Farewell to Madam Liew Bii Kai


                                           Group photo with Madam Liew(the red shirted one)



Friday, 26 September 2014, was the retirement day of Madam Liew Bii Kai, head of the Language Department at my school. After teaching English for 29 years, she told us that she had no regrets as she looked back on her accomplishments throughout her career. She had gleaned valuable lessons from different principals and colleagues. ‘I wouldn’t be who I am without their guidance and support’, said Madam Liew with a grateful smile.

      Madam Liew graduated with a degree in English Literature from the University of Sussex in Glasgow, Scotland. With a reputation for being a strict and dedicated teacher, she emphasized the value of discipline and consistent hard work. ‘My initial dream was not to be a teacher, but an interior designer’, she said, surprising everyone with this remark. ‘I took up teaching at the behest of my father, but I loved the job more and more as time went by’. To fulfil her dream, she revealed that she may pursue interior design in due course.

       In the beginning, Madam Liew’s journey as a teacher was not smooth. She could not land a position in any government school for two years and had to be content with teaching in a private school with relatively low pay. Upon learning of a vacancy at St. Joseph, she grasped the opportunity, and here she remained faithfully affiliated until the day she retired. ‘The odds were stacked against me at the beginning of my career’, she said. ‘It was St. Joseph that had changed my life, and I am proud to be a Josephian’.
      Towards the end of her speech, her voice faltered as she mentioned two persons she had wronged in the past: a student and a colleague. She did not have the chance to seek forgiveness from them but hoped that they would be successful in their journeys in life.

      After the farewell gathering, an assembly was held in honour of Madam Liew in the school hall. She was invited to deliver a farewell speech to the students, who listened to her attentively. She likened herself to a rice cooker, and the students the rice. ‘As a cooker’, she said, ‘I provide the energy so that each of you will be cooked to perfection’. The sagacious allegory made the students burst into thunderous applause.

      When the assembly came to a close, Madam Liew got into a car that took her around the school compound. She stood up through the sun-roof and waved at the students who lined up along the road. A group of school prefects marched behind the car to send off the teacher.

      Madam Liew, we thank you for having been a great leader in the Language Department. Besides being the proofreader of my works, you shared unforgettable lessons in our heart-to-heart conversations. I will treasure your advice in the deepest recesses of my heart.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Creative Writing Workshop

Image
I attended a creative writing workshop in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah last Saturday. It was organized by Jude Day, president of Society of Performing Arts Kota Kinabalu Sabah(SPARKS), The invited speaker was Robert Raymer, a Sarawak-based American writer who is a lecturer of creative writing at Universiti Sarawak Malaysia. He is the author of 'Lovers and Strangers Revisited', 'Tropical Affairs', 'The Boy Who Shot Santa' and 'Spirit of Malaysia'. It only took me ten minutes to get to Wisma Anglican, the workshop venue from my hotel on shanks's pony. I felt honored to have met Mr. Robert Raymer in person.He exuded a quiet air of confidence and patience. I bought a copy of his 'Lovers and Strangers Revisited' and got it autographed by him. I was thrilled and could not help smiling from ear to ear. I picked up a lot of knowledge during the workshop. First, Robert Raymer expounded the essence of creative writing.Next, he showed us how to organiz...
Read more

Article on My Art Lessons

Image
The title is originally 'A Realisation As An Overaged Art Student' but it was changed to something cringeworthy. Many young children between the ages of six to fifteen hunched over the tables in the sitting room, sketching and painting.   At the age of forty-five, I was by far the oldest student, overweight, too, and somewhat shabby looking.   Sitting in an inconspicuous corner, under a freezing air conditioner, I surfed the Inter­net on my ipad to hide my discomfort. One by one, more kids poked their heads around the door, entered the house barefoot and took their seemingly pre-assigned positions in the sitting room. When Vaz, the elegant art teacher in her late fifties arrived, she frowned at where I was sitting. “This is not where you sit,” said the lecturer cum artist, while beckoning me to follow her into a little room beside her office.   She handed me a beginner kit and frowned again when I told her that I had forgotten to bring my coloured penc...
Read more

My Life as a Boarder at St. Patrick's

The first time I came to Kuching was in 1990. Failing to secure a place in government schools after the SPM, I enrolled in the sixth  form  at the now defunct school on Stampin Road, St. Patrick's. It was my first time away from the comfort of home, and I was staying in the school ’s  wooden boarding house, naturally fe eling  emotionally challenged. In the first few months of my stay, I was wrought with unmitigated homesickness, which sapped my confidence, energy, and optimism for life. My weight plunged, and it took a toll on my health. One time, I was so delirious with fever that the world was almost dead to me. My fellow boarders took turns looking after me, bringing me food, sponging my feverish forehead, and washing my sweat-soiled clothes. I finally came to my senses when a boy named Simon  warned me that if I continued letting my emotions control me, I would disappoint my parents. Like me, he had come all the way from Miri to study. He...
Read more