A descriptive essay by Hui Sing Hung, Sky

Professional !

Miss Chu was my guardian angel. As my Chinese history teacher since form 6, not only does she enrich my knowledge in the relevant subject, but she also acts as a teaching professional and sets an example to today’s teachers. Nevertheless, she does have a funny and hilarious aspect.

“Sorry Sky, Could you please tell me your Chinese name again?” wondered Miss Chu in the first lesson in form 7. “Everyone’s attention please! Our dear Chinese history teacher is daydreaming again! Please give her a helping hand at once!” screamed out a classmate while immediately, sounds of laughter and clapping hands were everywhere in the classroom. Still unaware of my Chinese name, Miss Chu got terribly embarrassed and smiled reluctantly. In reality, such a phenomenon was common practice since form 6. But her real “strength” was cracking jokes by changing our names or mixing up our names with students in other classes. “Hui Lai Hung, would you please answer this question for me?” asked her in a class in form 7. “HaHa… We’ve got a new classmate! Let’s give “her” a big hand!” one student cried out while the rest of the class was all having a big laugh in no time. Suddenly a joyful and relaxing atmosphere spread over the long boring Chinese history lesson. Yet everyone’s not paying his or her attention on class but me, Hui Sing Hung!

On the other hand, Miss Chu has her personal unique characters that make her a praiseworthy teacher for all students. 

“Stay alert and move fast!” yelled Miss Chu, showing her energetic aspect. While our school badminton’s team member was competing in a match, Miss Chu was standing close to her and shouting very nervously. Paying her undivided attention at the players, she caught every move of them and she was so concentrated as if she were the competitor. On behalf of the school and badminton team, Miss Chu was making her every little effort to enhance our teammates’ playing skills, from basic concepts to competing techniques, by regular and severe practice in addition to attending inter-school competitions. You would never see a smiling Miss Chu when she was in her sportswear. In comparison, you would always receive a nice invitation to play a game with her on holidays in sports center where, a friendly talkative partner would be in place of a serious odd leader. Her enthusiasm in playing with her students makes plenty of room for us to communicate with one another. Usually there would be a gathering after the game and it served as an opportunity for communication among us.

However, being professional in teaching as well as considerate and caring to students were her most appreciating features. As an articulate teacher, Miss Chu won general acceptance from all classmates taking Chinese history, especially the way she used in tackling our studying problems. After each weekly test, she would meet us individually in class to discuss our performance and what problems we encountered in doing the test. By gathering a variety of opinions, she would come to a conclusion to remind us what common errors we’d made in a particular question and how we should avoid them. Under special circumstances, she would arrange extra tutorial classes in sacrifice of her free time in order to improve our exam skills. Such a teaching attitude should be appreciated, particularly in times of exam period.

Miss Chu would also never blame us for any unsatisfactory test results and I always appreciate her motto: To teach and to encourage will definitely do more good than to blame. She said the first thing in teaching is from the very beginning to understand students’ problems so as to teach or encourage them to change from wrong to right. For this reason she would meet individuals with particular problems in studying at lunch breaks or after school, listening to their problems in great patience and giving advice or counseling service to them. She gave me a brand-new idea of what a real teacher should possess─consideration and sincerity. This accounts for why all Chinese history students have good relationship with Miss Chu and we’re still keeping in contact for regular meetings after graduation.