A Happy Reunion

 

[caption id="attachment_6561" align="alignnone" width="300"] Taken in the 305 reunion_20121223[/caption]



The more we get together, the happier we'll be.

Time: Dec. 23, 2012, 12pm

Place: 唐宮蒙古烤肉: 松江路28號2樓

Attendees: 尤信德夫婦, 賴昶均, 許晏誠, 陳威任, 林聖鈞, 簡嘉宏, 王紀凱, 李昀龍, 洪宇鈞, 廖鴻聲, 李嘉展, 林裕修, 賴冠伯, & me

Is it true that a picture can paint a thousand words?  Sometimes I don't think so.   Yes, the photo shows a happy reunion, but behind it are stories waiting to unfold.

This noon, Class 305, who graduated from NHSH around 11 years ago, had a reunion.  At first, the organizer, after knowing about my retirement this August, asked me if I'd like to have a gathering with the class.  Of course, I'd love to.   In fact, I was really touched for although I was not their homeroom teacher, I felt so close to them.  Originally, I had thought it would be just a small one.  When told that 14 would come, I was surprised, and hilarious.  After all, I haven't seen a few of them for many years.

Class 305 was a well-disciplined, hard-working class.  I don't remember having any difficulty with classroom management in their class.   They were willing to answer my questions, took my assignments seriously, and had good interaction with me.  In a word, I had a wonderful time teaching them English.

I taught them for two years--junior and senior years.  In their junior year, I had them do oral report in both semesters.  In the first semester, they picked a topic they liked, did some research, wrote a report, and came to my office to talk to me about the topic.   After the talk, I'd have some questions for them to answer.  I still remember someone talking about the Pink Panther and a talk about a political scandal in Taiwan.

In the second semester, each student was asked to give a presentation in front of the class.  The one which impressed me most was a speech on a mathematical concept.  Given in English, it was a bit too hard to understand; however, the students still paid attention, trying to understand.  The student who gave the speech is now studying for his Ph.D. degree in math in the States.

Besides oral report, I also had the students hand in written report.   They read articles they liked and wrote a reflection on them.   Grading their reports, I had to read not only their reflection but also the attached article they read.  I enjoyed their hard work, and mine.

In addition to the "academic" stuff, we sang numerous songs in class.  During one semester, I had them, either individually or in groups, teach the class a song they liked.  I still remember the song a very shy student taught: "Eternal Flame."  And I can never forget the class when I taught them the song "The Rose."  Because I didn't bring the handouts for the class, I wrote the lyrics as the song was being played.  The moment both the song and I finished, the whole class was speechless, overwhelmed by the beauty of the song...

In today's reunion, each of them shared the story of their own, talking about what they are doing.  Listening to them, I recalled a sentence from my senior high school teacher Ms. Lin (林琍珊老師): "Every student is like a mine; you never know what will come out of it."  Whatever mine it is, each has its value in this big universe.

A student told me he still kept the bookmark with the words of "MacArthur's Prayer for His Son," which I made and gave them before they graduated.  Hearing this, some students said they had it with them too.   How nice it is of them to tell me so!  How good it is for me to see them grow into gentlemen!

As their teacher, I sincerely wish them a purposeful and very happy life.