One story that really left a deep impression on me was told by my middle school English teacher, Miss Yang. At the time, she was also our homeroom teacher. One day during class, she was playing us an English listening track, but a few boys in the back were whispering and not paying attention.

She paused the recording, closed her textbook, and said she was disappointed with the class. Then she shared a personal story with us.

She said she grew up in a family that favored boys over girls. Her parents and grandparents believed that only her brother should study hard to get into a good university and support the family in the future. As a girl, she was expected to stay home and learn housework, not go for higher education.

But Miss Yang had a dream — she wanted to study and become a teacher. So every day, she secretly climbed onto a chair to reach the tape recorder on top of a wardrobe, put in an English cassette, and practiced speaking by repeating the sentences again and again.

Through years of hard work, she finally got into a university and later passed all the exams to become a teacher. Her story was so inspiring and heartfelt that it made all of us reflect on our attitude in class.

After that day, most students started to take English lessons more seriously. I felt truly lucky to have a teacher who was willing to share her past to motivate us. That story has stayed with me ever since.