A Small Taste of SK Pegoh

   Let me talk  a little bit about SK Pegoh. The place where I am currently doing my teaching practice.

   It's a small school. By small, I mean with a population of 73 pupils. The biggest number of pupils in a class is 18 in Standard 6, and 7- yes, 7 in Standard 2. There were 12 teachers, but with our arrival and that of another new teacher, the teaching staff currently consists of 15 people. 6 male teachers and 9 ladies.

   I thought the school I went to for SBE was small, with 308 pupils, but this school beats all the small schools I know. The Head told us that it's under-enrolled, but I'm not sure for what reason. Maybe because there are so many schools in Alor Gajah? I don't know.

   The school is quite beautiful, in my view. It's very clean, and I especially love looking at the surroundings just after the rain has stopped. Everything looks so fresh and clean. It's small, with two double-storey buildings- 1 for classes (Standard 1 to Standard 5) and the other for the office, library, Standard 6 class, and Science lab. There's a small building that house the computer lab, and the canteen. And that's it. Yeah.

   I teach two classes. 2 Bijak and 3 Cerdik. I teach two subjects. Art and English.

   I teach Art to 2 Bijak. there are seven of them. Three girls and four boys. Once, one of them was absent, so only six were left. Six pupils. I felt like I was doing home tuition, haha. They are such cuties, though. Judging from my friends' stories about them, I think Standard 2 pupils a.k.a. 8-year-olds are all generally cutie pies who are in the stage where everything their teacher does is incredible and amazing. They admire you so much that you can help feeling flattered and like going to their class. I guess the small number of these bunch in my class helps too. It's easy to focus your attention on each and every one of them, and it's also so easy to get them to do their work. Let's just say it, I love them.

   I teach both English and Art to 3 Cerdik. Now these people are a different story. There are 11 of them, but by the time I leave their class each day, it feels like I've been trampled by 100 kids. Well, no, perhaps that's not true, but they do take a lot of energy to handle. I know I shouldn't be saying this, when some of my friends have to handle up to 40 pupils in one class, but I guess each to their own, huh? They fight a lot, and just cannot stop saying bad words to each other (which really gets on my nerves for some reason).

   But there are some really clever ones, and the others are okay. Just one or two who need pushing, and there's one particularly lazy boy who I would love to (but will never do of course), using my supervisor's words, kick his ass! Yes, my lecturer said that, hehe. But she also said that I have to find a way to make him buck up a bit. As Mdm J. said, if no one does anything to help him, he'll be the one who'll cry and the end, wondering why nobody ever forced him to learn and let him end up as a no-good-for-nothing.

   The good thing about small schools is that you find it easy to remember the names of most of the children. i probably remember half their names by now, and it's also less embarrassing when you can remember the names of the teachers at one go!

   So that's SK Pegoh. No pictures yet, I'm afraid, since I don't have a USB cable, but wait for it. Soon. Soon.

   p.s. Alor Gajah was flooded to day. It rained non-stop for two days, and we couldn't get to school.