Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge Him,
and He will make your paths straight.
[NIV]
New phase. More changes.
What would the future bring?
PROFILE
ENTRIES
MEMORIES
TAGGIES
= P R O F I L E =
Joyz
03 February
Monday, August 27, 2007 Feverish
I have finally fallen ill - after all the late nights of marking. Come to think of it, I didn't really mark until that late - or at least as late as I used to. I guess it's accumulative. Thankfully, the deadline has been extended to this Wednesday.
I had fever twice yesterday and once early this morning. My head's throbbing badly too. I wonder if I should drive myself to the clinic later even though it's just a 15-minute walk. It's raining right now actually. Hm... I think I'll wait till noon. If it rains, I'll drive. If the rain stops by then, I'll walk there.
I wonder if it's raining over at Alexandra Road now. If it is, the emergency exercise probably has been postponed. I was supposed to be part of Warden Team 1 - those who rush to the accident scene to save the injured (if any) and to cordon off the whole area. It's quite fun. I thought I'd missed it now that I'm on medical leave. Looks like I still have a chance to be part of it. Heh heh. I wonder when they'll postpone the emergency practice to.
Hm, okay. My headache seems to be getting worse. I guess I can't stare at the bright screen for too long. Well, I'll blog again when I feel better or something. Ciao.
jOyZ blogged at 11:15 AM
~~~~~~
Sunday, August 26, 2007 지금 사랑 Ji Geum Sa Rang - 이동건 Lee Dong Gun
Here's my favourite eye candy's (이동건 Lee Dong Gun) latest song: 지금 사랑 Ji Geum Sa Rang. I feel it sounds rather French possibly because the harmonica is used. Well, it sounds like the harmonica. Or, it could be the accordion. Heh.
The song is from his latest movie 지금 사랑하는 사람과 살고 있습니까?Changing Partners. Haha... so if you aren't interested in him, don't click on it! (;
I hope the DVD for the movie comes out soon though. They take forever to do such things. -_-
jOyZ blogged at 10:51 PM
~~~~~~
Three Cheena Songs
Here are the three mandarin songs which I like best from 张惠妹's latest album, Star. If you like her voice and songs, enjoy! If not, well, don't click on them! d;
By the way, the third song in this entry is written by Jay Chou. I can't remember if he wrote the lyrics or the melody. Oh well! It doesn't stop me from enjoying the music. La la la...
AT LAST! The GCE 'O' Level EL Oral Examinations are OVER! FINALLY OVER, OVER, OVER! OVERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!! RARH!!!!!
Forgive me for my hysterics. It's been an extremely agonizing week - thanks to some really terrifying reading from some of the private candidates. I cringed at each horrific pronunciation - some of which were completely unrecognisable.
I know. I'm supposed to be more sympathetic here. But I can't! It's been too traumatising. Ten afternoons for the past 2 weeks sacrificed for these candidates. The least they could do was BE PREPARED for the examination. *slaps forehead* Some just couldn't speak, except say things like, "I'm sorry. I'm very nervous. I'm sorry."
I'm sorry, too. All the 'sorry's you say to us - no matter how perfectly your 'sorry's are enunciated - can't get you a pass for your oral.
It's been just a total nightmare having all my ten afternoons taken up by EL oral examination. That's about 30 hours of my life, my youth (or what's left of it) - gone forever.
With two marathons (PPR3 M-ing Marathon and EL Oral Exam Marathon) over, I can finally resume my 4NA Preliminary M-ing Marathon. Yes, we teachers do several marathons at one go. We are almost super-humans. Almost. I just cannot be marking like a half-crazed witch at night (when I'm supposed to be sleeping) and be all energetic and happy at work during the day. That would mean I'm not human.
Ah, so you've detected the sting of my grouchiness in my blog entry? Good for you. You must thank God that you're only reading this crap of a blog, and not talking face-to-face with me.
jOyZ blogged at 6:16 PM
~~~~~~
Kum Sia Ye Su!
Zhen'ai's MSN nick really tickled me: kum sia ye su hor wa HORLEEDEYS. LOL.
I know, I know. I shouldn't be advocating bad spelling here simply because I'm an English Language teacher. But it's really funny. I couldn't stop myself from guffawing when I saw her nickname. It really woke me up. Hahaha.
Anyway, I'm still up. Yeah. No prizes for guessing. I'm doing the M-marathon. M-ing away. It's too painful for me to even spell the word. x\
Bah. Back to work. I'll blog again some time later - if I'm not too exhausted. ;b
jOyZ blogged at 2:10 AM
~~~~~~
Monday, August 20, 2007 More Chocolate Ice-cream, Please
I feel kinda guilty because I haven't gone to the gym since last Saturday. Plus I just gobbled a cone of chocolate ice-cream a while ago. =\ Isn't chocolate supposed to make one feel better? It doesn't seem to work on me. =/ =\ Hm, maybe there wasn't enough chocolate in the ice-cream.
SIGH. And I have exactly one week left to finish marking the stack of preliminary papers. How am I going to finish the whole pile with all my afternoons occupied with the oral examination? =(
I guess I'm feeling generally lousy at the moment. So, this is a lousy entry. GAH.
More chocolate ice-cream, please.
jOyZ blogged at 7:04 PM
~~~~~~
Sunday, August 19, 2007 On Love And Such
As a schoolgirl, I looked upon some of my teachers who were unmarried and wondered why they were single. Was it because of their nasty personalities (some of them were really mean) such that they couldn't attract anyone? Or was it because they felt that having their own kids after getting married was something too much for them to handle - especially since they were teaching and disciplining other people's children everyday? They certainly didn't appear very busy back in those days - unlike teachers today.
Now as a teacher myself, I wonder if my pupils wonder the same things about me. Because I am such an anal teacher, who picks on my pupils all the time, I'm sure many of them criticise me behind my back: "She is such a ***** and a ***** and a *****! No wonder she is still single!" Heh heh. Nothing beats what I'd experienced as a contract teacher years ago actually - maybe that's why I'm still in this school. Honest to God, I don't blame them because they know not what they say. After all, they are still young - despite the fact that youngsters nowadays do know a lot more compared to those in my time. Still, knowing isn't enough. If one doesn't get to experience the joy or pain, it's really difficult to understand.
My ex-pupils used to urge me to get a boyfriend. Hahaha... cute kids. Well, it's really easier said than done in this fast-paced era for a working adult - especially more so for a teacher in Singapore. I have friends who are still single. Of course, there are those who are happily - or unhappily - married.
Have I ever fallen in love? Definitely. But that was a long time ago. So long ago that I've forgotten how it feels to be in love with someone. Work has taken so much toll on my personal life that it's hard to meet someone - let alone commit to a relationship.
I guess that's just one reason. The other is I think I have yet to find someone who could match up to the qualities of my ex-boyfriend. So what went wrong? Why did we break up if he were so fantastic? Was it because I was the nasty one? Hahaha... Well, far from it. We never quarrelled. He was the sweetest guy who was extremely understanding and, in return, I did my best to be likewise. Where some of my girl friends were complaining to me about how their boyfriends didn't spend enough time and attention on them, I understood that mine was busy with work and so on and so forth. We didn't meet up every day nor spoke on the phone every night, but we dated regularly enough and we always had fun together. He even introduced me to his mother and brother.
It seemed like the relationship was very stable and would work out - but it didn't. I'm not going to go into great details on the reasons here, but in general, it was due to inappropriate timing (which led on to several other reasons) and difference in religious beliefs. Of course, I was crushed that we decided to break up - after an extremely lengthy talk. At the end of it, he made a remark: "We're both very sad but I'm surprised you aren't in tears. You're stronger than I thought." I smiled at him - even though what I really wanted to do was to cry - and told him, "I guess you didn't know me well enough." With that, we parted ways.
That said, I must clarify that I am well over him and that he's married with kids today. Although we have lost touch over the years, I sincerely wish him and his family well.
Over the years, I have wondered at times if guys can move on more easily after a break-up. Of course, that would be a sweeping statement to make. I'm sure some guys don't while some girls do bounce back on their feet a lot more quickly to get back on the dating scene. I didn't exactly date a lot of guys after that, and those I went out with didn't stir my heart one bit. But, somehow, he had managed to find someone special.
Will I ever meet someone special enough to stir my heart? Seriously, I have no idea. With workload increasingly mounting and time not on my side, it's hard to imagine. Sure, there are many single people out there facing similar problems and have signed up with dating agencies in search for that special someone to spend the rest of their lives with, but somehow I feel it is still difficult. Being adults and having our own past relationships, there will be constant comparing - which is extremely exhausting. While it's easy to tell ourselves not to make any comparisons, the doing is tough. Also, I'm getting increasingly comfortable being single. I'm not sure, at this point, if I'm willing to compromise certain things in my life. Perhaps, when the right person comes along, I will be more than ready? Heh heh.
I guess a lot also depends on how idealistic the individual is. Despite being very jaded in certain aspects of my life, I think I'm still idealistic on love and such. Honestly, sometimes I think it's how females are created. In our hearts, we'll always wish for that Prince Charming who'd sweep us off our feet (read: romance!) and at the same time be that strong shelter to protect us from life's difficulties (read: trustworthiness and reliability).
Anyways, whether one is married or single, life still goes on. Doesn't it? ;)
jOyZ blogged at 10:56 AM
~~~~~~
Saturday, August 18, 2007 Examinations, Examinations... Wherefore Art Thou Examinations!
It's been a week since I last blogged. I've had a really busy week. Every day, I had to rush to another school with Azlina and Jolyn to conduct the GCE 'O' Level English Language Oral Examination. And every day, my team ended past 5pm - even as late as a quarter to six! I got home completely knocked out and unable to complete the target which I'd set for my heaps of marking.
That late session on Thursday was really the last straw. My team partner and I decided that we had to interrupt our candidates for three reasons.
Firstly, we need to be fair and kind to all candidates. Not everyone has an idea of how it feels to be the last candidate in an oral examination - watching your own friends entering the room and coming out after so long, and anxiously waiting for your turn to come. If we were to allow earlier candidates to ramble on senselessly, the poor last candidate has to wait for 3 whole hours (or even longer) before he or she gets to take the paper!
Secondly, we are actually saving the candidate from getting lousy grades by stopping him or her at the right time - that is, when he or she digresses - and either repeat the question or ask another question to help him or her to focus.
Last but not least, we need to stop ourselves from dozing off because, really, hearing irrelevant, boring stuffs really puts us off. Besides, after a long day of teaching, we don't even need melodious lullabies to lull our already-exhausted brains to rest, much less listen to monotonous monologues.
It makes me wonder how English Language teachers of other schools have prepared their pupils for this examination. As a teacher, I have taught my pupils what I expect to hear as an examiner. I'm sure other teachers do too. But herein lies the problem: Are we having different expectations as examiners? When a teacher of another school conducts the oral examination in my school, will he or she assess my pupils according to how he or she has taught his or her own pupils or how my colleagues in my school and I have taught our pupils? How do we know that all teachers in Singapore have taught the same things to our pupils?
And it's evident that we don't. If it were so, my team partner and I wouldn't be having such a hard time during the oral examination. =\
This brings me to the relevance of the oral briefing which all appointed EL oral examiners have to attend every year. Year in year out, we're being reminded of how to assess the candidates when what we really need is to be reminded of how NOT to encourage our pupils to ramble on and on senselessly. Why? Well, scroll back to read the three VERY REASONABLE AND BENEFICIAL explanations stated earlier. Isn't it just GOOD SENSE?
Because, in all honesty, as oral examiners, most (if not all of us) already know what grade to award to the candidate within the first 3 minutes of his or her reading and/or yakking. I think teachers should teach our pupils HOW TO FOCUS ON THE QUESTION ASKED (without digressing senselessly) rather than encouraging our pupils to insist on wanting to say what they have come up with during the 10 minutes of silent preparation.
Imagine a certain scenario: For picture discussion, a candidate answers the examiner's question in a couple of sentences without much elaboration and goes on to give irrelevant details of the peripherals of the picture (eg. how sunny the sky is and how green the grass is, and so on and forth). What the... ?!?!??!! How in the world do all these details answer the question?! If they do help in some ways in answering the question posed, fair enough.
But get this: If examiners do not even bother to interrupt the candidate, thus allowing him or her to ramble on senselessly, you can be sure that the marks awarded will be not impressive. On the other hand, if examiners do interrupt (I must emphasize: at the right time) and then repeat the question to help the candidate refocus, aren't we actually helping them to score better grades? There is a difference between heavy prompting and repeating of questions to help refocus the candidates, you know. A REALLY, REALLY BIG DIFFERENCE.
It works the same way for the conversation component - in fact, even more so. Why? Because it's here where most candidates have the tendency to go off tangent.
I had this candidate (from a couple of years back), whom upon being reminded of some upsetting past by an INNOCENT, HARMLESS examination question, got so affected that we couldn't make out whether she knew what she was saying because she was contradicting herself. Of course, we noticed that she was trying her best not to get affected, so we tried our best to understand her. At the end of the day though, we had to remind ourselves this was an examination and we were not from The Good Samaritans Examination Board of Assessment. We had already showed kindness by listening to her without trying to cut her off (which we thought might upset her even more). But you can be sure her marks weren't impressive. She passed definitely - since she was able to talk quite a bit and her sentence structures were pretty sound, but it wasn't the higher marks she was capable of getting. (Can you imagine how badly this candidate might have scored or failed if she had spoken in very bad sentence structures?!) As teachers, we could tell her potential. Unfortunately, examinations are all about making effective use of what you have learnt or prepared for an on-the-spot assessment like this. Examiners do not assess a candidate's potential, but his or her performance as exhibited.
In view of all this, it's really the teacher's responsibility to equip pupils with the skill to handle all sorts of situation - not merely rote and mindless learning. Naturally, we all know what a huge challenge this is because there are so many different kinds of learners with their own unique family background, personality and growing-up environment.
I can only pray that the examiners who had assessed my pupils during the GCE 'N' Level EL Oral Examination last month share my humble views. -_-
jOyZ blogged at 12:59 AM
~~~~~~
Saturday, August 11, 2007 我的家就在这里
I found this on YouTube. Oh my goodness! I found it so hilarious that I couldn't stop laughing! 周崇庆 can really hit high notes though. Enjoy! (;
jOyZ blogged at 3:17 PM
~~~~~~
Thursday, August 09, 2007 Much On My Mind
Ah, looks like I won't be able to meet my bestie today. She has to handle some family matters. So we've agreed to meet tomorrow for brunch, shopping and clubbing. I hope it materializes. (; Well, as for today, I can either rest and relax at home, and watch the An Inconvenient Truth DVD which I rented weeks ago, or see if I can meet up with any of the girls for tea or dinner. Then again, the sky looks pretty cloudy. I may just stay at home after all. Hah!
The National Day celebrations in school yesterday went pretty well. I had fun 'dancing' with Marilyn at the back of hall (as part of directing the choir in their movements), though we had quite a bit of interruption when the principals came with the PRC visitors. But I think Choir did very well. I am really proud of them - that they maintained their cool and continued singing even when the audience rushed up onto the stage to join them to sing. At first, I was worried that there might be a stampede of some kind and pupils would get hurt. Thankfully, nothing of the sort happened.
Unfortunately, we forgot to take photographs! How forgetful, right? Marilyn said that she took out her camera but left it on her table. We didn't realise the whole time - because we were so busy preparing Choir for their item - until after everything was over. GAH!
In any case, I think what I saw in the hall yesterday will be something I will remember for a long time. This was the first time I actually witnessed pupils enjoying the sing-along session. It was really very explosive. The principal from the visiting school said, "好一个火爆的演唱会!"
I think the selection of songs was good. (Kudos to the Choir, who selected the songs when I told them we were given only twenty minutes of singing.) It was a pity though that we didn't have the chance to sing some community songs like Singapore Town, Chan Mali Chan and Bunga Sayang. Still, it turned out well enough and I was glad to see most of the audience enjoying the sing-along.
I didn't get to watch all the items before Choir's segment, but I heard from Jolyn that everything went well. Hehe... she must be glad. Honestly, it is something to be really thankful about because the rehearsals and practices were really messy. But I guess that's how it usually is when it comes to the performing arts. Things don't get clearer and more organised until towards the end. The performance itself is the highest point of the excitement because anything can happen. It's a test of the performers' on-the-spot skill, wit and wisdom.
That is what I like about the performing arts! =) Even though Singapore still has a long way to go where this area is concerned, we are making progress and that is of the greatest importance: to always improve.
My dreams for Choir (in no particular order of preference): that they 1) can do an a cappella concert and 2) be part of a musical in time to come. Heh, I know. Massive efforts and collaboration from everywhere and everyone. And there's the planning, which is a big challenge itself. Well, I'm going to pray about it. If it's God's will and in His timing, it will happen.
Heh, this really reminds me of the days when all the young adults back in BOL prepared for the anniversary concert: from the brainstorming to the planning to the rehearsals. We had incredible fun working together - especially the dance rehearsals. It was just amazing. Back then, I was juggling with this and the teaching job. Ah, to be young again. HAHA.
Well, really, it's never too late to start on one's passion I guess. Some people are just fortunate enough to start doing what they like when they are young. Some are just not. I belong to the latter category. All my life, I'm just doing what my parents expect of me (though I'm sure I still fall short in several areas even as a daughter). Perhaps that is why I always feared doing what I like - the fear that they will reject what I like as worthless. Funny, isn't it? How I can be so affected by what my parents think - more than I would like or allow myself to. That's why sometimes I envy my own pupils - especially those with parents who support and allow their children to develop their passion in something!
After being years on this job, I've come to realise how important parents are to their children - whether any of them like it or not. Children grow up to become what they are or will become according to the family upbringing. And this ultimately affects a country's well-being.
Speaking of which, it's Singapore's birthday today. Well, here's wishing my beloved country a very happy 42nd year! May we continue to be a stable society. =)
HAPPYBIRTHDAY, SINGAPORE!!!
jOyZ blogged at 10:22 AM
~~~~~~
Tuesday, August 07, 2007 Weekend Bliss
The long weekend is almost upon us! I can't wait!!! It's sheer happiness! It's pure bliss! Hahahah!
And there are no lessons tomorrow! Woots!
Okayyy!!! I know, I know. I sound like my pupils. ;p Hey, I'm still very much human (despite acknowledging the fact that I'm a terribly anal and sadistic teacher to my pupils). No matter how old one gets, I'm sure one still wants to have fun and enjoyment. I know I do. ;)
I'm really glad I've finished setting the EL Preliminary paper. I promised to submit a flawless paper on Monday. Well, it was nearly flawless - Yani found one typo error. And - I really have to take my hat off to her - she could even tell that two questions were of a different font size compared to the rest of the paper. Okay, that didn't sound impressive enough, but read this: the difference in size was a mere 0.5!!! (Size 11 - Size 10.5) I was really amazed - especially when I was so sure I'd made sure the font size was consistent for the entire paper! Haha!
Anyway, that was that. I slept at 5am on Monday morning just to complete the whole thing. Woo, and I only made like two errors. So, I'm happy. Terribly tired, but happy. ;)
The best thing is my bestie is touching home ground in a few hours' time! She wants to go clubbing on Thursday night, but I'm not sure if it's a good idea since it's National Day and the parade is taking place at Marina this year. The traffic on the roads will be a total nightmare, I'm sure. Hm, I'll persuade her to go on a different night.
Oh yes, I'm thinking of going on a short trip with my bestie during the one-week September break too. I have always been going overseas during the months of June, November and December. It will be good to go somewhere in September for once.
There's dinner tomorrow evening with Cheryl and Hwei Leng, whom I haven't seen since my birthday, I think. Haha. Oh, I think we'll be eating North Indian cuisine. Spicy stuff, I heard. ;o
Ah, I really can't wait for this weekend to come. I'm going to rest and have as much fun as possible. Come Monday (13 August) I'll be completely tied up with the GCE 'O' Level EL Oral Examination for TWO WHOLE WEEKS! GAH! So horrifying. It's no fun sitting there, listening to 12 to 13 candidates reading the SAME passage and interpreting the SAME picture over and over again. xO Then, with the EL Preliminary examination papers on 15 August, I will be going on a marking marathon. Oral examination in the afternoon for 3 hours and then marking of examination scripts at night. GOOD GRIEF. I AM SO GOING TO HAVE FUN THIS LONG WEEKEND.
Honestly, TGIALW!!! =D Lord, please continue to bless Singapore!
Praise Him in the sanctuary! Praise Him everywhere we go!
jOyZ blogged at 8:37 PM
~~~~~~
Friday, August 03, 2007 Drowning?
Yeah, that's how I feel right now.
There are so many things to do that I feel woozy just trying to figure out which is the most urgent. X_x
Term 3 always speeds by so quickly. It's already Week 6 and next week, we're going to have a superbly long weekend because of National Day! I can't wait for it to arrive! It's about time we have a 4-day weekend!
Right. I must stop blogging and get back to reality.
Weep... I'm feeling so exhausted!
jOyZ blogged at 12:51 AM
~~~~~~
Wednesday, August 01, 2007 Tired...
I must be more tired than I realised. I'd decided to take a nap at about 7.30pm and didn't wake up until midnight! o_O
So, yeah. I haven't had my dinner yet, but I don't think I'm eating anything at this hour. I'm not feeling hungry at all.
I feel kinda guilty because I haven't gone to the gym since last Saturday. Plus I just gobbled a cone of chocolate ice-cream a while ago. =\ Isn't chocolate supposed to make one feel better? It doesn't seem to work on me. =/ =\ Hm, maybe there wasn't enough chocolate in the ice-cream.
As a schoolgirl, I looked upon some of my teachers who were unmarried and wondered why they were single. Was it because of their nasty personalities (some of them were really mean) such that they couldn't attract anyone? Or was it because they felt that having their own kids after getting married was something too much for them to handle - especially since they were teaching and disciplining other people's children everyday? They certainly didn't appear very busy back in those days - unlike teachers today.
Will I ever meet someone special enough to stir my heart? Seriously, I have no idea. With workload increasingly mounting and time not on my side, it's hard to imagine. Sure, there are many single people out there facing similar problems and have signed up with dating agencies in search for that special someone to spend the rest of their lives with, but somehow I feel it is still difficult. Being adults and having our own past relationships, there will be constant comparing - which is extremely exhausting. While it's easy to tell ourselves not to make any comparisons, the doing is tough. Also, I'm getting increasingly comfortable being single. I'm not sure, at this point, if I'm willing to compromise certain things in my life. Perhaps, when the right person comes along, I will be more than ready? Heh heh.
The best thing is my bestie is touching home ground in a few hours' time! She wants to go clubbing on Thursday night, but I'm not sure if it's a good idea since it's National Day and the parade is taking place at Marina this year. The traffic on the roads will be a total nightmare, I'm sure. Hm, I'll persuade her to go on a different night.
