The first week of class is usually very relaxing when compared to the rest of the year. Students are still choosing which class (read: teacher!) they want to see for the whole 10 months before the end-of-year school holidays, therefore classes are typically still small and quiet..
..and yes, I DID have the illusion of that kind of class for these first few weeks since my previous 4 classes are filled with angels (who still haven't the confidence to show me their devil's pitchforks!)
Tonight's class started off quite shaky for me as I WAS LATE! Malu tak, cikgu datang lambat?!?! Sheeshh.. I kept hoping 'the boss' didn't notice it as I was sure to get an earful if he did. Dah la FiRST CLASS! I was not shaking with rage, more like shaking with terror.. and it lasted for a full half hour in class, making my writing get all squiggly and such.. sheesh!
In my defense, I WAS early. Its just that it was raining and so many students were registering (with their parents), thus the lack of a parking space for me. I had to go around 3 times before finally settling on a parking space that was far enough to force me to run to class, just so to not be too late (I was already 10 minutes late as it is)!
I was greeted by 19 faces, which is quite a surprise since usually my first classes only consist of less than 10 students. A quarter of them were some of my exstudents I taught 2 years ago during their PMR year, the rest were mostly new faces (some familiar too but not from my previous classes). I got 5 girls and the rest were, well, boys.. childish ones to be exact.
The first thing that made bells ring in my head was how eager they were. You know usually its the girls who come for the lesson, boys come only for entertainment? Today, suddenly most of the boys were very tentative with lots of questions.. with the occasional 'Cikgu Ayuuuuuuu' in a very gedik kinda way.
I rolled my eyes as usual, but not wanting them to lose their interest in the topic, I still answered their questions.
Then came the marking of their books. I'm the type of teacher who gives them questions, expecting them to answer within a considerable amount of time and then I'd promptly mark their books.. well, those who finish laa.. instead of just showing the answers in front, expecting them to correct their own mistakes (if any). The reason: If I don't check their books, jangan harap la they'd actually do it.
Anyway, to my surprise, more than half of them eagerly finished their exercises and quickly asked me to check their work. I was impressed.. right until I realized the reason they wanted me to see their books.
The first boy had an 'I ♥ Cikgu Ayu' neatly doodled on the first page of his book. Inwardly, I rolled my eyes till I could see my brain! Outwardly, I pretended I didn't notice it and just scolded him on how sloppy his work was.
The second boy had 'Cikgu Ayu' doodled on the cover of his book.. with small hearts flying across the phrase. I had to stifle a groan when I saw it and yes, this boy was also scolded, this time for a careless mistake.
And it went on and on for a few more of them that I finally rolled my eyes AND groaned out loud.
Don't get me wrong, I'm NOT talking about a student crush or something.. I KNOW these boys even if I haven't taught most of them and I realized what they were trying to do: rattle my chains! Nak tengok my reaction to their childish antics. SEBAB: most of them watched me and my face EVERYTiME I went to check their books and one boy pretended to be horrified (another major rolling eye action here) when I checked his book.. please laaa.. I wasn't born yesterday.
It didn't stop there. One boy raised his hands saying he didn't understand my lesson. When I went to him, he told me, "Cikgu, sy dah lama dah suke kat cikgu. Cikgu ingat kenapa sy amik kelas cikgu? Tapi cikgu tak penah pun perasan kan sy.." Seriously kau?!? Rase nak penyepak tak?!? And I might have, had I not finally found it hilarious.
By then, I was already convinced that these devils had actually planned this beforehand. And judging from the way they were cheekily grinning at me, I'm pretty sure I'm right.
So when one boy I taught since he was in Form 2 suddenly belted out a song to me about how his heart had been stolen as I was marking his book, I just gave him a stare that actually made him sing a bit longer to me, and decided to ignore him and just let them be. Boys will be boys, anyway.
Besides, its just the first week of class. They are still adjusting to the idea they have a HUGE exam at the end of the year and since most of them think I'm one of the 'cikgu sporting', I guess I'll let them off the hook this week. As for next week, I'm still crossing fingers hoping I'd have a 'normal' class by then =D
