My Teaching Internship

Back to school as a teaching intern

After 12 years of formal education, the last place any post-JC student would want to be head back to school in January! Yet there I was waking up at 6am and back in the classroom, but this time, as a teacher...

Introduction

Hi there! I am Joanna from the graduating batch of 2020. I spent the first few months post-JC interning under the Ministry of Education’s Teaching Internship Programme (MOE TIP). I thoroughly enjoyed my attachment to a primary school which was a very hands-on experience, teaching, marking, nagging at students to pay attention and submit their homework on time (Gosh how the tables turned in just a few months!)

Application Process & Timeline

Although not a 100% sure on what I wanted to do in the future, (I doubt many would be too at 18 and it is alright!) teaching has always been of particular interest for me having many years of volunteering for tutoring programmes and developing an affinity with children. So when I saw this internship, I decided to just go for it and find out more about what being a teacher entails.

Here’s a rough timeline of the MOE TIP:

Mid-September to Mid-October: Application period (an announcement + poster was sent to our cohort WhatsApp chats)

The application form consisted of:

Indicating our preferred level and subject to teach along with 5 preferences of schools to be posted to (I selected secondary school Geography + Chemistry but I guess since Science with Humanities is an odd combination, I was posted to a Primary School teaching P3 English + P4 Science instead)
Short write up on why we were interested in the internship

End November to Early December: Interviews for shortlisted candidates

First week of January: Training sessions on classroom management, expectations of a teacher etc.

Second week of January - Mid-March: School experience

School experience

Having not stepped into a primary school in nearly 7 years, I was pretty nervous. Just a month ago I was a student too and now I had to stand up in front of a class of 35 being the responsible ‘adult’! It didn’t help too when one of my students freaked out and went “What! You’re only 19 and you haven't even gone to university and gotten a degree?! How are you allowed to teach us?” (Thanks kid… really didn’t need to be called out by a 9 year old like that HAHA)

Thankfully, there was another post-JC intern too so we stuck with each other, desperately learning grammar rules hours before our lesson and trying not to get lost in school :) We even tried to grow a sunflower in the staffroom but ended up with a thriving pot of… mould.

My weekly timetable which excludes relief teaching and once a week CCA/ after school programmes from 2.15pm to 4pm

Week 1 to 3: Shadowing of teachers in lessons, CCA duties and other non-classroom duties to expose ourselves to the myriad of pedagogies and types of learners.

Week 4 to 6: Co-teaching, taking on some periods (or part of a lesson as I often under planned, leaving my supervising teacher having to take over as I had 15 mins to spare… geez)

Week 7 to 9: Independent teaching, conducting full weeks of lessons on my own and teaching an entire topic from start to finish. I also got to refine my iMovie skills through creating a demonstration video on Matter that was used for the entire P4 cohort :)

The good times...

Students were really sweet-natured and welcoming

My kids warmed up to me within a week which made settling in so much easier (and saying goodbye a lot harder too 😢). Stepping into the classroom every morning, they would rush forward, eager to share their stories of what they did over the weekend or corner me at recess to interrogate me about my life. They never failed to amaze with their antics just to get an early recess or a favour.

Watching my students improve by leaps and bounds

One of my fondest memories was with a P3 kid who had a learning disability. He initially failed weekly spelling tests, scraping a 2 or 3 out of 13 marks, and was often teased by his peers which led to several conflicts. However, he didn’t hesitate to approach me for help in studying. With lots of effort and encouragement, he kept improving and even scored full marks by the end of the term. Although seemingly small, it was a very rewarding moment to share that moment of success alongside him.

And the bad...

The kids think I’m really old as I’m twice their age…

Even after reinforcing that I had just finished JC and was only 19, some asked if I was spending CNY with my children and if I was married. The worst was being called MRS (missus) when they were greeting me HAHA I made them greet me again until they got it right!

Chasing my kids for just about everything

Homework, corrections and even running around the school, up multiple flights of stairs to get them back to class (guess my daily training climbing NJ’s stairs for 6 years paid off). Having been assigned to one of the toughest classes which had 2 special needs kids, I spent a large amount of my time hunting my down kids and resolving conflicts while my other intern sat in the air-conditioned staff room, up to her neck with marking.

I would just like to take this moment here to apologise to my teachers for hardly submitting my work, much less punctually…😔

Takeaways

Having been streamed into the top classes since Primary School and enrolling in the Integrated Programme really hid me away from interacting with peers ranging across different learning paces, disabilities (learning and intellectual) and family backgrounds. As such, this opportunity left me with many eye-opening insights:

A good school environment is key to shaping a child’s values and belief system

Schools serve as a second home for children and the relationships forged here eventually mould their character. Teachers as such play an important role in instilling the right values such as the eagerness to learn and to care for others. Reading my students’ journals on their thoughts on the pandemic and prayers for the safety of their loved ones made me realise how often we underestimate how much kids mirror our behaviour, be it good or bad. Another big realisation would be the learning environment in primary schools, which encourages students to be curious and seek to learn beyond the syllabus. I had lots of fun conducting science lessons with my P4 students as they would get excited and egg me on to show them more cool experiments. Also, students did not fear asking questions in class, no matter how basic, a sight that is unfamiliar once we enter secondary school.

Teaching is no easy job but it is insanely gratifying (I don’t know how my teachers have been doing this for so many years)

It takes an immense amount of work and effort to nurture every student and conducting a lesson may just be the easiest part of the job! I took 2 hours to prepare materials for a small 10 minute group activity! And there’s much more time spent on marking, administrative and disciplinary matters. At the end of the day, there honestly isn’t a big reward but rather many small moments that bring joy such as watching our students improve despite many setbacks and grow into kind and caring individuals.

Among us themed bookmarks as farewell gifts for the kids!

In conclusion, I learnt a lot from the teachers and even more so from the students. This internship reaffirmed my desire to work in a job where I could work with people daily and make a positive impact on their lives no matter the duration of our interactions. Regardless of what I pursue in the future, I would not trade this experience for anything else :”)

Ok enough of me gushing over my internship heh. It’s never too early to explore your options so just take a leap of faith and jump at the opportunities that come your way because who knows? They may leave you with some pretty memorable experiences and discoveries about yourself!

Disclaimer:

I would have loved to attach more photos but I couldn’t so as to protect student confidentiality