Le Petit' 선생

Just like Malaysia, South Korea is rich with its own culture. This includes various types of dances, music, and games. One that caught my eyes the most is called Ganggangsulae. The reason why I was drawn to this performance was that it was performed by little kids and they looked so cute! During my first observation week, my friend and I went to observe one of the first grade class in Sahwa Elementary. Though it was a Korean class, we were very lucky that the content on that day was on culture. So we got to experience firsthand the art of Ganggangsulae. According to Mr Wiki, "Ganggangsullae (Hangul: 강강술래) is an ancient Korean dance that was first used to bring about a bountiful harvest and has developed into a cultural symbol for Korea. It incorporates singing, dancing, and playing and is exclusively performed by women". At first we were wondering why the kids were wearing hanbok on that day. Clearly, they were preparing for the lesson. To make it even more inter...

Honestly, I adore this school's library so much. The fact that there's a librarian already took a load off from teachers' shoulders. The facilities are enough for the elementary kids. The reading areas are varied, from normal banquet-ish tables to sofa-ish seatings. Not only that, there's also younger kids sections. The shelves aren't so intimidating as the height is very children friendly. The bottom part of the wall is fully utilised as bookshelves as well 👍🏻 👍🏻 👍🏻 👍🏻 Don't we all agree that this is indeed a dream library? # komtep2019

I have always fond with the idea of school's newsletter. It could be as simple as one page of front and back A4 paper. Today, as I was teaching the Grade 5 classes, I saw Sahwa's October issue newsletter. Although I can't read anything since it was written in Hangeul, I could spot an article with our face in it, so I assumed the article was about us! Anyway, the newsletter is given to the kids every month and it includes their lunch meal menus as we ll. As for the broadcast, once a month, they'll have a monthly assembly. Unlike our Monday assembly, theirs are carried out in class. And the speeches by the principal will be broadcasted to all classes via their class tv. The broadcasting team also comprises of the school kids. Amazing, right! I hope that one day, we can carry out such ideas i our local schools as well. We should start by fixing our school's PA system first 👍🏻 👍🏻 and slowly build up from there. #komtep2019

It's normal to have Class Duty Rosters. Unlike most of the classrooms in Malaysia, the Korean kids at Sahwa took up a little bit more effort in cleaning not only their own classroom but also the school compound. Each of the classrooms are assigned with different areas in school that they need to look after; including watering the plants by the corridor, sweeping the stairs, cleaning special areas in front of special rooms and etc. This sight can be mostly in the morning, during lunch as well as after school. They'll be rushing with a mop or a broom with their hands trying to complete the task for the day. Cool, right! Besides cleaning up, some of them are also in charged of picking up the milk cartons for everyone. I, sometimes spied upon my kids back in Putrajaya and Alhamdulillah, after a few reminders, they started to show more compassion of cleaning up their own classes. It's a long way to go but we're reaching to that point 💪🏻 💪🏻 💪🏻 # komtep2019

Every kids in Sahwa Elementary brush their teeth after their lunch. You might think that this is an overstatement but it's actually the truth. After 01:20p.m., we could see most of them swarming the toilets' mirror while brushing their teeth. Surprisingly, the teachers do the same too. Honestly, I, once caught one of them brushing their teeth in our teacher's room. Amazing, right? To think how discipline they are when it comes to looking after them selves. Being lazy me, I never once brush my teeth yet after lunch. Perhaps I'll start doing it soon. Actually, I've seen such practise before in my first school; @SK Sungai Buri, Miri, Sarawak. See, some of the practises here have already been carried out in some of Malaysian schools. # komtep2019 # # syukurstillalive

Disclaimer: This is a non-curriculum post. Genre: Cultural Do you know that, in every 9th October, the whole Korea celebrates a special national day in conjunction of Hangeul; the special handwriting system established by King Sejong the Great in 1446. Here's a little history of Hangeul National Day: King Sejong the Great who was the fourth monarch of the Joseon Dynasty, along with fellow scholars invented the Korean alphabet in 1443. The promulgation of the system came afterwards with a commentary guide "Haeryebon" in 1446. The original name of the language was "Hunminjeongeum," which translates to "a set of proper sounds for the education of the entire nation." The aim of the new alphabet was to improve literacy among the general population, who struggled to learn the complicated writing system used at that time which was based on Chinese characters. Originally Hangeul consisted of 28 letters. This was later reduced to 24 (14 consonant...

Normally, in Malaysian schools, the relief teachers are given to those who have lesser periods at school at the time. Sometimes, the case may vary depending on the criticality of absence teachers at school. Similarly, as for the Elementary schools, since the classes function according to homeroom-based, the other homeroom teacher may be tasked to relieve the class of another missing homeroom teacher, ONLY when their own class is having another class with the subject teachers (either English, Physical Education or Science). Even so, for longer period of absentees, the school will look for substitute teachers, just like our system. So, there you can see the similarities and the differences between the two countries regarding relief classes. # komtep2019