Cikgu Tetap Cikgu

Today i would like to share with you my experience being a teacher. It all started it 1987 when i was first posted to this school. I was a Guru Sandaran Terlatih then. I was assigned to teach PMR students. Well, being a new broom, surely i gave my most attention to my students and the result shot that year. fresh from overseas, i created a difference in teaching technique, when at that time KBSM was just implemented. My first Teacher's Day present was a pair of shoes......the students were smart in choosing the design n size that suited me well. Then i had my first pregnancy. The students knew this when i brought asam boi wherever i went.......tak leh sembunyi.......

Early 1989, i transferred to this SMKB in Kelantan as abah was posted to a vocational school in P. Chepa. I had to teach in the afternoon session......oh you dont want to know this but.....the funny thing was, i had to teach BM and Arts.....my God.....how to teach BM when i was trained to teach English. What more, my BM was pure Kedahan. It was the most difficult time in my teaching life, but i enjoyed being with the students.....they kecek Kelate, i kecek Kedah. Pakat lawan patuk hehehe.....Then only i was given form 4 and 5. Another challenging thing was, they gave my the last class to be monitored. 5SA4.....Ya Tuhan....those students did not want to learn, they would play n sleep in class. I was pregnant again ( 4 times, mind u) so idid not want to have any negative effect to my child so i just went along with them. I still remember, my famous question whenever i entered the class : Where's your book?.........

After being in Kelantan for 6 interesting years, blessed with 4 children, we decided to return to Kedah. In Dec 1994, both of us were sent to this school. If my memory serves me right, i think there were about 10 couples there. Funny weh...sometimes abah and i taught the same class, so sometimes, after he completed the class, i would enter....to the muse of the students.....But we were professional. We acted as if we did not know each other. we only met after class. One time, i had to go to the men's staffroom to see one man English teacher, and i was teased by one History teacher, saying that i was talking to another man when my husband was around. I did not like his tone so i argued with him about being pro and he said being a teacher is not a pro.....on and on we argued and i used full English.....padan muka dia. Another teacher reported to my husband: Cikgu Sham...bini hang dok gadoh ngan Mat Isa......aku peduli apa...my husband just laughed......we spent 4 years travelling from Jitra to Kuala Nerang and it was really tiring.

I asked for a school in Jitra but was sent to Alor Star....this is a girl school.....not bad. i enjoyed being here. There were so many bittersweet memories in this school.....i never regret teaching the students who comprised of Malays, Chinese and Indians. Until now, many students still remember me. the Chinese would call me Lau Se.....It was here i got my Melintang ..something i did not expect but syukur, it was my rezeki. The principal, Pn Hj Azizah was very strict but gentle at heart. i learned a lot from her, actually....it is not easy to be a leader as you cannot entertain every single one of them, but you must act accordingly........I had fun teaching PMR students and the results went up again.....i normally would stay back for an hour and helped the students with their english exercise......they appreciated this....at that time i just got my driving license so i would be the last to leave after the traffic was clear...hehe...but i was the first to arrive in school....leh dapat award ni.......

For about 10 years, i have been teaching at this college.....a big difference from school....the students, the facilities, the syllabus ,everything.......the challenge of tackling the students is not obvious but i am more of a motivator to them. Being teenagers, these students need our friendly approach, communicative style of teaching and i have to be more open with them. This is actually a welcome change, as i am getting older, my energy is slowly diminishing, so there is no need to run after the students anymore.......i still have 10 more years to go so i must do something different if i want to give the most and the best to the students......that is my promise.