Sunday, April 22, 2007
Come to think of it, I've been teaching at Berries for about one and a half years now..
My students included Nursery 2 (lovely kids, they are onli 4 years old u noe ;p), Pri 1, Pri 2 and Pri 3 kids. Initially it felt weird to be called Wu Lao Shi, but now i feel proud whenever they call me that. Hee. Makes me feel like I still have something left in me that I can give to them. YOu know what I mean? What propelled me to carry on despite FYP in Yr 4, despite OT in OMD, despite the sacrifice of my precious Friday nites, is simply the opportunity to inspire somebody else's life.
Of coz, I luv kids and I luv listening to all the innocent & funny things they tell me. Like Nicole last year, she will tell me which little boy she likes and who she wants to marry. Alot others will tell me all about their holidays and what animals they saw. Rachel will draw stuff for me once in awhile last year, before she transferred to a weekday class which deeply saddened me. Of coz, I also have some notorious kids who create chaos in my class. BUT, what I see in every kid is only the goodness and the innocence, & I believe even bad kids can grow up to be good ones if there's someone there to guide them onto the right path of life.
It kinds of sadden me to know that the older they get, the more they hate Chinese. Esp when it comes to essay writing. They will say stuff like they are forced by their parents to learn chinese, or that they wish they never have to write chinese, or that chinese is too hard a language for them to master. Sob. Makes it so much harder for me to help them improve, no matter how badly I want to. But that's where the challenge lies, isn't it? I have the opportunity to inculcate in them a love for chinese, and an even better opportunity to guide these young little things and let them noe the rights and wrongs of life.
When I'm talking to them, I reiminisce alot bout my past. I share wif them on what I've learnt in sch, what I did wrong, what I did right, how I studied for all my subjects, how does PSLE work blah blah. Makes me feel good. Because someone else is listening to my life story, and I hope they benefit from the sharing. =) Keke, suddenly I'm the one sounding naive now.
I was sad to noe that two of my Pri 3 kids decided to quit Berries. One of them is migrating to China with her family, for the other, I think her mum decided to get her a private tutor instead. Still, I always wonder how can I be a better teacher to all these kids. How can I make my lessons more interesting? How can I make the kids be excited about coming to my class? How can I make the parents be assured about entrusting their kids to me? For the past year and a half, no matter how tired I am, I will show a smiling and super enthu face when in class. That's the way it's gotta be isn't it? Everything must start wif me and if I wanna influence them, I jolly well put in more effort on my part. I hope my kids (33 of them!) will eventually understand how much I love them and wish that they will grow up to be students I'll be proud of and their parents will be proud of..
Jw always ask me when don't I just go and be a teacher instead of sticking in the media industry. Well, I have considered it before, but I guess teaching can only be my part time job. I'm contented with what I do now, and I think I only like to teach younger kids lor. Hehe. Biased hor? Because they are simply soooooo adorable.
I muz jia you and persevere!!!~ Ganbatte ne!!
~Summer~ 9:38 PM