She attended secondary school at age 25
[Photo: The Vice Principal, Mr. Pan (right) showing Lee the English textbook she had used years before. Photo courtesy: Sin Chew Daily.]
An over-age student who was almost unable to complete her secondary school finally becomes "the national model of Singapore Chinese Teachers" with her indomitable spirit and and resolute will to learn. The story of "where there is a will there is a way" begins here!
Lee Xuan Man (a.k.a. Lee Ya Yin), 48, was one the graduates of Hwa Ren Secondary School. She recently paid a visit to her alma mater and shared her over-age school life experience.
23 years ago, when Lee was 25 years old, she joined the class of Form 3 with the recommendation of her sister-in-law Liao Chun Li, who was the principal of the school, despite the fact that she was ten years older than her classmates.
Although she only had primary school qualification, with her strong will to learn, Lee successfully completed her high school education and pursued her studies at the National Taiwan Normal University for a Bachelor degree in Chinese language.
She graduated from the university at the age of 34 and then contributed her teaching services for two years at Hwa Ren Secondary School. Since 1999, she has pursued a teaching career at Jurong High School in Singapore (Millennia Institute today) for the past 11 years.
With her excellent teaching skills and innovative teaching method, she has become the "National Model of Singapore Chinese Teachers" which led to local media coverage.
Lee's father passed away when she was young. After completing her primary school education, she stepped into the society to work for the following 12 years, during which she worked as a waitress, petrol station attendant, domestic help, factory and so on. she later returned to school to finish her secondary education at the age of 25.
She said during the interview that after completing her primary school education in Port Dickson, she went to Melaka, KL and Singapore to make a living and thought she would not be able to complete her studies ever.
However, her sister-in-law knew of her desire to continue pursuing her studies and had successfully convinced Hwa Ren School to give her a chance to be an overage student in Form 3.
During the first year, her tuition fees and expenses were sponsored by her sister-in-law and she later received a scholarship from the school for three years.
"After my enrolment, I only failed my first maths test once, obtaining only 20 marks. Later my results had improved and I managed to complete my high school education without having to stay back."
Lee has now settled down in Singapore and continues to pursue her postgraduate studies while being engaged in counselling courses. She also doubles up as a counsellor for prison inmates as well as their Chinese teacher.
When studying in Taiwan for her Bachelor Degree in Chinese, she managed to complete her four course with a part-time job. In the morning, she distributed newspapers in the hostel while in the afternoon, she worked at a restaurant and at night, as a telephone operator. (Translated by LIM LIY EE/Sin Chew Daily)
资料来源：http://news.asiaone.com/News/Education/Story/A1Story20090722-156447.html