Category Archives: Work

Japanese efficiency

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I reckon if I lived in Japan for just one year, I’ll come back a more productive worker.

Go on. I’ll wait while you run off to get a t-shirt.

Now, hands up if you made some kinda sound expressing amazement and approval after trying it for yourself.

Thought so. :p

I saw this yesterday at an English course, because the trainer wanted to encourage us to use a similar activity in the teaching of imperatives and procedural texts. Unsurprisingly, all of us were in awe after watching the video and we were thrilled when the trainer passed some t-shirts around for us to try out. After which, and rather unfortunately, that was all we could remember from the course.

So, overall course objectives? Not met. But, impact? Really high.

Where I’m almost at the breaking point

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You know the problem with teaching? Be in it too long, and you’ll start talking to everyone as though they’re your students. It’s funny at first, until it becomes condescending and downright grating.

Needless to say, I was at the receiving end today. And it seriously drove me insane. But unlike my previous job, something tells me that my superiors here will not appreciate my candour, so I had no choice but to struggle to hold my tongue. And thus begins the first part of my rant about working with people who have always been sheltered by the civil service.

THEY. ARE. TOO. RIGID.

Of course, I start to rationalise (as I always do) that the civil service serves a much bigger target audience compared to the private sector who has a lot fewer stakeholders. Admittedly, proper “systems” and “processes” will need to be in place in order to ensure the smooth running of things. However, being in the “system” for too long, you’ll naturally become one with the “system”. You end up running things in such a way that there becomes very little tolerance for alternative solutions. Even though the end product is still THE SAME.

And it confounds me. If there’s only one way of doing something, why are we given options in the first place? Why offer us this false hope of flexibility? Are you just trying to make us succumb without appearing too dictatorial? And why isn’t taking the initiative more appreciated? Why does everything have to go through the channels first? Am I not mature/responsible/capable enough to make a decision? Am I beginning to sound a tad bitter?

Breathe. BREATHE.

The second part was already touched on earlier in the opening paragraph. Wherein I felt like a 10-year-old while being talked down to. (Oh please tell me again how to get it done? Cos I was totally playing with my hair the first 3 times.) It made me feel like I was working for my mother*! Oh. My. Heck. Thankfully, this doesn’t happen often, but when it does happen. OHHHH BOY. I can literally feel the blood pressure rising.

*Bless her, cos my mother’s actually very easy-going and not difficult to work with at all. I was just trying to make a point.

Increasingly, I can’t help but wonder if this environment is suitable for me. I need to be in a place where I can work with learners who are more responsible. I need to be in a place where people are less concerned about ranking and more about moulding. And personally, I don’t know if I can continue teaching the same two subjects for the rest of my life, especially since I don’t see the syllabus changing drastically anytime soon. I don’t want to have to keep imparting the same bits of information each scholastic year. I want teaching to be more dynamic where I can continuously learn new things and be able to pass them on to my students (I guess this is why I’d originally chosen to teach Literature, since I know the text will change every few years). I guess most of all, I miss studying. I miss learning new things about the world. Sure, I could always read, but I hardly have time to sit down and indulge in a book from cover to cover. So trust me? That’s not a solution.

I think it’s clear what I need.

I need a break.

An historical German city and a naked chick

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Ahhh… Berlin. How interesting were you, in ways that we didn’t imagine.

Hello everyone. Yes, I’m back. And judging from the time that I’m posting this entry, you can imagine how early I slept when I got home yesterday. 8:30pm to be exact. I can safely say the jet lag is no longer an issue.

So after Prague (and yes, Dia – it was a detour to Prague but it was because we wanted to show the students the difference in development after WWII) we headed straight to Berlin, the main attraction of our trip. It was completely surreal seeing the remains of the Berlin Wall, walking through the Brandenburg Gate, going into the Reichstag, crossing Checkpoint Charlie, and visiting Humboldt University, where I felt completely mocked as I walked past the portraits of all their Nobel Laureate Winners (including one Albert Einstein). We also visited a few rather notorious sites, including Hitler’s burial grounds which is now a car park, and the hotel where Michael Jackson (RIP) dangled his kid from the balcony. And as though all that wasn’t already enough, the city also “gifted” us with a naked woman, who walked calmly through the park beside the Berliner Dom and Altes Museum and right past our bus. Naturally, everyone (especially the boys) was very excited and stole as many pictures as their fingers could click.

We visited a couple of museums where we could experience the life of Berliners during the GDR at the DDR Museum, and the Jewish Museum. The DDR Museum was extremely charming and interactive, and the Jewish Museum was particularly interesting. I was quite upset that we couldn’t spend more time wandering around. I would’ve loved to learn more about the life of Jews in Berlin, and how they overcame the challenges faced due to the War. There was also a special exhibition about the Jewish Dimension of Comic Art, which I knew Nessa & Dia would approve of and appreciate. From Berlin, we also went down to Potsdam (where we drove past a former KGB prison!) and dropped by Sanssouci Park and the Cecilienhof Palace, where the Potsdam Conference was held.

We had a couple of very good guides in Berlin. I’m a real sucker for Brit humour and two of the Walking Tour guides that we had (Barnaby and Nigel from Insider Tours) were extremely engaging and witty. The students were very enamoured by them and we always found them rushing to stay in front of the pack and close to the guides, rather than their usual habit of trailing behind. It kinda got me thinking that personality really counts when one’s trying to teach. I just hope I have enough of it.

I definitely need to go back to Berlin (and Germany). There was just not enough time for me to see everything in detail and enjoy the full offerings of the sights. And now that I have greater knowledge of the history of the country, I feel that I’ll be able to appreciate its culture and beauty even more. :)

Pictures coming soon!