This author is currently on hiatus for the ignoble cause of mugging. The public is advised to remain calm, as this routine protocol has been shown to have no effect on one's violent tendencies in 96% of cases.
| Tuesday, January 09, 2007 |
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Here's one entire post dedicated to our new History teacher Brain Docherty, who hails from the faraway land of Scotland. It's my - and most of the other 3Ners (except for those who were/are under 3rd language) - first time being taught by an ang moh teacher, so you can imagine the reaction when he suddenly stepped into the class. So here was a demi-giant (relatively) with big eyes and bushy eyebrows coming into our class for the first time, 4 minutes early. Except that half the class was having their break at the nearby Poolside Restaurant. Luckily he didn't mind that the others were later than him (not like Mr B.Lee), and they still came in 40 seconds before the bell rang due to the unexpected circumstance anyway. There's hardly any issues understanding him though, even though he speaks fast with the stereotypical ang moh accent. "what" turns to "wot", "folder" to "fol-dah", "good" to "gad" etc. At least his accent isn't that thick like that of native Americans or British. But the problem is that you can understand what he says if you can hear him in the first place. Sitting almost all the way at the back of the class, i can only catch half of his words. One habit Mr. Docherty has, though, is that he likes to stroke his hair when he is thinking through something. The only problem being that there is a lack on the top of his head in the first place. So its quite weird to see his running his hand over his almost-bald head once every so often. But at least it's better than those who keep a beard solely for the purpose of fidgeting with it subconciously, or pluck at stubble on their chin. The good thing is that he seems rather enthusiastic about teaching, in a no-nonsense sort of way. But i doubt he will ever remember those of us with Chinese names, and even if he does, he probably won't be able to roll his tongue over the syllabuses anyway and thus pronounce them horribly off. Maybe he'll stick to addressing us by our surnames instead (like they do in America), so Chun Wai can still keep his coveted nickname of "Lam" instead of something which sounds like "Chan Way". One last note: I will probably never get to doze off in history lessons again, what with the novelty of having a foreign teacher talk about imperialism in Africa. |
'Twas teh winnar at 10:43 pm.
