When the Companionship Class ended, a thin man with dark tan skin and a greasy kitchen smell stood outside the door waiting for his son, Jun Xian (pseudonym). “I don’t want him to grow up to be like me, I don’t know anything, I can only be the kitchen helper.” The moment he saw Jun Xian walking towards him, determination showed in his eyes, and deciding to send Jun Xian to the Companionship Class was the right thing he did. He hoped to provide a better learning opportunity for Jun Xian, so that he would have more choices, whether to study or work, in pursuit of a better life.

AN EXPECTION OUT OF LOVE

Behind this expectation is a family with financial difficulties. The father works relentlessly at a restaurant for the family. Whenever he is back at home, he reminds Jun Xian to complete his school homework according to the teacher’s requirements. However, the busyness of life left him with no time to attend to his child’s schoolwork. Besides, the mother is a foreigner, whose language, way of life and culture are utterly different from a Malaysian; she could not help, even though she wanted to. 

One day, the father heard about the Companionship Class from a nearby traditional coffee shop. The Companionship Class was opened by 7979 Holistic Care Station of True Light Baptist Church, to enable a child to grow healthily by providing homework guidance, character shaping and other services to children of underprivileged families. Therefore, the father immediately took action to register his son in the Companionship Class. Unfortunately, the class was full, but he did not give up; he quickly enrolled his son in the subsequent year. He finally felt a sense of relief when he managed to get a place for his son in the Companionship Class. Since then, the father would send Jun Xian to the Companionship Class no matter how busy he is. Jun Xian’s parents believe education can provide their child a better life, so they continue to support him through actions, for they are unable to guide him with his homework.

HE CHANGED OUT OF EXPECTATION

During the early days in the Companionship Class, Jun Xian would sit quietly at his place doing his homework. Teacher Teh Bee Lin was the main teacher who taught him, and found that Jun Xian was a bright boy; he could achieve good results if he persevered in his study, even in subjects that he was not good at, such as Mathematics, Bahasa Malaysia and Chinese, the teacher believed that he has the ability to overcome challenges. “When I taught him Mandarin, which was the most difficult subject for him, I used graphics to attract his attention and to stir up his potential.” To increase Jun Xian’s learning effectiveness,  Teacher Bee Lin uses things that are of interest to Jun Xian in her teaching style. He never rejects teachers’ teaching styles. Day after day, the teacher found that he had improved greatly in his studies. Everyone thought that he would remain as such.   However, when he entered Standard 3, his behaviour and attitude started to change …       

“Do you have any homework, today? Do you have spelling?”
Jun Xian would answer with a firm “no”, expressionless every week. A few weeks passed by, and the frequency of “no” increased. Teacher Bee Lin noticed the abnormality. Normally, school would have given the children weekly spelling test, but it did not appear in his homework record (it is an exercise book for the students to record all homework). Furthermore, the school informed his father that he did not complete his homework. Teacher Bee Lin was shocked to find that Jun Xian, who seemed to be an obedient and bright boy, was telling lies to cover up about homework. This discovery struck her hard; she felt like a heavy stone was placed on her chest, and nothing could describe the heaviness in her heart.     

“Jun Xian’s biggest problem was that he liked to tell lies, he liked to hide his homework.” Dealing with these headache issues, Teacher Bee Lin knew she could not take his bad behaviours lightly, and they must be corrected timely. She purposefully reminded Jun Xian’s father to keep a watch on him, made sure he finished his homework and in the evening, revised his next day’s spelling test. The father was very cooperative, and he did everything according to the teacher’s instructions. He took the effort to set aside some time to watch his son complete his homework. On the other hand, the Companionship Class’s Supervisor, Teacher Lim Bee Hoon, also intervened; she worked closely with the primary school class teacher of Jun Xian. The class teacher would snap Jun Xian’s unfinished homework and send it to the Companionship Class teacher in charge as a record for follow-up and supervision. In order to let him understand the seriousness of his actions, Teacher Bee Hoon also warned Jun Xian that if he continued to hide his homework, they would bring this to the attention of the Assistant Principal.    
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Since then, Jun Xian began to realise the consequences of his unbecoming behaviour, and he gradually decreased the practice of “hiding his homework.” Whenever he reached the Companionship Class, he would take out his homework and study his spelling test attentively. Teacher Bee Lin was comforted by his changing attitude. She believes that as long as Jun Xian is willing to be corrected and learn relentlessly, he will have a promising future.