Teacher's First Day

I am so tired.

I've got four classes to teach; 4 Ikhlas, 3 Ehsan, 3 Sabar and 3 Amanah and I teach 3 subjects; English, Physical Education and Art.

Since today is the first day of work, I excused myself for having to calm my nerves. I was very early for my first class [4 Ikhlas] and had to hang around the ladies because I was too dignified to be found squawking in front of a class full with students and a male teacher.

4 Ikhlas wasn't bad. Literally, they were Class A, so the students were quite well-mannered and were pretty much loquacious. The first thing they said when they saw me entering the class was, "How old are you?"

And they soon bombarded me with "Are you married?", "You've got a boyfriend?" and the likes.

Ah, children. I forgot what it was like to be naive.

What Teacher Atiqah did?

1. Assessed the student's progression in speaking English by having them introducing themselves deliberately.
2. Assessed the student's progression in vocabulary, writing English and grammars by having a quiz, which involves making simple sentences, filling blanks and usage of vocabulary.

Afterwards, I sauntered towards the canteen for a much needed bottle of water.

Second class today was 3 Ehsan and they gave me a pretty bad impression of the lot. Literally, they're Class C. C for chaotic.

It was really hard to get them under control. As I interviewed the girls, the boys were running around, making riot and picking up fights. I counted 5 times I had to pull them off during the one hour class period.

And as I interviewed the boys, the girls were minding their own fish market, chattering like morning birds. I forgot how I used to drive my teachers against the wall.

At 12.30, as I finished my first meal of the day [2 kuihs and an over-sweetened iced Milo, RM1.40], Ustaz Rashid called and gave supportive remarks of my noble job as a teacher.

I so badly want to sleep.

After solat, I've another class with the 3 Ehsan kids. Arts.

Now, Atiqah was never known for her prowess in art and craft. The best she could do is draw weird-looking human. Nor is she capable of colouring, much less mark coloured pictures from students.

And origami? Well, she used to make those paper stork, simple basket and paper planes to be flown whenever she got bored with Head Student's speech in monthly prefect meeting.

I simply had no idea what to do in Arts class. I even considered calling mom.

So I entered the class, addressed the kids and started writing on the board. Students buzzed with, "Teacher, why are you writing in Art class?"

"Okay, class. State a colour."

"Pink!"

I grimaced.

"Green!" Marwan piped out from the back of class.

"Good. Now state a shape."

"Love shape!" Nurin said.

Dude. "Others?"

"Square!"

"Okay."

Now the board reads:

Pendidikan Seni

Aktiviti: Melukis dan mewarna

Tema: Hijau dan segi empat

I squatted in front of Danish's table and attracted 5 boys. "Now, I want you to free-draw with green and square in it. Like this. I'm going to draw my dad-"

I borrowed Muallimah Wardah's 4-in-1 pen earlier this morning [Teacher Atiqah was clever, going to school without even a pencil case].

I used the black ink and started to draw Papa's head and neck, eyeless since they were hidden behind his rectangle spectacles.

"See? He's got a rectangle spectacles."

"Wow, teacher! Nice hair."

"Haha. Now, my dad wore a shirt-" Green ink to draw a square, a small triangle on each side for his t-shirt.

"See? Green and square. Any colour can also be used, as long as there's green and quadrangle in the drawing."

Proceed to use blue ink for Papa's pants and red for his shoes. "Understood?"

"Yeah. Teacher, can we borrow that pen?"

Ah, children. I forgot what it's like to be amazed by minial things.

After that, I went to teach the girls [two small groups] and two small groups for the boys. I also managed to draw a green truck, a green rocket on blast and a green square fish in a black rectangle aquarium.

Not bad. As I sauntered towards other students, I could see boisterous boys determined to finish their drawings without much care for my watchful eyes.

They were still not sitting at their respective places, but I'm not whining. Hope tomorrow will be better.

p/s: Sore throat. Need endless supply of tamarind juice.