English Level Test Corrections by Oh Jun Rong (21)

Name: Oh Jun Rong (21)

Class: S1-03

   Back in the days where school hours seemed shorter, I had always been grateful to this teacher, Mr Tan, ever since that day. Even now, I am still filled with gratitude for him. He had helped me countless times, but the memory of the first time that he had helped me has been deeply etched into my mind, sparking the flame of my respect for him.

   On a fateful day, I had been given a task to find ten students who wanted to volunteer to help out in the school open house that was nearing. I had spent the whole recess break running around the school, hoping to find people who would be gladly volunteer, but unfortunately, these kinds of people seemed not to exist in my primary school. Most of the people I had asked would usually ask if they would get any benefit from volunteering, and when I said that there was none, they would reject my offer. I would then be seen running through various places around the school after each set-back, hoping to find at least that one person would volunteer. I would dash past the canteen, sniffing the air to smell the sweet aroma of freshly-made food and hearing the sound of chatter from the boisterous crowds of students eating there.

   I would also run through the parade square, under the intense rays of light projected by the sun and being wrapped around by immense heat in a stifling embrace, while avoiding a few students who were playing various games. Soon, I was despondent for I was not able to find any volunteers. Until, a group of students approached me stating that they wanted to volunteer. Joy had taken over me; I quickly passed them the forms and a pen. They then filled up the forms, and they soon returned them to me. I was elated when I had seen those completed forms, I thanked them and then at a breakneck speed I rushed to get to the staff room to submit the form to Mr Tan, who had assigned this task to me.

   When I got there, Mr Tan was not there. I checked the forms while waiting for him. Shock then engulfed me. The students did not write their names on the forms. After seeing that, I ran around the school frantically, in search of those students. Then when I got to the canteen. Trying to find them, cold sweat started trickling down my face, and a chill went down my spine. I was petrified. The person that I did not want to run into at that point was standing right in front of my eyes. Mr Tan saw me holding the stack of forms, asked me if I had already found some students to volunteer, but they did not write their names on the forms.” Cowered in fear, hoping that he would not give me a tongue lashing for not checking the forms when I was with the students.

   To my astonishment, instead of lecturing me, Mr Tan said that he would help me to find those students. He told me that later after the assembly, he would make an announcement in front of all of the students, requesting for those students to meet me at the front of the hall.

   At the end of the day, the students wrote their names on the forms and thus I completed my task with the help from Mr Tan.

   I think that if I could do it all over, I would check the forms on the spot when those students were still there. But, I believe that it was still quite good to meet Mr Tan under those circumstances because I strongly believe that this incident he started to trust me with various tasks. I am and always will be thankful for Mr Tan’s help. What had happened on that day has been deeply etched into my mind leaving an indelible mark on my life.