The Joys and Sorrows of Teaching

Hello everyone!

In case you hadn’t already noticed — I really enjoy my job! I’m certain most people also feel passionate about the work they do; but even so, there are bound to be some challenging moments that make us feel slightly less motivated to wake up in the morning.

Hopefully, there’s more sweetness than bitterness in all of this! For me, this is exactly the case.

Joys — From all walks of life.

The students we meet are from all over the world! Therefore, this school is like a huge Folklorama pavilion and working here makes me feel like our world is both such a big and small place at the same time. Big because there are so many various cultures and customs and small because we all have the same goals — becoming proficient in the English language and fitting in with the community (via friendships, making contributions to society like volunteering or working, and finding a sense of importance or meaning).

Before arriving to Winnipeg, these students have lived incredible lives with amazing experiences. Some came with their parents and need to adjust to an entirely new lifestyle; some are barely an adult yet came here alone for the holidays; and some are here to invest in a brighter future through postsecondary education or employment.

All of our students are such interesting people. Every interaction I have with them is an opportunity for myself to learn and grow. I learn to be more mindful of the words I use, to have more patience and understanding, and to pick up different languages (I try to learn a bit of every language my students can speak).

“The person who learns the most in any classroom is the teacher” — John Clear.

Sorrows — Saying Goodbyes

One of my biggest strengths is also one of my biggest weaknesses. Being the people-person I am, it’s fairly easy for me to break the social ice with the new people I meet and begin to develop friendships. On the other hand, I also tend to get emotionally attached to people easily and it really rips my heart whenever I need to bid farewell.

At my high school graduation ceremony in 2007, we had a dinner-dance party at a fancy hotel. As soon as the lights had turned on and the music stopped, tears began to flow down my cheeks because I realized that there’ll never again be a moment like this where we could all be together.

Something similar to this happened again to me in 2009 when I had spent my first year as an international student in China. After that year, most of the cool friends I had met (also from all over the world) had gone back to their home countries to continue living their lives. I was so devasted that I ended up making a very tough decision — to spend less time meeting international friends and spend more time meeting local Chinese friends. This was the only way I could think of to avoid having so many heartbreaks year-after-year.

Since working at this school, I’ve said “Congratulations on completing your course. Good luck and goodbye!” many times every week for the last few months. I still remember the first time I held a graduation ceremony for Fei (from China). He was in my class for only 2 weeks and the news of his last day hit me like a baseball to the face.

As the time went by, more and more people from my class started to graduate. Every time that happened, I forced myself to stay strong and not cry. It was especially difficult when two sisters in particular cried during their two last days of classes.

Then, the whole class had graduated, and I realized that almost everyone I had known had been replaced with new students. In the beginning, I had the urge to go against my personality of meeting and greeting everyone — just so I could prevent some potential grief for when they will eventually graduate. But after some time, I decided that this wouldn’t do anyone any good.

As the saying goes:
“It’s better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all.”

To all the readers that were once in my life (or still is), I love you all!
You’ll forever be in my heart.

Thanks for reading, everyone!

Catch ya later.

Sincerely,
Scott Lao