About Me

My photo
Dr. Yee Bee Choo is an excellent lecturer, PC48 (2017) and PC52 (2021), from the Institute of Teacher Education Tun Hussein Onn Campus (IPGKTHO), Johor, Malaysia. She has more than 25 years of teaching English language to school students and pre-service teachers. She is also a teacher trainer for in-service teachers. Her areas of interest include English language teaching and learning, teacher education, and literature.

Tuesday, November 29, 2016

My Autobiography "My Dream Comes True"

    
    20 years ago in 1996, when I was a teacher trainee, I sat on a big blue chair in the lecturer’s room dreaming to become a lecturer one day. Now I am sitting here again but fulfilling my dream as a lecturer. Many people have a dream, sometimes the dream is achievable but sometimes it is unreachable. It depends on our determination and persistence to make it come true. My dream took twenty years of my learning journey to come true.
     Born in 1971 and brought up at a small town in Batu Pahat, Johor, Yee Bee Choo is my name. All the schools I attended were girls’ schools. My primary school was SJK(C) Ai Chun 2, then I continued at SMK Convent and SMK (Perempuan) Temenggong Ibrahim. After struggling as a tuition teacher for two years, I decided to become a temporary teacher. My first posting was at SJK (C) Kong Nan, Parit Raja. I started teaching there in 1993 and after three years I was offered a 3-year diploma programme in Mandarin Studies. The programme was called “Course During School Holidays” or Kursus Dalam Cuti (KDC) offered specifically for temporary teachers. It was carried out during the school holidays and I was still a teacher during school days. I was already 25 years old then, an age not too young and old, but I enjoyed my college life at Maktab Perguruan Batu Pahat (MPBP). During my studying at MPBP, I was the assistant option leader or Penolong Ketua Opsyen (PKO), I often went to the lecturer’s room to look for lecturers to come to our class. I still remember handphones were not popular that time, how fortunate our trainees are nowadays as they can call or WhatsApp the lecturers to confirm the class. However, 20 years ago, my option leader and I had to walk to the lecturer’s room a few times a day, and sometimes we had to use the public phone outside the library to call the lecturers.
     After my diploma course was over, I still continue teaching at the same primary school as a teacher with the grade DG29. I taught both Mandarin and English languages in school. In 2003, an advertisement from Ministry of Education attracted my attention and I applied to study a degree course on Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) at Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM). I was offered half-paid of my salary in order to study full time in the university. I still remember my salary was only RM180 after the reduction of half-paid salary and housing loan and I had a baby boy aged 2 years old. Life was difficult but with determination and persistence, I was able to survive my university life with my husband’s sufficient income and the loan from PTPTN. After finishing the degree course, I was posted to a secondary school at SMK Semerah as an English teacher with the grade DG41. I did not end my learning there, I continued my master course part-time at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) in 2008. It was not easy to work and study at the same time especially my job does not only teach the students but also involve organising activities, doing paper work and key in students’ data online.
   Then, I applied to become a lecturer after I obtained my master degree and I was accepted in 2013. The same lecturer’s room and lecture rooms remained the same but the college was no longer MPBP but it is named Institute Pendidikan Guru Kampus Tun Hussein Onn (IPGKTHO) now. My previous lecturers were happy to welcome me as their new colleague. I know learning is a lifelong experience, so my learning journey does not end here, I am now studying part-time as a PhD student at UTM.
    I have worked very hard to achieve my dream. I improve myself by studying from diploma to degree and master and now PhD. I have been teachers in primary and secondary schools and now a lecturer at institute of teacher education. I believe if I did not take the bold step to take up the degree course at the age of 32 years old in 2003, I will not be here as a lecturer. I am happy I have achieved my dream to become a lecturer at the same place where I had studied. Here, I can contribute and share my knowledge and experience with the teacher trainees. I hope my learning journey can inspire all teachers to never stop learning and achieve their dreams one day.

1 comment: