Our tour guide from Hong Kong is a young lady by the name of Si. Si is very bubbly, enthusiastic, helpful, and knowledgeable. She took care of the group very well. She explained to us how to use the facilities at the Blue Lagoon Hot Spring.
She told us about the Icelandic horses, why people treasure them, and how they spread all over the world.
She told us how sheep and horses were introduced to Iceland, how too many animals depleted the resources and degraded the environment, how the animals are carefully regulated nowadays for sustainability.
She told us about Icelandic sea cucumbers, puffins, …
She told us about the geography of Iceland, the volcanos, the glaziers, the waterfalls, rivers and lakes formed from the melting waters from glaziers, … She told us about the volcano eruption that interrupted air travel for a large part of the world, thousands of kilometres away.
She told us about the history of Iceland, how the Vikings came here and stayed, how they governed themselves, how Iceland came to be independent, …
She told us about food, nature, economics, history, government, trade, …, and how they are inter-related. It is obvious that she enjoys doing it - it is more than just a job that she has to do.
Little did we know that she was not interested in studying and did poorly in secondary school in Hong Kong. That was why she was sent to New Zealand. It was much later that she became interested in travelling, and became a tour guide. Now she realises that she actually enjoys studying all these. Not only is she doing it for her job, she is studying because she enjoys it. She is even able to create linkages across disciplines.
There is a lesson there for us people in education. Very often the problem is not in the students. The problem, most often, is in the education system and us teachers who fail to help the students see the enjoyment and the satisfaction inherent in learning.
Thank you, Si, for giving me such a lesson in education.
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