Hey fellas, I have moved to new site:

http://stevescribbles.wordpress.com/

See y'all there! :)

In the previous post, I did say about my anticipation for a good news regarding the placement to school. I was - or should I say 'am' because I'm still hoping at the moment - hoping that the good news will come soon. In January to be exact. 

And today, while doing my current daily routine of browsing through my twitter page, something caught my attention. Is this a good omen?

Forget about the first few sentences. This particular one caught my attention: "B.Ed Tesl graduates (both graduated in June & Nov 2012 *typo?*, DPLI & IPTA graduates who passed the SPP interview recently will get be posted in Jan 2012"

Whatever it is, I hope what everyone's being hoping/praying for all these while will soon become reality. And yes, I also hope I pass the SPP interview. It's the prerequisite requirement before I get to be posted to school. 

And as for now, I'm just hoping for the best. Just wait and see. The time will come. Sooner or later.

I've lost count on how many times I've been apologizing for not updating this blog. I mean, are there even people who bother to wait for me to update my blog? :)

Anyway, today I feel like updating this blog although I have nothing special in particular to be posted here. Just an update of my current being at the moment; I am still unemployed and that also means I am financially broke. There's no good news regarding the placement to school as of yet but I know sooner or later the time will come. It's almost a surreal feeling that I (together with the other C4 peeps) have been holding this unemployed status for 8 months! 

I would be lying if I am not feeling devastated to the fact that I've yet to be posted to the school and start earning money. I did feel so frustrated before but I think I have so-called 'moved on' and after all I do not have any other options, do I? I would also be lying if I say I am not anticipating any great news every now and then. Whenever I go to my Facebook page, I would expect some good news shared by fellow C4 in the group's page. Nevertheless, as for now, I am just going to wait for the official announcement and I am crossing my fingers that it is going to be real soon. Say, January perhaps? God speed. 

I believe there are reasons on why all of the C4 graduates (that includes me, of course) being dragged into this predicament - be it good or potentially-stupid reasons! Be nice to say, I believe there's blessing in disguise although that means I have to go through this long period of waiting.

As for now, one of the things that I am currently excited for now is definitely the coming of Christmas Day! It is definitely the time of the year where families gather together and share the joyful moments. We are literally 7 more days till Christmas Day. In terms of preparation, there's nothing much from my side. I decided not to buy new clothes or whatnot for this coming festive season. Not to say that I can't buy it. I can always ask my parents for 'favour' but I just decided not to. I still have almost-looked-like-new clothes in my closet. 

I guess that's it for now friends. Till my next post (and yes, I do not know when!). Have a great day!

This supposedly to be posted here days ago but anyway here it goes...

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The title of this post speaks it all - I'm going to share with you my experience during that important interview. Well, it all started on that one particular fine day when I logged on to Facebook and I saw a tiny red box on that notifications button on the top left hand corner of the page. So, I clicked on it and was then directed to a group's page - a group page that belongs to the at-the-moment-unemployed creatures of the earth a.k.a TESL graduates of 2011.  There, I saw a post saying that the status for the interview can be accessed by us starting on that day onwards. Yours truly then clicked the link provided in the post and a page popped out. The page required me to fill in my IC number. So, after filling my IC number, the page appeared and it didn't show me the expected result. Yeah. My name was not in the record. I didn't feel bad about because I was confident enough that the information will be updated sooner or later and my name will appear in the system. On the next day, I checked the page again and as expected, my name's already in the system. The interview date for me was set on the 23rd November 2011 at SPP (Wisma BSN, Kota Kinabalu). Call time was stated as 7.30 am. From that day onwards, the group page was filled with so-called notes for all of us to read as preparation for the upcoming interview and all of a sudden, life (for most of us who are still jobless) became 'meaningful' again. LMAO! People started discussing on various topics mostly on the so-called hot topics (i.e. MBMMBI, NKRA etc). I consulted one of my friends who had attended the interview earlier this year and asked him to share his experience. He told me that his interview session was more like a 'sharing' session and of course he was asked about theoretical items, policies and whatnot. 

As the day's approaching, I get a little bit nervous as I knew I couldn't 'digest' all those fact into my memory. I'm not really good at memorizing things but exceptions should be given to song lyrics though! :) Anyway, I did prepare myself by forcing myself to read the notes that I got from the Internet. 

Finally, the most awaited day arrived. I woke up as early as 5 in the morning. Before leaving for the interview, I checked all my documents for the very last time just to make sure everything's ready in that file and well-sorted. I left the house at about 6.30 am and drove mom to work first before heading to Wisma BSN. Once I reached there, I saw few people smartly dressed waiting at the entrance. So, after I parked my car, I walked towards the entrance and met few familiar faces. Had a little chit-chat with them. It was probably about 7 in the morning, a lady asked to go upstairs. To cut the story short, before the interview started, everyone had to consult the lady the counter for a brief documents check-up. It was just to make sure that all the documents are ready for the interview. Everyone was also divided into few groups: five persons per session. I was in the 2nd group. The four of us were all from TESL background and the other one was from the Arts option (DPLI). 

The interview in a nutshell:

  SELF-INTRODUCTION: 

The five of us all introduced ourselves in BM. It was kind of awkward because it was very rare for me to introduce myself formally with few extra details about myself. So, made it short and simple: "Selamat pagi datuk. Nama saya Steve George, berasal dari Kota Kinabalu dan berbangsa Kadazandusun. Saya mengambil opsyen TESL dari program berkembar antara Institut Perguruan Batu Lintang, Kuching, Sarawak dengan Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. Saya menjalani praktikum di SMK Jugra, Banting Selangor pada tahun lepas." That's it. I didn't know what else to say after the last sentence. :)

THE 1ST QUESTION:

The five of us were extremely nervous and waited for the question. Suddenly, the interviewer took a newspaper from the table and showed us the health section. The article was about SMOKING and then the interviewer asked us 'How to EDUCATE students on curbing the smoking habit'. All of us smiled. So, the Q&A began and I decided to be the last person person to answer. Reason? I was buying myself time to think about the so-called good answer for that particular question. Pfft! My colleagues gave various good answers and when it was my turn I remembered mentioning about the importance of the teacher to be a role model to students and the 'education' should start from the early level of education; pre-school level. I also mentioned about the relevance of showing the 'graphic' causes of smoking to the students and let the students make inference based on their observation and at the end of the day, it's up to the students to decide; to smoke or not to smoke. Most importantly, teachers should impart good moral values. I did elaborated my answer but I couldn't really recall everything that I said. I was extremely satisfied with my answer though. 

2ND QUESTION:

The question was about fun learning - how to make a fun lesson in the classroom. This one was certainly not a problem for all of us. I mentioned about making the lesson interesting in accordance to the national education policy (JERI). I also mentioned about the usage of ICT - which is common nowadays. Other than that, I did mention the relevance of language lab and even utilizing the social networking sites as part of teaching material - if possible. The elaboration went on and on. I got so carried away and I think I spoke non-stop for more than 5 minutes when suddenly I remembered I was not the only one being interviewed in that room! Erk! Anyway, I also remembered saying, 'teaching is a combination of science and arts; science comes from the pedagogical aspect and arts from the teachers' creativity'. That was my closing statement. *wink*

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There were only TWO questions and no questions related to policies or whatnot were asked at all! The interview took us exactly ONE hour. Nevertheless, I felt good about the interview and I believe my other counterparts felt the same way too. We walked out the room with glowing smile! :) And yes, instantly, we were swarmed by the remaining candidates and were asked about what questions were asked. :) To so-called celebrate the 'freedom' from the interview, we all went to treat ourselves a good meal at McD Center Point. 

That's all folks!