'Inspector' Yam investigates
Being a teacher is sometimes like being a police inspector.
Let me share with you my experience last week.
It was my day to check and see if there was anything going on in the area around my school.
I walked out of the school with the other teachers and did not expect anything to happen.
With our clear and sensitive minds, we could feel that something unusual was about to happen
if we didn't take action.
We saw a crowd of students in different uniforms outside a convenience store.
That was not what led us to believe something was about to happen.
In the crowd there were some students wearing our school's uniform.
We could recognise them; they were troublemakers.
The others in the crowd had red and green hair and looked like trouble.
To make sure our guess (that something was about to happen) was right, we walked around the convenience store to see if we could overhear their conversations.
But that did not work.
We decided to chat with the students. They responded strangely and would not look us in the eye.
We knew then and there that our hunch was right.
Without a doubt, there was going to be a fight.
We wished they were there to form a study group, but that was obviously not the case.
We found somewhere to hide and called the school for help.
But there were just the three of us and we lost sight of some of the students.
Fortunately, the other teachers found the students further away and all the students were brought back to their schools.
After that, a case involving a missing student made me even more worried.
This student had suicidal tendencies.
I went from the ground floor to the roof, and when I looked down from the roof I could not see her.
I wondered where she could be. Luckily she was found sitting in a playground near her home.
The two incidents were exciting and interesting experiences for me.
It gave me a taste of what it's like to be an inspector.