Teacher Fazlin: Oh ya, class, next week is my last week in this school.
Pupils: (gasp) Haaa! Teacher, where are you going?  Why teacher, why? What happen? Who’s going to teach us English?
Teacher Fazlin: I am done with my practicum. Don’t worry. There will be another teacher to teach you English.
Pupils: Noooo, we want you.

Ok, it’s good to know that your pupils love you and would not want you to leave. Hik hik hik.

Pupils: What’s going to happen to you teacher?
Teacher Fazlin: I’ll be teaching in another school next year, which I still do not know where yet.
Pupils: Ohhh, can you please, please teach here, in this school.
Teacher Fazlin: I don’t think I can.
Pupils: Yes, you can! You can replace teacher *****.
Teacher Fazlin: I can’t, I really can’t.
Pupils: Oouuhh.

Alah lah. I already feel sad of having to leave them. Dem.

There’s only one more week to go and at this point of writing, I have some mixed feelings. I feel sad having to leave the school, but at the same time I can’t wait for this to be over. I enjoy teaching very much, I do but I do feel tired of writing detailed lesson plans, doing lots and lots of teaching aids, writing reflections both daily and weekly and not to forget, projects given by the school admins be it murals or portfolios. I love sharing knowledge, but I get tired of pupils not handing in the homework given, not completing the task given or just plain lazy to attempt the task at all. I am tired of listening to complaints by parents, senior teachers or the school administrators itself. Being a practicum teacher limits you from almost everything. Huh. I can’t wait to start teaching next year, as a teacher, and not as a teacher trainee. I have a feeling that it’s going to be different. Hehe.

Over the past 11 weeks, relationships have been formed, be it with teachers, the administrators, the pak cik canteen and of course the pupils. I’ve been wondering, will you ever be remembered by the pupils for what you have taught them or remembered by the teachers for what you are known for (in my case, my tudung and clothes, hehe), or will they forget you as soon as they are back from the Hari Raya holidays. The thought of leaving the pupils that you have been teaching for the past 11 weeks makes me wonder a lot. Have I been teaching them the things that they need to know? Have my teaching been effective to them? Have they benefited from what I’ve taught or simply, have they improved in terms of their language ability and proficiency? I hope I have and I hope that they have too.

Not only that, you have formed a special teacher-pupil bond with pupils of yours. They accept you as their English teacher. They respect you for the knowledge that you have, for the knowledge that you share. No matter how hard you have been scolding them, by the end of the day, they still come to you, salam and cium tangan and even personally said, ‘Thank you, teacher.’

Aih. It’s definitely a mixture of feeling.

Well, come next week and I won’t have to wear my name tag. At least, not until next year. Bahaha.