Today is the day i really felt like strangling my student. I really felt like asking him to get out of my class. I would have done that if he's my private student. Seriously. If the student don't see the need to listen and learn, then what for I waste all my energy after the already long day at work?
I take teaching as a passion and something I like to do. I'm happy when I see the kids learn and are able to play a song properly. However, I don't know if I'm just really that unlucky to get students of such. The 2 that were gone are also like that! I seriously don't know if it's just the kids nowadays or is it me.
So to speak the truth, I was really very disheartened when the kid treated the lesson like that. Although I'm sure he's rather scared after I flare up and didn't want to talk to him. He quieten down and immediately played better though not fantastic. I had no choice but to tell his mother about that. And I really felt better, it's like at least a 交待 to the parents about what is going on in the class. I would very much like his parents to sit in the class. But it wouldn't be a long term solution. And kids tend to hate this kind of things to happen?
Nowadays kids are just getting smarter and smarter, which leads to cheekier and naughtier too. Or is it just my students? 4 out of 5 are like that! So kudos to primary school teachers. Luckily I didn't go for the NIE primary school teacher interview (I may not get it as well). I remembered when I go and learn violin last time, I didn't even dare to talk back or defy my teacher. I don't even dared to talk to my teacher unless he asked. And strict training means strict training. I didn't like it 100% but i learned well! Like what are the kids doing today?
Even the quiet student doesn't register whatever I say. Many times, I told him that if he reaches earlier than me, take out his violin to practise! And I only think it's logical because to speak the truth, I don't think any of the students are able to fork out the time to practise at home everyday. So I'm already giving some chance to self-practise and get a little more recollection before the lesson starts. And I told them straight, they don't practise enough at home, so might as well use the time to quickly take out violin and start practising! I remember that's what I always do for my lessons whenever I didn't practise well enough. I would pray that my teacher doesn't come into the room so soon so that i have more time to warm up and look at the notes again. Then my student, every week I go into the room, he will just be sitting there doing nothing. Why ah?
Then 15min into the lesson or less, you can see signs of student showing tiredness, keep hinting through the painful sound, and can't wait to keep. Naughty one will just start talking, start playing a fool, and start pressing the piano. (I never ever touched my teacher's piano when he's around unless to tune). And keep wanting to sit down! Why do I meet such monsters?
I nearly cried in front of my student. Too stress I think, and I was thinking of something else also. But perhaps he'd be scared at the sight and start to listen to me? I don't know. But I don't want to take the risk.
And these students are the very reason why I'd rather give up the income from teaching and the joy to teach, compared to SYCO. If only they knew how to appreciate the effort. Plus, I don't stay in Yishun, rather, not even anywhere near, and I've been going there faithfully to teach all those demons. But every time I felt so drained from the lessons I think they are not worth it. But i know that SY is the place that eventually I will have to let go, so it's just a dilemma altogether. But the thing is if I continue to stay like that, I will never be able to progress well enough for both the CO and my own lessons. I feel guilty for not playing every time I go to lesson. Why don't my students feel that? :(
OMG HOW?
Showing posts with label Violin Kids. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Violin Kids. Show all posts
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Kids kids! (Not all are now)
It's how interesting things has become.
Now, the little girl has left for another teacher, and here comes 3 adults for erhu lesson. And more surprisingly, i have a japanese, an angmoh, and a chinese! haha! But oh.. the angmoh and jap are husband and wife. Quite interesting to teach them.
At first i was thinking of teaching them well, as in to get everything right and have good basics. But after a little break from teaching them, i dropped and idea and decided that if i want to do it that way, they will lose interest very soon. So have to shorten the process and at least let them play something to make them feel better in learning the instrument.
Then now the violin kid has got some problem... not the first time his tears welled in his eyes when i ask him to play something new. I think he really didn't want to learn violin anymore... and he is a person with his own mind, cos he already told his parents but still they continue to sign him up for the class. I kept trying to put some sense and some interest into him... but then, he 无动于衷. Esp. when it comes to learning new songs. He is very resistant. And it's very hard to teach him like that. And very hard to control. I have to call his name at least 10 times, and say 'take out your book' 10 times, and 'take out your violin', and 'that's enough ok, williem' before he listens. Or he might not even listen. And that's seriously tiring. Hais... i hope he doesn't give up that soon. But i guess i have to talk to his parents.
For the rest of the students.. more or less the same.. and i'm quite happy abt my yishun students. All making good progress.. except for the P4 boy... hais.. too lazy, too quiet too. While all my other students are very noisy and very talkative (including the previous girl), this particular one is way too too too quiet. Plus he nv practise!!! I have to repeat the same thing to him every week. and now is their school holidays. Hais. I think his parents didn't have enough attention on him. I've nv seen them before anyway, it's always the maid who is bringing him. He ah... i also dunno how...
Now, the little girl has left for another teacher, and here comes 3 adults for erhu lesson. And more surprisingly, i have a japanese, an angmoh, and a chinese! haha! But oh.. the angmoh and jap are husband and wife. Quite interesting to teach them.
At first i was thinking of teaching them well, as in to get everything right and have good basics. But after a little break from teaching them, i dropped and idea and decided that if i want to do it that way, they will lose interest very soon. So have to shorten the process and at least let them play something to make them feel better in learning the instrument.
Then now the violin kid has got some problem... not the first time his tears welled in his eyes when i ask him to play something new. I think he really didn't want to learn violin anymore... and he is a person with his own mind, cos he already told his parents but still they continue to sign him up for the class. I kept trying to put some sense and some interest into him... but then, he 无动于衷. Esp. when it comes to learning new songs. He is very resistant. And it's very hard to teach him like that. And very hard to control. I have to call his name at least 10 times, and say 'take out your book' 10 times, and 'take out your violin', and 'that's enough ok, williem' before he listens. Or he might not even listen. And that's seriously tiring. Hais... i hope he doesn't give up that soon. But i guess i have to talk to his parents.
For the rest of the students.. more or less the same.. and i'm quite happy abt my yishun students. All making good progress.. except for the P4 boy... hais.. too lazy, too quiet too. While all my other students are very noisy and very talkative (including the previous girl), this particular one is way too too too quiet. Plus he nv practise!!! I have to repeat the same thing to him every week. and now is their school holidays. Hais. I think his parents didn't have enough attention on him. I've nv seen them before anyway, it's always the maid who is bringing him. He ah... i also dunno how...
Monday, October 18, 2010
Keep on going!
Yup, shall talk a bit abt my violin kids. Last weekend i was told that one of my students will be changing to another teacher cos her sister will be learning in the same centre and they had to change the timing of the lesson. And it doesn't comply to my teaching timings, thus have to shift to another teacher tgt with the sister.
Hmm... Actually i'm a bit relieved that she is the one to be taken out from my lesson. Maybe i really don't have the ability to teach her well. Cos she hasn't improve to my expectations so far. Maybe she's too young, maybe she doesn't want to learn, i don't know. But so far whatever I've taught her, it is quite to my disappointment that she doesn't listen to me and yet likes to do a lot of funny stuff (including asking me A LOT of irrelevant qns, keep shifting herself to a chair/a corner of the room so she can rest -.-). Her patience level is so low, she can't play a whole bow more than 5 times maybe? then she will convert it to short bows on her own when i ask to keep playing the whole bow on open string. -.- Then ask her to play the song, she will ask if she is supposed to play the whole song EVERYTIME. Then again, try to distract me by asking why this and why that. It's a good thing for children to ask why. but she's really a '问题'儿童. Omg, sometimes i totally cannot tahan, i just nv ans her. That day she ask, 'why this week we use a bigger room', 'why there is a piano in this room', 'why no theory today', 'why you wear spectacles today', 'why we never/cannot play the other songs', etc etc etc.
The thing is ah, although I get very fed-up with her learning attitude, and that she will ALWAYS repeat the same mistake, and as much as I dun really want to teach her anymore, I want to teach her well and teach her the correct way. But well, maybe it's a good thing for her that my method doesn't work on her. And i am relunctant to let go of young children because it is not that good for a kid to keep changing teachers. (ok, it's the first time for her). Evident from my other student cos I'm his 3rd teacher and i can feel that he doesn't like changing teachers. And he told me that he hope I wouldn't teach for just a short period. That was why i didn't want to give her up even though the school has told me that they can give her to another teacher while i take on erhu students. But well, i guess it's destined for her to go to someone else. I hope she can be better.
And ya, about the other student at clementi, he's the one mentioned above. Actually a very smart boy (and handsome too. haha) Indian mixed chinese i think. But at first i couldn't really handle him also. Cos the first thing he came into class, he rolled onto the floor and i had to nag him or pull him to get up. So sat's lessons are always the most draining ones. But now he actually do listen to me. And he really improved a lot! I think i have my way to bribe him through. I better buy some cola sweet to bring for him this week. haha!
Oh, i have an adult student who decided to stop lessons as well. Erm. I would say, i'm quite relieved for that too. HAHA. That's evil. She is quite irritating when she keep asking me 'correct?', 'correct?', in the midst of playing the phrase. Every 10 sec or so, she will ask once. And she can't really control and relax her hands fully so very hard to teach. The lesson is 45min and i dun teach her theory. What can u imagine? And heard there is some problem with her mentally also, so have to be very careful. I'm already very patient with anyone. Hmm... In the end it was cos of some wrist problem i think that she can't continu. Well, i've expected it anyway. Cos her hands are so stiff she cannot handle the fingers and wrist. So very hard one lah... after a few weeks, it's still a shreking sound. bth. =X
The rest of the students, more or less the same. But i'm quite glad that all my students improved in their playing. :) Whether fast or slow, they improved. That's what i care. And they gave me more respect and listen to what i say. Yup, it's very tiring as a part time job, but sometimes it gives me a sense of satisfaction when my students can learn and play something new and they feel happy about it too.
Yup, i'm not giving up. Not so fast. :)
Yup, so as of now, i have 5 violin students, 1 is going to another next month and next month i will have new erhu students. haha!
Hmm... Actually i'm a bit relieved that she is the one to be taken out from my lesson. Maybe i really don't have the ability to teach her well. Cos she hasn't improve to my expectations so far. Maybe she's too young, maybe she doesn't want to learn, i don't know. But so far whatever I've taught her, it is quite to my disappointment that she doesn't listen to me and yet likes to do a lot of funny stuff (including asking me A LOT of irrelevant qns, keep shifting herself to a chair/a corner of the room so she can rest -.-). Her patience level is so low, she can't play a whole bow more than 5 times maybe? then she will convert it to short bows on her own when i ask to keep playing the whole bow on open string. -.- Then ask her to play the song, she will ask if she is supposed to play the whole song EVERYTIME. Then again, try to distract me by asking why this and why that. It's a good thing for children to ask why. but she's really a '问题'儿童. Omg, sometimes i totally cannot tahan, i just nv ans her. That day she ask, 'why this week we use a bigger room', 'why there is a piano in this room', 'why no theory today', 'why you wear spectacles today', 'why we never/cannot play the other songs', etc etc etc.
The thing is ah, although I get very fed-up with her learning attitude, and that she will ALWAYS repeat the same mistake, and as much as I dun really want to teach her anymore, I want to teach her well and teach her the correct way. But well, maybe it's a good thing for her that my method doesn't work on her. And i am relunctant to let go of young children because it is not that good for a kid to keep changing teachers. (ok, it's the first time for her). Evident from my other student cos I'm his 3rd teacher and i can feel that he doesn't like changing teachers. And he told me that he hope I wouldn't teach for just a short period. That was why i didn't want to give her up even though the school has told me that they can give her to another teacher while i take on erhu students. But well, i guess it's destined for her to go to someone else. I hope she can be better.
And ya, about the other student at clementi, he's the one mentioned above. Actually a very smart boy (and handsome too. haha) Indian mixed chinese i think. But at first i couldn't really handle him also. Cos the first thing he came into class, he rolled onto the floor and i had to nag him or pull him to get up. So sat's lessons are always the most draining ones. But now he actually do listen to me. And he really improved a lot! I think i have my way to bribe him through. I better buy some cola sweet to bring for him this week. haha!
Oh, i have an adult student who decided to stop lessons as well. Erm. I would say, i'm quite relieved for that too. HAHA. That's evil. She is quite irritating when she keep asking me 'correct?', 'correct?', in the midst of playing the phrase. Every 10 sec or so, she will ask once. And she can't really control and relax her hands fully so very hard to teach. The lesson is 45min and i dun teach her theory. What can u imagine? And heard there is some problem with her mentally also, so have to be very careful. I'm already very patient with anyone. Hmm... In the end it was cos of some wrist problem i think that she can't continu. Well, i've expected it anyway. Cos her hands are so stiff she cannot handle the fingers and wrist. So very hard one lah... after a few weeks, it's still a shreking sound. bth. =X
The rest of the students, more or less the same. But i'm quite glad that all my students improved in their playing. :) Whether fast or slow, they improved. That's what i care. And they gave me more respect and listen to what i say. Yup, it's very tiring as a part time job, but sometimes it gives me a sense of satisfaction when my students can learn and play something new and they feel happy about it too.
Yup, i'm not giving up. Not so fast. :)
Yup, so as of now, i have 5 violin students, 1 is going to another next month and next month i will have new erhu students. haha!
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
The kids...
Today my violin kid got a bad scolding. Poor her and not really very poor thing also. haha! I was very stern with her today cos I dunno why she has to keep laughing during lesson and doesn't want to listen to me. Apparently i think her mother heard everything outside the classroom. And when the lesson ended, she came in and gave her a lecture, and asked her to apologise to me, which, she finds it funny too. -.- And difficult to say it out. I think she's scared, but used the smile to hide it. 'Sorry' is really difficult to say. I wanted to say 'it's ok' when she couldn't say it out, but i decided that I shouldn't be so soft-hearted on her. Maybe it will teach her a small lesson and she will listen to me from then. I mean, hopefully. haha!
Ya, from first lesson till now, i think every week she will at least say once 'you don't know one lah'. Excuse me, if i don't know, how i teach you? -.- I'm so going to ban her from saying that.
While this one is too noisy, the other kid is too quiet. And he do work so slow! (for a primary 4 i.e.). And he doesn't want to ask even if he doesn't know. So he just stares at the page until i ask him. And he actually yawned during the lesson. -.- Hello, i've been working the whole day too ok. Hais.
Now i've got another new student anyway. Sat at west coast plaza. Yup. Still very far. And i'm taken away from my gym sessions totally. :( But anyway. Last week it was the 2nd lesson with this little girl. And she took some time to praise me from top to bottom, as in my necklace, clothes, shoes. LOL. I think cos she wants to talk and dun want to play violin. Smart kid. But a bit stressful cos her dad and elder sister can play violin too. haha. Then this one, ask her to play whole bow, dun want to listen. then tell me very hard. -.- If not hard, don't need to learn and practise alrdy right. haha. funny.
Ok. That's all for now. Look out for more of the kid's amusing acts.
Ya, from first lesson till now, i think every week she will at least say once 'you don't know one lah'. Excuse me, if i don't know, how i teach you? -.- I'm so going to ban her from saying that.
While this one is too noisy, the other kid is too quiet. And he do work so slow! (for a primary 4 i.e.). And he doesn't want to ask even if he doesn't know. So he just stares at the page until i ask him. And he actually yawned during the lesson. -.- Hello, i've been working the whole day too ok. Hais.
Now i've got another new student anyway. Sat at west coast plaza. Yup. Still very far. And i'm taken away from my gym sessions totally. :( But anyway. Last week it was the 2nd lesson with this little girl. And she took some time to praise me from top to bottom, as in my necklace, clothes, shoes. LOL. I think cos she wants to talk and dun want to play violin. Smart kid. But a bit stressful cos her dad and elder sister can play violin too. haha. Then this one, ask her to play whole bow, dun want to listen. then tell me very hard. -.- If not hard, don't need to learn and practise alrdy right. haha. funny.
Ok. That's all for now. Look out for more of the kid's amusing acts.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
New things to do
I've gotten a new task just on fri. I was a bit shocked to hear from them so quickly. In the first place, i was quite surprised that the female boss talked to me for so long and i already believed that i will be given the job.
Anyway, not to keep you in further suspense, I'm going to teach violin in a music school. I think it might sound cool to some ppl, sounds cool to me too! Not until u hear the rest. Though the place is far (either yishun or west coast plaza), i don't find really find it a problem actually.
And so, I'm going to start next fri, or earlier if a make-up class for a student is required. Just 2 days ago i went down to observe the lesson which i will be taking over. 2 altogether, but 1 student didn't come, so i only saw 1. But trust me, it is almost enough to make me think of how i should teach her. According to her mother, she has some illness when she was younger, but all right, that wasn't really the problem. She is a little over active, plus very talkative. haha! She argued with the teacher regarding fingering!
From what the previous teacher said, she learned violin in school, probably went through a few teachers who teaches differently. She can't recognise the physical notes although she can play. (she can only recognise ABCD). So we double up as a theory teacher as well. She has quite an opinion of her own. So, we always complain our music lessons in school to be so boring. Now they let the students play different instrument. Yet, what is the disadvantage? They didn't even teach the students properly. I saw that she didn't even hold the bow properly. Oh, we have too much to complain. haha.
Ok. That was problem 1.
Then again, the other kid is quite similar as well. Playful and can even bargain what he wants to do in the lesson. Hmm.. What's wrong with kids nowadays really. I think the hard time is to discipline them and make them learn what they do not like.
Yup. That was problem 2.
With these 2 problems, it's a challenge already. I've nv taught anyone violin before. I hope i don't freak out when the lesson really starts. Then i thought why i was given these 2 students from the previous teacher. Reason? haha! I don't want to know anymore. Anyway, I don't call this work, i call this testing myself! Good luck to me!
Anyway, not to keep you in further suspense, I'm going to teach violin in a music school. I think it might sound cool to some ppl, sounds cool to me too! Not until u hear the rest. Though the place is far (either yishun or west coast plaza), i don't find really find it a problem actually.
And so, I'm going to start next fri, or earlier if a make-up class for a student is required. Just 2 days ago i went down to observe the lesson which i will be taking over. 2 altogether, but 1 student didn't come, so i only saw 1. But trust me, it is almost enough to make me think of how i should teach her. According to her mother, she has some illness when she was younger, but all right, that wasn't really the problem. She is a little over active, plus very talkative. haha! She argued with the teacher regarding fingering!
From what the previous teacher said, she learned violin in school, probably went through a few teachers who teaches differently. She can't recognise the physical notes although she can play. (she can only recognise ABCD). So we double up as a theory teacher as well. She has quite an opinion of her own. So, we always complain our music lessons in school to be so boring. Now they let the students play different instrument. Yet, what is the disadvantage? They didn't even teach the students properly. I saw that she didn't even hold the bow properly. Oh, we have too much to complain. haha.
Ok. That was problem 1.
Then again, the other kid is quite similar as well. Playful and can even bargain what he wants to do in the lesson. Hmm.. What's wrong with kids nowadays really. I think the hard time is to discipline them and make them learn what they do not like.
Yup. That was problem 2.
With these 2 problems, it's a challenge already. I've nv taught anyone violin before. I hope i don't freak out when the lesson really starts. Then i thought why i was given these 2 students from the previous teacher. Reason? haha! I don't want to know anymore. Anyway, I don't call this work, i call this testing myself! Good luck to me!
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