It has been such a long period since he last taught me during Form 4, but I still remember his image, his jokes, his actions and his teachings so vividly in mind. He is such a great English teacher with vast range of vocabs, exotic passion in teaching and cheerful heart in life.
I didn't quite like English since primary school and didn't mind to have poor command in this language. I felt reluctant to learn the all the grammar and tenses...it's so complex and annoying. I was adamant that I didn't take up any English tuition class as what my parents always suggested to me during holiday. It was not until I met him that my mindset had changed a bit. His creative teaching had made me felt the beauty of English and his passion had brought out the burning desire in my heart to master this language.
"Joy?"
"Come on, don't write like a primary student who can only use simple words, you all must learn vocabs in order to vary your writing style."
Style? Ya...style...and then he came out with the word "Jubilation".
Jubilation! I learnt this new word and I felt it inside my heart. Now I have almost forgotten many vocabs that he taught us but this word...will never dim in my memory. How impressive this word is? Ju-bi-la-tion!
He was always cheerful.
"Who can guess my exact age and I will give him RM2 to buy drinks."
"Wah, sir, are you joking?"
"No, this small amount of money so cheap, I cheat you for what..."
No one remembered his age so I answered: "Sir, you are 44 years old."
"Correct!" Straight away he took out RM2 from his wallet and gave to me, but out of my expectations he asked me:" How come you know my age?" "Sir, you told us before during the class..." Funny, even he himself had forgotten...but never mind, I got my rewards, haha.
He always made jokes to lift up the atmosphere of whole class. For him, teaching was fun; and for us, learning was fun. Such good interaction and excellent spirit during his class was rarely seen in other classes. But this jubilation didn't last long as he was attacked by liver cancer. No one would believe such a healthy and cheerful person had been struck by cancer. He no longer taught us in form 5...he appeared to have taken a long holiday to fight against the disease.
Suddenly one day a terrible news was spread out in the class...he lost the battle against disease and that day was his funeral...School had provided 2 buses for teachers and students to go to the funeral. I was so fortunate that I managed to catch the first bus and became the only student arrived on time to see him for the last chance, before they covered the coffin. His face was unimaginarily thin and skinny...an impossible contrast to what he looked like when he was fine. Why? He was so kind and so good in teaching... Why? Such a disease! Such a life! Such a death! For the really first time in my life I went into deep contemplation about disease...and what is life and death all about...
Though I admired him as my greatest and most influetial English teacher in my life, I didn't really showed a great improvement in my english duirng past few years. I considered other subjects like physics and maths were more important than English during my school days. I only put a great deal of effort to improve my english during the 2 weeks before SPM when fear of failing the exam had shadowed me. I still felt embarassed for myself when I was looking for dictionary the meaning of "brain" in form 5. A teenager who had live with his brain for 17 years old didn't know it's called "brain" in english for 17 years...How poor! How poor!
But even this sense of embarassement was in no match with the inspiration that he had cultivated inside my heart. Its' effects on me wasn't so great during my secondary school days but certainly it will become greater and greater. Having such influetial teacher in life is very very lucky, for it will light up my future path; and I can feel the warmth and passion every time I evoke these past memories.
Thank you, Mr.Lai, my great teacher. For I shall continue to learn and improve my English for my own good, and I will find the "jubiliation" during the process. Let's overcome the barrier and start all over again! Strive for the best in technical communication exam tomorrow!
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