Teacher Tuesday : Mr Thomas Adams

This week we feature Mr Adams who moved from Kuala Lumpur to Sabah in August 2019. He has lived in South East Asia the majority of his life and is enjoying the slower paced Kota Kinabalu with wife Sarah and their first child. Mr Adams currently teaches Year 3 and he holds a Postgraduate Certificate in Education from University of Sunderland and Bachelor of Science in Sport and Exercise Science from University of Wales.

How many years have you been teaching?

This year is my 5th year as a teacher.

This is your first time teaching in Sabah, Malaysia. How are you finding it?

I really like it! Sabah is a very chilled out place and it is exactly what my wife and I were looking for after our daughter was born. It is a much more pleasant lifestyle than the big cities of Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong.

What is your favourite subject to teach and what’s your teaching style?

I really enjoy teaching maths, I like that there is a very logical process of finding the answers you are looking for. It also allows for lots of practical, hands-on activities that make learning really fun and engaging for the children.

Tell us about the Topic currently being discussed in Year 3 and how are your students responding to it? 

Our current topic is based around a healthy lifestyle and how this can support a healthy body. We are learning all about balanced diets and exercise, bones and muscles and even looking back in time to see how diet and exercise have changed over the years from place to place. I really like teaching units like this because it allows for a lot of physical activity. We started this unit with a big circuit training session in the hall and compared our heart rate before and after exercise. I don’t think year 3 enjoyed it quite as much as Mr Fletcher and I did, watching from the sideline.

Leading educators, academics and teachers are sounding the alarm over the impact excessive screen time is having on children’s reading, writing and ability to concentrate in school. In your opinion, what can parents do from a young age to nurture responsible digital citizens?

Technology has advanced very quickly over the last 10 years or so. We carry around miniature computers in our pockets that are 100,000 times more powerful than the computers that landed Apollo 11 on the moon. There is no way you can describe this as anything but incredible! However, it is also clear that due to excessive screen time we are losing the ability to socialise with one another. You can see this at any restaurant you visit; people are staring at their phones rather than talking to one another. I do think that technology has a place in education, but it is important that it is used with purpose and a clear direction in the classroom. At home, I think that parents need to talk to their children about using their phones and tablets. They should set boundaries and limits that they both agree with, and remember to get outside, socialise and explore. Sabah is a beautiful place, it would be a shame to miss it because we are too busy staring at our phones.

Tell us something that is little known about you?

I have recently taken up baking bread, and I absolutely love it!

If you could meet a famous person, who would you like to meet and why?

I don’t think that there is one particular person I would like to meet, more a group of people. I have always found space both incredibly interesting and incomprehensible at the same time. I think it would be great to meet physicists like Brian Cox, Carl Sagan or Richard Feynman to talk to them about what is out there. If you find space interesting you should check out ‘Wonders of the Solar System’ or ‘Cosmos’.