The world of Tzu Chi Sep-Oct 2022 (Vol.143)

2022 • 10 26 Wan Nornajihah’s life felt empty in the past two years owing to the pandemic, which also disrupted the PE classes. She was overjoyed upon learning that the school was going to organize a sports day. “I want to fill up my time. I like to work with others, and it delights me when others are happy!” More importantly, she had been looking forward to doing something for the students since she joined TCISKL in January 2020. Students who were enrolled in Year 4 classes back then, are now in their final year of primary school. It boosted Teacher Wan Nornajihah’s motivation thinking of the students’ anticipation for a sports day. As the primary school PE group leader, she led the young teachers to prepare for the event, sharing her experiences selflessly. To her, having everyone working hard together towards a common goal, was a wonderful experience. Teacher Goh Wei Jian, leader of secondary school PE group, was in charge of the overall planning for the event. He joined TCISKL early this year and started preparations as early as March. A 29-year- old runner equipped with past teaching experience in an international school, he was well aware that a proper system is required to hold a large-scale sports day. Therefore, he began to find ways to develop a sports house system for the school since the beginning. He explained, “For example, students need to have a name list, theme and uniform for their respective sports houses. The proposal was revised many times and had not been finalized even until June.” The schedule was hectic for Teacher Goh and his team, as the school had also received invitations for sports competitions outside the school, amidst preparations for the sports week. The team was also involved in sourcing of equipment for the sports day amongst other tasks. Fortunately, with concerted efforts, they complemented one another and did their best to complete the tasks at hand. Teacher Chuah Yu Tian related smilingly, “Before the sports day, we, the four PE teachers, were too busy to see each other!” Teacher Chuah, a former Malaysia national athlete, joined TCISKL post retirement. In order to prepare for the sports day, she and the team slept overnight on the floor of the school the day before the event. When asked about it, she replied in an easy manner, “It was not tough (sleeping on the floor). We just slept for two hours anyway.” Her colleague, Teacher Nathan Khoon, remembered that as a memorable experience. He felt the hard work was worthwhile, especially that the students also took the initiative to help out whenever the teachers needed assistance. He looked forward for a more fantastic sports day in the coming years. Falling is not failing Teacher Goh shared that as TCISKL is still newly established, and that he and his fellow colleagues have just joined the school, it would require a lot of communications among them in order to work together seamlessly and to organize a sports day that meets an international school standard. Therefore, the successful completion of the sports day was not without trials and errors. Nevertheless, Teacher Goh was grateful for the cooperation shown by all the teachers and students, which had collectively made the school alive and full of vigour. He shared, “The students were not so good at expressing pecial Feature