TAN LEE YENG

Travel writing (Non-prose fiction)

30 March 2019

Hon… Hon… The train was going to start. Said goodbye to my hometown and started my journey to my last SBE in April. I choose to do my last SBE in a non- National type school which is SJK© Kim Sen, located at Bukit Mertajam, Pulau Pinang. We stay at our friend, Jay Jia’ s house as her house was near to the school. This was the second time I went out to a school which was far from my hometown for SBE purpose with my friends. The journey took part during the afternoon, a 5 hours journey by the train requires me to be patient and most important things was to stay warm in the train. The air condition in the train was functioning well. As a result, I need to cover all my body part by wearing the thick and heavy jean’s jacket to keep my body warm.

Along the way we went to Bukit Mertajam, my friends and I were excited because we never been there before. All the things for us were new and fresh. As you know what the girls would do when they were gathered together, that is gossiping. We had a small group discussion in the train. We discussed on where we planned to go on the weekend, the delicious food in the place, how we planned to spend our time in school and so on. We even had the girl’s talk after the discussion. Time flies, we arrived at Bukit Mertajam around 8.30pm. Jay Jia came along with her elder sister to bring us to her house. After 30 minutes, we reached Jay Jia’s house. We were so tired. After greeting to her family members, and we went into our room to take a break. It was really getting late and it was time for us to take a quick shower and hit the hay. We had to take a good rest as we need to go for the school the day after it.

1 April 2019

Ring… ring… The alarm was ringing. Everyone started packing things up, and we went to our destination, SJK © Kim Sen. We were quite excited to face a new school, new environment and the new people over there. When we stepped into the school area, we were amazed by the environment of the school. They had a big playground which consists of few see-saws, swings, sports equipment and so on. There were a lot of the animal sculptures which were as huge and attractive around the playground.  The environment was fabulous until we would like to spend more time to explore even though we know we could not do this. This is because we have more important things we need to do on the first day of school. As usual, we went to a school on the first day, the first things we need to do was report to the principal that we were going to stay in this school for one week to our SBE purpose.

We did not expect that there was a challenging task waiting for us on the first day of school. We need to become the artist to draw a mural on the wall and decorate the punch card corner. We look at each other. The message passing through our eyes: Do you know how to draw? The received message: NO! What across my mind was Oh My God. There was only one teacher will help us in preparing the materials. We need to design by ourselves. So, we decided to get the help from Mr. Google. We searched through the internet and finally select a simple but motivating picture with the meaningful quotations as the design for the mural.

2 April 2019

Let’s us start our work today. We decided to do some artwork by using the recycle bottle to produce a colourful and attractive flower pot. First, we cut the plastic bottle into half, and we use the bottom part of the bottle as the flower pot. We need to be very careful as the plastic bottle was soft and it might cause the injuries. Next, we cut the outline of the bottle based on the shape of animals that we prepared before it such as rabbit, elephant, cat and so on. These animals’ crafts were drawn by Jay Jia. We discover the hidden talent from Jay Jia, which she was able to draw very well. After this, we started to paint the bottle by using different colour. Our hands were full of stains. My pants were dyed with the Pelaka paint. Luckily, it was dark colour and not obvious. Lastly, we make two holes in the sides of the bottle and thread the rope. Our flower pots are done!

Short story （Prose fiction)

Hello Hello New Teacher

“Hello, the new teacher. Please come to office and meet me later.” “Hello, the new teacher. Please come and take a relief for Year 6.” “Hello, the new teacher. We would like all of you to do some artworks to decorate the school environment.” These are what I hear most often during one week of SBE in SJK © Kim Sen.

Ring… ring… the bell is ringing. Today is the last day I stay in this school. Well, it has been one hectic week I stay in this school.  Recall back to the memory, we successfully overcome all the challenges we faced in this school. In the school compound, we need to take our responsibility to take care the beauty of school areas by being the artist to decorate the environment, drawing the mural. In the class, we need to show our teaching profession to facilitate the students in the activities well. Sometimes, we need to become the relief teacher to carry the class who do not have teacher. In the institute, we need to play our role as the students to complete the assignment given from the lecturer. Realizing that being a teacher is a not easy work. As the teacher coming to be, we have to be multi-tasker.

All of us are going through several sleepless night. However, I feel satisfy with what I done in this week. Looking at the art work we done, listening to the exclamation from the teacher and the students. When the students pass across the place, we can hear they said out the word ‘Fighting’. The feeling of satisfaction and excitement I have, it cannot be described by any words even though the art work might not as good as the professions’. Looking at the smile from the students, when I take the relief class. Wondering is because of my arrival or the absence of the teacher. I get the answer when I feel the enthusiasm from the students who tend to talk to me and hold my hands tightly. Waving their hands toward me, saying ‘Goodbye teachers’ loudly when I left the class. It is tiring but worth it.

We are still new and the life is a leaf of paper white. We would not separate ourselves to the word ‘teacher’. There might have some obstacles, but we should stay strong and overcome it. There is a long journey to become a good teacher.

Modern Poem

“Artist”

Red, blue and yellow

The eyes only focus on the colours.

We wonder what will come next

If we mix all the colours.

Oh, it’s green colour.

This colour can be used for the grass.

Oh, it’s orange colour.

This colour can be used for the stamen.

Oh, it’s purple colour.

This colour can be used for the petal.

Days of working with the sleepless nights,

Turning the wall from white to colourful.

The blouse and pants are full of stains,

Ten fingers are dyed with colours.

But, we are satisfied when we hear the exclamation. 

“Self-introduction”

Class, stand up.

Good morning teachers.

You can hear their whispering,

Wondering who we are. Where we come from.

10 different classes are entered,

Different types of students we faced.

But the same scenario happens.

To start the class of the day,

Let’s introduce ourselves.