Saturday, March 07, 2009

The Teacher Got a Lesson

How many of you had Ghanaian ( i don't even think i know how to spell that...chei) lesson teachers as kids? I did, we had far too many and i thought my parents were just being wicked. While other kids played outside, we were on the balcony with our teachers learning and relearning and yearning to go play outside with out mates. Once the lesson was over, we made up for it by over playing. Mind you, it's not like my parents forbade us to play, they just made sure we studied first.

My parents were really into education and now i'm really grateful for that, when i was a kid, it definitely felt like punishment. My mum is a teacher and my dad used to work in the Ministry of Education, dad is one of the few civil servants who did the jobs to the letter. Anyway, so you can imagine the burden of being saddled with two educationists as parents. Arrrggghhh...lol. I remember once i was very ill and it was close to exam periods, i was in JS1 i think, my mum sat beside me going through my school notebooks with me and reading them to me and making sure i understood what she read. Please, i was ill, could i not be exempted from reading...lol

When i was about 6 or 7 years i think, we had this teacher who was really really mean. Or was he? I don't remember but we didn't like him. The guy just wasn't plain nice and to our kid minds, he just plain hated us. So we decided he deserved to be punished. There was me, my sister, my youngest sister who was too young to be part of the classes, we seriously envied her and then there were our two friends, they're sisters and we were neighbours; L and B. So we kids got together and plotted a coup for our lesson teacher. We didn't consider the consequence i think. We were too young to consider the consequences of our actions.

It was a typical evening ,we were being taught but we weren't concentrating. We were waiting for it to happen. We kept staring at each other and waiting for our moments of glory, would it ever come? Then just as we were going to give up, it happened. Our wicked teacher fell inside the chair he was sitting on and it was a very bad fall. He screamed! We laughed! Silly children, he turned his wrath on us, he didn't beat us but he resigned his position. My mum wasn't sure why he had to resign because he fell. If only she knew.

The day before, we had gotten together, us kids, wondering how we could deal with our teacher and then it came to us. I can't remember who has the credit for such a brilliant idea but between us kids, we decided on the punishment. We initially thought of putting pins in his seat but we knew that would be too easy. He'd know they were planted. Then we remembered our almost abandoned dining chair which always fell in. Remember what dining chairs used to look like in the 80s? Well the cushion of this particular chair had been attached from the wood that held it but it could be placed properly and you'd hardly know. For us kids, it was easy to not fall into it but and adult weight would definitely not hold for too long. We decided to give him this chair and humiliate him.

He comfortably sat in the chair wagging his finger at us if he asked a question and we didn't know the answer. Then our moment of glory came, he fell! We had punished him. We laughed, we couldn't contain our joy and i'm sure he could tell from our faces that we planned it. I'm sure guilt and pure joy were written all over our little faces.

The teacher resigned and we were free to do as we pleased, only for a short while though. I'm not saying we were right but i guess this was part of what being a child was about.Our joy was short lived though, my mum found us a new Ghanaian lesson teacher!

35 comments:

Chiamaka said...

lessons and lesson teachers. i feel your pain.We had one who we often led to make mistakes, then enjoyed correcting him

Anonymous said...

LOL.... Kinda had a similar experience, only we led him across a trail of soldier ants, and privately enjoyed his agitation.. The memoirs of any nigerian kid will defintiely make a best seller any day..

Writefreak said...

have you: Lol..it must have been fun

Dany B: What do you say Danny? Shall we write a book then? titled Memoirs of a naija child...or memoirs of a nigerian child...other titles?

Anonymous said...

LOL..@ writing a book.. not a bad idea.. how about 'when silence was golden'?

Writefreak said...

hmmm...when silence was golden? pls how does that relate to childhood memoirs? i think i'm having a blonde day! lol

Anonymous said...

well.... silence was 'golden' if a kid grew up in a (semi)authoritarian family where the parents' word was law and no dissent/ attempt to understand the basis of instructions was permitted.... in which case dumb acceptance was wise!

Writefreak said...

hmmm i reckon...unfortunately i can't relate to such a childhood, i'd have to imagine a lot of things!

aloted said...

hehehehe, wicked children...lol

poor man

Writefreak said...

lol aloted, no we were just innocent children! hehehe

Rebirth said...

i had 'em teachers too with their funny accent. esp their pronunciation of 'the'...... lol, u mean kids! i would have done the same too tho...lol

The Activist said...

Bad girl! LOL

Nefertiti said...

Oh u evil evil children...lol

*Grins and winks mischeviously*

olusimeon said...

lol..u children felt like achivers...good thing ur got anoda ghanaian teacher.,,..

Anonymous said...

OH. naughty...naughty. Poor Man but him sef should have known berra. lol!

Anonymous said...

lol I hope your next lesson teacher was worse than the one you sent packing! Naughty kids! ;)

When we stayed with some friends in Lagos, the kids had a lesson teacher and she seemed to be quite stern. I guess that's needed for children who'd rather be anywhere than at the table, studying right after arriving home from school!

Anonymous said...

Wow. I wish we were that constructive in my house as kids..... we were just a boring set of bookworm kids with no social life or fun time.....thanks to our dad.

NoLimit said...

lol!!!
I once "made" a lesson teacher sleep all day while I played all day...gosh he was soooo boring!I had to find a way to escape!
@Write Freak and Danny Bagucci...you guys may be on to something!...I am feeling "Memoirs of a Nigerian child" title...
Y'all should think about it...sounds like a brilliant idea!!!

O'Dee said...

Lol!
Served him right.
Wish I could be a kid again.

Writefreak said...

funms: tell me about the funny accent!

standtall: no, good girl..lol

Nefertiti: don't you just want to be a kid again!

simeone: now i know you don't like me. why should i not play like other children? lol

temite: no one messes with me and my siblings!...lol

GNG: an an! that's such a not nice thing to say!

Diva: You should have had my siblings for siblings! lol

NoLimit: You'll have to tell me how you managed to achieve that one o, making a teacher sleep all day! Yeah maybe we should write that book...i could collect sample stories from you guys...what do you think?

O'Dee: *sighs* childhood is bliss. i was watching some kids play yesterday night and hubby and i said why can't we just be like thta, then he said i know why; responsibility! lol

Miss Definitely Maybe said...

Funny when i lived in Botswana for about 3 years as a kid we had this Nigerean teacher for extra lessons who always used to begin each sentence with

'see when I was in London'

we would all just look at each other and roll our eyes

Original Mgbeke said...

LOLLLLL. That was funny, it wasn't right but hey! Y'all were kids jo.
So, was the new Ghanaian teacher just as mean? I had a couple in primary school and man, they were evil sha.

Anonymous said...

Seriously I think it'll be a brilliant idea o!
Guys pls think about it!
I'm having goose bumps about it already!

Arewa said...

Bad girl!!!At least you were able to spell 'Ghanaian'!! But you tooo you should have taken it easy on the poor teacher....Im sure he meant well.... hehehehe!

Writefreak said...

Miss DM: lol...we once had a neighbour who always said 'when i lived in America'...lol...living in the past...hiss

Mgbeks: No i think i remember the next one was nice and partial to my youngest sister, always buying her sweet stuff and making the rest of us jealous..lol

NoLimit: lol at having goose bumps, so have you got stories to share? I might think of a compilation!

Arewa:Are you saying this because he's your kinsman Arewa? lmao!

Buttercup said...

Hahahahaha! But seriously, was he THAT humiliated that he resorted to resignation? Nawa o..lol!

Parakeet said...

Hahahaha...lesson teachers especially the Ghanaians (yea ur spelling was right) really suffered in our hands o. They were like our play things but you gotta admit that their teachings go a long way more than the ones at school.

Caelestis Angelus! said...

Those Ghanian teachers were quite thorough o. My lesson teacher in primary 5 was Mr. Boateng and he taught me so well, i got into high school on Merit which was a big deal cos of the school i went to.

SOLOMONSYDELLE said...

lesson teachers! I had a great one though! Come to think of it, I should find her.

But, honestly, you guys were naughty, loL!

Nigerian Wedding Websites said...

I had a Ghanian lesson teacher too, "Uncle Alex". U girls were so naughty. Good thing ur mom didnt know! Lmao @ him resigning, why so sensitive?

Olufunke said...

I had fun reading this.
I was wondering why the lesson teacher resigned just because he fell.
I guess it must have been revealed to him that he was treading on 'enemy's territory' and he should flee! naughty children!

I just pray our children would not repay us in kind

I remember all those our lesson teachers too...........LOL, gone are those days.

Anonymous said...

lol!!we had ghanian lesson teachers too but they were really nice..but the ones i had as teachers in school were mean!!!

Enkay said...

bad, bad! Very bad!
I'm quite sure that whenever that man thinks of you guys, he shudders with fear till date! lol!!

Writefreak said...

Buttercup: lol...i think there were other incidents i can't remember clearly...but i guess he was just tired of us

parakeet: we were only in primary school then so it wasn't too much help but it was much later but yes, they teach very well!

Caelestis: I agree with you, even in secondary school i had some and they were the best

SD:children are always naughty now...lol..
yes by all means find your teacher if you can...

Omosewa: I think he was just tired of our pranks

Olufunke: glad you enjoyed reading...sometimes i shudder when i think that my children will come...i will be praying to God that they won't be worse than i was...lol

pink-satin: i think they're all just different but they teach well sa

Enkay: lol..we're very good children o..very sweet and innocent! hehehe

Beulah! said...

Hahahaa heehehhe!!.lesson teachers!, we all went thru that torturous phase growing up. You children were too nutty!!!..lol

Writefreak said...

Beulah: No we were innocent, not naughty..lol