An Influential Teacher
I met my first teacher in kindergarten. Now that I am a university student, I've encountered many teachers who introduced me to the world of academics. Among the many teachers I've had, there is one that I can't forget. He was my Chinese Characters teacher whom I met in my first year of high school. I remember the day I first saw him. His back was a little hunched, he had wrinkles between his eyebrows which gave him a scary and strict look, and he spoke monotonously, in a dull and low voice. Every class, I was scared to look at him straight in the eyes, so I decided to sit up straight and look at the blackboard instead. I finished all of the assignments he gave me even if it was past my bedtime because I feared that there was going to be a terrible consequence if I didn't. But soon, the assignments became a burden because he instructed me to write more than 2000 characters every day. I found this useless, boring, and time consuming. So one time, I only did half of my homework. On that day, he gave me a spanking in the hands with a ruler for every hundred words that I failed to write. This was very shocking to me because I've never been hit by any of my teachers so far. That one incident was enough to make me forget about all of my complaints. I did everything he instructed me to do. At first, this class was a trauma for me, but now that I look back, it was the most effective class in my academic career. This class helped me understand the articles in Korean newspapers, which I couldn't understand because of all the hard words; it gave me opportunity to take the Chinese Characters exam in Korea; and it gave me the confidence to apply for a course that requires Korean fluency, English Interpretation and Translation. Although my Chinese Characters teacher was scary, he is one of the most influential people in my life. Some people say that he is bad, but to me, he was one of the best. He really wanted the best for me, and cared about my future.
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