Lobo's Lessons

When one mentions the R word (research), a lot of people get images of people in lab coats holding test-tubes, or a formal interview at a plush office, sipping tea or coffee made by the secretary of the CEO being interviewed. Well, there is that... Yes... but there is also much, much more. Today's research session can attest to that. Let me explain. Today was a tough day. Deadlines galore. I had a teaching session that I had to prepare for. I had to actual teaching session itself. Then I had a meeting about a book that I was copy-editing (to be published in Bangladesh by the way) which was the followup to the 4 hour meeting that I had yesterday. And then there was a going-away party for a few friends who were leaving the country to do research in more exotic shores. Which was really enjoyable by the way. Good food good company. Good singing. A good time. But it was good to be able to drive home and think about spending the night with the family. I reached ho...

The semester has drawn to a close, and as always the students feel a need to celebrate after completing their final paper. It is a time of joy and happiness. A time where they get to know that their sleepless nights studying and completing assignments has paid off. Here I am, at the KFC in Jusco here in Taman Universiti, with a group of my First Year TESL students, having the time of my life talking with them about how the semester had been for them. We all joke about and tell funny stories, recollecting the good and the not so good times we had during the semester... And then to wrap things up, they ask me to make a formal speech. Everyone pipes down and focuses their attention to me. I look around the table, focus on each smiling face, and suddenly feel myself transported to the times when I was in class with them... They were a mixed bunch, some very good, some good, some not so, and some quite bad in terms of language proficiency and ability to analyse literature. I rem...

Image credit here I love Facebook. I really do. It's cool. It's got all you need to tell people about you - your photos, your likes, your dislikes, what you did for the weekend, what your grandmother had for breakfast etc. One thing I like about Facebook is that it gives the opportunity for people to tell the truth about their relationship status, whether they were single, married, in a relationship and so on. As a social scientist who is somewhat versed in discourse analysis, allow me to analyse a few of them. 1) SINGLE - a lot of lovelorn teens and young adults post this as their relationship status. Mostly, when they say they are single on Facebook you can generally believe it. Reason - they're going to get a whacking/tongue lashing from their significant other, who is also on Facebook. 2) (Not Stated) - This equivocation is one usually used by people who are in a relationship but are not comfortable in admitting it yet, or are in a relationship but their significant ot...

I just had another student coming in, asking to change his marks... Just 5 more marks for an A-.... Just 5 more marks, so the Saudi Government will not take away my scholarship... Just 5 more marks so that I can continue to support my brother who is also studying... The thing is... I liked this chap. He came to class, did his assignments, scored very high for his coursework...but did badly in his finals... He came, but didn't beg... Didn't snivel... Didn't cry... Totally different from the guy who came here last week. I just wish there was some legitimate way I could help him...  But 5 marks is still 5 marks. If I give it to him, where would be my integrity? My trustworthiness?  My honour?  If I don't have these... Then who am I?

Photo credit here . I just spent the last 2 hours getting a certain student to leave my room. He had failed the course due to a few reasons: 1) His English was very weak 2) He regularly skipped classes, and did not even bother coming up with an explanation 3) He missed a consultation assessment, worth 10% of his total marks 4) He missed his final presentation assessment, worth 15% of his total marks 5) He lacked the initiative to even do anything about it until I put out his total marks in the system. Of course by then, the marks would have been finalised Worst of all, he spent two hours in my room pleading, crying, snivelling, just for me to push up his marks. Two hours of my extremely precious time gone... two hours of my life, snatched away from me... Some people just can't accept the universal fact - You eat, you pay... It's just no use crying over spilt milk. And it's no use crying over two wasted hours of your life listening to sob stories...

Every journey has a beginning, and an ending... And thus, my wonderful journey that I embarked on as a lecturer to my first Drama in Education cohort is almost coming to an end... I remember seeing them all, one by one, their faces eager to learn, but shying away in the beginning, all reserved in the small cocoons of their own little worlds... And when they opened up, one by one, I saw in them different, beautiful personalities, each unique in their own way... each finding a place in my affections...and eventually each finding a place in my heart. Yesterday night was a special night that marked the ending of this journey with them, on the one hand a sense of overwhelming pride that I had directly played a part in their journeys as teachers, building the very foundation of our nation, and even more so, as human beings, being the very essence of who they were and what they became... To commemorate this night, I sang for them... A tune that they all knew and loved... A tune that we shared...

Yesterday is a day that would forever go down the sands of time as... "The Day I Fed Two Hundred Ravenous Mouths with Bottomless Pits" Oh the horror!... The Pain!... The Suffering!!! Like a swarm of locusts they came, wave upon wave upon wave... Like a farmer protecting his crop I could only look on and stare, as they darkened the sky, before zeroing in for the kill... Tears streamed down my eyes as I watched them strip every last grain of maize and corn that I had planted at the begininning of the year... My knees thudded to the ground, as I numbly watched the carnage around me, my tired brain barely registering what my eyes perceived. "So this is what it feels like"... I thought in my brain... "This thing called Open House" . .. ... Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut I'm just being dramatic here ;) Yesterday was actually a day that I'm going to remember for a long time, simply because it was graced with the presence of those eager young minds I he...

If there is one thing that I have observed about student teachers (trainee teachers on teaching practice), it is that many become a nervous wreck when we the supervisors drop in on them to observe them teaching. Why is that? Is it because they are afraid they will mess up? Is it because they are afraid they will not live up the standards and expectations of their supervisors? Is it because they are afraid of getting low marks, even in the initial stages of teaching practice? To be fair, I do remember the times when myself was a trainee teacher... Those were good days... The excitement of being a teacher, able to be in touch with the students, shaping their minds... It was really exciting... And then the supervisor decides to drop by... But the strange thing is, I don't think I was ever really that nervous of being observed... This was simply because I try to treat each and every lesson the same - make your students enjoy what they are learning, and make sure they learn something! A...

Words fail me as I look as the images of Language Camp 2008, beautifully planned and executed by my very own students... Each smiling face a bright splash of colour in the tapestry of my life... I remember the first time I ever set my eyes on each and every one of them...All so young and full of life...So full of hope... So full of ready smiles... And watched them grow throughout the semester, gaining strength upon strength, slowly but surely becoming the educators they are destined to be... Dedicated, knowledgeable, serious in their work but at the same time able to have fun, enjoying their work...In fact this element is central in what I teach my students - Know your stuff but never, ever forget to have fun...Remember that, and you will be teachers that your students will remember until end of their days... My gaze drifts from image to image...Some of my students...Some of their students... Each one with a such a strong sense of life in their eyes... My...

KJ: It seems that a complaint was made about you by your TESL students. Me: Really? What was it about? KJ: The complaint was that you just let the class rep give the marks... What's that about? Me: Errr... I think they may have got it wrong... The class rep does not give the marks... I give the marks, but i refer the class rep because as the director he would be in the best position to know what goes on... KJ: You've really got to be careful... Students nowadays have no qualms about going up to the very top to voice their complaints... You're still new... It would be a shame if anything were to happen... Me: (nodding) I understand...