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Do presidents either believe that fewer than two students scale through? Grandma asked the class students. It happened that Grandma had asked the kids a question from a just-completed English passage. For a while, no one dared to raise his or her hand. Grandma, a little bit annoyed, tried not to feel bittered by the reaction of the kids towards their academics. I saw it firsthand, and I was about to intervene aggressively. Grandma, being an experienced teacher, decided to calm me and said, "I want you to teach these kids once more and make it an interactive one."
"Grandma... you are over-pampering these kids. During my days, all I would hear is 'lie down flat,' and I know that you, Grandma, can relate," I said.
Grandma immediately said to me, "Those days of Abacha stoves and very many more are gone. We pray these kids do not experience such again."
I replied, "Amen." I projected my face to the sky as I wanted to take a light.
Soon, under Grandma's watch, I took over the class and began to read to the kids. Grandma said to me, "No, no, no. We have been reading to these kids for months now. We have to change the strategy to observe the same objective."
Immediately, a boy, Adams, raised his hand. He was really excited to read it out.
"Adams, my boy... not you again this time. I want others too. Many of you are just shy."
Immediately, a thought came to my mind. I didn't know when I blotted out the point of reading based on paragraphs. Grandma approved of it. Adams, seated on the first row, took the lead. Soon, the other kids followed in a sequential manner.
After two months of using this approach, there was a massive improvement in the fluency of reading English language. A few students, however, showed minor disparities due to their tongue or tribe differences.
Grandma, the headmistress, was happy with the progress and decided to reward me. She loved the way I accepted the opinions of others, filtered them, and used the profitable ones. Parents from far and near were happy about the kids' progress.
During Open Day, parents came with trailer loads of complaints, but concerning my class, I don’t think I recorded much of it. Immediately, I remembered Dr. Fakunle, who never leaves an Open Day without giving the teachers a Seven Up or a Coca-Cola drink. This is his way of saying thank you.
Rumour had it that Dr. Fakunle’s wife is late, and he could be interested in getting a new wife soon. The soft drink shop his wife left behind is now being controlled by him. Moreover, he had a series of diagnostic centres situated in Lagos, Nigeria, and to some extent, he was an affluent somebody.
"Your son Adams has improved since the inception of this new term," he said. He also added that I am a lover of kids and love the progress of all.
He added that I used funny examples that Adams easily remembers.
I smiled, and immediately, he gave me an envelope. With my chin up, I appreciated his kind gesture. Since it was not a bribe in this harsh economy, who am I not to collect it? They are strangers who saw my effort through their kids. I don’t know them, but through their kids, I have broken barriers.
However, I received a report from a parent, Mrs. Akpan, who claimed that there were grammatical errors in my writing to the kids. Agitated, she brought out her kid’s work and read out the supposed grammatical blunder. She claimed that it was meant to be "I pray that God helps," not "God help."
Another parent, also a teacher, overheard what she had said. Immediately, she replied to her, "No, no, no, no. You can’t say that. When words like 'prayer,' 'recommend,' 'demand' are being used in a sentence, plural verbs are to be used. For instance, 'He recommended that he pay me my money,' not 'pays.'"
Hmm! The commotion lasted for a while. She only believed when I sent an example of such sentences online.
For a while, I was scared. I know that we are not perfect, but I do know that we can, consistently, improve on ourselves, as no one is an island of knowledge.
After that event, many colleagues told me not to be disappointed, as such can be seen from different parents. They are strangers to the school settings, especially what we are going through to teach their kids.
Hmm! I also encouraged other teachers, especially Mr. Folagbade, who was queried for giving his notebook to his pupil to copy on the board just to avoid stress.
At the end of the term that year, Grandma gave me a laptop and a mobile phone as a reward for dedicating my time, energy, and resources to giving these kids the best form of education that they deserve.
I was really happy, and I shared a joyful one, as none of my kids scored below 70% in their final exams.s
Thanks for reading. Bye!