Sharing by mentors
A retired teacher taking up the role of mentor to provide guidance for students and help them go through ups and downs
Winner of the Outstanding Mentor Award (The first batch of school-based project): Ms IP Chi-fun
Project participant : NG Chui-yi
Project operator : SKH All Saints’ Middle School
Participant NG Chui-yi thanked Ms IP Chi-fun, the outstanding mentor (right) for having been there for her through thick and thin.
At the ceremony, NG Chui-yi was the first project participant to express her gratitude to her mentor on the stage. She recalled that there was a mishap in her family a year ago. After knowing what happened, Ms IP immediately went to stay with her until very late that night. This moved her very much.
What does Ms IP think about this mentor-mentee relationship?
With the encouragement of her former colleagues, Ms IP, a retired teacher from the SKH All Saints’ Middle School, took up the meaningful role of mentor three years ago and continued to dedicate herself to youth activities in a different capacity. Ms IP said that “teachers” and “mentors” were like teammates working together in nurturing the growth of students. “Teachers have a specific role to play and they have to teach students according to syllabus to enrich students’ knowledge, whereas mentors are responsible for providing companionship and guidance for students during their growth. Complementing each other, teachers and mentors can exert positive influences on students.” she explained.
In order to become an outstanding mentor, Ms IP must have devoted much time and effort to this cause. But to her, it can also be rewarding to serve as a mentor.
She chuckled that she would get infected by Chui-yi’s youthful radiance every time when they met. She also thought that retirement was not the end of life journey. “After becoming Chui-yi’s mentor, not only could I use my teaching experience to guide her in her studies and career development, I could also take this opportunity to learn a lot of new things from her. For example, I did not speak Putonghua previously and it was her who taught me Pinyin!”
Although the project has been completed, they are still in touch with each other. “Both of us treasure our friendship and enjoy the moments of hanging around, dining and chatting together. I deeply believe that our friendship will go on even with the passage of time,” said Ms IP.
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14 May 2018