2006 年 10 月 27 日 星期五 【晴】

每個老師，都總會給人取一個別號。

每次聽到學生給老師取花名時，總會明白甚麼叫觀察入微、創意無限。當我還是個中學生，我們會稱呼「地中海老師」作「施丹」；擁有一身雪白皮膚的男老師是「牛奶仔」；還有那一個嚴厲英文老師，因著她的丈夫姓施的緣故，我們在她的名子前加上「滅絕」二字；還有一位老師，她的名字非常獨特而美麗：「布景雲」，不過因著她一副冰冷的臉容，以及不苟言笑的態度，她有一個更貼切的名字：「步驚雲」。

正所謂「昨日因今日果」，昨日所種的「因」，總有報應的時候。昨天身為學生的我怎樣給人取個別號，今天到我的學生跟我取個花名。話說有一次師生籃球賽，我身穿一件深黃色的運動服，帶著一個「小肚子」在球場上走動，大汗淋漓令深黃衣服緊貼我那個圓潤的身軀，圓圓的「小肚子」變得更圓了。打從那天後，第一年作老師的我，終於給被學生取了第一個別號：「大番薯」，隨之而來便是不同的演繹方法：「薯sir」、「薯哥」、「番薯佬」……這個稱呼，無論你喜歡與否，它總會在學生們之間游走，有時學生會知道你是「大番薯」，但卻不會知道你時「x sir」。

數個月之間，離開大學校園，來到一個全新的校園，有一個全新的身份，負著一個全新的責任，有了一個全新的名字。

這是一個全新的開始。

>>October 28, 2006 at 10:32:38 AM GMT+8

2006 年 10 月 19 日 星期四 【晴】

Suicide Boats Explode in Sri Lanka Port, Killing 16

By SHIMALI SENANAYAKE
Published: October 19, 2006
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, Oct. 18 — Powerful explosions rocked an important southern tourist and port town in Sri Lanka for the first time on Wednesday, apparently extending the war in this country to a stronghold of the Sinhalese ethnic majority.

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, disguised as fishing boats, had been detonated near a navy base.

While the death toll was low — one sailor and 15 rebels — the attack was significant because the recent surge in fighting between the government and the rebels had largely been concentrated in the Tamil-dominated north and the east.

“The L.T.T.E. wanted to create some kind of backlash in this very sensitive Sinhalese-majority area,” said the Defense Ministry spokesman, Keheliya Rambukwella. “Their other motive may have been to hit economic and commercial interests by targeting this popular tourist destination. They failed miserably.”

The coastal town of Galle, about 70 miles south of the capital, Colombo, was hit hard by the Asian tsunami in December 2004 but until now was unscathed by the civil war between Sri Lanka’s Sinhalese-dominated government and the Tigers, who are fighting to establish a separate homeland for the Tamil minority.

“The hotel shook, due to the repeated explosions,” said Hiran Cooray, director of the Lighthouse Hotel, the biggest in Galle and an architectural landmark.

The attack was quickly followed by sporadic violence, with angry mobs attacking Tamil-owned stores in the town and smashing windows.

The Tigers did not comment on the attack, but they were quick to blame the government for subsequent airstrikes on eastern rebel strongholds, in which they said a civilian had been injured. The military denied aiming at civilians.

The attack in Galle took place two days after a suicide bomber rammed a truck into a navy convoy about 100 miles northeast of the capital, killing nearly 100 people, mostly sailors.

The two sides are to resume peace talks on Oct. 28 in Geneva, but there is little optimism.

>>October 20, 2006 at 1:26:34 AM GMT+8

2006 年 10 月 18 日 星期三 【晴】

Sri Lanka: Naval Base Attacked
By REUTERS
Published: October 18, 2006

Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels on an apparent suicide mission attacked a Sri Lankan naval base in the southern city of Galle on Wednesday. Three rebels were killed, a naval spokesman said. Rioting followed and Tamil-owned shops were attacked, residents and police said. The attack was the second on the navy in three days. Nearly 100 people were killed in a suicide bombing on a naval convoy in a north-central district on Monday.

>>October 19, 2006 at 2:41:55 AM GMT+8

2006 年 10 月 17 日 星期二 【晴】

War Slows Tsunami Recovery in Sri Lanka

Article Tools Sponsored By
By SHIMALI SENANAYAKE
Published: October 18, 2006

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, Oct. 17 — Almost two years after a tsunami ravaged villages along the coast, a resurrection of intense violence in Sri Lanka’s long-running ethnic war has all but stopped foreign-financed reconstruction in some of the hardest hit areas in the north and east.

Several international agencies say they have had to abandon projects because of the recent fighting, the worst since 2002, when a cease-fire brought a lull in conflict between the government and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

Only slightly more than a third of the houses that were supposed to be rebuilt have been finished in the north and east, according to the governmental Reconstruction and Development Agency. By contrast, in the south, where it is much safer, about 80 percent of the planned houses have been completed.

Part of the reason is that aid agencies face a battery of new restrictions on where they can go, and what kind of building materials they can transport across government and rebel lines. Contractors have refused to work on some sites because of constant shelling. The cost of materials has risen sharply.

Attacks on aid workers, most notably the killing of 17 staff members of Action Against Hunger in August, have further persuaded aid agencies to pull back.

“All major construction work in the north and east is at a standstill due to the inability to get in staff and building material,” said Andrew Lanyon, operations director of World Vision International, which has 30 projects in the north and east. “Our economic, health and student programs are also at a complete halt.”

The tsunami on Dec. 26, 2004, which killed an estimated 32,000 people in this country and injured or displaced another million in rebel- and government-controlled territory, had ushered in hopes of reconciliation and generated pledges of $2.5 billion for relief and reconstruction.

But the new fighting has brought a new humanitarian crisis, donors say, siphoning money away from other reconstruction efforts. For example, the United Nations Office for Project Services said, staff members originally contracted to rebuild schools destroyed by the tsunami have been redirected to build toilets for people displaced by the fighting.

“Significant investments in reconstruction, so generously supported by donors around the world, are now imperiled,” said Eric Schwartz, deputy to the United Nations special envoy, former President Bill Clinton.

Since August, when the fighting intensified, no construction materials, including fuel, have been allowed across the line between government- and rebel-controlled territory. The government says it fears that rebels will take away the materials to build and fortify its bunkers.

Besides, the only land route that links Jaffna, the main northern city, where the fighting has been most intense, to the rest of the country runs through rebel territory and has been mostly closed for two months.

World Concern, a Seattle-based Christian aid organization, has abandoned plans to expand its operations into rebel-controlled areas because of security concerns. Projects are 10 months behind schedule. In September, one of its staff members was shot dead while returning to work after lunch, leaving a wife and five young children.

“Since then, things are in hiatus,” said Kathleen Rutledge, the agency’s manager in Sri Lanka. “We are keeping a very low profile.”

If things did not change soon, she said, the agency would be forced to make a tough choice about whether to remain in the country. “Our staff safety is becoming impossible to predict,” she said, “and if it comes to a point we can’t assist the beneficiaries because of the fighting, then what can our presence here do?”

The biggest blow came in August when the bodies of 17 staff members of Action Against Hunger, an international aid agency, were found in their office in eastern Muttur, shot execution style. Their bodies are to be exhumed this week for a second autopsy; the first, done by the government, proved inconclusive. This one is to be reviewed by an Australian forensic team, the agency said in a statement on Saturday.

Since the killings, Emergency Architects, a French agency that rebuilds houses, has suspended its operations. The agency also lost three of its staff members in shelling between military and rebels in Muttur in recent months.

“Our headquarters agreed it was too dangerous for us to continue,” said Robbie Dodds, who helps run the group’s mission in Sri Lanka. The agency has abandoned plans to build a school and an ice factory. “The plan at the moment is to finish what we started, step back and re-evaluate.”

The latest fighting has prompted victims of the tsunami to flee their homes once more. It has also hit reconstruction sites.

In Muttur, at least 12 houses built by World Vision for families displaced by the tsunami were punctured with bullets and had their windows blown out. Roofs also collapsed in fishing cabins completed under a livelihood project by Emergency Architects. Only three security guards remain at another partly completed housing site, to avoid the theft of lumber and steel.

Aid groups cautioned that donors were growing frustrated about an indefinite hold on projects. Keeping agency offices open even when they can do little to no work is a drain on precious financing, said Rainer Frauenfeld, country director of the United Nations Office for Project Services. Discussions are under way, he added, on how long before the aid plugs are pulled.

“We don’t know which way the pendulum will swing,” said Patrick Fuller, spokesman for the International Federation of the Red Cross. “But what is clear is that tsunami reconstruction is going to take much longer than anticipated.”

>>October 18, 2006 at 3:00:06 PM GMT+8

2006 年 10 月 9 日 星期一 【晴】

星期二是，一天教七堂數學

放學以後，一行七人去上課

很好的課堂，看重所作的努力，並不只是那一個結果。謀程度上，那結果只不過是個數字遊戲罷了。

這是我們晚飯後的痕跡

2006 年 10 月 4 日 星期三 【晴】

好久沒有預留時間給自己靜思了

回想這一兩個星期，工作愈來愈多，測驗補課，還有學生的紀律，問題接踵而來，幸好每天都是開放的心，一笑置之，倒頭大睡之後又是新的一天。

最開心的事莫過於在學生C 中找到切入點，他口中的一句：「你尊重我，我尊重你」「有偈傾」是一切的第一步。

第二樣開心的事，已經不止有一個同事跟我講：「你的外貌加上處事手法，不太像一個新入職的老師。」還真的感謝主，要不是過去實習、代課還有暑期班的經驗，我未必有這樣的信心走在學生面前，當然還有在某代課中學的一位訓導老師，我在她身上學懂如何「愛之心，責之切」，在責罵之中讓人感受到你對他的在乎；還有過去一次又一次conflict resolution 的經驗。回頭一望，我看到主的塑造。

>>October 5, 2006 at 3:40:51 PM GMT+8

2006 年 9 月 20 日 星期三 【晴】

今天跟幾位同事一同乘車回家，過程中談及責罵學生的問題。

同事A 說，訓導頗為辛苦，一看見學生破壞的表現便要「扮扯火」，過程之快就如按制開火一樣。
同事B 回應，「扮扯火」就夠了，不要真的動氣；一旦你真的動氣了，你就不可以鬧學生。你「真嬲」就不可以責罵學生，責罵學生的時候就不可以「真嬲」。

責罵學生的目的不是讓老師發洩情緒，是要讓學生明白他的行為不當，要接受一定的懲罰，然後教導他該怎樣做。怎樣能在責罵當中讓他明白問題重心，怎樣令他服氣，怎樣能在責罵與學生的面子當中取得平衡。責罵得有道理，學生心悅誠服，某程度上是一種藝術。

我曾經聽聞過有一個訓導主任，責罵完一個學生之後回到教員室，樣子很愉快似的。同事問他原因，他的回應是：「我覺得自己罵得有道理，罵得好。這是一種滿意的微笑」

幹這行的，每天都要與心裡的怒氣戰鬧，不可以無火，不可以太猛火。火喉控制得好，才能燒出好東西來。

是日金句：你真嬲就唔可以鬧學生，鬧學生o個陣就唔可以真嬲。

>>September 23, 2006 at 12:59:43 AM GMT+8

2006 年 9 月 18 日 星期一 【晴】

回家，放下手提包，放下那個還沒有洗乾淨的飯盒，坐下，呷一口薑茶。

今天真的有點累。

結束了星期一的風流三堂，星期二便是難過的七堂。連續上了第三、四、五、六，午飯後繼續八、九、十，幸好每堂只需要上三十分鐘，學生還算懂事，七堂課總算不太難過的。

今天放學後要開會，討論的是中一級學生的問題，討論後交與有關部門跟進。中一級紀律問題的焦點，基本上都放在某幾個人身上。A 同學是其中一個，我是A 同學的數學老師，那是個極不合作的同學，上課肯定不會帶書。聽其他老師說，A 同學堂遇到有甚麼不合心意的事就會「爆」，破壞課室秩序，班裡隨處走來走去，他己成為「停課室」的必然出席人物。

但十分奇怪，A同學在數學堂完全沒有異樣，不過是經常睡覺、欠帶書，沒有過份的行為。我記得在學期初時，我選了A 同學作科長，也許是這個緣故，他在我的數學課上極度「俾面」。

今天論到這位同學，我把這個想法告知了其他同事，他們的回應是：「有很多老師都因著「找頑皮學生作科長，以希望他們行為有改善」的目的，找來了這個同學作科長，他已是五個科目的科長了……不過現時其中四個科長的職務已被解除，只餘下數學課了。」

明天還要給學生測驗，還要整作測驗卷……開始愈來愈多工作了

給大家看看我學生的傑作



>>September 23, 2006 at 12:59:36 AM GMT+8

2006 年 9 月 15 日 星期五 【晴】

霍Sir 行街無人識

【明報專訊】明眼人昨日傍晚6時多行經金鐘太古廣場，在一家影音店門外，看到一名滿頭銀絲的外籍人士，在店外窗櫥駐足15分鐘(圖)，望真一點，原來是當年在港英政府一人之下、萬人之上的前布政司霍德。

霍德之後走進店舖，原來他看中了一個價值688元的耳筒，霍Sir更拿了「大牛」購物(圖)。聽店員講，霍Sir購買的，是店內同類耳筒中最貴的一個，屬日本品牌，惟店員卻說認不出這位白髮男子是誰，更不知霍德曾在香港權傾一時。據聞本身為電盈董事的霍Sir，今次來港主要是出席電盈的董事局會議，順道在港購物。
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
有個阿伯教識我，獎杯只是不能載水的杯罷了

>>September 16, 2006 at 3:53:24 AM GMT+8

2006 年 9 月 15 日 星期五 【晴】

辣妹師法天安門學生

【明報專訊】在圍城遊行的民眾當中，有不少辣妹穿得相當養眼，直接站在車頂上高喊口號﹔甚至還有一群7年級生(指80年代出生的人)呼朋引伴，男生穿海灘褲，女生穿比堅尼，組成一支遊行隊伍，高舉自己做的標語牌，相當搶眼。

比堅尼辣妹從車頂天窗比出倒扁手勢，笑容甜美，很受男性民眾歡迎。「阿扁下台，阿扁下台，阿扁下台﹗」

問她們為什麼出來倒扁，倒扁辣妹香菇﹕「我們穿比堅尼，是因為當初六四天安門的學生，他們用睡衣諷刺當時的共產黨睡着了，那我們就是要用海灘褲跟比堅尼來諷刺阿扁過得太安逸。」

>>September 16, 2006 at 3:46:29 AM GMT+8