Yesterday was an incredibly long day, but also incredibly rewarding. I started working with the Drama club and I was blown away at the level of responsibility that the students show. The club is almost entirely student run and driven with student leaders running warm-ups and rehearsals. The club is currently preparing a short play for the SYF (Singapore Youth Festival) which they will be performing in two weeks at the competition (think Sears Fest in Canada). The students at my school are working on a play about gangs and they performed for myself and two other teachers and listened to our feedback.
This was a great chance for me to get plugged into the drama that is taking place at the school and I felt at home for the first time since arriving here when they started doing drama warmups and invited me to go with them. Vocal warm ups and physical warmups that we do in Canada were being run by students here in Singapore and I was overjoyed at the feeling of being home.
I worked with the students on a few stage fighting techniques as there is a stage slap in the play that was super awkward and so I got the chance to actually teach some drama stuff and the students had a riot learning how to fake slap each other. The kids were asking me questions about Canada (Do you know of Justin Bieber?!) and telling me that I have pretty eyes (I told them thank you, I grew them myself).
Today I am going with the drama club to the venue where they will be performing to work in the space and have a rehearsal. Yea, that's right, the school forks over the money for a bus AND a truck so that they can bring their set and their props to the place where they will be performing. And they get to go back one more time next week before the actual performance. I almost fainted when I heard about the level of funding that the arts are getting here to be able to do such a thing.
I also sat in on the rehearsal process yesterday for Synergy Night, which was a performance by the school's choirs and bands. It was really surreal to watch 40 students play "Don't Stop Believin'" on classical guitars. The students really impressed me with their performances and the Primary School's String Orchestra came to perform some peices which really blew me away. We're talking about 8 year olds that can rock out on violin. There was also a performance using handbells that was really cool and the band played "Poker Face". I took some videos during the performance on my iPhone and I will load them onto YouTube and post them on here in the next day or two.
After working with the Drama Club I was super energized and excited that I found a place where I can work with drama. The amazing thing about the students in the club is that they are all so self-directed and motivated, giving each other criticisms on performances and workshopping their peice all on their own. They respectfully worked on parts that are challenges and listened to their peers while they articulated parts of the performance that felt stilted. It was truly inspiring to see students working on such a level in the arts and with such dedication. I am excited to attend the performances and see our kids rock, and also to see the kind of performances that other schools will be putting up.
The rehearsal schedule in the upcoming weeks is going to be very vigorous for the students with us staying at school until 6pm on most nights but now is the perfect time to be working on it for me because I do not have a course load yet. I'm hoping that once the SYF is done I can possibly run some workshops with the kids to learn about different aspects of theatre and drama that I can pass on to them. Maybe some Improv?
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Weekend!
This weekend I got to escape Tampines and have the chance to explore some more of Singapore and visit with Michael and Iain, the other foreign teachers here who are my friends. Friday night I met Michael down in Geylang because we wanted to see us some hookers. We were very disappointed and suspect that were misdirected as to where the redlight district in fact is. After spending the week at our anal-retentitve, highly organized and regulated schools we were looking forward to seeing the seedy side of Singapore (say that ten times fast) but we were sadly not able to oggle. On the brightside, we did find some very tasty Satay (mutton and chicken) and we got some drinks. We headed back to the guy's flat and ended up having some beers with Iain and their neighbor Jafar who is a pilot. The giant sized beers got the best of me and I ended up just falling asleep on the couch until my Dad called me at 6am (love you Dad!).
In the morning Michael had to go to school so Iain and I went on an excursion to the mall. We keep joking about how bored we are and that I have to take him on outings so he can get out of the house and not go mad. I ended up finding some good work pants at the Esprit outlet (they have American size listings on their clothes so I was able to find pants that fit) and some new t-shirts. I also got to teach the Baristas of Singapore Starbucks how to make an Iced Double Shot. Reminded me of home and all my lovely baristas still slogging away in the green apron and making me proud.
Saturday afternoon Jafar's family was having a big party and relgious ceremony to do with house warming so we were invited over to enjoy some really good Malay food and meet his family. We talked a bit about the Muslim traditions that they have (I asked the pressing question I had: how do you do your prayers to Mecca if you are in a plane? How do you know where it is? I guess the answer is that you pray in your heart and direct it to God and he knows that you are in a plane and that you can't do your normal prayers but he's cool with that and flexible when you gotta be travelling.) It was really nice to be welcomed into someone's home and to meet their family and be involved in an important event for them. Jafar has been the nicest guy we've met here, he gave the lads a television and his Internet cord and offers to drive them anywhere they wants and takes them out all the time. It made me sort of homesick to see a big family all together like that.
Then I came home and today Michael and I explored the beach. It was en epic journey to get there invovling lots of screwed up bus situations during which I was very grateful for my iPhone and the Maps function that tells me where I am and where I should be going and what bus to take because otherwise I would have been truly lost.
The beach was in this cool park where they had camping facilities (my new goal is to spend a weekend camping on the beach under a palm tree, take that Pinery!) and a water park with this crazy water skiing thing that I am going to put videos of below. It was really nice to have a day at the beach and see the water and the trees and just relax a little bit. I've been really stressed out with not knowing what I'm doing at school and missing home and Ben like crazy, so it was good to remind myself that I am doing something amazing in a beautiful part of the world that I would never have had the chance to see if I hadn't taken the plunge and stepped onto that plane. And what would my life have been without some Durian?
Here is the view of the beach:
Then there were the water skiiers:
In the morning Michael had to go to school so Iain and I went on an excursion to the mall. We keep joking about how bored we are and that I have to take him on outings so he can get out of the house and not go mad. I ended up finding some good work pants at the Esprit outlet (they have American size listings on their clothes so I was able to find pants that fit) and some new t-shirts. I also got to teach the Baristas of Singapore Starbucks how to make an Iced Double Shot. Reminded me of home and all my lovely baristas still slogging away in the green apron and making me proud.
Saturday afternoon Jafar's family was having a big party and relgious ceremony to do with house warming so we were invited over to enjoy some really good Malay food and meet his family. We talked a bit about the Muslim traditions that they have (I asked the pressing question I had: how do you do your prayers to Mecca if you are in a plane? How do you know where it is? I guess the answer is that you pray in your heart and direct it to God and he knows that you are in a plane and that you can't do your normal prayers but he's cool with that and flexible when you gotta be travelling.) It was really nice to be welcomed into someone's home and to meet their family and be involved in an important event for them. Jafar has been the nicest guy we've met here, he gave the lads a television and his Internet cord and offers to drive them anywhere they wants and takes them out all the time. It made me sort of homesick to see a big family all together like that.
Then I came home and today Michael and I explored the beach. It was en epic journey to get there invovling lots of screwed up bus situations during which I was very grateful for my iPhone and the Maps function that tells me where I am and where I should be going and what bus to take because otherwise I would have been truly lost.
The beach was in this cool park where they had camping facilities (my new goal is to spend a weekend camping on the beach under a palm tree, take that Pinery!) and a water park with this crazy water skiing thing that I am going to put videos of below. It was really nice to have a day at the beach and see the water and the trees and just relax a little bit. I've been really stressed out with not knowing what I'm doing at school and missing home and Ben like crazy, so it was good to remind myself that I am doing something amazing in a beautiful part of the world that I would never have had the chance to see if I hadn't taken the plunge and stepped onto that plane. And what would my life have been without some Durian?
Here is the view of the beach:
Then there were the water skiiers:
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Dance!
Today was another Art's Treat Day at the school so I got to observe and participate in some awesome hiphop classes. I am still learning how to use my iPhone but I took some videos of the performances that the kids did.
The first one is just to show you what the auditorium looks like. This is where we have our morning flag raising where the kids do their pledge to Singapore and the morning devotional.
This guy was the dance instructor for the section of kids that I was overseeing.
This was another group. They have a lot of the same music here as we have back home and the remix of "Time of Your Life" is just as popular it would seem...
This is the group of kids I was watching over. I also learned this dance...white lady shakin' her groove thang for the win. Notice the word "genitals" halfway through the song? Ya, that was awkward to me, but seemingly to no one else...
And this one's for Ben, so he can see the hot Asian dance instructor shake her groove thang. Never say I didn't do anything nice for you hun...
Light
Today was my first classroom observation and I feel like I got a breath of air in an oxygen free zone. I got to meet some students and spend some time in a class and finally get a sense of what the actual teaching here will be like.
In Singapore, the teachers come to the students, so when classes change you notice that the hallways are so empty and easy to get through. There isn't the swirling chaos that most of us Canadian teachers are accustomed to, no worrying about who is shoving who into which locker or bashing who on the head with watter bottles (all things I have seen and yelled at kids about during class changes...). When you enter the classroom, the class has to stand up and greet you. They say "Gooood morning teeecha! Goooood morning Miss Joooolley!" and then they get to sit down.
Classes here have 40 students and the class that I observed today was what they call here "Normal Academic." When they leave Primary school here students write a test that decides which level they will be streamed into when they come to secondary school. So they have Normal, Normal Academic and Express. The Express students do their secondary school in four years, and the rest I think so it in either four or five years. It's sort of like Locally Developed, Academic and Applied. The kids today would be considered I guess like our Applied students in Ontario.
40 kids is a lot to have in one room, so I think that's going to be the biggest challenge here. Students here seem much younger than Canadian kids, Ben was talking about the kids he taught in China and said the same thing, the maturity level here is much lower, but the students are much more diligent. Also, if they sass you it is a caning offence. So you don't get the kids telling you to go fuck yourself, you have no power here begone type of deal that you get in Canada.
At the end of the class the students again stand up and say "Thank you teeecha, God bless you" which is kind of adorable and kind of unsettling coming from Canada. I'm going to stick with adorable for now.
During the class that I observed one of the girls flipped the bird to one of the boys (teaching me that if I need to flip it here, it means the same thing....) and the teacher had a talk with her in the hallway about it. A boy said it was a finger spasm and she reminded him that integrity is one of the school values and he apologized.
After the class she assured me that the students they give me will be much better behaved and I started to laugh. I told her that in Canada that would be the least of my concerns. She assured me that I will likely be teaching lower sec (grade 9 and 10) Express students and that they have a lot less discipline problems.
It was just nice to see kids being kids and being in the classroom and reminding myself that I'm here to work with all sorts of interesting, funny, challenging young people who are inevitably going to teach me possibly more than I will teach them (and it will be the important stuff that no one else will, like that people here say shit, and flip the bird) and I just feel a lot more refreshed and energized now.
On the way home I also stopped into a drug store to get some cotton swabs and polysporin (what I hoped would be polysporin came out looking like peanutbutter so fingers crossed on that one) and I found my shampoo!! This doesn't seem like a big deal but I've had a hell of a time finding body products that are like the ones I had in Canada (my foray into deodorant-ville brought about the unfortunate incident of buy a product that bleaches your armpits. Yea, I said bleaches.) and being able to wash my hair with a product I know doesn't contain boat loads of silicone and plastic is something I am very much looking forward to.
So, loyal readers and carers about Bea, take heart. I am feeling better and my hair will soon be as close to the way I like it as it can get in a tropical climate where I permanently look like I have, well, a permanent.
In Singapore, the teachers come to the students, so when classes change you notice that the hallways are so empty and easy to get through. There isn't the swirling chaos that most of us Canadian teachers are accustomed to, no worrying about who is shoving who into which locker or bashing who on the head with watter bottles (all things I have seen and yelled at kids about during class changes...). When you enter the classroom, the class has to stand up and greet you. They say "Gooood morning teeecha! Goooood morning Miss Joooolley!" and then they get to sit down.
Classes here have 40 students and the class that I observed today was what they call here "Normal Academic." When they leave Primary school here students write a test that decides which level they will be streamed into when they come to secondary school. So they have Normal, Normal Academic and Express. The Express students do their secondary school in four years, and the rest I think so it in either four or five years. It's sort of like Locally Developed, Academic and Applied. The kids today would be considered I guess like our Applied students in Ontario.
40 kids is a lot to have in one room, so I think that's going to be the biggest challenge here. Students here seem much younger than Canadian kids, Ben was talking about the kids he taught in China and said the same thing, the maturity level here is much lower, but the students are much more diligent. Also, if they sass you it is a caning offence. So you don't get the kids telling you to go fuck yourself, you have no power here begone type of deal that you get in Canada.
At the end of the class the students again stand up and say "Thank you teeecha, God bless you" which is kind of adorable and kind of unsettling coming from Canada. I'm going to stick with adorable for now.
During the class that I observed one of the girls flipped the bird to one of the boys (teaching me that if I need to flip it here, it means the same thing....) and the teacher had a talk with her in the hallway about it. A boy said it was a finger spasm and she reminded him that integrity is one of the school values and he apologized.
After the class she assured me that the students they give me will be much better behaved and I started to laugh. I told her that in Canada that would be the least of my concerns. She assured me that I will likely be teaching lower sec (grade 9 and 10) Express students and that they have a lot less discipline problems.
It was just nice to see kids being kids and being in the classroom and reminding myself that I'm here to work with all sorts of interesting, funny, challenging young people who are inevitably going to teach me possibly more than I will teach them (and it will be the important stuff that no one else will, like that people here say shit, and flip the bird) and I just feel a lot more refreshed and energized now.
On the way home I also stopped into a drug store to get some cotton swabs and polysporin (what I hoped would be polysporin came out looking like peanutbutter so fingers crossed on that one) and I found my shampoo!! This doesn't seem like a big deal but I've had a hell of a time finding body products that are like the ones I had in Canada (my foray into deodorant-ville brought about the unfortunate incident of buy a product that bleaches your armpits. Yea, I said bleaches.) and being able to wash my hair with a product I know doesn't contain boat loads of silicone and plastic is something I am very much looking forward to.
So, loyal readers and carers about Bea, take heart. I am feeling better and my hair will soon be as close to the way I like it as it can get in a tropical climate where I permanently look like I have, well, a permanent.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Arts! Like Oxygen!
Today was the school's "Arts Treat" which was a workshop for students in glass painting and print making. I felt a little ACEy and happy to be participating in something to do with the arts, the head of the Aesthetics programme asked me to assist. It ended up not requiring much of me because there were arts instructors that had come in to teach the kids so I got to paint a glass myself and mostly just be there to supervise a group of incredibly well behaved kids while they worked on their craft.
I got my schedule of observations for the upcoming weeks so I'm excited to have a better sense of direction and I am going in to observe my first class tomorrow. Slowly but surely things are coming up Milhouse. It also helps my mood a lot that the 3G on my iPhone is finally enabled so I feel more like I can contact home when I'm not chained to my laptop.
I think I will go get another Kaya Waffle soon, cause those things are seriously like crack.
I got my schedule of observations for the upcoming weeks so I'm excited to have a better sense of direction and I am going in to observe my first class tomorrow. Slowly but surely things are coming up Milhouse. It also helps my mood a lot that the 3G on my iPhone is finally enabled so I feel more like I can contact home when I'm not chained to my laptop.
I think I will go get another Kaya Waffle soon, cause those things are seriously like crack.
MRT
I've seen these ladies on all these posters and I knew somewhere there would be an awesome commercial with them...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5eY43Ewh9A&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5eY43Ewh9A&feature=player_embedded
Monday, March 21, 2011
Still Floating
School today was me just sitting and reading more. I got my school laptop and it doesn't work properly so they are going to get me a new one soon. They also will have to wait a week for me to get my MOE email and online accounts all worked out.
Ben's mum, Ruth Anne sent me a link to a Singapore blog and then from there I found another one and I've been reading the blog of a girl who came here from America, www.suddenlyinasia.wordpress.com and it's comforting to see someone else feeling like a weird, tall pink lady in a sea of Asian people. Also, it provided me with this awesome video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OPsfAhXUSE&feature=player_embedded
Ben's mum, Ruth Anne sent me a link to a Singapore blog and then from there I found another one and I've been reading the blog of a girl who came here from America, www.suddenlyinasia.wordpress.com and it's comforting to see someone else feeling like a weird, tall pink lady in a sea of Asian people. Also, it provided me with this awesome video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OPsfAhXUSE&feature=player_embedded
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