I remembered that I used to hate having mass group lectures back in secondary school. The amount of attention given to each student was just not enough and I hated to mix learning with other classes.

At the start of my JC days, I couldn't adjust myself to the lecture-tutorial system. I couldn't stand the way lectures proceed and how tutorials progressed. I didn't see efficiency in it. However, as the days goes by, I started to adapt to lecture-tutorial system. It came upon me that the pace of lessons could go faster and learning in lecture was rather peaceful - without the sudden break in pace due to questions- since not many really dared to ask questions during lectures.As I got used to the lecture-tutorial system, I liked the feeling of having a mass group of people learning together. It felt kind of professional. Hahaha whatever it is.

The main component of a lecture would be the lecturer. The different tutors coming in to teach for different lectures was kind of refreshing to me. God, I couldn't imagine if one was stuck to the same lecturer throughout the whole year. Different lecturers bring out different kinds of impressions I had. Boring lecturers who really makes you yawn, funny lecturers who lightens the mood and lecturers who bring deep impression to you through their actions and/or words. If you know what I mean, there was this lecturer who used to sigh during some instances of the Econs lecture and there was another who like to produce the "mmmm" sound during one Math lecture. Well, I personally liked certain lecturers of course and some were like a no-no. Hahaha no matter what, we don't choose the lecturer and we just had to accept and listen to the person at the front with the mic.

With lectures, you just cannot miss out the lecture notes. Speaking of lecture notes, I remembered how the different subject representatives bought the notes from ZAP as a class and giving them out during lectures. There were days when we had insufficient class funds to buy those notes from ZAP and I vividly remembered how the different reps like Zheng hao, Shawn and Che Xuan would bug Fionna for money, who would in turn chase the others (including me) to pay up. Those were the days indeed! Some (like me) would try their very best to evade paying up while some others would really pay up.

I do miss the days sitting down in the lecture theatre (LT) learning new stuff and writing them down in my lecture notes. Occasionally, my classmates would talk or joke around a little during the times when we were taking down notes. I remembered asking people beside me what we were copying during some instances when the words on the projector screen were just too small for one's vision. Thank you to those who have helped me throughout those lectures!

All the blunders, grumbling and funny moments that we made during lectures in some instances are just so memorable. For example, there was period when lecturers liked to call names or randomly pick out people to answer certain questions posed and undoubtedly, there would be sabotages going all round the LT. The worst was when a lecturer calls out a class followed by a class register number. I remembered being called once during a chemistry lecture on amines and I just totally blanked out. Thanks to Henry for providing me with the answer then! You can't imagine the amount of embarrassment that one gets by screwing up in the LT. Kevin was another favourite character in class that get sabo-ed during lectures if I did remember correctly.

Another aspect of lectures was the seats issue. If I ain't wrong, there wasn't any seating arrangement in lectures initially until the respective lecturers came to inform us of the seating arrangements. Fortunately, my class wasn't allocated to seats to near nor seats to far from the screen. And there was free seating throughout the lectures. I felt that the free seating "rule" was great since the person whom I interact with during lectures varies and in a way or another, I tend to interact with almost everyone more. Almost every class was given three rows in the LT and thus there were definitely interaction between rows of people. Nice feeling isn't it? Well, it also kinda of depends huh. Nevertheless, I liked those days when my classmates and I settled down before lectures and we would always talk (crap sometimes) and fool around sometimes.

Sleeping in lectures is also another favourite pastime back then. My class wasn't really the kind that would fall asleep during lectures. Only during some lectures would we feel sleepy or bored. Plus, during a lecture, it's kind of evident when you fall asleep. You see heads lying on the table, heads nodding and nodding, eyes closing or even pens which just stay still with the owner's eyes closed. If I remembered correctly, Zong Yang always seizes the opportunity to disturb Wenkai during lectures when Wen kai was going to fall asleep. And henry poking himself during lectures using a pen to stay awake. Hahaha.

Lecture tests would be another item of the day which I didn't liked. Firstly, I found the table to be too small for proper writing/ answering a test. Secondly, it's always kind of a rush to complete lecture questions. Oh and lastly, there's this silence which I observed during tests in the LT which would be disturbed by the sound produced from the continuous flipping of paper, a fall of a G.C. (ouch!) and sneezing by people down with flu.

Alright, now, I shall summarise the nitty-gritty details of lectures which I have observed throughout my JC life in TJ (I might add on if I can recall more):
1. When it rains heavily, the sound produced by the raindrops on the zinc roof kinda of cools me down and makes me feel cozy during lecture.
2. At times, my friends and I liked to make a bet on the next lecturer by looking at the formatting of the next set of notes.
3. When you hear a big bang on the floor during a lecture which sounds like to be produced from something of plastic origin, it's most probably a G.C..
4. There's always a jam in the LTs when there is lecture one after another for Year 1s and 2s respectively. The jam became so bad that the college decided to mark out the "IN" and "OUT" signs on specific doors of the LT. Well, it didn't really work out in the end as everyone just don't really care and what matters was whether we reached our destination.
5. We tend to set out emotions free when a new lecturer comes into the LT and it depends on our impression of the lecturer (most tutors lecture twice throughout my time in TJ).
6. At the end of a lecture when the bell rings, the whole LT would go in unison to say "YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS", emphasising on the "s". Well, it kinda of runs in my cohort, not sure about yours.

Sitting around with people you know and are comfortable with during lectures is definitely something which would be enjoyable. I really cannot imagine having lectures in uni in the near future where I don't have a fixed class and everyone just roams around. That was my lecture experience in TJC. Hope yours is/was a fun one too!

Labels: We are just green and yellow.