Wednesdays with Mrs J

Third consecutive blog entry talking about Mrs J. Have I been poisoned by her? No, I am not. She is my inspiration to work harder and improve. She shows me that age should not be treated as an excuse to stop learning. You can achieve what you aspire as long as you plan systematically, work sedulously and be ready to accept failure but never let yourself to commit the same mistake twice!

                This was my sixth class with Mrs J. We were taught on the use of visual aids in presentation in today’s lesson. As usual, she came in the class with her bouncy and bubbly steps; cladding in a zesty red suede jacket with a light beige shawl wrapping around her neck, flashing a row of pearl white teeth which are covered under the luscious red lips, such is Mrs J who has never failed to impart us her relentless enthusiasm to teaching and doing any other commitments in her life. She started the lesson by showing us a video which was made by her former students who are engineers in a company, which had hired her to improve the employee’s English proficiency. Initially, these students were being so shy when they were required to speak in front of the others and interact with Mrs J (this is the typical reaction shown by the Malaysia students who do not do so well in English). But, Mrs J always has her own expeditious way to teaching. Soon, these students were seen moving along, dancing jubilantly with Mrs J. They were less afraid now to express themselves with English and, when interviewed, they tried their best to speak in English with no hints of shyness on their faces anymore. The video was made in the dedication to Mrs J’s unremitting passion in teaching and as a token of appreciation and gratitude.

                Besides that, Mrs J also played us a poem about life, The Dash. (You can find the poem here). Not only does she emphasize on the importance of Effective Presentation, she loves to share with us her stories about life. In the Facebook group (yea, she created a group to interact with her students and other avid English learner. She believes in continuous teaching!) she also mentioned a book written by Mitch Albom, Tuesdays with Morrie (this leads us to the title of this blog entry). The book depicts the life of an erudite Professor, how he struggles in his dying days. For me, this book is deep. It touches on many aspects of life that you may not even realize if you never came across this book. I could feel my eyes were brimming with hot tears as I read the last few pages (of the dying of the professor). I can’t say that I fully comprehend the book, but I believe that, as future unfolds, my experiences and life events can prove and show me what the book literally means.

Here are some of the meaningful quotes from the book that worth to be pondered on:

 “Death ends a life, not a relationship.”

“If you’ve found meaning in your life, you don't want to go back. You want to go forward. You want to see more, do more.”

“You have to find what's good and true and beautiful in your life as it is now. Looking back makes you competitive. And, age is not a competitive issue.”

“Do the kinds of things that come from the heart. When you do, you won't be dissatisfied, you won't be envious, you won’t be longing for somebody else's things. On the contrary, you’ll be overwhelmed with what comes back”

“As long as we can love each other, and remember the feeling of love we had, we can die without ever really going away. All the love you created is still there. All the memories are still there. You live on - in the hearts of everyone you have touched and nurtured while you were here.”

“There is no formula to relationships. They have to be negotiated in loving ways, with room for both parties, what they want and what they need, what they can do and what their life is like.”

              

  So, what does life really mean you?

(sorry for the abrupt stop to this entry as the class continued with Mrs J’s teaching on the topic in our Presentation book and I don’t feel like to elaborate on that part)

Have a nice weekend to everyone and a great one week of holiday for myself!