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Meanwhile, the schools’ grounding in the principles and pedagogies of the Singapore education system helped his transition into professional life at the school, and in no time at all, Mr. Tan had coached the school’ s basketball team to its first Division 2 championship title at the conclusion of the 2010-2011 season. A very real example of the school’ s motto,‘ Striving for Excellence’, in action, a broad smile immediately breaks across Mr. Tan’ s face upon recalling this memory.
OUR TEACHERS WHO TOOK THE ROAD LESS TRAVELLED
Like many people living overseas for the first time, he found his experiences in Shanghai all the more sharply focused for happening in an unfamiliar environment, and a trip to a Shanghai hospital for an Achilles tendon operation- painful and difficult under any circumstances – was undoubtedly one such experience. Despite the memory of excruciating pain and a long period of convalescence, Mr. Tan reminds us all that we must“ give thanks in all circumstances, as stated in 1 Thessalonians 5:18. As such, he hopes that“ all Josephians can embrace life’ s journey with thankfulness as well.”
Homesickness, an unavoidable side effect of living far from your birthplace, was alleviated, in part at least, by the opportunity to make new friends and, by calling his family and friends either via IDD, or by chatting with them on MSN( Editor’ s Note: younger readers may wish to do some research on the world prior to easyto-access video calls on cell phones). It would seem fair to suggest, therefore, that, aside form technology, Mr. Tan’ s faith helped him cope with the significant challenges he faced when living overseas. Similarly, his faith has helped him negotiate his return to teaching Singapore, and the significantly heavier workload, with equanimity and resilience, reminding us that we all need to establish our own, personal pillars of strength before embracing the challenge of forging our own way in life. So what did Mr. Tan gain by deviating from the standard career path? Here, he is unequivocal again:“ Until we learn to step out of our own comfort zone, we’ ll never realise the construct we are living in. It’ s almost akin to the movie The Matrix, but without the fancy special effects. There’ s a world out there waiting to be discovered and I’ m glad I gave up the standard career progression pathway to pursue it.”
Enjoying the Shanghai ATP Masters tennis tournament
Another new member of staff who certainly took an unconventional route to the gates of Malcolm Road is Chemistry teacher, Ms. Liu Wan Zhen. Echoing Mr. Tan’ s views on constructed reality, Ms. Liu is a firm believer in the need for the selfperceptions and surrounding environment of a young person to be secure before he or she can begin to grow in a positive and healthy manner.
“ It is natural for young people to experience identity issues and to test the limits of acceptable behaviour as they mature,” Ms. Liu explains.“ This means they need the security gained from routine to help them develop a clearer sense of who they are and what is right. This sense of security, however, is not the same as overly rigid prescription, which may have the opposite effect of inhibiting a young person’ s sense of self.”
We know Ms. Liu as a Chemistry teacher today, and this was indeed how she began her professional life. However, it was a feeling that effective teaching is not exclusively the domain of curricular targets and delivery which led her to explore other professional avenues. Before long, she moved aside from school-based teaching to gain experience as a private tutor who specialized in educational coaching, and, in turn, she further explored this interest by completing a Masters in Developmental Psychology. Spend any time discussing education with Ms. Liu, and her expertise in these fields is apparent.
“ The learning process is not just about conceptual understanding. Instead, it is a synthesis of cognitive understanding and affective.” she states, warning against a reductive approach to education. When pressed to explain schools may address these deeper issues of character and attitude when there are so many curriculardemands, she is clear-eyed in her response:“ Schools cannot