BREAKING THE LANGUAGE BARRIER

THE ongoing debate and deliberation on whether a pass in the English language paper be made compulsory for SPM examinations have gotten me reminiscing my own academic experience decades ago.
Coming from a typical Chinese family, my parents enrolled me into a Chinese private school where the medium of instruction was Chinese and English language was taught as a subject.
It didn’t take long for me to single out English as my worst subject. I recalled vividly the large red egg-shaped oval marks on my test papers. It was zero for Spelling and zero for Dictation. My complete inability to spell and dictate would often incur the wrath of my teacher.
At times I will be made to stand on the podium of the school’s common hall which undoubtedly was the most strategic place to execute public humiliation as a punishment.
Other times, I watched helplessly as she threw my exercise books out of the window and into the drain. Hence, each English Language class would be anticipated by much fear and accompanied by prayers for my teacher’s absence.
My world was soon turned upside down when my parents decided to switch me to an English-medium school.
The reason being my youngest brother was enrolled into that school and I needed to play the “big sister” role keeping an eye on him by attending the same school.
With my poor command of the English language, I feared the inability to cope in my schoolwork. My protest was in vain and to say the subsequent years of academic pursuit in the medium of English were tough will be an understatement.
Family help was almost non-existent with both my parents illiterate and an environment where family and friends communicated only in Chinese dialects. Left to my own resources, there was only one thing that I could do and that was to work hard and so I did.
In 1958, I sat for the Overseas Senior Cambridge examination and successfully passed with results that were good enough for my admission into the Teachers’ Training College. Two years later, I graduated as a qualified teacher and was posted to Johor.
I am retired today and looking back, I reminisce fondly of the wonderful time I had spent with those children under my care and tutelage.
The irony was that from being a student who could neither spell nor dictate in English at one time, I actually became an English teacher in a primary school.
In a nutshell, I believe that to master a language can be difficult but not impossible.

You only need to have determination, perseverance and faith in pursuing your goals.

MADAM JADE
Via e-mail
The Star 7.7.09 TUESDAY