Ok this to some of you might sound judgmental but I got a shock today when one of my fellow English Teacher-to-be in NIE did not know who Sarah Palin is. She could be forgiven if she was a Maths or Physics teacher, but for an English and perhaps GP teacher-to-be, you expect a certain level of general knowledge, and staying in touch, with world affairs. And I will bet she doesn't know a thing about Lehman Brothers or AIG and the financial meltdown on Wall Street.

The new English Syllabus that's scheduled to kick in, in 2010 aims to bring the world to our students in the teaching of English. If you don't know a thing about the world aside from LV, Gucci, Prada, online sprees and god knows what, how are you going to do that? For her sake, and for the sake of her future students, I hope she at least knows who Barack Obama is. From the first two lectures of QUE512, the module that is supposed to prepare us for the new syllabus; the one last week and the one that just ended, today, it seems we will be teaching mass-comm rather than pure English. We are supposed to expose the kids to stuff like the use of lighting in movies, how soft light conveys a sense of Nostalgia while dark light, Oppression; the various devices advertisements employ to persuade viewers.

I tell you, it's getting harder.