My First Day At School... Was a Lot Better Than My First Day of SBE!

   And so... my first day of teaching practice Sekolah Kebangsaan Pegoh ended. Just like that.

   No. Not just like that. I've so much to do, and in such little time. My head is spinning, and I feel like throwing up, not to mention feeling nervous (something that won;t go away for some time, I'm sure). I think all teacher trainees go through it. I suppose it's normal.

   Today, my partner and I actually planned to go to school early, but we didn't expect the traffic to be quite so busy as it was. We arrived at 7.20 am, which was quite late for this school as they have daily programmes that start at 7 everyday. Yes. You read right. If I'm not mistaken, most of my friends' schools are also like that.

   As soon as we arrived, we met the Senior Assistant Teacher (or GPK 1 which stand for Guru Penolong Kanan 1), who talked to us for a while and promised to give us a short briefing after the assembly ended. Coincidentally, our first day at school was the opening ceremony for the NILAM programme at SKP. We received a small brochure for the programme (yay! One document for our portfolio) and exchanged brief greetings with some of the teachers.

   It was a relief to have my partner around. I can still remember how awful, lonely, miserable and out of place I felt during the first days of my SBE last year! This time, it was nice to have someone I know to talk to and share jokes and laughs from time to time. At least one doesn't feel so awkward to be 'the new guy'.

   I won't describe the NILAM ceremony, but it was quite simple. The pupils sat on chairs during the assembly. Not surprising of course- there are only 73 of them! They were quite some of the most well-behaved children I've seen so far, probably because there are so few of them and discipline is easier to handle.

   After the ceremony ended, we had our briefing with the GPK 1, who was very nice and straightforward. He helped lessen the anxiety that we had by assuring us that a small school would help to give us better control of the class, better attention from children and more.

   He assigned us to our respective classes.( Ahhhhh!!!!) I was assigned to teach English for Year 3 and Art for Year 2 and Year 3, while my partner was assigned to Year 4 English and Art for Year 4 and 5. The GPK 1 thought that it would be easier to assign one person for Level 1 pupils (Standard 1 to 3) and the other for Level 2 pupils (Year 4 to 6) as it would help to make us familiar with our pupils.

   Initially, our minor subject was Local Studies, but the GPK said that since there is only 1 class for each level, we would only have 9 or 10 hours per week each. So he requested that we change to Arts, as we could take four classes, which means that I would take 2 classes (four hours) and my partner would take another two (also four hours). This meant that I would have 12 hours since there are 8 hours for Level 1 English while my partner would have 7 hours as that is the allocated time for Level 2 English.

   We spent the rest of the day meeting our 'guru pembimbing' and the teachers from whom we would be taking over classes. We found out what topics they had already taught, and where we should pick up. We also looked at (and borrowed!) the yearly planner so that we could look at the topics and skills we would be teaching.

   In the afternoon, we had co-curricular activities for uniformed bodies and some games. Since there are so few pupils, the school only has a uniformed body- Scouts.

   Well, that's it for today. I'm afraid it's all rather dry and straightforward, as there are no pictures. I haven't had much time to take any, and my camera phone doesn't produce very good photos. I have plans to buy a camera, but that will have to wait!

   Tomorrow my partner and I have to enter relief classes! I wonder how we'll manage...

   Special thanks to my partner for being my partner! Haha. Insya-Allah things will be easier when one has a friend to talk to :D Let's help each other, ne! Ganbatte!