Author: Humans of Kuala Lumpur

“Having a connection with students is a key ingredient for me, as I’ve noticed they tend to be more motivated to study your subject. If you have a teacher that you don’t like, you will rarely open the books they teach, right? I believe, us, teachers, have a big responsibility in how a student feels towards a certain subject.

Being in this industry for so long, there are definitely many ups and downs in our line of work. One of them is that our pay isn’t very high. I always tell my students, if you want to become a lecturer, you really need to like the job or else you will be quite stressed. Your other coursemates would be earning maybe five figures but it would be very hard for you to achieve that unless you get a PhD. There is an upside though, in the teaching line, you will have more free time. In other fields, you may have a lot of money, but no time to spend it. So it depends on what kind of life you want. For me, teaching is good. I love that I have more time with my family.

So far, teaching has been a really good career because it is very fulfilling seeing your students’ academic performance. For me, It’s not only about students getting an A but if I can help a student who is failing, pass the subject, it’s a very satisfying feeling. That is something that cannot be measured by money.

One thing I’ve always believed in is life-long learning and I hope I inspire my students to believe in that as well. Even for me, even though I am familiar with the chemistry syllabus in SAES, if I were asked to teach an A-levels chemistry subject, I wouldn’t be that good at it. I’ll need some time to learn and prepare myself.

I think every day we have something new to learn, just like I also learn from all of my students. Even though they’re just students, they’re already involved in so many things – I have students running their own online shops, sometimes even multiple shops and I recently learned of the concept ‘gap year’ where students use their time to gain worldly skills. In the past, I would have never heard of such a thing!

I always learn something new from my students.”

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Humans of KL is working with academics from Taylor’s College to share stories which embody their values; Hope, Grit and Slay.

“Teaching was my first job.

Back then, in 1999, the economy wasn’t very good. Everyone sent out many letters to look for a job, so I was quite fortunate Taylor’s offered me one.
I’m not a teacher trained by profession. So when I first started my teaching job I thought, “How am I going to teach?”. I had no idea. I was clueless. But slowly I developed my own method, after experimenting with other teachers’ methods.

When I first joined the profession, my dream was and still is, to make my students love the subject so that they can excel at it. I secretly also want them to continue and further their studies in Chemistry but that is not right lah! Most of them also want to go into medicine, so I try to help them get good grades.

I really believe that if I want my students to act a certain way in class, I must show a good example first. For instance, I always want my students to be punctual for my lesson, so I set a good example and am punctual myself. I can proudly say that about 99% of the students in my class will be there earlier than the starting time. There are days, maybe one or two, where I may be a little late cause of certain commitments. But I will apologise to my students with a – ‘Sorry I’m late, cause I had a meeting just now.’ I talk to them, converse with them. I really believe the human touch must be there when interacting with students, rather than just commanding.

Throughout all my years as a teacher, I’ve learned a lot. Especially from this one incident when my boss called me in asking, ‘Why did you scold your student?’ I was a bit sad about that but from there I knew that the situation now is not like the old days – when you see the teacher, you feel scared of them.

Nowadays, you need to be friends with your students. I tell them, ‘Each and every one of you must like me or love me for at least one year.’ So that’s something new I practice – the need to have a good connection with your students.”

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Humans of KL is working with academics from Taylor’s College to share stories which embody their values; Hope, Grit and Slay

“Restructuring notes and rephrasing questions went on for the first few years. In between, I also pursued my Masters in Applied Statistics at University Malaya. And then it was digitizing my notes and questions, to where we are at now, online teaching and learning. My teaching methods evolved with the advancement of technology.

I believe that the teacher’s confidence and the materials we deliver make a huge impact on the students’ learning. We have to gain the trust of students’ in order for effective learning to take place. Student-teacher rapport is an essential part of learning in my classes. The pastoral care I offer my students is tantamount to their academic excellence in my subject.

Rules are very important in my classrooms, and these are set right from day one. I also encourage students’ to work collaboratively, helping one another towards excelling both as an individual and as a team. Although I put on a strict façade initially, I assume a friendlier demeanour after the first semester. This puts students at ease while emphasizing that dedication towards achieving excellent results is of utmost importance. And by the time my students’ graduate from the A level programme, we become fast friends.

Now after having taught at Taylor’s for more than 20 years, I have countless friends and we stay in touch through the various communication channels. Some visit me when they are in town or are passing by, and some drop me a word or greeting from time to time, and on special occasions. I share their successes and failures, their achievements and frustrations, and I laugh and cry with them. The gratitude and affection shown by my students’ further encourages me to continue doing what I am doing in the best way I know. Seeing them excel in every aspect of their lives, both academically and emotionally, and knowing I played a small part in it, gives me utmost satisfaction and immense pleasure of having chosen this fulfilling vocation.

I know now that I was meant to be an educator, and I am here to stay.”

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Humans of KL is working with academics from Taylor’s College to share stories which embody their values; Hope, Grit and Slay.

“Like any other young adult, I too did not know what I wanted to study at university.

At school, mathematics was my favourite and best subject. I usually scored very high marks in Mathematics and am pretty sure I obtained an almost perfect score for my SPM. The course I chose at university offered many different subjects to major in, and naturally I decided on a course leaning towards Mathematics. As I was not much interested in Mechanics, I decided on a major in Statistics.

Post-graduation, I was quite sure of securing a position at one of the many financial institutions. Unfortunately, the poor economic climate at that time froze applications into financial institutions. While waiting for opportunities in the financial institutions, I was offered a teaching position, to teach Mathematics and Additional Mathematics, in a local private school. It was here that my journey in teaching began and I have never looked back since. After a year, I applied and was offered a position to teach A Level Mathematics at Taylor’s College. I was ecstatic, but still unsure of my direction with respect to my vocation.

The syllabus for A Level required that I teach 3 different components of Mathematics; Pure mathematics, Statistics and Mechanics. The preparation that I had to put in was colossal. I had to prepare notes, practice questions and internal and mock exam papers right away. I used many different books with only the syllabus requirements as a guide to prepare my notes and questions. I used to cart home bags of books and often stayed up late to prepare my lessons. I felt more like a student instead of a teacher. This preparation was very important to build my confidence, and I would go with very little sleep, to ensure that I give the best lesson presentations every day. Moreover, the set of students I was assigned were very intelligent and would often challenge me with questions.”

(Read Part 2 over here: https://www.humansofkl.com/2-2i-share-their-successes-and-failures-their-achievements-and-frustrations-and-i-laugh-and-cry-with-them/)

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Humans of KL is working with academics from Taylor’s College to share stories which embody their values; Hope, Grit and Slay.