English Reading Portfolio Term 2 Week 8 due

Raffles InstitutionNigel Ng (18)
3M
English Reading Portfolio  

  It happened last year at the most unlikely of places: the Singapore Zoological Gardens. Secondary 2 Research Education project-Malaysian Montage Community Problem-Solving. Unlikely as it might seem, it was the first time in my life that I have had to teach. My group had to lead a bunch of Primary 5 students through a tour of the zoo. Although the primary schoolteachers and our teacher-mentor were coming along as well, it was expected that us, the organizers, would be in charge of everything. Well, I had no problems with that. I expected it to be just another project, over by the end of the day.
  I was wrong. All was fine, and went according to plan, until I had to explain the facts about some reptiles. I stared at the expectant faces of the primary school kids, some of whom had already lost interest and was looking elsewhere. “Uhh…”I stuttered, suddenly encountering this syndrome known to most as Stage-fright. 
  It was a godsend when my friend just stepped in and took over. I cursed myself inwardly at this moment of weakness when things were at a crucial stage and braced myself once more. 
  When it came to the next presentation, about frogs and how they have different mating positions from toads, I was smooth as a salesman, engaging AND enjoying their attention, because of the way I was and not the content I was presenting, I hope. It went much more smoothly after that, with all the facts coming out of me naturally, like what was rehearsed. 
  Although the project ended like what I had hoped it would be like, with clockwork precision, there was a major difference that has made it memorable to me. It has given me the gift of teaching, of knowing how to impart knowledge to others, a basic survival instinct of all creatures. I have seen the looks of wonder on the faces of the students, and it is not a thing one forgets in one’s life. I have learnt the joy of having people look up to you as a person who knows everything (though this is not true), and the giddying headiness and euphoria one experiences when one realizes that he or she has just educated our future generation. This is one RE that has changed my life, and the way I perceive events around me.
  I will never forget it.

  (398 words)