The ESL Teacher |
1 January, 2007 |
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MY COLLEAGUES AT SMK AGAMA MIRI Some of my friends who were teaching in other school (way back in 1997) lamented how terrible some of their colleagues were. Uncooperative, snobbish, and grumpy were some of the adjectives used. Thank God for me, none of my colleagues were like that. In fact, from day 1 at the school, my SMK Agama Miri colleagues have always been a pleasant, jovial, easy-going and open minded bunch of teachers! The academic staff of the school is made of 47 teachers and they come from all over Malaysia. The majority which makes up 90% of the teachers are from Peninsular Malaysia. The remaining 10% are from Sabah and Sarawak. Being a religious school, one would aspect the religious teachers (the Ustaz and the Ustazah) to be very rigid and uncompromising (at least, that's what my friends used to say about religious school teachers). But, in SMKAM, the religious teachers are very friendly, open-minded, cooperative and supportive of what you do as long as you don't go against the Islamic teachings and values. There is an easy camaraderie among the teachers regardless of your religion, race/ethnic group, socio-economic background, status (if there's any!) and political conviction! The culture of smiling at and greeting one another no matter where you are is prevalent among the staff that you tend to feel as if you are in one big happy family. Did I mention that SMKAM teachers are very very polite? Well they are. Requests for help, even instructions given, are always started off with a smile and some versions of "I'm sorry to bother you but..." and ended with some versions of "Thank you so much. You're very kind". In other words, the staff is very humble, considerate and careful so as not to step on anyone's toe at any times. :: Yours Truly |
