At Home

At home , at home, what do I do ?
I don't know for sure what I should do , what I should do !
I could laze around or spend the day around town,
At home , at home ,what do I do ?


At home , at home, what do I do ?
I don't know for sure what I should do, what should I do !
Indeed I could read a book and later cook my favourite food,
At home , at home, what do I do ?


At home ,at home, what do I do ?
I don't know for sure what I should do , what should I do !
I could say a little prayer , then spray my wall !
At home , at home, what do I do ?


At home , at home ,what do I do ?
I don't know for sure what I should do, what should I do !
I'll do my math and take a bath !
At home , at home , what should I do ?



aud

The Clock

I almost gave up today and Uncle Sonny knew it but he was very patient with me today . It was all because of a clock . I saw that he had a nice clock in his blog and I wanted one . He was kind enough even to email me a step by step guide just so that I could add a clock to my blog . Bless him for being really patient with me .
As we started off just now, everything was going on so fine until he got technical with me and I was like sweating my head off !!!! I mean he was just going too fast for me and suddenly I found that I just could not understand what he was trying to tell me . He kept telling me that I was doing fine , but deep down in my heart I was falling to pieces and yes just because of a clock !!! Laugh if you must , I felt like i was sitting for an exam !!!!!
He was patient and I even felt in that short time, I needed a break but NO , he told me to give it another shot . Imagine how many windows I had to open just to coy and paste the code . So , as we went on and on I got the hang of things and I told myself this is the one and only clock that I will add because the steps taken were tough for me . Well , as we finished copying and pasting the clock, I went to pray with my family . They said that when you pray, you have to pray with your heart and soul and also fervently but I was not doing any of those today , I mean I was praying but I was thinking of adding another clock to my blog . But this time I will add a digital one . Ha , as you can see I am brave now and no, I do not need the guide everything that I need to do , I have memorized it into my head .
After prayers .... yup , you guessed right . I switched on my computer, open the link to my blog and also the clock link and I proudly selected , copied and pasted the red digital clock into my blog . I am now a proud owner of two clocks now . The moral of this story is , you can do it and be PATIENT.

Why Alamanda And Not Audra ?

My sister asked me why I choosed to use Alamanda instead of my given name Audra . Well ,first things first, I was not sure about blogging until a friend told me to try it out and it's for free . I mean , how free can it get right ? Wrong . So here I am , to tell and explain. You see , when I satarted to blog , I felt that finally I could get my thoughts together and write away and also this is my chance to write .
Okay back to why I decided to use Alamanda instead of Audra . Here is the thing . Alamanda is a flower and as far I am concerned I have not seen any Alamanda flowers around and if I had seen one , I was not aware that , that was an Alamanda flower or plant . I kinda like the sound of it ALAMANDA. No , before you start I don't think I will want to name my daughter Alamanda !!!! But then again I like the sound of it . So I casually told my sister that Alamanda is quite special to me just as the students that I teach are to me . Belive me , they are no Roses , Carnations , Orchids or Lillies . To me they are just simly Alamanda . A rare kind . A kind where you want to nuture , develop , sharpen the edges and most of all to water them with love.

Nothing To Say

I have nothing to say,
Not even a few words ,
They come and go and they sure leave an impact in your life,
I have nothing to say.


I have nothing to say ,
One last hug and goodbye,
The sadness seeps but I know a future awaits ....... theirs
I have nothing to say.


I have nothing to say ,
Words can't come to mind,
I wish them well though its not much,
One last thing though I must say is ......... I did my best and served them well.

All Is Quiet ............................. Almost

All is quiet now ,
There is silence in the classroom.
All is quiet now ,
No more noise now .
All is quiet now,
As I lay my pen down, no more writing or marking.
All is quiet now,
The children have all gone.
All is quiet now,
No more playing in in the playground.
All is quiet now,
No more screaming , shouting or wailing.
All is quiet now,
No more jumping , hopping, skipping.
Everything stops shhhhhh .... all is quiet now.

Last Days And Rainy Days

Forget rainy days . It has nothing to do with last days . It has come to this . The day all teachers jump for joy . Yeah school's out people and the fun begins . Here is one teacher who jumps for joy but at the same time misses her students . I had tears in my eyes as I hugged them today for the last time . They were antsy alright . I took one last look not only at the classroom but one last look at all of my students . They will embark on a new journey , minus me .
I can see the hope in my students and the fun that they will have in a new environment . I really miss them . My hope for them is to never loose sight of all of the simple things in life and never to grow up too fast . I hope that they will not only learn but enjoy to the company of friends as well and in whatever they do . Most of all is the togetherness that they shall and will find in their friends . A friend asked me the other day what do I miss the most . I told her the simpleness of everything in life.
When I was a little girl , everything was simple but I know as we grew up and grew older, we changed . Change to become better . Change is good and so is motion . So , I wish all of my students all the very best .
As I reflect on all of the students that I have taught , they are all champions . I have given my all , my heart and soul to those children . Next year is approaching pretty fast and soon enough , I will get a new class and a new batch of students . The work continues and again it will be over soon even before I begin.
Once again , three cheers for my students ; 'Hip , Hip Hooray "! ( 3x ).

Colour Pencils And Dictionaries

So where do I begin ? I had one of the thoughest day today . It wasn't my good day really . I had things to do and one of them is to clear my name . It all started when the school had a special promotion on colour pencils and dictionaries . One golden rule to remember is "RECORD" . Why ? Well, normally when we accept money and order forms , details should be written down and kept in a very specail place and with this "RECORD", it is a form of protection for you .
As I collected and wrote down all the details , my life was a bliss . The plan was to receive these items , write down the student's name and make sure that these items are kept in their bags . Everything went on fine until............................................ I received a phone call the very same day after the students went home, from a parent complaining to me , telling me that her precious little daughter only brought home her dictionary minus her colour pencils. My heart sank . She was upset and demanded to know why . I explained to her and told her everything . Maybe she took it out from her school bag to try them out or just maybe someone took it out from her bag without her knowledge and took it home .
All the questions were drumming in my head . the parent later sms saying that she is not happy at all and she demanded her money back . I then told her to give me time till tomorrow in school . The next day arrived pretty soon . As soon as i reached school, I got the children to sit in a circle and empty out all the contents from their bags .My search began but there was nothing . I questioned the girl and I even said prayers .
She said she was aware that I gave her the colour pencils and the dictionary and she placed them into her bag but when she got home , the colour pencils were missing . My friend knew I was desprate to find them and I was pretty anxious. So instead of me moping around, I went for a meeting .After the meeting , I went back to class and again , I questioned my student . At this point ,I really was digging deeper because after I calmed down , something inside me told me to question the girl again .
I asked her again . Same answers but this time another student approached us as we were talking . Now , this is the part where the good light starts to shine . I found out that a little someone wanted to try out the new colour pencils from her but she told them "NO". So to cut the long story short , my Miss Drama Queen took the colour pencils ,home and the best part my Drama Queen was not feeling too well yesterday . So with that , I have been dragged through the mud . I've been had as the saying goes.
All is not lost , I made a call to Drama Queen's parents and I hope by tomorrow with fervent prayers , I will clear my name and get the colour pencils from her. As for my Drama Queen .... well she has another thing coming .
My Drama Queen was absent today .

Crash Tests And Entrance Tests

Today a group of my wonderful students attended an entrance test in one of the primary school nearby . I found out today that twelve of them went . So casually i asked most of them if they could do the test . One girl proudly said ' senang kacang teacher !' Another girl said that what ever that I had taught her was in the test and she said that she had a hundred percent . I remember when each of them first came to class , some were unable to say their ABC 's let alone count from one to ten and today this children of mine , with confidenced in their hearts , when full steam ahead to sit for the test .
Yes , I am very proud of all of them and one particular girl that I noticed when she first walked into my class was FA . Well , FA speaks only Bahasa and this is her first time in an English speaking kindergarten. Her first long sentence to me was 'Cikgu , saya tak tahu apa- apa , English pun saya tak tahu dan cikgu jangan tanya saya apa - apa '. Having said that she sat in a corner and sulked the whole day . Today , yup as I write this , I can proudly tell you that FA has gone through a major transformation . She now speaks English in class , Reads fluently in English and Bahasa , writes simple stories and she is an artist in her own right . I am so proud not only of her but of all of the others as well , who tried tirelessly not only to please me or to be my favourites but to show the whole wide world that they can do it and they did it !

Qiute By Accident

I became a teacher quite by accident . Like my sister , we ejoy trying out new things . I have never regretted since the day I decided to be a teacher . No doubt that we dont get paid that much but it was the joy that it brought me being a teacher . I am a Graphic Designer . Yup I could earn loads of money and buy designer stuff and changed my old is gold Proton Iswara to something more expensive , but I didn't want all of that . Though I still do have " what ifs " days . I count my blessings and thank God for this wonderful gift which he gave me and for that I will always be very thankful to HIM.
The first time was the hardest . With no experience, I went head on into the education field . I had to start somewhere even though my salary was just RM 400.00 . I took the job and I was determined to make it a success. I learned everything that I could . I observed how the teachers carried out their lessons and from there I moved on like a train with no breaks . I learned all that I could and soon I found out that it was not enough . I was thirsting for more .
I did the next best thing , I enrolled myself for some short courses during the holidays and I attended them for the next three years and at the same time I worked . It was pretty tough but I had loads of support from my family. I went on till I graduated . I worked on , and it has been thirteen wonderful years , With term breaks thrown in , who could ask for more ,
I had the chance too to work with special needs children from Down Syndrome to Autistic children .Wonderful but it was tough . So , now as I look back , I consider myself very lucky to be a teacher . What is in store for me ? Well I do have another plan up my sleeve . I have been toying with the idea for a long time now . No , I am not opening up my very own kindy ! I have a dream to be a certified teacher and help children with Autism , Dyslexia and ADD/ADHD. Hopefully , if there is a chance , I want to pursue this dream of mine and then I will be very satisfied .

Mr. Unsunshine.

I have this boy in my class, and you could say that he is quite cute !!! The only thing that was wrong with him was that, he does not have a smile for me in class . He looks like as if the whole wide world is upon his shoulders . It's true . I try to get him to smile but in vain .
If he wanted anything in class, I would always ask him to smile for me and when he did it , it was a forced kinda smile . I told him the other time that nothing would make me happier than to see him smile . He was always so uptight about something . Then , one day I found out . Each time when he has to attend Mandarin classes, he would tense up . The other thing was he was so afraid for his Mandarin spelling . So I had a talk with his teacher and told her maybe that she could go easy on him . No matter what I said to him , he will just cry .
As the months went by , no doubt , his confidence grew . He still does not smile or talk much. I on the other hand tried to get him out from what ever that is bothering him . It was not easy and it took some time . After being with me for the past 11 months , he has improved , gained confidence and scored 100% for his Mandarin exam . His results for the other subject were pretty good too. Now , with all the syllabus being completed and all , I have encouraged my students to bring a DVD from their house so that they can view it during CD time .
He decided to bring BEN 10 for us to watch and one day he came up to me and told me the whole story . I was amazed , because earlier on , he just refused to say three words to me and now he is standing in front of me and telling me what happen to Ben in the movie . I praised him for the short story telling and he gave me one of the most beautiful smile .

Mr Invisible

He loves to chat before class begins
and tell me where he's been,
and where he's going.

And sometimes I'll ask him questions
and he'll always have a bright retort.


But as soon as he hears
the sound of the bell,
he turns away and sits at his desk
in utter silence.


And I wonder what happened
to the friendly,earnest fellow
who liked to talk.

The Challenger

The mouth of this child,
is hostile and loud.
And she loves to challenge
each face in the crowd.


She's scared deep inside
yes, I know this is true,
and the anger is a front
that I just can't break through.


But I'll try everyday
with new hope and prayer
to reach for her
and to listen and care.

He's Number One

His will is all important,
not yours, not mine , just his.
He needs to be top dog , the boss,
even though he is no wiz.


He struts around like Number One,
while something inside smoulders
and I can feel the burdens,
he carries on his shoulders.

He's Likeable

He's one of my favourites,
though I couldn't say why.
It's not that he's brilliant
because he simply"gets by."


Its not that he's good
or handsome or quiet.
Yet I love when he says:
"Hey, teacher, I'll try it.


Ginger Farry

Yakety Yak

She's just about always talking,
she never comes up for air,
she interrupts each lessons,
I know she doesn't care.


Her notebooks are all empty;
her homework is never done.
And all she ever talks about
is, "are we having fun?"



I know I just don't get it,
the 'Valley Girl display,
but maybe I should listen,
to what she has to say.




Kathy Ryan

Four Boys And Two Gals

What do you get when you put four boys and two girls together ? Noise and more noise !!! Today I told my class that there will be no classwork . Instead of the usual hooray !! They said ' alamak teacher '. I wanted to see what will they do . So LMH , MW , AH, and IS got together and together, they decided to do a little role play among the boys . It came to be that LMH was to be the dino guy and the other three was to be the great Ultraman ! I could hear laughter and giggles . IS said to LMH that since he was going to be the dino guy , he must play the part well .. yup with sound effects and all .
At first it was a tiny growl and then it grew louder. Two girls at the back of the classroom started to giggle. Now as far as I know a giggle is suppose to be cute but THIS giggle was turned into laughter and it was really loud . I found myself laughing at them . So the the two girls , THU and NS decided to join in the role play . AH proudly stood up and said ' tak boleh , boys aje boleh main'. The two girls went 'ala bolehlah kalau tak boleh main NS bagi tau teacher '. They were at a tight spot and they had no choice . Once the four boys had some discussion with each other ,the green light was given .
They told the girls to follow their lead but NS adn THU had other plans . They told the boys "Kamu semua pergi selamatkan dunia , kami duduk rumah masak - masak untuk korang '. I wanted to laugh but I was controlling myself . Then MW got kinda irritated with the two girls . He said 'Mana ada cerita Utraman macam ni , takde pun girls duk rumah masak tau!'. I was observing them and I wanted to know how does this so call role play ends . They managed to come to some agreement and settled the whole issue . Done . No one got hurt or cried . As the boys went to their little corner , I heard AH said to the others 'girls susah la nak main asyik tukar cerita aje '.
As I observe my students both great and small . I use to wonder what will they be like twenty years from now . Will they get together and play 'ultraman ' again ? I think not . In my minds eye , all of these memories will always be with me till the end . There is never a dull moment being a kindergarten teacher.

The Slow , The Not So Fast And The Not So Furious

Ok what do I have to say . Well in each class there are the fast and the slow ones . They often get bullied by the fast ones . So as I would like all of my student to be The Fast .... It does not seem so but I put my trust in all of them and believe and hope that one day they will all be The Fast . I have been working with MW for the past year . He was actually in the morning class . The first time when I set my eyes on MW, he looked tiny for his age .
I later found out from his previous teacher that he was a December baby . Now being born in the last month of the year , usually they will say that December babies are pretty slow . I told myself that I have to wait and see if this is true . The first week of school was alright for me till it came to the class work . I noticed that MW seemed a little shy and he was unsure how to approach me in class . I left him for awhile to see to the others first and then I approached MW . I asked him a few questions and he just refused to answer me .
During a short break , I went over to the other building to see his former teacher and she told me that she normally put MW next to her and she did almost everything for him like holding his hand to write or helping him to count and she even stressed that I should also do the same . Now , I got myself thinking and I felt that yes , I could do that but at the same time I would also like him to be independent . I have to find a way or a solution to it quickly .
I did place him next to me for about 3 months and one fine day , MW's dad paid me a visit and he said that he would like MW to be transferred to the afternoon session as he just couldn't wake up in the morning . Before I go on , each morning not only MW arrives late to school but I also had to carry him out from the car and into the classroom . It was pretty tiring for me . He was small in size alright but he was also heavy .
So back to where I left off ... as he made his first day to school ,in the afternoon, he seemed cheerful and alert as well . From there , I started to encourage him to come to school and told how proud his dad was of him . He manage to do some of his class work and even though he struggled with his writing , I still gave him a star . I did not put too much pressure on him as I wanted him to believe in himself and that he can do it . Little by little he started to improve .During this time the other students have began to read , and he was still unsure and shy to do read .
I received another call from MW's dad and he was worried that MW refused to read and do his homework at home and that they (the parents) can't get him to sit to do his work . His dad was also worried that MW can't read . So I did the next best thing that I knew . Each time when I gave some homework to my class , I would sit with MW and guide him with his homework and I would also coach him from time to time on his reading . This went on for a few months, and slowly he began to read and improve . Wow ! I thought to myself . I decided to call MW's dad up and I spoke to him , to tell him about MW's progress. To my surprise , his dad has also been following up on MW's progress and he is so glad that MW has developed some positive vibes towards his work .
After working with MW all along , I can finally say that he is ready for standard one . He may not be the best or the most outstanding amongst all but I can tell you that whatever that he faces , he will be able to overcome them . If you could see him now, you would see a very loud young man in my class , a little taller now , and with so much confidence in him . So now , the slow is not so slow now and I really do hope that things will work out for him .

IN The Classroom

I am about to tell you about my two drama queens . Maybe you will like this story anyway I will leave it to you to decide . Please allow me to tell tell you a little bit about them . DS the ever loving one and IB the other queen . They both have beautiful eyes and smile but you must beware if you should come accross this two, please be very carefull ( highly dangerous ) . I'll tell you why . IB is very good at telling tales .
Here's why . One day , my principal asked IB how was her mother . She calmly replied that her mother had met with an accident and died . My principal was shocked to hear the news however sensing that something was amiss , my principal called up IB's dad and told him what IB said to her . He laughed his heart out . He told my principal that IB is a drama queen and she is good at making up stories . Well when I joined the school this year , I have been warned by everyone about her but that wasn't good enough for I had another drama queen in the class . They became very firm friends , rode in the same bus , went to the same day care center and did everything together .
So as the BOSS it was my duty to separate the two but no matter how hard I tried ,they would always find a way to speak to each other . One fine day DS ( yup the other drama queen ) asked me if I would like to have children like them . I was not surprised by this question . But before I could give her my answer , IB said that of course I wouln't want children like them because ... according to her and aptly put "We are driving her up the wall as it is "!
So I do have my fun days with them and this is the reason why I started to blog because stories in the classrom are hard to come by . I really would like to add their photographs into my blog , but sadly enough I don't own a digital camera and santa If you're reading this please do send a digital camera to me for this Christmas !!!!!

A Quiet Day

Today , I went to work just five minutes late and as I was getting out of my car , I noticed that *NF was staring at me . Normally when she arrives to school I will be there to welcome her . Today is a different day as I mentioned earlier , the concert is over so a few of my friends and me are just taking it easy . No more practices so ... its a quiet day .
As the children started to gather in the hall , the noises started to increase each to their own activity . I looked around , and I know that I will miss the whole bunch very soon . We have about two weeks of school and then it will be a long break . It was time to get into the class and everything seemed normal ,until .... *TR approached me and told me that *NA is crying .... hmmmmm . I asked her why and she said *NF does not want to be friends with her . To tell you the truth , they are so innocent and straight away I knew that I had to settle this 'thing' . I got the girls to be friends again but they were not happy . You should see the look on their faces !!!!! So with that aside , I began my class by singing some songs ... and *TST said she wanted to sing songs that are more challenging to her . She boasted and said that Twinkle , Twinlke Little Star are for babies ..... okay !!!
So I asked *TST what she wanted to sing . She said 'Que Sera Sera' . Here we go again . We just performed that song for the concert but no she had to have her way !!! As we sang , I noticed that a group of boys in class were quite reluctant . You can say whatever that you wanted to but a NO means NO.
Having finished the song , *TR said that his mother complained that she could not buy his art work for charity and where was the artwork ? Well according to my sources *TR's art work had slipped out of the box while one of the teacher was carrying it . Luck was on my side , a friend found the art work and returned it to me . There ! Now his mum can't complain much can she ?
With all the syllbus completed , the students were quite free so I gave each of them a piece of paper and I told them to draw something that they like . At the corner of the classroom , I could hear my drama queen *DS go boringggggggggggggggg !!!!! I gave a sigh . See what I have to go through !!! Anyway I managed to coax her and she was willing to do it . Please don't ask me what I told her . Before sending them off , I thought them a farewell song . As I thought them the song I felt like I was about to cry because its a going away kinda song and I know that I will miss them very much but as sad as I feel I really hope that they will all do their very best .
So here are the lyrics to the farewell song . Some of you may know it too .
Sayonara , sayonara,
Sampai berjumpa lagi (2x )
Buat apa susah ( 2x )
Susah itu tiada gunanya.
Buat apa susah ( 2x )
Susah itu tiada gunanya.
Jangan lupa itu 'don't forget' .
Ingat - ingat itu 'remember' .
Saya sayang kamu ' I love you '
hanya kau ,'only you'

*I have used initials for my students instead of their names