Lesson 56: Describe a teacher who has influenced you in your education. / Memorable family event arranged.

1: Describe a teacher who has influenced you in your education.

I consider myself exceptionally fortunate to have been taught and guided by some excellent teachers throughout my academic life. Among them, I would like to talk about Mr Ali, who has been an extraordinary teacher, an exceptional mentor, and who has had a great influence on my studies.

I met Mr Ali for the first time when I was in fourth grade. He was our math teacher. Initially, we thought that he would be a tough teacher and we would have to be very polite in front of him. We got this impression mostly because of his serious look and tidy dress-up. But soon we found that he was a very friendly person and we did not have to be “very polite” to him. He never made things complicated and tried over and over again to explain something to us. He had a unique way of teaching and could explain complex topics very easily.

2: Memorable family event arranged.

One of the most memorable family events of recent years was my father’s 80th birthday. We wanted to have a special celebration for him but decided to keep it a secret so as to surprise him on the day.

My youngest brother, who lives two and a half hours drive away from the rest of my immediate family, told Dad that he’d come down with his family so we could all go out for a meal together. What we actually did was to invite members of our extended family to come as well without my father knowing. Most of them live a long way away, like in London or Scotland, so we don’t see them very often. They came down the day before and stayed in local hotels.

There was a lot to arrange and it was difficult to sort everything without Dad guessing what we were up to. There were several times when I thought he must know something was going on but was just playing along and pretending he didn’t.

We booked a table at a local restaurant and on the day, my sister decorated it with balloons and other party bits and pieces. It looked amazing. It was a very long table as in the end there were more than twenty family members at the meal. So, as well as my parents and my siblings, there were also nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles and cousins. I think it was probably the biggest family gathering we’d ever had.

We arranged for Dad and Mum to be the last to arrive so that everyone else could be seated at the table waiting for them. I’ll never forget Dad’s face when he walked into the restaurant. He hadn’t guessed what we were arranging and it was a real surprise to him to see everyone there.

We had a lovely meal together but the best thing was spending time with all our relatives. It made me realize what a close-knit family we are even though we don’t see each other very often. I think that Dad enjoyed it too and I hope it showed him how much he means to our whole family