An Open Letter to my Learners in the New Normal

Hello and Welcome to School Year 2021 - 2022!

As you already know, I am your English teacher for this school year. Before I ask you to introduce yourselves, I would like to give you and your loved ones my heartfelt gratitude for choosing to go to school.

This decision is not easy for some of us. Some of us pray for the safety of the family members who are front-liners. Some of us are carefully making budgets for mobile data or for the monthly FIBR bill. Some of us have problems we cannot explain enough. Some of us are still wondering where to get our next meal.

Still, the fact that you chose to enroll and pick a learning modality is a brave move and I pray that your bravery will not waver until the Fourth Grading. I will do whatever I need to do to help you learn the wonders of the English Language but I cannot do it alone. You need to help me; so, I would just like to request three things from you:

One, you can ask for help from the right people. As humans, it is very natural for us to talk to other humans. We are social animals and we have survived for this long because we help each other. No man is an island, di ba? Just imagine if cavemen ignored each other, would they have had survived alone? The answer is no and this still holds true until this day.

My dear students, ask for help from the RIGHT PEOPLE. Your subject teachers will help you, all you need to do is ask them. Stop the “nahuya ko sir/ma’am” mentality. This causes the extinction of your learning. You have already decided to enroll this year, don’t give up now.

Two, making mistakes will always be better than a stolen perfect score. Let me give you 3 scenarios:

1. In the middle of a critical surgery, a surgeon doesn’t know what medical apparatus to use; Will it be okay for the surgeon to rush out of the operating room and look for another surgeon to continue the operation because he doesn’t know what to do?
2. Are you willing to hire and pay an engineer who doesn’t know the difference between an acute and obtuse angle to build your dream house?
3. Will you let your loved ones ride an airplane with a pilot who doesn’t know all the buttons in the cockpit?

I would answer no to all these scenarios. Last question, would you be proud of yourself if you become like them? The 3 scenarios above are products of cheating. Sure, they have passed the grade level and even graduated; but, they have learned nothing and they go on to get jobs and become a ‘joke’ and a ‘burden’ to the profession.

If you do not want to end up being a joke professional, do not treat your projects, tests, and other learning tasks as a joke. You may not see it now, but these things might become useful to you in the near future. Who knows, you might thank your subject teacher for giving you a very difficult project someday because it helped save a life.

Three, never give up on your dreams. Hang on tight for there is always light at the end of a dark tunnel. Let me remind you that you are brave. You may not feel brave now but you will feel it soon. I truly hope you will. As much as I would love it that you remember all the things I will teach you in English, I am perfectly aware that it will not be likely.

However, if there are three things I’d like you to remember when you advance to Grade 9, it’s these three things I wrote in bold font. Keep them in your heart.

I wish you all the best,

Your Grade 8 English Teacher

Photo credits: https://assets2.rappler.com/2020/09/1599545684-are-we-really-learning-September-8-2020.jpg