Monday was a disaster.
Bad time management + group time chaos = child been bitten by another child = not a happy parent = a scared teacher >.<

Tuesday was much better.
My group of children on tuesdays are the best :) Quiet, focussed, cooperative, attentive. I look forward to Tuesdays.

Today taught at a school.
First thing i was told about this Gr. 4 class was 'You have to be tough with them or else they're going to give you a hard time. Don't let them get away with anything. They always misbehave so make sure you put them in their place.'
In my head I was thinking, "OMG! what have I gotten myself into?!" I was so scared. And if that wasn't enough, before the children came in the door, I could hear them talking about me:

'Oh, Mrs. ___ isn't here, its a sub! yeah!' '
'She's chinese, I wonder if she speaks English'
'On the count of three, let's call out 'ching chong'
'Yay! We don't have to do any work today!'
'She's a b****' (after not letting them inside to get a tissue)

And just from listening to all that, I was expecting a whole class of terrors. I was really scared. I was shaking. I was nearly in tears. But I couldn't let them get to me. So i prepared myself, walked outside and gave them a big lecture about being racist, disrespectful and being very very rude. And yes, I can be mean and scary when I need to be. :) After that, we had a few behavioural issues but overall they knew what I expected from them. By the end of the day, we were all friends and having fun. Surprisingly. Such good friends, in fact, that they wanted me to come back and teach them tomorrow because I was now 'better' than their actual teacher and that I 'cared about them more'. I was touched :)

At the start of the day I was ready to walk out and tell the principal that I just couldn't teach this class. But I proved to myself that being a teacher isn't just about teaching children whats written in the curriculum. It's about being able to connect with your students, knowing how to use different strategies to improve situations and make it easier for both you and the students. Today I improved my behaviour management strategies. If you set clear boundaries and they know the consequences if they misbehave, children will listen and respect you. It's all about showing them that you can be their friend as long as they respect you.



my thoughts @ 6:18 PM

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What a week. I'm glad I have today to just relax and do nothing.

This week I started the new job. Although the director was going to be there helping me out, I was still quite nervous. I'm still getting to know the children, the routine, where everything is... and then there's introducing myself to the parents/guardians, which is the scariest part.

So anyways, monday was my first official day, as all of last week i was just a visitor to the kinder. It went alright, not as good as I thought it would be. But hey, it was my first day, I was allowed to make mistakes. =) I have a little boy in my Monday session who likes to stir the group up... need to make sure I keep an eye on him.

So after finishing at the kinder, I needed to rush home to eat dinner and then go back to the kinder for a committee meeting. This started at 7:30pm and went for about 2.5 hours. It was an interesting meeting. Everything that happens backstage is discussed. From maintainance, to fees, to budget, to fundraising events, working bee etc. Everything that helps run the kinder.

By the time I got home, i was exhausted. After I wrote up observations, did some planning and relaxed a little, I went straight to bed.


Tuesday - Kinder

Wednesday - CRT at a primary school

Thurs - Kinder

Fri - Cleaning up of store room at kinder

Sat - Planned for next week, cooking with the girls till 1:30am

Sun - just came back from the kinder to plan for this coming week. And to think I tease my friends when they say that they have to work on a weekend! hehe...

Even though it doesn't sound like much, my body isn't used to such a busy week. I go to bed before 11pm just to make sure I can actually wake up the next morning! lolz. Well, another week ahead of me. This week I'll be on my own. No director to help me out. It will be interesting! :)

my thoughts @ 10:12 AM

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Yes, yesterday was our one and only squara's birthday. So to help her celebrate, we decided to take her out to dinner. But before we met up that night, I had to prepare Sara's present. Yes, it was the cake. It took me a total of 4 hours to make it, haha. Only because I have to make the icing and then make different colours out of it AND THEN pipe it carefully onto the cake. But it was worth the time... coz I think it looks good! :)

So, for dinner, we ended up at Red Salmon at Knox Ozone... haha... yes, I didn't complain. I have actually never been to Red Salmon before... well I've never been to most of the restaurants in ozone. It was a cosy little restaurant. Friendly staff (especially the barman, lolz), great service, and very yummy food! I'm definitely going back there.


I had Chicken Envelope. It's chicken (well duh!) and they stuff it with spinach and capsicum... actually I can't remember what they stuffed it with, lolz. But then it was served with a slice of crispy potato... kinda like a big hashbrown but in a slice form.

And these are the cocktails that we ordered. Guess which one is mine? haha. They were a vanilla cocktail and a Blue Pearl. I have now learnt my lesson never to order an alcoholic drink ever again. lolz. It was the barman's fault. I got to the restaurant early and while I was waiting for the others to arrive, the barman kept me company. He suggested that I order a cocktail - not sure why I listened to him >.< I was slightly tipsy last night after drinking one quarter of it. Which also came with a BIG BIG headache! So you can imagine how long it took me to drink the rest. Everyone thought it'd be fun to tease me bout being drunk... but I was no where near drunk. Honest! The night ended with us going back to Sara's place to play DDR (haha) and poker. I was hopeless at poker... maybe coz I was getting sick and couldn't function properly. I sneezed like 101 times at Sara's place. Not sure whether it was coz I was allergic to something... or that I had just caught a cold. I think it's a cold coz I'm still sneezing. I feel like crap atm. I couldn't sleep at all last night. My nose was runny and blocked so I couldn't breathe comfortably. It was a horrible night's sleep. And I have to work today. Great. I'm starting work on monday. I hope I don't spread my germs and give it to the children! >.<

my thoughts @ 9:41 AM

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To my dearest friend,

I was happy reading your blog... up until the part where you said you thought a lot about what you wanted and expected in life... in terms of a job. I know how you feel. I was like that a couple of weeks ago. Very discouraged about finding a job. Disappointed that I hadn't got a job. Unmotivated to make the effort to find one. But you never know what life will throw at you. I certainly didn't expect this job. I didn't expect that I would even accept it! Like I told you on the phone, I don't know whether I'm making a mistake or the right choice. Hopefully its the right choice.

But you will find a job... one that you will love and enjoy. And I will help you to find that job asap! :) At least you're enjoying what you're doing now... and not sitting around all day doing nothing. Plus you have another job to keep you busy! You'll be busier than me! lolz

Anyways, stay positive! A job will find you soon. :) Jia you! *hugglez*

my thoughts @ 10:49 PM

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my thoughts @ 8:03 PM

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Yesterday and today I met my children. All three groups.

I already have my favourites... and I already have my not-so- favourites. lolz. Three year olds arent as bad as I thought. They're similar to four years olds... except have less vocab and need simplified instructions.

The director is awesome. At first when I met her at the inteview, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. But working with her for the past couple of days, its been good. We get along quite well and have the same opinions and views about teaching. Very friendly. Very supportive. Very organised! It's great! She's the type of person I like to work with. Consistent in her teaching practice, with routines and programs planned out well. Parents love her. Children love her. Colleagues love her. I hope I can fill half her shoes when I take over! >.<

The room is amazing. Again, very organised and appealing to the children. Everything has its own home which makes it easy for me to find my way around. Children's work are displayed everywhere. Very colourful. Very creative. Equipment and materials are set up so there's no congestion during transitions.

Haha.. I feel like I'm assessing her. She's definitely deserves an A+!

I'm looking foward to starting officially next week. It will be an interesting experience. But a few worries so far:

- how parents will respond to me: so far I've had good interactions with two of the mums. They seem to like me and accept me as their child's new teacher. But then on the other hand, I don't know whether it was just me, but I felt like a few of the other mums (when dropping their children off) gave me looks... good or bad i'm not sure. They were probably just sussing me out.

- when children start to play up: i'm scared that the children will test me during the first couple of weeks. Because when one child starts pushing the boundaries, others start to follow. And behaviour management is one of my weaknesses at the moment.

- rules and regulations: DH&S is going to play a big part over the next few weeks. I'm a little scared about what I'm required to do in order to pass an inspection with the DH&S. Oh well, I guess it'll be another thing I will learn about in time.

my thoughts @ 12:39 AM

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my thoughts @ 5:37 PM

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my thoughts @ 9:58 AM

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my thoughts @ 12:38 PM

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my thoughts @ 9:33 AM

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my thoughts @ 2:10 PM

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my thoughts @ 8:15 PM

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Thoughts in my mind right now:

- why do insecurities always get the better of me?
- don't be a hypocrite
- tonight was lots of fun
- a girls night out = me being black?!
- stop judging others as if you're better than them
- time is ticking and waiting for no one
- actions speak louder than words

my thoughts @ 12:39 AM

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my thoughts @ 10:31 AM

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Yesterday was a 'feel good' day with sms/emails pouring in from friends from all different places. Whether it was a long message telling me what they've been up to... or just a quick hello... it definitely put a smile on my face. Thanks to those people... you made my day a brighter one! =D

my thoughts @ 9:46 AM

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my thoughts @ 11:47 PM

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When girls look in a mirror and see that it makes them look fatter than they really are, why do they agree by complaining that they really are that size? And then when they look into another mirror that makes them look skinnier than they really are, they don't agree and complain how the mirror is deceiving?! Why do girls do that?

I went shopping yesterday and while I was in the change room of one shop, I overheard two girls having that conversation.

"Oh, this mirror makes me look fat... or maybe coz I really am that big" "Nah, nah, you're not... it's just the mirror..." "really? nah, i think this mirror is telling the truth... look how big my legs are!"

And when I left, I took a look at the two girls having that conversation and puhlease! they were so skinny! It didn't really matter if the mirror made them look 'fat'... if anything, it made them look healthy!

So that was in one change room. In the next shop, I went into the change room again only to overhear another conversation but this time, it was because the mirror was 'deceiving' and making them look skinnier.

"Hey, i like this mirror, it makes me look skinnier!" "Yeah, I wish it was a real reflection of how big I am" "yeah, if only... haha..."

So how can one mirror that makes you look fatter be telling the truth? but then when a mirror show you're skinnier, then its lying?! Clearly the one making you look fatter is also lying... but yet girls choose to believe it? why??

my thoughts @ 8:19 AM

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