Many have influenced my life and I have met many  wonderful people during my journey of life   and I owe a lot to them. My parents first, then my teachers, my husband dearest, siblings, the society around and  friends have made me what ever I am today. When it was my turn to return to the society what I have taken from, I never hesitated  and I am playing my role well to the best of my knowledge.  I have been interacting with so many people since long and  thought I could share some of my experiences here. First, I am going to share my experiences with  a little girl who came into my life and how I could influence her.

One evening, I heard the door  bell ringing in my house continuously. I opened the door and found a girl with doe eyes standing in front with her father beside.

Her father spoke. “Teacher, can you give my  daughter tuitions?”.

“Tutions !!! I exclaimed  because I never like  coaching youngsters  and was not in the habit of taking classes at home.  I was associated with various schools then and used to conduct summer camps for children. It was fun time for them and me. I was also in touch with various school counsellors who knew my work well.

I opened my mouth to say’ No’

Then the girl said ‘Miss Lee has sent me’. Lee was my friend and a  counsellor of a popular school which I used to frequent.   At that time , my phone bell rang. It was Miss Lee on line . She said ” I am sending  this girl to you. Please help her, We have just a month before the final exam” . It  was the first week of February and I know March is the month of exams for all schools.

Lee continued. ‘ this little girl needs help. If she doesn’t get through in English she would be detained. I know only you can do it”.

My God, what a situation.  My heart started melting at the poor girl who was looking very unhappy. But do I have magic to get this girl pass mark.   Some thing inside me prompted to take up the challenge. One month and miles to go. I didn’t even know anything about the girl. I heard that she hadn’t cleared  a single paper in English. OMG!!!, give  me strength, I thought.

I told her father,” this needs lot of work, from her, me and family . I can do it.   But there’s a condition. Don’t scold or shout at the girl because she is not scoring marks. See, how you can help her”. I was very sure she was getting lot of dressing down at home. The  girl was looking very scared. I said ” see we don’t have time. She has to attend my sessions morning and evening and they agreed.

Thus started the marathon of studies. I told her to study the notes and text all by her self and decided to concentrate only on  Grammar , if she gets all grammar right she would be able to score 20-25 marks. I taught her  and gave her repetitive excercises.  I, first  fixed a target for her and we decided that it would be 60 marks. I was sure she won’t be able to go beyond that. This girl co-operated well , and as days rolled by she became more cheerful and enthusiastic to learn English. When she came,  I would make her repeat the target.  I would also pat her back and assure her all would be well. She started enjoying the classes .

I also made her repeat at bed time a mantra that “English is more and more interesting for me and I am going to pass”. I  knew she didn’t like English because she had never got  pass marks  in that subject.  I wanted her to motivate herself to  achieve the results.

Days passed…… she wrote her exams. I was sure she would have done well. Results came. I phoned  her house , the girl picked up the phone.

I asked her “did you pass?

She said “I passed in English and got 57”

Wow!!, great. I was elated but the next sentence  shook me.

She said “but….. I am detained .

What ??? I was shocked .

I failed in Maths so the school has detained my promotion”. I was aghast.  She came home and broke down. She was weak in Maths too and she was attending a maths tution. H0w she found time for all this I do not know.

She said .”From this class I went to Maths  class and when ever I made mistakes the teacher would tell me  that I  would never pass in Maths. I got only scoldings there”

Probably the negative attitude of the teacher,  shattered her confidence. I am not sure but I wished that teacher could have had a better understanding of child psychology than what she showed.

She wanted to continue the tutions with me but I organised another one for her as I was averse to it.

But luckily for this girl, the school agreed to promote her on one condition that she should leave the school. What a system!!! But the girl was happy, she joined another school and continued her studies with out losing a year.  She  performed very  well in a changed environment.  This  girl would have grown up now and I hope she is doing well.

I shall write similar posts in future , how a small pat, a word of appreciation and  a little support can change somebody’s life.   To do all this, I don’t think we need to put in great efforts. Only an inclination to share and empathise with others who are facing difficulties. I wish, those who  take to teaching would have passion for their jobs and only remember that they are handling delicate children who are our future.

Merry Christmas , dear friends.

Au revoir!!