<B>”She gave us values such as hard-work and fairness”</B>

“Her strong personality had a positive impact on me! Choosing my favorite teacher is not a difficult task. Without hesitation, I would say Mrs. Frappier. She was my teacher in Standard V when I was in primary school, more exactly the Beau-Bassin Govt. School. Despite the long time that has passed since then, I am still able to remember how good she was as a teacher, and also as a person. As a consequence, I have a few anecdotes about her that I would like to share. First of all, it is important to know that Mrs. Frappier was a very rigorous person. She had a strong character. She was tough and severe. But, when I recall this time, I realise that the strong personality has had a very positive impact on me.

Regarding her temper, I must say, we were quite scared of her. To illustrate my thoughts, I will give an example. Sometimes, Mrs. Frappier would wear a black and red dress then, between us (students) we would tell each other that on that particular day we should be very careful because she would be in a bad mood. This was simply because, we had noticed from observation that, when she was wearing a black and red dress, she was very hard and severe. So, as I said, all of us students would be very cautious.

One thing I will certainly never forget about Mrs. Frappier, is that when she was writing on the blackboard, she used to kneel to write her final words. She did this just to make sure that she was covering all the space on the board. According to me, that showed her level of commitment. Another thing that surprised me a lot about Mrs. Frappier, is the fact that she used to take a little group of students, including me, to her home to give us extra support. As far as I remember, there were around a dozen students in this group. She gave us extra work which was even more difficult than what we had to do in class. In a sense that was exciting as she was giving us additional homework that would push us to reach the maximum level of our capacity. What was even more surprising was the fact that she would not ask for a single cent in return.

Once, Mrs. Frappier hit me with a ruler and, by accident, the ruler hit my eye. She acted this way after I did not manage to answer a question properly. Following this episode, she asked me to call my mother. After talking the situtation over, my mother told my teacher that what she did was right. Moreover, my mother even told her that it was good she was acting in this way with me.

Throughout the time passed with her, she always tried to give us some values such as hard work, fairness, and trying to surpass ourselves. Today, when I look back, the overall impression I have of her in terms of hard work and of consistency is simply immense. I never saw her again after I left school. Unfortunately, she passed away quite recently. If I had seen her before she passed away, I would have liked to say ‘thank you’ for all that she did for me.”