Not gonna lie. I wanted to do something else besides teaching. In fact, I acted on it. I was a PR executive for 3 months before I gave up and returned to the warm embrace of teaching at NorthLight.

I have been teaching since 2006. The longer I teach, the more at ease I am with my chosen profession and my place in the Universe. After so many years, a student can do something that feels incredibly fresh and original to touch my heart.

At first glance, you may think that I am touched because of the way he expresses his thanks profusely in this glowing testimonial. But it isn’t really about that. Since I have been teaching for so long, I have become numb to such spontaneous outbursts of gratitude.

It is a little bit about how he writes that godawful but nonetheless effective formulaic introduction (“How are you? I hope you are fine.”) That’s because I practically brute-force it into my students’ minds every. single. writing. lesson. But that’s not what compels me to write this for posterity.

No, it’s actually about how he anticipated my response. He knew I would have something to say about his paragraphing and pre-empted me by apologising in advance. This shows that we have developed some form of chemistry - and that he’s internalising my feedback by practising self-assessment.

Of course, as an Asian man, I’m not wont to say things like “I’m so proud of you” and all that jazz - even if I’m beaming with a sense of smug satisfaction. I pointed out something about his use of punctuation marks, refusing to betray my true feelings.

But I’m really happy. I have done all I can as his English teacher - and he knows what he has to do to improve his writing.