By: Cleo Newton        

I used to go to a Chinese immersion elementary school. All the core classes were taught in Chinese, and the only classes that weren’t taught in Chinese were gym, art and science.

Our kindergarten teacher, Li Laoshi, went on maternity leave for pretty much the whole year. She came back to visit some of the time but she wasn’t really there most of the time.

Our sub was named Jia Laoshi, I don’t think anybody liked her. She was really strict, she wasn’t really a good teacher, and wasn’t good with kids. There were times when she would put kids in timeout for really small reasons. She once put the entire class in timeout for 6 min because a couple kids were talking. She set a timer on her iPad and everyone just sat in silence waiting for the timer to go off.

One day, I was coming back from recess and was talking with my friends like everyone else. Class started and everyone was supposed to be quiet, a few people, including me, were still stalking. Jia Laoshi sent me to a timeout. I think it kinda makes sense that I would get sent to timeout for talking during class, but I don’t think it was fair that I was the only one getting sent to timeout. A couple minutes later one of my friends got sent to timeout for the same reason. She sat down on the other side of the room and I waved to her. The teacher saw me waving and immediately sent me to the buddy room. Luckily, there wasn’t anyone in the other classroom at the time.

Elementary school was pretty interesting. Like everyone, I had ups and downs. I don’t think the teachers did a good job helping everyone in the school. I have a friend whose sibling didn’t have any friends at school at all. Their teachers never did anything about it. That friend eventually transferred schools due to bullying in 4th grade.

Teachers also punished some kids unfairly. My experiences in elementary school never got that bad; I had a good time most of the time. I still think that the teachers could have done a better job trying to connect and understand their students instead of jumping to conclusions or punishing them when there was a misunderstanding. Of course, not all the teachers were like this.

Many years have passed since I’ve gone to this school. I still visit during their holidays and celebrations. Many things have changed, like the interior design. Most of the old teachers have left over the years, I only recognize about 3 teachers now including the principal. I plan to visit as often as I can.