Lobo's Lessons

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 It's funny how during the semester there's never enough time. It's classes, then consultations, then meetings, then vetting, then preparations for the upcoming LSP Conference in KL, then preparations for NZ... The list just goes on and on... Throughout this whole time you're thinking to yourself I'm just so busy, and I can't take this anymore, and I wish it would stop. And then it does. Suddenly before you know it, you're saying your farewell speech, and wishing the students good luck for their final examinations. The students hug you and with tears in their eyes, telling you how much they have enjoyed studying under you... They give you cards and presents, and stuff you with food... And then it hits you that you are going to miss them... A lot... No more joking with them... No more ordering them to sing when they come late for class... No more slagging them when they slack off... Even though it happens every semester, the cycle rarely chan...

Image credit here It's a Saturday.. And I have only just finished invigilating the Special Examinations for the First Year students.. Funny thing is, the exam season is over... And they had already taken this exam before... So why am I here invigilating an exam, when exam season is over, and the students had already taken this paper before, when it is a Saturday where I should be resting at home? Ladies & gentlemen, welcome to the record-setting blunder of the century (as far as my department goes). I am not a liberty to divulge any details, but suffice to say something happened that made the validity of the exams questionable. And so it goes, the students had to resit the paper again...all 2000-odd students from the entire First Year cohort of the entire University... Setting a record indeed. What I had seen these past 2 months has indeed been a test of courage against adversity against many malignant forces, with true integrity shown by the few chosen people... The implicatio...

Picture credit here A lot of my readers may be wondering why the past two months have been extremely quiet here in Lobo's Lessons. Well folks, truth is so much has gone down the past two months I can barely recall anything. It's all one big blur. Next thing I know, the semester has just started again, and I'm left with the question: ..."Where'd my holidays go?"... Let me fill you in on some of what I can remember from these past two months: 1) End of term - marking frenzy to submit marks on time. 2) Once marking was done, got 2 SPACE UTM classes for part-time students - 1 in Kuching and 1 in JB (thank God...last year it was Kuching and KL). 3) Fly off to Kuching every other weekend, and go straight back to work the following Monday. 4) Teach weekend classes in JB every other weekend, and go straight to work on Monday. 5) Attend MELTA conference while still actively doing what needs to be done back at the faculty. 6) Was awarded post of Head of Committee for le...

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...

Photo credit here It is that time of year again, where the students feel exhausted, light-headed... but relieved... Their tour of duty is over... Soon they would be home with their loved ones, leaving the battlefield behind... No more operation manuals! No more midnight patrols!... At least for a month and a half, they would be free...The airlift back to civilisation awaiting them at the base. Leaving us here... Time to take out our torches and burn the midnight oil. Time to get out the blood-red ink, ready to stain the piles and piles of lined papers, where they left their scrawny handwriting behind. Time to start marking those exams papers, lads... We'll hold the fort until they return.

Sounds like a line from a rap song doesn't it? But no...This time it isn't. The MC in question here is me. Lately I've been getting a lot of requests to become MC (Master of Ceremonies) for official UTM functions. The last one I had to do was barely two weeks ago... But I really had a lot of fun for that one. It was entitled "Hi-Tea With Her Royal Highness Raja Zarith Sofiah", and yes, I did meet Her Royal Highness and chat for a bit with her. In many ways, she surprised me more than I would care to admit... For so many years, at the end of our Friday Prayers, the Imam would recite a du'a which would be considered strange to people who are not from Johor, because at the end of the du'a, the imam would launch into a roll-call of all the members of the Johor Royalty, asking the Almighty to bless each and every one of them... The interesting thing is in my observations, many people would just simply zone off at this point, simply because for many people, ...

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...