This one from Long and Short Reviews is definitely going back a bit. I had a couple of good teachers, but admittedly not many - I still have nightmares about two who used to deliberately embarrass me in class in the name of "bringing me out of my shell" (seriously, to all teachers out there, DON'T do that). So I was a bit limited trying to think of a story about any of them.
Then I remembered my A'Level French teacher, Mr Steeple.
Mr Steeple was a terrifying teacher for the lower years - he was a short man but had a huge, booming voice and a very sarcastic way of speaking if you pissed him off, so we were all terrified of him. However, I didn't actually have him as a teacher until sixth form and, unsurprisingly, he didn't feel the need to do any of that with those of us who were old enough not to need it, so he was just a very good teacher. I was still quite shy and introverted back then, so I didn't get into long conversations with him much until this one class when he was trying to teach us the work for "fairy", which was "fee".
"What's the name of the witch from Arthurian legend?"
Without thinking, I answered "Morgan LeFay."
"Fancy you knowing that!"
Well, yes. I was, at the time, fascinated by Arthurian legend, not that anyone at school knew this - I had learned long ago never to show interest in anything that wasn't considered normal. But this led Mr Steeple to start asking me questions about the Mabinogion, and it was a great conversation, even though everyone else was staring at us.
I always intended to write Mr Steeple a letter after university thanking him for his help, but like an idiot I never did, so I hope he knew what a great teacher he was.
I'm interested to see what everyone else will say!
