Wednesday, February 16, 2005

Practicum Blues

Nowadays, just go to school and speak a certain 9-lettered word starting with the letter "P" and it's going to evoke a look of terror on people's face. Yes, it's that terrifying.

Before we go any further, let's examine the definitions of the word, with courtesy from Webster.

Main Entry: prac-ti-cum
Pronunciation: 'prak-ti-k&m
Function: noun
Etymology: German Praktikum, from Late Latin practicum, neuter of practicus practical
: a course of study designed especially for the preparation of teachers and clinicians that involves the supervised practical application of previously studied theory

I can vaguely remember that when I was only in Primary 3, we had this trainee teacher coming into class to take over our Chinese lessons for a certain period of time. I still remember her name, she was a "Miss Lu" in 1990 (1.5 decades ago). Anyway, the whole highlight of the whole experience was that we got scolded harshly the first day she had proper lessons with us. Some of us (I can't remember who, but certainly not me) were just playful, and called her an 'ugly duckling' in her face, causing her to run out of the class, crying and leaving us little ones with astonished looks on our faces. But we really did like her, as her lessons were havoc times for us, a welcome break from our usual strict Chinese teacher.

*Flashback from the past* Oh man, I hope that bad karma is not going to happen to me. This is first time I seriously repented for what happened, after so many years.

No comments: