Second wind for retired teacher

Learning never stops: Chung (far left) and her coursemates meeting up for a group assignment.

Passion for educating the young spurs 60-year-old on to pick up game design and animation

HAVING been an English language teacher for 32 years, recently retired Caryn Chung is showing no signs of giving up her passion for imparting knowledge to students.

Just a few weeks after bowing out of her teaching position at Kuen Cheng High School in Kuala Lumpur, the 60-year-old signed herself up for a game design and animation course in a university.

By equipping herself with the necessary know-how, she hopes to create fun and engaging lessons and continue educating young people, albeit through new creative media.

What inspired Chung to take on this new venture was seeing how her four-year-old great grandniece picked up simple English expressions just by watching animated educational programmes.

“If I had the skill to create something like that, I could help a lot of children in the future,” she told StarEdu, adding that many of the youths she knows love to play online games and watch animated movies.

Chung herself is no stranger to online games. An avid gamer, she has experienced firsthand the benefits brought by her leisure activity.

Gaming, she said, has enabled her to interact with people from all over the globe as some of these games are played in teams.

She has also learnt a number of values such as patience, teamwork, leadership, perseverance and creativity.

Another reason she decided to commit herself to the tertiary course, which will take two-and-a-half years to complete, is to fill her time post-retirement.

“I cannot stand boredom. Staying at home and doing nothing except playing games and watching dramas are boring after a while,” she said.

“To show the old and the young that it is never too late to study, I chose to learn a new skill.

“I remember reading about a Japanese lady who created a simple game for retirees to play. It was a success several years ago. I hope I can do so too,” she shared.

To stay motivated, Chung turns to her Christian friends for emotional and spiritual support.

“My strong belief in God’s hand on my life motivates me to move on, improve myself and shine for Him,” she said.

When asked what she misses most about being a teacher, Chung expressed her fond memories of being around young people.“Whenever I was teaching, I made sure that everyone in my class paid attention to my lessons because everyone was important to me. “When my students performed well in the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM), I felt greatly encouraged as my efforts were not wasted. “I was also motivated when some of them came back to school to pay me a visit after they had graduated or started working,” she recalled.As part of her game design and animation course, Chung has been collaborating closely with students as young as her grandnephews and grandnieces in various group activities, one of which won a hamper at a contest held by the university.

Having gained gradual exposure to programming, information technology and basic drawing skills through the course, Chung emphasised the importance of honing one’s creative skills. “All of us are creative in our own ways. The first evidence can be seen in the way we dress up, cook meals for our families, create sales strategies, design impressive presentations and achieve our goals in life. All these actions require some forms of creativity,” she said.

She added that daily interaction is another example where creativity is needed.

“We use different methods, words and tones to speak to people of different ages, statuses, creeds and races. This is also a kind of creativity,” she said.

Chung looks forward to combining her teaching skills with her new creative media skills to cater for the education of future students.

“I strongly believe that teaching is my calling. My students were like my children. During physical or online classes, I taught energetically with my heart and soul. It gave me great joy to teach young people.”

Li Lian, 17, a student in Kuala Lumpur, is a participant of the BRATs Young Journalist Programme run by The Star’s Newspaper-in-Education (Star-NiE) team.

1. Look in today’s copy of the Sunday Star newspaper for a youth who would benefit from Caryn Chung’s life story.

Now, imagine that Chung has been asked to give the youth a counselling session.

What advice do you think Chung would provide the youth?

Have a brainstorming session with an activity partner.

Then, carry out the role-play.

2. A heading is a title of an article used in the newspaper.

Can you think of another heading to go with the article on Chung?

When you are done, compare your heading with that of your activity partner. Do you agree with each other’s choices?

Since 1997, The Star’s Newspaper-in-Education (Star-NiE) programme has supported English language teaching and learning in primary and secondary schools nationwide. Through Star-NiE’s teacher and student workshops, annual contests and monthly English language resources for classroom use, participants of the programme reportedly showed marked interest in the language and progress in their proficiency. Now in its 25th year, Star-NiE is continuing its role of promoting the use of English language through a weekly activity page in StarEdu. These activities are suitable for use individually and in groups, at home and in the classroom, across varied proficiency levels. Parents and teachers are encouraged to work on the activities with their children and students. In addition, Star-NiE’s BRATs Young Journalist Programme will continue to be a platform for participants to hone and showcase their English language skills, as well as develop their journalistic interests and instincts. Follow our updates at facebook.com/niebrats. For Star-NiE enquiries, email [e-mail].