Friday, June 08, 2007

I'm going back to school!

Yup. I'm going back to school! Not to be taught yet to teach, surprise, surprise. That's a big surprise to myself! I've been thinking of enrolling in a childcare course this year, but I guess there's a bigger cause to serve InshaAllah, hence that dream will need a little more wait. I've always loved school, education and children. I've always wanted to be a part of an educational institution, a think-tank that'll be able to generate fresh ideas for the betterment of the society. The only thing I never thought I'll do, is "teaching" itself! Erm, though parenting is a bit of teaching, I'm still an amateur in it.

I was talking to my dearest sister, Lieawulf whom has been lecturing in a private college for quite sometime asking her for some helpful tips. She told me:"On your 1st day entering the class, show that you are kind to them but you can also choose to be fierce and roar in class hahaha...". Well, that's a message from a teacher handling college students. I'm going to handle younger children in primary and maybe secondary schools. I'm still unsure of what's ahead, as this will be my 1st experience ever though as Lieawulf noted that "we - the sevenlords - are all talented" in this profession and I should just go ahead and test my skills hahaha. Well, my mom, dad and elder sister have been personal tutors for people for a long long time now though I bet none of you, if you know Lieawulf the way I do; an introvert who hardly speaks to another stranger will be a teacher! And what do you know? She's even good at it! She has been an assistant to her Tae-kwan-do instructor for sometime, I have no doubt if she's teaching that, but imparting non-physical theoretical knowledge is something too hard too imagine! And one 'secret recipe' of the sevenlords, we seem a bit extra fierce most of the time, but deep down our humble hearts meant well and we're the type of "I'll do anything" for the people we love and of our concern such as our students (pendek kata garang tapi baik hati la tu ... kot? ;)).

For the past year, I've been teaching 14-16 lovely girls Tafsir; the translation and scholars' comentaries of the Qur'an and I really enjoyed doing so. I've just started coaching Lisa with the Arabic alphabets and I'm hoping I'll be able to accomplish my small mission with her before returning to Malaysia. I've always enjoyed conducting study circles on Islam (usrah) and I guess I do have one or two skills up my sleeves but I'll need a lot more to really teach properly, especially this time it's in a formal setting and I have a syllabus to follow and finish! Good thing we'll be sent for training. Alhamdulillah, thank you Allah and those out there whom have trusted me with this valuable opportunity. Not just for some pocket money, but for experience and knowledge I might not be able to get elsewhere, in other ways. I wonder if teaching 6-17 year old kids could be a done in a more relaxing atmosphere, putting more interpersonal and group communication skills into practice. After all, teaching is not speaking in public, a one way communication system. Right? If it is, it'll definitely be boring!

Any tips from teachers or tutors out there? Care to share them with me? Comment please :). At the moment, hoping for your prayers, God-willing InshaAllah, may everything goes well for the school and me.

For your information, Sekolah Malaysia Southampton will be in action soon InshaAllah. It will be held once a week, teaching Malay Language and Basics of Islamic Fundamentals (Fardhu 'Ain) for children of Malaysian families.

p/s: Handzalah and Fidaa' will have their abi to look after them when I'm teaching, Alhamdulillah.

8 comments:

afidalina said...

assalamualaiki nurin.. alhamdulillah... teaching needs passion.. being a murabbi is never ever an easy task..tp rasanya rewarding bila tgk air muka anak2 murid... understand their riak muka is much important for me.. especially i'm teaching all the technical stuff.. beza bila conduct usrah.. insya Allah, experience will further elevate u.. :) please share the things you've learnt as well as the references you are using ek..(though umur murid2 kita mungkin berbeza..:) )

Anonymous said...

Don't forget there IS a teacher in da house, in case you've forgotten. LOL
After 1 1/2 years dealing with a bunch of college students, I think I could share a tip or two.

First impression counts
Be their friend
MUST be confident
Seek to understand then to be understood
Use different learning speed for different level of student
Imagine yourself being a 5-10 year old kid, how would you understand an issue better
Be creative
Use stories a lot, kids love 'em
Get personal
Use a lot of examples, people (especially kids) can't understand theories much without seeing the real thing

We'll have a chat later ya ;)

bAiTi said...

Tahniah..

Hehehe.. 'Teacher' dah turunkan ilmu tu.. :P.

Anyway, good luck in being a smart teacher. Insya Allah, you definitely can do it. Sorry, I hve zero experience in teaching (formally);). But my doa will always be with you, insya Allah..

Well done!!

SMM said...

alhamdulillah, & tahniah :) teringat kata-kata seorg faci dlm kursus: bila kita betul-betul minat sesuatu, diri kita akan 'membawa' minat itu (ie it shows/it's obvious) hinggakan peluang datang pada kita walaupun kita tidak cari actively... all the best, nurin :)

lukluk said...

thanks everyone! jazakumullah khairal jazaa' :) InshaAllah I'll try to write bout my teaching days inshaAllah. a bit nervous now but can't wait to start :)

Anonymous said...

k nurin! i'm not good at teaching but after mengajar tuition selama setahun untuk 3 adik beradik, the only thing i can say is, by next year, either you become super sabar ataupun super garang. i became the latter ;p haha. lawak je. i'm sure u'll be a GREAT teacher. you've been a great kelas tafsir teacher, and i'm sure you'll find teaching school kids a lot of fun. kalau nak tips, the only thing i can say is, sabarrrrrrrrr, terutama apabila pelajar2 tak pay attention and buat muka and tak paham2 walaupun dah ulang 1000 kali and taknak buat homework and..panjang le plak list nye. it's not all bad ;)whatever you do, don't lose your temper sebab akan menyesal.huhu. by the end of the day, you can smile when the kids you teach faham dan beramal dengan apa yg diajar =)

Anonymous said...

there is a posting in saifulislam.com about teaching little kids. He story-story about his experience, can't remember the title though. worth checking out.

lukluk said...

i'll keep those things in mind adi. i know how regretful the feeling is when you unleash your anger to a child.huhu na'uzubillah. thanks abuhandzalah :)