The Important Events During My SBE

As one of the requirements to finish my Bachelor of Teaching (Hons) in Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) for Primary Education, I have to complete a programme named School-Based Experience. This programme needed to be completed three times in different semesters and different schools. Praise to Lord, I have gone through all of it and gain useful and knowledge and experience to be used in my practicum phase later on. Of course, knowledge and experience are meant to be shared with others. So, I am taking this opportunity to use this platform to share my little experience during SBE.
I went to three different school in my hometown, Beaufort, which are SK Mempagar, SK Bangkalalak, and SK Pintas, and each of them has different status. Among these schools, SK Bangkalalak has taught me the most in especially in adapting real life situation and things to expect when teaching the pupils. For your information, SK Bangkalalak can be considered as a rural school since the distance from the school to the District Education Office is 94 kilometers round trip. It took me around 45 minutes to arrive at the school from my house.it aslo does not have any network coverage. My elder brother is also a teacher at the school and we went there together.
My first day's experience at the school was not really superb and joyful like my other friends. I cannot update any status on my social media because of the poor network coverage. Well, that was not the main reason tho. I felt so dejected because my brother told me that one of the Year 6 pupils there was drowned at the river during weekends. So, I was expecting that day would be filled with sadness and sorrows. It happened when he was helping his parents carrying pails of river water for their daily use. When the accident happened, only him and his brother were there while his mother was doing house chores and his father was fixing the shed. He slipped at the riverbank and slid himself down in the river and his younger brother witnessed every moment of the accident. Then, his brother rushed to their father and quickly brought him to the riverbank. Unfortunately, when they arrived, he was already out of sight. He has been found a few hours later by the villagers who went there to help them in searching for him. Long story short, during the assembly, I can say that the whole school was mourning as the headmaster announced that all programmes for that week will be cancelled. The headmaster also said that all teachers except the teachers on duty for that week will go to the late pupil’s house to give some donations for the family and at the same time pray together for him.
The bell rang and it was the sign of recess time. All of us teachers were preparing ourselves to go to the house. The headmaster brought all of Year 6 pupils with him using his 4WD vehicle. When we arrived, only his mother and her little baby were there. The warm welcome that her mother gave us showed that she is a strong woman. She still can put a smile on her face during her hard time. Without wasting time, the headmaster told his mother the purpose of us going there, gave the donations, and then asked ustaz to lead the prayer session. What touched my heart the most was, when the ustaz was reciting the prayer, he could not finish his word. His voice was trembling. I can see he was holding his tears, but feelings do not lie to humans. Tears streamed down his face, and he stopped praying. The other teachers were also crying in silence. I just cannot bear the immense sadness and shed tears too. Well, that day I learned that a strong, positive bond between a teacher and his pupils still exist nowadays even though the media always feed us with news about the conflict between teachers, pupils, and parents. After we finished, I took some times to have a little conversation with the ustaz to get to know the pupil’s personality. He told me that, the boy was a good person, obedient, and smart. There were only 2 boys in year 6, and now only 1 left, and leaving the class 11 students in total. He was also the targeted student to excel in the upcoming UPSR. Well, listening to his story made me understand the big lost that fell on the school. However, I need to continue my SBE and to finish the tasks given to me. Well, of course I needed to adapt with my current situation at that time.
Another interesting input I got from an English teacher who has been working there for 7 years. He told me about something that I never expected from someone who has already become a teacher. This conversation occurred after I finished observing him with his Teaching and Learning (T&L) session with his students. I noticed that he still uses the Grammar Translation method where the teacher will use the student’s first language in teaching the targeted language, which is English. So, when we talked, he seemed like can predict my question that I was about to ask him and proceed with the answers before I could speak up my points. He said, “I know what you’re thinking right now. You questioned my method of teaching, right? I know that in IPG we were taught to avoid using this method as it is not relevant to our current curriculum right now. But trust me, when u teach, the most important thing is to make your students understand and learn something although it’s not much. For your information, during my first three years of service, I was just like you. Very enthusiastic about teaching. I brough guitar on my class and used music to teach. However, it broke my spirit when there were no changes in neither my students’ grade nor their behaviors. So, I just teach without exaggerating anymore. Because there is no use for me to teach if the students are not willing to learn and change their own fate.” I was in a total shock when listening to his statement, but managed to stay cool and calm. There are bitter truths behind his complaints. Although I have learned about several teaching methods theoretically in my class, and my lecturers always emphasize to speak only targeted language to my students, but it does not mean that all of them are suitable to be used in a real-life classroom. Sometimes, a teacher needs to adapt his/her teaching method so that it would be suitable in making sure the students will have an effective learning experience. I understand the reason behind his action, and I do not have any intention to judge. He knows what is the best for himself and his students.
To sum up, those were things that I have learned during my SBE in SK Bangkalalak, Beaufort. A worthy experience for me to prepared myself in the real teaching field. I almost have a bad perspective towards teachers in rural area, but I understand their reasons when I started to put myself on their shoes, and I think, I might be doing the same thing as they did in the future if I encounter the same situation. Just a thought, nothing more or less.