Wednesday:

This morning is the second day at Al Mashoor School, and having actually managed to get some sleep, I am feeling all the better and rearing to go. The wakeup call was 5.30am as usual, and we arrived at the school at approximately 6.50 am. 

We met the Headmaster agin this morning for our morning catch-up, and he informed us that today was the school assembly day (every Wednesday), and that he would introduce us (Laura and I) to the school. He then invited us to say a little to the assembled students. With 5 minutes to go, and a quick brainstorm, we were ready to go.

At assembly, (Female staff on the left of the stage, Male on the right, we had the students sing the school song, the National anthem (when they started singing it it came back to me after all these years) there were some staff announcements, and presentation of certificates and trophies to the students for academic and sporting achievements. Today is also the day when the students have “Uniform Day” which is compulsory for all students to engage in. They can choose to participate as Army Cadets, Firemen, Police Cadets, Scouts, and Silat Practitioners. Silat is a Malaysian Martial Art, and also a Cultural Practice. Whereas the Martial art is quite ruthless and even deadly, its movements are transformed into a dance, which is regularly performed at Malay weddings and other significant cultural and community events. At the assembly, all the students were lined up in their rows according to their chosen activity (these are what is called Co-Curricular activities here, and are not really about training the students to be members of those professions) – unfortunately we did not get any photos!

Then it came time for us to introduce ourselves. I was the designated speaker, and when handed the microphone, stood to the lectern, and began. “Good Morning Al Mashoor…” and got a collective “Good Morning Sir” back from the assembled masses; Good, all would be well, the students were obviously present and engaged. (Marks for getting ‘engagement’ into the blog please!) I introduced myself as Mister Sanjay, and Laura as Miss Laura, and explained that we were here from the University of Western Sydney in Australia, and that we were here to observe the teaching in Al Mashoor School, so that we could take back what we had learned and be better teachers back in Australia. I said that we were very happy to be here at Al Mashoor, as we had heard and been told that it was one of the top schools in Penang, which got a rousing cheer from the students (win!). School pride is plainly evident here. I let them know that we would be here until the following Friday, that we would be sitting in to observe some classes, and assisting and teaching some others. I also invited them to not be shy, and if they wanted to to approach us and ask us / talk to us about Australia. I closed by again saying how happy and proud we were to be hare at Al Mashoor, which again got a good response. The Headmaster took back the microphone, and said, in Malay that the students would refer to us as Cik-Gu Sanjay, and Cik-Gu Laura which is how they address all the trachers, and basically means Teacher; he then explained that we would be mainly in the Form 2 and Form 4 classes, which got a disgruntled murmur and ‘aww-ing’ from the students in the other years  which again is the stuff that makes one feel good. It is obvious that Laura and I are not only going to have to attend the classes that we have been assigned, but we are going to have to get ourselves into as many of the other classes as we can, and get to spend some time with as many of the students as we can.

Unfortunately, again we did not get any pics, but I did notice that some of the staff and students were taking photos at our introduction so I’ll see if we can get a hold of any copies.