That Day, My Grandma Talked to My Teacher

I was at my 1st grade at elementary school. After a few weeks, we, the students were divided into several groups. Our teacher gave us alphabetical letters in square shapes. Each group had to form any word as instructed.

All groups were asked to form a word: gunung (mountain). The members of the group searched for the letters needed to form the word (g, u, n, u, n, g).

All the letters were mixed together on our table. Forming such a word using separated letters was not easy for us. As kids, we also tended to mess things even those letters in squares shapes. We were kids, we tended to mess stuffs.

 "Let me do it! Let me do it", said one of the student in front of me, grabbing the letter g out of my hand since she knew I had one letter needed to form the word "gunung".

I didn't like what she did. I wanted to keep the letter g which was already on my hand. She could take another g since there were 2 g in the word: gunung. She didn't get the other g since it was already on another student's hand.

She forced me to give her the letter g on my hand. "Give it to me!", she said forcefully. The letter felt down to the floor together with some other letters. The teacher heard the sound of falling letters and quickly staring at us.

I did feel uneasy not only that the letter I had on my hand was forcefully taken from me, but also, the letter felt to the floor together with other letters, made such noise. Plus, the teacher was staring at us, she was upset.  

"Paulina," said the teacher with her loud and unpleasant tone, "Collect that letter! Don't drop it on the floor!"

I was shocked that I just heard the teacher said so. Confused and in fear, I started to collect the letters on the floor. Others in my group were all silent. All students, hearing the loud voice of the teacher were also silent and looking at me.

I knew it was unjust. It was my classmate who was a member of my group that forced me to give the letter g to her. I was upset at my classmate and also at the teacher whom I felt was blaming only me. I couldn't depend myself, explaining what was just happening. Also, I couldn't control my emotion. Out of being upset and being blamed, I cried.

I did feel quite uncomfortable being at such situation, crying and with all the mixed feelings altogether. It made the situation in class uneasy for the students and also the teacher. I couldn't concentrate on the learning too, since I was in such a low uneasy feeling. I felt that I was a problem and at the same time, how unjust it was, that I was the one who had to be blamed by the teacher.

To the rest of the class that day, I didn't do much. The teacher came to our table right away. She said, with a normal voice, "Stop crying! Stop crying...!"

The teacher asked my group what was really happening why the letters were on the floor. The student next to me explained that the other student forced me to give the letter g to her.

"Alright", said the teacher, "In a group, you all need to do the work as I ask you to do, in a good way, in cooperation, not fighting over the letters. Do you all understand now?"

I already stopped crying when all students started again to do the task, forming words using the square alphabets.

In the evening that day, Inang, my grandma (my dad's mother), asked me, "How was your school today?" Well, since Inang asked me how was my school that day, I told her what was happening. I told her that the teacher was angry at me.

"Why?", Inang asked.

"My classmate forced me to give her the letter which already on my hand. I didn't want to give it to her. She could find another letter on the table. Why she wanted the one on my hand?" I said explaining what happened at school.

"...and the teacher was angry at you?"

"Yes Inang! That teacher said to me with loud voice: '"Collect that letter! Don't drop it on the floor!"' I was in fear when the teacher said so. I felt uncomfortable, Inang. I did.

"It was not your fault, right?"

"No Inang, that classmate did it. I didn't like her."

"Well then, I sure need to talk to your teacher," said Inang, "she supposed not to treat you that way. She could have done better. There was no need to blame you since it was not your fault."

The next day, early in morning, my dad, Inang, and I went to the teacher's house. She lived not so far from our school. We were that early that even the teacher was still at home, about preparing herself to get ready to go to school.

The teacher was in a bit surprise seeing Inang, me and my dad arrived in front of her house.

"Good morning, Bu Guru", said Inang, my grandma.

"Good morning, Amboru", said the teacher, "I see that you are all here", looking at my dad, Inang, and myself.

"Yes," said Inang calmly, "I am coming here to kindly ask you to being patient teaching my grandchild. She is only a little girl."

I noticed that my teacher felt a bit uneasy. I was concern that I would be targeted at school again. I wished that we didn't come to my teacher's house that morning. What was she going to say and do once I was at school again away from my family?

At school, the teacher didn't say anything to me about that morning when Inang talked to her.

What the teacher did was telling us the students to not tell our parents what was happening at school; not reporting to our parents if something happened at school.

I feel like it was intended to me since I did tell my grandma what happened at school the other day.

For me as a kid, a 1st grade student, in my early 6 years of age, it did feel awful. "How come?" I wondered. "Why the teacher ask us to not tell our parents if something unpleasant happens at school?"***  

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