Comments for Topic 3

Hey hey how are you guys doing? Hope you are enjoying your one week break!
I'm in school everyday, doing work...holidays are non-existent for teachers haha...But it's good in the sense that I can wake up late, come to school at my own sweet time, and have no students knocking at the door every few minutes asking to see teachers (that's the peril of sitting near the door...I have to answer the door!)

First of all I'd like to thank all you sweeties for your gifts and cards. I've never received so many gifts before! It really warms my heart to read the words you wrote, to see the effort put in in making the cards and selecting the gifts. Even every 'Happy Teachers' Day!' wished when you see me is an encouragement for me.

I'm so touched! Thank you people!

Your entries for this topic serve as an inspiration for me too! Reminds me of what kind of teacher I am now and how I can improve myself. Oh btw, many of you told me in your cards that you enjoyed my lessons. My eyes nearly popped out, because judging from your facial expressions (dazzzzzzzed) and the number of people sleeping or not paying attention during my lesson (many many many), I would have thought my lessons were the most boring ever! Thanks for the comfort, even if it's just out of politeness (ha!) or just to appease me (hoho!), I appreciate it anyhow :) This will be my motivation, at least till the next Teachers' Day! :p

I realise that for most of us, the teachers that impacted us most are our primary school teachers. Maybe for you guys, it's because you are only in Sec 2 and have not had particularly memorable experiences with a teacher. But after asking my peers the same question, the trend is rather apparent - primary school teachers do make a more lasting impression on students.

For me my favourite teacher is my Chinese teacher who taught me in P4 and 5. His name is Mr Kho. He was already rather old when he taught me, and for some time I've wondered if he's still alive. Imagine how pleased, not to say relieved, I was when I saw him recently. It turned out that he lives in the same block as my boyfriend haha! Anyway I can still remember his lessons. Always very interesting, gets me all psyched up for Chinese! With this kind of learning environment, it's no surprise that I became very good at the subject. So good that I could take Higher Chinese as a subject! But things took a down turn when we had a change of teacher in P6. Man, how I disliked the teacher! To be fair I think she was a rather good one, just that with such fond attachments to Mr Kho, I couldn't relate to her at all. So my Chinese went downhill from then on, eventually got forced to drop Higher Chinese in Sec 2 when I failed to perform in the examinations. Sad... But I'm glad that my English improved and hey now I'm an English teacher!
Well it's disheartening to read about the existence of abusive teachers in our schools. I really hope someone will put an end to this. Another kind of teachers, the oppressive kind, are also every student's nightmare. I had my fair share of experience with these, but now that I'm a teacher myself, I see where they are coming from. I don't pretend to speak for them, but I'm quite sure every teacher would want the best for our students. We have different ways of dealing with students based on our personalities and convictions, some effective, some not. But one thing for sure, everybody works hard for our students. If only all students can appreciate that. It's not a good feeling to slog yet get dissed, scolded, or blatantly booed by students!

In that light, I would say that Teachers' Day is a good day for students and teachers alike. Students would reflect and hopefully realise the effort teachers put in for them, and teachers may get huge doses of encouragement and satisfaction when their students express their appreciation for them!

Ahh...Teacher's Day would go down as one of my favourite days of the year from now on! :)

Happy Holidays people! See you in a few days' time!

Love,
Miss Goh