'Second caregiver': The ITE teacher who spends hours outside of school to help her students

Delivering a box of colourful elastic bands at night to someone who lives a 15-minute drive away may sound like the job scope of a delivery worker.  

For Ms Lynn Chua, a senior lecturer-mentor at the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) College West, that was the situation she found herself in about four years ago when her then 19-year-old student was struggling to finish his assignment. 

The student, who had special needs and was on the verge of failing a module, could not finish his assignment to build a mechanical hand because he wanted to use elastic bands of different colours but did not have enough of them.

Although he could have cobbled different types of elastic bands to complete his project, he "wanted it to look a certain way", Ms Chua recalled. 

Having found out about his conundrum days before the project’s deadline, she went online to search for and buy some elastic bands similar to what he wanted, ordered them and rushed to deliver them to his home. 

The elastic bands may not have been the exact match of what her student wanted, but Ms Chua said that he was elated nonetheless. He managed to submit the completed work on time and passed the module.

Beyond providing extra support for special needs students in her class, Ms Chua has also helped her students by applying for bursaries on their behalf, holding extra classes on the weekends and giving them snacks during examination periods paid for out of her own pocket, among other things.

Even though she has been a teacher for just around five years, the 44-year-old mechatronics engineering lecturer has made such an impact that students, parents and her peers nominated her for an award last year. 

She was one of 15 teachers awarded the ITE Teacher Award, which is given to outstanding educators across ITE's three campuses. 

Thinking back about the teachers I had when I was in school, I could never imagine any of them going the distance to help me complete a project the way Ms Chua did for that student. The teachers would have probably left me to solve my own problems as an act of tough love. 

During our hour-long interview at a laboratory in ITE College West located in Chua Chu Kang, I praised Ms Chua and gushed about her dedication to her students.

However, she quickly dismissed me, saying: “Over this one small thing? No, lah … I just think everybody deserves an opportunity to learn.”

REJECTED FIRST OPPORTUNITY TO BECOME A TEACHER 

In 2006, Ms Chua was already offered a position by the Ministry of Education (MOE) to become a secondary school teacher for the subject of design and technology, but she felt ill-equipped to take up the position. 

She admitted sheepishly: “We were all secondary students once and you know how rowdy the boys can get in class. I was not sure if I could manage a class then.”

Instead, she became a quality engineer whose job was to ensure that medical devices were up to international standards.

After a decade in that role, she said that she started to "get bored".

"My ambitions in life were changing and I felt like I needed something different.” 

That was when several of her friends who taught at ITE suggested that she gave teaching a shot.

In 2019, when Ms Chua was offered a teaching contract, she did not hesitate to sign on the dotted line. 

She felt that teaching at ITE rather than a secondary school was more in line with her expertise and her knowledge of the industry. 

“I also was more confident because I became a mother and knew I could better manage children.

"Becoming a mother and caring for my daughter gave me that boost of confidence that I needed to become an educator," Ms Chua said. Her daughter was about five years old then. 

Despite her newfound enthusiasm in starting a career as an educator, the first few months were painfully awkward. 

Her students’ eyes felt like they were shooting daggers as she introduced herself. Whenever they acted up in class or did not listen, Ms Chua felt stressed and worried that she was not cut out for the job. 

However, she eventually found that the best way to build a rapport with her students was to just be a good listener. 

As she listened, she felt an urge to help them by offering advice and sharing with them personal lessons that she had learnt. In other instances, she offered them practical help such as finding ways to ease their family's financial struggles.

Ms Azidah Kamis, 47, a secondary school teacher, said that she considers Ms Chua a "second caregiver" to her 22-year-old special needs son, because Ms Chua gives her regular updates on his progress, looks out for him during class and finds opportunities for him to excel.

She told CNA TODAY about the time when Ms Chua guided her son in turning into reality his idea of a machine that could sort recyclables, which ended with him clinching second prize in a competition to create a practical use for a particular sensor.

Ms Azidah, whose son graduated in 2022, said: “My son has special needs and throughout his years of studying, he never had any major achievements or awards.

“It’s so hard to find such good teachers like Ms Chua. She really goes above and beyond for her students, and I think she really gives students a second chance to succeed.”

HELPING STUDENTS REDISCOVER THEIR LOVE OF LEARNING

Ms Chua’s credits her dedication to her job to the example her own teachers set for her when she was a student.

Describing herself as just an "average" student in school, she said she felt that her teachers made the extra effort to imbue a love for learning and make every student feel special.

“I'm very lucky that most of my teachers were very nurturing. I had a very jovial science teacher in secondary school who would crack jokes during lessons and made learning biology fun,” she recalled. 

“I remember another teacher’s frustration at herself as she banged her hand against the blackboard because we could not understand (a particular) mathematics concept.

"Now that I’m older, I (understand) how much dedication my teachers had for their students and admire them even more.”

I couldn’t help but agree with Ms Chua. Like her, I was just another face in the class, but I recalled my professor talking about her experience chasing news stories as a young journalist and her enthusiasm was what influenced my eventual career path. 

Ms Chua said that she also takes a page from another role model – her reporting officer at ITE who has a “big heart and (who) wants to see everybody succeed”.

Being so involved with her students means that Ms Chua sacrifices hours away from her family.

This includes spending weekends guiding her students and replying late-night messages – though she qualified that she replies only if it is urgent.

When her 10-year-old daughter once complained that she was working too much, Ms Chua said that her heart ached.

During our interview, Ms Chua broke eye contact with me at this point to look at a far wall as she said that her daughter has now learnt to understand that she also has to take care of other children as part of her job.

She added that she is especially grateful to her husband who has stepped up at home when she is busy at work. 

When I asked him how he felt, Mr Raymond Seow, 52, a production manager, said that he took pride in his wife’s dedication to her job.

“Her unwavering care and commitment have helped students thrive under her guidance, with even parents turning to her for support,” he added.

As Ms Chua walked me through her classroom on campus and explained the purpose of different electrical wires and how they worked, I told her that the technical terms were going over my head and all I could see was an endless mess of black wires.  

She laughed and explained the concepts again slowly before revealing that as a teacher, she is also still learning. 

She recently became a mentor at ITE Academy where she teaches fellow colleagues. 

“I don’t know why, but I get frustrated when I’m teaching adults and not so much when it is my students. I’m still working on that,” she said with a chuckle.

Perhaps she hid her impatience well when she mentioned a "chipset" and I asked what it was, or maybe she pitied this reporter since the last time I was in a technology-related class was more than a decade ago in a secondary school laboratory.

As she gave her explanation, I wished that I had a teacher just like her who would take the time to help me grasp concepts. 

A chipset is like the glue of a computing system, which transmits data across various mechanical components.

Ms Chua told me that what motivates her to keep teaching is seeing her students open up and learn to love studying again.

"Sometimes, students will tell me that they were bullied in secondary school, were not well taken care of (in school) or were unmotivated because they have always had bad results," she said.

"But when they come to my classes and really enjoy their two years here learning with the practical and hands-on experience, and I see them learning to love learning and becoming (more excited) to attend class ... that really warms my heart."