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Dear Mrs Leeds,
I’m glad to have this opportunity to write you years and years later. I wish I had had enough courage to write you before. It is still a shame to realise what a bad student I was and what a great teacher you were. We met when you chose me for the school play. Unlike others, you gave me a chance although I wasn’t a brilliant student. You helped me memorise my lines but what I did was to show up without practising well enough. Nevertheless, you went on backing me up. I didn’t work on the play and when I was on the stage, my performance was terrible. You reminded me the golden rules of success many times. Unfortunately, I turned a deaf ear to your advice.
I had the opportunity to learn more from you but I was always late, so I couldn’t take the advantage of spending time with you. Besides, my friends and I wrote silly notes and passed them around in the class. In spite of our nasty behaviour, your reaction was only a deep sigh and being with us whenever we lost heart.
As you can guess I have endless regrets now. I wish I had taken part in all school plays and listened to your advice all the time. If you hadn’t encouraged me, I wouldn’t have loved acting so much. Now, I am at Theatre and Reading Club of the college and whenever I act, I feel that you see me somewhere.
And now it’s time to thank you for all your efforts after all these years. Mrs Leeds, I will never forget you.
Magda Moore
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Dear Magda,
When I received your e mail, I read it all in one breath. I am retired now and I miss those years. So your letter made me feel the satisfaction of being a teacher again. I wanted you to know my feelings as well. Please don’t be ashamed; you were only a teenager. I’m sure you didn’t intend to break anybody’s heart. If you hadn’t been so inexperienced, you wouldn’t have made mistakes easily. I met many students like you and I just tried to inspire them to find their own ways. If I hadn’t been patient enough, I couldn’t have led talented individuals like you. After all, when my students made something wrong, I didn’t take it to heart because if they hadn’t made mistakes, they wouldn’t have learnt the life itself.I have some regrets, too. When you had no desire to study, I wish I had led you more. Whenever you lost your motivation, I wish I had had more chance to encourage to go on. And of course I wish my students’ fear of failure had turned into a real success.
I want to thank you for remembering me after all those years.
Virginia Leeds