Recently, I had the pleasure of learning about a phenomenal teacher who has two sewing classes in China, at the St Hilary's Primary School.

Her name is Mrs. Gloria Chan. In Latin, Gloria means praise, and that’s why I am writing this; to sing her praises.

"Girls aged 6-10 are very excited about making their own teddy bears", Ms. Chan said.

Since each class has two to three tutors, help is always nearby. Little fingers often have difficulty tying knots or threading needles. Tutors patently wait to see who needs extra help.

Like most young children, they are active and wander around to see what other classmates are doing. They want to see the finished bears and focus less on the basics.

Gloria reminds the students that there is a lot more to sewing than just making something.

She shares "that sewing teaches life-skills, like discipline, care, patience, and perseverance. The love of sewing plus the aim to sew well" and these ideals are woven in to each class.

One thing she does routinely is to bring colorful fabrics, threads, laces along with pictures to pique their interest and inspire their creativity.

Another talent for which Ms Gloria is particularly noted for is to ask the girls what color they would like their bear to wear.

And Gloria receives many answers, pink, white, blue and purple seem to be all little girl's favorite colors.

One answer in particular still stands out to her. A young girl came up and whispered to her, “black”. Gloria said the young girl must have seen the puzzled look on her face because she added, “A black tutu, for the Black Swan”.

While Ms. Gloria feels that oftentimes teaching young students is more challenging than teaching college students and teaching is not an easy job, she still loves to share her knowledge and encouragement all students.

This one-on-one time spent with the students has brought much joy to Ms. Gloria because they share stories of people in their own families who have sewn.

Even the parents give positive feedback, and one in particular said, her daughter went home and repaired all her wounded soft toys.

"We are always busy sewing in the classroom, yet students take time to share their lovely little stories with me." Ms. Gloria began.

"One girl said she and her parents read my sewing book titled “Magic Needle“ together." She learned all the stitch and sewing methods in from book and was prepared when she came to class.

Another girl said, ”My mom taught me how to tie a knot.”

One said, ”My grandma can sew very well, she likes to see my sewing skills and work.”

"This is why I teach", said Ms. Gloria. "I treasure the time I spent with my students."

She plants seeds of knowledge with her sewing class and gets to watch them grow!