Introduction to Teaching and School.

Introduction to Teaching and School.

At the moment I am in the process of completing the CfBT Orientation course which is a crash course into all things Brunei and being a junior school teacher of English. The programme I will be teaching is a prescriptive approach and very different to that of my NZ teaching responsibilities. Here, each day is already planned in a programme of learning with resources specifically set (though they all need to be made which appears to be the VERY time consuming part) but once they are made, they are ready for the following year – providing the programme doesn’t change.

Last Friday we were told which school we would be teaching at and that getting to my school would require a quick boat ride to work as it is across the river. We had been scheduled to make a school visit on Monday. I was freaking out about jumping on a dodgy boat to a strange “land” to meet a GB (Guru Besar – Malay for Principal/Head Master) who may or may not be expecting me and/or know what to do with me, so Jas, the boys and I did a dummy run Friday afternoon where we found my school and jumped on a dodgy boat and went for a ride around the surrounding “community” of water village.

Monday morning went much better than expected,. I was told there would be a Ministry boat that would come around 7am to pick up the teachers (for free) and take them across to school, we waited until about 7.10am and decided to jump on yet another dodgy boat and pay for the ride over -50c per person. Jas and the boys came over with me for moral support –more for the ride! When we arrived the children were assembling to raise the flag and do morning prayers until they caught sight of these strange looking whities. We caught their attention pretty quickly and they were pulling out all their best English to greet us. When the Ministry boat finally arrived the senior academic teacher was on board and showed me to my room. The GB hadn’t arrived so she left me to explore my room for a while until the GB sent for me.

I must say I was very impressed with my room and how extremely well resourced it is. I had heard plenty of horror stories about the condition and lack of teaching materials in some schools so I felt very blessed to be taking over from a CfBT teacher who was super organised and careful about looking after what was in the room.  The view out of the classroom door is fantastic with the water literally a stones throw away.

The staff seem nice, all with at least enough conversational English to ask me what my husband does for a job. “He is a house husband” doesn’t compute to Bruneians so “He works from home” generally makes do. Staff all seem laid back and go with the flow i.e. run on Brunei time. The GB warned me about the monkeys, I asked if he meant the child kind or real kind of monkey, he replied “We have lots of both”. 

I will be teaching 3 one hour classes a day which is made up of PRA(Kindy/Preschool) a year one and a year two class. Teaching across 3 levels is apparently difficult but necessary for smaller schools.  I start officially on Tuesday 17 July as it is public holiday Monday for His Majesty’s 66^th birthday.

After exploring my room and most of the school I left school at 11am (yes via yet another dodgy boat) and back to Jas patiently waiting for me on the other side of the river waiting to hear about my adventure.

Today (Tuesday 10 July) I have spent the ‘day’ observing another CfBT teacher. I had better clarify that school ‘day’ in Brunei is 7.30 -12.30 with just the 3 hours of teaching within that time J Of course there are stay backs and meetings etc but the school day is pretty sweet. I found my observation today very noisy but lots of fun, especially the PRA kids who are so cute you could just take one home.  They wear their traditional Muslim wear with their uniforms and look so sweet. The children again did their best to try and impress me with their “Hello Teacher” “I like chocolate and ice cream” “I am a girl” “I am 5 years old”. One little super star came up to me and said “Teacher your shoes …(pause) … Teacher your shoes… they are so….. spikey”. I burst out laughing and had to commend his English “Yes they are very pointy!” (Had my points on hanging out the bottom of my baju, all kids could see were ‘spikes’).

In Muslim culture to show respect, children take an elders right hand and in their hands, bow their head and place your hand on their forehead. This includes the teacher at the end of the school day. I found it very nice compared to the usual racing out the door the moment the bell rings. One little gem even held my hand against her forehead and told me I was very beautiful. I just about kidnapped her.