To all RMIT students, especially V.T.M with my sincere appreciation for your gifts.
On Monday morning, toward the end of my class, a group of students knocked on the door and asked to come in. I was surprised by their intrusion when they introduced themselves as the Music Club members who were requested bye one student to deliver me the gifts for the Teacher's Day, which will be on Saturday of November 20th. The gifts included flowers and life performance of the song 'You Raised Me Up' right in the classroom!
I closed my eyes to listen to their beautiful voices and the lovely acoustic guitar sound. Tears rose up in my throat, and I leaned against the whiteboard to remain standing. When the song ended, I exclaimed, 'My God, this is even better than my first love,' which caused the whole class to abrupt into laughter. It took me a while to resume my memory and returned to the lesson of the day. This is one of the moments that I want to freeze and store in a special corner of my brain for future's soul sustaining.
From very young age, I have witnessed the love and respect that my parents' former students showed toward them. It often amazed me how my parents remembered most of their students' names despite the facts that they had not been in touch for years. Their students, some of whom were only five or six years younger than parents were, always bowed before them and treated them with extreme respect. This was probably one of the reasons why I was motivated to become a teacher and then a counselor after so many years working in the other careers.
My father did not advise me much on how to become a good educator. His only suggestion was, 'Make sure you never stop learning. Prepare your lesson with utmost care, and always come up with ideas to make your lectures interesting.' I , however, learned from my parents' live models to treat my students with great respect, love them for who they are, and breathe passion into my lectures.
After eighteen months working in RMIT Vietnam, my educator's dream has been continuously reinforced by my students' love and respect. I know I have traveled the right road when I could see hope and yearning for new knowledge in their smiles and eyes every day. November 20th is the Vietnam's Teacher's Day, yet I would like to send my gratitude to all my students, who taught me the lessons of innovation, enlightenment, and youthful attitude.
November 16th, 2010
Saigon, Vietnam
