She's just not that into teaching

I was at a business lunch trying to navigate my way through landmines similar in scale to that in Cambodia, hoping I don't lose an arm and a leg by the end of it. My phone rang just when we were getting the bill and I had grandma on the other end, didn't sound too happy. Turned out Changunnie left her playgroup early that day because the teacher pushed Changunnie away when Changunnie approached her for a hug. Grandpa was upset and decided to call it a day.

I still haven't gotten a chance to talk to the supervisor of the school but I can see what happened as I took Changunnie to her class twice since she got promoted from baby group to toddlers group.

I remember my first grade Chinese teacher and she defined the term good teacher for me. My mum passed away when I was in kindergarten and my father had to work. It wasn't easy to get help in late 70s in Hong Kong. Day care centre was not available and no matter how nice our neighbours were, my father did not want to send me to five different homes each day during the week. Sending me to school early seemed to be a good choice but I was too young for first grade that fall. I was not qualified to go to primary school as a five year old if we followed the small prints in the policy. My father submitted the application anyway. I miraculously passed all the academic tests. The ultimate test was the interview to see if I were socially inept. I think my father did a good job explaining the situation and convinced the teachers that I would not pee in my pants (yes! it was a criteria) and I got the special permission.

School started and Mrs Chan, my Chinese teacher whom I met at the interview, made it her mission to look after me, the troubled and youngest in class. We were told to make cards for our mothers for Mother's days. Instead of letting me to skip the assignment so that Mrs Chan didn't have to deal with the crying, she helped me to accept the fact that my situation was different. She encouraged me to write to my mum, telling her how much I missed her and that helped me to deal with the loss. We had to assemble at the hall by the end of the day. Mrs chan always held my hand till my family showed up to take me home. She showed me that a good teacher not only teaches her students about school work but also cares about their well-being.

Ms Nancy, the Chinese teacher of Changunnie's old playgroup reminded me of Mrs Chan. She knows Changunnie's first language is not Chinese and she made extra effort to teach Changunnie the vocabularies they used that day. When Changunnie graduated from baby class to toddlers class, Ms Nancy spoke to the new teacher about Changunnie's situation and reminded the new teacher to look after Changunnie.

I went to the first toddlers class with Changunnie. The English session was ok. Mr Ryan was happy to let the children to run around in the classroom. After all, you cannot really ask a group of two to three year old children to sit still for one and half hours. Mr Ryan responded to the children well. Holding hand, hugging, leading them to do different activities, a high five to encourage a job well done, a friendly reminder not to stray away.... all well.

During the Chinese class, the new teacher simply wanted parents or guardians to hold the children tight so that she could finish reading the story book. No one was supposed to walk around or to ask a question. Changunnie was not interested in the new teacher's dramatic story telling style and the trouble began. The teacher repeatedly scolded me for not holding Changunnie in place. I was not pleased and did not obliged as Changunnie did not disturb anyone.

Then, grandma told me what happened when Changunnie tried to hug the teacher. Children are very simple and honest creatures. They hug people to say they are happy and comfortable. An early education should be able to handle the hug better than pushing the child away. I am not asking the teacher to love her class as I know that is unfair but shouldn't the teacher appreciate and responds better to a child?