The pleasure of watching my orchids bloom.

My orchids have been blooming beautifully for several months. They amaze me and bring me so much pleasure.


Each day when I reach home after parking my car, I will go and gaze at them and simply enjoy them. Two particular stalks of very huge blooms amazed me. They initially had about 8 flowers all blooming beautifully. Then another 5 or so flower buds appeared at the end of each stalk and the blooming continued.


So I wonder - if I a mere mortal human can derive so much pleasure and delight by watching my orchids bloom, how much pleasure does Papa God recieve when I bloom in confidence.


In our very Asian culture - there is this very strong emphasis to be functional and to make ourselves useful. There is much less emphasis on being decorative and beautiful. And we often wrongly think ourselves useless if we are less than efficient.


My orchids do not have be functional - they do no work at all. Yet they bring me so much pleasure by being just beautiful. So I will to learn a lesson from my orchids and be as happy to be beautiful.


So to all the girls and guys who are stressed out just to be super efficiently functional - relax and be beautiful and handsome.


A thing of beauty is a joy forever.

Oh for the love of an iPhone 4

So many of you have been telling me to get an iPhone 4. Let me clarify..........

Unbeknown to you guys, I had actually got an iPhone4 some weeks ago brought in from the States and it had worked happily on my previous number which I stubbornly maintained because i did not want to trouble you my friends with a change in my phone number.

However for some reasons it crashed and I lost all my contacts so my daughter rescued me first with her old phone. However I did not know who sent the sms or calls since all memory kaputed. 2nd thing I did not know how to sms or call people or do anything with her phone being the dinosaur I am from ages beyond.

So she rescued me again with my old phone which I knew how to operate but no one knew that number so it was like I was oscillating between two phones, recieving from one and trying to see the number and answering on the other. I felt so frustated........ yucks! No words can express my feelings during that time.

So after realizing the first iPhone was physically there but couold not be used until for some unknown time in the future, I made an immediate decision to line up for another iPhone4 at Maxis Menara.

So I drove from home at 5.55 am and was outside the Maxis doorway in KLCC by 6.15 am. This was done with relative ease due to great amount of practice I had this past one month of waking up at 4.30 am and being at my workplace by 6.00-6.15 for many mornings on official duties.

Question Number 1 in my mind when I reached the Maxis door."Was I at the right place since no one was lining up here" Being the kiasu I was, yours truly hopped up one floor to San Franscisco Coffee place and asked them. They directed me to the main Maxis tower. There I was firmly re-directed and assured by all the guards there to return to my original spot. 6.30 am. Fan No 2 of iPhone4 arrived and waited next to me.

Turned out this 24 year old Malay girl had just finished her 4.30 am shift at the Sepang hangar for aircraft maintainance and came straight to line up for iPhone4. No, it is not her love of iPhone4 that touched me. The real story is she did all this- 24 hours straight no sleep - for the love of her father to get him an iPhone4 cos he needed one but would not be bothered to go to all the hassle to get one so she went through all the hassle for him.

Fan No 3+ boyfriend came about 7 am, i think. She dropped her blackberry and it became gila so she just had to get an iPhone4. I was amused and touched by the love of the boyfriend for fan No 3. They had come the day before and arrived at 8.45 am and there was no crowd because there was no more phones so today they came again much earlier from Subang.

All sorts of people loved the iPhone4 enough to line up for it, There was Cina apek guys who spoke in Mandarin and or in cantonese who lined up. There were several other boyfriends who accompany their girlfriends but i can honestly say I should be about the oldest to line up. Ok,ok - I may be a dinosaur but a dinosaur who had used the iPhone4 earlier and who had loved it!

One door opened about 8 am i think. We inched nearer but there was another door. We were then given numbers and yours truly is No 1. News to all who seek iPhone4. If you are the first 3 in the line and be the first at each of the 3 counters, you get your iPhone4 immediately. The others were asked to come back at 12.45 pm and then only they could recieve the phones.

Boyfriend of fan No 3 happily held the iPhone4 and said, " Yes we got it!" I said "Naw, that doesn't move me cos I have been holding the phone for a few weeks but i want not just the phone but all the stuff and fringe benefits that comes with it from the online stuff."

So friends, ever since i had a hand phone, I held the same number throughout for the love of my friends and don't want to incovenience anybody. This week, I went through 3 different numbers and I hope I will not have to change to another number.

End of the simplified story on for the love of an iPhone4. It actually begins with the love for people bonded by phone numbers and email and facebook and the love of my daughter who rescued me - the dinosaur. Please do not use the 010 number. My daughter is taking it to Shanghai and you may find yourself landed with a whopping bill.

P/S : The boyfriend of fan No 3 is supposed to post this all on the blog before me but when i surfed and couldn't smell his blog, I had to write.

Movie Nite cum farewell

I recieved so many well wishes and congratulations in the short time I posted my promotion.

Thank you for your support.

I also recieved many queries as to when, where so is the movie place.

So this is the the movie I want to watch at this time. We can eat before the movie or after. Please buy your own tickets especially if in a big group so that can pau the cineplex if need be . I can meet you for dinner before the movie and eat round two for those who tak jadi eat after the movie also.

I am sure many of you - have heard me speak at assembly several times about movies - I think this year I spoke about Karate Kid one year about Wong Fei Hoong etc. I remember when Lye Ken and Vani and gang left Seksyen 5, we watched the movie Benjamin Buttons together.

My family and friends have this habit of going to the cinema in big groups especially if it on the eve of Chinese New Year - we started small and one year increased to 47 people one year. The next year we increased to 68 people and after that i lost count because the group grew so big that i think we went into two separate cineplexus but at the same location .

Yes I am a semangat movie kaki and I want to share this fun part of being a movie kaki with you and also to makan and to lepak with you fellas.

So see you there. Somebody please suggest the best shop to makan in Wangsa Walk?

Love

Puan Tan

Dearest Anak-anak dan ex-anak Seksyen 5 - Svian

Dec 2010

On Thursday I recieved the official letter (surat lantikan) to be promoted to become the HM in Convent Sentul with effect 1st Dec 2010. Of course I am happy to be promoted but I am sad cos I will MISSSS you all and your... smiling faces. You are the primary reason why I stay on in Seksyen 5.

One request I have of you girls and guys all - can you teman me watch the movie Narnia in Wangsa Maju Mall this coming Wednesday? Why I made this wierd request?

About 5 years ago in Dec around 9 Dec 2005, I also recieved a similar surat arahkan me to go to Seksyen 5. About that time coincidentally was the first screening of Chronicles of Narnia. I was so miserable cos I recieved letter requesting me to change schools. At that time, I really didn't want to leave my beloved SMK Padang Tembak to go anywhere else.

My ex-students cheered me up by teman me see Chronicles of Narnia in KLCC one night before I shifted. They took the LRT to KLCC, beli ticket and we saw the film together.- i still remember some of the students that came Redzuan, Johan, Zainul and .......

Coincidentally this year i recieved the letter also about 9 Dec 2010 ( peleknyanya ) and while I know deep in my heart this promotion is certainly God's will and destiny for me to move on ..... there is the human heart where I find it hard to part with the students, ex-students, teachers, PIBG and staff who gave given me reason and cause for cheer in this school

So please cheer me up and let me see you one more time cos I will not be there when PMR results come out, when SPM results come out and will not be there to see you when school reopens.

Dear anak Svian,

Please remember to thank the many excellent and dedicated teachers in Seksyen 5 always and to encourage them to continue . A simple card of thanks , a smile, a good cheering remark will go a long way in encouraging the teachers. You may not know it but often our teachers have a lot of tension and face many problems with overcrowding since our school is so very popular and they sometimes can get discouraged. You must encourage your teachers by thanking them and giving them a hug. ( girls to girls and guys to guys ok ?)

You have so many teachers par excellence Pn Hayati, Pn Zuraidah, Ust Rizal, Pn Chee, Pn Khairul Azlina, Pn Yurnie, Pn Mahmudah, Pn Ng, Pn Geetha, Pn Vemala, Pn Lim, Miss Tan, Miss Kong, En Nizam, En Suhimi... I can go on and on about the wonderful gurus you have and sometimes I think you don't quite realize are so wonderful and don't treasure enough.

You also have a wonderful leader in our pengetua Pn Habshah. Although I have known Pn Habshah only since July this year but I have enjoyed her tremendously! She has my great respect in many areas - the way she deals with money for the school, her integrity, her kindness to many people even the pekerja, her innovativeness and savviness with using ICT and the blogs on the website. Pengetua and me have become great friends even in the course of 5 short months and I am sad to leave her. Please give her your fullest cooperation and help her in every possible way.

I want you to also be kind to the pekerja - the gardeners and the cleaners - never despise them. Manzahari our chief gardener is a treasure - he is so honest that when he found more than RM700/- he immediately called me and gave the money to me for safekeeping. Not many people would have done that and I want you to respect people not just because they are your superiors but to respect people because they have integrity and above all every human being have dignity and needs to be treated with dignity.


Keep celebrating learning and teaching, not just inside the classroom but outside the classroom on your field trips, all the camps etc! Celebrate life!


Love always

Puan Tan

Love in any language

Yesterday two ex- students came up to me and greeted me while I was shopping in Carre Four. They asked " Cikgu, how are you? " I looked at them, yes i could recognize definitely they were my ex- students but i couldn't quite place the year I had taught them. So I asked which year they graduated.

While talking, I took a good look at their faces and although I couldn't remember their names, I knew we had worked together closely on some co-curriculum projects. So I asked them again. Blame it on old age and loss in memory or what. Both reminded me " Choir!" Then I remembered " Hey you were the conductor." I said excitedly. The boys replied" Yeah and you brought us to the Cheras school to sing."

And there right there in the middle of Carre Four he broke out happily in song with no embarassment " Je taime, Te amo,... the beginning lines of the song we presented that year " Love in any language." Wow! That was good to have two handsome young men sing "I love you" in foreign languages to me in the middle of Carre Four.

I laughed -- and said after all these years - you still remember the song and the lyrics. My heart brimmed with pleasure when I noted that these two very Malay boys from SMK Padang Tembak remembered not only the tune perfectly but also the French and ( was the 2nd phrase Italian? ) phrases for I love you..

We laughed as we reminisced about the choir costumes - we had red silk bow ties which i told them I still kept because we handmade these for the choir members to wear. We borrowed nice vests and they had looked so good.

When I looked at them, I thought how it seemed like only yesterday when I had last taught them and now they had grown so quickly into handsome young men . Later they reminded me that they were actually brothers and the choir conductor had roped in his younger brother to sing and many other details came flooding in.

And about the song - we had sang the chorus of this song using sign language and we had waved flags of different countries to signify the different languages in the songs.

Now in retrospect I realized the students' best and most nostalgic memories were not about lessons but during co-curriculum events where they had loved and been loved by one another.

If you want to hear the song google for Love in any language by Sandy Patti www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nmi1KYC5Htw

Love in any language is always remembered even after many years!

Passion for the struggling!

Passion is reignited again for something close to my heart! I want to head a school for students who have problems learning in the main stream. This school is different from Pendidikan Khas ( learning impaired) because these students will be those who are not medically certified to have learning disabilities. In other words, head and run a school where the sole reason to admit students is because they struggle to understand and grasp their lessons.

How did this vision and passion start? Of course first I personally always had personal difficulties learning and teaching Physics due to a strong dislike for Mathematics. I also have some long term issues with my right hand mobility since 1997. However I have seen God turn these disabilities and disadvantages to His advantage and He has made my Physics lessons and teaching style to be somewhat more creative and innovative because of these problems. The pic belows show the delight of Kwan and Wen Yie ( 4 cekal 2006) as they applied Physics principles and successfully got a peeled quail egg inside the narrow neck of a bottle.

Those other personal stories I will share at some time later but for now I want to talk about …. KCK.
In school we have been running this program called KCK which means Kelas Cemerlang Khas since 2008. These are students who have difficulties with the main languages Bahasa Melayu, English and or with Mathematics.

My first encounter with this program was in September 2008. As the school PK1( deputy principal) , I was responsible for academic progress and had a habit of studying the students examinations progress. There was a high failure rate for the BM paper during the Trial SPM examinations that year. From the school exam records, I identified the students who failed. All in all, there were 17 students who had failed every single BM test or exam since Form 4. So I listed out the names and classes and asked their BM teachers to identify why these students constantly failed. Many teachers said that the primary reason why students failed because they were either absent for the exam or they slept through the paper.

Since passing BM was compulsory in passing SPM, our objective was to motivate the students to pass BM. So I decided we would begin by contacting the parents and inform them of their child’s problems and to seek their support to motivate their child to work towards passing BM.

So I took out the class registers to copy the details of the names, addresses, phones numbers and occupations of their parents. As I copied out the info, I soon realized that 10 out these 17 students came from single parent homes and their mothers were the official guardians. I can’t tell you what happen but I ended up being heartbroken and weeping because I realized these students failed BM not just because of the education system but also because of society’s sickness. All the more I wanted to help these students but I wasn’t quite sure where to begin and how to do it.

I realized that beyond getting skilled and dedicated teachers to teach these students, I would need the help of their parents or guardians to ensure that they would come to school, they would try to do the BM paper instead of sleeping through it.

I brought these 17 names to the PIBG AJK during a PIBG meeting. The gracious gentlemen in the PIBG committee and some of us in the school divided the names of the parents and made a pledge to call or visit every parent listed to impress upon both parent and child the importance of working through the BM paper. I was immensely grateful – there was no way I ( or the busy teachers ) could visit all 17 parents and still teach the extra hours needed for KCK.


In school I called a meeting of these students and told them what we wanted to do to help them through the KCK. I impressed upon them that they were important to us and we loved them and wanted to help them succeed in life. I told them if I found them sleeping during the exam, I would wake them up personally and they had to promise not to beat me when I woke them up from their deep sleep. The kids smiled. I also asked them to promise to come to school to attend the special BM classes we would conduct just for them.

The PIBG visited or called the parents and informed them of KCK. We asked their parents to cooperate with the school by ensuring their child came to school during the program and during the exam especially during BM.

So KCK started that first year for 17 Form 5 students. We extracted these students from the main stream class lessons and they would go in to BM classes for about 2,3, 4, 5 periods each morning ( not the first period because most came late to school ) and not beyond recess because both the teacher and students could not survive so long with each other.

During exam times, I would patrol the classes and specifically checked for their attendance and immediately phoned their parent to inform them if their child was absent. My other job was to wake up my beloved sleeping beauties.

Imagine our joy when SPM results came out and we had for the first time in the school’s history 100% results. It was totally unexpected and a bonus encouragement for all the teachers, staff and PIBG.

Below is a chart showing the school academic results from 2004 -2008.