Inspiring Teachers Awards: Mr Phua changed my life by believing in me

When Kar Kian was in Yishun Secondary School, he acknowledged he was not a model student.

However, his teacher Mr Phua's persistence in motivating his students and getting them to enjoy learning won Kar Kian over in the end.

Kar Kian, now 25, told Stomp that his life has forever changed since Mr  Phua entered his life 10 years ago.

Here is Kar Kian's entry for the Samsung-Stomp Inspiring Teachers Awards:

"Mr Phua taught me when I was in Secondary 3 and 4. Despite my class being the most notorious Express class of the level (we skipped class and talked in groups, sometimes in front of the teacher), he did not give up on all of us and tried his best to make us learn.

"By doing that, he had to enforce strict discipline but make the lessons fun for us at the same time so that we could get something out of them.

"For example, he always caught us within seconds for our offences, no matter how well we tried to do it behind his back or even in front of him. We felt that we could not escape his eye.

"Hence, we listened to him unwillingly at first but as he went through the lessons, he made them fun by singing some of the equations to us despite him being a male teacher which many would not have done to save face.

"He also tried his best to coach us in the areas we didn't understand.

"My most memorable memory of him was when during one of our meet-the-parents sessions, he told my mum not to compare me to my siblings when she repeatedly did so.

"This made me really appreciate him and after so many years, I became a teaching aid in the special needs sector, although I have left the industry recently.

"I always remind myself how student-centred he was and try to model myself after him as he never gave up on any one of us but motivated us instead.

"I want to really thank him for being such a nice teacher back then as it really changed my perspective of teachers and he really changed my life by believing in me."

Have a teacher you want to nominate? Find out how to join the Samsung-Stomp Inspiring Teachers Awards here.

Read all entries for the contest here.