My Life in a Malaysian School

My Life in a Malaysian School 

My New School 

I teach at SMK (which essentially stands for 'secondary school') Mak Lagam in the city of Cukai, in the district of Kemaman, in the state of Terengganu, in the country of Malaysia. There are about 600 students at my school and about 60 faculty members. My school is also known as TESMAL (Terengganu Elite School Mak Lagam). The education system in Malaysia is very hierarchical and schools are ranked into categories. Amongst schools run by the state government, ‘Elite’ is the highest rank. However there are some schools run by the federal government, called ‘Boarding Schools’, which are considered superior. Either way, my school is a very good school and is one of only two Elite schools in the state of Terengganu. 

In Malaysia, primary school is Standard 1-6, which is equivalent to our grades 1-6. Secondary school is Form 1-5, which is equivalent to our grades 7-11. The Malaysian school system heavily emphasizes the national exams, which rank students and stream them into the appropriate schools and programs, based on their results. These exams take place in Form 3 and Form 5 and test students in 8-9 subjects. This year 99 out of 156 students got straight As (on all subjects) on their Form 3 exam. This was celebrated with a huge, elaborate ceremony. Signboards are scattered around campus with the school motto: “we strive for straight As.” 

I am teaching Form 1, 2, and 4- the non-exam years because they fear that they will not have time to wander outside the curriculum for the exam. I have 16 different English classes each week. So I only see each class once a week. Each class is about 25 students, so I have about 400 students. Plus the Form 3 and 5 students I spend time with outside of class. SO MANY NAMES! Some of them are quite shy, but I intend to draw them out of their shells. There is an expression here, which I find very fitting for many Malaysians: “malu, malu kucing” or “shy, shy cat.” The students here are really good though. Every single student says 'hi miss!' when they walk by me. They even yell from classrooms or across campus. I'm loving it all this attention haha. They also frequently use the differentiation between afternoon, evening, and night, which has fallen into some disuse in the West. I will say something like- “I will see you tonight” and they will correct me, “no, Miss, this evening!” 

There is an odd relationship between teacher and students. It is very informal- in that the students roam the staff room and main office as they please- which would never be allowed in the States. Every time a teacher passes by they yell, ‘cikgu!’ or ‘teacher!’ When I pass by it is an even more enthusiastic cry of ‘Miss!!’ But when a teacher enters a classroom, all the students rise in unison to great the teacher in a sort of creepy, lugubrious chant of ‘assalamu alaikum, cikgu’; or ‘good morning/afternoon, teacher’ to me. At the end of class, the female students may rush up to me and ask for my hands which they hold between theirs and bow their foreheads to meet with my hands, and then press their hands to their heart. This gesture is it is reserved for people of great respect. Malaysians do not simply shake hands. They exchange hands (held intertwined with another’s) and then touch their heart. This motion is called a salam. The bowing is only done by someone either of inferior age or rank to their superior. It is unbelievably sweet when a student does this to me J

My New Home 

My personal relationship with the student is somewhat complicated by the facts that a) I am a foreigner and non-Muslim, b) I am very young and seem like more of a big sister to them and c) I live with the students. TESMAL, like many secondary schools in Terengganu, is a boarding school and I am living in the dormitories, which they call the 'hostel’ or asrama.  All students live at the school in the hostel. There are 4 hostel buildings- blok A, B, C, and D- two for boys and two for girls, a girls dining hall and a boys dining hall, as well as a laundry facility (dobi) where students pay to have their laundry done for them. Each student dorm room has 8 beds and it is big enough so that they don’t even need bunk beds. 

I have my own little apartment. This means that I see the girls all the time and many come to visit me, welcome or not, in my room. This also means that I hear them screaming and running through the hallways well past curfew (which is 11:30pm). I have a bedroom, open to a sitting area, and a small kitchen. I have a small fridge, a blender, coffee maker, rice cooker, and a plug-in wok- looks sort of like a crock pot. They don’t have ovens in Malaysia L. Some Malaysians have small, plug in stove tops, but I do not… I am about to enter the fascinating, hopefully underappreciated, world of microwave cooking. With a little creativity, I am sure I will make it work.  Fortunately I have most of my meals at the hostel dining hall, which is pretty good. The hostel offers breakfast, lunch, tea-time, dinner, annnnnnd supper. Who knew there were 5 meals in one day? It doesn’t make much sense to spend money on food when I have some for free right next door. They also have a 'canteen' where kids can buy snacks throughout the day, as well as a late-night stall next to the dobi/laundry, which sells ice cream novelties like Cornetto cones- which is the closest most will come to ‘real’ ice cream, while in Malaysia. My living area has a big dining room table, some lounge chairs and a TV. I don't have cable, but I have a DVD player. I have already purchased some illegal DVDs which are of surprisingly good quality. They just installed air conditioning in my room which is a huge deal- I also have a bunch of fans. I have 2 twin beds which I pushed together. (I have, unfortunately, had to request new beds because mine are infested with bed bugs and I am covered with small red bites.) My bathroom has 3 sinks- so it is quite big. Luckily my showers are luke-warm, as opposed to the freezing cold showers you often get here in Malaysia- so I am pretty grateful. Sometimes I feel as though I should do some jumping jacks or something in the morning to warm up before the shower.  Even though I do not open my windows, mosquitoes (aka disease demons) seem to be are everywhere. Thus, I commit murder on a daily basis. One less mosquito, one less itch I have to scratch, right? 

The entire student body is divided into 'houses'- sort of like Harry Potter- and each is named for a Malaysian university (USM, UKM, UM, and UPM). Each house has its own color (Red, Yellow, Blue, and Green, respectively) and animal mascot (ant, cat, a cartoon character, and spider) and they hold these 'University games' throughout the school year. The kids are very passionate about their house loyalties and they are always trying to get me to pick a side. The rest of the faculty is divided amongst the houses and when game day roles around they don their house colors and join in the rivalry. 

These pictures are from a cross country competition between the four houses

The school grounds are gated and there are guards at both the campus entrance and the residence entrance at all times. The campus is comprised of an administration building, a large classroom building with a courtyard in the center, a special classroom building for classes like ‘living skills’ and ‘engineering drawing,’ a canteen, a mosque, athletic fields and courts. The campus is dotted with gardens and fountains, little gazebos and sitting areas; it even has a mushroom growing facility. All of the buildings are open-aired and the hallways are really balconies looking out on courtyards below. Classroom doors and windows remain open, lights off, and fans on. Luckily I have never felt hot while in class, despite the constantly high temperature and humidity outdoors.   

 The administration buildings

 The main entrance

 A little sitting area

 In the main classroom building courtyard

Names

The Malaysian name is comprised, firstly of their two (sometimes three) names, which are purely aesthetic- like Kelsey Celina. Then they have bin for ‘son of’ or binti for ‘daughter of’ followed by their father’s first two names. Thus I would be ‘Kelsey Celina binti John Joseph.’ There is really no family name that continues down through generations. A man, i.e. Kalid Abdullah bin Zanial Abiddin’s son would be i.e. Muhammad Hafiz bin Kalid Abdullah. But the next generation would be Ahmad Ashraf bin Muhammad Hafiz. 

Most of the students names begin with A, F, or Sh (note that in Malay, the ‘sh’ sound is spelled ‘sy’- but I will use ‘sh’ to make things easier for you), sometimes N or I or J. They are usually Arabic names and most of them sound so similar to each other. It is so difficult to remember the differences between Shahira, Shafikah, and Sharifah! 

Girls names include: Aififah, Alia, Ain, Aishah, Afiqah, Aqilah, Amirah, Farhana, Faten, Fika, Faziatul, Janah, Nabila, Izzati, Tasha.

The boys: Akim (or Hakim), Arif, Afiq, Amir, Amar, Ashraf, Shafiq, Shukri, Hafiz, Iman. Many of the boys have Muhammad in their name- but do not go by it. 

Dress

Malaysian women wear a Baju Karong- which is essentially a long skirt accompanied by a long sleeved, high-cut, baggy dress. These are usually in very bold, bright patterns. I have about 10 baju karongs, all given to me by my fellow teachers. (I am not required to wear the baju, but they get very excited when I do. I am required, however, to cover my chest, legs, and forearms. Luckily, after class I can wear tee shirts and capris. Never shorts or tank tops though.) All Malaysian women and girls are required, by their religion, to wear a head scarf, called a tudong. Islam dictates that this practice begins at the age of puberty. All Malaysian women in Terengganu wear the tudong. Even if they are wearing a tee shirt and jeans (which the students are only to wear outside of the school), they must still wear the tudong. Women are only allowed to show their hair when with other women or with their family at home. Most of my girls will go tudong-free while in the hostel though, which is refreshing. They look completely different when you can see their ears, hair, and neck. 

All of the girls wear the same uniform to school, including the headscarf, and as all of my students are racially Malay, they have the same skin tone and eye color too. Thus, the only thing to distinguish them physically from one another is their facial features. Sunday, Monday, and Wednesday the girl students wear white tudongs, a white baju (or long shirt/dress) and a light blue skirt. Some girls may also wear a dark blue skirt. Some girls may also wear a navy blazer with a maroon neck tie. Boys wear long sleeve oxford shirts with olive green khakis, maroon neck ties, and black dress shoes. They also don little black hats called songkoks. The female prefects (just like in Harry Potter) wear a yellow tudong. The male prefects wear yellow shirts.

Adorable form 1 boy

Tuesday is ‘uniform’ day- when everyone in the school wears their respective uniforms- from head to toe. This is the only day when the girls wear pants to class all day. The uniforms look sort of like army uniforms. There are several different co-ed clubs including scouts (gray shirt and red tie), cadets (dark green), fire fighters (a suit of orange and black like tiger stripes), and red cross (white). In addition, there are also some all-girl clubs, including the ‘Islamic princesses’ (who, quite fittingly, wear white and pink), and girl guides (aka girl scouts, who wear teal green).

Thursday is when everyone, including the teachers and administrators, wear batik (the traditional hand-painted silk textile famous in Malaysia). The students are divided into red or blue batik uniforms based on their year.

During the day, when students have PE they change into athletic clothing. So you will often see girls, even in class, wearing track pants, sneakers, and long sleeve tees, and a black tudong. The boys also wear track pants, but they are allowed to pull them up to capris-length, and they are allowed to wear short sleeve tee shirts. But shorts are not accepted for either sex to wear. During the evening, everyone changes into athletic clothing for sports practices and recreational exercise.

Some boys in athletic clothing

Around dinner time the girls change into all different, unique, very colorful, and flowery baju kurungs (this is what the female teachers wear to teach in during the day). The boys change into these flowy, silk pajama-looking outfits-a long sleeve high-necked shirt and matching pants. These are usually beautiful colors like lilac purple or yellow. They also wear their songkok hats to match. This ensemble is called the baju Melayu.

Schedule

Their day is punctuated by prayer 5 times a day: 6 am, 1:30 pm, 4:45 pm, 7 pm, and 10 pm. And their daily schedule is long and intense! 

They wake up to a siren and a call to prayer blasting on the loud speakers at 5:30 am. (I am unfortunate enough to be the one living in closest proximity to this god-awful siren. It definitely makes me feel as though we’re living in an army camp.) They have prayer and then breakfast at 6:30 am. They go to school for assembly and start class at 7:40 am. They have classes until 10:20 am when they have rehat (or recess), when they can grab food at the school canteen. The canteen serves things like rice dishes (nasi lemak, nasi goreng) or noodles (mee goreng, kway teow), as well as burgers, and various fried items including a sort of spring roll with crab meat, donuts, hot dogs wrapped in what looks like fried French toast, etc. Rehat (which is the only organized break during the day of classes) lasts 20 minutes and they continue with class until 2pm. Students who take Arabic have an extra period at the end of the day until 2:40. Lunch is between 2pm and 3pm. Then all students are required to return to school for afternoon prep (aka study hall) until 4:30 pm. At this time, the dining hall offers tea-time snacks- warm the tarik and usually either a bun filled with red bean, kaya, or sardine, cakes, savory samosas or curry puffs. 5pm is when most students participate in athletics, either formal or informal, such as volleyball, soccer [football here, of course], tae kwon do, etc. Apparently one of the female students at my school is the best golfer in Terengganu! I am both pleased and a little surprised that the girls are very actively involved in athletics here. Sports practice (which they call training) can even be, and frequently is, co-ed. The national sport is badminton, and they are disappointed to hear that is not so beloved in America. I am currently coaching field hockey (which is simply called ‘hockey’ here, because of their lack of ice hockey). Field hockey is both a female and a male sport here (and I am coaching both). Other popular Malaysian sports include a) netball- a female sort of basketball, popular in many Commonwealth nations, which requires those with the ball in their hands to freeze and stand in place for the next pass off down the court, b) handball (which I have yet to witness), c) squash- which is played in an indoor facility in a nearby town (they look at me confusedly when I say that only old men play squash in America) and d) sepak takraw, aka ‘kick volleyball’ played with a small rattan ball, where players may use their feet, knee, chest and head to get the ball over the net (which is set a little bit lower than a volleyball net). They play sports or relax or perhaps have club meetings until 6:30 pm dinner time. 7 o’clock- everyone, except for girls having their periods, goes off to the mosque to pray. (Islam prohibits women who are menstruating to enter the mosque- sounds like quite an archaic and sexist rule, but alas). At 8 pm they return to the school for night study hall until 10 pm. During this time, there might also be night classes with faculty members for students preparing to take the national exams. A last trip to the mosque brings them back to the dining halls around 10:15-30ish for super- usually a light, but savory meal (i.e. roti jala or roti canai; meehoon tom yam) accompanied by hot chocolate. At 10:30 the Dobi (or laundry) opens for students to drop off/pick up their laundry. This seems like the cool place for boys and girls to hang out at after dark. The students all run off to their hostels at 11pm- when they are ‘supposed’ to be back, but stay up socializing for another hour (I can hear them socializing much later than that most nights). A siren rings at 11:30pm marking a theoretical ‘lights out.’ But I am certain that this is never upheld. I can hear girls screaming announcements in the courtyard about some competition or other going on the following day, running about the corridors, yelling, giggling, sometimes coming to chat with me, etc. I have calculated that at the absolute very most, students are only allowed a total of 6 hours of sleep, but the girls in my hostel don’t seem to get nearly that much. They have anywhere from 0-3 hours of free time a day and most of that is spent in athletic practice. How do they do it?!

Fortunately, there is a ton of school holidays in Malaysia- we have Chinese (i.e. Chinese New Year, Buddha's Bday), Muslim (Mohammad's Bday, Hari Raya (Ramadan)), Hindu (Dewali), and Christian (Christmas) holidays, not to mention the Sultan's Bday, Independence Day, etc.