Mr ‘Tiny’ Hadi

This story happened in 1982. I was in the last grade of senior high school, SMA Negeri 1 Solo. Aged 16-17, I and my classmates were at the peak of naughtiness. We ever left the class and watched the Queen life show on the video. Freddie Mercury was our idol at that time. We called teacher with ‘special’ name, that I knew they didn’t want to hear it. We had done so many thing that had made our teachers dissappointed. Our Indonesian teacher was Mr. Hadi. His posture was short, shorter than average of us. We called him Mr. ‘tiny’ Hadi. One day we had Indonesian class with Mr. Hadi. After he had come into the classroom, one of our friend closed and locked the classroom door. The class went quietly and no incident was happened. After one hour the bell rang, Indonesian class was over. Mr. Hadi had said ‘see you’ , walked to the door and we were waiting for science teacher, Mr. Ranto. At first, we ignored Mr. Hadi that returned to the teacher’s chair and sat there. After a few minutes, one of our friend asked him, ‘Mr. Hadi why are you…?’ She stopped the question as Mr. Hadi raised his eyebrow and pointed to the door. As we knew what made Mr. Hadi returned to his chair, we did not help him but laughed, laughed loudly. Mr. Hadi’s expression was a mixture of angry, ashamed, and desperate. The classroom door lock was designed and placed at the top rail of the door. As it was locked by our friend, with his tiny posture Mr. Hadi could not reach the lock even if he raised his hand. Ordinarily it was enaugh to close the door, never lock it. My naughty friend locked the door to create funny scene when Indonesian class was over. We were still laughing loudly when we heard a knock outside the door. ‘Open the door children’, the voice of Mr. Ranto. One of my friend opened the locked door and pleased Mr. ‘tiny’ Hadi to leave the classroom. Mr. Hadi walked desperately and with suspicious face Mr. Ranto asked him, ‘what’s wrong?’. Mr. ‘tiny’ Hadi just said ‘nothing’. We laughed again and again til then with loud sound Mr. Ranto yelled ‘shut up’……

Hear and Answer

It happened in 1996. My family stayed in Ujung Pandang, South Sulawesi. My daughter (aged 5) started enjoying reading. She got the ability to read when she was 4. To compensate her hobby, I bought her many kinds of books. Soon series of books become her favourites, The Nature’s Secret Series. The series consisted of 10 books, the secret of elephant, the secret of flower, the secret of earth, the secret of whale etc. At the end of each book there were several multiple choice questions about the book content. For several weeks after dinner or bed time became nightmare to me and my husband. We (included my baby son) were forced to hear questions from my daughter (acted as a teacher) and answered the multiple choice questions. She didn’t permit us to do anything except to hear and answer. The questions were the same of yesterday’s and the night before’s for they came from the same books. I still remember several of the questions are: are there flowers that bloom in the winter?, how big is dinosours?, why sea water is salty? etc. The ritual took 30-40 minutes, until she said ‘that’s the lesson for today’ and went to sleep. We followed what she wanted til then she was bored. Now (age 17, IQ 160) she still fonds of reading.

Inspiring Teacher

I’ve finished my magister programme, and started to seek a teaching job. Knowing that, my smallest son, 9 years old asked me to teach at a kindergarten near his school, or taught at his primary school. He said, mommy, you can teach math or science, but don’t teach art or sport. I said, I will not honey, it’s not mommy’s field. Mommy wants to teach undergraduate students at school of pharmacy. Why, it’s the same teaching activity?, he asked. I explained my knowledge and skill were more useful to be shared with such students. When I started to teach undergraduate students he reminded me not to forget to bring a red pen. Why, I asked. Mommy is a teacher, a red pen is very important to score students exam, just like my teachers did. I smiled, again I heard another ‘just like my teachers did’. He’s at 4th grade primary school, and he admired his teachers so much. I thanked God. I knew his teachers, most of them taught not only with their skill but with their heart. They are not only transfering knowledge but very inspiring too. Not all teachers did like that. I want to be an inspiring teacher too.

I've made my (first) blog

Hi, I've just made my (first) blog and I'm going to write in my blog continuously.