Today is the Thursday before our second long weekend in a row. I have spent much of my time this week marking papers and assignments of the class I started working with as well as the classes that I have been observing. It is crazy marking time in schools here right now with many teachers buried under massive piles of papers and test scripts. Yesterday afternoon I attended a conference on behalf of my RO because she was unable to go.
It is interesting for me to see the content of educational conferences here and while I still feel that I do not completely grasp the Singapore context I am starting to get a hazy concept of what the system looks like here. I find it somewhat funny to be in workshops discussing Vygotsky and Social Constructivist Pedagogy when I just spent the last five years sitting on the floor in DRED discussing these things with Tina and Gail. However, I am glad to see these things here and it is a familiar space for me even if it feels like I'm back in lecture halls that I worked so hard to escape.
Exam time here at St. Hilda's starts next week and I will see what this looks like and how it is carried out. I expect that I may be invigilating exams and possibly helping to mark them so it will be a good chance for me to get a better idea of what the tests that the students spend so much time and effort preparing for really look like.
Tonight I am going to the first meeting of the Stage Club here in Singapore that I have signed in to become a member of. I am very excited to have a possible place to be on a stage or to at least work creatively with a theatre group. I am trying to bring forward lessons from my schooling and I know from ACE that it is important to maintain my artistic practice even in the midst of the swamp of my career. And so I shall venture forth to discover what this adventure may have in store for me. I will be sure to keep you all updated.
On another note, it is now 43 days until Ben touches down in Singapore for our two week holiday. I am incredibly excited to have him visit and to be able to show him around this island that I am slowly starting to call home.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Easter Weekend Over
Well, Monday found me again, as she always does. I'm back at work and at my desk. I like being at school though so don't think I'm complaining.
I had a great weekend, being able to go out with some friends was a great relief to the oppressive loneliness that I feel sometimes during the weeks when I am stuck in Tampines watching Skins on the Internet. I got to go to Arab Street with Iain on Saturday and that was a lot of fun. We found Haji Lane which is a street I had read about online that has lots of shops by Singaporean designers that make clothes and jewelry and things like that. We also went and got some Egyptian food that of course reminded me very much of being in Windsor and noshing on Shwarma! It's funny that the white girls misses home in the midst of Little Arabia, but there you go.
Sunday I spent on my own generally loafing about and cleaning my room and talking to Ben. It was good to have a chunk of time where we could talk and remember the first time we kissed and all the stupid foolish things we were afraid of when we first got together and realized we liked each other.
There is an art exhibition of Van Gogh's work coming to Singapore and they are offering free admission to teachers so I signed up to go with some of my teacher friends on the public holiday in May. It's always handy to know the arts teachers because they know where the cool stuff is at. As well, I have a meeting this week with the Stage Club, which is a theatre group here in Singapore that I head about through one of the drama trainers that come into the school so I'm hoping to have a creative outlet there and maybe get the chance to do some acting while I'm here.
I had a great weekend, being able to go out with some friends was a great relief to the oppressive loneliness that I feel sometimes during the weeks when I am stuck in Tampines watching Skins on the Internet. I got to go to Arab Street with Iain on Saturday and that was a lot of fun. We found Haji Lane which is a street I had read about online that has lots of shops by Singaporean designers that make clothes and jewelry and things like that. We also went and got some Egyptian food that of course reminded me very much of being in Windsor and noshing on Shwarma! It's funny that the white girls misses home in the midst of Little Arabia, but there you go.
Sunday I spent on my own generally loafing about and cleaning my room and talking to Ben. It was good to have a chunk of time where we could talk and remember the first time we kissed and all the stupid foolish things we were afraid of when we first got together and realized we liked each other.
There is an art exhibition of Van Gogh's work coming to Singapore and they are offering free admission to teachers so I signed up to go with some of my teacher friends on the public holiday in May. It's always handy to know the arts teachers because they know where the cool stuff is at. As well, I have a meeting this week with the Stage Club, which is a theatre group here in Singapore that I head about through one of the drama trainers that come into the school so I'm hoping to have a creative outlet there and maybe get the chance to do some acting while I'm here.
Friday, April 22, 2011
Night Safari!
This is the first of three long weekends in a row, so I decided to try and do some cool stuff around Singapore because our plans to go to Jakarta/Thailand did not pan out. Last night I went with some friends to see a short film that one of them had been in and after we went out, Iain met us and it was good to introduce him to some other people here in Singapore that are cool.
Today I went with Michael and Yi Lin to the Night Safari, one of the attractions that I read about in the guides about Singapore before coming here that was on my list of things that I wanted to do while I was here. It's a really cool idea to have a zoo open at night because so many animals are nocturnal so you don't really get to see them do much during the day if you go to see them. It reminded me a lot of the trip to the Toronto Zoo that I went on with my Starbucks friends in the summer which increased my homesickness a lot. It's been rough the last few days with missing Ben and home a lot and feeling really sad. But, I'm doing my best to combat it and I know that Ben is coming to Singapore in 49 days so I can't be too mopey and what better way to deal than to go and see some tigers?
They don't want you to use flash photography at the zoo because they don't want you to startle the animals so my pictures are laregly blury, but I posted them on photobucket here. The scariest were the gator things cause they were really close and one of them smacked its nose and spooked me. Also, the creep so slowly down into the water it is sort of eerie and makes you realize how quickly one of them could sneak up on you if you were swimming with them. I also really liked some of the cats and the tiger and leopard even though they were sleeping because in their own cattish ways they reminded me of Alfie. The flying swuirrels were also pretty cool and we saw one fly from one tree to another which was nifty. There were also bats flying around and otters playing in the water and making seriously adorable little otter noises. The firebreathing show was sort of funny and culturally slightly offensive in terms of fetishizing Asians in loinclothes, but hey, whatcha gonna do? All in all it was a fun time and I would love to go back again, maybe I will bring Ben when he comes to Singapore. Our ticket also includes admission to the bird park so on Sunday we might go there and I'm sure I'll take more pictures of birds.
Today I went with Michael and Yi Lin to the Night Safari, one of the attractions that I read about in the guides about Singapore before coming here that was on my list of things that I wanted to do while I was here. It's a really cool idea to have a zoo open at night because so many animals are nocturnal so you don't really get to see them do much during the day if you go to see them. It reminded me a lot of the trip to the Toronto Zoo that I went on with my Starbucks friends in the summer which increased my homesickness a lot. It's been rough the last few days with missing Ben and home a lot and feeling really sad. But, I'm doing my best to combat it and I know that Ben is coming to Singapore in 49 days so I can't be too mopey and what better way to deal than to go and see some tigers?
They don't want you to use flash photography at the zoo because they don't want you to startle the animals so my pictures are laregly blury, but I posted them on photobucket here. The scariest were the gator things cause they were really close and one of them smacked its nose and spooked me. Also, the creep so slowly down into the water it is sort of eerie and makes you realize how quickly one of them could sneak up on you if you were swimming with them. I also really liked some of the cats and the tiger and leopard even though they were sleeping because in their own cattish ways they reminded me of Alfie. The flying swuirrels were also pretty cool and we saw one fly from one tree to another which was nifty. There were also bats flying around and otters playing in the water and making seriously adorable little otter noises. The firebreathing show was sort of funny and culturally slightly offensive in terms of fetishizing Asians in loinclothes, but hey, whatcha gonna do? All in all it was a fun time and I would love to go back again, maybe I will bring Ben when he comes to Singapore. Our ticket also includes admission to the bird park so on Sunday we might go there and I'm sure I'll take more pictures of birds.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Morning in Asia
This morning I think I fell a little bit in love. And no, I'm not cheating on Ben, I mean I fell a little bit in love with Asia.
The sunrise here is beautiful. The sky turns a beautiful pink, then red and purple. The air is hazy and thick with humidity. As I walked to school it looked like I was trudging through mist. On my iPod suddenly came "Anthems for a Seventeen Year Old Girl" (and Dave, if you're reading this, yes I still listen to the music of our high school days and I'm not ashamed of it. Those were good days with a beautiful soundtrack and I don't need to prove my musical wanksterdom by always finding new stuff when the old does me just fine). At that moment my heart panged a little for Canada and the world I had left behind. I started to feel sad thinking about the person I was when I was seventeen. And then I kicked myself in the emotional butt.
The person I was at seventeen is the reason I'm on the other side of the world right now. She would be pretty damn proud to know that I obtained two degrees and at the age of 24 had found my way into an adventure like this. And yes, I'm far from home and yes, that is sad as hell sometimes. But it's also exciting. You can't let the beauty and the goodness of the things you are leaving behind be weights to hold you back, they aren't reasons to mourn but to give thanks that you had them in the first place.
So I opened my eyes and looked around me at the lush, green plants that seemed so exotic upon my first arrival and have already begun to be common place. I looked at the stray cats that always seem to have half a tail that pounced on small lizards in the grass. I took in the colours and the smell of garlic and chili and curry that permeates the air even at 7 in the morning. And as I walked further a small boy crossed my path, looked and me and stopped. He bowed his head to me and I recognized the uniform of St. Hilda's and nodded my head to him as he scurried away.
There's just something about this place that you can't really hope to describe. I miss in my bones the land of Canada, the air there, for some reason I long for fall and the feeling of crisp leaves and cool air. I know that in Canada right now it will be Easter Weekend and that slowly the ground will warm, the sun will come out and the snow will melt. Fresh green growth will start to rise from the dead ground and the world will feel awakened. But where I am now, it never goes to sleep. It stays living and thriving and breathing and greening all year round and there's something really beautiful about that too.
The sunrise here is beautiful. The sky turns a beautiful pink, then red and purple. The air is hazy and thick with humidity. As I walked to school it looked like I was trudging through mist. On my iPod suddenly came "Anthems for a Seventeen Year Old Girl" (and Dave, if you're reading this, yes I still listen to the music of our high school days and I'm not ashamed of it. Those were good days with a beautiful soundtrack and I don't need to prove my musical wanksterdom by always finding new stuff when the old does me just fine). At that moment my heart panged a little for Canada and the world I had left behind. I started to feel sad thinking about the person I was when I was seventeen. And then I kicked myself in the emotional butt.
The person I was at seventeen is the reason I'm on the other side of the world right now. She would be pretty damn proud to know that I obtained two degrees and at the age of 24 had found my way into an adventure like this. And yes, I'm far from home and yes, that is sad as hell sometimes. But it's also exciting. You can't let the beauty and the goodness of the things you are leaving behind be weights to hold you back, they aren't reasons to mourn but to give thanks that you had them in the first place.
So I opened my eyes and looked around me at the lush, green plants that seemed so exotic upon my first arrival and have already begun to be common place. I looked at the stray cats that always seem to have half a tail that pounced on small lizards in the grass. I took in the colours and the smell of garlic and chili and curry that permeates the air even at 7 in the morning. And as I walked further a small boy crossed my path, looked and me and stopped. He bowed his head to me and I recognized the uniform of St. Hilda's and nodded my head to him as he scurried away.
There's just something about this place that you can't really hope to describe. I miss in my bones the land of Canada, the air there, for some reason I long for fall and the feeling of crisp leaves and cool air. I know that in Canada right now it will be Easter Weekend and that slowly the ground will warm, the sun will come out and the snow will melt. Fresh green growth will start to rise from the dead ground and the world will feel awakened. But where I am now, it never goes to sleep. It stays living and thriving and breathing and greening all year round and there's something really beautiful about that too.
No Jakarta :(
Things fell through with the Jakarta plans, so I will be staying on the Island this weekend. Of course, there are much worse places to have three days of free time in than lovely S'pore. My only goal it to get into the water somewhere, be it the beach or a swimming pool, I just want to go swimming! We are now planning to have our vacation on the next long weekend which is Singapore's labor day and if we actually manage to get things booked in advance it should work out.
On the teaching front I got to teach two lessons this week and while they may not have been the most spectacular pieces of pedagogical craft work, they at least achieved their desired goal and got my foot in the door. This term is quickly wrapping up and soon there will be lots of exam writing and marking I imagine. I am hoping that soon I find out which classes I will be assigned for the next term so that I will know who and what I will be teaching.
Snapshot of Singapore for the day: Students in a class doing a presentation, when pointed out that they have misspelled words on their slides a loud exclamation of "Ah yio!" which is my favorite Singapore saying right now. It so satisfyingly expresses the sense of frustration.
On the teaching front I got to teach two lessons this week and while they may not have been the most spectacular pieces of pedagogical craft work, they at least achieved their desired goal and got my foot in the door. This term is quickly wrapping up and soon there will be lots of exam writing and marking I imagine. I am hoping that soon I find out which classes I will be assigned for the next term so that I will know who and what I will be teaching.
Snapshot of Singapore for the day: Students in a class doing a presentation, when pointed out that they have misspelled words on their slides a loud exclamation of "Ah yio!" which is my favorite Singapore saying right now. It so satisfyingly expresses the sense of frustration.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Jakarta?
Michael and Iain are planning a weekend trip to Jakarta possibly this weekend so that we can travel a bit over Easter Weekend. I'm very excited to get out of Singapore and explore a little bit more of the world. One of the great things about this country is that it is easy flying distance to so many other wonderful places. It's something like a 6 hour flight to go to Australia, or Japan, or China. It's only about $100 to get a flight to Jakarta for the weekend. Imagine that!
Yesterday I taught my first lesson and I think it went well. It will take some getting used to teaching in a classroom with 40 students where fans are going and outside street noise is infiltrating the room but I've always enjoyed a challenge! I'll let you all know what happens if I go to Jakarta and I'll make sure to take lots of pictures!
Yesterday I taught my first lesson and I think it went well. It will take some getting used to teaching in a classroom with 40 students where fans are going and outside street noise is infiltrating the room but I've always enjoyed a challenge! I'll let you all know what happens if I go to Jakarta and I'll make sure to take lots of pictures!
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Monday
First, I would like to say that there seem to be a whole lot of Singaporeans reading this here blog lately...I wonder who that could be? So bear that in mind my loyal readers...
This Friday the drama club had the chance to go and see one of the only nine schools in Singapore that achieved a gold with honors in their English Drama performance. It was an excellent opportunity for our students to be exposed to the work of other drama clubs and to see what the standard is that the judges are putting a high value on. I was incredibly impressed with the production that the students at Fairfield Methodist had been able to accomplish and I was struck at how theatrical and physical their show was. Clive and I were talking about the performance after and he found out that the school had used this piece as their school production the year before so they had a lot of time to prepare and we are thinking about doing the same this year, using a piece for the production that can double into the SYF.
On a social note, I spent some time this weekend with some colleagues which was very nice to get to know people outside of work and I was also able to meet up with a group of young expat teachers who are living at the campus of a Polytechnic. It was supposed to be a Scottish themed party but aside from some brief Scottish dancing there wasn't much Scottish about it. All the same it's really nice to meet up with people who are in a similar situation to me and understand the way I feel, even other people who are in long distance relationships and understand how hard it is. All you have to say when you leave early is "Time difference" and everyone knows that it's because you need to Skype someone on the other side of the world when they wake up which is when you would be going to bed.
Another good thing is that Ben and I are planning for him to come and visit me in June during my holiday from school for two weeks which is pretty much the most exciting thing on my horizon for a while. I'm incredibly excited to see him again and to be able to show him around Singapore and go on adventures. I find it's hard here to really go out and do things like go to the zoo or sight seeing because I'd be doing those things on my own. Sophie from the Scottish party did say she would like to go shopping with me or go to the zoo one day so maybe I am making progress on finding people to share things with. It's not the same though when you are apart from the person that you love.
I am going to try and keep my blog public, because I would like to be able to share my life with you all back home, and of course that comes with a double edged blade...
This Friday the drama club had the chance to go and see one of the only nine schools in Singapore that achieved a gold with honors in their English Drama performance. It was an excellent opportunity for our students to be exposed to the work of other drama clubs and to see what the standard is that the judges are putting a high value on. I was incredibly impressed with the production that the students at Fairfield Methodist had been able to accomplish and I was struck at how theatrical and physical their show was. Clive and I were talking about the performance after and he found out that the school had used this piece as their school production the year before so they had a lot of time to prepare and we are thinking about doing the same this year, using a piece for the production that can double into the SYF.
On a social note, I spent some time this weekend with some colleagues which was very nice to get to know people outside of work and I was also able to meet up with a group of young expat teachers who are living at the campus of a Polytechnic. It was supposed to be a Scottish themed party but aside from some brief Scottish dancing there wasn't much Scottish about it. All the same it's really nice to meet up with people who are in a similar situation to me and understand the way I feel, even other people who are in long distance relationships and understand how hard it is. All you have to say when you leave early is "Time difference" and everyone knows that it's because you need to Skype someone on the other side of the world when they wake up which is when you would be going to bed.
Another good thing is that Ben and I are planning for him to come and visit me in June during my holiday from school for two weeks which is pretty much the most exciting thing on my horizon for a while. I'm incredibly excited to see him again and to be able to show him around Singapore and go on adventures. I find it's hard here to really go out and do things like go to the zoo or sight seeing because I'd be doing those things on my own. Sophie from the Scottish party did say she would like to go shopping with me or go to the zoo one day so maybe I am making progress on finding people to share things with. It's not the same though when you are apart from the person that you love.
I am going to try and keep my blog public, because I would like to be able to share my life with you all back home, and of course that comes with a double edged blade...
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Bronze!
We got our results yesterday with bated breath for SYF and found out that the students got a bronze medal. I'm really proud of how hard they worked and I know that they all know that they put in their very best on the day of their performance. We had a celebration with the kids with pizza and I found out that some of them have found this blog by searching for SYF on the Internet.
The next project for the Drama Club is the Literature Festival that takes place in July where students make a trailer for a book so I think that will be the next adventure in Drama. In the meantime the Drama Club stands down and we only meet once a week for the rest of the term. As much as I have spent many a 12 hour day at school with the drama kids in the past few weeks it has really been my pleasure and I will miss going to the performing arts studio every night for the next little while.
On the teaching front I am planning my first lesson for one of the classes that I have been observing and will hopefully be teaching it on Monday.
Tonight our drama club was invited to a performance from a school that got a Gold with honors on their SYF presentation so we are going to see what exactly the judges were looking for this year to get some ideas for next time. I also think I am going to a Scottish themed party that one of the other teachers from Michael's school invited me to and likely will spend countless hours on Skype again this weekend. I told Ali on facebook the other day that it feels like I have become a hermit with a bumpin social life because I spend my weekends inside my house talking to tons of people. Maybe it's what it feels like to be a WOW nerd?
The next project for the Drama Club is the Literature Festival that takes place in July where students make a trailer for a book so I think that will be the next adventure in Drama. In the meantime the Drama Club stands down and we only meet once a week for the rest of the term. As much as I have spent many a 12 hour day at school with the drama kids in the past few weeks it has really been my pleasure and I will miss going to the performing arts studio every night for the next little while.
On the teaching front I am planning my first lesson for one of the classes that I have been observing and will hopefully be teaching it on Monday.
Tonight our drama club was invited to a performance from a school that got a Gold with honors on their SYF presentation so we are going to see what exactly the judges were looking for this year to get some ideas for next time. I also think I am going to a Scottish themed party that one of the other teachers from Michael's school invited me to and likely will spend countless hours on Skype again this weekend. I told Ali on facebook the other day that it feels like I have become a hermit with a bumpin social life because I spend my weekends inside my house talking to tons of people. Maybe it's what it feels like to be a WOW nerd?
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Singapore Youth Festival Pt. 2
Today our students went to SYF and they did a great job! I was incredibly proud of them and the work they had put in, watching them go through the show for the last time. It seemed like every small thing we've spent weeks coaching them on and correcting they did and used our feedback to deliver an amazing show. It was a great feeling to be able to honestly tell them afterwards how well they had done. Of course, they still wanted us to criticize and pick apart their performances and we had to remind them that it was over!
It was a harrowing day, starting with preparations and make up, costumes and warm up. Once the kids were all dressed and ready to go with their props and set downstairs in front of the school we waited for the truck and bus to come to pick up their respective loads. It was only when we were a few blocks away from the school that we realized that the bus driver was taking us to Plaza Singapura, and that we had accidentally taken the wrong bus! There are so many groups of students going out into Singapore every day on trips or for other performance competetitions that it is possible to get on the wrong coach bus. So back we went to school to wait for the correct bus for a harrowing 10 minutes while we desperately watched the clock tick and get closer to the time that we had to be at the school.
Saying goodbye to the kids as they went backstage and leaving to head for the audience was also really stressful, knowing that everything was out of our hands and that there was nothing more we could do to help them was a scary feeling. Ultimately, I felt very proud of the kids and this is one of the reasons that having a group that mostly runs itself pays off because the students have defined leadership roles and are accustomed to running things without us so it isn't a big shock when they enter a competetion and go it alone.
The next terrifying moment came as I timed the performance, as the students were allowed to have 20 minutes on stage and after that they would lose 15% of their mark. As the last moment ended on stage Abidah and I wached my iPhone stopwatch hot 20:00...20:01..until it hit 20:04. I've got my fingers crossed that I started it a little earlier than the judges did based on when the curtains opened but we don't find out our marks until tomorrow.
All in all it was a long day, but a very fulfilling one and I think that the students were proud of the work they had done. We stayed to watch one other school's performance and I was impressed with the cailber of work that the other schools were putting forth. Their show was called "No Friend You" which I guess is something that Singaporeans say when they don't like someone and don't want to hang out with them.
I took pictures at various stages in the production process and have put them on photobucket here for you to see. The photos of the kids on stage are from our tech rehearsal last week so only a few of the kids are in costume but you get a bit of a sense of what they looked like on stage today.
Tomorrow we find out the results and I will be sure to let you know, they will be posted on the website that I linked to in my previous post.
On a sidenote, on the bus ride home, Melody told Abidah that the club had a question for her. She asked her "Meess, we want to know if we can go on exchange. To Canada?" and the entire bus started chanting "Canada! Canada! Canada!" so we will see what the future holds. If we get a Silver medal tomorrow we might have the funding we need to at least start planning such an event...
It was a harrowing day, starting with preparations and make up, costumes and warm up. Once the kids were all dressed and ready to go with their props and set downstairs in front of the school we waited for the truck and bus to come to pick up their respective loads. It was only when we were a few blocks away from the school that we realized that the bus driver was taking us to Plaza Singapura, and that we had accidentally taken the wrong bus! There are so many groups of students going out into Singapore every day on trips or for other performance competetitions that it is possible to get on the wrong coach bus. So back we went to school to wait for the correct bus for a harrowing 10 minutes while we desperately watched the clock tick and get closer to the time that we had to be at the school.
Saying goodbye to the kids as they went backstage and leaving to head for the audience was also really stressful, knowing that everything was out of our hands and that there was nothing more we could do to help them was a scary feeling. Ultimately, I felt very proud of the kids and this is one of the reasons that having a group that mostly runs itself pays off because the students have defined leadership roles and are accustomed to running things without us so it isn't a big shock when they enter a competetion and go it alone.
The next terrifying moment came as I timed the performance, as the students were allowed to have 20 minutes on stage and after that they would lose 15% of their mark. As the last moment ended on stage Abidah and I wached my iPhone stopwatch hot 20:00...20:01..until it hit 20:04. I've got my fingers crossed that I started it a little earlier than the judges did based on when the curtains opened but we don't find out our marks until tomorrow.
All in all it was a long day, but a very fulfilling one and I think that the students were proud of the work they had done. We stayed to watch one other school's performance and I was impressed with the cailber of work that the other schools were putting forth. Their show was called "No Friend You" which I guess is something that Singaporeans say when they don't like someone and don't want to hang out with them.
I took pictures at various stages in the production process and have put them on photobucket here for you to see. The photos of the kids on stage are from our tech rehearsal last week so only a few of the kids are in costume but you get a bit of a sense of what they looked like on stage today.
Tomorrow we find out the results and I will be sure to let you know, they will be posted on the website that I linked to in my previous post.
On a sidenote, on the bus ride home, Melody told Abidah that the club had a question for her. She asked her "Meess, we want to know if we can go on exchange. To Canada?" and the entire bus started chanting "Canada! Canada! Canada!" so we will see what the future holds. If we get a Silver medal tomorrow we might have the funding we need to at least start planning such an event...
Monday, April 11, 2011
Singapore Youth Festival
Tomorrow my Drama Club students are participating in the Singapore Youth Festival's English Drama competition. Since I arrived at the school I have been attending their rehearsals and watching the progress as they come into the home stretch of their performance preparation.
St. Hilda's hasn't had a Drama Club for very long, from what I understand they have been working together for two or three years. SYF is on alternating years so the years that they don't prepare for the festival they put up a play, last year they did Lord of the Flies. This year is an SYF year so they have been working on a short play that is an adaptation of a book called "Raider's Run" which is about gangs.
It's always a bit hard to figure out where you fit in the group when you arrive and there are two teachers already working with the drama club and a trainer who comes from an outside drama group that prepared the kids for this performance. My role has mostly been giving feedback after performances and helping to supervise rehearsals and give suggestions on things such as enunciation and diction which are the biggest challenges and focuses here in Singapore where kids speak Singlish.
Our competition is tomorrow morning so it will be the evening back in Canada, the results go up on this page.
They should be up by the following day which will be Thursday for us, Wednesday back in the tundra. The kids are hoping to at least get a silver medal, last time around they got a bronze and if we get a silver we will get more funding from the school I think for the production next year which we are thinking might be a modern interpretation of Shakespeare, possibly the Scottish Play if the school will allow us to practice some witchcraft in an Anglican school. ;)
St. Hilda's hasn't had a Drama Club for very long, from what I understand they have been working together for two or three years. SYF is on alternating years so the years that they don't prepare for the festival they put up a play, last year they did Lord of the Flies. This year is an SYF year so they have been working on a short play that is an adaptation of a book called "Raider's Run" which is about gangs.
It's always a bit hard to figure out where you fit in the group when you arrive and there are two teachers already working with the drama club and a trainer who comes from an outside drama group that prepared the kids for this performance. My role has mostly been giving feedback after performances and helping to supervise rehearsals and give suggestions on things such as enunciation and diction which are the biggest challenges and focuses here in Singapore where kids speak Singlish.
Our competition is tomorrow morning so it will be the evening back in Canada, the results go up on this page.
They should be up by the following day which will be Thursday for us, Wednesday back in the tundra. The kids are hoping to at least get a silver medal, last time around they got a bronze and if we get a silver we will get more funding from the school I think for the production next year which we are thinking might be a modern interpretation of Shakespeare, possibly the Scottish Play if the school will allow us to practice some witchcraft in an Anglican school. ;)
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Excellence
Today in class I was observing students writing a test and my mind started to wander. I've been thinking a lot lately about the cultural difference here and the level of expectation that students have placed upon them here. I recently read the famous "Tiger Mother" article by Amy Chua about her demands on her daughters and how Chinese mothers expect more from their children and how she believes that this is why their children attain such levels of excellence.
I've been thinking about the difference in what is expected of students here and I can see how students strive for the best in many aspects of their lives. My drama club students rehearse their play and then sit down afterwards to critique the piece and the minutiae of their performances. When they ask me how they did, they don't just want to hear me say "Good!" they want to hear me rip apart each part of what they have done and give them areas to improve on. It's been a learning curve from our culture of building self esteem and trying to help kids like themselves that we have in Canada but I kind of wonder if this system doesn't end up building self esteem in a different way.
When you are able to criticize a student's work and have them accept and acknowledge the criticism they are showing maturity and a dedication to improvement. It's not enough to be told that you are doing a good job because that is ambiguous and doesn't give them the room to grow and develop what they are doing. When a student is given a criticism and they take it and work on it and use it to improve what they are doing they build character and show discipline. At the end of the next time you see their performance you can see a marked difference and I can see every time I watch their play ways that they have taken criticism and actually made changes and strides to make the parts better. At the end of SYF on Wednesday I know that the performance that these kids put up was the product of hours of work and lots of concrete improvements on their part. That is something that they can really be proud of. And it's not as ambiguous as just going up there and doing a good job because of some intangible element of who they are, it's that they have worked hard at what they do.
I remember in either first year or second year of DRED talking about how I think that the idea of a self fulfilling prophecy is really true in education. That when you go into a class of students who are identified as not being able to do whatever because they have X Y and Z learning disabilities and you treat them like they can't, then they won't. If you expect them to do better, or even if you don't know that they have X Y and Z, I've often found that they can rise to a higher standard because you expect that they can. Obviously, this isn't a magic bean that makes everyone capable but I do think that the expectations of a person play a huge role in what they end up being able to do. I've often cited that as a reason that I think streaming kids can be very harmful because it tells a segment of people that they just can't. So they often don't. Conversely, in Asia, the expectations are extremely high. We worry so much in North America and the West that we will harm students by being demanding, that we will ruin their sense of self worth if we drive them hard. But, maybe we are telling them that we don't think they can be driven hard and in that process, by not expecting and demanding more of them, we show them that they can't.
Obviously, I am in a school right now where I am working with students who inherently can. They are students who have been selected and streamed for their entire lives to get them into this place in this school and a lot of that is based on their abilities and the tests they have written up until now. I don't know what happens to students here if they have a learning disability because I've asked a bunch of people and they have either said that students who have learning disabilities don't come to the kind of school I teach at so I don't have to worry, or that other people in the school deal with those issues so I don't have to worry or it's been vaguely mentioned that a student here and there might have autism, or ADHD but I don't know who they are or how you find that out. They don't have IEPs here, and I don't have any assigned classes yet so I don't know what kind of profiles for students I will have access to.
No system is perfect but it's been interesting to see the differences here and what students strive for has so far been very impressive. I'll get back to you when I have a better idea of what their self esteems are like.
I've been thinking about the difference in what is expected of students here and I can see how students strive for the best in many aspects of their lives. My drama club students rehearse their play and then sit down afterwards to critique the piece and the minutiae of their performances. When they ask me how they did, they don't just want to hear me say "Good!" they want to hear me rip apart each part of what they have done and give them areas to improve on. It's been a learning curve from our culture of building self esteem and trying to help kids like themselves that we have in Canada but I kind of wonder if this system doesn't end up building self esteem in a different way.
When you are able to criticize a student's work and have them accept and acknowledge the criticism they are showing maturity and a dedication to improvement. It's not enough to be told that you are doing a good job because that is ambiguous and doesn't give them the room to grow and develop what they are doing. When a student is given a criticism and they take it and work on it and use it to improve what they are doing they build character and show discipline. At the end of the next time you see their performance you can see a marked difference and I can see every time I watch their play ways that they have taken criticism and actually made changes and strides to make the parts better. At the end of SYF on Wednesday I know that the performance that these kids put up was the product of hours of work and lots of concrete improvements on their part. That is something that they can really be proud of. And it's not as ambiguous as just going up there and doing a good job because of some intangible element of who they are, it's that they have worked hard at what they do.
I remember in either first year or second year of DRED talking about how I think that the idea of a self fulfilling prophecy is really true in education. That when you go into a class of students who are identified as not being able to do whatever because they have X Y and Z learning disabilities and you treat them like they can't, then they won't. If you expect them to do better, or even if you don't know that they have X Y and Z, I've often found that they can rise to a higher standard because you expect that they can. Obviously, this isn't a magic bean that makes everyone capable but I do think that the expectations of a person play a huge role in what they end up being able to do. I've often cited that as a reason that I think streaming kids can be very harmful because it tells a segment of people that they just can't. So they often don't. Conversely, in Asia, the expectations are extremely high. We worry so much in North America and the West that we will harm students by being demanding, that we will ruin their sense of self worth if we drive them hard. But, maybe we are telling them that we don't think they can be driven hard and in that process, by not expecting and demanding more of them, we show them that they can't.
Obviously, I am in a school right now where I am working with students who inherently can. They are students who have been selected and streamed for their entire lives to get them into this place in this school and a lot of that is based on their abilities and the tests they have written up until now. I don't know what happens to students here if they have a learning disability because I've asked a bunch of people and they have either said that students who have learning disabilities don't come to the kind of school I teach at so I don't have to worry, or that other people in the school deal with those issues so I don't have to worry or it's been vaguely mentioned that a student here and there might have autism, or ADHD but I don't know who they are or how you find that out. They don't have IEPs here, and I don't have any assigned classes yet so I don't know what kind of profiles for students I will have access to.
No system is perfect but it's been interesting to see the differences here and what students strive for has so far been very impressive. I'll get back to you when I have a better idea of what their self esteems are like.
Friday, April 8, 2011
Cluster Games...Or Cluter Something Else...
A week or two ago an e-mail came through the ministry's Intranet inviting us teachers to sign up for what was called "Cluster Games" which sounded like fun. As an incredibly isolated young lady I thought to myself, I should sign up for this, it sounds like a good chance to have some fun and hang out with the people I work with.
This week has been a very long one as the students prepare for SYF (Singapore Youth Festival) and I've had a couple of 12 hour days. So I was really looking forward to my Saturday morning lie in. No dice.
Turns out that Clutser Games means a phsycial fitness test that consists of running or walking 2.5k and then having your heart rate taken to see if you are in the goods or the bads based on your height, weight and age. At 7 am. On Staruday.
This idea made me very sad, especially when I was invited to have some Peranakan food with Iain, Michael and some teachers from his school. I ended up going and it was lovely, but I had to come home to be ready for my Cluster Games.
I decided to try and make it into a positive and in the end it actually wasn't too bad. I got the chance to spend some time with my Vice Principal who invited me for Chinese food next weekend and I met a bunch of other principals and the superintendant of our Cluster (like our school board sort of). I also found out that we get some sort of bonus based on our heart rate and mine was good so I think I get like $100 on my next paycheque. Not bad!
The young teachers that Michael introduced me to are having a Scottish themed party next weekend which they invited me to and it sounds like they know a good group of expat teachers who are from Canada, US, UK and elsewhere so I am excited to meet them and hopefully actually start making more friends.
This week has been a very long one as the students prepare for SYF (Singapore Youth Festival) and I've had a couple of 12 hour days. So I was really looking forward to my Saturday morning lie in. No dice.
Turns out that Clutser Games means a phsycial fitness test that consists of running or walking 2.5k and then having your heart rate taken to see if you are in the goods or the bads based on your height, weight and age. At 7 am. On Staruday.
This idea made me very sad, especially when I was invited to have some Peranakan food with Iain, Michael and some teachers from his school. I ended up going and it was lovely, but I had to come home to be ready for my Cluster Games.
I decided to try and make it into a positive and in the end it actually wasn't too bad. I got the chance to spend some time with my Vice Principal who invited me for Chinese food next weekend and I met a bunch of other principals and the superintendant of our Cluster (like our school board sort of). I also found out that we get some sort of bonus based on our heart rate and mine was good so I think I get like $100 on my next paycheque. Not bad!
The young teachers that Michael introduced me to are having a Scottish themed party next weekend which they invited me to and it sounds like they know a good group of expat teachers who are from Canada, US, UK and elsewhere so I am excited to meet them and hopefully actually start making more friends.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Japan and School
Some of the students at my school have been working hard on fundraising for Japan Relief, and some of the form classes made these videos to raise awareness about the disaster. You can sort of see what my students here look like and the kind of work that they can produce, so I thought I'd share them! Also, it will make them happy to know that they have lots of views on YouTube.
Walking to school this morning I was feeling really down about missing Ben and my friend Iain who sent me a text last night saying he's really miserable here and might be leaving soon. But ya know what, my life didn't get destroyed by an earthquake or a tsunami, so I'm not going to complain.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4PRUqD6J_8&feature=player_embedded#at=25
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6SeWpanp6o
Walking to school this morning I was feeling really down about missing Ben and my friend Iain who sent me a text last night saying he's really miserable here and might be leaving soon. But ya know what, my life didn't get destroyed by an earthquake or a tsunami, so I'm not going to complain.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4PRUqD6J_8&feature=player_embedded#at=25
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6SeWpanp6o
Monday, April 4, 2011
My Own Skin
Slowly I am becoming more comfortable in my own skin here in Singapore. I know more how to navigate my way around so I feel less lost and I find less people looking at me. I was talking through the bus interchange yesterday and I saw an older white lady looking around like a deer in the headlights and I realized that a few weeks ago, that was probably me. Now I know where I'm going and everything isn't new anymore so I'm not gawking like a small child at every thing I see. I still giggle to myself when I hear the man in the courtyard outside the mall singing "Killing Me Softly" but I think that will never wash off.
On Saturday night I went with Iain and Michael to Chinatown to meet up with other expat teachers. I stopped on the way and got a massage because they are $20 and my back hurt so why not? It was good to meet other people who have gone through the transition that we are going through now and to find a community of people that go out and do fun and social things. I gave them my email and handphone so I'm hoping that this weekend there will be something afoot that I can join in on.
This week at school is going to be very busy as our drama club gears up for their performance at the Singapore Youth Festival next week so I anticipate a lot of late nights and early mornings but I'm happy to be working with these kids and I am still super impressed with their dedication and maturity.
On Saturday night I went with Iain and Michael to Chinatown to meet up with other expat teachers. I stopped on the way and got a massage because they are $20 and my back hurt so why not? It was good to meet other people who have gone through the transition that we are going through now and to find a community of people that go out and do fun and social things. I gave them my email and handphone so I'm hoping that this weekend there will be something afoot that I can join in on.
This week at school is going to be very busy as our drama club gears up for their performance at the Singapore Youth Festival next week so I anticipate a lot of late nights and early mornings but I'm happy to be working with these kids and I am still super impressed with their dedication and maturity.
Friday, April 1, 2011
Gotta Get Down on Friday (Or Collapse in a Sweaty Heap...)
I survived my second week! Hurrah!
I'm finding I am more able to navigate the confusing world known as Singapore, and though I still get lost it's less frequent and easily managed. I learned a while ago that when something scares you it's often best to just go grab it by the ass instead of waiting for it to grab yours so I look for scenarios where I can get a little lost and I'm used to it now and I get found again pretty quickly.
I wish however that I'd taken some course on "Mastering Ambiguity" or something like that because it seems that is the world of Singapore. You ask a clear and direct questions such as "Who is my Reporting Officer?" and Singaporeans have mastered the non-response that is sort of a response so you can't really say they didn't give you one but at the end of it all you're more confused than you were when you asked it and you still don't have an answer. So, my position at the school sort of remains in that state, but at least I have a few things like the Drama Club where I have slightly better sense of exactly what is going on. Sort of.
Today the acting HOD for my department came up to me at about 11am and said that there was the MOE Excel Fest and that the HODof Aesthetics wanted me to go, so off I went at the end of the school day to the other side of Singapore to attend a workshop on Teaching Skillfully which is a program I deduce but still had some interesting information. Lots of it is sort of what I already know from my teacher training, but it's good for me to see the Singaporean interpretation of things and it's nice that the school is investing in the idea of me going for courses and such so that's a good sign. I think.
On the soul/mind side of things I am still rather isolated but there were a few good developments. One of them is that I remenbered that I have my iPod with me. The thing is, I was afraid to listen to music for the first two weeks because I was emotionally raw and I knew it would make me cry cause it would remind me of the people I don't have with me now. But, I decided the other day I needed some badassery and got out my iPod and made a shuffle list of songs from "Heads Will Roll" by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and I found a plethora of good shit on there that is rock out with the cock out kind of music that I have been carrying in my pocket for years but never took the time to find. I have spent years collecting music that I knew I would one day want to listen to but wasn't ready for yet and I think that slowly I will make my way through the thousands of hours of music I have picked up here and there from different people in different times and discover new meanings in it.
As well, I met a drama instructor who comes to the school to work in DEP which is the only drama class the kids get and she put me in touch with some drama groups here in Singapore that do theatre productions which I could act with and some facebook stuff and meet up things for expats which could very well save my life in the future.
Lesson of the week: Art will save you. It will find your sorrows and it will articulate them, it will light the way in the dark and if you can find the art you need when you need it that art will bring you back from the dark places while acknowledging what they mean and how important they are at the same time. Art is the language that will transcend and it will keep you company when no one else will. Find the music, the books, the stories, the pictures, the photos, the television shows, the novels, whatever it is that fills your holes and grab on to it like it's a life raft. Because, friends, it is. It brings you back to the shore of who you are when you're lost at sea and forget for a while.
I'm finding I am more able to navigate the confusing world known as Singapore, and though I still get lost it's less frequent and easily managed. I learned a while ago that when something scares you it's often best to just go grab it by the ass instead of waiting for it to grab yours so I look for scenarios where I can get a little lost and I'm used to it now and I get found again pretty quickly.
I wish however that I'd taken some course on "Mastering Ambiguity" or something like that because it seems that is the world of Singapore. You ask a clear and direct questions such as "Who is my Reporting Officer?" and Singaporeans have mastered the non-response that is sort of a response so you can't really say they didn't give you one but at the end of it all you're more confused than you were when you asked it and you still don't have an answer. So, my position at the school sort of remains in that state, but at least I have a few things like the Drama Club where I have slightly better sense of exactly what is going on. Sort of.
Today the acting HOD for my department came up to me at about 11am and said that there was the MOE Excel Fest and that the HODof Aesthetics wanted me to go, so off I went at the end of the school day to the other side of Singapore to attend a workshop on Teaching Skillfully which is a program I deduce but still had some interesting information. Lots of it is sort of what I already know from my teacher training, but it's good for me to see the Singaporean interpretation of things and it's nice that the school is investing in the idea of me going for courses and such so that's a good sign. I think.
On the soul/mind side of things I am still rather isolated but there were a few good developments. One of them is that I remenbered that I have my iPod with me. The thing is, I was afraid to listen to music for the first two weeks because I was emotionally raw and I knew it would make me cry cause it would remind me of the people I don't have with me now. But, I decided the other day I needed some badassery and got out my iPod and made a shuffle list of songs from "Heads Will Roll" by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and I found a plethora of good shit on there that is rock out with the cock out kind of music that I have been carrying in my pocket for years but never took the time to find. I have spent years collecting music that I knew I would one day want to listen to but wasn't ready for yet and I think that slowly I will make my way through the thousands of hours of music I have picked up here and there from different people in different times and discover new meanings in it.
As well, I met a drama instructor who comes to the school to work in DEP which is the only drama class the kids get and she put me in touch with some drama groups here in Singapore that do theatre productions which I could act with and some facebook stuff and meet up things for expats which could very well save my life in the future.
Lesson of the week: Art will save you. It will find your sorrows and it will articulate them, it will light the way in the dark and if you can find the art you need when you need it that art will bring you back from the dark places while acknowledging what they mean and how important they are at the same time. Art is the language that will transcend and it will keep you company when no one else will. Find the music, the books, the stories, the pictures, the photos, the television shows, the novels, whatever it is that fills your holes and grab on to it like it's a life raft. Because, friends, it is. It brings you back to the shore of who you are when you're lost at sea and forget for a while.
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