NG JIE NING

Prose fiction – Short story (A Good Experience)

     “Sir, we are okay with that,” my SBE mate told the teacher without hesitation. I stared at her blankly with gaping mouth. “A golden opportunity. We are going to practicum soon,” she whispered.

     “Here is the textbook. Lesson for today will be Unit 5 Our Heroes for Year Four pupils. Both of you can read through the chapter and go online search for an activity to be carried out later,” he looked at my worried face, “Don’t worry. This will be a good experience for you,” he smiled at me.

     The class started at 10 o’clock and now the hour hand was pointing at 9. One hour preparations for the class? Like seriously? Are you kidding me? There was so much questions spinning around my head. I had no confidence that I can conduct the class successfully as this was the first time of being appointed to teach a class after I went for SBE two times.

     We distributed our works as we had no time to waste. I was in charge of reading that particular chapter while my friend was responsible to search for one relevant activity for that topic. I was so nervous and even searched from the Internet regarding the best ways to approach and teach the pupils. I read through the topic repeatedly although there were just a few pages. The clock was ticking and I felt that I’ve gained my confident gradually after repeating flipping the textbook until it had sticked on my mind.

     “Let’s go,” my friend reminded me, “Five minutes to go.” We packed our things and went to the classroom with the teacher. Upon reaching the class, teacher told us that he would be sitting behind watching us to teach without interfering our ongoing lesson unless it was needed. He said that we can do anything we want as it was our show time. “Canning the pupils like how my primary teacher used to punish me?” I smile sinisterly when this came to my mind.

     A deep breath was taken before I step into the classroom. I’m confident now as I’m cleared with the flow of lesson. I’m going to introduce the topic, explain and describe occupation by relating to their life experiences while my friend will be carrying out a small group activity with the pupils. 30 minutes lesson would be conducted perfectly. I knew it.

     The class was so noisy. However, the class became quiet when we entered. “Good morning class, we are your English teachers for today. I’m Miss Ng, she is Miss Tan.” The pupils in the class stared at us for a few seconds maybe because we were new to them. “Are they afraid of us?” I put on a smile, trying to express my amicability as I believe that pupils learn best in a friendly classroom environment.

     “Do you know that Avengers Endgame will be on cinema soon?” “Really? I want to watch!” “Are you going to tuition this afternoon?” “Lend me your workbook. I want to copy.” The voices came from every corner of the class.

     I was stunned. Their silentness only remained for a few seconds. I gave them warning but it only last for minutes. They were doing their own things and chit chatting with their friends. They ignored our presence. We tried out our best in controlling the class as we could not even start to teach without their cooperation. Ten minutes was spent in shouting and scolding. “After-school detention for one-hour if all of you behave in this way again,” the teacher stood up and announced, the class was finally in control. I guess he can’t bear it anymore too.

     At the end of the class, we only managed to transmit the content to the pupils. Sitting on the chair in the room, we were exhausted. I was too naive.

     Indeed. It was a good experience before I start my teaching career. Honestly, being a teacher is an uphill task.

Prose non-fiction – Diary

Monday, 1 April 2019

Time: 9:15 p.m.

Dear Diary,

Today was the first day of my third SBE, right after March school holiday. I walked to the primary school this morning as we had no transportation. I was exhausted and stream of sweat pouring down my face when we reached the school. Alright, Happy April Fool!

We chose to ride Bus 11 to school because it was just a stone throw away from my friend’s house, not even 500 meters. We enjoyed walking along the road as the breezy wind was the perfect weather. School office was the first place we entered as we had to report to them regarding who we were and the purpose of going to the school. The school administrators such as principal and assistant principal were friendly and tried their best in fulfilling our needs. This could be seen as they gave full cooperation when we asked for some resources needed for assignments.

After managing all the documents, SBE mates and I went around the school as we were curious about their buildings and infrastructures. When we passed by the canteen, savoury aroma was detected by my nasal cavity. My stomach rumbled and I felt hungry. Probably due to psychological effect but honestly, the pleasant smell could not be resisted. I walked around the stalls which displayed variety of food such as fried rice, economy rice, tomyam noodle soup and fried food. All the food looked delicious and most importantly, the prices stated for the food are extremely cheap. For instance, a plate of fried rice costs one ringgit only and the same goes to tomyam soup noodle.

I bought a plate of fried rice and upon walking to the teachers’ break room, one of my SBE mates tapped on my shoulder. “The fried chicken is mouth-watering!” she pointed at the stall. I approached the fried food stall and saw the fried chickens. “Wow! The crispy crunchy chicken skin!” my pupil had dilated, “Let me check the price.” “Two ringgit per piece? So cheap!”

Holding a fried chicken with full of chili sauce which I had requested and a plate of fried rice, I walked to the break room with delightful smile. The fried rice was not as tasty as I thought, but the fried chicken was finger lickin’ good! Jaws clamping down on a juicy bite, brittle-as-glass chicken skin splitting at my tooth. The fried chicken was perfectly fried. I’m going to eat this for the next few days. The strong determination could be easily seen through my eyes. I guessed I’ve forgotten that I was having sore throat.

Upon leaving the dining table, I met one of the teachers that previously led me and other representatives to other states for table tennis tournament. I had not met him for four years since graduated from secondary school. Both of us were shocked as we never thought that we would meet each other in this primary school. We chit chat about the competitions that my teammates and I had participated during those good old days. The conversation brought me to the past and I missed those days where teammates and I practised hard every single day just to achieve our target and grabbed the medals in the national tournament.

After we ended our conversation, SBE mates and I walked out the break room. The canteen became crowded as the upper primary pupils were having their break. Some of the pupils were enjoying their meals while some were queuing up in front of the stalls. I coincidentally heard a conversation between the two boys. Boy A told boy B that they can just sneak in and take the fried food without paying money. Out of my expectation, boy B agreed and replied that the canteen operator will not be able to notice them if they do so as there were too many people. I stared fiercely at both of them, they looked at me blankly and walked away. “Kids these days,” I shook my head.

Dear diary, this is what I experienced today. I would like to tell you more but I still have a bundle of assignments to complete. I will stop here and continue to share my story after my school dismiss tomorrow. See you!

Jie Ning

Poetry – Modern poem (The Observers)

Sunny day

Our eyes are closed

Resting in the air-conditioned room

Enjoying the cold air kissing our cheeks

Knock knock

We open our eyes

Informing us to observe her lesson later not tomorrow

Reminding us to bring chairs from main hall

Looking around

We are searching extra chairs in main hall

Taking down four from stacked chairs

Carrying to the class

Tick tock

We waited outside as it’s five to nine

Putting chair on the corridor

Sitting down waiting for the bell rings

Click clack

We greet the teacher

Carrying chair to the back of class

Puzzling face shown by the pupils

Good morning

Teacher instructs them to greet us

Smiling and we greeted back

Looking awkwardly at teacher and they are allowed to sit

Dead silence

Teacher ridicules the pupils

Being so quiet today

Panicking as we are holding papers and pen?