Waka Waka Dance (Re-Post)

I had ever been surprised by keisha, a 9yo kid, one day, she met me bfore class, “ms I need to talk to u after the class, this is really important” I gave her a “what’s wrong?” Face then she continued, “I can’t tell u now, please ok, I need ur time after the class, ok, give me yes ms”

I was nervous abt what she wanted to tell. When its time for class, I went to the 2nd floor. I met keisha around the stairs, she stopped me. “Ok I think I’ll just tell u now, can we talk here now? Pls listen to me, only 3 err no 2minutes, ok?” She gave me puppy eyes, then I nodded

I thought she wanted to tell me about something serious like the lesson or the way I’m teaching, but theeen she told me, “Ms can u give punishment to jordan and nalendra?” She asked. I shooked and asked back, “what for? They didn’t do anything wrong”. She became gloomy. “U know I like ‘waka waka dance’, bcos of that, they keep laughing at me, I mean what’s wrong with that dance” she mumbled. I hold my laugh.

“They keep laughin at it, it hurts my feeling, I want u to give them punishment, can u promise me that?” She shot me. I was a bit surprised. I actually wanted to laugh, not bcos she likes that ‘waka waka dance’ but bcos I thought she wanted to tell sumthin really critical. In the end I accepted to give punishment to jordan and nalendra, her classmates, but when I wanted to explain it in class, keisha was panic..

She stood up directly and said, “I don’t ask ms wida to give you punishment, really I don’t do it”. I can’t hold my laugh. I mean she was just too obviouuuus, because of that, the class became a bit chaotic, and in the end I didn’t give punishment to anyone. Well, kids are geuninely cute :))

One-Sided Love for Wisa

So this is what I foundlast month. I taught wisa, a 6yo tomboy girl. She surprised me sayin she’s got boyfriend, also an ILP student. She was so happy saying “ms my boyfriend kokoh patrick, ituh ms, wear glasses in YAC 6 class, I like kokoh patrick ms”. the class became noisy as she confessed. Although all her classmates laughed at her, wisa was really confident. I asked her, “is it really patrick? Why do you like him?” 

She replied, “yes ms kokoh patrick your student dulu, I liiiikeeee kokoh patrick”. She kept saying that while her friends laughed out loud. 

A fella, thaddeus even added, “wisaa, you love kokoh patrick, you get married, then you kiss like this muaaaah, hahaha”. He showed kissing expression that made me speechless.

Their expression were really cute, I mean a 6yo girl which is a green adventure student had a crush on a 12yo boy from young adult class, haha.. I felt a bit pity for her, well I had just finished teaching patrick. So far, he never mentioned about wisa, it must be a one-sided love :))

Adorable Albert

Yesterday, one of my kids classes learned about parts of the body. My students were all about 6 or 7yo. Everyone was so excited that I came up with "I spy" game. I gave them an example, while spying with my eyes and hand just like a detective, I shout, "I spy a part of the body, the first letter is W". The kids were noisy screaming "BINGO!", "BINGO!", "Waist!", "Wrist!".

Then they took turn shouting the "I spy". It went smoothly until Albert's turn, I tell you, he is ubercute kiddo with some part of his mouth toothless. Albert started, "I spy part of the body, the first letter is R". Then he smiled inviting his friends to answer. Unfortunately, no one knew. 

"What's the answer, Albert?", in the end, I asked him. He smiled again full of victory and shouted, "RICE!". I was surprised, everyone was too, then they started complaining to Albert. I told Albert that we're talking about parts of the body, not food.

Albert nodded and seemed cool, then he replied, "Rice also part of the body miss". "Are you sure?", I challenged him, then he answered with an answer that made me almost fall from my chair while laughing out loud, "Yes, miss, everyday I eat rice, now, the rice is here, in my stomach, so rice is part of my body now". I was like "...." for several second then laughed together with the other looking at Albert touching his belly tummy and smiling purely. I loovee Albert!

Polka Dot Hand

I was once tricked by my students. In my class, no matter how young the kids are, I force them to speak always english, I open jakarta Corner (a corner where they can speak a word in indonesian for maximum 5 minutes), I also apply the “tick” method, when a kid says indonesian word, I’ll give a “tick” on their hand using my marker, it also applies on me, wheh then asks me a word, I must explain slowly with more simple language, when they don’t get it and I have no choice but tell them the indonesian word, each of them may give me “tick” too. somehow, it works.

So this is a class with 5 kids. In that class speaking in indonesian is counted as a very big mistake, the same like killing people. Sumtimes when they forgot, they’ll speak in bahasa. I’ll be happy giving them a tick :D

That day I gave a tick to nia bcos she said “iya” and was caught by james that directly report to me. Rule is rule, if we want the rule to be well implemented, we have to be serious. After nia, several students got ticks too. Then while doing their writing task, I saw them discussing sumthing, I thought it was about the lesson, then they all came to me.

“Ms we want to ask u, we don’t know how to read this in english” they showed me the book. Its written “motorcycle”. Then I started reading. As I started reading “motor..”, james closed the “cycle” part with his palm, I stopped, confused for sum seconds until I heard shouting. They’re all shouting happily, “ms widaaaa speak bahasaaa, ms speak bahasaaa”. I realized, they tricked me to say ‘motor’ which is only bahasa for them! I actually wanted to defend myself but I couldn’t stand looking at their happy face, then I finally allowed them to give me ticks, that was really your lucky day, kids :)

polka dot hand 

Good Words Good Work

Several months ago I watched a drama, "secret garden", some of the dialogue there was still here, stuck in myhead, so I this morning, I browsed the internet and found them completely from here

“There are things that are thought of as fantasies merely because they’re far away. Starry bodies are like that. Just as it is with people who are too beautiful, they readily disappear – In the books that I’d read to find out what he’s really like, this was a passage that had long settled in my heart. It’s now that I realize it, how beautiful a person he is. And therefore, how far away he is from me. He’ll disappear someday, too, like people do when they’re too beautiful.” – Ra-Im

“The things you say are true. It’s all true. But, you fool, where in the world is there a woman who would foster a tender, happy love only to disappear like sea foam? No woman starts a love with a designated end.” – Ra Im

“Among the four seasons, I like winter the best. The face is cold and the body is hot. Even though you’re tired, you freeze when you stop walking. I like it when I have to walk and walk until my heart bursts. Because if you continue to walk, eventually you get on the top of the mountain.” – Ra Im

“Being unable to eat and sleep is the basic thing. Waking up in the middle of the night will become a daily routine. Because the one you love has turned into someone else, you also can’t whine to each other for the fear of being scolded by that person. So, you cry by yourself. But what hurts the most is that person doesn’t actually miss me like the way I do. It’s like that person has forgotten about me and is simply being happy alone. All you want to do is die, but you can’t die either… because you’re scared that you won’t see that person again.” – Seul

Story about A Sweet Student

He's Glenn, one of the sweetest student I've ever had. I like his attitude toward the lesson. He's eager to learn balanced with his spirit to play any games. He's keen on futsal and soccer. If I asked him about a soccer match on TV, he would be really excited to explain with detail. I know his fave footballer, Frank Lampard, he ever wore a T-Shirt with lampard picture on it. One day we played hang man, and it was about famous people, as I guessed, he made frank lampard. no one noticed that time. I waited until glenn felt upset as no one could guess then I shouted, frank lampard! He was really surprised and said things like, "ms how do you know? ah you cheating, you cheating ms, not fair". I was just laughing when he couldnt stop nagging.

the other day, we learned about illness, so while doing the presentation, I give them model sentences to ask and inquire about illness like, "what's wrong?", "what's the problem?", "what's the matter?", then even before I finished, glenn rose his hand, "ms if we want to ask about illness, why dont we just ask 'you sick what?' I think people will understand". I thought he was joking, but he didnt laugh. His face was flat that it made me laugh out loud, I mean "YOU SICK WHAT?" :))

One day we played "yes or no" game, a game when everyone asks you question, you must answer without "yes or no", so this game teaches us to use long answer, to speak more. One by one students in his class finally got tricked. Then glenn came to me, "ms it's now your turn, I really want to trick you" he said that with an excited face. "Glenn, I'm not supposed to play, we have a test, so lets just start the test" I answered him, but then he refused and took all my file in my table, "I take this, if you dont want to play, you'll never get this back" he gave me a threat. I smiled, "okay then, trick me". They started asking question, never ending question. Honestly, I didnt play serious that time, so after not more that 3 minutes, I got tricked by glenn. At first he was happy, but then, he showed his gloomy face, "ah ms you cheating, you did it on purpose, I know you could do better but you did it because you want the game ended". I was surprised he said that, well, I had been tricked anyway and it's not on purpose. I came to him, poke him and made him sure that he really tricked me, then we started the test.

The other day we played "truth or dare" game, everyone gave orders like "jump to the toilet", "do headstand", and others weird orders, but glenn's order was the most thrilling, it was "tickle ms wida". I almost got tickled by a student, ah glenn he's so funny.

Recently, I've got an illness that made me lose much weight and became very weak. It's been hard for me until I finally decided to get back to work. At the first week, I still look like a zombie, uberweak zombie that I couldnt speak more than 2 or 3 minutes. I couldnt stand up more than a minute and I need to drink every 3 minutes. It was my first coming back to glenn's class after missing for 2 and half week. When I entered the class, I tried to shout (though it was a very weak shouted) "Hi everyone, I do miss you, a lot", they murmured then reply "I dont miss you", I showed them sad face, "okay if you dont miss me, maybe I should skip the class for one month more", I walked to the door, then they suddenly became noisy, "dont go ms, yes we miss you, we miss you". I smiled and welcome them, suddenly glenn interrupted, "ms why are you walking like penguin? and why are you so thin now?". That question made all the class laughed. At first I thought he toy me, then looking at his flat face, I'm sure he wasnt. Then I explained them about my illness and about my condition that time, they all nodded. Then I started the warmer, it was several quiz about obligation (to review the previous lesson). I had 10 questions to guess. We've finally finished 8, so I told them, "class, I still have two more so be ready", everyone nodded but glenn, he suddenly came to me and pushed me to sit on my chair, I asked him, "hey hey what are you doing?", then he was like really worried answered, "ms you have tumor (I said two more before) you need to go to the hospital soon, please dont teach ms, just meet the doctor". While he was saying that, he showed a very serious face. Well for several second I cant think of anything, but then, I was bursting of laugh, I couldnt stop laughing. It was really tiring that I thought I would pass out. I suddenly felt short of breath and really exhausted. A student, william pointed to glenn and shout, "if ms wida faint, you'll go to prison". It made me laughed more, I felt supertired and ran out of energy. That was the funniest joke I've ever gotten, I said I have two more (question), but they changed it in to tumor the illness, awesome!.

When I finally could manage my body, we started the lesson, I did the presentation. Glenn kept interrupting, then followed by the others too, but that time, I wasnt angry at all, because glenn kept saying, "ms its already more that three minutes, dont stand, sit on your chair, take a rest first", then the others followed "ms you've already talked too long, please have a drink first", they took care of me. That's not the end, at a time, I told them that I wanted to go to the toilet, they nodded. What made me really touched, when I finished and open the door, glenn and all his classmate were all there, stood in front of the toilet. I was surprised, "why are you here?", then they answered, "because we're afraid that you will faint in the toilet". Ah those pure face. I hugged them back to the class. I was so touched by the way they treated me. They're kids yet they're really good at taking care of me. I love them, God, I do love them!

But, why did I take picture with glenn? it was because next level, we're going to separate. I had been with them for 2 levels so I'll be given new class. I'm so sad to leave those class with all the good memories we've shared. but well, I've got to move on. I'll keep them in my heart. I wish you all the best kiddos!

My Great Grandfather's Favorite Movie Star

Teaching is fun!. By teaching, I get surprises day after day. Just like this afternoon, I had a class with 5 kids. I didn't give any presentation since we'd have midterm test. When I came in to the class, I met 2 kids, clara and william. Then while waiting for the others, I decided to play 'spin the marker' combined with 'truth or dare', so I spinned the marker until it stopped, then someone who is pointed got a question to answer from each friend, if they couldn't answer, they would do everything their friends asked to. They started to think of difficult question. At first, their question was only like "who is your crush?" or "who is your father's name?", for kiddos those were kind of difficult to answer honestly. I chose to join the game because there were only 2 students. When we were playing at the early minutes, I never got pointed. after 5 minutes, other three students, kayleen, afi and glenn came and joined us. Unluckily, I got pointed, william was the first one excitedly gave me a question, I was shocked because of his veryyyy difficult question,

Will: "Ms, who was your great great grandfather's favorite movie star?"

Me: I hadn't even met my great grandfather in my real life, how was I supposed to know?. I tried some tricks but ended up failed so in the end, they won. I asked them what the would like me to do. Other surprises!, this was our conversation,

Will: "Ms, please show us your hair, I'm dying to see your hair"

Me: "are you joking? NO"

Will: "I'm not ms. I'm really curious about your hair, why do you wear a hat ms. are you bald?"

Me: "Yes, I've got no hair"

All: "You lieee"

Me: "Okay if you're dying to see my hair, please look carefully at selena gomez"

All: "Why?"

Me: "Because my hair looks really like her hair, haha"

All: "..." (Murmuring unclearly)

The kiddos didn't give up, they kept asking me to do weird things like "Ms. please crawl to the toilet with one foot", "Ms. please do headstand", "Ms. please lift a chair with only one of your feet", and many others unbelievable orders. In the end I was safe.

The marker was spinned again, that time william got pointed. Glenn gave him a very difficult question, unfortunately I forgot it :(. William failed too, then he had to do something for glenn, and glenn, shockingly gave a crazy order, a simple one but I had never imagined that one of my student would give this kind of order,

Glenn: "Tickle ms.wida"

I stood up as william tried to tickle me, for any sake, I hated it being tickled even since I was born, haha. He touched my arm, then I lock his hands,

Me: "Well, I think enough for the game, now everyone please go back to your seat, and we're ready for the test"

I gave an evil grin for them as soon as they were asking for more.

"Ms. spin the marker once again pleaseeee, I still want to play"

Well, I couldn't help it looking at their hopeful face, but warmer time was finished. While they're doing their task, I laughed thinking about what I've just experienced, kids are genuinely cute and unpredictably funny.

Whistle for The Choir

Happy Fun-Lentine's Day!

4th February was always ordinary for me, I had never celebrated it like holy day, until several days ago. In my office, most of my students are take valentine's day as special event of 'day to love'. I appreciated it. I could say that I enjoyed those valentine's day celebration because of many good things.

First, in my office, we gave free homemade chocolate to every student. I've got 6 classes and I finally knew how Santa Claus felt while distributing all Christmas gifts, I enjoyed looking at their happy face after receiving chocolate from me (of course not from me personally, but from my office).

Second, We also held a valentine's card competition, so all the class would compete to make the best valentine's card to get presents from our office. the card should be interesting, creative, and good in accuracy. I enjoyed waiting for my students doing it in our last 20minutes lesson time.

the kiddos were also full of spirit for the card

Then, We also divided a 'love card' for each of them, so they could write their love messages. They could write for their mum, dad, sisters, brothers, friends, or whoever. Later we display all the love message on the first floor near the corridor to enter t classrooms, everyone could see whether they got a message or not. This was fuuun, moreover I got several cards from my students, I'm touched. I also got several discount voucher gift for hair treatment in megamall pluit from a student who's working there :D

Well, these are most impressive cards that I've got, the first one is impressive because I know that william lied there saying that he couldnt live without me, he he, but I like the last part ;). The second card was from Tius, he's college student from Goldy's class. That day, Goldy went out from the class laughing because of Tius' card for me, his card is funny, I felt like jumping because of shocking. that big boy must have eaten wrong meals that day :)). The third class was from Felicia, a 6yo kid. I told her to send a card for her parents but then she refused and wrote this instead. It's definitely a lie, I dont teach her everyday but only once a week on saturday class, but still for 6yo kid to write that way, I was impressed. The last card was from Calvin, a high school boy. He saw Felicia's card and kept complaining like "ms. I know she lied, you'll never teach us everyday, she lied, she lied...", then He made the honest-card-he-thought, and I couldnt stop laughing of his childish nagging.

Finally, I thank God for this wonderful week full of love, they kept saying "happy valentine miss", and the kiddos kept saying "I love you miss". I'm so grateful for this full-of-love-week. I couldnt say this, but I think they already know, I love them too, more than they do.

Goodbye Andreas

I've just arrived from work, I usually feel so tired, but now I'm so happy that I have like a tons of spirit to type.

Today is one of my class, Talking English class 2 report book day. We normally don't study at this day. We could have free activity like playing games, going to karaoke, and even eating together. There were 4 students in my class, two pretty high school girls, first, fortu, a very kind girl that is preparing herself to enroll her study to Sydney and the second is evon, a cheerful girl that loves korea and looks definitely like korean, then two nice college boys, tius, a supertall boy with glasses that is a fan of gambling in casino and next, andreas, a little quiet student that likes to help her mother in her sparepart shop, they're all good kids (I'm sure of this). Andreas actually is studying in China, right now he is enjoying his 4 months holiday in Jakarta. He decided to join us learning English to spend that holiday. So sad that after only two terms, he is leaving to china soon, on 16th February.
Since today was the last day we were at the same class with andreas, we went eating together, tius drove us to a nice seafood restaurant around Pluit, it was "Sedap Malam". Those kids were really lovely, they kept asking me to choose everything, starting from the place to eat to even the menus. It was really happy moment, we shared stories, we told many jokes, we ate much mouthwatering food. Time flew fast, it's already 9, I needed to go back to office to take my bag and go home, so tius delivered us. Actually I wanted to be with them longer, but what to do, I couldn't, so it was our goodbye. I pray to god that things will be easier for andreas in china, I prayed that tius could study well in his college and never drive over 180kph (he told us that it ever happened -_-), I prayed that fortu could easily continue her study to sydney, and the last, I prayed that evon could have a way to study psychology as she's been dreaming of and have a boyfriend this year (as what she wishes).
Well, goodbye is always hard, even after only 1 month meeting. Actually I was a substitution teacher for that class, because the homeroom teacher there couldn't continue teaching. I 've taught them for less than 1 month, but I felt very comfortable around them. I'm so gonna miss 4 of us together kiddos :)

here we were!

let me share you some of the delicious food :9