New Found Love in my Life

Okay, this is going to be a rather wordy post.
I'm so hyped up about this right now, I have to pen it down.



I've been teaching piano in a music school part time for slightly more than a year now.
I started when I was still studying, just after I attained my Grade 8 certificate.
I know it is always better if I've got a Diploma, but I was thinking why not start teaching first, gain some experience. I can always teach and learn at the same time.
So while I was still in uni, I taught piano part time and still had my own piano classes.



After graduation, I continued teaching in the music school.
I was struggling between looking for a proper job (not that I don't consider teaching piano as a proper job) - a job that provides a stable income with some sense of financial stability - and teaching piano full time.
I tried applying for some jobs, mostly environmental jobs, because that is what I'm interested in besides music but I wasn't really active in my job search. Environmental jobs that allow hands-on application are hard to come by.
I was one of the teachers in the school who had more time to spare (basically every day since I wasn't working) so I relieved for the other teachers whenever they're not around.



I love ALL my students and the parents I've met are pretty nice people.



I've got one 71 years old lady learning piano from me.
I'd say she's a pretty slow learner, but she's very hardworking!
She's so passionate about learning, she brings books for me to look at and to show me what she had been learning at home.
SHE LIKES MY TEACHING TOO!
But she prefers learning the keyboard though, because piano keyboards are a little too hard for her. ):
So, she'll be switching to another teacher who teaches the keyboard.



I've got an 8 years old boy who loves playing the piano.
He loves it so much he gets his mum to purchase books for him just so he can practise at home on his own.
He feels the music too!
Like when I play a song that's supposed to be comical, he laughs. He gets what expression the music is supposed to be.
He just told me he wants me to teach him for life. Hahahahah.
And now, he calls me just to chat.



I've another 8 years old girl who's really quiet.
She'll only speak when I ask her question, and I've never seen her smile during class.
After a year of teaching her, she's finally opening up to me.
I'm starting to see her smile more during classes and she'll ask questions when in doubt.
AND SHE'S MORE MOTIVATED!
After her Grade 1 practical, she wants more homework and more pieces to practise at home.
So satisfying. (:



It's really nice to see students understanding what I'm saying and applying the techniques I teach them.
Even more so when they're motivated!
Sometimes, parents would talk to me about their kids - how they're doing etc.
Okay, maybe I just enjoy talking BUT I LOVE TALKING TO ALL OF THEM. Hahaha.
Life has never been as satisfying as now.
I was so excited just now, just thinking about all these.
I think I just found meaning in my life!

Boomwhackers with MacPherson Primary

I've just completed my very first assignment with Town 4 Kids at MacPherson Primary!
Missing the students now. ):

I was there as an assistant teacher and my main job was to assist the lead instructor in class.
It's like training for me, to watch how she teach and handle a class of 40.

The whole course wasn't all about learning music.
It was to use music learning to develop the students' character, especially in terms of their social behaviour.
So whenever a student displays a behaviour that's not accepted, we've got to get them to reflect on their own behaviour.


The class was really rowdy at first.
They came running into the classroom, shouting at the top of their voices.
When we splitted them into groups, the boys and the girls refused to mix.
They only wanted to be grouped with their friends.
Even after we got the groups all settled, the boys and the girls in each group couldn't get along with one another.
They fought over the roles each had to play, quarrelled over little things like group names etc.

But the lead instructor really handled the situation well.

I've learned so much from her in the 3 days I've been with her.


Towards the end of the whole course, we could see the students learning to work with one another.
Some even learning to take care of their group members, giving up the instruments or position they wanted just to maintain the harmony of the group.
The whole experience was really enjoyable.
The students were so amusing with their silly actions and words.


It was so nice seeing them all work together.
I was so proud of them, I video-ed every single performance on the last day.

This was the group I'm always around.
When they first worked together, the boys and the girls all refused to talk to one another.
The girls wanted all the girly names for group names, like "Jelly beans", "Cupcakes", "Gummy bears" etc, and the group finally decided on "Rainbow" because there were 7 people in the group.
Everyone was always fighting over the boomwhackers.


But watch the video!
They came up with one of the better performances towards the end.
The boy on the right was always giving in to his group members, giving up whichever boomwhacker he was holding to the one who wants it.
He was so patient with his classmates, guiding them through the song slowly.
They were so good with it in the video!

Look at them!
They practiced the song over and over just to perfect the performance.

And the students put up their performances in the last hour of the class.

The students in this group talked to one another as though they all hated each other.
The boy on the right was the big bully of the class.
During breaks, he'd just go around cornering the smaller kids or jump out of nowhere to scare the girls.
But he's always asking the class to keep quiet whenever they were too noisy.
I can see him as a discipline master in future.

Hahaha the boy with the sunglasses is the funny one.
He brings a different cap to class every single day and he never fails to bring his sunglasses.
He goes around shouting "Oppa gangnam style" and doing all the hip hop moves.


This oppa gangnam style thing is really getting on my nerves.
It's not even funny.

Rainbow!
They were so well prepared for the performance.


The boy on the left is from China and it seems like he doesn't really understand English.
Whenever we speak to him in English, he replies in Mandarin.


"Would you like to be the MC for the day?"
"What's an MC?" (In Chinese of course)
"It means you'll be standing in front with the microphone, hosting the whole performance."
"What MC? I'm not even sick."


HAHAHAHAHAHA
It was so hilarious the lead instructor and I couldn't stop laughing.

The boy on the right's the vocal one in class.
And he's really cheeky too.


"Teacher, can I use shakers for my performance?"
"Oh, you brought your own musical instrument?"
"Yup, I have it in my bag"
"Okay, since you brought it"


And he took out his pack of shaker fries from his bag.


That made my day too. Hahahahha.
It's so funny to talk to them.

Look at the boy doing the "go to sleep" action!
Soooooo cute.
And he's really good at shuffling and moon walk.

This group lovessssss to use anything and everything they can find in the classroom as props.
Most cooperative group ever when it comes to group work.

The most adorable class ever.

Most productive weekend for this semester.

Woke up early in the morning to travel to Yio Chu Kang to take a ride to Chinatown for Pai Fan.
Helped out with the preparation of the food, like cracking the eggs, washing the vegetables and DIVIDING THE FOOD INTO EQUAL PORTIONS!
I love packing the food into their containers.
And because there were more people helping out today, preparation of food was much faster than usual.
By 11.15am, we were all done packing and have all been grouped accordingly. Bee and I followed Liying and her mum to Kukop area to give out the packages.


Lunched at Chinatown and met Mum & Dad to get our toiletries.
Got a few facial masks to try too!


Came home and did a little packing to keep the place tidy.


And, I've send in my resumes to NParks for 2 positions.
Tried to do some work after that, but have decided to visit NParks's website for more job openings.
AND I SAW THE POSITION I'VE BEEN LOOKING OUT FOR SINCE THE START OF THE SEMESTER!
Conservation of Central Nature Reserve.
PLAY A ROLE IN NATURE CONSERVATION and maintenance for the areas.


I'm so excited I can't get back to work.
Have been spending the past hour looking at the various environmental groups and am tempted to sign up for TeamSeagrass. The things they do are pretty interesting and meaningful.


I hope I get a call soon!

It seems like just yesterday that I entered NUS.
Meeting my guy friends who were in army back then was the time of my life. No educational talks, just chill and relax.


When the guys finally entered university, our talks revolved around school and work. And wow, I'll be graduating in 2 months' time!
How time flies.


Everyone has been asking if I've been looking for a job. Students in the same cohort have either found a job or have been called up interviews.
I've only been to career fairs which have been futile.


Went to the career fair at Suntec today.
It wasn't as useful as the career fair in NUS but I've talked to more people today.
Half of the career fair was for course seekers, people looking for courses to study in universities. The other half was mostly banks and issurance companies, and sales isn't exactly the job I'm looking for.


I was so happy when I was NParks's booth there.
They are usually not around during career fairs, so I went to enquire on the prospects in NParks. The booth turned out to be a department from NParks looking for workers to work in private landscaping companies. I wouldn't mind working in a landscaping firm but they were looking for gardeners. ):


After talking to the people there, I realized it's really hard for me to land my dream job.
Nature conservation is a niche job. It's not like the general sales/HR/admin jobs that any company can offer.


I want to do something similar to what I did in Field Studies.
Digging soils, moving upstream in the river, measuring turbidity of a river.
I want to work with plants and trees, conserve the nature reserves. Anything to do with environmental sustainability. Which means, I've only got NParks in my choice.


So hard to find a job I really like.

I passed my Grade 8 piano exam! (: (:
My piano teacher just sms-ed me. 2 more marks to merit but passing the exam is good enough for me. I've been working for about 2 years for this because I've been procrastinating my practice. I've been looking forward to this day since I started my practice.


I was bent on teaching piano the very moment I pass my Grade 8 but that was before I took the test. I still want to teach but it's after recess week. Mid term tests, project deadlines are all round the corner. I was asking around for music schools that will take in Grade 8 students as part-time teachers. I was intending to teach in North area, preferably Yishun and I found various websites that require me to send my resume in. But the thing is, the websites don't tell me what the working hours are like so I've not sent in any resumes. Des asked her music school if they need any piano teachers and I can start teaching whenever I'm able to commit. I want to but it's at Whampoa Drive and I've got to start around 4 plus 5pm on weekdays. I have school every single day till about 4pm and I start school early this semester. How am I supposed to commit?