JS8222

I am now studying the bachelor of English education and hopefully about to be a teacher. It was tough for me to make such decision as I have been an indecisive person for many years. It usually takes me 10 minutes to come up with what I should eat for lunch and 10 days to think of what electives I should register in a semester. Even choosing the topic of this autobiography cost me an extremely long time. Could you imagine how long it would take when it came to making decision about my college major that could be closely related to my future profession and my life career? I would say it took me 3 months. It is a long period of time but fruitful and memorable.

2^nd May, 2015, the day I finally finished the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination (HKDSE), I got a longest summer holiday that I had ever had. Like other secondary school graduates, I was desperate to get a summer job. I started to send out job applications regardless of the nature of the job, the company or the working district and just craved for their replies.

After a few days, I got the first job interview of my life, which is from a kindergarten, hiring a temporary program worker. I nervously pressed the doorbell of the kindergarten. Within a second, a staff holding a piece of paper opened the door with a smiley face and confirmed my identity. She put a tick next to my name and guided me to the waiting room. When I was walking with her, I peeped at the paper on her hand with a list of candidates’ names on it. My name was in the 7^th column, which was also the last column of the table. It made me even more nervous when I figured out that there should be only 1/7 probability I would be selected. In the waiting room, as time passed by, my anxiety grew and grew. I was scared that I would fail my first job interview. I was scared that I would forget the script on my self-introduction I had written in advance. “Miss Chung, you may go to the interview room now.” said the staff. Her words raised my tension. My heavy breath, my rapid heartbeats and my extreme apprehension followed me all the way to the interview room. She opened the door. A well-groomed middle-aged woman with long hair was sitting there waiting for me. I walked into the room and sat at the opposite side of the table. She greeted me and introduced herself with her soft and motherly voice. She was Mrs. Shum, the principal of the kindergarten. Somehow, listening to her voice drove away my fear. “Why would you like to work with children?” she asked. I started to recite my script with confidence and pretend to be enthusiastic about contacting with children.

The next day, when I was sitting in front of the computer sending more job applications, my phone rang. “Miss Chung, it’s Tin Ka Ping Kindergarten calling. We would like to hire you as the program worker of our kindergarten. Would you be free to make an appointment with our principal?” the caller said. After we ended the call, I couldn’t restrain my happiness anymore. I was so excited as if I had won the mark six lottery. I jumped in the air and went to the kitchen immediately to give my mum a big hug. A fresh secondary school graduate with zero work experience succeeded in her first job interview. Maybe I was happy merely because I got a job. Did I care about what job it was?

Fast forward to the first day I worked in the kindergarten, I arrived at the campus half an hour earlier to get familiar with the place I was going to work at. It wasn’t a big campus and accommodated only 4 classes. Walking along the corridor, the classrooms were at the both sides and there was an activity room at the end of the corridor. Each classroom was decorated with well-designed bulletin board of different themes. Students’ creative artworks were hung on the wall. Each classroom also had a reading corner and a playing corner. However, what attracted the most was the lively and cheerful kids. Some were eating breakfast in the classrooms and some were doing morning exercise, moving their chubby bodies with the teacher while listening to the Children’s music. On the first day, when I passed by the classrooms, every child would get excited and ask “who are you?” out of infinite curiosity. After they knew my name, when I passed by, every child would get excited again and greet me with friendliness.

On my work days, I would go into the classrooms and assist the teachers with teaching and activities. Miss Lai, my supervisor, was a very experienced and warmhearted teacher. She was nice to me, every student and colleague. She would explain and guide my work patiently and clearly. The kids in the kindergarten would misbehave sometimes but Ms. Lai always had her ways to deal with those students. One time, a four-year-old kid didn’t finish his lunch because he was a picky eater. He was left alone with his whole bowl of green pea rice in the classroom by his class teacher while the other classmates were having activities in the music room. Miss Lai was there to accompany him, sitting next to him and talking to him with a childlike voice which the kid really liked. “Do you know if you want to grow taller, you can’t be picky eating!” “Don’t you want to go sing with your friends?” “Open your mouth! Ah----“ “Yes! Good job!” “Well done! One more bite!” At last, the kid finished his lunch with struggle and it took approximately half an hour. Miss Lai insisted on not shouting at the misbehaved students but to lecture them with patience and care instead. During those 3 months, I had never seen her getting mad or yelling at the students. Her good temper and kindness towards the students were very impressive to me. I respected her a lot. The determination to change my JUPAS choice was building up gradually.

The day my DSE results were released, I sat in front of the computer, thinking of the days I had worked in the kindergarten, the joyful time spent with the children and the moments when I observed Ms. Lai’s teaching. Without a doubt, I put JS8222 as my A1 choice.