Today, we are introducing Xue Mei, the Principal of Yu Ren Chinese Tuition Centre in Singapore. She is a sister-in-Christ who strives hard in the workplace, and was featured in an interview article in Singapore’s ‘Heartbeat’ newsletter.

Opportunities for the turning point

In 1995, Xue Mei got married and moved from Sichuan, China to Singapore when she was in her twenties where she embarked on a new chapter in her life journey.

Xue Mei is intelligent and energetic. When she knew that there was a profession in Chinese tuition in Singapore, she was inspired to soar high as she hailed from a family of teachers. Her mother and maternal grandmother were teachers. She graduated with a Childhood Education degree and further studies. She was also talented in arts, dance and playing the piano and had a passion for writing. She even clinched an award in a speech competition.

What’s interesting was that the opportunity presented itself before Xue Mei contemplated and planned for it. She started teaching in Singapore because of a chance occurrence. One day, she went for a haircut. While she was waiting, a Singaporean parent found her lively and cheerful, so they started to chat. The parent knew that she came from China and invited her to give Chinese tuition to her two children. Even though they already had a tuition teacher, this parent was impressed with Xue Mei’s sweet voice. Thus, she was given the opportunity to train the children in oral Chinese. Her teaching was superb. The parent especially liked her professional teaching in reciting poems, so the parent laid off the former tuition teacher.  Xue Mei took on the Chinese tuition job. She quickly grasped the Chinese materials in Singapore, got hold of the main points in teaching and discovered the issues that the children faced in learning. These two children improved rapidly in their school performance. Subsequently, the parent introduced the English teacher’s children to her for tuition.

Soon, Xue Mei had an abdominal operation and needed to rest at home. Therefore, she couldn’t go out. At that point in time, the students’ examinations were drawing near. Xue Mei asked the students if they could come to her home for tuition instead. Their parents agreed. Knowing that she just had a surgery, one parent sent a helper to her place to cook for her. Since then, the students came to her house for tuition instead of her travelling to their premises.

Xue Mei’s husband is simple, honest and supportive of his wife’s tuition job. Since the birth of their children, their parents came to help take care of the family. With her family support and the anticipation of the students’ parents, Xue Mei was inspired to devote herself to teaching full-time. The number of students coming to her place for tuition grew tremendously.

The Lord rewards those who work hard

Gradually, there wasn’t enough space in her home for tuition. Her friends advised her to open a tuition centre for her career. Before this, Xue Mei had not thought of it, as it was too time consuming, and there was a huge difference between home tuition and commercial tuition! Finally, she set up a tuition centre because of the circumstances.

The school was located at the foot of a small hill. It was brightly lit, spacious and tidy. It reflected the founder’s character of being meticulous. It was named ‘Yu Ren’. ‘Yu’ was one of the Chinese characters for education while ‘Ren’ was one of the Chinese characters that comprised love. ‘Ren Ai’ as in love originated from Galatians 5:22 in the Bible:  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

‘New’ was an apt word that described the hardware for Yu Ren Tuition Centre. Its facilities, teaching materials and teaching philosophies were all new. It provided the best conditions for educating the students. The word ‘heart’ was its software. The tuition centre expected its teachers to be kind, loving, responsible and patient.

Prior to this, tuition was a job rather than a career to Xue Mei. However, her faith and courage to move forward changed her perceptions. She believed that we reap what we sow. To put it simply, you would become an expert if you performed a job repeatedly.

Throughout the operations of her tuition centre, she held on to the education philosophies of ‘Yu’ and ‘Ren’ as described earlier.

They nurtured new teachers in the tuition centre, and provided a good team of teachers. It was ‘free tuition’ for the students very often. She said, “The tuition fee today is the same as that for her first student.” Why? It was because ‘Yu Ren’ sought to fulfil the four qualities encompassing the heart: kindness, love, responsibility and patience.

Xue Mei promised the parents that they would see improvement within three months. She made sure that she delivered what she promised, even if she did not charge them. She was not calculating about time and money. She believed that all students could be educated if they put in effort. In order to help her students progress, she came up with a lot of strategies, such as one-to-one tuition, detention and even bringing the students home for tuition.

She reminded the teachers, saying: “Don’t pressurise the students who stay back for detention. Learn together with them, and close the gaps in learning for the older students. Let students learn by playing, and recognise words through the games. Students are pure, teachable, and enjoy learning. They are extremely happy once they are able to recognise the Chinese characters. It is the same joy that the teachers gain.”

Xue Mei was willing to put in effort, and treated every student as her own child due to her religious beliefs. She believed in cultivating the heart in education rather than emphasizing results. When the parents demanded results, she was full of confidence and reassured smilingly, “The Lord rewards those who work hard as diligence can make up for one’s dullness. I have entrusted all in God’s almighty hands. The Lord will surely bless!”

Indeed, the Lord has blessed the labour of Xue Mei and the whole team. Yu Ren Tuition Centre received ‘The 100 Singapore Excellent Enterprises’ award. The parents and the students liked the school. There are numerous photographs of the students placed in the display windows of Yu Ren Tuition Centre and printed on their posters. They left behind good memories and testified to the indelible marks made by the tuition centre. From the preschool children to the graduating Secondary students, Xue Mei watched the students’ gradual process of holistic growth.

Her beliefs propelled her to greater heights in life

In Proverbs 16:9 (in the Bible) it says: The heart of man plans his way,
but the Lord establishes his steps. Upon reflecting on her entrepreneurship phase in life, Xue Mei said with thanksgiving: “What abilities do I have? All my blessings are from God for I don’t make deliberate plans for them. God’s will is good. It is more beautiful upon looking back. All these are the results of God’s guidance.”

She said, “My religious belief enables me to scale greater heights. The Lord has blessed me with unique opportunities to believe in Him and I have not left him ever since.” A parent shared the gospel with her; her first contact with the gospel was a gospel rally ticket from the parent. Another parent sent her a gospel magazine from overseas.

Soon after Xue Mei entered the church, she was baptised and became a Christian.

She said: “Teachers are the engineers of souls. This is where the value lies. Being filled with the Holy Spirit leads to the renewal of the souls. I thank the Lord for His grace that I am a Christian. When I read the Bible, the Word of God comes alive to me and enhances my thinking. It directs my words and thoughts.”

Because of her religious beliefs, Xue Mei clearly has a different approach in her management of the tuition centre and the team of teachers. During the recruitment of teachers, she will ask about their religious beliefs. She encourages non-Christian teachers to attend church. Gradually, her team of teachers evolved into a Christian team.

In Singapore, the best time for tuition centres to bring in money is on Sundays. However, Yu Ren Tuition Centre is closed for rest. On Sundays, the teachers go to their respective churches for worship and rest for the day. On Mondays, Xue Mei leads them to share about what their pastors preach, and how they benefit from it. They encourage one another and are renewed in their spirits and strength when they devote themselves to work at the tuition centre once again.

Xue Mei values such sharing. She said, “The teachers need shaping of their characters. They are moulded when they attend the church. As a result of it, I was untainted and became shimmering white.”

Becoming a blessing for others

Presently, not only has Xue Mei been blessed, but she has also sought to be a blessing to others. Just as the Lord bestowed endless blessings on her, she also strove to ‘give’ to others and bless them through various means.

She knew that a lot of Chinese teachers, who come from China to work in Singapore, regard the tuition centre as their home. Thus, she helps them to resolve issues in life. Some of the new teachers experience home rental issues, so Xue Mei extends a helping hand to them. When the teachers face difficulties at work, Xue Mei encourages them to go to church and find the answers and inspiration from God. Apart from this, the tuition centre organises an annual celebration dinner and tours, and create numerous opportunities for the teachers to share and bond with one another.

In terms of education, Xue Mei said, “It isn’t difficult to teach good students, but it attests to our abilities if we are able to teach the weak students well.” Her maternal grandmother taught her from childhood: Do your own work, help others in their work, and learn to do new things. Because of her religious beliefs, she realised that she needed to have a sense of responsibility in her heart in order ‘to do her own work’ well. With respect to helping others, she mustn’t be selfish. When it came to learning new things, she had to muster her courage and accept challenges so that she could constantly learn and grow.

During examinations, the teachers in Yu Ren Tuition Centre hold hands with the students and pray together with them. In such moments, their tears flow as they pray. It is also blended with their laughter and happiness. The students feel the love of the teachers and knew that they do all these because of love, so they say, “Because you love me!” Xue Mei is comforted and thankful to God in knowing this.

Other than education, Xue Mei’s love also reaches out to other areas such as concern for the new Chinese immigrants from China. She often opens her home on weekends and public holidays, and invites church friends, teachers, and students for a celebration gathering. She said, “Although I hope to have a successful career, I desire to bless others with my blessings even more.”

After hearing Xue Mei’s story, I am moved to appeal to you because of what she said, “I am blessed!” Dear friends, we have the opportunities to know workplace Christians such as the businessmen, scientists, entrepreneurs, teachers and others through the interview articles in Singapore’s ‘Heartbeat’ newsletter. They are all blessed! Do you have such brothers and sisters-in-Christ? Are you also blessed? We hope to hear your stories so that others will also be encouraged.

This episode ends here. I am Angelie and I hope to see you on air next week!