The first job that one does in life is always fresh in his or her memory. It is mostly during the youthful age, in my case teenage and the level of enthusiasm accompanying the job can't be quantified.
Immediately after my secondary school education, I moved to another town to stay with my sister. After spending about a month at home without doing anything, the house became boring for me. During the weekdays, my sister and her husband would go to work and the children would go to school. I would be left alone at home to be eating, watching movies and sleeping.
When I got tired of the boredom, I told my sister that I would like to look for a job to get busy with. He gave her approval. I photocopied my senior school certificate and checked around to submit it in some primary schools.
Triumphant Primary School invited me for an interview.
I happily dressed up in the morning of the following day and went for the interview. After the written and oral session of the interview, the proprietor, whose wife was the headteacher, hired me immediately.
The proprietor conducted me around the school. The school was just a three room building. The construction work was yet to be completed. Realizing how I was looking at the place, he was quick to tell me that the building was just a temporary site. He said they would move to the permanent site before the most senior class got to primary 5.
I was deployed to primary 3. The headteacher, who earlier introduced herself to me as a graduate of Geography education, was to handle primary 4. I met two other employees who were to handle primary 1 and 2 classes. An elderly woman was there to handle pre-nursery.
My salary was relatively good for a secondary school leaver. The work was hectic because I was teaching all the subjects in my class. I hardly rest each day.
I gained many things from that job that helped me in my undergraduate studies and still helps me today. My stay of one year in the school before leaving to further my education at the University taught me how to devote myself to reading.
I remember spending time each night reading and understanding a topic before going to teach it. My area of strength was Mathematics while my weakness was in humanity subjects.
This habit of reading remained with me till my University education and it helped me to perform well in my undergraduate degree.
I learned about time management. The headteacher was there to guide me on how I would be able to cover my scheme of work in each subject I was teaching. It was also in that school that I learned how to plan a lesson before going to class to teach.
Another important thing that I learned was resource management. I remember when I brought my first salary home, my sister advised me on how to go about spending just a little of it and saving the bulk for my university needs. I worked with her advice and it was awesome.
I left the school after a year to start my degree. I recommended someone, who was my neighbor, for my replacement before leaving. The proprietor asked me if the boy was good and I replied in the affirmative. That was all the interview that he needed to pass before being hired. You could imagine their level of trust in me and my judgment. He lived up to the expectation and performed creditably well before resigning to further his education too.
My relationship with the proprietor and headteacher remained cordial till present.
If I am to go back there, I would gladly do so but I doubt if they can pay me a considerable salary.
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