Long on compassion: Hong Kong teacher who is also a mentor, nurse, friend and even house mover
Ma Yan-yan looks after her young charges in a bid to nurture good character and not just to get them to pass exams
Teaching is never just about academic education. Teachers regularly pick up the roles of parent, counsellor, mentor, nurse, friend and occasionally even house mover.
That is the case with Ma Yan-yan, who’s been all of the above for about two decades. She teaches Chinese, integrated humanities and liberal studies at HKTA The Yuen Yuen Institute No 1 Secondary School in Kwai Chung. She loves most being class teacher “because I really get to know each pupil”.
Ma spends just as much time outside the classroom helping students in need, even keeping in contact with them through mobile messaging platforms.
“I was using an old brick phone, actually. They said to me: ‘Miss Ma, let us lead you out of the stone age’,” she laughs. It’s a most warm and sincere laugh, the kind that puts anyone instantly at ease.
The smartphone switch enlightened Ma to the difference it makes to be level with her students in their mode of communication. “Sometimes they find it difficult to bring up their troubles at school, or talk about their feelings face to face. It’s easier to put it in text, so they are more open to sharing when I make myself available this way.”
Ma runs a “dolphin group” in her school, which looks after students who are new arrivals from the mainland.
