My English Teachers

Thinking of English Teachers who taught me during my schooling, I think of my 2nd class English teachers, Annie. the first English teacher, I remember the name of. Before that, I do not have any memory of particular teachers. It was all vague. 

Annie was my 2nd class English teacher. I shifted the school in the middle of the year, she made me feel comfortable while, helping me cope with the new school, new friends and a new environment. She took my half yearly exam and gave fewer marks as I had no clue what was the exam about and why I didn’t write anything. 

Later, she helped me and taught me. I remember causing trouble in her class. Not intentional though. I only remember that she was angry with me and also my friend. That would be Srikanth. 

After Annie, Kiranmayi was our English teacher. Jyothi was our Telugu teacher. 

Kiranmayi mam encouraged me to read out the lessons loud in the classroom. I took pride in reading out loud with the right intonations and also I was good at it. I followed her classes well. 

Throughout the classes, I had no trouble with English at all. I was enjoying it. In 2006, Thanks to Dad's transfer, I changed school, St.Paul’s school. I heard a lot about my English teacher. Bal raj sir. He looked serious. He never laughed. I never saw him laughing in front of students. 

He beat the children a lot. I had a lot of fear. I made sure, I wrote his notes as neatly as possible. Also, complete without any postponement. I missed a few deadlines a few times and got a taste of his stick. It pains a lot. Even till today, his angry face is vivid in my memories. So strong was his fear of me. 

Post-Half-yearly, I saw him smiling when he heard me give my monologue. That was the only time, I saw him acting like one of us. Other than that, he was always very angry. 

In 2007, I changed my school again. 

In Netaji Pilot High School, My 7th class teacher was Ramana Reddy sir. Old man with a good accent. Proper diction. Punctual about his work. He taught us grammar, especially after school hours. I never had to refer to a few of the English grammar rules, thanks to his classes. One of the most I remember well was  the difference he taught between 'Between' and 'among.' I remember them very well. 

'Vedhava' was his usual slang word.  I was not his favorite. I was not even the bad one in his sight.  Hardly people acknowledged my presence. 

In 2008, I moved to St.Joseph's High School. 

My 8th class English teacher, the sweetest of all. Anitha sister. I had a good rapport with her. Of all, she understood  me and communicated well during my teens. I was not at my best but, still, she coped up with my erratic behavior and handled me well. 

Mani was the final teacher I had a good time with English teachers.  He gave me a sense of what is it to write. His words had a great influence on my life.  "Everybody knows English. Nobody knows English," he encouraged us to enjoy the language.   Thanks, Mani sir. 

In Gowtam Model School, my 10th class Teacher was Ratnamala. I cannot remember the teacher who taught us at first. Ratnamala reminds me of Santosh and Pratyusha. For all the pranks we made in her classes. Thinking of Santosh, I recall our last biology teacher, Santosh’s favorite. Unable to recall her name. 

During my Intermediate, we had English Lecturer, Sandhya Mam. She was inspiring. Sadly, we never had the environment to study English as a subject. We touched the books only before writing the final exams. 

I never imagined that I would enjoy the English Language as much as possible.