.: Teacher, Teacher :.

I guess at one point or another, someone has at one point in life, stated somewhere or another, that their ambition to be a teacher. I remember one of my very first BM karangan, I wrote “ Cita-cita saya menjadi guru” (translated : my ambition is to be a teacher).

But of course that was before I know that accountancy is where all the ca$h is hence, I am where I am today. *laughs*

Jokes aside, I have always felt that my calling lies with teaching. And until yesterday, it finally daunts me that I have been a ‘teacher’ all my life.

Although I don’t have a class of student that stands everytime I walk into class to greet me “Se..la…matttt…se….jahhh…te….raaaa, cik……guuuuuuuuu….” or kids running up to me and call me “teacher, teacher” (tho occasionally when the Sunday School kids I teach gets overly excited and decides that ‘teacher, teacher’ is more easily to call than ‘jie-jie shan lyn’), I am unofficially a teacher at every point in my life.

When I was about 2, my brother, Ben, came into the world. And subsequently, he became my ‘student’ as he mimics whatever I do. You know la, kids – they are like a sponge, absorbed everything you say and do.

And then later, there was Yin.

And Tamie.

And Shyang.

And Kevin.

And it was when I was 16, that I started to teach my brother maths. It was brain-wrecking I tell you, coz firstly, you have to have a patience of a saint, and secondly, my brother was one heck of a stubborn guy and all he was interested in was the answer in itself, not the way to derive the answer. As long as the answer matched with the answer behind the workbook, he’s happy, until the next similar question comes along; and he scratch his head, stomp his feet, curse the author of the workbook, and then comes to me to say ‘Jie, it is IMPOSSIBLE to do this question!’ And when I teach him how to derive to the answer, he look at me and say ‘OH!’ and goes on happily to the next question. And the cycle repeats itself.

And then in Form 4 & Form 5, I had the *cough* pleasure *cough* of teaching my classmate Dinah on Add Maths. Now, this lass can be sweet and all, but again, requires someone which absolutely high patience to teach her (bearing in mind as SPM approaches closer and closer, all of us gets stresser and stresser). So far, the only two veterans left that could stand teaching Dinah was myself & Sue May. Alethea, Jesamine & Qianhui had long fallen out. *lol*

At my workplace, I try my best to be a good mentor/boss rather than one who just throws work at you and expects you to finish the work, without further explanation and rationalization why you are doing this or that. An ex-colleague once told me that he learnt more that me in a few months than he did when in a year under another accountant.

Oh, and then there’s the occasional coaching on Benedict on his maths homework. And I did teach Kevin his algebras (another Ben in-the-making – absolutely horrendous with Maths!). Ah, and then there was teaching at my uncle’s maths center Eureka! in Damansara Uptown for a couple of days.

After I completed my ACCA course, I was giving free consultations to my close family members on their personal tax planning, teaching them the more effective (legal of course) ways to save tax.

And of course, last but not least being a Sunday School teacher – one of the greatest joy in my life!

Sigh.

Sometimes it’s the lil things in life that I recall that just makes me happy :)