I just felt compelled to blog today, and in particular, the teachers in my life.
I reflected why I became a teacher in the first place, I always thought and believed it was a calling from God himself. No doubt, I still think so. As I pondered deeper, I realised there were a good many teachers who had played a significant role in my life one way or other that resulted in my choosing this vocation as an adult, rather than the cliche of 'there's no other better job'.
I don't remember my pre primary teachers at all, unfortunately, but perhaps the first 6 years of my life were pretty dim, with my dad leaving the family, lots of crying and fighting. So the first teacher whom I still remember her face fondly was Mrs Lee, my primary one form teacher. She wore spectacles, spoke kindly, hardly scolded or never scolded me, and was very fair. I was just one of those very quiet as a mouse girl, and hardly called for any attention. She paid attention to me. I couldn't remember any particular incident, but I knew she was kind and she liked me. At that tender age, that was all that mattered, really. Someone who looked at you and bothered to smile at you and be nice to you.
And then, there was my primary 5 and 6 teacher, Mrs Chew. Many would say the first and final years of the primary education were the most crucial, and so were the best and most experienced teachers placed. I strongly agree, till this day. Mrs Chew was extremely kind. She gave me clothes from her daughter, she drove me home once, because I almost fainted in school, and she made me a monitor and a prefect. She probably saw that I needed the extra attention and boost to my self esteem, so she gave me these titles willingly. I thought I achieved a lot those two years. I continued to struggle in my studies and did average and went on to an average secondary school. I always remembered her. In fact, I was so thrilled to bump into her once at cold storage supermarket at United square mall in my early 30s .... so some 20 yrs had passed.... she looked exactly the same - healthy, tan, fit and exactly the same jet black hair style! She took a while to recognise me, or maybe not remember me at all, coz so many batches of students would have passed through her hands, and I was so proud to tell her I became a teacher myself, and so glad to know that she was still teaching. You know it when a teacher is CALLED to teach, from another who teaches because it is a job.
My secondary years were fun, a little notorious but still stayed save. Got a great History teacher at sec 1 who praised me till no end because I did my homework to memorize our first class essay, stood up in class and regurgitated from the first one to the last! Most of my classmates were stunned, I was pretty shocked myself and that made my teacher proud of me. From that day on, I decided I liked history and I scored A1 all through sec life.
On the contrary, there were always one or two bad rats in the profession, those who were there because they had to - my primary 4 form teacher Mrs Ho, unluckily for me, i still remembered her name and her face! She was always grumpy, scolded me on several occasions, cant remember what it was I did wrong, but she gave me the impression that she disliked me in her class and I was going to shame her with my bad results, yet she did absolutely nothing to help me improve and was just watching me fail. I didn't think she meant harm, but due to my fear of her, I really did badly that crucial year and ended up from first class in pri 4 to the last class in pri 5, that was how bad a really hard teacher can make you feel.
At sec1, I also met a negative example of a teacher in my literature class. She was only there for a short while, mixed look, fair, and very plump. I remembered she was quite young to be a teacher then, probably just finished her A levels, I wasn't sure. But she was mean to our class, not just to me in particular. She failed half of the class for her first lit assignment. I remembered her calling out our names one by one, passed her our scripts, and stared meanly at each one of us and said 'failed'. That day marked my dislike for literature and I actually thought I couldn't write for the rest of my life! For that, I didn't choose humanity studies at sec 3 and chose combi science instead, with history. Looking back, I really could have done better with hist and lit. Well.... years later at NIE, I did a bachelor studies, and contemplated between history or El and Lit, I was so afraid that I could not do lit because of my bad experience at 13, but I prayed, braved it, and chose lit. I did well in those two yrs of studies and started to enjoy reading novels! And really dig them from then on.
See what bad teachers can do but more amazingly, what good teachers can do to us!
Thank God, there were more good teachers than bad ones in my life. And the very best were my Sunday school teachers at church where I grew up. They knew about my family situation, they visited me at least once a year, gave me presents at Christmas and my favourite teacher gave me my christian name when I was 12 - CARIS. I was so excited. I was baptised at 14 and officially had that name in my identity card, felt like I became a new person - a child of God, and a renewed life with a new name!
My sunday school teachers' influence was what made my mind up about serving at sunday school now. I just know that there is no other place I want to be than to be at sunday school as a teacher, regardless of the age group. How I got stuck with the 3 yrs old for the 4th yr now is a mystery. I started with 7-8 yrs old before my own children came, took a break and returned to serve in a 5 yr old class when Hannah turned 3. 2 yrs later, when hannah was 5, I started serving with the 3 years old. Initially, the reason was, no one was able or willing to be in the class, so I put my name down. Then, I am happily contentedly stuck with this age group.
Serving the 3 years old is tricky. They probably may not remember you the next yr, which is really sad, isn't it, especially when they seemed to have loved you with all their hearts in that one yr you were with them. But what we did with them, the touch, the hugs, the smiles, the prayers we taught them and the fun we had with the songs we sang together, those little bits help build their confidence in sunday school, give them comfort, and grow their love for Jesus. As teachers, we must look beyond that one yr we are with them. And needless to say, they are beyond adorable and incredibly irresistible.
LC sometimes jokes that I enjoy being with children so much because I'm like them. True to some extend, I enjoy being fun and doing fun things, who doesn't? I've got a great smile, been told many times, and I like to laugh! Makes you feel young. And, I like being hugged and loved, and these kids, they can really hug, and love you like their lives depend on you, boy, can they smile and laugh! Makes my heart so warm. You know that Jesus loves them, how can he not? Even I do. Their innocence and naivety draw me to them.
Teachers have played such important roles in my life. I pray and hope my kids always get the best teachers in their classes, those who truly show they care, I think that is the most important thing you need to have as a teacher. Sometimes, it doesn't really matter if you can teach well, kids can learn by themselves, but only a teacher can create a caring environment that gives the students comfort and confidence to learn.