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!

Sept break over?!?

My gosh, the term break (note that I said "break" and not "HOLS") is almost over.
*gasp*
*faint*
If time passes as quick as this, soon it'll be the Final Year Exams (FYEs)!!!
*bites fingernails*

Wait a minute.....why do I sound like I'M the one taking the FYEs..sigh.
But seriously, sometimes it does feel that way. I seem to be even more anxious than my boys who ARE the ones taking the exams. eeks.

OK, relax...*breathe in breathe out* Everything will be fine........(won't it?)....
Exactly 3 weeks to the start of FYE as of today...and 1.5 more chapters to cover in 2 weeks. EEKs.
LOTS to mark and return and go through and test....goodness..I better make a list of things that I have to accomplish on a daily basis to help prepare the kids for exams.

Been posting less and less of late....goes to show the amount of time I have on my hands...
Jogging my memory a little to see what's been happening over the last 3 weeks..

HK Aunt & Cousin's visit

Was very nice to have my aunt and cousin come over to spend time with my mum in mid-august. They came for about 2 weeks..think it was comforting for my mum to be able to spend time with her sister.

My cute HK cousin, whom I think I can easily pass off as my sister.. we used to look even more alike a couple of years ago.. :)

B's wedding
Yup, another wedding among a whole spate to attend for the year. This time, my university friend whom I spent 3 years together doing our Maths degree in NUS with :)
Congrats to B!!

The Math kakis :P

Cluster school singing competition
Recently, I went to support a few of our CHMA finalists who took part in a cluster school singing competition. Interesting that they should name it "Campus Superstar" coz that's the exact name as the competition which was being shown on channel U. But more importantly, the CHS participants did the school really proud by clinching 1st runner up for the solo category, and winning the group vocals category. Yay!
Some pictures from the night..

Teachers' Day
This year, teachers' day lunch became teachers' day high-tea and was held a day before the celebrations itself.

Teachers' day high-tea at Singapore Swimming Club..

On the day of the celebrations, the staffroom became a common corridor as students came in and out to wish the teachers "happy teachers' day" as well as to place stuff on the teachers' tables.....I'll just let the pictures do the talking for a little while :)

Can you see that we're blocking the staffroom door?!?? Kinda embarassing having to keep apologising to people for making them stand at the side to wait for us to finish with our picture.. :P

This year's hall set-up for the teachers' day concert..

Haha look at what my class gave me!! =)
A super duper big baby Silvester the cat..SUPER big lor..

Oh oh oh, and to top it off, my class also ordered Sushi into the school to eat! Yummmmmmmmyyy....i luuuuurve sushi.....keke..... :)
Thanks guys ;)

Glad that I managed to catch some of the old boys who came back to visit...

Big thanks to everyone who took the effort to say a simple "Happy Teachers' Day", and of course, to those who've left stuff on my table and passed me stuff. THAAAAAANKS =)
Paiseh, didn't manage to meet some of you coz I wasn't at my table straight after the celebrations. :P

Super movies
Watched 2 movies last week. Hairspray and Ratatouille.
I loved Ratatouille. The little rat looks soooooo cute :) I'd love to have a lil' rat that could cook up a storm in my kitchen...hee.

And....i LOOOOOOOOOOOVVVVEEEEEE Hairspray!
Haha...ok so I'm biased. But has been a long time since I last watched a movie that I've fallen in love with.
Prior to watching the movie, I had no idea what it was about, or who it was starring...which is pretty typical of me..heh.
But after I watched it, I could even hum some of the tunes a few days after the movie. Just goes to show how well-written the music is. Just bought the Hairspray soundtrack 2 days ago, my first ever soundtrack. Usually, movie music never interests me to the point of purchasing their soundtrack..but I just couldn't resist this one :) My my, every song that I listen to rushes images of the movie into my head. It's as if I was watching the entire movie in my head as I listened.. :) Such a simple movie about love, dreams, prejudice.....the music and images just keeps me smiling as I listen to the soundtrack :P

Okie, I think I overspent my time on the computer. *OOPS*
Gotta get back to marking for now...and tmw morning, it's off to schoooooooooooooooooool....

PR in my Getz

HELLO everyone! My name is Sly, and I'm a new PR in Miss Chow's car! Cool huh ;)

Happy Teacher's Day

HAPPY TEACHERS' DAY to all teachers!

No time to write more now...lots of admin stuff to settle at home and lunch to run to in 15 minutes..
Update more tonight.. =)

HELLO OI MING!! =)

super duper long weekend!

So...I have fully recovered.

Well, ALMOST. Voice still gets a bit wobbly when I talk too loudly or for too long a period in class...but well, a huge improvement from when I posted previously I guess, which is good.

Well...many many events over the last 2 weeks..

MGS Founder's Day dinner

My gang of mgs friends decided to go back for founder's day dinner this year as it marks the 1oth year that we've left mgs. Woohhoo, mighty long time we realised.

So let's see, including my table, I think there were about 4-5 tables of the batch of '97? Which was quite cool...some of the gals, I have not seen in years.. but overall, everyone still looks pretty much the same.

Our teachers too, looked quite the same...except for those extra few strands of silver in their head. AND, i must say, my sec4 form teacher has superb memory. She could actually remember my name, and I think most of the other gals from my sec4 class. Always find it quite amazing that people whom I've not met in a long time remember my name..coz I don't think my name's the easiest of names to remember. I do hope that in many more years to come, I'd be able to rattle off the names of the boys who return to CH to visit.. :)

My table of girls..

Corrine May's "Beautiful Seed" concert @ University Cultural Centre

Doesn't the stage look so nice and pro? :)

Had been looking forward to this concert ever since I caught wind of it 2 months back. Think Corrine's music is really one of a kind...simple lyrics that one can easily relate to, yet tells so much about life and it's different situations and emotions that come along with it. Feel that her music has a sort of.....healing effect...because of the stories/train of thought that are told with each song..sometimes I really feel as if I can relate to it perfectly....almost always puts one into a reflective mood..

I pretty much enjoyed the concert, she's got such a lovely voice. This time round, her concert had a band added to it..but personally I'd rather much prefer the make-up of instruments from her previous concert that I attended last year, just a string ensemble and her on the piano. During this Aug concert, I think the band was kinda drowning her out at some parts.

Wish the "Beautiful Seed" album had been sold prior to the concert...a concert's always so much more enjoyable when you're able to sing & hum along with the singer. But all in all, still a good concert.

Some pictures taken during the concert from her blog (http://corrinemay.blogspot.com/), since we were told like 1000 000 times that 'no photography is allowed during the concert'.. :P

CHS Drama Fest @ Victoria Theatre

Was quite happy & proud of the fact that I managed to nag until about 20 people from my class bought tickets for the drama festival. I suppose I can't tell if every one of the 20 people actually turned up, but at least they showed some kinda interest/succumbed to my nagging to go, which I think is a good sign of support for the guys from our class who were involved. So yay :)

So naturally, the act that I was most looking forward to was the SLB hip hop dance, coz that's the item in which my guys were involved in. And yup, I totally enjoyed it! I think hip hop is one of those genres of dance which is really hard to look good in, and you gotta have a certain flaire and attitude to be able to pull it off well. Brought along a few gerberras for the hip hop group..think it's always nice for performers to receive flowers :) So yup, well done CH and J, proud of you guys ;)

The other act that I really enjoyed was the Eng Drama presentation of "Animal Farm". Certainly one of the best performances of the night. :)

The rest were, mmmm, alright..though I found some stuff pretty funny.

Like the donkey that keeps getting pushed out in between acts....like how the pri. school children "swam" right back to the sampan that they were pushed out from amidst the imaginery big waves/storm and all...haha...

Oh, and the pri school kids look so cuuuuuute in those animal costumes!!!!

Really regret not bringing my camera, coz I didn't think I'd sit far front enough to snap good pictures. BUT, who would have guessed we'd be shifted to 3rd row from front! -.- Pek cek.
Had to settle for my lao cok cok 2 megapix camera phone without zoom function..

Hip hop item..See that super gigantic-eyes donkey on stage???

This was meant to be a pic with just CH and J...but, err, I guess the pic is self-explanatory ;)

Band concert @ Esplanade Concert Hall

Yup, yet another school production. Went mainly to support my 2 boys who were involved...felt that the previous band concert that I attended was a tat better. But oh well, it was nice watching my students on stage..both past and present ;)

NDP & CHS

Will let the collage tell of the morning's activities and celebrations...

To P, S and JH, proud of how you guys persisted and held up :)

After the parade, one of my students came to see me regarding make-up classes. Since we were gonna have a super long weekend, I offered to meet him on one of the days. But he turned down my offer. His words were "No no, cannot lah. You need to have time to yourself. Teachers have a life too you know."

Mmm, he's the first student to ever say that to me..and to be frank, I was a little touched by the maturity, thought and concern that he showed with that simple sentence.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that it's wrong of students to ask to see teachers after school hours, nor do I resent nor dread seeing students after school hours. In fact, I find that the best part of teaching, is to be able to spend time with much smaller groups of students, or have one-to-one sessions because it is really during those times where you get the opportunity to speak with them, and to understand a little more about them as a person. :)

But yeah, was very sweet of my student to say that...plus it also reminded me that, YES, I do need a life. Which was why I arranged a few meet-ups with some friends over the long long weekend..

Meet-ups over the super duper weekend

Made use of this super duper long weekend to arrange a few meet-ups with some of my old friends whom I had not met for some time. Was great catching up with Y and J..especially Y, whom I've not met since last year I think..she's currently doing a 2nd degree in Law in UK. J, my old JC friend, treated me to yummy mochi ice-cream at Ajisen, yum yum..

Being the ever patriotic Singaporean, I'd usually glue myself to the TV in the evening on 9th August. But this year, I omitted watching the NDP broadcast on TV ...for obvious reasons...

Went out in the evening instead to meet up with my gang of friends at this ulu little place called Dempsey's Hut which is at Minden Road. Apparently this is where the famous little PS Cafe is..haha, I didn't even know that until W told me about it after I came back from the gathering. Was also T's birthday :) Always remembered that her bday fell on National Day..super yummy brownie-cheese birthday cake we ate...yuummm...

The whole jing gang when I arrived..

YN, M, & I..

T the bday gal :) Happy bday T! She's one of the most garang among us....which is why she's an OBS instructor! Don't play play ah...
And this is J, an ex-journalist who's about to go to the US for her Masters. She's my next block neighbour too.. As one can see, she's happily trying out the different modes of her camera. Which got all of us started on taking black-&-white and Sepia shots after that.

One last pic before we went home..

And so....tomorrow's back to school...