An unforgettable lesson

The second year students received me with a warm welcome that I did not expect and expressed their great joy when I returned to teach them this year. I taught them last year in the first year and learned a lot from them. The teacher who does not learn from his students and who is not affected by them is like a head with a mouth but without ears. He knows how to speak to them but he does not know how to listen to them and who dialogues with himself learns nothing.

I was delighted with this welcome; the greatest price for the teacher is the love of his students. I looked among the smiling faces for the face of Abdel Hafiz Mallah; I did not find him in the first rows, nor in the last seats. I checked the list of students in the class; I did not find his name. I felt disappointed. The students were silently reading a text from Reda Houhou, while my mind recalled the first lesson I had learned from the students last year and from Abdel Hafiz Mallah in particular.

I had no experience in education, child psychology and dealing with students. I taught spontaneously. There was a nice student in the class called Nader. He makes pleasant comments, and intelligent and courteous remarks. I smiled for his comments, and encouraged and praised him. Abdel-Hafez has sometimes commented, but I found him boring and berated him. Once in the mailbox, I found a letter without signature that his sender had blamed me in a simple way:

“Why you reprimand me when I speak and you smile when Nader speaks? I love you and I learn from you. Why do you hate me? We are all your children, so why are you treating us differently? "

I didn’t sleep that night and I was upset because I knew the author immediately. I did not know him from his writing, but from my behaviour towards him, which means that I was wrong. I learned that the teacher must be fair in his emotions because the students need love and justice. He must be fair not only in the points, but in the possibilities that he offered to the students, in his comments, his smiles, his approvals, his encouragement or his reprimands.

Needless to say, this lesson made me look at the students with a fresh eye; the eye of the father teacher not of the civil servant teacher. Abdel-Hafiz has become one of the pleasantest and friendliest students. I knew he was an orphan and needy. I asked the students about him at the end of the course and they told me that he went to Annaba with his mother to live with his uncle. I will never forget that student who taught me more than I taught him.

Abdellah Khammar

The second trimester: Second part

An extract taken from the novel: Entry bell to class