Last of eViL Regime

The last period for today with 3 Sabar saw me teaching them a quick grammar on ayat penyata. I gave them three examples which I gained by asking for tidbits from the students.

"Ikbal, ada abang?"

"Ada."

"Nama dia apa?"

"Nape teacher nak tahu?"

"Teacher nak buat ayat."

"Haikal."

"Dah ada Haikal dalam kelas kita."

"Ikram. Nama dia Ikram Haikal."

"Okay."

I wrote on the whiteboard Ikram pemuda yang and I halted for ideas.

"Ikram pemuda yang apa, Ikbal?"

"Ikram pemuda yang pelik."

"Ada ke patut cakap macam tu tentang abang sendiri?" I tched.

"Aha! Ikram pemuda yang kacak macam adik dia!"

I laughed and finished the sentence with the word kacak. I stood back and savoured the masterpiece we've made. Okay, now for the second sentence.

I wrote Encik as the kids came and inquired, "Teacher, teacher, nak kene salin ke?" and the likes.

Ikbal piped. "Encik Ramli-"

And I wrote Ramli afterwards.

"Aha! Hebat kita, boleh teka apa teacher nak tulis!"

I grinned and decided against telling him the reality.

Fifteen minutes to the end of class and I finally got the kids to sit and write down the grammar notes. Raimi kept prancing up and down the front.

"Encik Rai... Oh, teacher tulis Ramli. Nasib baik bukan nama kita."

"Hmm?" I glanced at my writing and smirked at the second sentence of Encik Ramli terlantar di hospital. "Nak teacher tukar?" I wiped out the ml and readied my marker to change it as I gazed at him through the corner of my eyes.

His grinning figure jumped up in protest. "Jangan, teacher!"

I proceeded to ignore the objection. Now it reads Encik Raimi terlantar di hospital. I smirked victoriously.

Raimi came up and wiped his name out. I dutifully wrote it back.

He wiped.

I wrote.

He wiped.

I wrote and laughed.

He shook his head in defeat.

"Ikram pemuda yang kacak." I caught him reading softly.

"Raimi pemuda yang kacak." He reread and trailed off.

"Raimi pemuda yang kacak?" I smirked. "Nak teacher tukar?"

"Tak, tak." He grinned and walked back to his seat.

His objection was rather half-heartedly, but it's not nice to let kid's ego pummel upwards to the sky.

Ikbal and Atiq were taunting Musfirah at the back. I shooed the two boys back to their seats, consoled Musfirah and walked back in front.

In a matter of one minute, Khairuna called out. "Teacher, Musfirah nangis!"

I sighed and stared at the girl, head in her arms. Ikbal was standing in front, so I pushed him to squat along on the floor with me.

Raimi followed.

"Ikbal, Ikbal tu pengawas. Sepatutnya perangai baik sikit dari pelajar lain."

"Kita baik dah ni!"

"Nak nakal boleh, tapi jangan la usik budak perempuan. Sekarang dia dah nangis. Siapa yang nak pujuk dia? Ikbal atau Atiq?"

"Teacher la." Raimi piped out. "Teacher kan ibu. Ibu palsu dalam kelas."

I chuckled and stood up. I glanced at Musfirah and smiled kindly. She looked okay, fine, so I continued with the lesson.

Raimi was back on his seat, writing away. Suddenly he stood up and walked in front.

"Teacher, mana titik teacher?"

"Hmm?" I glanced at all the writings. No naughties wiped out any of my fullstops, so what's the problem?

"Tu, dekat Ikram tu tak de titik."

"Huruf i besar mana ada titik, Raimi."

"Ada benda atas dia tu."

"Benda ni?" I took the nearest marker [a red] and added two strokes of line.

"Ha! Baru betul!"

"Budak ni kan, cerewet betul."

He laughed.

Ikbal, who had just finished writing his notes and was up and about pranking on others, piped out. "Teacher, kenapa ada merah atas biru?"

"Cerewet sungguh!" I said to him. Ikbal laughed away.

Class ended.

As the kids scuttled by, passing me seeing them off, they held out their hands in salam. Ikbal held out his and he grabbed mine in an awkward authentic way of creative salam-ing. "Gini teacher, cara nak salam."

I shook my head at his antic. Raimi eyed him weirdly.

Baihaqi of 3 Amanah suddenly emerged. "Teacher! Penyapu kelas kita patah!"

"Hah?" Hands akimbo. "Patah? Baru semalam teacher beli! Macam mana boleh patah?"

"Entah la." He smiled sheepishly.

"Cari siapa yang buat. Sekarang jugak."

"Tak tahu sape."

"Tak kira. Cari sampai dapat."

And he left with the broken broom in tow.

Raimi, who was watching the whole scene, left me with these words of child wisdom. "Teacher, kenapa teacher garang? Garang macam singa."

Cat got my tongue.

Alright. I was hard on them these last two days. I'll be more patient starting tomorrow.

No more eViL gEniUs.