My Favorite Teacher

 My favorite teacher was Hung Chiu Sing. “Hung” is an important name because it traces him back to his ancestor, the famous Master Confucius. Mr. Hung was to teach me Cantonese for I was working in Hong Kong establishing a Lutheran school system for thousands of Chinese students and teachers.

Mr. Hung was determined that I do that in the best possible tradition, characterized by great respect between teacher and student, using appropriate respectful terms of address, greetings, idioms, proverbs and sayings, all accompanied by appropriate body postures.

And teach he did! He came prepared with flash cards, anecdotes, history lessons and a marvelous mix of patience and determination. He drilled me, laughed with me, encouraged me. He stood beside me when I welcomed people into my home, making sure that I greeted them with just the right words.

He taught me much more than language. He conveyed his respect for tradition, stirred me with his love of his motherland, advised me especially how to speak with my staff for I was a very young American principal with a staff of older, highly educated and respected Chinese scholars.

How well he succeeded I leave for others to judge. When my Chinese friends are honest with me they shyly inform me that my wife, also a student of Mr. Hung, spoke Cantonese much more clearly than I.  Yet I revel in recalling my years in Hong Kong made so meaningful by Mr. Hung, the honorable descendent of Master Kung himself.