What PECIPTA 2013 taught me

The whole week last week, I was juggling between my graduation and PECIPTA. PECIPTA stands for Persidangan dan Ekspo Ciptaan IPTA. It was an exhibition to acknowledge the university research that is ready for commercialization.

This year, I was a member for three different project. It was fun. Previously, I was a leader for ITEX and MTE in 2010, 2012 and 2013. Being a member takes my mind off things for a while.

It gave me time to observe the different leadership skills exist, and which one I want to be. I now understand that being a leader doesn't mean you have the power to command people every now and then rudely. My standard on rude is quite high.. Leaving a 'please' in your every request is unacceptable. That taught me that you're gonna be around for the longest time.. better make yourself pleased while we were at it.

I even learned something from this one little girl whom is very dear to me.. she said something like people reacts to you what you reacted to them, or rather what you feel for them.

I learned a lot from the Trump book I read, which for me was a mindblowing and I highly suggest this to all of you. He said your mind controls only 5% of your life.. another 95% is your subconscious mind. So for me.. the first rule of being a leader as I learned in PECIPTA is to really respect every member of your team. The rest in shaa Allah, the way you request something from them will affect your conscious mind.

I also have a habit of isolating myself to the max. My ex student (now a good friend) used to relate me to a malay song that I never heard of before. It sounds something like in a village, there's a really old house with a box under that house. And under the box there's a frog and that's me.

Honestly, that was a slap in the face, one valuable lesson I learned from a student. "Pick a friend who drained you or inspired you," he said. Some people inspired me in a different way.. to others they just drained me..

Anyhow.. I took his advice and Trump's.. so I walked around.. socializing.. passed around my card. But I think I'm gonna do better the second time around.

Although, the ending was the best. The three projects I involved in.. we obtained a silver and 2 bronzes. And other additional bonuses than those I mentioned above is that I never felt any closer to all the true friends I have in my lab. How blessed I am. Alhamdulillah.

The best thing about a lecturer is..

..that you can have a big influence to your students!

I figured that, other than technical stuff, I can also teach them ethics and morals.

So yesterday, I tried a new technique. Next week, I am going to have a mid term test for my class. I love giving hints to them; whether subtle hints or direct hints. So, I told these little fellas, "If ALL of you can do whatever I asked you to do correctly, within an hour, I will give you hint for mid term."

For the first time, they were really struggling. Quarter of the class finished within half an hour. Since my requirement is that EVERYONE needs to finish within an hour, so those who finished early, I asked them to help their friend.

Example, this one Malay guy who barely speaks English in my class, I asked him to help the foreigner guy. I said, "'A', go and help 'K'!"

His reply was, "'K' yang mana, Mam?"

It's the middle of semester already ok, and they don't even know their classmates! So, this way, I helped them mingle around. The Chinese guys help the Malay ladies. It was fun looking at them rushing to meet the time.

To help them "ease" out the pressure, I'd add every now and then, "If you get it wrong ni, have to blame your 'teacher' yang guide you! Haha(add my evil laugh)" *Teacher is referring to the friend that helped them.




Anyway, in my class, they were about 4 couples (as in boyfriend girlfriend) partner up together. 2 of the 4 couples finished within half an hour. And these particular 2 couples, from my observation, were in "flirting" mode. So, once they were done, I asked them, "Pick any of your friend who have not yet done, go and help them."

About 5 minutes after my instruction, they were still sitting next to each other side by side flirting. I let them be. Takkan nak suruh tolong dalam paksaan, tak ikhlas kan?

So, after that, I instructed again in general, "If you're done, better help your friend kay! If ALL of you couldn't get it done in an hour, no hints!"

They were still flirting with each other, rasa macam cakap dengan kayu! So I purposely walked behind these lovebirds, and the girl was saying to the guy, "Is it ok for us not to help these people?"

"Ala.. other people can help.." The guys said and continued discussing about dinner.

Whateverlah girl! Your choice.. But don't complaint if one day once you get married, that guy refused to help you with house work. You made that choice. Should have seen the sign from beginning ;p

Anyhow, something good came up in the end. 'K' was having difficulty with his subject. And since next week is midterm, I asked him if he wanted some help for his test. But he said, "It's okay Mam, 'A' wanted to help me out for my test."

:) Once, they were strangers..

Karma

Last week, i was not in a good mood.

Testbed for my PhD had not yet working.

Those who were supposed to give technical supports had not yet answered my questions.

To top it all, supervisor had not yet reply my emails. Email kawan2 lain reply pula, sedikit sensitif, maklumlah hormon ibu mengandung..

So, when my project students came and met me without any appointments (or any progress); I got slightly annoyed. I could not remember what exactly i said to them, but their face filled with disappointment as they left. Chomanneyoooo..

I felt guilty the whole week. So, yesterday when another project student came, I treated him nicely.

Right after he went back, my supervisor called me, asking about the progress of my PhD while replying all my questions that had been pending since last week.

That was when it hit me..

Karma.

When I treated my student nicely, my supervisor will treat me even nicely in return. As much as I am a lecturer, i am still a student after all.

Subhanallah..

-Maafkan saya student2, saya masih belajar-

Forgiveness

Long time ago, when I started teaching, I had to take over a class from another lecturer.

I believed my method of teaching was totally different from his. I wanted their report to be submitted on time, I wanted them to prove that the works were of their own.. So comparing myself to their previous lecturer, I was like Cindrella's stepmother ;p

So, once.. when I was doing some work in my room, a student came to me, took a chair sat in front of me and came out with a statement that left me stunned for abot an hour, "Ma'm, I think you're annoying."

What could you say to a statement like that?

"I am so stressed to come to your class." He continued. Then, thanked me and left.

Though it haunt me, I did not tell anyone of that incident until after the mid term came.

This student was a brilliant student, dean's list every semester.

But, he was blank during the mid term.

After everyone gone, he came to me and said, "Ma'm, I don't know what happened to me, but I went blank.. I know exactly how to do that before, but I just went blank."

I looked at his answer script, it was blank. He wrote his answers somewhere else, and he did not submit that paper. He did not even answer the simplest theory questions. I asked, "You went blank for this part also ke?"

He looked shocked. "OMG!! I did not see this page at all while answering!" He went pale with eyes all teary.

Since I got so kesian already, and he looked so sincere, I told him, "K.. I give you one minute to answer just one question from this page."

Quickly took his pen that was working just now. No ink. Took his pencil, no lead. Borrowed my pen that I just used, no ink.

At that point, the technician passed us by, I quickly borrowed her pen, the student took the pen from me and put it down. He went down to his knees and looked straight into my eyes, with some tears in his eyes..

"Ma'm, did I hurt you in anyway? If I did, I am soooooo verrryyyyyy sorry. I must have hurt your feeling because I've never been this blank. And all the pens and pencils seem not to work when I used them, I must have hurt you. I truly deeply am sorry."

At this point, I tried holding back my own tears and felt a pang of guilt. Did i not forgive this guy until it had come this far?

So I said, "I really forgive you. And I'm sorry if I did annoy you in anyway, I wanted the best for you guys."

He took the pen, answer that question and left.

He did not get an A in my class just because of the mid term. But he did not get that bad either. He scored excellently in the rest of the assesment.

And we have been good friends ever since.

I've learned the most important lesson that day; not to hold grudges on my students.

And while we laughed about the incident this morning, I think we both knew that this incident is one that will never be forgotten.

Jimmy Durante

He said, "Be nice to people on your way up because you meet them on your way down".

My co-supervisor once told me. And I took that to heart.

I believed it is true in the context of my co-supervisor and I. She was my lab demo, which I really looked up to. You can have a lot of lecturers and teachers in your life, but to have one that truly care about you is rare. And she is of that rare species I found on my first year degree.

She helped me really learned the basic hands on, that I excel in all my labs afterwards, and even argued with one of my other lab demo for teaching me the wrong stuff in her lab. And now, five years after, throughout my Master and after finishing my Master, I found it exciting to help this co-supervisor of mine to have a better understanding on my work for she was once helped me although I am nobody for her at that time around.

During my first class that I taught in 2008, a lab demo in Microprocessor-a third year degree subject, there is this one particular boy that really caught my interest in class. Let us call him E. It is a programming subject, and this guy always came with a weird coding, not always working, but eager to find clarification on why it is not working. He asked a lot of question in a very down to earth way. I don’t always know the answer since it’s my first year, but there’s never a slight of expression in his face that shows, “You’re my lecturer, you’re supposed to know.” Never.

So, I tried in every way possible to assist him in anything that he needs to know. Sometimes his question is beyond my knowledge, so I called my coordinator to ask him.

Until recently, I’ve been a new member to the solar car committee. A task I’ve been dreaming of since I was in undergrad, I want so much to contribute, now I’m in charge of the AI part. But I know nothing about the car. So, the committee decided to have a student leader of this project to explain everything to me. Do remember that I know nothing, never looked at the inside of the solar car, did not yet study anything, meaning that the student would have to answer a lotttt of funny questions from me.

And this very patient student did answer everything, explained from A to Z. And guess who he is? Yup, it’s E.

.Suraya.

Today I'm early to work. Owh.. wait, my definition of early is that i came at 8.02am. My working hour starts at 8.ooam. ;p Normally i would come at 8.30am, (but i compensate that with coming home late, really late, i work nearly 12 hours a day), so today i'm considered as early. I have this habit of being not punctual. Even for my classes during undergrad, what more for work. But as if that is not bad enough, i normally hardly care if i got scolded for that, realllllyyyyyyyyy baaadddddddd habit ok!

But today, i am so motivated to come early to work everyday. Why? Here's a story about a girl named Suraya in my tuition centre. A typical normal story but i wondered why it touches me so deeply.

As i mentioned before, i was a part time tutor for a Standard 1 students in this particular tuition centre. Once in a while, i developed this habit of being late for tuition, though not as bad, but still. Last Tuesday, after buka, i was so full and having a lot of troubles to get up to work. Pemalas.. Ish.. ish.. After a bit of whining and complaining and knowing that i was going to be 5 mins late for the class, i parked my car and rushed to my class.

I saw these 3 girls from my class were playing with the whiteboard. (They have a funny habit of getting excited at erasing somthing from the board. For example, after my class, they would eventually fight, i repeat FIGHT to erase the board. And i was gladly giving them turns of who would rub the board). Deep in my heart again, was complaining on how naughty they could be. I mean i always love kids, but these kids gave me a second thought. Ahha.

Suraya was one of the naughtiest girl in class. Last week, she was absent, the week before was exam week so i did not have to come, meaning i havent seen her for three weeks in a row. As soon as they saw me coming, Suraya gave me the sweetest smile EVER, i seriously mean EVER, and half screaming, "Teacheeerrrrr" ever so manja that my heart just melted there, like a chocolate bar during summer.

See, i learned a lot of things from them, more than i could probably teach them. And with Suraya on that day, i learned that once u gave a little piece of your happiness to a person sometimes, u just gave an impact that is way beyond whatever u could think of.

Being so happy yesterday, when the office phone rang, instead of complaining, i picked up chirpily and it was one of my friend's supervisor. He would normally said hello in a very serious and monotonous way. But after hearing my "Hello" yesterday, he got so chirpy in return and replied in the same upbeat tone as mine.

Just a thought, imagine that Suraya is this supervisor's daughter. Once he got so happy with the phone call he received earlier, he might went back home and shared part of his happiness to her daughter, Suraya. And being so happy at home, Suraya went to the tuition centre and share her happiness with me, cycle of happiness, everybody comes home happy and satisfied.

Just an innocent act of kindness from an innocent little girl and i am fully motivated for the whole week. Suraya.. :)

PPSMI - I finally can have a say in this matter.

Since currently i am a tutor for Math and Science for Standard 1, i think that i can finally have a say in this matter.

See, when they first started this whole thing 6 years back, i thought that it was a great idea. I didn't have that much of a problem cuz in my secondary school before, we learned math in both languages; malay and english. But some of my friends from other schools are struggling to catch up during our foundation year cuz in uni it was 100% in English. So i thought, heyy ok what science and math in English. At least they can learn faster.

But then since March i have been teaching Math and Science on and off. Until i have been accepted as a permanent tutor in my tuition centre currently still teaching Math and Science. I have thought F2 and F3 students and Std 1 until Std 6 students. Then, i realized one thing.

THEY HAVE A LOT OF DIFFICULTIES IN CATCHING UP WHATEVER I'M TEACHING THEM.

Especially in problem solving.

They are good in addition and subtraction, they excel in calculating money and time, but they didn't understand what the question wanted.

The head of the tuition centre kept on reminding me to teach 100% in English, but they do not understand what i'm saying esp the primary schools student. So i have to use bilanguage, whether he likes it or not. Every problem solving needs to be translated as in I am an English teacher.

Example, Science question standard 1:

From the pictures, determine whether they are 'stem' or 'branch'.

After explaining how branch looks like and how stem looks like in English, my students asked me, "Teacher, stem tu ape sebenarnye bahasa melayu?" Yup, so much in finding some definition in English that a standard 1 students can understand about stem.

That is one thing. Or, it can be the other thing. This one student named Nisya in my class is a very adorable girl, 4 years old but her mum sent her to Std 1 class. So adorable, she always wear a pyjama with tudung labuh, haiyoo.. so cute! Anyways, her English is first class. In fact her English is better than some of the Std 1's student.

Then one day, while translating the problem solving in malay, i accidentally asked them in Malay, "So.. Tambah ke tolak?" Then the class went silent until Nisya asked me, "Tambah tu addition ke teacher?"

When they calculated the answer it was "21". Again i made a silly mistake by asking Nisya, "Nisya dapat dua puluh satu tak?"

Nisya's answer, "No, i got twenty one"

My reply, "Twenty one is dua puluh satu Nisya"

Then my other student said, "dua puluh satu tu bukan twelve ke Teacher?"

Haiyaaa... Rosak bahasa. I mean, although i can't really converse in skema Malay, I'm kind of good in writing in Malay. I got A1 for my Malay Language SPM, that means i must be really good kan.

So, the conclusion is, saya sangat bersetuju PPSMI dimansuhkan. Walaupun begitu, saya sedikit tidak berpuas hati sekiranya pemansuhan tersebut berlaku dengan kadar segera kerana ini akan menimbulkan masalah kepada murid-murid saya.