One of my Biggest Achievements

I was sorting through my emails and deleting emails from many years ago when I chanced upon this email which I had sent to a tuition centre in 2008. 

Reading my response brought back a few memories. 

:)

Here's the entry:  

Question: What would you consider as your biggest achievement and why?

 My biggest achievement is effectively reaching out to the students that I have taught in different yet, effective ways. For instance, I have been teaching this boy called Benedict since he was in Primary 3 in 2006 and when I first had him in class, he was a very reluctant learner and a difficult child to work with. He sulked, cried, fussed and simply refused to do work. However, I worked with him using both "hard" and "soft" methods and made him understand why his mother had enrolled him in the enrichment centre and what he should do to be a good student. Slowly but surely, he became less prickly and more receptive. Today (2008) as a Primary 5 student, he is a very earnest learner who is conscientious and tries his best for every exercise and asks questions when in doubt. I am very proud of him. Additionally, it is heart-warming that now, Benedict is very close to me and he comes to me to chat when we have some free time after his class is over. Making such meaningful connections with students and in the process, making positive differences through teaching, like the one mentioned, are my biggest and most fulfilling achievements to date. Last but not least, another aspect that I am certainly proud of is that my students stick with me for the long haul as they have fun learning together with me and they know that I am truly sincere in guiding them.

I remember Benedict fondly. 12 years have flown by swiftly. He is now (2020) 23 years old and I believe that he must be doing well in life. 

All the best to all the students whom I have taught before.

I wish you all well, always. :) 

What you see isn't what you see (POEM) by LMH

 What you see isn’t what you see (POEM)

© LMH

 

What you see are serene smiles

masking

tumultuous thoughts.

 

I am like a clown

with a smile plastered on its face

dancing on stage to laughter and applause

but

crying on the inside.

 

The heart bleeds.

The head hurts.

Tears well up but I blink them away

and put up a nonchalant front.

 

I smile at you, serenely.

 

But, hang on.

 

If you look more closely,

you will realise

what you see
isn’t what you see. 

©Free verse poem written by LMH from BUBBLING BRAIN - ENGLISH on 8 October 2020. All original content. Please do not reproduce in any form or anywhere else without getting explicit written permission from the writer of this piece of work. Plagiarism is a crime.

TJYJ's Impressive Primary 6 Preliminary Examination Results (2019) & Her PSLE Score (260, A* for English)

STELLAR RESULTS from TJYJ whom I taught since Primary 4 (2017). She progressed immensely under my care/ coaching and she performed very well for her Primary 6 (2019) Preliminary Examination! She scored 51/55 for Paper 1 which is beyond impressive!! 

She also performed well for Paper 2 with a score of 75/95. I was very proud of her! 

# # #

While I do not have a photograph of her wonderful PSLE results, I do have her score. She scored 260 for the PSLE and scored A* for English Language. 

Her proud and delighted father wrote a testimonial for me. :)
(However, I cannot locate the testimonial at the moment and so, I shall have to upload it later on.)

I am so proud of her as well for putting in such superb individual effort in her studies! Keep on going!! :)

 

LYKI's Stellar Primary 6 (2019) Preliminary Examination & Actual PSLE Results (244) :)

Another Late Post but better late than never! :) 

LYJI has been with me since Primary 2 if my memory serves me right. He has been trying hard. Over the years, he has shown good improvement in his grades for English Language.

He performed very well for Prelim Exam prior to the actual PSLE paper. He scored 26/28 for Booklet A and 53/67 for Booklet B. Thus, his total score for Paper 2 was 79/95 (83%).

He went on to do very well for the actual PSLE papers.

He scored 3 As and 1 A* and he scored 244 points.

Well Done! Thumbs Up!

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We are continuing with our sessions this year (2020) and he is doing fairly well as a Secondary One student in a very good secondary school.

Secondary School is way more challenging than Primary School and most students are shocked by the marked differences!

Unfortunately, there has been quite a fair bit of learning loss and much to catch up on this year (2020) due to the disruptions caused by a devastating pandemic. *sigh* 

Let us all persevere and keep our chins up despite fatigue and despair. 

 

LJYS's Significant 16.7% Improvement in her English Grade (Term 3, 2019)!

(Very) Late Post but better late than never! 

Student, LJYS, started lessons with me in Term 3 (2019) as her English results were not ideal despite having group tuition. Her father had gotten my contacts from his wife's friend. [CXH is the daughter of his wife's friend.]

She scored 20/30 for her Mini Test (Term 2, 2019) and her parents panicked as 67% is not ideal at all for a student in Primary 3. Lower Primary students should score 80% and above. 

After our sessions, she managed to pull her marks up by 5 points which is 16.6%!! 

What a significant improvement! Her parents were thrilled to see the improvement and I was elated to have been able to help. 

She is continuing her sessions with me and I am pleased to say that she is improving little by little. Her foundation is not that strong but we have to persevere and try our very best together as a team - student and teacher. :) 

She is in Primary 4 this year (2020) and I have informed her that Primary 5 and Primary 6 are very challenging years so that she is mentally prepared to work even harder. 

There really is no short cut to success. Really.

The tried and tested formula:

Put in good effort and work extremely hard to achieve one's goals.  

 

Conversations with My Students - MAY is the best Birthday Month

My dear student, LERN, is really adorable. She has really opened up to me and I feel immensely glad when she chats freely with me and wants me to stay longer with her after our sessions so that she can talk to me. 

# # # 

During our most recent session on Sunday (12 July 2020), she remarked, "May is the best birthday month!" 

I responded, "Why? Is it because you were born in May?" :)

She replied in a matter-of-fact manner, "May has the shortest spelling when it comes to months! Every single month has more than three letters. June and July have four letters!"

I went, "Uhuh..." 

She continued, "And I can spell 'May', I cannot spell 'January' and 'February' and 'September' is hard and I cannot remember 'December'." 

# # #

ME - Mind Blown + Face Palm *OMG* *TRUETHAT* 

ME - Makes mental note that she has to be tested on spelling for 'Months of the Year'

My Pride N Joy

My GOLD Trophy!! 

My dad unearthed this 'treasure' from the rest of the stuff at home and he cleaned it before passing it back to me! 

Oh, how joyous!! 

My Pride N Joy!!

Now, my gold (but not shiny anymore) trophy sits proudly on my desk to remind me that hard work pays off and that I love the English language so very much.

<3 <3 <3

Song on Repeat (for now) - Impossible Year Panic! At The Disco

Song on Repeat (for now) - Impossible Year by Panic! At The Disco

Stepping into 2020 has been most unusual and most interesting and most fluid and most disconcerting and most worrying and most unnerving on so many fronts. 

Everyone is aware of the C-virus. It is everywhere and anywhere - so BEWARE! We face a deluge of C-related news daily!

I chanced upon this song and it has been on repeat because the lyrics from the first stanza resonate with me so deeply. 

Moreover, Brendon Urie's voice is totally ASMR. He sings soooo well. The haunting music and well-written lyrics move me. 

And well, so far, 2020 has been an Impossible Year... 

Listen to it if you haven't. 

"Impossible Year"

There's no sunshine

This impossible year

Only black days and sky grey

And clouds full of fear

And storms full of sorrow

That won't disappear

Just typhoons and monsoons

This impossible year

https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/panicatthedisco/impossibleyear.html

It's a lovely and heartfelt song. 


And... 
We shall rise for as per Ernest Hemingway has entitled one of his best books ever -- The Sun Also Rises!
Like the sun that (also) rises, we shall rise and make this Impossible Year --> I M Possible. 

To my homies: Hang in there. We are in this together and we shall get out of it together. 

Of Vaulting Ambition & (Harsh) Reality

Of Vaulting Ambition & (Harsh) Reality -
Lantern Making using Red Packets

A week or so before Chinese New Year 2020, Dear Son came back home with a 'parent-child' project. We (actually it means I myself) were supposed to make a lantern using red packets. 

"Mummy," he yelled excitedly in his still-baby voice, "do you have red packets? Teacher says that I need a lot of red packets to make a lantern."

My heart sank like the Titanic. "Another project? Another art-and-craft thingy? A lot of red packets?!" I thought wearily. 

I told him, "We have to do research first because prior to making the lantern, we have to find a lantern that we can make. We need to learn the steps to make it. Let's do this step by step. Follow my instructions." We were on a mission! 

We browsed YouTube for ideas. Dear Son, being the ambitious child with high self-esteem that is beyond the charts, decided that we should make a huge lantern using 48 red packets. 

I gawped at him and reasoned as calmly as I could, "How about no?" That lantern was magnificent. It was ginormous. It would take ages. It would be a struggle to make. It would drive me nuts. So, how about no? 

Finally, we settled for a small lantern using 5 red packets. That's a 'huge discount' off 48 red packets, yes? After drawing lines, folding edges, grappling with stapler, searching for red string... the lantern - our lantern (actually my lantern) - was "born". 

And here it is: 

The Lantern - Our Lantern (which is actually My Lantern)

So, what do you think? :)
Decent enough, I suppose? :) 

Conversations with My Students - Social Distancing

A huge perk of teaching is that I get to meet plenty of interesting students. My students, honestly, add A Rainbow Of Colour into my life. They are a funny bunch. Every student has his/her quirks and I am privileged that they feel comfortable enough with me to joke around. I am thankful for the rapport that we have because good rapport is priceless. 

###        ###        ###        

The corona-virus is driving everyone up the wall. There is a deluge of depressing news about the rapidly increasing numbers of cases and sadly, of deaths too. Measures to help to safeguard our communities and health have been implemented.

One of the means is Social Distancing.


Here's what happened just a few days ago.

ME: Here are your worksheets. We shall be focusing on using P-E-A* method today. Read the passage first and look up all unfamiliar words as always. 

Student, LPYC, sits bolt upright on her chair and stares in disdain at the two papers before her. She reads them while sitting in this stiff position and is pretty far away from both the desk and her worksheets. 

ME: *looks at her in amusement* Are you socially distancing yourself from your worksheets (too)? 

LPYC: *bursts into laughter* 

ME: *raises and eyebrow* *grins* 



* P-E-A method refers to Point - Evidence - Analysis used for English Literature 

CXH's A for English (Mid-Year 2019, Secondary 1)

CXH, who has been with me since P2, performed very well for Secondary One Level, Mid-Year 2019 examination. She has been consistently attaining As in her Primary School and I am beyond elated that she is progressing well in Secondary School. 

Her excellent grades shown here are a testament to how talented and studious she is! Keep up the wonderful work and excellent effort, my deer*!! :) 

*She knows why she's my "deer" and not my dear! ;)  

Oops... I just realised that I have posted this before but... oh well... never mind...
The previous post can be found here: 

http://bubblingbrain-english.blogspot.com/2019/06/progress-report-mid-year-result-slip.html

LYJI's P5 (2018), P6 (2019) and PSLE results (2019) :)

LYJI has been with me since P2 if I remember correctly and he has performed very well for his PSLE (2019). 

His grades for English improved quite a bit from P2 to P5. He managed to push his grade to As for his English papers.
In P6, he managed to maintain good As throughout the year.
At the crucial PSLE, he managed to bag an A for English subject too!How awesome!
His aggregate is excellent too.
I am thrilled that we have worked well together.
I wish him all the best in his new chapter of life as a Secondary One student in 2020. 

:) :) :)