Inspiring Teachers Awards: Mr Koh taught me to never give up and to follow my dreams

When Li Hui was struggling with English while studying at Hua Yi Secondary School, her teacher, Mr Koh taught her the most important lesson she has learnt: Never give up.

"He taught us the important value of not to giving up," Li Hui. "Even after our secondary school days, he would check on how we are doing."

"He has always placed his students as his top priority."

Here is Li Hui's entry for the Samsung-Stomp Inspiring Teachers Awards:

"School is just a place where we, as teenagers, would just go in order for us to get to the next phase of our life.

"As a teenager, I always wanted to do well in order for me to achieve my dreams and this dream is exceptionally hard to achieve given the fact that I am not a bright student.

"English has always been a barrier that I face. I would never get a grade above 60.

"Being a student, I always felt demoralised given the fact that I had worked so hard and still couldn’t get my desired results.

"Back then, I was lucky to meet Mr Koh, my English teacher.

"Everyone in school was so afraid of him as he has a rather fierce look.

"Back then, my thoughts were, whatever it is, he's just another teacher.

"However, his actions changed the way I thought of him. He is a teacher who has always gone the extra mile.

"Being a student who is quiet but always having doubts in mind, he would ask me to stay back after class to go through the doubts I had and tell me how I could further improve my language ability in expressing my day-to-day life as well as writing compositions.

"Not only that, on days he had to miss class, he would meet the group of us who needed more help at Starbucks after office hours. 

"When it came near to the exams, he would spend all his weekends coaching us at Starbucks to ensure we were ready for them.

"After my N-levels, I was devastated that I did not get Mr Koh as my teacher any more.

"With the sudden change of teacher and teaching methods, I did not pass English in class tests and exams.

"Although he was no longer my official English teacher, he still spent time coaching me after class and encouraged me not to give up.

"I didn’t do as expected for my O-levels, however, he advised me to plan for my future education and most importantly, he told me to continue to work hard for my dreams.

"Thank you Mr Koh Kah Hock for teaching me the most important value of never giving up and thank you for always putting your students above yourself."

The contest is now closed and winners will be contacted shortly.

Read all entries for the contest here.