Kalau tak tahu, tanya...

Mengajar bahasa asing ni bukan perkara mudah. Ye, kalau dekat area saya ni, English is already considered as foreign language, bukannye SECOND language. Memang foreign habis sebab BM pun pening lalat, bila masuk BI lagi lah. Tak termasuk lagi Bahasa Arab and so on. Jadi, bila dah memegang title teacher ni, it is not easy to teach the language to the students. Bukan semudah ABC. Kalau tahap 1 masih lagi considered boleh tahan senang sebab kita banyak perkenal words a.k.a vocab, then construct sentences sikit-sikit lama-lama jadi bukit. Jadi pada tahap 1 lah nak kena stress giler-giler dia punye kekuatan pada bahasa. Yang menjadi problemo bila tahap 1 tidak mengambil endah tentang words dan sentence construction dengan penuh perasaan. Ini akan mengakibatkan keciciran dalam bidang penulisan apabila mereka naik ke tahap 2.

Same goes to the teachers yang jadi teachers (for English Language la kan) nih. Saya faham, ada di antara guru-guru yang tak berapa arif tentang language tu sendiri. Ada juga teachers yang pening lalat bila nak ajar grammar. Bukan senang, tapi tidak susah untuk menjadikannya senang. Cari buku rujukan yang berlambak-lambak di kedai dan pusat sumber dan jadikan ianya sebagai rujukan. Saya still guna buku yang diterbitkan sebelum saya lahir lagi. Just to make sure I teach them the right way.

Tapi ada juga yang bodoh sombong. Tak tahu, tapi tak mahu tanya. Oh, come on. Teachers shouldn't be that way. You should know that kiddies nowadays bukan zaman dulu. They know what is right and what is not. Kalau kita dok berasa kita hebat dan tidak mahu menerima pendapat mereka, you are totally out of this world babe. Why? Because they are like us, they have the capabilities to know whether your teaching is right or wrong. Mereka pun buat rujukan okeh. Not just try to throwing questions to you nak bagi pening. I know this is sekolah rendah, bukan sekolah menengah. Tapi it is not a licence for you not to treat them well bila mengajar. Bagi saya, ilmu penuh di dada tersangatlah penting.

Yes, I know that some students are a bit challenging. Some students they tend to show off that they are good in that subject. You as teacher should know how to cater them. Saya teringat last year masa saya mengajar anak seorang guru. Budak ni memang la pandai tak hengat and he loves to challenge the teacher. Dia selalu guna kata-kata nih..

"Teacher, kalau saya guna ayat macam ni bagaimana teacher? Boleh tak?"

And dia akan listkan several sentences yang agak bombastic for his own age. Kalau tak puas hati dia akan tanya balik..

"Kenapa teacher tidak terima ayat saya.. saya rasa ayat saya tu betul. Salah tang mana tu teacher?"

Ok, this is good student. You tak boleh nak goreng ikut suka hati okeh. So, you need the facts, kena kuarkan segala facts yang hanya pesen ni aje yang ayat you can get along with.. sebab undang-undang ayat dah nyatakan begitu and of course I need to give him more and more examples. Maka dia dapat manfaat and also kawan-kawan dia pun dapat manfaat and cikgu dia dapat pahala..hikhik..insyaAllah :)

And I thought dia saja-saja nak challenge only in my class, rupanya time kelas Science pon sama. Hahaha.. and I always tell the father about his son and the father said.. "Aku pun pening..." Hahahaha

Ada ketikanya I couldn't answer him. Budak ni memang ulat buku. Any sentences yang dia tak paham, dia akan bawak dan tanya.. pergh.. memang challenging. Jadi bila tak dapat jawab, janganlah kita stress tak hengat dunia. Biasanya I just tell him like this..

"Ok boy. I don't think I know how to answer your question. Tapi, bila teacher balik, I'll try to look at it dan kita sama-sama cari okey. Next week I akan cuba selesaikan problem nih."

Dan jangan dok ingat mereka akan lupa. The next week, he will come and ask the same question. Itu pasal kena buat penyelidikan betul-betul. Dan biasanya I will ask my friends yang dah ada master dalam TESL. Jadi takdelah jawapan kita tersasar dan takdelah anak didik kita ni dapat ajaran sesat.

Kenapa... sebab saya teringat ayat lecturer saya masa dok buat degree..katanya...

If a doctor gives the wrong medicine, the patient will die,

If a pilot gets the wrong information, the plane will crash and he dies,

But what happen if a teacher teaches wrongly? Giving wrong information to the students?

The students nor the teacher will die.. you think about it now...

Can you get it? If you teach wrongly, the students will suffer not now but afterwards okeh.. Dan itulah perkara yang sangat denjeres! Ajaran sesat is a NO-NO thing okeh. If you don't know, JUST ASK.. as simple as that!

Itulah pentingnya English Education...

Dan tahun ni, saya berpeluang mengajar budak yang pandai tu punya adik pula. Budak tu berada di Tahun 4 dan bersekolah di SKJ3. Pandai just like the brother, tapi tak suka tanya soalan, cuma dia tanya kenapa dapat salah aje. Bila dah terangkan dia just cakap OOoOOOoo.. Hahaha.. But I like his writing. Sungguh comel :)

Dan dibawah ialah gambar selipar-selipar kanak-kanak riang tatkala tuition. Can you guess which one is mine?

Teka mana satu selipar ticer? Kakaaka