What A Day!

Hurray For Good Syllabi Changes
It has been quite a while since I last checked on what was going on in our education system. But since I think I am gonna teach again (after a lapse of a year and getting rusty), I decided to take a good look at what is going on.

And BOY AM I really excited. There are many changes and the international schools/IP schools are variously adopting different routes of academic advancement.

That means different kinds of syllabi (in a sorta way). Like the IB, for one.

The GCE 'O' level has remained largely the same except that some of the pure science subjects now come with SPA and History has a World Affairs component that stretches from Europe and the Americas to Africa and the Middle East.

Too bad they dont have a Business Studies module and it is still POA.

But the biggest changes yet must be at the JC level. I am impressed that they have a "Knowledge And Inquiry" module which is like the "Thinking Skills" one offered at Advanced level in the UK. Proteomics and Pharmaceutical Chemistry . Really profound!

But I think the Economics module has seen so much more revamp than during my time. It seems less micro , more relevant, more practicable and thus, less theoretical modelly stuff. Most subjects are offered to three varying degrees of difficulty, H1, H2 and H3.

Don't Just Follow Law, Or Did You Just Make Up Your Own Law
While I am excited by the curriculum, I am not at all excited by bureaucracy. It seems that it is the international school policy that I need to be registered as a teacher first, a must which even MOE doesn't insist on except for their substitute teachers in the government schools.

That would mean that the aforesaid international school has full discretion to recruit their teachers which this school isn't.

As you know, the last Chinese New Year when I did my spring cleaning and also because I sold me place, I had inadvertently trashed the brown envelope holding all my certificates.

Like I thrashed my mistakenly pawn ticket and got myself into a fix, having to pay for a Commisioner Of Oath's declaration and certification.

All I could proffer was this: if the school could hire me based on how I perform over a period (and that means allowing time for settling down, getting oriented and used to the routine and school environs) rather than on paper credentials.

They could dismiss moi or moi could dismiss himself. I mean I have a conscience too. And I do suppose the "evaluation" goes both ways. The school me and me the school. Either one not up to par and I go.

Surfing Wireless Splitting Headaches At Cold And Noise Spots
At this community library, they have held enough events to disrupt all the work I wanna get down to doing.

Just as I arrived and was settling down to me work, wiring up my notebook to the powerpoint and all, I was promptly told to vacate the premises as they have an upcoming event .

Right after I got my cuppa ice-blended with an ice-cream scoop.

I don't bring along an extension cord (enough stuff to lug along already) and the power point is too far away from moi (my battery is perpetually flat and I do have a spare but even that is not enough - read: very short battery usage time because of voluminous myriad stuff done on me notebook).

They offered me a lounge seat at the library area rather than the cafe area but I can't consume drinks there and me ice-cream is still in one big lop.

Not to mention the glare at some of the al-fresco cafe spots that render me screens virtually invisible and if I happen to be in the vicinity of another "hotspot", fine. But if not, OH WELL!

These are eating establishments , not work stations, where there are so MANY people (especially McDonalds and some of the cafes), and they move around a lot, the staff move around a lot (clearing thrash , cleaning and so on) and the noise from yakking to music.

Ma New Home For The 7th Time
I have bade Doray goodbye (on the sly and in my heart of course) and move on. I hope you have too, Doray! I ain't paying you the half month rent. As I said Nora, the agent and your friend, was duty bound to find the next room for moi minus HER COMMISSION CHARGES.

Where I am now, it is the kinda place I would do my house up in the exact same tasteful decor. And that queen bed.........Simply heavenly slumber and good night's rest.