Manson was our oral English teacher in the middle school. When he came to the classroom for the first time, the Canadian man gave us a very deep impression: aged about 40, hook-nosed, brown hair, a little fat. He greeted us with a big toothy smile which sounded exaggerated. But we were all amused by his exaggerated smile.
His classes were fresh and interesting. In the course of teaching, he told us a lot about his strange merchant life in Canada. He also described to us the picture of people crazily shopping during the Christmas season. He often selected various unusual topics for us to discuss in class such as: Will you marry or stay single in future? Do you want to have a boyfriend or a girlfriend?
What would you do if it was the last day of the world? We were so interested in the topics that we all dared to speak the truth with different funny answers in class. This kind of communication aided much pleasure to our dull life. Not infrequently, he organized us to perform role-play in class. We tasted much freshness when we played different roles. We all found that we had learned a lot from his classes。
Manson often acted like a youngster. Whenever he saw the boys playing football in the field, he would join them. He was not a good player, but he would try his best to perform well. He also practiced "Taiji"----a traditional Chinese exercise in his spare time. He even performed it in class occasionally, which resulted in a burst of laughter.
Manson seemed to have no trouble in his life except for weight. He told us that he never stopped struggling to lose weight. One day when he entered the classroom, someone mentioned to him that he looked slimmer. "Really?” he responded promptly, smiling with his shinning teeth. To confirm the truth, he stepped onto a chair and danced in a circle. He looked like a lovely panda at the moment. We all burst into laughter.
Manson's unique humor and unusual teaching not only widened our sight but also brought great joy to our life. We all thought it our good luck to have such a wonderful foreigner as our English teacher.
Teachers' Day in Singapore
On 31st August, was a day like any other schooldays, except that the teachers, instead of being bogged down by assignments were besieged by gifts, flowers and cards from the ever-grateful students.
The hall was beautifully decorated with colourful balloons and streamers. The Class Chairman and Vice-Chairman were given the honour to invite the teachers personally to the hall. With each teacher's arrival, the students roared and cheered for them。
The concert comprised of dances and song performances that were all put up by our very own talented students! The audience even crooned to the rhythm of the songs. Our students also 'boogied down' with slick dance steps while the Balinese dancers impressed all with their delightful costumes and grace.
The culmination was of course the last item that was put up by some teachers. They sang a song entitled, "I love to teach the world to sing". It was very heart warming and the performance received the loudest applauds from the audience.