By Andrew Headspeath
Role models come in many shapes and sizes. Whether they are superheroes, movie stars or Olympic champions, these characters influence young Malaysians in enormous ways. For Sophia Ngiaw, her Wonder Woman was her aunt.
“My aunt has always been there for me,” the 2015 Teach For Malaysia Fellow said, adding: “She’s my best friend. She very naturally inspired me to enjoy learning.”
Sophia fondly remembers a childhood of the fullest sort of education. Her aunt bought her books, but also took her out to play in the rain. She taught Sophia to enjoy nature, and different kinds of food. It was, as she describes: “learning in all sorts of ways, not just academics.”
“I was so lucky that my aunt decided to play a part in my life,” she said. “She could have easily not made me her responsibility, and no one could’ve faulted her for that.”
Sophia had “humble beginnings” and grew up in Kuching. Though she studied hard and achieved good grades in her exams, her parents could not afford to send her to university.
It was her aunt who took her own life savings, and invested it all in Sophia’s education. For that, she feels “an immense gratitude”.
Sophia was sponsored to study International Business in a local college. Two years later, she flew to Australia to continue her degree.
“Following a trend to join the corporate world,” she slowly discovered that it was not what she wanted.
“In an affluent society, people look for different ways to fulfill their lives.
“In Australia everyone turns to volunteerism once they’ve achieved a good standard of living.
“It struck me that I needed to find a meaningful job now, and not wait until I was comfortable,” she said.
That was when Sophia applied to join the Teach For Malaysia (TFM) Fellowship.
“I soon realised Teach For Malaysia was aligned with what I wanted in life and the values that I hold dear: the fact that I love learning.”
Relishing the chance to empower others, she dived into training with her cohort, ready to make an impact on Malaysia’s students.
She was placed at a school in Miri, back in her home state of Sarawak, to teach History, English and Art.
But just as her future opened up, Life came crashing down: at the end of her training, Sophia’s aunt fell sick and passed away. This made her first experiences in the classroom incredibly tough.
“Going into a classroom for the first time, I had a lot of mixed feelings,” she said. “I was really nervous and a bit messed up, feeling quite numb and very, very unprepared.”
She describes her first year as a “rocky start.” As a TFM Fellow, she struggled to keep her classes under control, and felt her students “tested the limits” that she set with them.
It was in her second year that Sophia found her breakthrough. She became more assertive, but not domineering – taking time to figure out what the problem was before punishing them.
“It took me a while to discover my persona,” she said. “It’s not as straightforward as being the strict teacher or the cool teacher. For me, every interaction with each student is rather unique.
“I try to see them as people, instead of just a class.”
Higher ground
This is when Sophia discovered something crucial – her students lacked role models. In a community that was 90 per cent Iban, with many coming from poor, broken families, they had set ideas of their place in life.
“I remember a student came up to me and said ‘You’re Chinese! Chinese people are hard working. I have no idea how to be hard working,'” she said, adding: “No one in his community tries to push themselves to a higher ground, or test their own limits.
“Using race comparisons, he thought he had to be someone different to be successful in life, or hard working, or even to enjoy school.
“They can’t see that there’s something beyond their village, which is ironic because they’re exposed to the vices of the modern world.”
One of these vices was smoking. Many of Sophia’s students had been smoking heavily since Form Three, going through half a pack of cigarettes before class even started.
As their teacher, Sophia stepped in; not introducing punishments, but by talking to them. Every morning she asked them how much they smoked.
“Because they were made to count, they realised they were smoking a lot,” she said.
To encourage reduction, she asked them to pick a day of the week and cut the number they smoked on that day by half. Then they would add on a different day. Gradually, they saw a decrease, and some even cross-referenced with their friends.
Alongside this, Sophia co-organises an initiative with her colleague called the “Impian Project”. It is a movement to get kids thinking about their options after school.
The teachers invite guest speakers, including radio hosts and female engineers, to run inspirational workshops “to motivate the kids and get them to think about their talents, their passions and their future”.
“There are lots of kids out there who have better gifts and potential than I do, but who have never been given the chance to shine because of their circumstances. I want my students to look beyond the classroom.
“In my history lessons I’ll bring in current global cases and ask them ‘one hundred years from now this will be history – what does it mean for the future?’,” she said.
Sustainable impact
The influence of Sophia’s aunt on her approach to teaching is noticeable. While books are important, it is equally vital that kids metaphorically “play in the rain”, engaging with concepts that are part of the wider world.
“When society thinks about education they think of things like books and academics. I realised (especially in a school like mine), that education takes a very different form.
“My students have been given room to express themselves, and that to some degree is an education. To be brave enough to express how they feel. Freedom of expression.”
Soon Sophia’s two-year Fellowship will end. She is a strong believer that long-term, sustainable impact can be made well after it, as Fellows become Alumni.
As they spread out and take on different roles in the workforce, former TFM Fellows can strengthen the network of support for the education sector and find different ways to solve inequity.
“The great thing about the Fellowship is that it brings people from all kinds of backgrounds together, and that’s really important for nation-building,” she said.
“For the longest time now, we’ve always been looking at things from a very heterogeneous perspective, but I think it’s really important to combine all these different fields and have the corporate sector involved in education.
“Today’s students are tomorrow’s workforce, so I hope that awareness of the importance of education grows.”
As our conversation draws to a close, Sophia reflects on how the love and support of her aunt shaped her passion for education. A lifelong passion for learning that she hopes inspires students in her school to achieve their own “impians” (dreams).
“Once you’ve received so much in life, it’s just natural to want to give back. Right now I feel that I’m passing on the love for learning.
“The appreciation for good moral values, which is still within me. You could say that I’m trying to pass on a legacy,” she said.
Sophia Ngaw is a 2015 Teach For Malaysia Fellow. She currently teaches English, History and Art at a school in Miri.
For more information on the mission to end education inequity, visit Teach for Malaysia .
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