Last week concluded the school year here in Malaysia. As I suspected, the week went by much too quickly, but I did make a point to absorb every last minute of it. With the graduation program on Wednesday, our entire school spent both Monday and Tuesday mornings in the small auditorium rehearsing for Wednesday’s program (see bottom picture at the beginning of post). We all enjoyed having the opportunity to see each class’s dance which everyone had worked hard to prepare over the past month (Class A Red's dance in the top picture). After being gone in Brunei for a week, I especially liked having all the kids in one room as it made it easier for me to see them all and spend time with all of them.
On both Monday and Tuesday evenings, the teachers all came back to school to work on the backdrop for the stage. As you can see in the picture, it had the school’s name in Malay and Chinese and then we decorated it with balloons and graduation caps. This was one of the many highlights of the week for me. It was nice to get to spend more quality time with the teachers and especially outside of the regular school routine.
When Teacher Hiew and I arrived on Monday evening I was pleasantly surprised to see Leon sitting in the back of the auditorium. I had completely forgotten that he would be there. During the weeks he stays with his aunt who is one of our teachers, so naturally if she had to be there, he would be there as well.
Before walking in I slowly peeked my head around the doorway and whispered his name. It took a few times of me whispering for him to look up and see me and when he did he came racing toward me and jumped into my arms. That small moment flew to the top of my best experiences here thus far. The look on his face when he saw me and the excitement he had as he ran towards me still makes me a little teary eyed. I didn’t do too much to contribute to the actual backdrop on Monday night because I was happily keeping Leon entertained. I don’t think I have ever met such an attention-deprived child. We were at school from 8pm – 11:30 pm and he never slowed down… and typically this is when children his age should be getting tired and going to bed. One of the “activities” we did consisted of Leon jumping off the top step of the risers on the stage (there were only three steps and this was not high) and into my arms. I think he would have been very content doing this the whole night if it were not for my arms getting tired. He also really enjoyed rolling a roll of masking tape back and forth. I was amazed at how easy it was to keep him entertained. Why do we think we have to buy children all sorts of toys when they can be entertained with something as simple as a roll of tape? When I did decide to take breaks (from playing) and help the teachers, Leon would sit down nicely next to me and try his best to help too. I think it is safe to say that this night goes down as one of my favorite evenings here in Sabah. I was happy to be around my teachers and was able to give Leon the attention that he desperately needed.
4 of the boys in my ABC dance goofing off
Christo and Daryl (A Red 6yr. class) dressed for their dance
When Wednesday arrived I was a bit tired from late nights and early mornings of preparation and wasn't completely mentally prepared. However, I was excited to see everything come together. Since my third day of being here I had known that November 18th was graduation, but it always seemed a long way off. Now all of a sudden it was here. It had completely snuck up on me. Teacher Hiew and I arrived at school around 7 a.m. The students were to be to school by 8 a.m. as normal and then the program started at 9 a.m. Up until the start of the program I kept busy making sure all of my boys got their "costumes" on and that you could see the letter or number on their shirt clearly. Once the program started I sat by the 6 year olds and attempted to keep them quiet as an introduction was given and the chairman of the school board gave a speech (which lasted a good 10 minutes or so as he said it in both Mandarin and Malay). My 6 year old boys were 3rd in the line up to preform. Not only did they look adorable in their costumes (which consisted of a white t-shirt that had either A,B,C or 1,2,3 on the front and blue shorts) but they did the best I'd ever seen them do. I was so proud of them and I could tell they had fun doing it. The whole graduation program consisted of the following: A welcome from one of the board members, a speech by the board chairman, a speech by three of the 6 year olds (one child gave the speech in Mandarin, one in Malay and one in English), a dance by each class (some of the classes did one dance all together and other classes split in half and did two dances), awards for the top three students in each class, recognition of each 6 year old... and the program closed with a song by the graduating 6 year olds.
Although it was sad for me to know that I wouldn't be teaching the 6 year olds next year, it was fun to see how excited they were about graduating. I especially enjoyed seeing all of the children with their parents. Several of the parents made a point to introduce themselves to me and gave me the ultimate compliment, saying their child often mentioned me at home and enjoyed having me as a teacher.
The graduation program was a success. I was pleased with how my 6 year old boys had done and felt blessed to be part of such a wonderful school and community. I enjoyed the day and didn't let myself get a little sad until it was all over. Not only did the 6 year olds graduate but it was my last day seeing Leon. Although I am sad, it is for purely for the selfish reason that I will not have him as a student anymore. Leon is going back to live with his family (he has two younger brothers) and next year he will go to a kindergarten that is closer to his house. He is so excited about this, as like any kid, he loves being with his parents and his brothers. Teacher Hiew has told me that he has very loving parents so I am hopeful he will now get more of the attention he deserves.
Believe it or not, I still have more to share about the week... however I am going to pause here and post Part 2 of this blog in a few days.
The 2009 graduating 6 year old class
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