Our First Month in Singapore (December, 1993 - January 1994)
The trip by SIA (Singapore Airlines) on Sunday afternoon was uneventful and a bit disappointing in terms of service and quality of food. We expected better. I preferred earlier trips we have made by Thai and Garuda. Yoong didn't like the fact that I was offered brandy with my coffee while she wasn't. (Not that she wanted it anyway.)
The hotel (Golden Landmark) was acceptable at $100++ per room, irrespective of the number of persons - a bit inconsistent with the fact that the hotel allowance is higher for couples than for singles, and higher again for families.
I was picked up the next morning in the lobby with a group of seventeen other Aussie and NZ teachers who had arrived during the weekend. A bus took us to a branch of the POSBank where it took about two hours for everyone to open an account - a bit of a waste of time, but it gave the teachers a chance to talk to each other for a while. From there we were taken to the Ministry for lots of mind-numbing form-filling and checking of documents, much of which seemed to duplicate things we had already done in Australia.
We were told which schools we were posted to and when to report for orientation. We were given information on roles and expectations of teachers, which was similar to material already sent to us in Australia and then had to sit through a session on how to get our children into local schools. Those without children were not permitted to leave early, despite the fact that we were going to be left to find our own way back. Not that we were told that this was the arrangement. We had to work it out for ourselves.
In the five hours it took to go through this program we were not offered a drink or given a break for lunch. I was quite surprised at the lack of both hospitality and efficiency on the part of our hosts. In compensation, however, we were given our $6000 interest-free loans and our commuted baggage and hotel allowances. We found these were fixed amounts not related to our actual expenditure, so we checked out of the hotel Tuesday morning to stay with Lung Seng in Toa Payoh. There was no need to stay at the hotel now that the formalities were out of the way. Lung Seng was on his own, but A-Yan and their daughter, Stella, were due back from Australia in a few days.
There were two items on our agenda before we could relax; top priority was to find accommodation - second was to pick up our unaccompanied baggage.
An old family friend of Yoong's (A-Tuk, a pilot with SIA) was in town and he offered to take us to the air cargo terminal to retrieve our luggage. He was the only person available with a car. This proved to be a major operation. The area seemed very difficult to find and it was good to have someone who knew his way around.
The first problem we encountered was that Yoong had no identification, as the Ministry had taken our passports to process our Employee and Dependant passes. She had to wait at the police post near the entrance while A-Tuk and I found the right place and went from one office to another completing all the formalities before we could get the luggage.
After all that, we found the wrong luggage had been sent under our identification code and we left empty-handed amidst promises of trunk-calls to Australia and delivery to our home. A lot of the luggage was probably unnecessary but there were books and tapes that I really didn't want to lose. Subsequent phone calls confirmed that (a) our luggage was found, but still in Australia, and (b) they had not yet found our luggage (in that order). So much for Singaporean efficiency.
We did eventually get our luggage, delivered to our home on condition that we didn't claim for any loss. (We couldn't face the ordeal of going out to the cargo terminal again, especially as A-Tuk was no longer around.) It arrived looking very knocked about, and with some broken items, but basically everything we needed was there.
Chestnut Drive Secondary School is right in the middle of the island of Singapore. On the map it seemed very remote, and even the people from the Ministry were a bit vague about where it was and how to get there. The Polytechnic accommodation they offered to several of the other teachers would be too far for me. They gave us all a list of Ministry-approved housing agents who had promised not to charge commission to the tenants. (It is common practice in Singapore for both tenant and landlord to pay half a month's rent each to the agent.) I rang several from the list and the general answer was that it was hard to find anything in the area but they would get back to us if they found anything suitable. The school itself is in a private housing estate, where the rents would be way above our budget, but an examination of the street directory showed it to be very near Bukit Panjang, a large Public Housing development. It was still a long way by road, but surely there would be a direct way through to the school.
We searched the rental apartments page of the Straits Times. Sure enough, there were very few apartments in Bukit Panjang, but there were two or three we could investigate. The first was advertised as a 5-room apartment at $1500 a month, negotiable, which sounded like good value, so we arranged with the agent to meet there at 7 p.m. We got a lift there with our friend A-Tuk after our unsuccessful attempt to pick up our unaccompanied baggage from the Air Cargo Terminal.
Bukit Panjang is a typical large public housing estate - a huge cluster of high-rise apartments which look like the Housing Commission buildings in Australia, but which are home to the vast majority of Singapore's population. The government sensibly assists people to buy their own homes, so they are generally well looked after and the Singaporeans are very proud of their housing scheme. Of course, the wealthier citizens buy private housing, but this is also usually in high-rise buildings, and not necessarily much more comfortable than the housing provided by the government.
The good news was that the apartment block we had come to see was ideally located for my school, being the end block and close to a little track across a hill to Chestnut Drive. The school was only ten minutes walk away. If the apartment itself was acceptable we could not wish for a better location. A-Tuk left us to wait for the agent (as he had to fly out next day) and we had a walk around the estate. Parts were depressing, but the end blocks were relatively new.
It was a pleasant surprise when the agent took us up to the seventh floor (lift to the sixth floor, then walk up one more, which someone said is a good omen for the Chinese.) The apartment was at the end of the passage, and the owner had bought up the balcony outside the flat, put in a security gate, and attractively tiled the floor inside it. The apartment itself was very welcoming. Although classed as 5 rooms, a wall had been removed to create a large sitting/dining room area. There was a master bedroom (with en-suite), two other bedrooms, a kitchen and a bathroom rather awkwardly placed off the kitchen, which we later found was the standard layout, because of plumbing requirements. All the bedrooms provided views over green hills, most unusual in Singapore, where most high-rises simply look onto other high-rises. It was so pleasant that there had to be a catch. We soon found out what it was. The place was not HDB-approved, which meant that it could not be legally rented out. We were assured that the authorities would only act on the basis of a complaint and that this was highly unlikely in the case of the more up-market apartments such as this one. Then came the real shock - the owner announced that she wanted to stay there with us, in the third bedroom, and halve the cost (which she had already quoted as $1400, not the advertised $1500. The idea made sense to me, once I got over the surprise, but I could imagine Yoong's thoughts about having another woman in the house. Obviously it needed further discussion, so we told the agent we would get back to him and found our way home to Toa Payoh. This involved a bus trip to Choa Chu Kang, the terminal station on the MRT northern line, and two changes of train to get back, confirming our impressions about the remoteness of this place from civilization. Sure enough Yoong was firmly against sharing with the young woman, despite the argument that it was like letting out a room we didn't need for $700 a month. It wasn't worth the loss of privacy, and the fear of sharing not just the flat but her husband with another woman. Given the legal problems of renting out the whole apartment, we realised we had to keep looking.
There was another place we had already enquired about earlier that day. This one was only $1000, but had advertised on Monday that they preferred a Chinese family. On Tuesday, this provision was no longer stated, but when I rang I was told it was already taken. I was a bit suspicious about this, so I asked Yoong to ring them. Sure enough it was still available, but only to Chinese. She managed to convince them that she was Malaysian Chinese and this was acceptable to them even though I failed to qualify, so we made another long trip by bus and MRT, once again for a 7 p.m. appointment. The block was immediately depressing, an older building surrounded by others of the same type. We realised we were looking at it from the back, and that the front actually looked better, and told ourselves that what really mattered was the interior. This flat was on the second floor, which is regarded as a disadvantage - Singaporeans seem to think the higher the better.
The apartment was a shock after our experience the night before. The rooms were small, one of the bedrooms was to be locked for storage. [We found out later this was common practice, to make it seem the owners were living on the premises; most renting of HDB apartments is actually done illegally.] The sitting room was very small and the furniture was unattractive and uncomfortable. The double bed was just two single beds pushed together, as opposed to a beautiful king-sized bed in the first apartment, and the lounge suite was Chinese-style hard wood, which didn't appeal to us. Worst of all, the place had a damp smell about it. They had promised to paint it for us, but we decided nothing could make the place livable for us. They were not prepared to negotiate on the $1000, but, even if they had, I would have refused to live there at any cost.
Having seen this contrast, Yoong was prepared to think again. She agreed that the first place was excellent value, despite the legal problems, and on Thursday morning we put in an offer of $1200 and a willingness to share for $600, though Yoong was still dubious about the latter.
One advantage of the second trip, apart from bringing out the vast differences in accommodation, was that we found out there was a direct bus to the city which only takes twenty minutes along a major expressway. With one change of bus we could get back to A-Yan's place within half an hour. The area was not as remote as it had seemed.
The agent eventually called back and said the owner would accept $1300 (no mention of sharing - obviously that would have halved the agent's commission). We agreed to this - in fact we would probably have taken it at $1400 after the shock of seeing the alternative - and arranged to go yet again to Bukit Panjang to sign an agreement.
By lucky coincidence we met Salsia, the owner, at the bus interchange, on her way home from work. This enabled us to accompany her and do some negotiating before the agent turned up. It also gave Yoong a chance to get to know her a bit and hopefully assess her as less of a threat. We found she is divorced, which explained why she was alone in a large flat. She is of Indonesian parentage, but her ex-husband is Chinese, as is her boyfriend, Robert. She showed us around and promised to take us to Johore Baru with her some time, as she goes there regularly with Robert for shopping. With Yoong more at ease, we raised the option of sharing again and agreed on $650. (It looked as if we would be seeing her around anyway.) Then she announced that she wanted the master bedroom, not the room she had first offered to take. After some hesitation, we offered to do this for $600, which she agreed to. She said this would enable her to stay in her room most of the time, so both sides would have some privacy. We have been staying here a month now, and we do, in fact, see very little of her. She comes home from work late at night, and in the weekends is usually out with Robert. Yoong is still uneasy about the situation, however, and regards this as a temporary arrangement, though I can't imagine finding any better accommodation. We really are very fortunate to find this place so quickly, and there is an obvious financial advantage in paying only $600 out of a housing allowance of $1800 per month.
An advantage for me is that, as well as having the use of a collection of CDs and videos (pirate copies from Johore), I have the use of a 486SX computer complete with CD ROM and all set up with Windows, Word Perfect, Quattro Pro, etc. A minor concession is that we agreed not to eat pork in the apartment, but, having seen Robert eat dumplings which clearly contained pork, we revised this to not actually cooking pork here.
A-Yan and Stella came home from Australia on Christmas Eve, and we celebrated Christmas with the family. A big fight took place on Christmas Day over Mel's future. He wanted to return to Adelaide, whereas his parents insist on him getting work in Singapore. They are worried that he will get involved in dancing rather than practising law. There were lots of violent threats about disowning him, etc., but it's nothing unusual for this family. An hour later everyone was happy again. Christmas dinner was a delicious meal brought home from a hawker's centre. ($12 total for six people and plenty left for the next day.) We finished the day with durians (rather more expensive at $8 each). We usually have a meal at their place on Friday or Saturday. Now that A-Yan has settled back in she often cooks very nice curries, etc.
The food here has been plentiful and incredibly varied. We have had Vegetarian Thali meals for $4 in Little India, delicious Chinese vegetarian food at a Buddhist temple, Peking Duck, Suckling Pig, Hong Kong Dim Sum, etc. There are often special deals advertised in the paper. For example, one Thai restaurant had a promotion for a week where they offered a delicious steamed fish with spicy sauce for 10 cents. (Menu price - $15) We went twice, ordering another dish from the menu, such as Tom Yam or Seafood Curry. The food was great, but the first time we went the place was so disorganised it was like an episode of Fawlty Towers, with staff falling over one another and repeatedly taking dishes to the wrong tables. There was almost a fist fight between a waiter and a customer over how long they had been waiting for their 10 cent fish. Another day, the new Bugis Street food court offered free food for their official opening. We had all sorts of exotic dishes, including Japanese and Turkish, from several of the stalls, all of which offered their specialties free of charge, much to the disbelief of a number of tourists who wandered in to find a meal.
Apart from going through the Ministry's red tape, my only other official duty in the first two weeks was to report to school to meet the principal. I had to go to the Ministry to be taken there, which was rather unneccessary as it was in the opposite direction from my sister-in-law's place. It would have been quicker to get there on my own. The principal spent a long time telling me how she had improved the school since she had arrived a few years ago, and ended up surprising me with the announcement that she was actually leaving and that a new principal would be taking her place. She was able to give me some idea of my classes and assured me I would not have to be a form teacher, which is a very time-consuming position in Singapore schools. She also asked me to come to a staff meeting on the Friday before school started, where I would be given my timetable.
The staff meeting consisted mainly of the new principal, Mrs Ang Ju Lang, telling the staff of her expectations, with a few briefings by other key members of staff. I found the accents difficult to cope with and it wasn't until I read the minutes a couple of weeks later that I found out about some important things that I was supposed to do, such as handing my weekly program in every Monday to be signed by the principal. My timetable showed that I had three classes of Sec 3 English, one class of Sec 3 Literature, and two classes of Sec 2 Literature. Two of these classes were from the Express stream, which means they complete their O-Level in four years. The rest were Normal (Academic) which take five years. I found out that, despite assurances to the contrary, I was the form teacher of 3C (Express). On the first day I had to spend the whole day with them, with little guidance as to what I was supposed to do with them. As this was the class I have for both English and Literature, it gave me a chance to get to know them. At the end of the week, just when I had got used to the idea of being a form teacher, I was taken off these duties and given an extra Sec 2 Literature class.
School begins at 7.15, with a flag-raising ceremony, followed by exercises, and then USSR (Uninterrupted Supervised Silent Reading) for 15 minutes, supervised by form teachers. This is a new scheme at the schools and there have been some teething problems. For example, books are distributed through form teachers. (All students in a class read the same book for two weeks.) But the English teachers are to prepare tests on the books. The problem has been that we were not informed which classes were reading which books, and were given insufficient time to read the books ourselves. I suggested that the students' first assignment could be to write questions on their first book, which could then be adapted by the teacher for use with the other classes. This idea was readily accepted by the already overworked English staff as something that might lighten their burden a little. Of course, another problem is that many of our students don't normally read much beyond the occasional Chinese comic book, so the idea of getting through a book like "My Family and Other Animals" or "The Mayor of Casterbridge" may not have much appeal for them.
The first actual lesson begins at 8:55. There are four 35-minute periods before a recess of twenty minutes, then another five periods until school ends at 1.30. I teach 33 periods. On Mondays I teach all nine periods. Wednesday is also heavy - free first period, then eight in a row. The compensation is that Thursday and Friday are quite light. In fact I have a bit of relief in first term, as I have a student teacher who is taking my Sec 3 Literature and a Sec 3 English, a total of twelve periods. Although I have to observe her about three times, I am not supposed to be in class with her most of the time. The policy is for student teachers to be given the chance to build up their relationship with the class independently of the supervising teacher.
Class sizes are not as large as I thought they would be. There has been some attempt to lower average sizes to about thirty, though there does not appear to be any upper limit on individual classes. My classes range from 21 to 34 students. My Sec 3CE English and Literature is 25 students (only 5 of them boys.) There is no choice involved. Basically they are the students who were not good enough to do a Science course (Sec 3A and 3B). Although they are the Express stream, a large number of them seem to be repeat students. Students can only proceed to the next level if they pass their exams. There is certainly no such thing as automatic promotion. At the end of Primary school, they are given an exam which determines which level they will enter. There is a Special level for very bright students (not applicable to our school), Express level, Normal (Academic) and Normal (Technical). It is possible (theoretically) for students to change streams, based on their results. The Express classes tend to be the smaller ones, and they are given the best rooms. The only air-conditioned classroom, for example, has been given to Sec 3A, the top stream of the Sec 3 level. Students who pass their O Levels can then go on to Junior Colleges, which prepare them for University.
Schools in Singapore are ranked into ten levels, and then ranked within these levels. Students are sent to schools depending on their Primary school exam results, rather than the closest school to their home. They are not told where their school is ranked, but this is known to the teachers. I have been told that our school is in the tenth rank, and is third from the bottom in that group, making it one of the least desirable schools in Singapore. I also found out that this school used to be a Chinese Language school, and that, when it was changed over to English medium of instruction, many of the teachers had to be retrained as P.E. teachers, etc. I had already noticed that many of the teachers converse in Mandarin, which makes it hard for me to get involved in the discussion. I am the first foreign teacher to be sent to this school. Maybe the Ministry placed me here to do something about the very low standard of English at the school, but I don't think I have much chance when the people who hold the microphone at assemblies speak only in Singlish (Singapore English), and the students have few models of standard English, which is what they are expected to use.
Tuesday and Thursday afternoons and Saturday mornings are for ECA (Extra-Curricular Activities). I was initially put down for Soccer, but managed to convince the Principal that someone else might do a better job in this area. I suggested that some kind of musical activity was more in my line, so I have been asked to start a Drama and Singing Society. For the time being I am ignoring the Drama part of this. I have fifteen Sec 1 girls (no higher levels, because students are penalised for changing their ECA) who I meet on Tuesday afternoons from 2 pm to 4.30. I'm working on making them into a kind of school choir, and they have to perform at assembly some time next term. The problem is that, like most of the students, they speak, and sing, in very soft voices, so my main task at present is to find a way of getting them to turn the volume up. Fortunately over half of them can actually sing in tune.
I am not normally required at school on Saturdays, expect when there are staff meetings or activities like Cross Country runs, etc. Although the school day ends at 1.30, apart from ECA, I am usually there until four or five o'clock marking work. Students have a fixed number of essays, comprehensions, etc. to do each term, and the Head of Department has to check their books to ensure that all these have been set and marked. Teachers also have to sign in and out at the office on arrival and departure. It really is more work than teaching in Australia, but there do not seem to be the major problems with discipline that are fairly normal back home, even in such a low-ranking school. I have heard reports that in the past some students from the school were involved in secret society activities, but those students are no longer there.
One of the best things about Singapore schools is the Canteen. Teachers and students choose from a variety of food stalls, offering a wide range of Chinese, Malay and Indian food at prices well below the cheapest food courts. A bowl of Laksa, or Prawn noodles is a dollar, but the best deal is usually just to ask for a rice plate and point to all the goodies you want on top. For example, a typical meal might be a plate of Satay chicken, Sambal squid, Beancurd, Curry vegetables and green vegetables for a dollar fifty.
Usually, the only time I get a chance to talk to other teachers is over lunch, as everyone is always so busy. There is an active staff association which organises things like ten-course meals and day trips for teachers, paid out of our Staff Association fees, which are fifty dollars a term. Unlike in Australia, though, spouses never attend these functions.
There is not as much Leisure time as in Australia, but we do try to get out a few times during the week. We often go to see French films, which are screened free on Tuesday evenings at the Alliance Francais, and, of course, there are lots of opportunities for eating out. Chinese New Year is coming up, so we get Thursday and Friday off to make a four-day weekend. We will be celebrating at A-Yan's place. She has already started preparing a sumptuous traditional New Year meal.
I have got used to the routine at school, and quite enjoy the challenge of teaching in a totally different system, but I do look forward to the 4-week and 6-week holidays when we can do some travelling.
[PS - The shared arrangement did not work out, but we managed to find a nice apartment, which was not as well located - a half an hour's walk from school. The owners kept a room locked and made an appearance occasionally to pray at the altar and make it appear they were living there. We had a good supply of fresh fruit, which we could consume after the gods or ancestors had finished with them
Yoong got a job with Hourglass, working for her childhood friend, Jannie Tay, which included a trip to Switzerland when the company took over the Daniel Roth watch factory. ]
[This article was written for the Chestnut Drive 30th Anniversary School Magazine where it was published in an abridged (censored?) form.]
People often ask me how teaching in a Singaporean school is different from teaching in Australia. In many ways, schools and students are much the same anywhere in the world, but there are several differences, some of which were obvious from the start, and others which I am still learning about.
My first visit to Chestnut Drive Secondary School taught me something important about the way things happen in Singapore. I had come to meet Mrs. Feng, whom I was told would be my new principal. We had a long and fruitful discussion about the school, the kind of students I would be teaching and some of the duties I would be given, and also managed to change my ECA, which had been initially put down as soccer. (I am from Melbourne, the home of Australian Rules football. Even the ball is a different shape!) Then right at the end of the interview, just when I felt we had established a good working relationship, Mrs. Feng informed me that she was leaving the school and that there would be a new Principal coming. This was my first lesson: in Singapore, things can change very fast.
This observation has been repeatedly borne out throughout my four years at the school. Just when you think you know where you stand, the rules change. New programmes suddenly appear in the curriculum. Whole sets of computers are condemned and replaced overnight. In one Melbourne school, where I was responsible for the computer programme, I remember I had to fight hard to build up an adequate computer laboratory, one or two computers at a time, until at last, after about two years, we had enough to allow one student per computer. Here I was surprised to find not only one computer per student, even for the largest classes, but even an individual colour printer for each student. A couple of years later they were all condemned and a whole new set of computers appeared overnight.
The next lesson I learnt is that speaking the same language does not ensure communication. My second visit to Chestnut Drive was to attend the first staff meeting before school opened. This was a real eye-opener - or should I say “ear-opener”? I had been assured that English was the language of Singapore, and yet I could not understand half of what was said at this meeting. If I didn’t understand what the teachers were talking about, how was I going to understand my students? For the first few staff meetings I attended I would have to wait for the minutes to appear before I understood what had been discussed. Sure enough, I also had something of a communication problem with my students. I think they had even more difficulty understanding me than I had with their Singlish. But fortunately we soon began to understand each other reasonably well.
As this was a new chapter in my teaching career, it seems appropriate that I took on a new identity. At the first assembly, I was introduced to the school by my first name, which, of course, is the normal way in Singapore. I thought “Mr. Raymond” sounded much nicer than “Mr. Crooke”, especially as, in Singapore, everybody addresses each other formally, including our work colleagues. This is very different from Australia, where even the Principal would be addressed simply by his or her given name. In fact, even “Raymond” is a bit formal for Australians, and it was generally shortened to “Ray”. Of course some of my students here simply called me "Tcher”, which I soon worked out was an abbreviation for “teacher”.
Although at first there seemed to be a vast gap between my experience in Australian schools and Chestnut Drive I felt that there was something strangely familiar about the school culture. Some examples of things that gave me this feeling were:
• Flag-raising ceremony, with singing of the national anthem and saying the pledge.
• Students standing and formally greeting the teacher at the start of each lesson.
• A prefect system.
• An external examination system beginning well below the final year of study.
• An inspection system (known as “appraisal”).
• A book for teachers to sign on and off duty.
• Neat school uniform at all schools.
• Concern with students’ hair, etc.
• Classes streamed according to ability.
I soon realised that all these things were vaguely familiar to me because they were also characteristic of Australian schools back in the 1950s and early 60s. Most of them had been phased out before I began my teaching career, but I remember, for example, my father had to sign on in the mornings when he was teaching. Of course many Australian schools still have a compulsory uniform, but there are now a number of schools which have chosen not to do so.
Thus, many features of the Singapore system started to make sense when I looked back to the “good old days” of my own schooling. There were other aspects of the system, however that took me a longer time to find out. Nobody told me about them, probably because they are so taken for granted here that no one realised I would not know. For example I was not aware that our schedule of lessons had to be submitted to the principal every week, and I did not know (or understand why) students’ work had to be kept and collected for checking. In Australia, once a piece of work is marked and the mark is recorded, it is entirely up to the student what happens to it from that point onward.
Though it was nice to be part of an environment where students generally showed respect to teachers, one practice that I had to put a stop to was the way students felt they had to stand up every time they were asked to speak. It really inhibited class discussion, as did the formal arrangement of tables all facing the front of the room, another reminder of my own schooldays in Australia. Fortunately, the reasonable class sizes at Chestnut Drive allowed me to seat students in a circle or in small groups. Although reluctant to speak at first, I found that given enough encouragement, my students here were very much able to express their opinions and showed as much imagination and creativity as their Australian counterparts.
People kept telling me about the discipline problems that schools were facing these days. I found it difficult to detect any discipline problems at first sight. They were obviously well hidden. I remember one student talking to me outside class and saying in a serious manner, “Singapore teenagers are very rebellious”. Looking at the polite, generally obedient students in her (Normal Academic) class, I felt the Singapore definition of “rebellion” must be very different from what I was used to.
One of the wonderful advantages that Singapore students have is the variety of delicious food available at the school canteen. Australian students can buy sandwiches or a pie with tomato sauce, but nothing like the hot meals, served on a plate, that are available to students here. Many Australian students and teachers find it more convenient and economical to bring a packed lunch from home. The kind of food we eat every day for lunch here can only be found in expensive restaurants in Australia. Most schools do not even provide a seating area as we have in Singapore, and students tend to eat in the open. On rainy days they are allowed to eat in the classrooms, the only place where they can find shelter.
Another advantage is the number of celebrations that we can enjoy during the school year. This is due partly to the multi-cultural nature of Singapore, with all the different New Year celebrations, but in addition to this, I was surprised to find there was even a day set aside to pay tribute to teachers. On my first Teachers’ Day, I knew there would be a concert by the students after recess, but I came to school expecting to teach my classes for the first half of the day. I soon found the students had other ideas and, when I turned up for lessons, found myself in the middle of parties eating home-made noodles and violently coloured cakes.
In four years I have learnt a lot about the subtle and not-so-subtle differences between Singaporean and Australian schools. Although there are some things that I think need to change, especially the over-emphasis on exam techniques at the expense of more important life skills, I have found teaching in Singapore to be, in many ways, more enjoyable than teaching in Melbourne. Perhaps it is because I was lucky enough to be placed in such a pleasant school as Chestnut Drive, where I have found my students to be respectful and cooperative and my fellow teachers to be friendly and helpful, particularly Mrs. Ang, who has always been very supportive. I have come to feel very much a part of this school, am pleased to be able to participate in the 30th Anniversary celebrations and I look forward to another two years of teaching and learning at Chestnut Drive Secondary School.
Raymond Crooke
