My Beloved Chinese Language Teacher
I fondly remembered Madam Chang, my Chinese Language teacher of Stamford Girls’ School where I had my primary school education. She was a warm, caring and patient teacher who had all our interests at heart. She was approachable and always wore a broad smile and treated us like her own children, always giving us her undivided attention, always ready to help us when we are in need. I recalled during one recess time Madam Chang found me crying inside the classroom and enquire why I was crying. I told her that I have lost my 10 cent coin and had no money to buy snack, she immediately dig into her handbag and gave me 20 cents and ask me to go for my recess and I thanked her for her kindness.
I was very fortunate to have Madam Chang as my Chinese Language teacher for few years during my lower primary school education. She was my most unforgettable and inspiring Chinese Language teacher who had influenced and changed my perception of the learning of the Chinese Language from a subject of drudgery into joy learning.
Initially, I disliked learning this subject because the strokes of the Chinese characters were complex and boring to me. I had difficulties trying to remember the various strokes of writing Chinese characters and did not do well especially for my spelling test. However, she ignited my interest and inspired me to enjoy learning by her interesting and creative teaching styles making learning the language the fun way. She helped us to understand the meaning and the background of how a certain Chinese character was written by relating interesting stories and the meanings attached to each character. She also taught us moral values during her lesson. She aroused our interest by relating anecdotes of her personal life experiences. She also emphasized on doing the right thing and not compromising. She impressed upon us the need to be a good role model, so that our school and family would be proud of us. She was very dedicated and committed and always wanted to bring the best out of us. After school, she would stay back and patiently spent time to give me and those of us who were weak in the Chinese Language personal help and extra tuition to prepare us well for our school examination.
My interest in this subject grew because of her impactful & creative teaching and encouragement. I enjoyed her class and I did well for my Chinese Language and developed a passion in the learning of the second language. From then on learning the Chinese language was meaningful. It had become my ‘pet’ subject when I sat for my secondary and pre-university examination.
I was grateful to Madam Chang for her perseverance and patience in not giving up on us, the weaker students. She was the one who had influenced my life and helped me to love learning the language. I am glad that now I am proficient in the use of this language in my work and I was also a great help to my parents as I was able to assist them in their business, which requires knowledge of the Chinese Language.
I am deeply indebted to Madam Chang, my late Chinese Language teacher for her great help and I am contributing to this memory project as a special dedication to her for inculcating the love and passion of learning this subject in my life. Although she is no longer in this world but she had certainly left an indelible fond memory in my heart!
“Memories collected from the School Reunion Contest held from July 15 to 9 Aug 2012 in collaboration with SPH and sponsored by Singapore Flyer.”
