Teacher Lynette's passion for teaching was both born and acquired.
She was born in Ipoh in a family of teachers. Both her grandmother and
her mother were teachers. Since young, whenever Lynette and her sisters
played at home, they played teacher and pupils. Naturally after Form 5,
Lynette went straight away to work and teach piano. She worked as a
music teacher while she offered tuition. There weren't many job
opportunities in Ipoh and that's how she ended up working in Subang,
where her relatives were. She was young and without much teaching
experience. The bosses weren't convinced she was capable enough to take
the role of a Class Teacher that time, so she got hired as an Assistant
Teacher.
Nevertheless, that did not deter her. Given a
class with 5 and 6-year-olds, with not many tools to teach, without even
white boards or soft boards, it did not stop Teacher Lynette from
putting up lots of charts and visual teaching aids on the walls to make
the lessons more effective for the children. She even helped to set up
the syllabus later on. Before she noticed, Teacher Lynette was promoted
as a principal in 1993 when the center branched out to 3 branches,
another two of which were in Gasing Indah and USJ 2.
Teacher
Lynette really enjoyed working on the children. She was also flexible
to take a transfer to Shah Alam later when she had her first son.
Determined to be a professional early years teacher, Teacher Lynette
enrolled herself into Diploma in Early Childhood Education with ALFA
International College after her 50's. Struggled with formal learning but
graduated eventually. She felt good to learn that they had been doing
it the right way. The way they dealt with the children. "
Your
relationship with the children comes first before everything. I used to
be very strict. But after many years, I learned that it is about getting
them to be interested, especially if they like you, they will do what
you want, and that's when they slowly learn. There's a lot of give and
take with the children."
"I find the Character
First lessons really helpful in molding the children well. We speak
about strengths to them and the MI method can help us see the child's
strengths."
"My job satisfaction definitely comes from
seeing the children improve.With your patience and dedication, you will
also improve as a person. You are always learning how to deal with the
people and children around you."
Teacher Lynette also
shared with us how intricate dealing with every child could be. It is
both an art and a science and you need to be patient enough to try
different ways to help them learn better. "
For example, a child was
not writing properly alone, so today I made him join others and he can
finally write. I learned that when put in a group with friends, he tend
not to wander away. As opposed to another child, she could not read when
put in a group. But when I took her out of the group, she picked up and
could read and write. When they can, as teachers we get so happy and
that in turn makes them very happy too. As children, they feel good
about themselves knowing they can also do it."
In a nutshell, Teacher Lynette reiterated how crucial it is for all teachers to be loving and caring here. "
As
a teacher, it is important for you to treat the children like your own
so the children can connect with you. That is when learning can take
place."
