1st month into NIE

First relaxing month in NIE has come to an end. D&T will start this coming week with 9 hrs of workshop and 4 hrs of lectures per week. My God! This is crazy!




Director's Relay on Friday. It's been long time I ran 2.4 km with a time of 13 mins. Not sure if those GESL project mates were trying to console me or not. No t-shirts for us since we did not pay $20. Not even a goodie bag.

Went to JP for Pizza after the run. This time real late. Sent Yang Hui, Jelena and Johnny home. Back home nearly 12 mn. Shall stop here for this post since it is going to be Monday tomorrow.

Long Weekend - Happy 43rd Birthday Singapore!!!

This shall be the holiday before we need to wait for quite a while before the next one comes. Went for Money No Enough II on Friday night (1235 am). I dun find it that fantastic except the part where the mum was looking for her RED BRA with Mickey Mouse prints.

Back to hall last night. Managed to clear some stuffs today (Maths Assignment and E-lecture). Read the ICT assignment questions. Realised that I am a bit KIASU. The topic will only be taught on 27th Aug. hahaha. Think I can put this aside first....at least won't be so stressful.

Classmate will pass me the reference books for Educational Psychology tomorrow. Hopefully I can produce the essay within the next 2 weeks before D&T starts. D&T will be the most jia lat, 9 hrs of workshop + 4 hrs of lecture.

Tomorrow need to go to library abt 9 am to scan the streetdirectory. It will be used for my worksheet in the micro-teaching of Cartesian Coordinates. Tuesday, got GESL lectures till 1830. So far, have not met the facilitator yet. NOt sure what is he up to, been on leave since school started. Hopefully he turns up tomorrow. Else, there seems no direction for the GESL project, although we have some ideas what we want to do.

Tonight going to relax. Get ready to chiong for one whole day tomorrow.

Week 2

Time flies and I am already into week 2 of my PGDE. Tutorials have started and we no longer enjoy those long off days with only 1-2 hrs of lessons per day. Luckily, D&T and 2 other modules have not started. I am still getting my Thursday and Friday off.

Met up with the GESL group at Student Hub to finalise the garment for Project Runway this friday. Managed to complete our cape. Thanks to Ravi for being our model!

Today meeting the Maths Tutorial Group to discuss the topic for 10 mins of micro teaching. What topic should I select? Arithmetic? Graphs? Mensuration?

NDP 2008 - Shine Singapore

Happy 43rd Birthday to Singapore!

This is my first time watching the NDP live at Marina. The feeling, compared to watching the parade at home, is totally different. The long hours of waiting under the hot sun is indeed worthwhile.

The march past was the highlight of the day. It has always been my favourite when watching NDP.

The performance by Presbyterian High School was great. The months of rehearsals has paid off. Well done PHS! 3 cheers for all the students who took part!

The National Day Parade ended with the National Anthem and Pledge. I am so proud to be a Singaporean.

Free Day

Due to the nature of the timetable, I do not have any lessons on Thursday and Friday for the 1st month. WEF from 25 Aug 2008, timetable will be pretty packed.

Went to Jurong Point this afternoon to shop. Have not been there for about 4 years. Not much changes, still as bored as before.

Saw some foreigners at NTUC buying pillow, I guess they should be NTU students who just arrived in Singapore. Tomorrow is 1st Aug, I expect to see many more students shifting in to the hostels as they want to avoid paying another week of rental for July.

There is Director's Welcome tomorrow at the Nanyang Auditorium at 1430. Should end by 1600. Weekend is here again and I will be heading home.

1st week in NIE

One term (term 2) of contract teaching and a 4-week Enhanced School Experience has passed so quickly. Now, I am into my first week of lessons in NIE. Many experienced teachers has told me, the stay in NIE will be the best time throughout the whole teaching career. When I got my timetable, I really doubt what they said. Perhaps, it was due to my curriculum subject combination (CS1=D&T and CS2=Lower Sec Maths).

The first lecture of PGDE was a maths lecture. The hall was so packed and I saw all the unfamiliar faces, except a few who are having the same subject combination as me. As usual, it is difficult to make new friends in LT.

On Tuesday, we had Educational Psychology I. It was held in a tutorial room with only about 20+ of us. After one round of self introduction, we realised that most of us were from D&T. Not sure if the programme office arranged it purposely. The class consists of people from ALL WALKS OF LIFE ranging from fresh grads from the university to mid career professionals out in the market for more than 10 years.

ICT for Engaged Learning was held on Wednesday (30/7). Heard from the other group that one of the questions we had to answer was why we choose to become a teacher. I have been answering this so many times ever since I started my teaching career. This lecturer (not gg to mention his name) looks fierce. Anyway, if we behave as TEACHERS and not STUDENTS, the journey throughout this module should be pretty smooth sailing.

Today (Thurs, 31/7), I should not be having any lessons for the first month. However, received an SMS late last night from Chitra (GESL group member) asking for help to make the cape at the NIE canteen today at 1030. Shall stop here as I need to get prepared to go to NIE.

Back to the good old days!!!

It has been 4 years since I left NTU. Graduated with a degree in EEE in 2004. After 3.5 years with Future Electronics as a Product Marketing Specialist, I decided to move on to join MOE as an Education Officer.



Future was not a bad place after all. It has brought my tolerance to the next level. As my suppliers told me, "If you can survive in Future, you can survive anywhere." Anyway, I would like to express thanks to my NTU coursemate Aloysius who referred me to this company.



Special thanks to my previous bosses, Daniel, Clement and Jose for the valuable experiences you have shared. The colleagues from Discrete, PIE, SBDU and Sales were great people to know. You have left a mark in my life which I will not forget.

Just commenced this week is my Postgraduate Diploma in Education in NIE (National Institute of Education). I would like to express gratitude to Mrs Tan, Mdm Lee, Ms Chee and Mrs Boey from Presbyterian High School for their recommendation into NIE. You all have been an important element in my teaching career. 2 Agape has been a fun group of pupils to be with during my contract teaching and 4-week ESE. Remember to work hard and play hard!