My 26th birthday

Felt so weird when so many friends messaged me, "Happy birthday, Mrs Ng!"
Not that I don't like my new title, it seems as though I am not an individual any more - a part of Mr Ng. Anyway, I felt blessed when my friends called or messaged me birthday wishes. Thanks~

[The following is shameless raving about my birthday, totally irrelevant to GP so don't read if you are not interested.]

What I truly wanted for my birthday is a holiday
which I didn't get.

MOE education officers (teachers) need to seek approval from HOD and the principal before going overseas. Anywhere beyond Johor Bahru, I have to seek permission so goodbye impromptu getaway holidays. I didn't realise this after I have signed on the dotted line. It was not even in the fine print. A lot of things are not in the fine print.

What did I get for my 26th birthday?

French dinner

My pre-celebration with my secondary school buddies was at Ma Maison. Fabulous Japanese -Western fusion cuisine. We had cha-soba salad, cheese fritters and garlic butter escargots for appetisers. Their signature hamburger steak and squid ink spaghetti as main course. I strongly recommend this French cottage-styled restaurant for dates. The pricing is similar to Swensens but the food and atmosphere is much better. The first shop is at Bugis Junction and a branch just opened at The Central. If you go to The Central, stop by Paisley and Cream which sells mouth-watering cakes! My ex-colleague from Discovery Channel who learned baking in Le Cordon Bleu (if I remembered correctly) opened this cafe. A chic cafe to chill out on a weekend.
Enough blatant advertising....

Hong Kong dim sum breakfast
I can't go to Hong Kong so we had dim sum breakfast at East Ocean (Lido). This place serves the best custard salted egg yolk bun! The filling flows out like liquid gold. My favourite way of eating it is to suck the salty sweet filling before eating the bun. Another dim sum worth mentioning is the sharks' fin soup dumpling, only $6.50! I know I need to be environmentally conscious but it is my birthday so just let me eat that sliver of sharks' fin....

Chinese Tui-na
My husband said that he wanted to give me a 'relaxing birthday' and my bag of bones is falling apart so we went for massage. I wanted Swedish massage but after prodding my bones, the masseur recommended Chinese Tui-na as my body is severely tense. She warned that as she pressed my congested acupuncture points, I might feel slight discomfort.
What slight discomfort? It was so @#$% painful that I screamed silently and fight not to cry. I need some comfort food.

Japanese teppanyaki
Lunch was at my favourite Japanese restaurant at Far East Plaza. I am not telling you the name because it needs no more publicity. Sometimes, you have to wait for more than 15 minutes because there are less than 20 seats and only one person cooking. The place is so coveted that the chef actually charges $2 for each seat and it is compulsory to order at least one dish! A tiny dinky shop that one will definitely miss. When my journalist pal first brought me there, she said, "It feels like eating in Tokyo."
You sit at the cramped counter, huddling shoulder-to-shoulder with other customers. Slabs of fish meat are displayed in full view. The stoic yet meticulous chef prepares the sashimi right in front of you. Although I have tasted better Japanese food elsewhere, this shop's flavour suits me the most - fresh, simple and claustrophobic.

Hollywood B-grade movie
Balls of Fury is one of the worst movies I have seen but Maggie Q is really hot! The usual serious Christopher Walken dressed in post-Elvis garage sales costumes, acting as a villain is a riot. I was surprised to see Jason Scott Lee acting as a minion beefcake. The hit-to-the-groin jokes are lame, Asian characters are stereotypical, the plot is so bad that I cannot believe that I actually paid $9.50 to watch it. I wanted to watch a comedy so it was between Balls of Fury and Super Bad. Either one provides mindless humour. I chose Balls of Fury due to Maggie Q. She is sizzling hot!

Red shoes, Nail accessories and MP3 player
Being the dutiful daughter-in-law (shameless), I went to pick out kitchenware with my parents-in-law at Plaza Singapura. My husband allowed me to shop at Daiso and gave me a budget of $10 which I only spent $8! He is trying to curb my spending habit.
I bought a pair of red flats within 5 minutes today!
I also purchased magnets from 'Action for Singapore Dogs', doing my part for charity.
Did I mention that I am reading 'Confessions of a Shopaholic' by Sophie Kinsella?
In case you are thinking that I married Mr Scrooge, he bought me a new Panasonic MP3 player which only cost $49; extremely value-for-money.
Mr Ng saves, Mrs Ng spends. Match-made in heaven.

Halal Raspberry Cheesecake
My birthday cake was a slice of Raspberry Cheesecake from Secret Recipe. We are too full from our breakfast and lunch so we just ordered a slice of cake and a cup of mocha latte while our parents ate dinner. I never knew Secret Recipe was a Halal restaurant until my colleagues bought a separate cake here to celebrate the Muslim teachers' birthdays. To celebrate my birthday and be racially conscious, I shall eat a halal cake. Sheesh, I feel so _____ typing the previous sentence. This shows that my brain is infected after marking so many nonsensical scripts.

Oh, I forgot to make my birthday wishes.

1) More money
2) Win 4D
3) Strike Toto
4) Salary raise
5) Huge performance bonus
which will not come true.

so just be healthy and happy will suffice!

It is the wRITE thing

I am so sick of bad handwriting.
There, I said it!

Day after day, I try to tell myself, "Be professional. There are hundreds, thousands or even millions of netizens reading your blog. Do not write anything that can get yourself in trouble."

At this moment, I just want to say, "This is my space and I just want to write whatever I am feeling right now."

If you are from MOE, I would advise you to stop reading because what you are going to read is not going to reflect well on my work performance and mostly likely, affect my bonus. (if I am going to get any this year after so many mistakes made)

After marking so many sub-standard essays, I question myself and the education system. Are we doing the right thing?

1. Poor, illegible handwriting

Writing is one of basic language skills. Why do some students, at the age of 17, 18 cannot even write proper A, B, Cs? I am not expecting longhand or cursive handwriting, just clear, legible written words which I do not need to decipher. Is that an 'a' or a 's' ?
Boys' handwriting are characterised by chicken scrawls. It seemed that they were upset by the exam questions so they were trying to make the marker's life difficult - write in code. If I cannot read, I cannot mark. Fail-proof strategy indeed. While I was marking such scripts, I was tempted to run to Popular bookstore to buy those Learn-To-Write ABC books so that these 'chicken scrawlers' can learn how to write again.

The most drastic measure I took while marking was to dig out a magnifying glass to read this girl's script because her words resembles an ant's handwriting (if ants could write).

The current trend of tYpiNg cApiTaL lEttErs with sMall lEttErs also appeared in some scripts. Once, I pointed out this MSN-inflicted habit when I was marking a Sec 2 student's work when I was at YISS. She scolded me in her blog and said that her 'long-term' teachers never had problems, why was I, the relief teacher, picking on her.

Why I am harping on such a insignificant issue? Handwriting reflects one's personality. Some human resource departments even select potential employees by handwriting analysis. Although we are moving to a tech-oriented society where one is required to have basic technological skills, handwriting is not going to be obsolete, at least not in our lifetime. One will need to take written examinations, take notes or even write Thank-You cards.

To share an amusing anecdote, during my teenage years, my best friends and I used to read letters written by our admirers and guess the person's personality. Those who chicken scrawled did not even get a date. Boys with flowery handwriting, dotting their 'i's with hearts are usually playboys. We ended up dating boys with clear, upright handwriting and their letters have minimal grammatical errors. This may seem like an irrelevant or superficial example. I thought, to students who care so much about their love life, one will understand why we pick these boys?

Linking back to the topic sentence, writing is the one of the basic language skills. If one is able to write well, it is probable that this person can communicate better. Hence, writing poetry or letters is one of the ways to win a girl's heart. Looking at the bigger picture, one's handwriting can influence one's grades, job prospects and future.

If you cannot decipher your own handwriting, in other words, unable to check your work after you have written it, you ought to consider learning how to write again. It is the Right (write) thing to do after exams.

That reminds me the thing I have to do now is get back to my marking.
MOE, please do not sue me. I'm just trying to de-stress! >_<"

What comprises teaching?

In the second year of celebrating Teacher's Day and the first time in MI, I want to give thanks to
1) my colleagues, especially
Miss Jam for being such a joy to work with,
Miss Catherine Ang who is the most accommodating level coordinator,
Mdm Shamala who is the most experienced and big-hearted GP tutor I have ever met,
Mrs Meya who constantly keeps me on my toes and
everyone in MI who guided and supported me

2) my students who endured my lessons and lame jokes

3) Mdm Ong Chai Hong, my dearest co-home tutor

4) my family and friends who listened to my rants and forgave me for breaking promises last minute due to work commitment

5) God who blessed me for taking on this challenging job

Teaching was the first dream job that I wrote about in my Primary One composition because my mom was a kindergarten teacher. Along the way, I met some great teachers and many lousy ones. One of them, Mr Yip inspired me to write. He wrote in one of my Chinese compositions, "You will be a great writer one day." Hence, I aspired to be in media and learn how to write well.

Never would I imagined myself teaching General Paper as this is one subject which most Singapore students hated. "Think in-depth? I dig show biz and soccer. Hopefully there is an essay question on either beauty or sports in the twelve options." Yes, two came out in 1999 'A' levels ^_^
I was a major annoyance to my GP tutor - interrupting her while she was talking and asking her difficult questions which she needs to reply, "I'll get back to you." The worst I guess was being good friends with her favourite GP student as "I'm a corrupting influence". No idea who is corrupting who but I am going to marry this "corrupted" guy soon.
My fiance said that me being a GP tutor is karma so this reminds me and hopefully, you to start being nice to your GP tutor. Pay attention in class, do your homework diligently and don't irritate her or you might end up being a teacher. Haha... Happy holidays~

What do Teachers Make?

The dinner guests were sitting around the table discussing life. One man, a CEO, decided to explain the problem with education. He argued, "What's a kid going to learn from someone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?"

He reminded the other dinner guests that it's true what they say about teachers, "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach."

To corroborate, he said to another guest, "You're a teacher, Susan," he said.
"Be honest. What do you make?"

Susan, who had a reputation of honesty and frankness replied, "You want to know what I make?"

"I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could. I can make a C+ feel like a Congressional Medal of Honor and an A- feel like a C+ slap in the face if the student did not do his or her very best."
"I can make kids sit through 40 minutes of study hall in absolute silence."
"I can make parents tremble in fear when I call home."

"You want to know what I make?"

"I make kids wonder." "I make them question."
"I make them criticize." "I make them apologize and mean it."
"I make them write." "I make them read, read, read."
"I make them spell definitely beautiful, definitely beautiful, and definitely beautiful over and over and over again, until they will never misspell either one of those words again."
"I make them show all their work in math and hide it all on their final drafts in English."
"I make them understand that if you have the brains, then follow your heart
... and if someone ever tries to judge you by what you make,
you pay them no attention."

"You want to know what I make?"

"I make a difference."
"What about you?"

(Source: http://www.bpsd.org/williampenn/room103/whyteach.htm)