One who can show us the right path is a good teacher, one who can walk the right path with us is a good friend ~ Jing Si Aphorism by Master Cheng Yen

Do you have a favourite teacher? Or maybe that teacher now become your friend. Everyone must have at least one teacher who’s glued to their heart. During school years, teachers are the ones who not only educate but also take care of and nurture students, both inside and outside classrooms. To appreciate the teacher's love and efforts, in conjunction with the commemoration of National Teacher’s Day on 25 November, Tzu Chi School students across all levels prepared a special occasion to celebrate teachers.

Ms Marcineth Pangilinan, P1 Harmony teacher who’s in charge of the celebration this year said, “Teachers are an all-around job, their role doesn’t only evolve in teaching the kids in class. We’re hoping the teacher's day celebration will make them feel appreciated and to just enjoy the day with the kids through some games.”

In the morning, teachers were spoiled by the Student Monitor members with snacks and karaoke at the 4th floor gym in the ‘Tiki Party’. Also in this wonderful day, students were asked to express their feelings and gratitude to their teachers through handwritten messages, which were collected in a bottle called ‘Chill Pills’.

Ms Pangilinan explained, “Since learning activities takes up most of their time, there’s not enough time for teachers and students to share personal moments. These letters allow students to show their appreciation to the teacher, like thank you or I love you miss.” Simple yet heartwarming messages from students can not only gives reward to the teachers but also motivation to enjoy their work even more. 

Celine Gwyneth, a P3 Kindness students wrote a message to her Form Teacher, Ms Ellen. For Celine, celebrating Teacher’s Day means celebrating teacher’s love. “I said in my letter, thank you teacher, thank you for teaching and thank you for taking care of us at school. Since at school we don’t have our parents, so teachers are like our parents here,” said Celine. 

On this special day, parents represented in the Parents Teacher Association (PTA) also prepared a simple, yet meaningful handmade gifts for the teachers and make games such as ‘How Well Do You Know Your Teacher?’. 

Students in the P3 Integrity class were proven know their teachers well by being able to answer most of the questions right. Joycelynn Cherina, from P3 Integrity, when asked to write a message to her Form Teacher went straight to grab her pencil and became one of the first ones to finish. “I love my teachers, and I wanted to thank Ms Lafni who has taught me a lot of Indonesian words. Thank you, Ms Lafni,” as she smiled. 

For these young students, they might be young but they do understand the meaning behind Teacher Appreciation Day. Leon Joshua from P3 Kindness said, ‘We celebrate teacher’s day because our teachers work hard to help us and care about us, so thank you teacher.”

For their efforts and love, there is nothing more rewarding than to see the success and improvement in their students. Ms Pangilinan, who’s been a teacher for 8 years told a story about her first year teaching Primary students at Tzu Chi School, three years ago. “There was a student who’s intelligent but he couldn’t stay put. Seeing that throughout each term, he was finally able to actually focus in class, it made me cry.”

Ms Pangilinan, who spent her five years teaching students at the upper level back in the Philippines never thought simple improvement such as being focused in class could make her feel so rewarded. “The thing is young children also very honest, so they tell you whatever they feel, and seeing their improvement or telling me they want to stay with me in P1, it’s very nice.”