Rindu

One of the subjects that I had taught was Arts and Crafts. It was during these lessons that pupils could express themselves. I was not very adapt to the serious business of arts. Yes,I consider arts as serious as teaching English. Such was so that I would try to look for books on craft work and arts so that when teaching I could teach my pupils the correct way to sketch or colour.

I would give it all to have my students be as creative as possible. And children are at their best if their talents are recognized and appreciated.

Sometimes I would leer away from the conventional teaching of arts and have the class  undertake projects via arts. So we had puppets in drama, collage of various topics ranging from my village,at the graveyard ( eerie masks),beneath the ocean and space explorations. It was not an individual art paper but the whole notice boards would be transformed into a panorama. Very exciting! But most of all,the whole class was included in the project and it took shape at the pace  of the students.

So I was quite disappointed when I noticed that most teachers were taking arts as a nonsensical time wasting subject. Yes,to them,arts is colouring day in day out the photostated paper the teacher prepared before hand.

Is that art? Kesian kat budak budak.

Oh how I rindu the time we had fun together putting up the collage on the noticeboards. It was a feat. And the most satisfying looks were on the children’s faces. Even the lame ones.

Itulah hadiah untuk  seorang guru.