The Learning Teacher

Over the last few years, I have been introducing the use of paintings in the language or literature classroom. My student teachers have been generally receptive to the idea.

I usally start by getting my students to read Ovid’s tale on Daedalus and Icarus. They would read the original text and the develop a short reading text on the fall of Icarus. The reading text will be pitched generally for upper secondary school students.

I then introduce them to Brueghel’s ‘Landscape with the fall of Icarus’. They are asked to search for the painting in the Internet and are asked to download it. In class, they spend time looking at the painting and studying it. I would provide a number questions to help them notice the landscape in relation to Icarus’ plunging to his death and also discuss the significance of the whole painting.

Students are then asked to consider how they would use the reading text they had developed with the painting. I have suggested that they get their students to the school computer lab and get them to surf the Net and find the coloured painting that is available.

I also introduce my students to some of the poems that have emerged since Ovid’s tale! The following website has it all: http://www.littlereview.com/gallery/icarus.htm

They could use any of the poems they may want to discuss or study with their students.

The intertextual element among prose text, painting and poetry enhances the learning exprience. 

This year, I took my students’ learning experience once step further. I introduced them to a Malaysian artist who is based in Melaka: Tham Siew Inn. He has a place of his own simply called Tham Siew Inn Artist Gallery.

I had met Tham Siew Inn a few years ago. He is a wonderful and gracious artist who is willing to take time to those who visit his gallery. This year during the Chinese New Year break a friend and I visited his gallery again. He treated us warmly and remembered my last visit too.

I told him that I would like to ask my students to meet him and if he would be willing to talk to them. He was more than willing to oblige. My students then organised a trip to Melaka and had an exciting learning experience of meeting an artist and seeing his works.

My students told me that Tham and his two sons spent a lot of their time talking to them about their work, paintings and showing them around the gallery.

I would like to invite any of my students reading this blog to share their experience.

Those interested in finding out more about Tham can visit his website: www.thamsiewinn.com

The Tham Siew Inn Artist Gallery is located at 49. Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock, Melaka.

The new VC of UM was reported in the newspapers as going after academics who had gone on full paid leave to do their doctoral studies and have not completed them. These academics, it was reported, could be asked to pay back the money spent on them.

Apparently there are some scholarship recipients who are unhappy with is situation. I’m not going to go into the matter of whether they should pay or not. Am sure there are lots of views on this.

But I like to share my own experience of having to pay back to my university on my return after successfully completing my doctoral studies at the University of Nottingham.

Just before completing my thesis, I had written for an extension and my university graciously gave me a 6-month extension. However, I completed my thesis, had my viva voce and graduated before the 6-month extension period. So I did, what I believed then, and still do, the right thing by returning immediately to UPM.

A few of my friends had suggested I stayed on for the complete extension period. Go travel! Enjoy a well-earned rest were some of the tempting reasons they gave me. 

I decided I had done what I came to Nottingham for and asked the university to send me the ticket to return to Malaysia. And quite happily I returned and resumed my teaching duties.

A few weeks later, I received a letter from the university bursary informing me that I should return about RM2000 that had been given to me as allowance during the final period of extension which I did not complete. I was really taken aback. Having returned after 3 years and with a whole lot of expenses at hand, I had to pay back RM2,000!

Wow! I really could not believe the situation I found myself in!!! I had returned to UPM, having successfully completed my studies and I now I had to pay back this amount of money. My colleagues had quite a laugh when I told them - I did feel it was a bit of an injustice. But there was no arguing - I did return early.  My fault??? So I paid the money.

Then a few weeks later, I received another letter informing me that I was entitled for 3 increments in my salary for obtaining my PhD. Great news, I thought but soon discovered that I will only get just one as I was maximum at my lecturer’s salary.  Such is life!!!!

Now, I find it rather difficult to understand why people who fail to complete their doctoral or any kind of scholarship provided studies  get upset when they don’t fulfill their contracts with their universities and are asked to pay back what was given to them. No doubt, there will be some genuine cases, who under some extraordinary situations were unable to complete their studies but am afraid the majority just needed to get their act together.