The Teachers’ Day in Singapore is on the 6th of September this year. In China, since 1985, Teachers’ Day is on the 10th of September each year. Distinguished Chinese essayist and philosopher HAN Yu (韩愈) from the Tang dynasty explained the roles of a teacher in only six Chinese character, in his famous essay, “On the Teacher”（师说).

The roles of a teacher by HAN Yu, in my translation, are to

• Guide students, show them the direction (传道, literally, spread the ‘Tao’).
• Impart knowledge to students, to improve their abilities. (授业)
• Resolve the students’ doubts. (解惑)

In my blogging existence, I follow the guidance from the best teacher, Lorelle. Since I’ve done 40 posts inspired by Lorelle, I would like to give you 12 reasons why you need Lorelle’s Blog Exercises for your blog.

1) Lorelle is a woman. Her sensitivity and tenderness of a woman slipped through her writing. In one passionate comment, Lorelle said: “Take the time you need to do your best work. Only you can judge yourself for that. We don’t have to know what color your underwear are to appreciate the fact that you are wearing some.”

2) Lorelle has ginger/red hair. I have black hair. Our colour combination is the perfect Yin and Yang match.

3) Lorelle teaches you boring heavyweight stuff such as coding and Statistics and Web Analytics, and Update to WordPress 3.6.1 Now. All these I ignore as they are more suitable for technical people.

4) Lorelle surprises me with her trivial pursuits as revealed in Mashups, Blog Your Favorite Song, and The Daily Social Meme.

5) Lorelle has a special friend called Cindy, who owns 22nd Street Station Cafe in Forest Grove, Oregon. Cindy has got The Secret Sauce.

6) Lorelle teaches me how to do things right, such as creating properly formed link, keep self-control and avoid distractions, and set my site goals.

7) Lorelle improves my understanding on web publishing. She makes me think about using my blog as a resume.

8) Lorelle challenges me and pushes me to channel my energy into producing better blog posts.

9) Lorelle exposes all tips. All Chinese kung-fu masters hold back a trick or two, just in case they get a fatal punch from their own disloyal disciples. Lorelle overturns the rule. She is naked.

10) Lorelle educates the blogging community how to use WordPress well, and to show etiquette, connect, and improve ourselves through conscious thinking and writing, and ultimately to make the world a better place.

11) Lorelle informs. She also makes me laugh.

And finally, at number 12 –

I think Lorelle likes me. She featured me in this post.

On Teachers’ Day, students (or their parents) need to buy their teachers gifts, sometimes very expensive gifts, to show how they respect their honourable teachers, to bribe the teachers. Though teachers still receive cards, flowers, some cute mugs, and hand-made cakes, some parents shower their kids’ teachers with Louis Vuitton handbags, gift cards and jewellery. People’s Daily Online reported that Teachers’ Day gift giving spins out of control. Global Times commented that Gifting still rife on Teachers’ Day.

I hope my teacher Lorelle would appreciate this humble, home-made post as my gift to her. How would I know? Perhaps she is expecting an LV bag.

This post was inspired by Blog Exercises: Top X Tips – The Numbered Post by Lorelle VanFossen. You can find more Blog Exercises on Lorelle on WordPress. This is a year-long challenge to help you flex your blogging muscles.