Jarod Yong

I have been asked many times by friends, family, acquaintances, strangers, students & other teachers, "why do you want to be a teacher?" Few would be genuinely overjoyed when I say that I am training to be a teacher with the government in their Secondary Schools. Some will pretend to be. Many will ask with a similar tone... Wondering why this man would choose such a profession. A profession that has haunted & tortured them for much of their early years. A profession with no promise of fame, fortune or status. A profession regarded as the last resort to many. Many think that I can do better in life & are blunt about it. Blatantly arguing & putting down the profession. But really... Think about it... Can I do any better? My initial dream was to become a pilot. I wanted to fly in the sky & be free like the birds... I loved looking down on creation... I loved to see harmony... Every small piece working together to make a large difference......

Punctuation Ministries has prepared another tantalising stage production for the pleasure of the masses! Since its induction many years ago, Punctuation Ministries has produced many 5 star stage plays at a 1 star budget! It has been 3 years since I caught one of their performances & they have never failed to delight me! The play is about the conflict between father & child. The child has a dream for his future while the dad has a completely different dream for his son! I'm definitely catching it! I can relate to the conflict between parent & child and I am pretty sure 99.9% of Malaysians will too! So I am extending an invitation to all my readers. RSVP by emailing me! This event is open to all races & faiths! All are welcome! For more info & a map to the venue, visit this website . Venue: Dream Centre, DUMC Date & Time: 1 August 2008 (Fri) 8:30 - 10:00pm 2 August 2008 (Sat) 8:30 - 10:00pm 3 August 2008 (Sun) 8:30 - 10:00pm

Have you seen something that you really like? Then, you researched all about it... like it's name, address, phone number... But as you were attempting to possess it, you found that you couldn't? Well, I have seen this something almost 6 months ago... I have totally fallen in love with it... and yet... ever since the first sighting, I have never seen it again... I have searched all over Malaysia & have yet to find... Gosh~~ I feel gay saying this but... Just like a women, I have become obsessed with a pair of shoes... I have given up searching for it on my own... Now I'm opening it up to the internet & requesting that my readers assist me in my search for retail happiness! It's a Converse All Star Jack Purcell I saw it in a US Men's Health magazine 6 months ago so it should still be available. For 6 months, I searched Converse boutiques all over Malaysia to no avail. It looks like a Burberry design so I actually went to a few Burber...

Image taken from classpress.com Today, I got my students to start their own blogs! Not personal blogs though... But academic blogs! This means that I will assign them written tasks to be completed, checked & then posted onto their blogs! And because it is academic in purpose, it needs to be assessed. Therefore, it is unpractical to ask every student start a blog each because I wont be able to check each blog. Furthermore, the task might be too overwhelming for some students due to various factors. Thus, I have grouped the students & got them to start their blogs in groups. My purpose for getting the students in my high proficiency class to start blogs is to: - provide relevant language enrichment activities - expose to the most powerful media of the 21st century - expose to ICT - development of people skills / groupwork For further information, check out this site: Introducing the 1 Maju Student Group Blog Project! As the teacher, I have started a separate...

Today, I had to reluctantly remove one of my published blog posts because of a misunderstanding of it's content. The language I use in my writing is complex and I usually write with layers of meaning. It would therefore require a really well developed mind with good proficiency in the English language to completely fathom my poetic compositions. Like I said, there was a misunderstanding. Apparently one or more students from my school found my blog and read the post about the incident where one of my colleagues was harassed by some students. This student or group of students came up with erroneous allegations against my colleague & myself; claiming that we hate the school and we hate the students in the school. Au contraire, my dear readers... These claims brought fourth from an inferior mentality is far from the truth. I have only described events & reactions as it is. I have not implied on anyone hating the school nor its students. I am absolutely loving SMK...

Do they see me as this? taken from stemequitypipeline.org A teacher that students are motivated to work with. A teacher that inspires & brings them to new heights. A teacher who works very hard into every night to plan lessons that are engaging & a joy for students to follow. A teacher who constantly wants to improve. Or this? taken from nilpixel.com A walking meat on a stick. One of the only 8 men in the big school. Single, strong, charming, tall, young, broad chested, good features & commanding presence. An object of feminine fantasy. I opened up my eyes today to find, with great chagrin, that the student do check me out... I felt like a man living in a jungle ruled by exotic Amazon women. I get looked at like an exhibit in a museum... Did they see me as a piece of art? Or as a pole dancer in a strip bar? What do the students think of me? This is a question I still can't answer. But one thing's for sure... They think that I...

A student from one of my classes found me on friendster... Last Friday, she sent me a friend request... Last Saturday, she gave me a cute testimonial asking if we could be friends... Should I approve her friendster add request or should I not? What are the consequences of approving & of rejecting this request? How do I divide between personal acquaintance & professional acquaintance? What is the professional divide? To put things into perspective: I don't treat my friendster friends' list as a meaningless pool of names... Each individual in the list has had a good conversation with me & those who could not be bothered to catch up with me are deleted. That's why I dont have thousands & thousands of friends & multiple accounts. Also: In this school full of adolescent girls & only 5 male teachers to feed their testosterone hunger... I want to be considered a teacher first; friend second. I am willing to be friends with the students I t...

taken from smh.com.au On Monday, something I found hillarious happened... Today, the situation escalated to it's climax! Joy has been turned into fear... Check this story out! Monday: At the canteen... The 4 trainee teachers had finished their morning tea & were leaving the teachers' dining room... Nesa & Shawn was walking in front of Aimi & I. As we were walking by the throng of students stuffing their faces in the canteen... I felt a peculiar sensation which made me very uncomfortable... but whatever it was, I could feel that it was not directed at me... I turned towards the direction of the source & my suspicions were confirmed... It was directed at Nesa. There was a muscular XL Indian schoolgirl staring at Nesa. Actually, she gave him "the look". It was unlike anything I've seen before from a woman. She was leaning against a pillar with her arms crossed... But her eyes... OH THOSE EYES!!! Her head was slightly bowe...

taken from oneworldclassroom.com A student tried to play me for a fool today... But I understood my authority as a teacher & stood my ground. What I did after that fell very near the divide between a man with authority & an asshole with authority... Which one was I? Read on to find out... This occurred during a class that I was doing relief or, in other words, babysitting... I let the class do their own work because I had my own work to do too. Soon, a female student walks up to the teacher's desk... "Err... Teacher, can I go out?" "Why?" "Err... I want to make a phone call." "To whom?" "Errr..." Then, she leaves my desk & returns to her seat... I resumed my work. Soon she returns with an answer to my question. "I want to call my mother." "You want to call who?" "Err... my mother." "Why do you want to call your mother?" "Err..." Then, she leave...