International School drama

A friend of mine works as an online teacher at a school in Myanmar, called Leading Asia Myanmar International School, also known as LAMIS. From what I know, it is a new school, been around fora year or two. As we are in COVID time, all their teachers are not in Myanmar and deliver lessons following Myanmar school hours. They all have a valid working contract and only receive a salary without any benefits that an international school teachers would normally get. The owner of the school is saving tons of money on visas, air fares, health insurance, housing allowances, as well as contract completion bonuses.

Recently the school sacked their head of school (HOS) because they found out that ontop of being a HOS for LAMIS, he is also a HOS for a school in Europe. He did this because he hasn’t received his full salaries for the months he worked there. There were times where he had to pay other teachers’ salary with his own money as the owner rarely pays foreign teachers’ salary as agreed. Let’s call this HOS Adam.

LAMIS now has a new education consultant acting as the head of school. As all new head or manager, Greg wants to leave his mark at this new school. He has made some interesting suggestions and let out a few secrets he shouldn’t have. One of the suggestions he made was for all teachers to move to a country closer to Myanmar to reduce the time difference. One of the secrets he let out was his personal feelings towards one of the current teachers and that he has thought of replacing existing teachers with his own crew.

Going forward, I will call this friend of mine Anya. Anya and her husband work for LAMIS since the start of 2021 academic year. They live in Europe, with 3 kids. They were unemployed and needed this job to make sure they don’t continue being homeless. According to Anya and her husband, Adam sent them 500USD to help with the set up of online teaching. They all agreed that this would be deducted from their first salary.

A few days ago, Anya told me that 2 months into their employment, they have yet to receive their first paycheck. She and her husband asked Greg about it. His answer was, “I haven’t paid you your salary because HSBC can’t do the transfer. The first one bounced back and I don’t know what happened to the other two I made. HSBC said they can’t do a bank transfer to an alphanumeric account number.”

Now, Anya and her husband need that money so they can continue paying rent and put food on the table. With winter coming, her husband started to contact Greg almost daily to find out if they would be paid at all. He may have used flowerly language to express his frustration and desperation.

Greg did not take kindly to the messages and told Anya’s husband that he is done. He then removed both Anya and her husband from the school’s WhatsApp group. He also told Anya that if she wants to keep her job, she needs to tell her husband to stop harrasing him.

As we all know, there is always two sides of a story. I freelanced at the school when I was looking for a full time employment in Australia. To date, Adam, myself and the curriculum coordinator are still waiting for the money we are owed.

This Greg guy is new and after he took over from Adam, he sent a message to the group WhatsApp account telling everyone that he is the new Adam until LAMIS appoints a new HOS. Any problems or questions should be directed to him and not Adam. I did as he asked and he told me to speak to Adam as he has no knowledge of the issue (missing salary). From the one interaction I had with him, he seems to be working off a script and lacks in forward planning. No attention to details.

Questions I would love to ask him…

1. If the money transfer bounced the first time, wouldn’t you check with Anya and her husband to make sure that you have the correct banking details?

2. Did HSBC tell you why the transfer failed and if they didn’t, did you ask why?

3. You said you tried to send the money again and this time, you don’t know what is happening to that money. Have you contacted the bank to find out more?

4. I was a customer of HSBC when I worked in Malaysia. When I wanted to send money to Indonesia, they asked if the account I was sending the money to is a foreign currency account as they don’t send Rupiah. HSBC will tell you if something isn’t going to work.

For those who are reading this. what is your take on the issue? What advice would you give to Anya and her husband?

UPDATE: Anya got her last month’s salary yesterday. Her husband was told he would get his next month.

If we didn’t have a dog…

Whisky made it. She got picked up at 12:30PM today to go to the cargo area of KLIA. She was happy to get in the van, not knowing that she won’t be coming back.

We are happy that she has started the first leg of her journey back to Australia. It hasn’t been easy, from the start to today and it won’t get any easier when she gets to Melbourne, Australia.

She was scheduled to leave KL to Brunei around August. PetAir submitted all her document but got rejected because Royal Brunei wasn’t sure of her breed. PetAir tried again for first week of September flight with Malaysian Air, but the flight got cancelled. Finally, we heard some good news. Royal Brunei accepted her paperwork and approved her travel plan.

We were neither happy or sad because we knew that nothing is certain until she has boarded the cargo plane to Brunei. We even thought that it might be better for Whisky to stay here with us a bit longer. Fortunately, PetAir helped us to see beyond our emotion. The number of new cases in Malaysia is rising and there is a possibility of the country going into its second lockdown. Sabah or East Malaysia is going into a second lockdown tomorrow. Our agent reminded us that if Malaysia were to go into lockdown again, nothing can come in or out. It is better to do it now while we can. If things were to go as planned, Whisky would exit the quarantine in Melbourne just before the centre closed for Christmas. So, we went ahead.

The next day, Whisky got the runs. The worst we have ever seen. She had to go to the toilet every couple of hours. Her stomach looked bloated and yes, you could probably imagine what I could write next. We made sure she drank enough water throughout the evening and checked on her stool to make sure that there was no blood. It continued until today, though her stool was looking a lot better. She even managed to eat some unsweetened cooked oats. Her energy level was still the same like any other day and she even asked to go for longer walks during her toilet breaks.

Anyways, we told the vet at PetAir about her condition. The agent and vet said that we can go ahead and they will inform the quarantine centre in Brunei to keep an eye on her. She was given some medication to help her at the airport. Last we heard, she is calm but not looking happy in her cage.

Since we had her, there were times where we wondered what life would have been like if we didn’t have her or gave her away when we left China? Would we have taken more holidays? Maybe. Where would we be now? Probably Australia. Would we have enjoyed the extra time we have? No.

Like I have shared in the previous article… We have adjusted our lives to make sure she is cared for. Whisky has occupied so much of our space and left footprints all over our apartment. That dog doesn’t do much. She would sit or lay down near us and paw us when she needs some attention. Now that she isn’t around, the place feels empty. Our home is no longer the same. No warm welcome when we come home, no cuddles with her in the morning and before bed time, no stares when we eat her favourite human food, and no more of her smell that we are so used to.

We are sure that Whisky will be okay on the way to Brunei. She will be okay during her quarantine. We are not sure if Whisky is going to be okay being away from us for a very long time. I hope Whisky knows that she is not abandoned. We do love her and can’t wait to see her again when we are all in Australia.

Safe travel Whisky. Be a good strong dog. We will see each other again.

Pets vs. Kids

WARNING: PLEASE DO NOT READ IF THE TITLE OFFENDS YOU.

Every now and then, I would get into a discussion that would go down the path of comparing the pros and cons, as well as similarities between raising a pet and a kid.

It would start with a friend making a remark, “taking care of a dog is easy,” “just wait till you have your own kids” or “you don’t know what it feels like to raise a child.” True, my husband and I don’t have children of our own. It was a choice we made before knowing that I can’t have any.

Anyways, back to the title of pets vs. kids. As my readers, you know that we are trying to bring our dog ‘Whisky’ back to Australia. It hasn’t been easy and the process is still ongoing. When we share the ordeal of relocating our pet, the first comment people would say is “why don’t you just give her away?” That is a choice that we don’t entertain anymore. We did think of that when we moved from China to Jakarta and again from Jakarta to Kuala Lumpur. Every time Whisky had to go for a medical prior to relocating, we always felt empty. There is a part of us that is missing and we didn’t like how not having her in the apartment for a few hours made us feel. We also have stripped all her dog instinct and trained her to develop habits that complement our lifestyle. We have changed ours to make sure that we always have time for her.

Giving her away means asking her to get used to a new set of rules and a new living arrangement. What we have accepted and seen as cute behaviour may be seen as differently by her new owners. We would also be asking the new owners to update us (occasionally) about how she is doing. That is just not fair for everyone involved.

When the comparison of pets and kids come up in a conversation, some people do admit that keeping pets and raising children are kind of similar. Here are some of the things that parents with and without pets have shared.

Pets and kids need routine, positive encouragement, love and care. Both put restrictions on your life, they are messy and a lot of work. You have to teach them (obviously not in the same way or level of complexity). People without pets think they understand pets and people without kids think they understand kids. I am sure there is a lot more similarities between the two, but I will stop here.

Let’s look at the difference. Pets will depend on you for their whole life, though the level of dependency varies from pet to pet. Kids will learn to be independent as they get older. Eventually kids will move out and have a family of their own. Pets will never go through puberty , while kids do. When it comes around, it can be a headache for all. Pets will never pay rent, kids might.

Whether you chose to have a pet or a kid, it all requires commitment, dedication and responsibility. A pet owner might be able to relate to the challenges that parents go through in raising their kids, because there is some crossover, and vice versa. So, if you hear the struggle of a pet owner trying to bring their pet back home, please do not advise them to give heir pet up. Would you give your child up if he or she becomes an inconvenience when you move countries?

Home schooling VS Mainstream schooling

I have been doing online tutoring for the past 2 weeks. I have students on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Most of my students are kids who I have taught in my previous school and some were kids I had in my after school activities.

At first, I wasn’t sure how it would go. Although I have done online teaching during the MCO, I felt pressurised and nervous because first, parents are now paying for it. Second, it is an online one on one class so I am not physically there to make sure my tutoring kid is doing the right thing. Believe me, I have caught students who pretended that they were listening and doing the work I asked them to. Meanwhile, they were checking out YouTube or playing games on their devices.

So starting again brought back all those memories. My first class went well. We had a good laugh, talked about his hometown and why his family decided to leave Malaysia during the MCO. I was shown the view from the apartment and introduced me to the rest of the family. A very nice intro to the lesson. We did 2 hours on Maths and English. The rest of my classes went well too, though one was a bit on the challenging side. The kid was nervous and it took some time for her to warm up. Overall, I was happy because they have started regular classes after their first lesson.

Husband asked if I enjoyed my first week back to teaching because he is also doing online English lessons for very young kids. He was a lot more assured after hearing my feedback and shared that he does miss teaching but not the fluff that comes with it.

Now that I have experienced different styles of teaching in different settings, I have the chance to really reflect on my experiences and what I have seen from the kids. This has led me to think that home schooling is perhaps better than mainstream schooling. Not saying that online tutoring or classes are the same as home schooling, but they are quite similar.

Both offer students the opportunity to learn at their own pace. They have more freedom to decide the flow of the class and can take as much or as little time they need before moving onto the next topic. Students can go deep into topics they are interested in and there is less chance of them being left behind. The “teacher” can look at the curriculum and decide whether a lesson is useful or not. For example, identifying the property of 3D shapes (faces, edges, vertices). When do we ever use these in our adult life? Unless you are an architect, programmer or software developer, do we really need to know trigonometry? In home schooling, “teacher” can immediately identify what areas the kid needs extra help with and plan future lessons to fill that gap. There are tons of resources and support groups out there to give you ideas and guidance on home schooling.

On the flip side, home schooling your kid means that you are spending a lot of time together. You would have to enroll your kid in after school activities for socialisation. Either mum or dad would have to stay at home to make this happen, OR get a tutor to come. I am not sure how the last one would look like, but I don’t think it would be economical.

Regardless, if you could afford it, I do believe that home schooling is better than today’s mainstream. There are more and more parents who have decided to do home schooling, especially during the pandemic. They have seen good changes in their kid’s academic performance and confidence. One of the parents who home schools her kid said that she would not send her kid back to mainstream school unless it is necessary.

What a let down

Today, the article on Tom Hanks visiting Australia for his movie, avoiding the mandatory 14 days quarantine gained attention again in one of the Aussie expat Facebook group. It really annoys the living day lights out of me. This is the actor who had Corona virus already and has been given permission to enter Australia despite the international arrival cap that prevented many of us from returning to the land we call home.

A lot of Australian expats are struggling to go home. This week, I read an article on how DFAT employees in Canberra are accused of booking 2 to 3 tickets (paid in full) for overseas DFAT workers. You can read the full article here. It might not be true, but no one is denying it and it makes the current government looks like they are as competent as my Year 3 students. No wait, my Year 3 students can do what is expected of them.

When the Prime Minister issued advice, recommending Aussie expats to come home, it also stated that the national carrier (Qantas) will maintain its operation on both international and domestic routes. Not the case! Australians overseas have to rely on Emirates, Qatar, China Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Singapore Air and Cathay Pacific to take them home.

A lot disappointment is also directed towards the Australian consular abroad. I emailed them to ask for assistance regarding my expired work visa and they sent me links that provided me with little information regarding my situation. In hindsight, they probably have very little knowledge of what to do despite their ongoing discussions about changes that affect foreigners in Malaysia.

If one day, the government released a statement saying “we got through Covid-19 together” or “humanity helped us overcome the hardship caused by the pandemic” I call bullshit on that. From where I am sitting right now, the government has done very little to help Aussie expats. If anything, they have done really well in dividing the nation. Those who believes that Aussie expats should stay out of Australia and those who want them to come home.

Not all of us are living the life of Tom Hanks. I was going to come home and retire from living abroad. Sadly, that is not going to happen anytime soon. My husband and I can’t continue to survive on what savings we have while hoping that the ticket we have bought is the one that will take us home. I have accepted that reality and it is a downer.

I am not looking forward to my next call with my parents. They were so excited that we are finally going to start living in Australia. But, we need to do what we need to do to survive. For us, this is it. Taking another job offer until the day we can come home without worrying whether or not we made the cap.

Differentiation

In the following blog post, the names of individuals have been changed.

If you have read some of my posts, you would know that I still keep in touch with colleagues from my previous school. The students that I taught are now in Year 4 and luckily, the Teaching Assistant (TA) also went to Year 4 with them. Every now and then, she would message me to ask for advice or vent about how her week went.

Before I go into a full story telling mode, let me give you a background of the class. It has 20 students age 8 to 9 years old. 80% of the population is EAL (English as Additional Language) speakers with a couple of students with a learning support. To meet the standard of practices set by the Ministry of Education, the class is split into 2 groups where the homeroom teacher (Ms Anne) takes half and the TA (Ms Tina) takes the other half.

This week, Ms Tina sent me messages about one of the lessons. The class had to read a very long article about food. She said it is about 45 pages long and she gave each student about 2 to 3 pages to read. Her group struggled to understand the text and spent most of the class time asking how to read the unfamiliar words and their meaning. At the end of the lesson, Ms Tina gave some feedback about how the lesson went. Ms Anne replied, “Why? It was easy. I gave them an easy reading to do.”

When Ms Tina showed me some of the pages of the article they had to read, I immediately went into a teacher mode. After reading the pages she sent me, I did a Google search and found that this article came from BBC, titled The hidden significance of what we eat.

I don’t often work with native English speaking student so I don’t know what their English language ability is like, but I don’t think this article is suitable for the class I described. Here are my reasons:
1. The text is inappropriate in content and lexile level (difficulty).
2. Talking about meal-kit delivery service and different diet is pointless.
3. The higher level of vocabulary is of such a level that it is useless even if the students can work out the meaning.
4. There is no attempt from the homeroom teacher to make it age/level appropriate. Or known as differentiation.
5. The group found it difficult to understand, even if the homeroom teacher had tried to explain it, they would never have a sound understanding of the content.

I know that Ms Anne has never taught lower primary students and that she is not used to the practice of teaching without a textbook. In my opinion, regardless of your teaching experience, it is her responsibility to find out what level her students are at linguistically and create a lesson that would be suitable for them without it being too easy or too challenging.

Yes, the article is easy enough for me to understand and offer my own opinion, but that is because I can relate to the content. I grew up eating flatbread, I have experienced eating culture from different countries and been exposed to different diet as well as food from different continents. You can say that children who have lived in different countries are more culturally aware than those who haven’t. But it all depends on how much exposure they get from the local environment. You could have an Australian kid who grew up in China but never had any Chinese food because he or she always had home cooked meals. Anything is possible these days.

Anyway, going back to the article Ms Anne asked the class to read. I always wonder … why do children dislike Maths, reading or writing. I believe what she is doing could potentially make this class dislike reading. If they spent most of their class time figuring out how to read unfamiliar words and trying to understand the meaning of the words, the brain would get tired and will never be able to comprehend the actual message within the text. And the next time they are presented with a similar text, they may not respond to it positively.

Ms Anne can still get her students to read the text, but perhaps rewriting it to meet her students’ reading level would be the way to go. This way, her and Ms Tina won’t have to spend most of their teaching time teaching the class how to read the words they don’t know and explain the meaning. They could invite the class to share what they think about the article.

I had a friend how said, “teaching is easy. You just stand in front of the class and entertain the students.” If she were still my friend, I would share this with her and ask what she thinks of this. Would she have changed her opinion on teaching?