I SHALL WALK HOME RAIN OR SHINE

Jordie had been rather insistent on walking home from school all by himself. He's very proud of his new independence (and freedom) so we try to let go as well, with quite a long list of 'DON'Ts" i.e. don't talk to strangers, don't stop at the bridge and loiter, don't climb on anything on the way back, don't look at the ground in case cyclists crash into you, etc... The weather has been really nice lately.. except whenever the boy announces he wants to walk back, it tends to rain.. and yesterday was supposed to be his 1st attempt to do so all the way, but we didn't know if he would be waiting at school when it started to rain. My agreement with him was rain or shine, you walk back, unless it pours... but I forgot to define what 'pours' means... so when the clouds gathered, daddy got kinda worried that he would get wet, so I drove out but on the way there, saw that the sun was still shining his side of the school, so I turned back, because I knew that fellow would be upset if I didn't keep my promise to let him walk home. Well, as Gold Coast weather would have it, the next thing you know... the clouds gathered again and the rain started, this time, on HIS side of the lake and I had to drive out again...

I knew I would meet him halfway. Sure enough, there was dear old Jordie along the way walking back from school, a little wet but happy. All this guesswork and fussing around!!! - just so a boy can find his own joy of independence to walk back home on his own....

BADGE PRESENTATION

Went to school yesterday to attend Jordie's badge presentation ceremony for student council members. Jordie told me this is a special assembly where everyone from junior school campus gathers physically as they usually attend virtual assembly via smartboard projection screen, and just watch from their respective classrooms what needs to be communicated by the teachers or principal. (soo.. high tech!) His school is so preppy... they have prefects and the school captains wear such formal blazers for "dressdown" Gold Coast,,, I found it cute that the two boys standing next to cake were actually the appointed human fly swatters standing guard against those pesky creatures. I think it was hard not to drool over the cake while on duty... but they were very well-controlled...

EPISODE 42: NEW ROLE, NEW RESPONSIBILITIES

So, yes, finally Jordie did get the position. He was so happy to get voted in.

He and another girl will represent the class for student council. ..And we were glad that he was popular with classmates enough to get voted in. New job, new responsibilities...but we are proud of him.

EPISODE 41: RUNNING FOR STUDENT COUNCIL

Jordie comes home today to tell us he is running for student council. I am amazed they actually get the kids to vote in their class rep for student council. Each candidate is supposed to stand in front of the class to give his or her reason why they think they should be voted. Well, good shot at instilling some democracy in children, I guess... He seemed very eager to try and confident about himself and asked us to help him to prepare his 'electoral' speech.. So this, perhaps, is the beginning of his political ambition..haha...

WE'RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER-PT. 4

Whew, glad that was over! The talk went very well and the kids from both classes had a great time. I think the teachers enjoyed the information about chinese culture too. The powerpoint software behaved very well and everything went smoothly. Thank you God!

Had a nice chat with Jordan's teacher, and found she had travelled to many countries including Korea and China, so she was very familiar to Asian culture. She was very helpful and even taught me some new tricks for powerpoint. Even at the beginning of the presentation, I found that most kids here were very exposed to chinese culture and they were certainly interested to know more.

I also found the Aussie kids here don't just sit quietly and listen to you talk. They participate very actively in the classroom and treat the talk like a discussion. From an Asian perspective, it would seem rude to put up your hands and ask questions in the middle of a talk, but it is perfectly acceptable here. So, my talk went on longer than expected... busily answering questions as I went on each slide.. Jordie very sportingly wore a traditional chinese costume for them to see.

I think they enjoyed the 2 quiz questions at the end to try for the angpow prize!! They also had a great time munching on the keropoks and squishy konyakku jelly. So, yup glad it pulled off well and I probably won't be doing this for quite a while...

WE'RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER - PT. 3- NOW MY GUTS LIKE JELLY MELT

Yup, like those konyaku jelly that emerged in disastrous soft lumps ready to break , . I am stressed. Now why did I volunteer myself for this talk? I examined myself asking what is the big deal. Kids only after all, so why am I so worked up?

One of the reasons is that this week has been a real stressful week for me. When it rains, it pours. Beryl needed me to help edit her book in time to pass to Pastor Lily before she flew off tomorrow. Coupled with the fact that I had to attend a meeting today at Caroline's place. Pastor Dexter was sharing to a group of people tonight. I was late and then found myself being the last minute standby for song-leading to a roomful of Aussies,, not prepared...AARGH!! THEN, my konnyaku jelly which I was making for the kids tomorrow all went gooey and wouldn't stand firm even after I tried making another batch with less water. Ban JIM WILLIE BRAND for Konyakku for life. BOYCOTT!!

The other reason is that it is my first time ever presenting with Powerpoint, so not really familiar or sure if it would pull off tomorrow.

The main reason (DRUM ROLLS/ CYMBALS) is ... after some soul-searching : I am a control freak....... I admit it,.. I want to do things nicely properly and not a hair out of place. The best CNY presentation the kids could ever get with fun, food and quiz. and then...So far, only the keropoks I fried turned out nice. The rest is pretty much in shambles... The konyakku was disappointing...I also had initally wanted to pass out some nice red packets to every kid there in the mood of Chinese New Year (of course with chocs, not money, not that rich, you see) but my despatch for angpow packets had not arrived until now!

Okay, I just came out of a christian meeting so I must not have murderous thoughts..... And this uncertainty and unfamiliar ground of Jordie's classroom and 50 pairs of eyes staring up at me expecting a nice talk is eating me up... So, what do I do? Gulp down some more smashed up Konyakku jelly and comfort myself...that I am after all human.

WE'RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER - PT. 2

Went into Jordie's class today to check out the equipment available for the Chinese New Year talk I was giving this Friday.. and it turned out I was lucky his Technology teacher was around, so he agreed to help test out tomorrow if my Mac notebook could be hooked to their projector for the powerpoint presentation.

Yup, we need to go high tech these days, I hope NOT to have to print out bubble jet pictures of images I wanted to show or paste them arduously on manila cardboard,... Powerpoint is so much easier and effective, if I could pull it off, keeping my fingers crossed........

This is supposed to be a SMART school, his teacher agreed, so we need to get on with that technology thing, or face being called a backward institution...anyway I think his teacher was just so amazed I was going so out of my way for this thing... don't ask me why, I just feel it is a good thing to do...

WE'RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER

I don't know about other public schools, guess most schools would have this at the beginning of every school year to arrange for the parents to meet the teachers. Today, went for a Parent meet Teachers meeting which is considered standard practice at Varsity College for all grades up till year 6-7, maybe. They gave a short debrief on what to expect for the term on study materials and things to watch out for in homework, books, activities, etc. I heard that his class and 4 Melbourne, the partner class are one of the few that got fitted out for air-conditioning so that is a nice bonus for summer.

While talking to his teacher, I couldn't believe I actually heard myself volunteering to give a talk on Chinese New Year next week! What did I just get myself into? She was so excited and asked if the other class adjoined could sit in as well... yikes! 50 pairs of young eyes -have not done public speaking for a long time. Their project theme this term is called 'We're all in this together' which is a study on multicultural differences.

So, now here I am putting together something that is hopefully presentable for next Friday...Jordie said he might get a little embarrassed-he's at the age when he doesnt like questions from other children about his parents. I told him I would withdraw if he didn't like it. He said, okay, okay...he sorta liked it, guess didn't quite know what to expect about situations like these... oh well! I just thought it would be nice to lend a bit of support to the teachers' effort in doing the cultural exchange theme for this term - A bit of PR, if you like, doesn't hurt too these days. Plus, I wanted Jordan to be proud of his heritage and background, lest he forgets he's actually a chinese.

EPISODE 39: Yr 4 @ Varsity College

This year, Jordie goes to Year 4 which is generally for 9 year olds. He was very excited about going back to school to meet new classmates and teachers. So, he didn't even want to miss out on the 1st day of school which was last week. So, when we touched down at the airport flying in from KL, on Wed, Jan 27, I brought him to school a little after 10 am when we'd settled some clearing of stuff in the house and breakfast. At least, he still managed to be at school on the 1st day of the term even though a little tired.

His class is named 4 G, short for 4 Gold Coast. For Year 4's, the classes are named after Australian cities. Aussie schools do not stream the pupils into classes according to performance. They believe in team and group work, and teachers partner up on certain projects to teach their respective classes.

Jordie finds Year 4 challenging, he complains about aching arms from having to write so much. But that's good, I feel. A little challenge never hurts the human spirit. On the 1st day, they had spelling tests for 100 words! No mucking around in Year 4....

CLASS PROJECT: PRODUCT PACKAGING

Ya rite, class project, and who does the work, mummy of course! Spent whole morning trying to make something out of recycled tissue pack to help him construct something that looked like a toy packaging.....Jordie is supposed to present his own product packaging and talk about its design. And he wanted an assembly toy box that could look funky..

I said, " Can we just do a cereal box or cookie box- something simpler... Don't want so complicated packaging for 'click & stick" la ?? "

"No, it isn't about doing something easier, it's about doing something better..." he insisted.

Sigh! Why did I teach him all these wise principles for and now I got no shortcut,...

VIOLENCE EPIDEMIC IN SCHOOLS

Pupil's death puts spotlight on horrific violence in Australian schools Jai Morcom, a 15-year old boy, died after his head was apparently smashed against a wall when he intervened in what appears to have been a turf war over tables at his school called 'table wars'. How stupid is that game? How stupid and sad that someone has to die because of fighting over pieces of table and who should sit at which table... he wasn't even involved. He just happened to be around and became the punching bag of rage.

So, a brutal spotlight now glares on Mullumbimby and a school that is facing angry claims of endemic drugs and violence, calls for the resignation of headmaster Ian Graham and internet rallying for revenge beatings.

But Jai's death is a loud wakeup call for people about bullying and violence across Australia, where schoolyard and suburban beatings and brawls have been filmed on mobile phones and posted on YouTube. Truancy in Gold Coast is also pretty high and recently, police have been survelling neighbourhoods to ensure stuff like that is minimised. Parents and critics complain that conferences, strategies and no-tolerance policies have failed to dent what they believe to be a growing culture of violence that has spurred an exodus from state to private schools. National trends appear to confirm Rosenfeld's fears. Australian Institute of Criminology statistics record an overall 55 per cent increase in assaults between 1996 and 2007, and 48 per cent for juveniles, mostly by males but with a significant rise among teenage girls.

A study by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research found that reported violence in the state's schools rose 46 per cent between 1998 and 2003, and that almost one-third of high school students interviewed had admitted attacking a schoolmate in the previous 12 months. Ironically, all this school violence might actually trace its roots to home and upbringing. "Preventing violence at school is no easy task," said bureau director Don Weatherburn in the study. "Schools trying to inculcate a culture of intolerance towards violence sometimes find themselves dealing with students whose parents condone violent behaviour." Peer pressure has its role of course, but I believe parental involvement is a crucial part to how a kid stands and guards his values before others.

I think a majority of people take school largely to be a government-funded daycare babysitting program here. Don't get me wrong - I think most parents do love and take their kids' daily needs to task, but on the whole, the easygoing parenting style may have contributed in certain measure to all this uncalled for school horror stories of bullying, smoking, outright challenging of teachers and whatnots. On radio, people claim to see teenagers out skating, and having a good time at the park during school hours BLATANTLY and nobody seems to give a hoot about it.

Just a few days ago, my son's school Varsity College had a lockdown due to some thugs fighting in the Oval school field area. Every class was asked to stay in classroom until they were hauled off the grounds. In the wake of school violence, I think nobody wanted to take any chances, which was good.. No one was hurt but police were called in to check that no other intruders came into the school. They had weapons apparently, now that is a scary thot. what if they were guns or knives? these were obviously teenage thugs playing truant... Last weekend, Queensland Education Department research reported to a community forum showed that every week five children in every class are bullied, and up to 70 per cent of suspensions are related to bullying. So parents, let's be worried, be very worried and start looking out vigilantly for your young ones before it's too late..

THE LOCKDOWN

Overslept this morning, waargh!! Jordan & I, we both dashed off to school, he didn't even get time to do his morning poo. Never mind even about lunch or morning tea food to bring... my alarm did not ring this morning and I was knocked out flat...

So, sent him off 1st, then came back to prepare lunch and morning tea for him. When I arrived at school to deliver the food, the school was strangely quiet, like no school was on, very strange and creepy.. like walking into an abandoned site. Got school or not, today> hmmm? Jordan's class was empty when I first looked in, but I saw kids in another room and they were all crouched quietly in one corner with the teacher. Then, suddenly, his teacher opened the door of the classroom out of nowhere and beckoned me in. They & teacher had all been crouching really low, so I didnt see them thru the window at first. I thought what had happened - a shootout or what? She said mummy would have to also join in lockdown to find out what it was all about, so I did.

Turns out, they were having a school-wide 'lockdown' sorta like an emergency drill which they carry out sometimes to prepare the children in the face of emergency, - which is practical and wise. I remember we used to just have fire drill, but this was different. It was teaching the kids to stay very quiet, still and crouch low, in the face of danger like a hurricane, intruder, bull on the loose, or what? missiles from North Korea?

I don't know, anything could happen nowadays, you just never know what's up next...

TEACHERS ON STRIKE

WELL... 1st time we are experiencing it here, teachers on strike, so no formal instruction today. it is like a self-declared holiday since there are no classes anyway, parents who can help it, are advised to keep their children at home. But caregivers will be given to supervise if they really have to send their kids to school anyway.

Queensland state school teachers are apparently the lowest paid among all other states. The average salary per annum is between 40K+-60K+ for primary school teachers. sounds pretty good compared to Malaysian teachers' pay.. but apparently still not enuff... I wonder if moms can also go on strike here..........against dads....

TWIN TOWERS CRAZE

"So how?" I asked. Jordan came back today beaming proudly and said Mrs Norman, his teacher said he did very well. And the whole class was so crazy about the KL twin towers that he talked about right after that. Almost the whole class had put up their hands when asked if they received any eye contact from Jordan. I asked if anyone moved, or teased him when he talked. He said no, Mrs Norman taught them about having "audience respect"... hmmm. how come we never learnt all this in school back then? I'm glad that his self-esteem & confidence is boosted after this round and that he likes presenting stuff. All that preparation paid off after all.

EPISODE 16: CHRISTMAS CLASS PARTY

End of the term, sooo fast! Can't believe Jordie has finished his school year already and moving onto Year 3 next year. They held a class party for 2 Green & 2 Orange class and parents were asked to let kids bring something. Jordan's mummy was supposed to bring carrots & celery and popcorn, only the healthy stuff, but then I realised, hey, the rest weren't that healthy actually. But who was I kidding? Kid's party will never be fibre-rich, just sugar-high...anyway, food looked pretty yummy and the kids tucked in!

Jordie & classmates also presented carols as presentation item to parents. That was nice, ..

he was the only oddball wearing non-uniform, he misunderstood that it was free dress day, so anyway, he stuck out in christmas green & red. Teachers said no problem and anyway last days of school were so casual. So, closing of this chapter for this year, it is now officially the school holidays over here till Jan 26th 2009. Let the games begin!