It is so easy to remember this date (though not for a good reason); it was the tragic day of the terrorist attack on the U.S. Twin Towers.
I remember stepping into my first school as an untrained graduate teacher (UGT). I had such enthusiasm, drive and spirit.
My experience as a volunteer in the boys' and girls' home during my university days had lit up the flame in me, to be a friend, a mentor, a guiding light to lost souls in the dark...
After only 2 months in the school, I was to enrol in NIE. I remember having doubts about it. Was it really the career that I wanted?
It has been 4 years since that fateful day. Signing that piece of paper and taking the teachers' pledge, I sold off 4 years of my youth to MOE. That is how I feel on some bad days.
On the good days, I luxuriate in the joy of being a teacher.
I enjoy exchanging fashion tips with my trendy female students, arguing over which Singapore Idol is more good looking, listening to gossips about so and so (both teachers and students alike).
More importantly, I relish being a mentor, pointing out potential pitfalls to those who can't see, lighting the lamp for those whose flame had been snuffed out...
English is all but a subject that I teach...
Innocent, young minds (they'll protest this!) are what I reach out to...
Lives and hearts are what I touch...
When my students grow older and develop into fine young men and women, I'm nothing but a footprint on the path of their journey.
Just as they are on mine.
That... is enough for me.
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