Ian Allen/Staff Photographer
LEFT: In the last two years at Belair High School in Mandeville, Althea Laing, English teacher, has received 100 per cent passes in CAPE literature.
Althea Laing, English teacher, with one of her private students from Mandeville.

Avia Collinder, Gleaner Writer

Teachers who have found the magic of the English language are able to communicate a love of the subject to their students. Parent Maxine Turner-Fraser, mother of 16-year-old Mercedes, is convinced that it is with this magical touch that model-turned-teacher Althea Laing has transformed her child, who recently secured English at CXC with a distinction.

Laing, teacher at Belair in Mandeville, has made her mark both in the high school and in private English classes, which are all the rage in Mandeville.

For individuals like Turner-Fraser, the results are seen not only in good grades in external examinations, but also in a new-found love of the subject.

"Mercedes did quite well and I am quite satisfied with her progress," her mother boasts, noting that Laing, in her capacity as private tutor, "gives her heart to her students".

"She wants them to get that good command of English. That's the beauty of her. Whatever knowledge she has she really wants to pass on to these students, who are interested in the language. She is very dedicated."

Successful transition

According to Laing, a former Miss Jamaica World, who has made a most successful transition from the international modelling catwalks to standing before the blackboard, "All of my students who did examinations in the private group have received distinctions."

She is also proud of students at May Day All-Age, her previous place of employment, where seventh graders saw significant improvement in English language skill after 24 sessions of tutoring. They have continued to excel in all subject areas with their new-found communication skills.

"Children are not supposed to fail English," says the teacher, who cannot resist infusing lessons in self-confidence and deportment into her classes. "The subject is not being taught the way it should."

Laing, a statuesque 5'11", dark-skinned beauty, does not look her age of 52, nor does she look like a grandmother. But Laing is mother of Lloyd Laing, who works in the entertainment industry and has provided her with grandaughters Sydney and Jordan. Her younger son is Renoir Reynolds-Hosang, Belair student who, this year, passed nine CXC subjects - including English with a distinction.

She was Jamaica's and the Caribbean's first model to appear on the cover of Essence magazine.

Now she is back in the classroom where she feels she belongs.

Laing's dad, Albert Reynolds, was principal of Black River Primary School, and mother Carmen Reynolds was also a teacher.

Althea started teaching at 16, after leaving the Excelsior Community College with a distinction in teaching practice. She has taught at Wolmer's Girls' School, Jamaica College, Black River and Haile Selassie high schools.

Following the end of her modelling career, Laing started the Althea Laing Grooming Institute in 1995, before accepting a post at the May Day All-Age School in Mandeville as an English teacher.

Empowering students

At May Day All-Age, she says, "I drew on my skills in personal development to empower my students and to build their self-esteem. When children believe in themselves, you can get them to do almost anything you want them to do."

In 2007, Althea Laing completed a bachelor's degree in education and language arts at Knox Community College, moving that same year to Belair to be with the younger of her two sons.

Individual style

Taking with her a very individual style of teaching, she soon made her name in the subject area at Belair.

Laing laments that in the general school system, there are still teachers who "speak into children's lives so much negativity that they fail. We, as teachers, write off students too early. For you to get results, you have to be passionate about children," she advises.

Yet another problem, she notes, is that English as a skilled area is not promoted at the level that other subjects, including mathematics and the sciences, are promoted.

A key skill, she notes, is creative writing, which permits students use of their imagination in ways which unlock cognitive powers.

At Belair, she takes her students to areas such as Lover's Leap, and encourages the writing of poetry and other descriptive work which unlocks their imaginations.

Laing, who has for the last two years been getting 100 per cent passes in literature in CAPE examinations, says the principal of Belair has been supporting her holistic approach to teaching, which include the sightseeing trips.

"Teaching is my passion," says the English teacher, who admits to enjoying what she believes is the most fulfilling stage of her life, noting that she has also started a student image programme as well as a staff development workshop to share her beliefs about the practice of teaching and personal development.

Positive reinforcment

"There are a lot of teachers who are demotivated," she explains, noting that in her workshops, she tutors fellow teachers on dress, grooming, social graces and etiquette - other skills they can use to make their lives more rewarding.

She also shares her belief in positively reinforcing her students.

"Our social problems come back to the classroom experience. Nobody believes in them (failing students)."

In her own classroom, she says there are also good and indifferent students but, "I put them (all) under my arms."

Her students - mediocre and brilliant alike - know they belong to her, and in trying to please their new friend, can do nothing but excel.