Culture

Why Does Everybody Have That One English Teacher Who Changed Their Life?

English teachers have a chokehold on everyone, including Adele.

by Millie Roberts  22 November 2021
Adele english teacher

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It’s a truth universally acknowledged that English teachers are some of the most influential people out there. Their passion for literature, expression, critical thinking, and for their students can be life-changing for teens and primary school kids.

A lot of people credit the path they landed on to a fondly remembered figure in the English department. For me, it was my Year 11 teacher Ms Sinclair, and for international superstar Adele, it was her Year 8 equivalent Miss McDonald.

The singer welled up on Sunday when she was surprised by her childhood idol during her televised gig ‘An Audience with Adele’. “She was so bloody cool, so engaging,” Adele reflected of Miss McDonald. “She really made us care, and we knew that she cared about us.”

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The heartwarming moment has set Twitter on fire, with everyone reflecting on their own Miss McDonald — a teacher so encouraging, inspiring, and filled with belief in their pupils that they could probably sway their class to stand on tables reciting ‘O Captain! My Captain’ like in Dead Poet’s Society. These are the types of teachers Kate Keller wishes she was in Gossip Girl, and Miss Honey would have been if Matilda was a documentary, not a film.

But what is it about English teachers? “For some kids, their teachers are all they have and I will never take this for granted,” American columnist Nick Ripatrazone noted in 2019. “I’m not an outwardly sentimental person, but my students know I care about them. I root for them.”

“What a discovery to find a paragraph that sings in a student’s work — and to tell them about it. What a balm to slow down their days just enough to linger over beautifully written words,” he said.

Last year, a viral thread slapped the internet in the face when it asked: “Did you develop a deep emotional attachment to your English teacher or are you normal?”

People around the world responded back that their English teachers saw potential no one else did at a pivotal time in their lives, that they helped develop their students’ voices, and instilled a deep passion for reading and writing, simply through leading by example.

Meanwhile, the rest of us are living vicariously through Adele hearing from her teacher two decades on that she’s proud of her, and imagining a parallel universe where if we were also one of the biggest singers in the world promoting their sixth studio album, that our English teachers would say the same.

“Thank you for remembering me,” Miss McDonald told Adele on stage. “You really did change my life,” Adele said back in response.