Back to the ol' drawing board

Last month, I was hounded asked to teach the young 'uns in the student care centre to do some sketching, mainly to "fill up some time slots to get them off our hands", said J, so I hemmed and hawed and finally agreed.

I don't know why I agreed to do something I've never had any experience in; maybe it's a form of payback for the poor art-teacher who faced a dwindling class of uninterested students when I was understudying The Great Seb.

So come this morning, I was going to the classroom with two volunteers (D and E) who were helping me bring in a white-board. D is a mild-mannered, soft-spoken guy, while E is... just an Es. :P

D: Have you done this before?
Me: No, I have zero experience. *nervous grin*
D: Ok. *smirk* Are you prepared to shout?
Me: Err...
Me: They are pri 3 right? How much can they understand har? I hope they'll be able to understand what I'm saying.
D: They understand Fear.
Me: You're not helping.

And then J came into the room to help me get settled in and asked me...
J: Do you need tables? Maybe it will be good hor?
Me: Yah I think so. Do they usually draw on the floor?
J: Hmmm... maybe we'll set up the tables and chairs lah. So that they won't roll around and run around...
Me: O_O

Before long, I heard the noisy footsteps and shouts and clatter of the little uns and they filed into the class. I did what I could, I taught what The Great Seb attempted to teach me: Basic Shapes, Using Basic Shapes, Seing Basic Shapes In The World We Live In. I ATTEMPTED to teach as much as I can. The keyword is ATTEMPTED.

At that young age, you can already tell who are the precise ones (use rulers, will erase, use ruler, draw again, repeat) and the not-so-precise ones (a scrawl that passes for a circle, a scrawl that passes for a face).

I drew a basic structure of a human body on the whiteboard made up of circles and squares, and one boy copied the structure, then proceeded to fill in the finer details, sans clothes. How that brought back memories of being in co-ed pri and sec schools.

Anyway, as a reward for my hard work this morning, I have a piece of fan-art, thanks to the instigation suggestion of Es, who asked a boy "Hey draw the teacher lah. See her specs? Earrings? The Hair? what color, what parting?" Apparently, Shortstop taught him well.

If there is any iota of truth in this picture, I have a few lessons from it:
1. Look in the mirror before I step out of the house.
2. Go easy on the blusher.
3. Grow more hair on the other side of my head.
4. I have funky specs. Which, actually, I do.

My very first portrait. *sighs*