Page 28 - 博愛醫院八十週年鄧英喜中學（特刊2020）

From Learning

to Teaching

Mr. Daniel Lee
(Alumnus and teacher of TYH)

For those who do not know my background, I am a TYH alumnus, graduated in
2015. However hard it is for you to believe, for most of the proportion when I was
a student here, I was never interested or motivated to work hard on my academics.
So, unlike a typical student from an A-class, the way to my current standing was
not plain sailing.

I had never been interested in languages either, let alone English, in my early
adolescence. It was not until the third junior year that I tried to put a bit effort into
a few academic subjects, English amongst them, so as to be able to compete with
other students in securing my preferred (but later regretted...) elective subject
choices. I approached my then English teacher, Ms Kan, for assistance and she,
much to my gratitude hitherto, was crisply willing to help.

If you marked my words carefully, all I did was for a higher grade in exams, for
which I gleefully fulfilled, and thence awaiting something else to fill the vacuum.
Hence my short-lived can-do spirit and a return to my original lacklustre state. This
prolonged for one and a half senior years.
Mr Daniel Lee (right)
Another teacher changed the course of my school life, afterwards - it was my then
LS and class teacher, Ms Lee. On one occasion she told us that, different from
other subjects, good grades in LS were not a privilege to students from the A-class.
In other words, everyone began at the same starting point in the run. I took in her
words and kept drilling LS exercises for the second half of my F.5 year. Not only
had improvements indeed shown; I also became cognisant of the multifacetedness
and fun of LS, thus fallen head over heels with what I enjoyed doing. Just to spice
things up a little, I switched from reading newspapers in Chinese to English. I was
not deterred by unfamiliar, new words, but rather, I was aroused not least because
I wanted to learn about current affairs and opened my eyes to things outside the
campus. I will skip the monotonous part about my method of learning English
temporarily. This time, I want to use my experience to show you how one's passion
can shape his/her path towards unexpected achievements.

Lastly, I would like to apologise to my Principal who probably expects this piece
to be both inspiring and motivating for students. I believe that realism is the best
form of didactics, as everyone could have different takeaways. For me, I have been
inspired by my enlightening teachers to be a responsible teacher bringing about
positive influences on my students. But what happened to me erstwhile may not
exactly happen to you, so do take my words with a pinch of salt. My path towards
realising myself tends to be one of fits-and-starts. Wasting too much time may
scupper your chances of success.

27 適性揚才‧多元發展