Stepping into the New An Interview with Ms Catalina Rembuyan

For a while now the IB teaching staff and student body have been host to a new teacher, Ms Catalina Rembuyan, introducing her to her new job of teaching IB English, replacing outgoing IB English teacher and Opinionated Monthly’s Editor-in-Chief Mr Edward Ong, as well as assimilating her into the unique culture that is Sri KDU’s IB World School. This month, representing OM and everyone in the IB, Azlan bin Latif sits down (figuratively) with Ms Catalina in an exclusive interview with the latest addition to the IB family.

Can you tell us a little bit about your background? (Where are you from? Where did you study? Your teaching experience and anything else you would love to share with us.)
I was born and raised in Sarawak to parents who were both teachers. Living in Kuching meant that I did have access to bookstores, but the range was still quite limited given the small market in a state as remote as Sarawak. Without the distraction of the Internet, I spent most of my time reading, and because there were not many interesting contemporary books (to me), I spent most of my time reading titles published under the Penguin Classics series. (So the lack of facilities proved to be a blessing in disguise, because it meant that I limited myself to only good books, albeit aged ones.)
At fifteen I decided that I wanted to specialize in literature, and so I decided to forego my opportunity to be absorbed into the Science Stream and go into the Arts Stream instead (where a public education system would usually toss the ‘problem’ students into). After my secondary studies someone suggested that I look into going to the United Kingdom to do TESL, but I wasn’t ready yet (and I was very persistent in wanting to do literature, not TESL or any other forms of English degrees). I do look back and wonder what my life would have been if I had done that, but I don’t regret the decision I made (if only because Kuala Lumpur is really a gorgeous city – it’s beautiful in its messy and chaotic way: it’s a place where you can find the most extreme form of religious extremists walking in the same vicinity with flaming liberals; it’s a vibrant juxtaposition of colonial legacies, Islamic influences, and the pursuit of urgent economic progress). I chose to study locally instead, and did my undergrads in the University of Malaya, where I was offered a contract of tutorship and continued with my Masters. There I gave B.A. TESL students lectures and provided tutorials to undergraduates studying English literature. This gave me a lot of insight into the public education system (I had to deal with its products, after all).
At the same time I began to feel slightly restless, especially through the years when I did my Masters. I didn’t want to become an armchair critic: an academic stuck in the ivory tower, buried under tomes of research on some obscure observation, and only occasionally surfacing to give instruction to a student or two. I didn’t just want to build my mind; I wanted to build my character. So I started to educate myself on matters that I wouldn’t have gained if I spent my time only at the university library. While I was a tutor I worked part-time at a business consulting agency and volunteered for a number of non-profit projects, and after my contract was done I took to writing full-time for money.
After about a year working as a writer I realized that there was a slim chance of me making use of my full abilities if I remained in this job. It was about then that I saw an ad for a teaching position at Sri KDU.

What about currently? Where do you live? What do you do in your free time? What is your passion?

I’m a single twenty-something living in the Klang Valley. What do single and middle-class twenty-somethings living in the Klang Valley do? They visit fancy restaurants. They stroll in art galleries and shopping complexes. They occasionally travel. They get their news from the Internet. In that sense, I’m not that much different from the norm.
As for things that fall ‘out’ of that range of normal past times, I do performance poetry – I’m part of a collective known as Poetry Underground, and our last performance was during the opening of the MAP Arts Space in Solaris Dutamas. I also volunteer for a Web 2.0 campaign at raising awareness on violence against women called The Pixel Project (http://thepixelproject.net). The project is worth looking at, so do check out the site. I also like reading up on Christian and Islamic history.

Why and how did you become an English teacher? Is teaching your dream job? Any past experiences that motivated you to become a teacher? What did you feel and what was the first thing you thought of when you knew that you have to replace Mr. Ong and teach the IB students English A1?

I’ve always loved studying literature – I think that our fiction (and by fiction, I don’t just mean novels or short stories, but every aspect of our creativity, including our poetry, our mythology, and the narratives that we use to construct our realities) tells us more about ourselves than what our ‘facts’. That was one of the reasons why I chose to specialize in literature studies. Art has the function of revealing what we are. Of course when you reach a higher level of education, you realize that the line between fiction and fact isn’t all that distinctive; consider how societies construct political and social identities based on different narratives of history, for example.
I like teaching. I think there’s a kind of value to be gained in teaching that you can’t find in any other profession – the sense that you are immediately impacting the world, and that you are immediately impacting the life of someone else.

What was your first impression of the IB students before you met us, and did it change after you met us?
I didn’t have any particular expectations of IB students before I joined Sri KDU. The first time I encountered IB students was during dress-up week and the seniors were dressed as KISS band members. I liked that – I mean having the freedom to express. Then I witnessed a presentation by the juniors on a science project where they had to meet the challenge of integrating several disciplines into one research topic. I thought this was impressive, it was pretty clear that I would be teaching students who were all themselves very intelligent.

Mr. Ong joins his students for the movies sometimes. Would you consider doing the same with us?

Whyever not? 

What are the things you expect from your students, and what do you not want to get from your students? Do you have any specific in-class rules of your own that you want us to follow?

I expect my students to be hard workers. In my previous teaching experience I had the misfortune of teaching students who really didn’t want to be there. It was very difficult trying to teach people who didn’t want to be taught – there were people I had to deal with who, if they saw a challenge coming their way, retreated.
I think IB students tend to fit that profile (hard workers, not those refusing to be taught). You have a diverse range of abilities and strengths among the students who are accepted into IB, but what is consistent in all of them is that none of them give up easily. When they encounter a challenge, they struggle with it, they work to find a way through, and often they do. It’s always an encouragement to work with people like that, and I think this applies well outside of one’s schooling experience.

How do you imagine things are going to be like for you, in the coming 2-3 years in Sri KDU?
There is a revision of the curriculum slotted for the 2011 intake, so I hope I’ll be alive and kicking for that.

Last but not least, in life, what do you hope to achieve in the future?

I hope to complete one or two books sooner or later.

Thank you very much for your time. We look forward to studying English with you and we hope you can bear with us.