Had another stint as a relief teacher again yesterday at the same primary school. Another teacher on medical leave. This time I had to take over a Primary Five class. I was rather horrified when I got the timetable as there was one period of PE (Physical Education).
I mean, I SO wasn't dressed for PE!!!! A sleeveless top, dark-coloured pair of jeans and heels? Erm, not quite PE attire. Apart from PE with this Pri 5 class, I was supposed to do Maths, English and Social Studies with them. I also had a one-hour period of Art class with a Primary One class.
The Primary One students were really cute. All these six-year-old miniatures running around. Haha. I didn't have an art lesson with them though. Their form teacher asked if they could use the time to finish up some maths worksheets which was perfectly fine with me! After they had finished their worksheets, I told them to take out a book to read. But after a short while, all these kids were scurrying around the classroom with little pieces of coloured paper.
I wondered what was happening and eventually found out from the kids that every time they finish reading a book, they can take a coloured paper star on which they write their name and the book title. After which, they'll paste the star on a big cardboard which was placed on the classroom door. So these kids were enthusiastically pasting their little stars.
The Primary Five class wasn't as bad as the Primary Three class I taught yesterday. Slightly more manageable. But still, a little bit of drama as two boys were at each other necks, irritating the hell out of each other. I threatened to send two of them out of the class and one started crying. I'm like, shit, someone's crying. Anyway, I didn't have the heart to send anyone out.
Kids don't understand that teachers were once children and that we know what silly tricks they have up their sleeves. They were passing little slips of paper around, thinking I couldn't see. I think they were hatching a plot amongst themselves to trick me into letting them do PE earlier. One boy came up to me at 5pm and said, "Miss Ho, it's PE time now."
I distinctly remembered PE being at 5:30pm and told him "I DON'T think so! Don't try to bluff me." He trooped back to his seat with a resigned look, much to the disappointment of the rest of the class. Haha.
During PE, I let them do their own thing. Those who wanted to play badminton did so, and those who wanted to play basketball went to the basketball court. Free and easy - I think they were most glad for that!
The primary school's such an innocent place. While I was at the General Office, two girls found 10cents and brought it to there. I haven't seen the likes of such behaviour in ages! It was quite refreshing.
Anyhow, it was a pretty enjoyable two days at the Primary School!
Posted by DSD at April 17, 2004 10:33 AM