- A Hard-Working Hero -
Our next Featured Teacher is Atikah, a bubbly English teacher! Enterprising and driven, Atikah is always looking for ways to make her lessons fun by inventing games and activities for her students. Having worked from a young age, we found out why she liked teaching the most out of all the jobs she tried. What a hard worker!
ECA : How did you come into tuition?
ATIKAH : My older sister, Cady, was the first to work here. I told her I was looking for side income and she said why not join her in this tuition field. Somehow, I enjoyed it very much because I got to interact with students. I got to know each one of them - their behaviours, the way they use their thinking skills, the way they communicate with me, how they pursue their grades. But now I’m working already. So, I have two jobs - my day job and at night, I tutor.
ECA : So what do you work as in the day time?
ATIKAH : I’m in HR and am an Administrative Officer. Actually, I’ve been in a lot of fields. I’ve been working since 2012, after O levels, when I was 18. Even when I was studying, I worked also. I was an accountant. I was in sales, a concierge. I was in AIA Insurance. I recruited people. I helped the company find agents. After that was Takaful and then... tuition.
ECA : Now that you have a day job, why do you stay?
ATIKAH : Because I like teaching! I don’t want to give it up. I enjoy knowing that I taught my student to the point they succeed and get good grades at the end. Even though, back then, I didn’t get to score excellent grades. But now that I understand what the theory is, I can explain it to my students. I can give them exercises. To know that they succeeded in their exams is really satisfying.
ECA : Moving forward, what do you want to achieve?
ATIKAH : If you ask me what I want to be in the future, I just want to be a person who can help anybody - to be a better student, to be a better person, to be a better whoever they are. Actually, I was offered a new job, at a preschool! I will be an assistant teacher. So, it’s safe to say in the future, I’m going to see how I’m going to be as a teacher, instead of a tutor only!
We wish you all the best in your future endeavours, Atikah! We’re sure that you will continue to inspire even more of your students in the future. Till next time! :)