jump to navigation

Travelling to Miri June 19, 2009

Posted by rbjtimban in 2009, Career, Education, My Views, School Activities.
add a comment

Very recently one of our officers called me up to tell me that he and I would be going to Miri on the 24th June to attend a three-day briefings conducted by our ministry. Initially I wanted to reject but then after second thought I agreed to go with him. This is a second round of the similar briefings which was held in Kuching two months ago. For the upcoming briefings, our route from our place would be fully provided by the office – transport and accommodation.
Like the previous briefings, we are supposed to conduct in-house training for heads of schools or their senior assistants. And the upcoming one would be similar. The briefings would be about the ministry’s vision to re-activate the school-based in-house training in schools rather than calling teachers to come down to a centralized trainings, which is a waste of time and resources to most schools in the interior. The implementation of the said training is based on the idea “let managers (school heads) manage”, which is, to me, a brilliant idea.

My Trevor is into Lower Six May 14, 2009

Posted by rbjtimban in 2009, Career, Education, Family, Language, Love, My Views, Relationship, School Activities.
Tags: , , , , , ,
add a comment

Since the MOE announced that former SPM leavers are to enter Lower Six, my wife and I talked a lot about it to our third child – Trevor Jullian. Iniatially Trevor did not like the idea of joining form six as he has a lot of reasons:

1. Some of his buddies are not with him;

2. He is still attending the same school, meeting the same teachers;

3. He feels that the two years is ‘waste of time’ (studying and sitting for the 2010 STPM exams).

He did not tell us his reasons but those were our assumptions. Before the ministry’s announcement, he had received a lot of mails from various colleges offering him courses. I did not like the idea as those colleges are IPTSes – private ones, and are ‘very dear’ to attend. Trevor understands my standings, but, yes, he is not dissappointed.

I explained to him that his form six would only take him a year and a half, and it’s almost equivalent to pre-U (please, readers, correct me if I’m wrong). Should he go to Kolej Komuniti (whilst, there is one in town) by end of July 2009, he would have to undergo a two year-course. Each semester would cost him RM200, and at the end of the course he would be awarded a certificate. Of course both certs have their own pros and cons.

Most of his friends went to the school on Monday 11th May, 2009, and when they came home, and met Trevor in the evening, they persuaded him to ‘take the challenge’ – go for 2010 STPM! After two days of making the decision, eventually he smiled at me, telling me that he would take the 2010 STPM exams. Phew! My boy! Another ’sixth-former’ from the family after my Fionula “Dara”, who is now an expecting mum!

It’s February February 2, 2009

Posted by rbjtimban in 2009, Career, Church, Education, My Views, School Activities, Writing.
Tags: , ,
2 comments

It’s February now. Could hardly believe that January passed by so quickly. Too occupied, may be. Yes, my kids and I have been very busy with our own business. Last month I attended our PTA AGM, and declined to be elected as the secretary. No big deal, but just wanted to focus more on my involvement in spiritual activities. I have been the PTA’s secretary since 2005. Before that, I was an assistant secretary. In 2007, I was ‘called’ to join the Parochial Church Council (PCC) as a member.  And last year, I was the PCC’s assistant secretary. Why secretarial posts? I could have answered that long ago. All my minutes wasn’t that well written, as I am not that good in writing.

February, too, reminds me of my 26 years of being a husband, and also a dad! Valentine’s Day, of course. Twenty-six years? Wow! How time flies. And, yes! I will be 46 next month – on the 20th March. But I always tell myself – don’t mind the age, but look at what have been done and yet to be done.

Back to School January 5, 2009

Posted by rbjtimban in 2009, Career, Education, Family, Language, Love, My Views, Relationship, School Activities, Tradition.
Tags: , , ,
add a comment

After a long school holiday, it’s a wonderful morning today! My kids and I woke up as early as 5.45 a.m. Everyone was excited, including my wife who hurried to the kitchen to prepare the breakfast. My Form 2 Timothy was too excited to go to school. He told me that he’d walk to school as there’d some chores to do before the class begins. He took a quick breakfast of his “kolo mi” – instant fried noodle, which he prepared for himself as early as 6.15 a.m.

Theophilus and I went to school before 7.00 a.m., and by the time we reached school it was already lively. Everyone was cheerful. Yes, everyone – both parents and their children alike.

There was no assembly today, as the headmaster wanted the teachers to start classes. He told us that he was expecting officers from the DEO to make a visit to the school on this first day.

Year End School Holiday December 22, 2008

Posted by rbjtimban in 2009, Computer, Culture, Family, Games, Love, My Views, Relationship, School Activities, Tradition.
add a comment

It’s holiday time for the kids, and me, again. Starting mid-November until early January 2009. One should find a long holiday a time and space to sit back and relax. But not me. There are other things that need attention – a long list for me to post here. Trevor is sitting for his SPM and by mid November, the exam was over. He didn’t look worried but I did. My kids find the long holiday a very relaxing one. Most of their time were spent in front of their PCs – playing games. Sometimes I’d advise them to look for precious info online rather than playing online games. Their choice during this holiday is Dekaron SEA.Theophilus Nathaniel

… And Going … July 3, 2008

Posted by rbjtimban in Career, Celebration, Computer, Education, Family, Festival, My Views, Relationship, School Activities, Writing.
add a comment

I simply left my earlier post unedited, just to remind myself that I am coming back to WordPress.

2005 – my car-pool mates (i.e. Nicholas, Fedmek and Agnes) and I were still attached to OUM. Twice a month, and trips were killing us. Last year, which was our 1st year, we did not know that we could apply for slots adjustments. We had to hit the road from Betong as early as 3 a.m to enable us to attend the 8 a.m. tutorial. Prior to 3 a.m. none of us could catch our sleep as early as 1 a.m. So, just imagine that – slept at 1 a.m., woke up at 2.30 a.m., and started the journey at 3 a.m.! It was an average of 4 hour driving. Lack of sleep but had to focus our minds on the road. In the evening we used to make our way back home at around 4 p.m. Sometimes it was earlier, but most of the times – as early as 5 p.m. By the time we reached Serian town, it it was already dusk. Driving home for another 3 hours. Simply imagine, when we reached home (Betong) our families were asleep. We used to joke – “leaving home (heading for Kuching) in the dark, and reaching home (Betong) in the dark too”. As time flew, we managed to seek help from the admin on adjusting our tutorial slots so as to enable us to catch the second slot which began at 10.15 a.m. The admin nodded and on the rest of the tutorial days, we hit the road between 6 – 6.30 a.m. Everyone felt relieved. Everyone slept as much as he/she could the night before.

2006 – My third year in OUM and the courses got tougher than the previous years. Yes, it got tougher. We had to read and write for our TESL major courses (i.e. introduction to reading, writing, speaking and listening, and on teachings of reading, writing, speaking and listening skills). Reading alone would have ‘killed’ us, but assignments and short notes had helped us very much in our exams. That is learning. To understand better, one must read and write, or at least scribble. By the way, despite having this blog, it has been my habit for not preparing a draft prior to publishing, or rather, presenting. It has been my (poor) habit to start my writing and end it just like that! Any reader would notice that there are numerous mistakes and errors in my postings but let us conclude that, these postings are merely spontaneous and have meanings (or messages) in them. Let’s disregard the grammatical elements. It was not intended to offend the beautiful English language but rather delivering the gist of the post. And, that was why I have tried to observe and preserve the proper grammar usage as much as I can.

Year 2006 too saw how my daughter, Fionula, had showed her determination sitting for her Form Six exams. My wife and I had always encouraged and motivated her all throughout the year, alongside her younger siblings (i.e. Trevor, Timothy and Theophilus). Assisting her with the Malaysian University English Test (MUET) subject was easy, since I am a TESL student myself (oops! sorry, this is not a show-off). I found that she improved a lot in that subject as my wife and I had always checked her report card regularly. She used to score good marks for the subject. Unlike writing, teaching the language with the text-book in your hand is pretty much easier, where all the ‘rules’ of the language is at hand. You’ll look professional especially when you ’spice-up’ the facts in the book with a bit of elaboration in you own words! Sounds great, is not it?

The Show Must Go On July 2, 2008

Posted by rbjtimban in Career, Celebration, Computer, Culture, Education, Family, Festival, Language, Love, My Views, Relationship, School Activities, Writing.
Tags: , , ,
add a comment

January 2004 – My friends (Nicholas Ajan, Fedmek, Agnes) and I went to OUM office in Kuching for registration. Nicholas, Fedmek and I went there a day earlier, so we had decided to stay at my cousin’s (Edward Langie Kadam’s) place at Batu Kawa, Kuching. The following morning, the three of us packed our things and made our way to OUM which was located at Jalan Simpang Tiga. There we met old friends, mostly college mates, who were also grabbing the opportunity to join the varsity. Amazing! All of us who came that day were working adults, so none felt embarrassed of being ‘too old’ or ‘too late’ to study. Excitement and anxiety filled the air. The whole morning was packed with briefings by officials from OUM and our MOE. In the afternoon, we proceeded to our respective lecture rooms to meet our tutors. They all delivered almost the same ‘theme’ in their lecture and it was very interesting, or rather, motivating. By 5 p.m. that day, and the final tutorial slot was over, my friends and I made our way back home to Betong. The 4 hour ride back home was full of anxieties, visions, dreams, just name it! But we told ourselves that trips like this one would end by 2008. In other words, this program would take us four years to complete. There would be three semester in a year. From January till May we were to take three courses, sit for our final semester exams and register for the semester. From May till August, OUM called it short semester, we were to take two courses. Exams for short semesters were conducted in August, and after the exams, we were required to register for the third semester for that year. The third semester for that year would be from September till November, and we were suppose to take up three courses. After the exam in November, one would have to register for the next courses (January, the following year). This went on for more than four years as I had mentioned earlier.

Besides sacrificing our two Sundays (at fortnightly) each month, we had to prioritize our core business – teaching. That was rather tough to cope up with, especially when one had to race against time completing his or her assignments and course works, and even preparing for the final semester exams or quizzes. In the beginning I found it hard to adapt – teaching kids during the day and becoming a bookworm late in the evening. At this point, at this age, I learned that time management is very crucial in one’s live. As time flew, I took learning whilst working very seriously, and I used to tell my pupils that I hate dead woods.

Phew! What a post! I’ll continue in a short while …

Early 2k May 28, 2008

Posted by rbjtimban in Career, Celebration, Christmas, Computer, Education, Ethnic, Family, Language, Love, My Views, Relationship, School Activities, Teachers' Training, Writing.
Tags: , , ,
add a comment

2000 – I have decided to apply for transfer to another school near my mum’s house. My first choice was Sekolah Kebangsaan St. Augustine (500 meters from mum’s place), secondly, Sekolah Kebangsaan Abg. Abdul Kadir (700 meters), and thirdly, Sekolah Kebangsaan Saka (4 km). After I had submitted my forms, I crossed my fingers for about six months – May till December. Since then, my wife and I felt anxious about the transfer. I told her that I might be considered this time, as we have been in this school (Sekolah Kebangsaan Nanga Spak) for almost 11 years.

2000 was also the year when my wife’s longhouse celebrated the Gawai Antu (Festival for the Dead). Our financial standing was to fund both the out-going transfer from Sekolah Kebangsaan Nanga Spak, and also the festival. But my in-laws were very considerate. They, especially my late father in-law, understood my financial position. Long before 2000, I have been helping my in-laws in repairing and renovating their house. I had to provide my effort as I was not financially strong. Yes, my wife and I really appreciated their consideration in that matter.

December 2000 – the transfer that I had applied in May was approved! Yes, we are moving out. I arranged for the transportation in less than a week. Once all our things were moved to mum’s place, my family and I rushed to my in-laws’ longhouse to assist them preparing for the Gawai Antu. The festival was supposed to be held on the 30th December 2000 and all the longhouse folks were very busy preparing for it. Sounds of hammer could be heard until 9 or 10 p.m. and everyone did not mind the noise!

Me, in the late 1990s May 21, 2008

Posted by rbjtimban in Career, Computer, Education, Ethnic, Family, Love, My Views, Relationship, School Activities, Teachers' Training, Writing.
Tags: , , , , , , ,
add a comment

1991 – I have considered this year rather significant in my life and so did my family’s. Firstly, my wife gave birth to our third child, a boy whom we named Trevor Jullian on the 20th July. Unlike his elder brother (Theodore) and sister (Fionula), Trevor seemed to ‘refuse to be delivered’ in Betong! His mum had went into labour for almost two days. On the third day, the midwife told us that she referred my wife to Sri Aman hospital for a safer deliver. We went to Sri Aman in a Medical Dept’s transport – a Land Cruiser. We reached Sri Aman hospital at around 10.30 a.m. At exactly 1.28 p.m. in the afternoon, Trevor was born!

Secondly, I had made up my mind to sit for SPM full certificate. That was to obtain a credit pass in my BM papers. I enrolled for the exam sometimes in early April in which I took five subjects – BM, English, Geography, Integrated Science and Arts. I had put most of my efforts on BM. I read and wrote more in the subject. Besides my own efforts, I had started to devote myself more towards my faith. I prayed a lot.

Yes! God is loving. He answered my prayers. I got a credit 5 for my BM papers that year. My English papers – distinction 1! I was proud of being cared for by God. Being a former MCE student, I did not take that as the main factor why I obtained a 1 in my English. It was God’s love. Praise Lord.

1992 – I was appointed to the post of Trained Teacher in the C2 category. The post I have longed for since my first posting in 1987.

1995 – Another significance. Firstly, my appointment was confirmed by the ministry (i.e. our MOE) and I was placed into the pensionable scheme. I felt more secure in my service being a trained teacher.

Secondly, on 11th of July, another boy came into our family – Timothy Julius Umpu. He is the forth child in the family.

1999 – Another significance. Firstly, I applied to undergo a bachelor degree program in TESL. It was a full time course. I went for an interview at MOE’s Bahagian Pendidikan Guru, Kuching around April. To my surprise one of the interviewers was my former college director – Mr. Encharang Agas. During the interview he asked me whether I had thoroughly prepared to further my study, which was supposed to be going for four years. He even asked whether my wife was employed or not. I replied that she was not, and when he knew that, he told me that I would have to face a hard time pursuing the degree. That made me desperate and stressed. His words were true. Should I was accepted into a university, my employers would pay me half of what I was supposed to receive. Meaning (at that time), my family and I are going to enjoy a maximum income of RM400 a month, for four years. After the interview, I brainstormed myself on how my wife would secure a job. There was a lot of constraints coming into my mind. None could work. After weeks of waiting for the interview result, and much of brainstorming, I gave up! I told myself that I have lost an opportunity to get a degree. But then, I told myself then, that was the only application I would forward and I could not take it, thus, I would let my children take it in future. If I could not, let me provide them.

The second significant was that, a fifth boy was born, whom we named him Theophilus Nathaniel. He was born on 26th December, a day after Christmas. My wife and I agreed on one decision not to have any more children after Theophilus. We had agreed that five is enough. Thus, about a month after Theophilus was born, my wife underwent the VTL.

My Career Transition – Temporary Teaching –> Teachers’ Training March 6, 2008

Posted by rbjtimban in Career, Celebration, Culture, Education, Family, Language, Love, My Views, School Activities, Teachers' Training, Tradition, Writing.
Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
add a comment

1984 – It was early March, and I was still attached to SRB St. John, Betong. Unexpectedly, one evening my boss, Mr Empading called me to his quarters. I quickly finished my dinner and hurriedly to his house. When I reached his door, he welcomed me. After some conversations, he congratulated for being accepted into teachers’ training. As I have mentioned earlier, I trusted my instinct.

A week later after I handed my duties over to my boss, I went home and told my mum about my successful application for the training. I could see little tears in her eyes. She seemed happier than I was.

I went to the Rajang Teachers’ College together with a friend of mine. We rode in two buses and a taxi to reach the college. Everything was very new to (my friend, Wan M) and I. I knew that after completing college life, I would become a trained teacher – to help the little people to live and help others.

Three years (1984 – 86) passed by so swiftly. Felt like 3 months or less. In early 1985, my colleagues and I were assigned to practise at SK Brayang in Saratok district for about a month. It was a new experience for us. We went through our daily routine among the little kids. They were lovely kids. In mid 1986 (our final year in college) once again my friends and I were assigned to practise at SK Abg Abdul Rahman, also in Saratok district. That time, the teaching practice was even tougher. It went for 3 months. We had to prepare our lesson plans and teaching aids almost every evening after school. From then on, I was very sure that a teacher’s day off would be his bedtime. Unlike other professions, a teacher brings home everything except the 4′x8′ chalkboard, and brings them back to school the following day. Anyway, that is not a big deal. Why? Because teachers assign homework. Homework is to be done at home!

Towards the end of 1986, I sat for my final year exam. Preparation for the exam was very tough. There were so many notes to dig into. To balance the exhaustive revision at night, I had to join my colleagues playing all types of games in order to unstress. Almost all senior trainees like me were alike – looked a bit weird in how we acted. It could have been the effect of overworking.

In early November that same year I received a letter of appointment from my present boss – the State Education Dept through our college principal. In the letter, my boss assigned me to serve in Song district of Kapit division – SK Nanga Dalai. It should take effect from January 1987. The other trainees of the same batch also received their postings respectively. Everyone was assigned to serve in a new district or a new division which was too foreign. Anxiety built in everyone’s heart and mind. But nobody could resist their postings because we have sworn to serve in places of the department’s choice – not ours. From then on, we had to swallow our pride to bid farewell to each other. I had to shake hands with Edakson Rigin, Assom Lutek, Alex Yii, Ayong Andam, George Bennet Sangkan, Toddy Ahmad, just to name a few, who have been with me for 3 years, especially in our college band – The Creatures. And not forgetting the lady trainees too. They were Fatimah Masri, Judy Pian, Jee Soi Jong, Sarimah Kalpon (our one and only vocalist), Neslin Hebron, and the rest of PSR-PM (Elektif Muzik) 1984-86 trainees. The lecturers too still linger in my mind until these days. They were Mr Sagim Suar (Music), Mr Edmund Motig (Teaching Technology), Mr Saidol Bolhassan (Malay Studies), Ms Ursula Ting (Music), etc.. and of course – Mr Encharang Agas, our college principal who really had inspired me to be what I am supposed to be today. All these guys – Malays, Ibans, Bidayuhs, Melanaus, Orangs Ulu, Chinese etc have taught me the meaning of pluralism in our society. Before I enter college, I thought Sarawak was full of Ibans!