Having taught Bianca for the past three years, it seems strange to be writing her last English report from GSIS. She has always worked hard and approached all texts and tasks with commitment and enthusiasm, listened to my comments and responded to advice and criticism. Her recent practice responses to 'Jane Eyre' and 'Twelfth Night' showed perception and insight, knowledge and understanding, and an appreciation of the social and historical context of the texts. That she writes with clarity and sustained relevance augurs well for the future.

I wish Bianca every success in the summer examinations and beyond.  


I really admire students like Bianca. She has worked very hard this year, not just to develop her specific knowledge of her set texts and of the various writers' methods and intentions, but also to improve her critical and analytical skills so that she can write with sustained knowledge, relevance, cogency of argument and sustained close reference to the texts. She has had to put up with quite a lot of rather pointed criticism from me regarding the structuring and sustained critical focus of her timed assignments, but it says a great deal about her character and determination that she has always responded to my comments maturely and positively. She has never been afraid to seek advice, and her overall critical and analytical skills certainly improved as the year progressed.

All in all, I have really enjoyed teaching Bianca not just because she is a good student of literature but because she displays a work ethic and a determination to improve which typify the very best students at this level of study. I shall be sad to lose her from the class and I wish her all the very best in the summer exams.

It never really dawned on me until now that this was it. This was the end of my career as an English Literature student. And to read these two teachers' comments first in my report (English, for some reason, always takes the front seat) was a blow.

Not even JSh's report compared in terms of sentiment, though he compared me to a certain character in Aesop's fables...

... I have taught such "hares" before and they often prove the adage that "slow and steady wins the race"; but this does not seem to apply to Bianca and she was one of very few students to produce A grades in both tests even though she finished them well before her peers...
Gibbles-Giblets gave me an insult ("outstanding study skills"?  I don't study) but Mr. Yorke's report was incredible to read as well.

She exemplifies all aspects of a model student: asks insightful questions, works through all problems carefully, is willing to offer solutions to problems posed and even offers alternate solutions when she has used a different method to solve a problem.

Here's how I fell in love with 王丹:

「我覺得六四這個事情，你可以有不同的看法，但是畢竟是中華民族發生這麼大的一件事情，不應該忘記。這是我們對我們的國家民族最基本的一點義務。我自己也公開講過，比如說絕食的問題是不是應該那個時候採取那樣的最激烈的手段，那麼絕食之後是不是應該盡早的撤下來，但是我覺得從它的意義跟性質上講沒有任何遺憾。『我們只要有經濟發展就好了』，這其實是很可悲的。我們中國人不應該活得這麼悲慘。我們只要能吃飽肚子，我們就很驕傲。那我們成什麼了？我們也是人，我們應該有尊嚴。人和豬有什麼區別？豬也是吃飽就好。人比豬高就是因為人不覺得吃飽了就好。人還要有尊嚴，人還有人格，人還希望有自由，所以人是人，豬是豬。」

I get to go to sleep tonight knowing I helped break a record. Do you?