My Former School, A Revisit

This May, I am writing history so as to remember things that happened in the past. Later in life, I will be going back to read them as a reminder of myself as a teacher.

At RMA -

The beginning. I was offered to start up a small preschool in a village which has a good concentration of expat children. It was tough as the school building was a townhouse that was rented for school's purpose. I started with three preschool aged children from different countries: America (Kyla), Brunei (Jeff), and Hong Kong (Wai Ming). They were of different ages. I was assisted by a Vietnamese-American named Margaret and sometimes her two wonderful children would join in my class. Later, I got two brothers from Switzerland (Lukas and Jan). During the start of the second term, I got two more students from Korea (Min Jee and Tewook), one from Switzerland (Shane), and another one from Japan (Keiko). I was then dutifully assisted by a Canadian (Marie R.) and an American (Debbie S.).

It was a great beginning considering that the school's premises were limited. I fondly remember even meeting the children and their moms after school at the pool of the apartment where I resided. In the afternoon, we gathered together and I taught some of them to swim and we played a lot. It was bonding time for a whole year. It was a wonderful experience.

Growing within the years. Then we moved to a bigger place where the Child Centre as it is now called grew into seven different classrooms. I remembered being the head where we had an enrollment of 120 preschool children with a staff of 19 adults. It was an experience I would not forget. Being a head entailed responsibilities and they were maddening. The experience though made me a better leader and took me to new heights until I begged off when I pursued further studies.

The enrollment dwindled through the years but I still had the most number of students in class, always full as in every year. During my last post, I was assisted by a Filipino (Aida) who became the lead teacher when I left the school for good. My almost ten years stay at that school had been treasure trove of memories, experiences, hardships and glory. My growth as a person went full cycle as I learned the rudiments of administration, the struggles of a beginning teacher, the success of an experienced teacher, and the emotional strength I had to build throughout the journey.

Forsake Not

I will not forsake thee

though time had been our foe

it was time that patched the sore

of lost souls all wanting

to go back to its beginning

a start with joyous sparks

lighted with candid galore

but mists of grey and black

envelopes the togetherness

brought fear and unwanted distance

thy absence was my lost

but I will not forsake thee.

(a promise)

To Teach and To Learn

It will be almost the end of the school year and all the hardwork will culminate towards the schooling of great minds. The entire year had been a challenge as new students still come even when the school year is almost done. When everyone is settled, the last person arriving has to work harder, to belong.

A child from Denmark came in last this school year with no background of the English language but she proved her worth by being resilient, receptive and resourceful. She is the epitome of what we should be all the time. It wasn't only the learning where she came across as smart but the teaching part where I get to pick her brain and her feelings through a hundred ways of communicating. We talk through sounds, words, eyes, feelings, sentiments and emotions. We communicated, we participated, we grew together as teacher and student.

Life has a purpose and when we stop learning from others, then we cease to live. Our constant exposure to people and their ways of life can harness in us an immediate reaction. However, we do so only when we open our eyes and our senses for every window of opportunity. We meet people not just to know their names but to know their personalities. We talk to people not only to say words but to translate them into feelings. We communicate with people not because we wanted to pass an information but because we wanted to build a link. We teach the people around us and we learn by being open to learning.

It might take one person for us to open our eyes. It might take one incident for us to make a decision. It might take one photograph for us to be awakened. It might take one word for us to wake up. It might take one look for us to stop. It might take one opportunity for us to propel. It might take one love for us to change. But it takes one you, to do what you needed to do.

Go, teach, learn and prosper!