communication clears up misunderstandings

i'd like to share a past experience which i consider to highlight some communication problems.

when i was in form 4, i had this replacement teacher who was transferred to my school for some sort of training program. i dont really remember her name, but i belive its Ms. Pre-something. she replaced for my english teacher. my first impression on her was that she wasnt very friendly because she had such a sour face and carried herself in an almost uptight manner. all the words that came out of her mouth was curt and straight to the point.

the first time she entered the class and introduced herself, she decided to do some literature with us, because that day was literature day and all of my class brought our literature books. so she discussed with us 'The Sound Machine', the story about this inventor who invented a machine that supposedly can hear sounds above and below the normal human range of hearing. so, she talked a little about it and asked some questions, to which she got little response. she then commented that we were passive.

she soon gave up on questions, and instead told us to get into groups and discuss among ourselves the characteristics of the main character. during the course of discussion, a friend of mine said something i found particularly funny, and laughed. it was that exact moment though that Ms. Pre-something looked my way and upon seeing me laughing, she got angry. she accused me of being rude, and asked me what's so funny. i was too bewildered to answer. she then made me stand to answer a literature question. i answered and was allowed to sit but right after that, she snapped.

she said our behaviour was rude, and that we were so passive. and then she commented about me laughing and that did we think its funny to laugh in class? (although i wasnt even laughing at her....) then she said she previously taught in a boarding school and that the students there are so well behaved, unlike us. she told us to review ourselves and that she expected better the next time she comes in. she left the class immediately after saying that.

when she has completely disappeared down the hallway, my entire class was up in an uproar. while some were just flabbergasted, most, including me, were quite upset. we completely didnt understand what she wanted. but by the end of the day, we all decided we didnt like her. so its no wonder the next time she came in, we were all cautious, and even more passive than before. but it was unnecessary, as we were in for a surprise.

she came in and said to us that she discussed with the other teachers about us, and she realized from what they said that she might have been wrong to judge us. she also said that we might have started on the wrong foot, so she was willing to burn the english period that day so that we can start over. firstly, we resolved all the issues that was bothering us. one of my classmates volunteered to ask. the question being that she said we were passive, yet when we discussed and talked, she said we were rude. so what exactly does she want? my classmate also cleared the fact that we werent passive, it just that with a new teacher, the environment is different. we were just warming up to her. we wanted to learn her teaching styles first.

Ms. Pre-something accepted our reasons and apologized before telling us that she shouldnt have compared us to students she taught in the boarding school. she understand that not everyone is the same. we accepted that too, and so no hard feelings. we continued conversing that entire english period getting to know her. after that, we never had problems with her again, and i find that she's actually a pretty nice teacher.

if we never had that clearing up conversation, i may not have felt that way though. we all might have assumed that she was just plain not nice. so because of communication, misunderstandings was cleared up. another thing that i think Ms. Pre-something would have learnt from my class is that assuming students everywhere is the same is wrong. so its important to adapt communication styles to different people and situations.

Post written by,
Tham Sue Fern