Describe a typical day in the life of a teacher in Singapore.

Even though she had taught this lesson many times in her past nine years of teaching, she never once felt bored about teaching the lesson again. Teaching was her passion and she wanted to ensure that her students are able to gain knowledge from her lessons. She always felt a sense of satisfaction whenever she saw her students scoring well for their examinations. Smiling happily, she continued with her lessons until the bell signaled for recess. “Yes!” The gleeful cheers of the children erupted at once. Trying to hide the smile breaking across her face, she thought about how despite the playfulness of her students, their innocent and cheerful nature still managed to make her happy. “Alright, the lesson shall end here. Remember to complete your homework and hand it in tomorrow!”

With that said, she strode out of the classroom, carrying along a stack of 40 workbooks, heading towards her office. “Mrs. Tay, Mrs. Tay!” She heard someone call out her name. Whipping her head around, she noticed the monitress of her previous class running after her. “Let me help you with the workbooks!” The monitress offered sweetly. “Why, thank you.” Mrs. Tay replied back. To say she was happy was an understatement, in fact Mrs. Tay was really touched about helpful students like these. After reaching her office and thanking the monitress once again, she decided to head down towards the canteen for a quick break before her next lesson.

The canteen, as usual, was packed with students from different levels. As Mrs. Tay made her way towards the snacks stall, she felt a tap on her shoulders. “Hello,” Mr. En, the Mathematics teacher, greeted. Mrs. Tay felt glad to have a companion. Most of the time, she would be by herself during her breaks. Majority of the students were either too shy or afraid to approach her and some simply ignored her existence. She felt less lonely when her colleagues were around. Beaming, she chatted with him about their lessons as they ate quickly to prepare for their next lessons.

The day continued routinely and before she knew it, school was over. Carrying a pile of her students’ work back to mark, she bid her colleagues goodbye and headed back home. As usual, she had an appetizing dinner cooked up by her husband before she started on marking her students’ work. After marking her students’ work, her husband gave her an accustomary massage for her aching shoulders and legs after a tiring day’s work. As she laid down her head on her pillow with a smile etched across her face, she thought about how the next day would be an equally tiring yet wonderful day of teaching.