It’s National Thank A Teacher Day today so, just the 50 years since I left Briz School – it wasn’t called the Oasis Academy when I were a lad – allow me to thank a teacher. She’s the sole reason why you’re reading this (rubbish), my inspiration for the only subject I was interested in, English Language. Step forward Mrs Defonseca.
It is fair to say that my school career was not a successful one. I genuinely learned next to nothing at senior school, beyond the ability to bluff my way through, a skill which became invaluable throughout my working life. To this day, I know next to nothing about science, less than nothing about mathematics, almost nothing about everything else. But my English teacher – well, she was mint.
Mrs Defonseca was Portuguese, which you may think is odd for an English teacher. But her command of the language was complete. My undiagnosed ADHD and diagnosed mental illness hindered my ability to learn anything at all and I had little enthusiasm for anything. I was a hopeless case in every subject, except for one. Mrs Defonseca saw something in my scribblings and encouraged me to let my brain wander and to allow my creative juices to flow. (I suspect these were not the actual words she used.) So, I did and the flowery prose came forth, as I discovered exciting new words. I put them together in short stories, brief essays; sometimes in poems. The latter, in particular, were often pure gobbledegook but I was stretching out. To this day, I still struggle with verbs, adverbs, nouns, adjectives etc etc. What do they all mean? How, when and why did I use them? My inspirational teacher patiently explained the how, when and whys, which went in one ear and out the other, but here’s the thing: all the while I was failing to grasp the basics, the essentials, she told me to keep on writing. And that is what I did, that is what I still do.
There are bound to be flaws in my work. I am writing solely by feel. If it feels good, write it, publish it. At my time of life, I am not going to change the way I write, or suddenly learn the principles of grammar. I am not being lazy. Like a (free) bird, I cannot change. And I’m happy with that. I also know, without a shadow of a doubt, that without the magnificent Mrs D then I wouldn’t be writing here at all.
So that’s me, thanking a teacher on National Thank a Teacher Day. Mrs D inspired me to be the best writer I could be. She got me writing. If the writing is still no good, that’s down to me, not her.
As I leave Portugal today, I think about and thank a Portuguese woman who made my life better. That’s what teachers can do.
