my ajumma notes

Happy Teachers' Day to all who deserve to celebrate it! Time to let your hair down, kick your shoes off, put your red pen away, chuck your record book aside etc... We all know that we should behave as though it's Mother's Day, Christmas etc... every day and I'll bet your students DON'T behave as though it's Teachers' Day every day. So this is that one day in the year -- make the most of it! And don't bring any marking home! Have a wonderful day!

I realise my posts are rather LONG. Wah, do I think I'm writing GP essays or what? From now on, I will try to use my summary skills. A very interesting feature in the latest issue of Her World . Some well-to-do ladies, who definitely can afford these things, default on payments (on purpose) for stuff like branded bags, jewellery and even cosmetic surgery! One of these ladies explained that she spends a lot at these places anyway and introduces rich friends there, so they should be 'prepared' to give her freebies. Shops and cosmetic surgeons often put up with this because it is true that these ladies have many friends who are potential customers or potential ex-customers (if the tai-tais are not happy with how they are treated). I must be really suaku because this is the first I've heard of such a practice. Coincidentally, there's also an article in Madison , a new (?) Australian ladies' mag, about young, pretty girls who get invited to parties, clubs etc, for f...

About a hundred years ago, when I was in secondary school, I temped during the holidays as a salesgirl in one of our major retail outlets. I was assigned the ladies' department. On a rotational basis, we did 'fitting room duty'. Now, strange as it may seem, we were instructed to ask customers to return the clothes they tried to the racks they got the clothes from! I remember it did seem rather odd to me then. As at least one customer said, 'Aren't you all paid to do that?' Well, that was the ladies' department policy and it was implemented, while I was there anyway, without incident most of the time. This must be quite unheard of today, I think. I don't remember being asked to put clothes back on the racks myself, though I have been asked to look through the racks myself for the correct size / colour, etc because 'everything is hanging; we don't keep stocks.' I do think the quality of service has improved over the years but, of course, improv...

Understandably, there was quite a furore when a group of student leaders chose Hitler as their group name and, presumably, a role model of sorts. A teacher wrote in TODAY (yesterday, 16/8) about how her student asked why no one gave Hitler credit for what he did for Germany. She also wanted to know why he hated the Jews so much and if there was anything in his life that could explain why he turned out the way he did. The student said she could not find answers to her questions. The teacher said she could have chosen to set the student some research work or scolded her for asking such questions, but chose instead to praise her for thinking on her own and then went on to explain the consequences of Hitler's policies. I can't agree with how the teacher handled the girls' questions. I'm sure the student already knew about the negative effects of Hitler's policies and ideas. The pertinent questions she asked will remain unanswered unless she did more research! Actually, ...

Some 20 or so years ago, many people I knew tended to be rather anti-establishment and cynically critical of life in Singapore in general. I must confess that I shared many of their views. Today, in my older age, I must say that I am a lot more appreciative of the way we live life here, and, undoubtedly, I do consider Singapore my 'best home'. It is, of course, not the best place on earth but it is the best for me. I have lived through most of the 40 years of independence and I can only say that those 40 years have, as history would have it, left great imprints on my life. Life, though, has really moved on and just thinking of 10 things about Singapore that have made me who I am brings to mind the speed with which change has whizzed in and out of our lives. I suppose it would be fashionable to come up with a list of 40 things about these 40 years, but I really don't have the time to sit here and type 40 things, so here is my list of 10 momentous things from the last 40 year...

Wow! Two posts in a day! I must be improving. There is certainly cause for much rejoicing now that we can look forward to new laws being implemented with regard to second-hand smoke. If smokers were more considerate, it would not have been necessary to think up laws to 'protect' non-smokers. For example, if they could take the initiative to walk away from people eating at food centres to have their puff, or if they stood some distance away from the bus stop to do it, there wouldn't have to be the laws that will now inconvenience them.

Two parents have written to the papers about their primary school children losing their wallets in school. One parent called on the MOE to release school theft figures. The other wanted to know what the school was doing about such theft. I share with both parents their outrage at this sort of 'crime' being committed by such young children. However, my two cents about this is that parents, not schools or the MOE, bear the main responsibility for bringing up children who will not steal. Unfortunately, there are, obviously, parents who do not believe in doing this. The son has 'lost' stationery items several times in his own classroom, right under the teachers' noses, I'm sure. Apparently, people borrow these pencils and other things, don't return them, and then claim they never took them in the first place. I'm told that it is common for kids to lose pencils, erasers, etc. This is news to me because it was definitely uncommon when I was in school. If thes...