.
Busy to put myself in the first place of the tournament
and moody because I still cannot make it.
LOL

revive caning in schools

2009-04-07T20:09:00.004+08:00

I just read that government has made the decision to revive caning in schools to curb discipline problems among students.
Will this be the best way to tackle the discipline problems among students?
During my time in school, I was a very discipline student.
I couldn't remember being cane by my teachers before.
But I was caned by my mother when I didn't listen to her.
I know that caning is not a fun thing.
hahaha...
I will definitely feel very embarrassed if I am cane for being a bad student in school.
That's why I am superb obedient in school.

But as a teacher, I did cane my students.
hihihi...
Sometimes, it really works.
But I make sure that I don't over do it.
Seriously, I worry that I might hurt them.
So, I only cane their hand and buttock (usually for the boys).

As a Form 6 teacher, of course, I don't practice that anymore.
But handling my Form 4 students is another story.
They will be more discipline when they see me entering the class with a cane.
But now, I seldom do that anymore.
I think they are used to my style.
They know that I don't cane them anymore.

I think caning doesn't work for older students.
Sometimes, I feel that they just want us to adjust to their attitude towards studies.
We can't make them to do things the way we want it.

I once was told by a student of mine that,
"You do whatever you have to do in the class.
We might not want to study, but there are students who want to study.
If we want to listen, we will listen."

My friend who teaches in another school was told by her students no need to teach at all because they have no interest in study and they will not listen at all.
So, I think I have better students.

Anyway, may be by reviving caning in school it might tackle the discipline problems.
May be the fear of being cane might revive their interest to study in school instead of socializing with friends.

Below is the article that I copy from www.malaysiakini.com.

***************

Gov't to revive caning in schools
Apr 7, 09 1:51pm

The Education Ministry is to revive caning in schools to curb discipline problems among pupils, three years after making moves to ban corporal punishment, a minister said today.

The government made the decision to revive caning last month and it will issue specific guidelines on how to implement the punishment, deputy education minister Wee Ka Siong told

"We will allow the headmaster or anyone who has been authorised to execute the punishment, while parents will be notified and invited to witness the caning to be done in a confined area," he said.

"We need to take precautions because students nowadays are not like students those days - they are 'too creative' in breaching the rules now," Wee said.

In 2006, the government said it was planning to ban public caning in schools, where the punishment is administered on the buttocks or the palm of the hand.
The education ministry also said a year later that it was considering allowing schools to cane unruly girls to curb an upsurge in discipline problems including gang fights and bullying.

Real/RMVB Media Player

2009-04-07T05:23:00.001+08:00

I just bought two real/rmvb media player during the PC Fair two days ago.
I went to the PC Fair just to hunt for a wireless mouse, ear phone and may be a cooling pad.
Instead I spent more than RM350 on that day.

I don't know anything about this player and I was introduced to it during the PC Fair.
Immediately, I think it is a good way of sharing all those movies that I download with my parents and MIL.
That's why I bought two of it.
One for myself and one for my parents.
got the one exactly like the one in the pic.
A white one.
RM170 each.
Though it does not support HDMI.
The one that can support HDMI cost almost RM100 more.

It comes with VGA port and AV output.
I tried to use the VGA port to my Sharp LCD TV but the screen turns all red and without sound.
I called up the salesman and he advised me to connect using the AV output instead.
Everything is fine when I use that method.

So, my hubby is not very happy.
He feels cheated.
Well, I think they provide the low quality VGA output.
I was told before that LCD TV is very sensitive.
This kind of tv prefer good quality of cabling for sharp image.
So, if you guy wants to get one too, do check the cable provided.
I tested mine using his cable.
So, I suspect that they use the very good cable while testing my player.
That's why everything looks good at the stall and not the same thing when I tried at home.

Real / RMVB Media Player
Model: MP001
Support: AVI / MPG / WMA
Support: VOB / DAT / MPEG
High Definition Digital