Is is OK to send a child from an English-speaking home to a Chinese-medium school?

My son's UPSR (Year Six) results will be released tomorrow. He says he has tried his best and I believe he has. All the pimples that popped up on his face two or three months before the exam is testimony to the pressure he was under. Just this morning I mentioned that his pimples are clearing up and he reminded me that there is no more stress. Will he get all As? No he won't. Do we regret sending him to Chinese-medium school which would result in him not scoring all As? No we don't. He may not score As in the 2 Chinese papers but he has acquired an extra language. This will stand him in good stead. Besides, he is able to communicate better with his paternal granny in Mandarin. So parents, if you are pondering whether to enrol your child in a Chinese-medium primary school (you being unable to assist your child in any way in Chinese language), let me assure you that it is OK. I remember my son floundering when he was in Year One and Two. He did not understand announcements made during assemblies or over the PA system. Sometimes he guessed right. Many times he guessed wrong. Last week he was singing a chinese song that the whole Year Six students were to sing during the school graduation day. He sang but he could not tell me the meanings of all that was contained the lyrics. But he could sing it well and he enjoyed singing it. So next year my son goes to Form One. He has survived six years in a chinese-medium school!

Power versus the milk of human kindness

I had the opportunity today to chat with a colleague. She had just returned to work after being undergoing home quarantine for about 10 days. She told me that she was given 10 doses of tamiflu. Fearful on hearing that an acquaintance had died from influence A H1N1, she had gone for a checkup because she had experienced severe headaches and ‘cutting’ chest pains for some days. Though she has completed the treatment for H1N1, she still had to get further treatment because her lungs have been affected. She is worried. She is also upset because those in authority were neither sympathetic nor supportive when she needs to go off for further follow-up checkups. One even commented on her being away from work for so many days! Why am I sharing this? Because even while I was chatting with her, I could empathise with her. She is really very hardworking, putting in long hours at work. She has a great deal of responsibilities and paperwork so she is even willing to dish out money from her own pocket to employ an assistant to do the computer-work for her. Of course, one may reply that it’s okay since she can afford it. But that’s not the point. She doesn’t have to take this extra step to ensure that all the work assigned to her gets done on time. She could very well say that she does not know how to operate the computer well. So many people pour a great deal of time and energy into their work and career. When they are able and can contribute, their superiors seem to appreciate and value them highly. Sad to say, many feel let down by these same people when the situation is reversed, when support and understanding is needed in return. Why is it that when people are promoted to administrative positions they seem to forget where they came from? I know there are some good administrators but there are so few and far between of them. What George Orwell says in the Animal Farm is so true: "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

Trying to make a comeback to blogging

It's not easy because for the last few months whenever I sit in front of the computer one task or other crops up and I've had to put blogging on hold. I must really follow Covey's advice of filing and doing more tasks in the IMPORTANT BUT NOT URGENT box, rather than lumping everything in the URGENT box and have not enough time for what's important. Besides the camera acted funny and so I couldn't even get good shots to post. The few that were presentable went onto Facebook. Perhaps I should decide where I want to focus my stuff- Facebook or Blog. Mustn't be repetitious. Very tedious and 'lao-lang' 'cheong-hei' to repeat oneself. God has been good to me. These past week I had only 10 periods to cover. A GSTT (Guru Sandaran Tidak Terlatih) teacher came and she took over my one Form 1, one Form 2 and one Form 3 classes. I held on to my two Form 5 classes though she was to take over my whole timetable and I was told to observe her and operate on a-TST (teacher-support-team) basis. I did it a few times and then I cried off because I couldn't stomach the errors she subjected my poor ears to. What our kids have to put up with in class during English lessons! I shudder at the thought of this. I must remember to remind Jonathan again to ignore teacher-errors in his English class. So having to go to class officially for only 400 minutes a week left quite a good deal of time on my hands to pack and clear up many things in school for my departure from the world of classrooms. 30 August would be my last 'teaching' day for after that my fifth formers will be having their Trial Exams for SPM until I say good-bye to them on 17 September. They break off for the Hari Raya holidays. I break-off and that's it for the rest of the year. I DON"T HAVE TO GO BACK TO SCHOOL ANYMORE! Hooray! PTL

It's now one whole month into 2009. I'm finally settling into the year. The last few weeks have been crazily buzy - what with school beginning, sports practices,cross-country race, record book and class register to complete, a whole lot of school meetings (70% of which were unnecessary!),fitting

everybody's 2009 (especially the son's) schedule together, hangover from Christmas,

sharing endings and beginnings, preparing for and celebrating Chinese New Year.

What's the title of that song....? Oh yes, I WILL SURVIVE!! Must find the song and add to my playlist. So what's next? As the saying goes "Time and tide waits for no man (or woman)". I believe that it is best to take everything as it comes along and do the best that we can with God's help. There is always something new to learn, something old to remember and cherish, something better to look forward to . Worry a little less... Laugh a little bit more... 2009 would be okay. HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone.