Jarod Yong

To All Malaysians: Selamat Menyambut Hari Kemerdekaan Ke-51! To All Non-Malaysians: Today, marks the 51st anniversary of my country's independence from British rule. To Everyone: Keep your eyes on the Malaysian political scene because it is about to peak! We may be free from outside rule... But on the inside, we might just experience a whole new level of freedom! I love Malaysia! =D

Today is Monday. Today is the first working day after a holiday. Many people in the country would agree with me that this day is quite a miserable day. After a week of relaxing & sleeping in... I have to stay up late to think of lessons that will help my students understand & apply what I am trying to teach them, wake up early in the morning to go to school, manage classrooms of restless students who have been bored by other teachers all day & help them learn a langauge that many of them dont seem to have much interest in. I was feeling somewhat down as I stepped into the staffroom... And I was utterly shocked to arrive at my desk... This was what I discovered... Wen & ShinYi is baking again! Now they have given Nesa, Shim & I a chocolate chip muffin each! They were delicious! It really did made my day & encouraged me! Thanks, girls! p/s: Dont feel like you have to continue baking for us, okay... I dont mind if this is your last gift. Al

I spent last Friday night at Port Dickson ! It was my first time at the popular holiday destination & I was not disappointed! I was there with 5 friends: Shawn , Nas , Saw , PohLin & Allan Mah . From what I read online, Port Dickson is the ideal wallet-friendly beach holiday destination for KLites & my experience reflected exactly that! We stayed in Kayns Resort . Nas's family runs the resort so we got two complimentary rooms! Although it is a little bit hard to find, the resort is affordable, family-friendly & has a lot of potential. I had many wonderful memories at the resort! We fooled around in the pool after swimming at the beach, chitchated at the jacuzzi, played volleyball & we had karaoke in the middle of the night! hahaha~~ The pool has got a slide! lots of slippery fun there~~ =D Volleyball in the morning... Ball rental available from reception... PD has got a reputation for dirty beaches but the beach at the resort was ver

taken from flickr.com/photos/mohdzarin/ The Monkeys were in Melaka once again for another mantastic trip! 5 of the bestest friends in Cohort 2... The Monkey Productions: Seng Chee , Guna , Shim , Nesa & I . We finally got away from the hustle & bustle for a little relaxation & conversation. We spent 3D2N in an A'Famosa Resort villa with a private pool. The trip was awesome & really brought us closer together after being away from each other pursuing our degrees in various countries around the world. I will cherish the memories from this trip, guys... Even though we may have no more trips together in the future... This trip is good enough for me... =) Here are the highlights from the trip: taken from flickr.com/photos/mohdzarin/ We spent a lot of quality time at the pool. We would play games, swim or just soak in the pool... We had our man-to-man talk over some drinks at a table by the pool... We went au naturel in the pool late one nigh

Life was getting exhausting for me & a good quality holiday is more than due. It has been 7 weeks of teaching where every lesson had to be intricately planned & carried out with great meticulacy... In between that, a 1 week of mid-practicum seminar where we listened to long speeches... Adding to the above: overseeing the planning for a post-practicum seminar which is has been going on painfully for the last 3 weeks & will continue to go on until the end of practicum. As you can see, a good rest is very very welcome. Therefore, this is the itinerary for my 1 week holiday: Mon-Wed: 5 Monkeys back in Melaka The first time we went was at the end of our studies in KL, in 2006. The second trip is this one, which is during the final year of our studies, & will likely be the last trip we have together. This fact is inevitable because, after practicum, we will be posted to different states in the country. Of course, we can meet again somewhere once a year or somet

As a teacher, students would sometimes say thank you to you for your hard work. Occasionally, they might even give you a gift! As a trainee, I never expected gifts during my practicum period! Neither did I expect to receive one only after 2 months in the school! Yesterday, two students caught me by surprise... They came into the staffroom & quietly approached my table when I was seriously at work marking some papers... "Sir..." I looked up with a confused look, after red-penning grammatical errors for the past hour & not expecting any guests... Two familiar faces looked back nervously... they were silent. "Yes?" I asked. One girl nudged the other & whispered something in Mandarin. "We have something for you, sir." the one being nudged said. She then proceeded to take out 2 containers! I was speechless & my confused look became a mixture of confused joy! "For you, sir, & Cikgu Nesa. Share." I smiled. They quick

taken from englisharts.org About 2 months ago, I was given the assignment to train a student choir for the retirement ceremony of the assistant principle of my school. as can be seen here in a previous blog post. However, only 2 students came for the audition. I was thinking of changing the choir into a duet but Pn Adeliana (my advisor) came up with the brilliant idea of having teachers taking part too! Thus, I decided to do a quartet! So I started to compose a medley of well-known classics for a 4 minute performance. Little did I know, there was another twist in store for this performance! Soon, I was put in the teacher performance committee. So my performance would only involve teachers... and I had to come up with a performance where all teachers would be involved. Thus, my quartet will have to be turned into a choral performance. Something like a choir except they will sing the conventional way. After a few revisions, my medley composition was approved today!

taken from metro.co.uk It has been 6 full weeks since I started my teaching practicum at SMK Puteri Titiwangsa. The school is a girls’ school so I did have some expectations and mental preparations for any possible situation of difficulty at the school. I drew these expectations by listening to advice and stories from peers & advisors. Going to a girls’ school, some form of attention is normal and expected… especially when 3 striking young men step into a school to join the teaching force… However, the attention was not applied gradually… it was injected in large quantities. Causing an overdose & a natural over-adaptation… I never expected a tsunami of attention… and I wasn’t mature enough to handle it well. It was overwhelming. so I became quite fearful of coming to school… so I started to put up a cool front to discourage approaches for anything other than academia. I wanted to discourage the frequent adoring “hi, sir”… I wanted to discourage the deliber

I shall write then write no more for in writing lies my strength If I were to sway you let it be in my lack of it For if I conquer with my strength you will have become a property Let me love you with what's weak in me so that you can be what's best of me The hopeless romantic speaks and then will speak no more For one day he will fall weak and on that day he will truly know The true strength & durability of the love that he holds dear With that day's coming an inevitability his one hope is that she will stay near