(2/2) “For me, teaching is good. I love that I have more time with my family.”

“Having a connection with students is a key ingredient for me, as I’ve noticed they tend to be more motivated to study your subject. If you have a teacher that you don’t like, you will rarely open the books they teach, right? I believe, us, teachers, have a big responsibility in how a student feels towards a certain subject.

Being in this industry for so long, there are definitely many ups and downs in our line of work. One of them is that our pay isn’t very high. I always tell my students, if you want to become a lecturer, you really need to like the job or else you will be quite stressed. Your other coursemates would be earning maybe five figures but it would be very hard for you to achieve that unless you get a PhD. There is an upside though, in the teaching line, you will have more free time. In other fields, you may have a lot of money, but no time to spend it. So it depends on what kind of life you want. For me, teaching is good. I love that I have more time with my family.

So far, teaching has been a really good career because it is very fulfilling seeing your students’ academic performance. For me, It’s not only about students getting an A but if I can help a student who is failing, pass the subject, it’s a very satisfying feeling. That is something that cannot be measured by money.

One thing I’ve always believed in is life-long learning and I hope I inspire my students to believe in that as well. Even for me, even though I am familiar with the chemistry syllabus in SAES, if I were asked to teach an A-levels chemistry subject, I wouldn’t be that good at it. I’ll need some time to learn and prepare myself.

I think every day we have something new to learn, just like I also learn from all of my students. Even though they’re just students, they’re already involved in so many things – I have students running their own online shops, sometimes even multiple shops and I recently learned of the concept ‘gap year’ where students use their time to gain worldly skills. In the past, I would have never heard of such a thing!

I always learn something new from my students.”


Humans of KL is working with academics from Taylor’s College to share stories which embody their values; Hope, Grit and Slay.

(1/2) “I secretly also want them to continue and further their studies in Chemistry but that is not right lah!”

“Teaching was my first job.

Back then, in 1999, the economy wasn’t very good. Everyone sent out many letters to look for a job, so I was quite fortunate Taylor’s offered me one.
I’m not a teacher trained by profession. So when I first started my teaching job I thought, “How am I going to teach?”. I had no idea. I was clueless. But slowly I developed my own method, after experimenting with other teachers’ methods.

When I first joined the profession, my dream was and still is, to make my students love the subject so that they can excel at it. I secretly also want them to continue and further their studies in Chemistry but that is not right lah! Most of them also want to go into medicine, so I try to help them get good grades.

I really believe that if I want my students to act a certain way in class, I must show a good example first. For instance, I always want my students to be punctual for my lesson, so I set a good example and am punctual myself. I can proudly say that about 99% of the students in my class will be there earlier than the starting time. There are days, maybe one or two, where I may be a little late cause of certain commitments. But I will apologise to my students with a – ‘Sorry I’m late, cause I had a meeting just now.’ I talk to them, converse with them. I really believe the human touch must be there when interacting with students, rather than just commanding.

Throughout all my years as a teacher, I’ve learned a lot. Especially from this one incident when my boss called me in asking, ‘Why did you scold your student?’ I was a bit sad about that but from there I knew that the situation now is not like the old days – when you see the teacher, you feel scared of them.

Nowadays, you need to be friends with your students. I tell them, ‘Each and every one of you must like me or love me for at least one year.’ So that’s something new I practice – the need to have a good connection with your students.”


Humans of KL is working with academics from Taylor’s College to share stories which embody their values; Hope, Grit and Slay

 

(2/2)”I share their successes and failures, their achievements and frustrations, and I laugh and cry with them.”

“Restructuring notes and rephrasing questions went on for the first few years. In between, I also pursued my Masters in Applied Statistics at University Malaya. And then it was digitizing my notes and questions, to where we are at now, online teaching and learning. My teaching methods evolved with the advancement of technology.

I believe that the teacher’s confidence and the materials we deliver make a huge impact on the students’ learning. We have to gain the trust of students’ in order for effective learning to take place. Student-teacher rapport is an essential part of learning in my classes. The pastoral care I offer my students is tantamount to their academic excellence in my subject.

Rules are very important in my classrooms, and these are set right from day one. I also encourage students’ to work collaboratively, helping one another towards excelling both as an individual and as a team. Although I put on a strict façade initially, I assume a friendlier demeanour after the first semester. This puts students at ease while emphasizing that dedication towards achieving excellent results is of utmost importance. And by the time my students’ graduate from the A level programme, we become fast friends.

Now after having taught at Taylor’s for more than 20 years, I have countless friends and we stay in touch through the various communication channels. Some visit me when they are in town or are passing by, and some drop me a word or greeting from time to time, and on special occasions. I share their successes and failures, their achievements and frustrations, and I laugh and cry with them. The gratitude and affection shown by my students’ further encourages me to continue doing what I am doing in the best way I know. Seeing them excel in every aspect of their lives, both academically and emotionally, and knowing I played a small part in it, gives me utmost satisfaction and immense pleasure of having chosen this fulfilling vocation.

I know now that I was meant to be an educator, and I am here to stay.”


Humans of KL is working with academics from Taylor’s College to share stories which embody their values; Hope, Grit and Slay.

(1/2) “It was here that my journey in teaching began and I have never looked back since.”

“Like any other young adult, I too did not know what I wanted to study at university.

At school, mathematics was my favourite and best subject. I usually scored very high marks in Mathematics and am pretty sure I obtained an almost perfect score for my SPM. The course I chose at university offered many different subjects to major in, and naturally I decided on a course leaning towards Mathematics. As I was not much interested in Mechanics, I decided on a major in Statistics.

Post-graduation, I was quite sure of securing a position at one of the many financial institutions. Unfortunately, the poor economic climate at that time froze applications into financial institutions. While waiting for opportunities in the financial institutions, I was offered a teaching position, to teach Mathematics and Additional Mathematics, in a local private school. It was here that my journey in teaching began and I have never looked back since. After a year, I applied and was offered a position to teach A Level Mathematics at Taylor’s College. I was ecstatic, but still unsure of my direction with respect to my vocation.

The syllabus for A Level required that I teach 3 different components of Mathematics; Pure mathematics, Statistics and Mechanics. The preparation that I had to put in was colossal. I had to prepare notes, practice questions and internal and mock exam papers right away. I used many different books with only the syllabus requirements as a guide to prepare my notes and questions. I used to cart home bags of books and often stayed up late to prepare my lessons. I felt more like a student instead of a teacher. This preparation was very important to build my confidence, and I would go with very little sleep, to ensure that I give the best lesson presentations every day. Moreover, the set of students I was assigned were very intelligent and would often challenge me with questions.”

(Read Part 2 over here: https://www.humansofkl.com/2-2i-share-their-successes-and-failures-their-achievements-and-frustrations-and-i-laugh-and-cry-with-them/)


Humans of KL is working with academics from Taylor’s College to share stories which embody their values; Hope, Grit and Slay.

“I tell myself; “Who says a degree holder can’t be a CEO or anything else?”

“When I came back to Malaysia, I decided to pursue my ACCA and was also taking care of some shared services portfolio. So, it came as a shock to me when Taylor’s University called me in for an interview and said they got my credentials on JobStreet – which I didn’t even update!

After a lot of thinking, I decided to jump into the education sector mainly because I have a desire to help Malaysia. I think we have many talented people but it’s just that they’re all overseas. We don’t have the capacity to nourish our talented people. So, when Taylors offered me the job to help promote professional studies – it triggered me. I thought I could do something good with this job.

The job switch was a big life-changing moment for me because it was so sudden. I also thought “Why me?” since I don’t have a master’s or PhD like the other lecturers do. But for me, I was motivated by my uncle’s story. He only has a Standard 3 education and he’s the CEO of an HSBC bank in Hong kong. That’s the reason why I tell myself; “Who says a degree holder can’t be a CEO or anything else”. As long as you are the right leader and you have the right skills to complement the company, you can do it!

As long as I’ve been teaching, I have always encouraged my students to learn an additional skill, it could be pursuing a professional paper, master’s or anything. Cause I feel that a degree, while it is very useful, may not be enough, especially in this generation. But professional studies, not everyone has it, so it will show you have an extra skillset and you can differentiate yourself. That is why Taylor’s started a school of professional studies.

That is why I’m here.”


Humans of KL is working with academics from Taylor’s College to share stories which embody their values; Hope, Grit and Slay.

1/2 “I also encountered a lot of difficult people, not just because of differences in race but also age.”

(1/2) “Never in my life have I thought of working in the education sector because all this while I was in the corporate world.

I started my career at an events organizing company. While at one of the company’s Dubai exhibitions, I was offered a job in the US as a project lead for gadget insurance. I immediately accepted the job and was happily on my way to Atlanta, US.

In the first 3 months, I felt the stark difference in the work culture there, because as Asians, we usually work overtime, but over there they’re already off from work by 5.45pm. Their culture is very family-oriented. My colleagues frequently ask me “Jason, you’re not going back home yet?”. But the thing is, it’s not like I had a family to go back to at the time, they were all in Malaysia.

Thankfully, I didn’t experience a lot of discrimination when I was working because I was recruited at a manager level and there’s a lot of different nationalities that work in my company especially Indians and Japanese. Plus, Atlanta is generally a very accepting place compared to other American states and I’m quite a friendly person. But there were still times when you feel like an outsider – that you’re Asian and don’t belong.

I also encountered a lot of difficult people, not just because of differences in race but also age. There’s a lot of misunderstandings and miscommunication. So, I really had to figure out how to manage these kinds of things.

Those 5 years in the US gave me a lot of experience and knowledge because the mindset, culture, how they train and live is totally different. Since they prioritize work-family balance, I didn’t even see some employees in the office except for maybe twice a year! But even then, they still deliver the work on time. They have systems there to inform where people are located but to handle 300 people is not easy. I realised there are a few systems I must set like a deadline for my employees.

Life in the US was good, especially in terms of money and job prospects but I never planned on staying there forever. That never even crossed my mind.”


Humans of KL is working with academics from Taylor’s College to share stories which embody their values; Hope, Grit and Slay.

“Critical thinking, thinking out-of-the-box, finding information and ways to solve problems. Students need that.”

“I’ve always liked to invent stuff since young and that inquisitive nature drove me to pick up science. I wouldn’t say I’m the brightest, but somehow I managed and have had quite an eventful life in terms of what I’ve done so far.

I wasn’t a rich kid, so I went through the typical route – SPM, Form 6, then went to University Malaya to do physics. It was either that or electrical engineering. In hindsight, I’m glad I took physics as it opened up my mind to a broader perspective of things. I’ve always had a liking for physics because it covers a lot of topics and it tends to look at things from a very fundamental aspect. So you need to understand things from the very basic idea. But I have to say that the training in Malaysia is still lacking in some aspects compared with overseas universities.

Maybe lecturers are busy in Malaysia, so they don’t drive the inquisitive nature of students. Whereas when I was overseas doing my PhD and master’s – my science advisor would frequently ask the class, ‘What do you think?’. So it made me question things and think for myself.

I try to bring that learning style to my students. Some students in Malaysia tend to be a little passive and too relaxed, as I still see some students wanting the lecturers to spoon-feed them. I wish students would be more driven to find some of the information themselves. I’m trying to slowly find a way to encourage that.

Critical thinking, thinking out-of-the-box, finding information and ways to solve problems. Students need that. I think it’s important because if you think about it, jobs automation – people say that it won’t take away your jobs but if you don’t have critical thinking skills and if you conduct your job in the usual and typical way, then I don’t see what value you can add to your job.

I’ve also noticed that students still need to build up their courage – not all of them but some. I don’t know whether this is from school but there’s something that’s missing there. It may be cultural – a very Asian thing. I saw the stark difference between the white and the Asian kids when I did my degree in the UK. I noticed that in the UK they emphasize a lot on critical thinking and they give flexibility and freedom, whereas Asian students focused more on discipline. I believe that we need to find a middle ground between the two – a studying environment that is not too intense but not too relaxed either.

How did I end up becoming a lecturer?

My dad actually told me not to become a lecturer but I like to train and teach others. I think humans are naturally compelled to teach others in some way – whether big or small. I came into lecturing like an extension to what I was already doing. Even during my PhD and post-doctoral at Cambridge, I was training other PhD students. I believe it’s part of human nature for us to need to pass on the legacy of our knowledge.

We want to be remembered, we want to know that we have done something good in this world.”


Dr Teh is currently a Senior Lecturer and Program Coordinator for Foundation in Engineering at Taylor’s College Malaysia.
Humans of Kuala Lumpur is working with academics from Taylor’s College to share stories which embody their values; Hope, Grit and Slay

“I don’t know how to be rich yet, but I do know how we can get out of poverty.”

“When I was studying in university, my father’s business fell through and because of that, my family lived in poverty during that time. We were in a very bad situation but we didn’t blame my father because we understood that things like this can happen and it was a test for our family.

Normally, I won’t ask my father for money unless I only have like RM1 or 50 cents left. One day, I didn’t have much money and had to ask him for some money. My father gave me 20 ringgit to survive for a week and he said this is the only money I can give to you, so spend it wisely. But after three days, I was left with only 5 ringgit in my pocket.

I couldn’t buy rice or a proper meal or else I would not have money for the rest of the week. So instead, I bought a comb of bananas and I ate bananas in the morning and at night. That’s how I managed to survive the remaining days. I tell this story to my students to motivate them that despite hardships, I still studied. I still completed my assignments and I still managed to get good grades.

Anyway, there’s one conversation that I had with my brother which changed my perspective. I went back home during the semester break, and was sitting with my younger brother when I told him “I don’t like being poor, I cannot stand this. How do we become rich?”. It was a straightforward question between brothers to which my younger brother replied, “I don’t know how to be rich yet, but I do know how we can get out of poverty”.

He said that we just need to study and work really hard. That’s how you get out of poverty. Maybe it was just a conversation for him but it made quite a big impact on me. When I went back to university, I studied harder, more than ever before, because I believed that if I could educate myself then I have a good shot at getting my family and I out of poverty and it became a part of my responsibility.

So I studied hard, completed my degree and Master’s, found a job and worked hard. I believe if you don’t work hard when you’re young, then be prepared to work hard when you’re old. That’s one of the reasons I joined education. I believe that proper education can bring people out of poverty.

Previously I worked in the banking industry. And I liked it because I love numbers but I didn’t get that sense of fulfilment like I do here. When students struggle and ask for help, I can directly impact them. I can give them advice, tell them how to build self-discipline and pick up good habits. Things I wished people told me when I was younger.

Until now, some students still text me – thanking me. Some of them tell me that they are glad I gave them advice. I am still connected with some of them on Facebook, WhatsApp, during meetups and sometimes when they get married they invite me to go to their weddings. I would say the lecturers and students here are close and we do whatever we can to help each other out.”


Mohd Mutaqqin is currently a Senior Lecturer and Program Director for Pre-University Studies at Taylor’s College Malaysia.
Humans of Kuala Lumpur is working with academics from Taylor’s College to share stories which embody their values; Hope, Grit and Slay

 

“Position yourself so that the other person values you more because you have the qualities”

“I started my teaching career with just a teaching certificate.

When I was younger, I was one of the top students in school and was expected to achieve great things, but I didn’t do very well in Form 5 as my inclination towards sciences just wasn’t there – that closed a lot of windows for me. So, I decided to enrol into a teachers training college.

But deep down, I still had the desire to further my studies, it was always in my subconscious mind. My first teaching post was in Sabah, which was a good thing because there wasn’t much to do there, so I spent my time studying. My dream at the time was to do my high school certification (HSC) – now they call it STPM. I managed to get good results but when I sent my application to a few universities, my applications were always rejected.

Sometime in 1995, God opened my eyes and I had the urge to keep on trying to get a place in the university. For a start, I took the opportunity to join the Advanced Teaching Certification Course in TESL by the Ministry of Education. At the time, the government was also offering scholarships for English teachers to go abroad, so I tried my luck.

One fine day, I received news that I was offered the scholarship and went to further my studies in Glasgow! After getting my degree, I didn’t want to stop studying, so I studied for my masters in USM and was lucky to be awarded another JPA scholarship.

I was determined to land myself another scholarship – this time to continue with my PhD. At the time, many told me, ‘Wah you have already received two scholarships’ ‘You can’t possibly get another one’. But I was determined to get a third scholarship and I did.

That’s something I take pride in because not everybody has that determination. I had such a burning desire, it felt like a fire inside me – I needed to do this because the disappointment from Form 5 was still there and I wanted to prove that I am capable of more.

I think that God works mysteriously. I say this because back in 1994-95 when I was at an under-12 hockey tournament, I met a fellow teacher who told me he was going to the UK, on a scholarship. That struck me hard. I realised that God had sent this guy my way to tell me ‘look Siva you’re wasting time on the hockey pitch when your actual destination is somewhere else’. I didn’t know about these JPA scholarships before meeting the guy, but after that, I started researching a lot about it.

My advice to people is that you should look into what people need and make sure that you fulfil those needs. Position yourself so that the other person values you more because you have the qualities; always try to stand out from others but don’t cheat. I always tell younger people – it takes smart thinking and initiative to make it in this world, it’s not just pure luck.

Whatever it is, in life, never let your fire die. Always count your blessings and reflect on things. Sometimes I tell people, not because I want to boast, but because some people can be very pessimistic – things didn’t happen for me until I was in my 30s. I didn’t give up even though there was a time I told my wife that I was going to resign from teaching because I didn’t like it anymore. But little did I know, God had bigger plans for me.”


Dr Sivabala Naidu is currently the Head of Schools of Pre-University Studies at Taylor’s College Malaysia.
Humans of Kuala Lumpur is working with academics from Taylor’s College to share stories which embody their values; Hope, Grit and Slay