Last day of school 2007

Last day of school for year 2007 is here.
My gosh. It does feel a little fast..
It felt as if I had just started Term 1 a few days ago, and now, we've reached the end of 4 whole terms. Wow, how did I manage that.

I still remember posting at the beginning of the year, about the challenges of this new year..taking Sec3s yet again..sports class, form class....chma...

And now, the year's done.

Had a small prize presentation in both my classes today, for those who've done well for AMAth for Semester 2, be it in terms of improvement, or in terms of scoring well for the exam...and added on a mini-presentation at the end of it for 3-11 since I won't be teaching them anymore next year. Was never fond of giving speeches nor prep talks to big groups...so I always choose a non-verbal way of "speaking" when it comes to farewells.

Though I do feel sad that I won't be following them up, I know that it's for their good, and that they'll be in good hands next year.

To 3-11:
Thanks for a wonderful year. Think a lot of what I wanted to say, you've already "heard" it through the powerpoint. Always had fun coming to your class..probably because of all the funny characters & sudden outbursts in your class...haha...but also because I can see the determination, interest & effort in a lot of you to do well for Mathematics.
Remember, your current class msg is not your full potential. Work hard and push it all the way up yeah? =)


Form class chalet coming up on 29th Nov.
Really looking forward to it! Spent some time with some of my guys choosing all the yummy food that we are gonna be BBQing at the chalet...yum yum.. =)
Like the idea of the class coming together..bonding...having fun :)
And, love the idea of a class T-shirt!! And it is going to be DRI-FIT. DON'T CARE :P
Hope that we can get the T-shirt design settled, printed and distributed soon....then perhaps my class and I can all wear it during Homecoming next year..heh.

Let's see...what's coming up for the "holidays".
'O's INVIGILATION.
Yuuuuuuuuuuuuucks. I seriously hate 'O's invigilation. It's not half as bad when I invigilate in school since they are my own kids and I don't mind being there to lend moral support.
But 'O's invigilation is super duper ultra boring.........and not worth the remuneration in my opinion....I'd rather be in school from 9am-1pm packing up my table and preparing materials for next year :/ Haiz, but I guess there's no choice....

Interspersed between O's invigilation is Maths Special Holidays programme for the Sec3s....

Then, it'll be Grad night.
Cool. Felt very sad that I missed it last year so I won't miss it for the world this year :)


And then, my trip to Bangkok with my old MGS friends!!!! :)
Can't wait.....
And and, chalet!

Haha....ok, shall talk till end of November only.

As for December, akan datang ;)

Exams over...now what?

So the dreaded End of Year Exams are over, and the whole stressed atmosphere for the students are gone. Now's the time for the teachers to pull their hair out due to the marking..

One of the perks of marking....funny diagrams!! :P

For the first time, marking this time round was a breeze. Perhaps because we did group marking, where everyone just sat down and marked together for a day...so discrepancies can be cleared up straight away. Marked the rest over the weekend and the following mon and tue.....and, my marking's done. :) Fantastic :)
Can't say the same about the results though....*sniff* But i shall not say more..till next Wed..



Oh yes, before it slips my mind again. On the request of Jonathan, this is an announcement that 3-1 2007 CLASS CHALET
is going to be on 29th NOVEMBER. Yup, it's been booked already. MUST COME.


OK, back to my week...

'O's Subject Supervisor
Was subject supervisor of the 'O' level music performance examination on Tue and Wed this week. CHS is one of the centres for examination, so candidates from other schools also came over to get assessed. I guess I should be thankful that my job only entailed me sitting at one corner of the school (Mother Tongue Room) and taking the candidate's attendance..followed by informing them of the time that they had to report over at the examinations room (music room). Was not bad actually, coz I was being serenaded by the candidates' warm-up playing of their instruments. The only bad point was, that it was from 8am - 5pm!!! my goodness..I was literally cooped in the Mother Tongue room from 8-5pm+ la....

Signage outside the Mother Tongue room...

My work desk inside the Mother Tongue room..

The other adjacent side of the Mother Tongue room which is used as a practice room for candidates..

During my loooooong duration of being at the Mother Tongue room, I walked out to take a look at the surroundings....and realised that actually, the pond downstairs looks pretty nice.
Perhaps due to the fact that I drive, I really very rarely walk towards the student lounge and Mother Tongue room in CHS since my car is usually parked at the side of the school. I usually just access my car at the side, and drive straight out the school gate without having to walk through the school towards the front porch, pass the student's lounge and the labs and the gym, etc. Should really take some time when I'm free...to look around the school and to appreciate the landscaping. Though I think some parts of the school still looks kinda weird and out-of-place..but I must say I'm getting used to seeing the ponds and bamboo garden which actually all looks quite nice and serene.......those bronze statues of the running CHS boys along the side of the school and all the way up to the plaza....the students' paintings and works of art on the wall....even the flying geeze :P I remember being quite adverse to some of the changes (some which I have not mentioned) when they first took place....but now that they are beginning to slowly blend into the background due to time and weathering......I think they actually make the whole school looks nice and homely...especially the ponds and students' works. I guess that's how people are (or rather, how I am).....usually resistant to new changes...but only slowly learn to grow to appreciate given time and reflection...




Mum's gone off for another 3 weeks trip...she had just come back from a 3 weeks trip to Melbourne to visit my brother 2 weeks ago, and she's off again yesterday morning, with a whole big group of friends to visit taipei, china and hong kong. Good for her to go I guess...takes her mind off things. As for me, also feel a sense of relief when my mum goes on trips...instead of having to always explain letters and bills to her everyday. It's not that I mind doing it, I just mind doing it everyday...which can be a bit frustrating since I'm now the only one who can do it for her. So yup, hope mum has a good time with her friends, and family in Hong Kong.




Sec 4 Farewell Assembly
So yesterday was farewell assembly yet again...my 4th since I entered the CHS family. Sadly this time round, I had to zip off halfway and come back, and then zip off again due to lessons.

This year's was a little different yet again...the form teachers of each class actually stood on stage to present each of the graduating sec4s with a Graduation Certificate. It was a heartwarming-cum-heartwrenching ceremony...as I saw colleagues give out the certificates with tears in their eyes. Even I felt like tearing when I saw the picture of love, trust, friendship and well-wishes...
This is the batch that I taught when I first came into teaching.
Wow, it's been a full 3 years already..as they went on and off the stage, I was just thinking back of the times when I taught them in Sec 1...both they and I have come so far...it's really encouraging to see them as confident, grown young men.
I suppose this is one of the perks of teaching...to see kids grow up..and be part of that process..and hopefully have made a positive difference to them.

Granted the opportunity, next year it'd be my turn to give out the certs too. I wonder what it'd be like to be the one on stage giving it out...something tells me I'd need a box of tissue...since this batch that I'm teaching now, I've been teaching ever since they were in Sec1. Oh dear me..

Random events..

Hmmm...almost one month of not posting.


I think I'm suffering from withdrawal symptoms of not blogging! Haha..



But that's not the only thing that I seem to be suffering from, also suffering from a horrid cough and horrid reappearance of my eczema problem that had been well-controlled since 15 years ago. Many may have noticed...the super blotchy skin that I have nowadays..haiz.


I'm on antibiotics again. What, my 5th course this year? It's almost as if it's a sweet that I can take every few months... #(*$()@#&$@($*(!)@#!.


Thankfully it's EOYs for the Sec3s this whole week, then I have the time to fall sick.




Just here to post about some random events which I'd wanted to post about from time to time..but just never got round to doing it.


Class crane-folding
Just before the Sept Hols came, my class and I did some paper crane folding for the Kidney Dialysis Foundation in aid of their fundraising. So here we were in the afternoon, all folding paper origami...heh.


I felt it was fun...heh, but on top of that, was a good time for class bonding :)


Some pics from that afternoon...

Don't know what's so nice about sitting on the table....haiz..


This is not all of course, by the end of our folding, we had one box full!

Look at these horrible ones...thankfully I did some Q.C. before passing them over to KDF..

Interesting gifts for Teachers' Day

Some really interesting stuff that I got this year for Teachers' Day are homebaked muffins and cakes! Very interesting for guys to actually bake...very SNAG (Sensitive New Age Guy).. :)

My name's on it somemore!

Nice big sunflower was one of the gifts this year too.. :)

Mystery Present

Saw this lovely box of roses with a handphone acessory hung on it on my table after the September break....hmmmmmmmmm.........no card or note to tell me who placed it there....until now I wonder who it's from.... :P


Marking haven
Was over at NUS 2 weekends ago to do some marking after church on Sat since my church is over at Dover, which is only about a 5 min drive away from the NUS Campus.

Lucky NUS students...they even have SUBWAY inside the campus! And if I'm not wrong, there's also a japanese restuarant now. Hmph.

So yup, had Subway for dinner, then parked myself at Yusof Yishak House's empty canteen to do my marking. Had a wall fan all to myself since there was hardly anyone around me but just a couple of other uni students studying for their exams..

Some big collage made up of all the international students' well-wishes and comments...

Talk about the wide variety of things that you can purchase from a vending machine....have you ever seen an UMBRELLA VENDING MACHINE????

Hahhaha....seriously this is the first time I've ever seen one, and I was really tickled. I mean..since when did vending machines dispense umbrellas?

But I guess it's a really cool idea...I suppose students at Yusof Yishak House will never have to brave the rain to get home... :P

Super big moon

Just couldn't resist whipping out my handphone to snap a picture of this SUPER BIG moon (OK, of course the moon is the same size every night, but you know what I'm talking about :P).

See the white circle in the centre of the 2 rows of street lamps?? It's not so obvious in this pic, but the fact that I can capture it at this size on the pic, it just shows how super humongous it was!! Hehe.

Yup, so that's all for now.

Today's the start of the EOYs for the Sec3s, so, here's wishing all Sec3s in CHS, ALL THE BEST :)

Don't worry, it'll be over before you know it ;)

To my math classes: GO AND CHECK SHAREPOING AND HEYMATH EVERYDAY!