Tuesday 28 February 2012

Inspiring Teachers

Went to attend a wedding dinner on Sunday and was chatting with one of my relatives who is in JC1 this year. She shared with me that she would like to be a teacher in future and asked me for advice.

I asked her,"Why do you want to be a teacher?"

"I am inspired by my teachers. I have learnt a lot from them and hope to impart my knowledge to others," the girl said.

I was in the same situation many years ago. During my learning journey in school, I was very fortunate to be taught by many dedicated and inspiring teachers. I will share with you how an English teacher had changed my life.

One day, my Primary Four English teacher, Mr Wong, lugged many books to school and set up the class library. He reiterated to us the importance of reading. He shared with us that reading is fun. He also asked my classmates if they had read certain books. I realised that some of my classmates had read many books.

That was the turning point.

I asked my friends why they read. Their answer: Reading is fun. The books are interesting. Hmm.... Fun? I was a little sceptical then. My parents had bought many story books for me but they were lying untouched in the store room. When I went home that day, I lugged all the story books from the store room and started reading them.

Wow!

That was the day that I started reading and found reading FUN.

Despite the complaints that we always read and hear from others about teachers, there are some teachers who will go the extra mile to touch their pupils' lives.

Mr Wong is just one of the many dedicated and inspiring teachers whom I met along my learning journey. I am grateful to him as he has opened my eyes to the joy of reading. I am inspired by many teachers who have touched my lives. I will share more about them in the next few blog posts.

As a teacher, I used to share this love for reading with my pupils. Now, as a tutor, I hope to inspire my pupils to cultivate an interest in reading. Some of my tutees have started reading more and I am really pleased when they shared with me how interesting the books were.

A quote to share with all of you:
“Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.”
- Richard Steele

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