A LESSON FROM MY STUDENT, JACOB.

The key is in getting started.

About a year ago, I had this opportunity to teach part-time in this local primary school in my area. I was particularly interested in assisting my students to learn how to speak and write in the English language. Lamashegu District Assembly Primary school is one of those schools one could describe as under privilege, the infrastructure was poor and they barely had enough teachers to go round the various classes. Non the less, I noticed most of the kids had great potential, especially this 13 year old class 6 pupil, Jacob.

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Jacob was the kind of student that is shy and consumed by inferiority complex, I guess he just didn't believe he was the type who could make it through formal education. Jacob never finished an examination, not even once. He would manage to shade the MCQs (Objective questions) but never attempted to even start an essay. But after marking his papers for a few months, I noticed he did not perform  badly despite answering only have of the questions. 

So a month ago, I called Jacob after classes and had a long talk with him. He explained how he found it difficult to construct a good sentence in the English language, let alone write a full essay. But I assured him that there was no shame in trying even if he got it wrong. Surprisingly, about a month ago, while marking their mid-trimester examination papers, I noticed for the first time that Jacob actually attempted to write an essay. I have to say, it wasn't that good, but I was so happy that he at least made an attempt. The next day after class, I again called him and encouraged him to keep it up.

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It's been a month now since my boy, Jacob started writing essays and to be honest, his progress is way better than even I ever did. He's is much more confident in himself these days and even attempts answering several questions each day during lessons. 

So in all this, it hit me, sometimes, our biggest obstacle is the lack of believe in our selves. We are so afraid that we will fail and so we never even get started. And so I say to my fellow steemians what I said to my boy, Jacob : there is no shame in trying and failing.         

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