JULY AND AUG 2012

August 30, 2012

Hi,

It's been a while since I emailed you. Thought I should take some time to tell you about our life here.

After a great break, where we went to Taiwan and Japan, we are now back in Singapore. Carol has a boss who is more organized and professional so her workload has been reduced. Plus, she does not have a vice principle, so there is one less person to create clutter. Carol is now the social committee leader at her school (any surprise?). The girls get together every Friday for small bites and cocktails at the various pubs in our neighborhood. I usually go later, so I can check out a new place. Then Raul, Pammy's boyfriend comes, and he and I will have a drink at the hawker's (food court). Pammy works with Carol. Carol's students are the same as last year, so it has been a smooth transition for both teachers and students.

As for myself, I am studying full time at the National Institute of Education (NIE) on the Nanyang Technological University campus, where I am earning a graduate diploma in education. When I graduate in June, I'll be qualified to teach middle and high school history and literature. The courseload is light as of now, so it's been an easy transition, but wait until Sept. when I have 7 or 8 courses!! Ugh.

I am still doing a master of education in 2nd Language Teaching online, but that is only one course every 3 months. I am doing a course called Bilingual Education right now and will finish the degree with "Emerging Pedagogy", from the Arab world, Maori, Papua New Guinea and Hawaii in January.

One course at NIE is ICT ( information and communication technologies), in which I've already done a group presentation. The course is not teaching me about ICT, but how to teach via ICT.

Another course is educational psychology, which is heavy on the old pedagogy (how to teach). Textbooks and classmates are great; the prof? Umm, no comment. It's nice to be learning about pedagogy instead of simply writing papers for some master's degree.

I am also learning about Singaporean, South East Asian, Chinese and Indian history. I actually have a test today. Then we'll move on to how to teach history next week. It's an hour and ten minutes to school, so guess where my homework/reading gets done? On the subway (MRT)!!

Another course I am taking is for community service. It's called Groups Endevours and In Service Learning. We might teach elderly people to reduce their electricity bills or do something about recycling. I'll also be taking Communication skills, as well as a course about E-Portofolios.

Then from Junuary to May, I'll do a practicum. I already talked to the head of history, and he knows somebody at an IB (International Bacheloriate) international school, so we are hoping I get placed there. Nothing wrong with getting placed at a local school, but some experience in an international school will be much better at my age. I am all about the "cultural experience" of working in a local school, but we need to think about what looks best on the old resume. There are some Singaporean schools that have IB, so I'll have a look at them, in case the international schools don't need an intern.

Been trying into get back into working out. Walking, biking, swimming, hiking. The school has a gym, so we might add weights to the previously mentioned exercises. Carol keeps a close eye on my diet as well, so only brown rice for my breakfast and lunch carbs, and only fish and tofu for proteins.

Carol's friends are coming to visit in Oct, so that will most likely fall during our midterm break. Then our sister in-law Dasao, Niece Tin-Tin and nephew Li-Koon (Kenny) will visit right after that. Sounds like Universal Studios and the zoo will be receiving us. We are looking at Dec 14 as a date to go home for Xmas. We'll fly into NYC on Eremites Airlines, "the world's only 5-star airline". It will be nicer than no food or drinks, layovers of 14 hours, flying through China where they give Carol trouble and arriving 40 hours later. It's a 1.5 hour layover in the UAE, so we get to NYC in 21 hours. Quite fast, actually. Then Carol can finally see NYC, her dream. Then we'll bus it up north to see the family. Four weeks for me and three weeks for Carol.

Congrats to those getting married and having babies, and would love to hear back from you. Let me know what is new with you.

Mike

A guy who hands out milk on the bus.