Happy Teachers' Day

Yesterday, the whole world celebrated individuals who are among the most loved people of all, our teachers.

Teachers have played an important role in everyones lives --> whoaa hooouuwww ayat skema tu.. ni bukan karangan budak sekolah Ayu!!!

Hehe.. ok, ok! The truth is, yesterday I was suprised when my student presented me with a gift for Teachers' Day and I was smiling like crazy till I went to sleep last night. What touched me wasn't really the gift itself, though the photo frame was cute. What moved me was what she had written to me, which I prefer NOT to write down here in case of 'showing off'. Suddenly, all the weariness of being a tuition tutor for 6 outta 7 days, with 15 hours of teaching per week, just went away. The 'Thank You' was more than enough to make up all the time I spent for my young charges.

I must admit, though I like teaching, sometimes, I DO get a bit irritated especially when all the students want to do is play around. There are times that I feel like just quiting, especially after a hard day at work when I feel like detesting my tuition class that has robbed me of afternoon rests. I mean, there are a lot more people out there who'd give their right arm to take my place. Even when I spend my time marking their exercises, there are moments I'd like to scream just looking at their answers though most of them make me smile when I know they understand or when I come across a mistake I, myself, made years ago when I was their age.

There are some teachers' who've made great impacts on me. Sadly, when I hear the word teacher, not ALL my teachers come to mind. I guess, the ones who most influence me are the ones I remember totally.

Lets start with my teacher in Ashfield Nursery. She was my guradian as well as Iwan and Adi's. We called her Miss MacPhill (I THINK la this is the right spelling). She had long hair and always plaited her hair down her back. Since I had long hair too, I always asked my mother to plait my hair that way too. She was kind and patient. She was the one who taught me to bake my Gingerbread Man with baking powder so it won't run away when we open the oven, just like in the childrens tale haha.. I really believed it! She was also the one who taught me the joys of Christmas Crackers and she always shared what she got with us.

Two years later, in Canning Street School, I was introduced to Mrs Dowsland. A motherly teacher, who also has the face of a mother. She taught me the love of flowers and nature. She even asked us to do some plant projects in school. We also had this incubator (or whatever its name is) where we hatched chicken eggs and watched the eggs hatch together. I still have my book I used in her class. Her class was the most colourful one in school and I'm glad I was in it.

In standard 1, I got to know Cikgu Noerida. She wasn't actually my first teacher in SK Sg Gelugor, but she's the first I remember whenever I think of my primary school. She was the type of teacher you'd want to hug everytime you sit down and learn something from her. Since I was used to school eversince I was 2, I wasn't really afraid, so while others spent their time terrified of school, I spent my time worshipping Cikgu Noerida. I wanted to be kind like her and tried so hard but still, as a primary school goer, being good just wasn't my aim in life especially while having friends like Adam who loves to tease and ganging up with Soraya to have our go at Adam whenever we had the chance. I guess, the real reason we despised Adam was because he was, sort of, Cikgu Noerida's pet. His brothers have all been her students so she was quite close to Adam.

I had a good 3 years with her, from standard one up until standard three. She must have had quite an interesting 3 years with us. What with me as the cry baby of the class, Adam and Soraya head to head quarelling over everything, quiet Ilah who refuses to speak, cunning Alfy who looks quiet on the outside, but just as cheeky as Adam inside, our 'kumpulan A' that's supposed to be the cleverest group in class but also the noisiest with Srly, Iswadi, Nazrein, Anurra and the list goes on. Makes me wonder, what happened to my childhood friends from this class? Hmm..

In standard 5 and 6, I was in Cikgu Zaharah's class. Now, to tell you the truth, she isn't really one of my favourite teachers but she also wasn't the least favourite. Biasa² je. It was mostly becaues she wasn't really quite fair (sorry to my classmates who read this entry.. but betul ape?). She was attentive to those who took tuition classes with her but the small percentage of us, including me, who didn't take her class could feel that she wasn't very keen about us. It saddens me a bit but still, I'm lucky!

Why, you may ask? It's because Cikgu Zaharah is one of the BEST teachers I've ever known. Being with her made me memorize my mathematical tables faster than I could imagine. Every morning we'd have this multiplication drill where you can't sit down til you've answered her correctly. She also taught me how to write good malay compositions. She has a knack for making you fall in love with the language, even turned shy Asfalela into a bold poet. She pushed all of us to the limit, with her knowing more than us of what we were capable of and for that, I thank her. She was a real eye opener to most of us so if anyone needs any 'pushing', she's the man (or lady in this case)! Thank you, cikgu!!

In lower secondary, one of my most memorable teachers is Ustazah Fatimah. She taught me Arabic in form 1 and was also the hostel warden. A very strict lady (still remember when I had to run around the netball court for failing my arabic test), yet very gentle when she called me into the caunselling room to talk to me. She was worried when she saw that I was quite shy and quiet (and because she heard stories of how strict my father was, really) so she just wanted to find out. You know you can trust her once she opens her mouth. She got married when I was in form 2 and went away. It was a sad event for a lot of us.

Then there Ustazah Che Maznah who was my form teacher in form 3. She was also a warden, but at the Perak Road Hostel. It was easy to 'bodek' her, to go out or balik kampung and all that but when she gets into her interrogation mood, you'd better watch out. A motherly figure, she sometimes had to 'reposition' my tudung that didn't really want to stay nicely round my face (I stil have problems with my tudung though I've been wearing it for more than 14 years now) and she always asked me to smile since my own natural face wasn't quite a smiley one (AND most of the time, I didn't quite feel like smiling anyway.. like Baizurah said, I was with this 'me against the world' attitude). Funnily, in form 4, she told me, she doesn't know anyone who likes to smile so much like me, and I wanted to tell her, I mostly smile at her cause she likes it and I mean, who wouldn't smile at her, she's the most lovable Ustazah there is in AlMashoor.

Haha.. another one I'll never forget is Sir Chong. He taught my class History but also teaches English and Kemahiran Hidup to other classes. He's one of those teachers who just loves to tease his students and joke around so in form 2, he gave us this history test. Me, being a girl who hates history, nearly failed the test while my classmates scored. I didn't really care much about it, UNTIL he asked my classmate to announce my marks for the test. I was so humiliated, there I just shouted ,"Siiiiiiiiiirrrrr!" and burst into tears while hiding under my desk (I was a small girl then.. masa tu la, skrg, jgn tanya la.. hehe..). Sir Chong panicked, seeing me like that, that he came to me and apologized but I refused to look at him (Stubborn silly girl!).

After the incident, I didn't want to have anything to do with him so, even as a class monitor, I always passed my duty to my assistant whenever it included Sir Chong but he was always understanding, always trying to make it up to me (shame on you la, Ayu) by asking me if I understood his lesson, once he came in class with his camera and slyly took my picture when I least expected it so he could laugh at me when I was taken by suprise but I still held my head up high. Really malu la when I think about it balik, I mean, the other girls all wanted their picture taken but I just didn't care. All of my friends scolded me for treating a TEACHER like that when Sir Chong was everyone's favourite.

In form 3, he'd help me with my KH project whenever I was stuck, while I just looked on. Hey, I didn't ask for his help though I desperately needed it. My friends all told him that he was unfair but he just laughed and said,"Ayu kan marah lagi kat saya" Hehe.. By then, I already felt a bit ashamed of myself but still proud to admit it and when my friends sent him a farewell card (he was going to further his studies, but coming back to AlMashoor after he completed) he came and said, "Thank you, Ayu" much to my classmates dismay.

He came back when we were in form 5, I think. By then I was already big enough to admit how stupid I was to to that to my TEACHER. My friends were happy when he came back and so was I but I was so ashamed of myself that I didn't dare to meet him. It so happened, I was walking with Shikin one day and we met Sir Chong half way up the stairs so Shikin greeted him, I was too ashamed of myself. But then he replied, "Good morning, Ayu" and laughed when Shikin scolded him for ignoring her greeting. At least I knew, he, unlike the childish me, held no grudges for my childish behaviour towards him years ago. I was forgiven!! Funnily, he's the only teacher I'm in touch with now. All my friends couldn't believe it but I guess, its because he is the most forgiving teacher alive! Thank you, Sir Chong!

How about, Cikgu Nab! She's one of those teachers you'd label as 'GARANG' until you get to know her. Known for her strict rules, we juniors were so afraid of her while we got amazed seeing our seniors so close to her. But then, miracles of miracles, on the few last day of puasa, she bought us a whole sack of harmless fireworks and crackers.. with some duit raya for the whole hostel.. hurray! Once we found her soft spot, we wondered how on earth could we be so afraid of her.

She taugh me history in form 4 and 5. Always calling me 'Layu' since I still hated history and was always day dreaming in class. I once was even punished by her for coming in late to class and was asked to 'jalan itik' around the class while maintaining a straight face when she herself was laughing hehe.. But she did something, Sir Chong couldn't do. When I was in form 5, I started loving history! Not really the sort of 'favourite subject' punya love, but more like I got interested in history and even began reading form 1 to 3 history revision books. Though she was very talkative and liked to 'berleter', ALL of us loved her.

Hurray to Cikgu Nooriah! She's another miracle worker. I'd always been quite good in maths but I never loved it UNTIL she taught me the wonder of numbers. In just a few months, she turned me from an A1/A2 maths girl to a wanting-to-get-100%-je-in-maths girl. I liked to see her face whenever I got full marks up until I was in form 5. She introduced me to number games which I became quickly involved in that I always kept my small basic calculator in my pocket, just in case I saw interesting problems that I immediately wanted to solve.

To be frank, from form 1 to 3, I never really liked doing maths though I found it quite easy for me. Maths was just another subject to help me score in exams. Even my homework was done, 'kalau rajin' *ashamed*. But with Cikgu Nooriah, I just wanted more. She helped us build the Pusat Kecemerlangan Matematik (PCM) where we had all kind of activities with numbers, all kinds of games, in fact, it made maths seem so much fun. I wonder if the PCM is still in AlMashoor?

Cikgu Nooriah is also the computer teacher. She helped us with our school bulletin and very first school magazine our school ever had. She was our advisor, as well as Cikgu Pah (Oooooo, I'd get to her later). We were once scolded by her for using the computer till 5am in the morning for Pertandingan Cerpen Sains or something. She didn't want to smile for a week and I felt so guilty eventhough I wasn't there when the incident happened. I was supposed to restrict my classmates since I was class monitor and I failed her. But she was back to her ownself not long afterward *phew* Thank God! It was good to have her back.

I met her once, when I was in my second year, I guess. She looked so tired. I wanted to tell her how much I appreciated her but the words just got stuck in my throat. I regret now, not telling her then, cause only now do I understand how meaningful a word of thanks IS to a teacher and to Cikgu Nooriah, I owe A LOT to you after all you've done for me! Thank you for everything. In a way, you changed the outlook of life for me and helped me move forward when I was too afraid to take even a small step.

Then there was Cikgu Shariffah Affiffah or more affectionally known as, Cikgu Pah. If I ever make a dictionary, she'd be the definition of 'strict' hehe (Sorry, cikgu Pah!!) BUT, she'd also be the definiton of 'dedicated' and 'most spirited'. She taught me Additional Maths, but also in her own way, taught me the importance of discipline and rules (but I guess I took a step further so now I always follow rules blindly, no question asked, if compared to my friends, eg, "Ada ka peraturan suh pakai kasut dlm lab comp? Tak logik langsung" <-- tu ayat kak Wahid hehe.. me on the other hand --> "Biaq la.. ikut je la, dah nama pun peraturan"). She encouraged us to be brave and confident. She's also responsible for my habit of saying 'sifar' instead of 'kosong' for the number zero. Sometimes I'd be laughed at by my students ("Kak Ayu ni skema la..") But I don't mind. If you were puinished RM10 everytime you say 'kosong', you'd understand too hehe..

She was a no nonsense teacher, though sometimes, its hard for you to take her seriously whenever she starts laughing and talking in her high-pithced voice. I remember how funny she looked when she wanted to hide a laughter from me in my prefects interview. Now, as a rule, everyone hates prefects so I didn't want to be one but when I was called for the interview, I must have given the lamest excuse ever in order not to be one --> "Nanti kalau saya tak buat keje rumah, cikgu yang malu sebab lantik saya jadi pengawas". Cikgu Pah looked as if she wanted to burst out laughing, I guess she did laugh out loud coz when I exited the room, I could hear the high-pitched laughter, that only she has, threatening to shake the whole school building!

Hehe.. those were the school days. I feel as if I've gone back in time now. Hmm..

Anyway, for all the teachers out there, keep up the good work! You're essential to the progress of the country, and to the kids out there (who are just like me once upon a time ago) who need your support and help. Happy Teacher's Day