The English Panel room’s softboard was crowded with colourful notes and decorations — vibrant, chaotic, unmistakably Nazha.

Even Aqua, one of the Kanfer heroes, was pinned beside a stack of observation forms prepared for her.

Faizal stood by the printer, pulling out another freshly printed sheet.

Observation Form.

He wrote carefully across the top:

Class: 2 Amanah

For now, the only completed observation attached to the board belonged to 2 Ukhuwah — the class behind The Masked Singer project from Arc 2.

Faizal glanced at the new form briefly.

“This will be her second observation.”

The atmosphere in 2 Amanah was ordinary.

Just another English lesson.

Before dismissing the class, Nazha wrote something on the whiteboard:

Next class: Observation by Mr Faizal.

A few students immediately reacted.

Nazha turned back toward them.

“Before that,” she asked casually,
“Have you all ever played Bingo?”

Almost the entire class raised their hands at once.

Nazha blinked, slightly amused by how enthusiastic the response was.

Hasya suddenly stood up from her seat.

“Teacher,” she said, almost too quickly,
“We actually want to thank you for your lessons.”

Nazha blinked.

Hasya continued,

“Your classes are fun. They don’t feel too rigid anymore… and we actually started liking English.”

She turned toward the class.

“Right, everyone?”

A chorus of agreement immediately filled the room.

“Yes!”

Nathan leaned back in his chair before adding casually,

“So as repayment, we’ll help you survive Mr Faizal’s observation.”

The class burst into laughter.

Even Nazha could not hold back a smile.

Nazha giggled softly.

“Alright then,” she said, picking up her marker again.
“Let’s move on to the strategy.”

Nathan raised his hand immediately.

“So… are we allowed to pretend we’re geniuses next week?”

The class laughed again.

Nazha pointed at him.

“No fake students. Real learning only.”

Nazha briefed that they will be in groups, the rules of bingo, and checking the enrichment activity as a class. She then prayed for the best for her observation.

Back at her apartment, Nazha sat cross-legged on the floor, surrounded by teaching materials.

She began listing backup plans for every possible worst-case scenario.

If the projector failed.
If students became too noisy.
If the activity ended too early.
If nobody responded.

One by one, she prepared her arsenal:

• bingo cards,
• answer schemes,
• presentation slides,
• the projector setup,
• and most importantly—

her lesson plan.

Nazha stared at the thick document for a moment.

“Faizal treats this lesson plan like a sacred document,” she muttered to herself.

She turned off the lights and finally went to bed.

The observation forms, lesson plans, and backup strategies remained scattered quietly across the floor.

The following week finally arrived.

Whenever Nazha became nervous, she had a habit of regulating herself by walking quietly around the school.

No phone.
No conversation.
Just movement and silence.

Since it was still early in the morning, her steps eventually led her to Megat’s room instead.

A short knock sounded on the door.

Then—

“Sir, when’s your gate duty?”

Megat looked up from his half-eaten garlic bun, one eyebrow lifting immediately.

He swallowed the last bite of his garlic bun slowly.

“…Observation day?”

Nazha immediately avoided eye contact.

“No,” she replied too quickly.

He stared at her for a few seconds.

Then he folded the plastic wrapper neatly and placed it on the table.

“You’re circling the school this early in the morning, entered my room without sitting down, and suddenly asked about gate duty.”

A pause.

“You only do that when your nervous system is working overtime.”

Nazha finally let out a defeated sigh.

“…It’s the observation.”

Megat said nothing for a moment.

But the behaviour felt strangely familiar to him now.

Megat lifted himself from the chair.

“Let’s go. Gate duty,” he said, with a small smile.

Nazha blinked.

Then followed.

A few students passed by them on their way into school.

Nazha remained quiet.

But every few minutes, she shifted slightly on her feet—small, restless movements, as if her body was trying to release excess energy.

Then Faizal arrived.

He spotted them from a distance and deliberately greeted her loudly.

“Good morning, Nazha!”

There was a teasing tone in his voice.

Nazha did not respond.

Not out of rudeness—

But because she was conserving every bit of focus for the observation ahead.

Megat answered instead.

“Morning, Faizal.”

Faizal made his signature confused expression and replied,

“Hi… sir?”

Nazha excused herself shortly after and walked toward 2 Amanah early.

She needed time to prepare the classroom.

“Wait,” Megat said.

Nazha paused.

“Meet me after school.”

She nodded.

No questions asked.

Nazha arrived early at 2 Amanah.

While waiting for the students to settle in, she set up the projector and arranged her teaching materials.

She even instructed Naufal to leave an empty desk and chair for Faizal.

At exactly 0800—

Faizal entered through the back door.

Nazha began immediately with her induction set.

A puzzle activity.

“Krabby Patty challenge.”

She scanned the class.

“Any volunteers?”

Nathan raised his hand instantly.

Not as a student.

But as the first participant of the observation.

The puzzle activity ended.

Nazha looked around the class.

“So… what did you see?”

“A Krabby Patty!” the students answered in unison.

Nazha nodded.

“Exactly.”

“But today, we’re not just talking about burgers.”

“We’re going to learn the grammar behind it—to be verbs, SpongeBob theme.”

A few students chuckled.

She turned back to the whiteboard and wrote:

Positive / Negative / Question forms

Nazha explained the three structures clearly, moving between examples and guided explanation.

Then she called a name.

“Iffah.”

Iffah straightened slightly when her name was called.

Nazha pointed at the board.

“Give me the positive, negative, and question form of ‘to be’ based on this example.”

Iffah nodded, thinking for a moment.

“Positive: It is a Krabby Patty.”
“Negative: It is not a Krabby Patty.”
“Question: Is it a Krabby Patty?”

Nazha smiled.

“Good.”

A few students clapped lightly on their tables.

Faizal, who had been observing silently from the back, flipped open his observation form.

He wrote something briefly.

Comment:

Clear understanding of basic ‘to be’ structures demonstrated. Student response indicates effective scaffolding and appropriate use of contextualised input (Krabby Patty stimulus). Lesson objective alignment is evident at this stage.

He underlined the last line once. 

Then he continued watching.

“Alright, folks,” Nazha said, clapping her hands lightly,
Time to get into groups.”

The transition was smooth—almost seamless—just like the flow she had discussed with them the week before.

Faizal, still at the back of the classroom, raised his eyebrows slightly. Amused, but observant.

Nazha began distributing instructions.

“This is Krabby Patty Bingo. Each group will complete the bingo sheet within 30 minutes.”

She scanned the room.

“It’s a group activity, so you must work together. No one finishes alone.”

The students immediately started moving into their groups.

The classroom energy shifted.

From structured explanation—

to active learning.

While the 30-minute timer was running, Nazha moved around the classroom, checking on each group.

She paused beside one group that looked stuck.

“Teacher… we don’t understand,” one student admitted.

Nazha crouched slightly and re-explained the task using a simpler breakdown.

Within moments, the group regained direction and continued working.

She moved on.

When the timer finally stopped, the classroom gradually quietened.

All attention shifted to the front.

Nazha clapped once lightly.

“Alright. Question one—”

She read from the screen.

“Group One, what is your answer?”

Hasya’s group immediately responded.

Nazha tilted her head slightly.

“I think the whole class didn’t really get a chance to see your answer clearly.”

Hasya stood up without hesitation.

“Let’s show them.”

The group lifted their papers for the class to see.

A wave of understanding moved across the room.

The whole class cheered.

Even Faizal, at the back, struggled to hide his reaction—his expression tightening as if he was trying not to smile too openly.

Enrichment activity time.

Nazha smoothly transitioned the class into the next phase of the lesson.

The students had already completed the group task, so she moved them on to an individual exercise.

Each student was given a worksheet where they had to identify correct and incorrect sentences using to-be verbs.

They were required to mark each statement as True (T) or False (F) in the boxes provided.

Nazha walked slowly between the rows, observing quietly as the students worked independently.

Faizal also attempted the task that Nazha had prepared in her lesson plan.

She had included a blank template for observers—just as a silent extension of the activity design.

He filled it in without commenting.

The timer ended.

Almost immediately, the class reached for their red pens without waiting for further instruction.

They began marking their answers.

Something unexpected happened.

Nazha was about to call out names for feedback—

But the entire class responded in unison.

And more surprisingly, more than half of them answered correctly.

A clear sign of learning retention.

Nazha’s expression lit up instantly.

She moved into a quick recap of today’s lesson, reinforcing the key points.

At the back of the classroom, Faizal quietly wrote his final comments in the lesson plan.

Without announcing anything, he closed the file.

And left through the back door.

Nathan walked forward and handed the lesson plan back to Nazha.

Only then did Nazha exhale fully.

The tension she had been holding since morning finally broke.

She looked at her class.

“We did it, everyone!”

The class erupted in small cheers along with her.

Fast forward to 1400 hours.

Nazha punched out her attendance and headed straight to the canteen.

Megat was already waiting at a corner table.

He looked up.

“Look who is coming.”

Nazha smiled and walked over, visibly lighter than earlier in the day.

A canteen worker approached, and she ordered fish soup with rice, the same as Megat.

She sat down opposite him.

Megat took a slow sip of his coffee.

Most trainees usually broke down after an observation.

But Nazha wasn’t one of them.

Instead, she looked… relieved.

“Guess what?” she said, barely able to hide her excitement.

Megat raised his eyebrows slightly.

Nazha slid her lesson plan onto the table.

“Faizal already wrote his comments.”

Megat nodded once.

“Then let’s see it.”

Nazha opened the observation sheet and read aloud:

Faizal’s Observation Comment

Strengths:

Strong lesson structure with clear progression from induction set to enrichment activity.

Effective use of contextual learning (Krabby Patty theme) to engage students.

Good evidence of classroom management and smooth transitions between activities.

High student participation and positive engagement throughout the lesson.

Clear demonstration of basic to-be verb understanding through guided practice and independent work.

Weaknesses:

Slight risk of over-reliance on thematic engagement, which may overshadow linguistic focus for lower-proficiency learners.

Time allocation during group activity could be further tightened for consistency across groups.

Suggestions for Improvement:

Continue strengthening differentiation strategies, especially for lower-ability learners, during independent tasks.

Incorporate clearer scaffolding checkpoints during group work to ensure all groups make uniform progress.

Consider simplifying thematic elements slightly when introducing new grammar structures to maintain cognitive balance for all learners.

Megat leaned back slightly after listening.

“Hm.”

A small pause.

“Very Faizal.”

Megat looked at Nazha for a moment longer.

There was a quiet warmth in his gaze.

He had noticed it before—
that her most authentic teaching self surfaced when she felt safe enough to stop performing and start connecting.

That was where her strength came from.

Her phone vibrated on the table.

A message from Syarah.

Tomorrow, I want to discuss the progress of the PENDULUM Dashboard.

Nazha stared at it for a second longer than usual.

Megat noticed.

He gave a small nod, as if already understanding without needing explanation.

“Still early,” he said calmly, “but you’ve got a decent start.”

A pause.

He looked at her properly now.

“You can do it… like always.”

Nazha didn’t respond immediately.

Her expression tightened slightly—not with fear, but with overlap.

Two worlds pulling her at once:

• Megat’s quiet reassurance
• Syarah’s structured expectation

For the first time that day, she didn’t know which one demanded more of her attention.