‘All of us remember a teacher who changed our lives’ – says Laura Bush, and I think she is right. I will never forget my English language teacher Ms. Dodo Pachulia. She is one of the best I have ever had. The thing is she is totally different from others. In the academic process, she teaches us not only the language, but also how to use our knowledge in life in general. She talks with her students about life, its ups and downs and its vicissitudes, trying to help us find the right way into our future.
I have been her student for eight years and I cannot remember one instance of her refusing me to get versed in my problem to help me out finally. For me, she has become a person to look up to, and I am definitely very grateful for this.
What makes her so different in particular? Again, Laura Bush once said: ‘Really good teachers are the ones, who accept the challenge that teaching offers.’ I agree with this and I can say that my favorite teacher Dodo does accept any challenge offered. It is not her habit to just explain a piece of new material and be done with the lesson. What she is doing is motivating us by showing how interesting the academic process might be if we look at it a bit differently. One of her strongest points is to let us the students demonstrate the acquired knowledge which is very helpful for making useful conclusions thereof. She is a kind of a tutor who is always ready to spend all her energy and time to do spectacular shows for the students so that they could share their talent and achievements with a wider audience than a regular class. Dodo Pachulia never used to be satisfied with the material the text-books suggested. She always tried to make the entire process of learning the English language more interesting via introducing the British culture to us, thus making our scope of knowledge broader and more practicable. This kind of attitude was working both on our future financial strength and spiritual height. I have rarely seen a person so dedicated to the job, so interested in doing it perfectly, so highly motivated to give us all she can to make at least one student’s life better! She is a great example for reflecting the following words by Mrs. Bush: ‘I think teaching is like a calling, because it’s very hard.’ For my teacher Dodo, teaching is even more than a regular calling; it’s her entire life.
It is unfortunate that today the teachers’ work is not appreciated in an appropriate way. And not only in Georgia! This worries me a lot, because a teacher’s role in our lives is insurmountable. So, why not to try and openly manifest how much we value them? Raising salaries and giving some privileges is not the only way of doing that. We should also let teachers know how important they are to us. So let us do it together, and I will be the one who wants to start: I do appreciate you, I do love you and I will never forget you, Ms. Dodo!

Nota Bene by NBR:
This story is about the famous Byron School of Tbilisi teacher Dodo Pachulia – one of the best in the school. This personal letter addressed to her might very well be considered as a quintessential dedication of a good student to a good teacher anywhere in the world. And the reason of running it in this newspaper is not our desire to make a toast to Pachulia but to underscore that the world is in permanent need of good teachers like her who can awaken aspiration towards education in general thanks to their qualification, intuition, experience, love and understanding.