History and I

There is one teacher I don't get.

Or rather, there are many teachers I don't get, but this teacher is one I doubly don't get.

She is Pn. Joyce. And for those of you who don't know, she's my Sejarah teacher.

I really love her class. I am ever anxious to see what she'll be doing next. And for those of you who don't know, I'm being sarcastic.

Firstly, please excuse the tone of this post. If you are a big fan of Pn. Joyce, I'd highly suggest you stop reading.

Now, one of the things I don't get about her is her lessons.

Sejarah is chronological. But the way she's teacher the subject, I'm almost lost when it comes to the order of events. Perhaps for those who already know the facts, her classes are beneficial, but not for me.

She'll step in class, and after the customary greeting, launch straight away into her lesson. The only problem is that today's lesson always seemed detached from yesterday's. I really wish she'd use the text book, at least as reference. I sometimes find written words easier to grasp than spoken ones, especially if it's about unknown facts.

Also, as one of my classmates pointed out, she goes too fast almost all the time. Everything may be crystal clear in her mind, but definitely not in mine. I mean, if I already knew the syllabus, she needn't even be teaching.

When she teaches, not only does she go too fast, she teaches in English. Well, I thought that it was good that Sejarah was being taught in English, but that was of course before the latihan came along. You see, the latihan are unfortunately in BM. But the words and facts I'm learning are in English.

When I was halfway through a latihan paper, I asked her what a certain word meant (the word was permogokan). She displayed one of those snug smiles, and almost laughed the question off.

"How can you ask what a word means? You should know what it means, after all it's in your text book."

But this test is not a BM test; surely explaining what a word meant wasn't going to be considered cheating. You always stress that Sejarah is all about grasping the concepts, and not blindly memorising strings of words. By the way, let's not forget that you teach Sejarah in English.

"Ah, but this word is in your text book. If you read your text book you would know this word."

Well, fine. Let's leave it at that.

Later, however, when we were going through the paper, she had to rub it in. How nice of her.

Besides that, Pn. Joyce seems to be getting a whole lot of praise. From both teachers (Pn. Mary Ann) and students (3 Cengal). For some reason, I dislike her though.

Oh, and did I mention that her "jokes" and "acting young in class" is distracting?

*Sigh*