I have met many teachers throughout my years of studying. Many of them have inspired me a lot. Though I may not have remembered all of the teachers, there is one that I have never forgotten, and I can never forget. She is my primary school English teacher, Miss Chan.
Miss Chan had taught me English for three years, since I was in Primary 4. To me, she was never a nice teacher in the first year she came. I didn’t treasure her, and to be frank, I hated her. She was so strict and horrible that actually nobody in my class liked her. Yet, it is undeniable that she did change my attitude in learning English and help strengthen my language skills.
I can still remember what Miss Chan did when I was in Primary 4. She gave each of us one verb table with over 100 verbs, consisting of the present and past tense forms as well as the past participles of the verbs. Whenever we did anything wrong or unsatisfactory in English homework, we had to copy the table once! 300 words in one night! It was awful. We students thought that it was a waste of time but Miss Chan always stayed firm. She showed no sympathy when she announced the ‘death sentence’. ‘Felix! Do recorrections. Copy the verb table once!’ her voice was so sharp and so frightening.
My attitude towards Miss Chan started to change when I went to Primary 5. She was still keeping her way of teaching but I gradually learnt to understand her meaning deep inside. When I did sentence making, I often received fruitful responses and encouragement from Miss Chan. This definitely boosted my confidence in English language. I kept on learning more and more and finally I realized that I could write well because I had copied the verb table (and thus had memorized the verbs) numerous times! I managed to use different tenses correctly and accurately just because I had become familiar with the verb forms.
Miss Chan was indeed a serious teacher. She knew that learning tenses was a fundamental component in order to master English, so she required us to memorize the irregular verbs. She never hesitated when she mad a decision. She would ask us to do whatever she thought was suitable for us. For example, we read and discussed interesting articles from the Young Post. We wrote short passages every week. All these activities enhanced my English skills.
I was not very keen on learning English before I met Miss Chan. Since the first day she taught me, my love for English grew slowly and implicitly. When I write this article now, I know that my feeling is true. I must say, it is Miss Chan who ‘made’ me love English. It is Miss Chan who led me to the wonderful world of English. She will always be an inspiration to me!