My very first teacher ever ever, was Ebina mam. See, back in LKG, when I was a timid four-year old, I hated saying goodbye to mom and going to school. So as expected, I used to throw terrible, I repeat, terrible, horrendous, massive, noisy, tantrums right at the front gate :D (not really enjoying the embarrassing flashbacks). And Ebina mam was one of the people who slowly got me over that. She was really caring, kind and gentle and is one of the sweetest teachers I have ever had. Almost like a second mother, she made me feel more excited about coming to school, taught me my ABCs, and made sure to help me start my school life with the sturdy foundation that I needed. Now let’s move on from that (not enjoying the crying parts at all) and go up one grade into UKG.

That year, my teacher, if I remember correctly, was Merlin mam. Oh yes, I remember her classes! She was fun and cheerful, and always made us learn while also playing along. She used to make us sing songs and read a lot of stories, and is the person who taught me to read my first sentence. Ooooh, I remember that story about a silly fox and sour grapes, one of the first stories I read!!! Merlin mam really got me into the excitement of stories and books and carefully crafted me into the bookworm I am these days. OK, let’s grow up. We’re all fresh graduates from kindergarten and now are in first grade. Exciting!

In first grade, my teacher was Arshiya mam!!! She was legendary! One of the most brilliant teachers I’ve ever had, she helped me out of my stage fear and taught me how to be more confident in front of crowds. Ahh, I still remember my very first assembly, and I was standing right at front with so much belief in myself! She was also the person who had to witness my first poor attempts at addition and subtraction, and taught me my basics in math. Mam had a ton of patience, that’s for sure! Next stop, second grade!!!

Second grade was the place where I actually grew up, and got myself a proper character. Shabana mam was my teacher, and she was one of the best teachers I ever had.

She taught us more about our moral values, made us think about who we wanted to be, why we were who we were, and taught us how to constantly change and improve ourselves into better version of ourselves. Shabana mam was really patient and fun, and oh yes, I remember how she used to correct our notebooks! If she was happy with our work, she would draw us a happy smiling star, and give us stickers, and if she not quite satisfied, she would draw us a crying or an angry star. I remember one time I got a very angry star on my book and I was so sad! Second grade was certainly very memorable!

Next, we grew up even more, all the way into third grade! Third grade was…wow! Simply wow!!! In third, I remember my teacher was Amber mam and that she taught us Hindi. I also remember my legendary science teacher who is always like another mother for me, Poornima mam. She was really fun and made science lessons interesting with lots of experiments and research work. We still keep in touch and talk when I have some of my unusual science doubts! In third grade, I also made a lot of great friends and memories. But nearing the end of third, something also affected all of us in a negative way. In February 2020, cases of Covid19 started being reported in Kuwait, and schools were closed. Let’s just say that third grade didn’t really end well.

Fourth grade is just a feeble memory with no sparks and excitement. Dull days spent in front of screens and boring online classes. I think my class teacher’s name was something like Safiya or Sumaiyya, (I don’t remember) and she used to teach us English. I don’t have too many happy memories except days when the teachers would create break rooms for us kids at the end of classes, and we could talk with friends. But most of the time, that resulted as chaos cause everyone tried to talk at

Slowly, we passed into fifth grade. This was a period of desperation and depression. We didn’t know what was going to happen to the world, because school just dragged on online, and everyplace was still closed and shut down. But in the middle of the first term, something miraculous happened. Oh we were all so happy! Offline school finally started! At first they slowly started it out, grouping us into batches and testing the theory of whether offline school would ever work out again. But it slowly did go well, and school became fun again. In the middle of this all, in fifth grade, m class teacher was one of the strictest teachers in the school, someone everyone I knew had advised me about. Anjana mam, was strict, though of course for the right reasons. She taught us Math and was very good at her subject, and her classes were always pin drop quiet with everyone sitting still as statues. One thing that happened in fifth though was that all the teachers started reminding us that it was time we grew up, and now we were able to pass into middle school. It was a hard transition from being pampered to taking care of your own stuff, but we made it through nevertheless. Oh my god, we’re growing up so fast!!!

Now we’re already in sixth grade! Middle school, ladies and gentlemen!!! Sixth was a major transition, both from primary to middle and also from online to offline. The authorities slowly allowed fully offline classes again, and the whole school was reunited again after more than three years. My class teacher was once again Anjana mam and she was as strict as ever. I also had lots of new teachers and new subjects like social science, but they made it quite easy for me to learn. Sixth was fun mix of strict and easy-going teachers, and also a lot of great friends and amazing memories. It felt really free, without a thing to worry about, as we were still just eleven-year olds. Before we knew it, sixth was gone in the blink of an eye, and we up all the way in seventh.

Seventh. Ahh, it was legendary. My class teacher, one of the loveliest ever, was Priyanaka mam. And Oh my god, I remember how she used to wear a perfectly coordinated outfit every day and look so pretty! She taught us Hindi, and she was a really good teacher, and her classes were always light and discussion filled. In seventh, for science too, we had the most amazing teacher ever. Her name was Saina and her classes were spell binding. The way she taught us physics!!! Ahh, olden and golden days… In seventh though, one of the biggest ever changes was that, teachers made us feel more responsible and always made us feel independent. At first, it was hard doing everything on our own, but as we got used to it, we began figuring things out for ourselves, not only in academics but in other aspects of our life as well. Now slowly, let us move into the present, back into reality.

Eighth grade, so far, has been one of the best classes in my life. I have never experienced a grade so fun, energized and active, and as my seniors said before, “Eighth grade certainly has a thrill to it”. My class teacher for the year, is the darling Sheena mam, and if you ask me to describe her, that’s it. She’s a perfect darling. As a class teacher, she protects us in every way possible, and also shouts at us when we deserve it. She’s forgiving and understanding, and also would explain the Math question we did yesterday for you a million times. As a teacher, she is simply perfect, and takes it easy on us, making sure we understand everything, from the Pythagoras theorem to the square root of that horrendous extremely long number. For the rest of this year, I hope we’ll just have more fun within the four walls (and a roof) that I call my class, (hope we don’t shout the roof off) and continue through the different stages of our life. I can’t actually believe next year, we’re all going to be in high school. Wonder who’s going to be my amazing teacher next year. Anyway that’s it. Happy teacher’s day to all the amazing, great, life-changing teachers out there. Hope you change more lives, and also remember that we love you no matter what. This is me, signing off.