energeticthree--09@bs.com

To my beloved 1E3,

It has been such a great pleasure to teach the forty of you for the past five months. Although my teaching journey has come to an end, the fond memories in Zhenghua will always be etched deeply in my mind.

I believe that it could be fate that has brought us together. When all of you were in the midst of PSLE last year, I was deployed in Australia for my last overseas exercise. Our destiny may have been altered and linked up during that instance. After the completion of my National Service in November, I applied to be a teacher in Zhenghua and the HOD of Humanities requested to have an interview with me the following day. At that moment, had all of you been posted to Zhenghua already? During the last few days of December, I was given my hectic timetable for the next five months: 6 History classes, 1 English class, 1 Social Studies class and 1 IDPW class. The distribution of my classes is as follows:

History (Sec 1): 1E3, 1E4, 1N1
History (Sec 2): 2E2, 2E4, 2N1
English: 1T2
Social Studies: 1T2
IDPW: 1N1

If all of you were to analyse carefully, I have been assigned to teach alternate classes. However, there is an anomaly in the distribution. If the school were to follow the pattern of alternating my classes, I will be tasked to teach 1E2 rather than 1E3 already. That is the reason why I think that it has been destined for us to meet and know each other.

Your class is always bubbly, cheerful and capable of making constructive noises. I can never forget the first day that I stepped into your class. It was on 15th January, Thursday when I met all of you for the first time. All of you were so hyper-active that day and the class was filled with laughter. I wanted each of you to give a brief introduction of yourself but ironically, I became the one introducing myself in the end. I would like the class to address me as “Mr Liu” but all of you insisted to call me “Mr Ken” when all the other classes are calling me “Mr Liu”. At the end of the lesson, I was even being match-made with Xuan Kai and he took on duo roles as my History Rep and “Mrs Ken”. Nowadays, the life of a teacher is so sorrowful, got “bullied” by the students on the first day of lesson. :D

I also faced much difficulty in remembering the names of each individual in your class. Some of the names are so cool and complex that I did not even know how to pronounce. I shall give some examples:

Batrisyia: Ba-Tri-Syia / Bat-Tri-Syia
Sayuri: Say-Uri / Sa-Yu-Ri (Is she a Japanese?)
Chuphel: Chu-Phel / Chup-Hel / Chup-Phel
Conor: Con-Nor / Con-Ner / Co-Nor / Co-Ner
Giovanniel: Gio-Van-Niel / Gio-Va-Niel
Carlo: Laude / John / Carlo / Teves (Which is his given name?)

During the introduction, I was also amazed by some of the nicknames that you all have. Here are some classic examples:

Feng Zhu: Princess (Gong-Zhu)
Bao Fei: Concubine Bao Fei (Bao-Fei-Niang-Niang)
Hui Jun: Dinosaur Girl (Kong-Long-Mei)
Shan Le: Sha-La-La-La
Rasyid: Mr Bean
Rashydy: The Artist

The motivation and drive of your class to surpass other classes in History really touches me. I appreciate the tremendous effort that you all have put in to make 1E3 the best class in History. I even heard that Min Ru has her own disciples in History now. A very big thank you to my top student! :D Clement, Xin Zhi and Conor also did excellently in the Mid-Year Exam and are very close behind Min Ru in terms of results. Well done! :D The rest of you also did remarkably well in your Mid-Year Exam, doing 1E3 proud. All of you must remember that it is each individual of you that has contributed to the success of the class. Therefore, all of you must learn to appreciate one another and compromise to each other’s shortcomings.

Last but not least, I really enjoyed the farewell party that you all had planned on Monday. It was a joyous trip and I believe all of you had lots of fun. Thank you very much for the gifts and I really treasure the thoughts that you all have put in! :D

There are too many vivid and memorable moments that come to my mind when I pen down for this entry. As I start to pen down my feelings, the images of last Friday reappear. I felt really emotional and unbearable when some of you actually gathered and talked to me during the Meet-the-Parents Session. I told myself that it may be the last time that I will be seeing some of you and that was why I stayed in the class for very long, treasuring the last few moments that we will be sharing together. At that instance, I was wondering how splendid it will be if the university is starting next year. I apologise that I am unable to take all of you through the End-of-Year Exam but I strongly believe that 1E3 will continue to excel not only in History but also in other subjects. Must do me proud, okay? I am also sorry that I could not cover all the events that I have been through with your class in such a short entry. However, deep within me, I will always remember this class which has accompanied me and brought me so much laughter during my stay in Zhenghua.

Thank you for all the moments that we share.

Yours Sincerely,

Mr Ken