To Sir, With Love----- A memoir

I got in touch with English language while I was in Chinese Primary School in Tongkang Pechah New Village in the year early 1960s. At that time, there was no such thing as kindergarten, I and my neighbour peer group did not have any basic knowledge about the twenty-six alphabets, that is from A to Z, either the pronunciation or the written form. They all new to us.

When I registered as a Standard Three boy, then I was forced to learn to read ABC and then got to learn by heart the pronunciation of some very common vocabularies, such as book, basket,blackboard, chair, chalk, duster, desk, pencil, ruler, which are things that we can see in the classroom. From my memory, we did not have a proper " bag" , we got basket instead.

When I was in Standard Four, I started to read and recite " A pan, a man, a pan and a man." And we got to copy and draw from the blackboard the supplementary reader story " Janet and John". Mr. Lim Sook Hwa was my English language teacher. He is a very strict teacher, although he is a pious Christian, he never preached Christianity in front of us at that time. All the villagers and pupils respected him sincerely.

While I was studying in upper standard, that is Standard Five and Six, my English language teacher was Mr. Ng Zizhen. He was very friendly and helpful. Any pupil who scored full mark or 100 marks in the weekly spelling or dictation would be entitled to have two sweets or candies as a token of encouragement. I always got the chance to taste the sweetness from him. Mr. Ng was also very generous to buy me a small rubber ball. At that time , the school authority did not supply leather football, and we always faced a shortage of sports or games teaching aids. After school, I led all my peers to play football in the field next to the local temple.

How came I always scored full mark in my spellings and dictations? In the morning while tapping rubber trees I used to recite word by word and sentence by sentence before entering the the classroom. I felt proud when all the time Mr. Ng asked me to read in the classroom. Sometimes I was asked to act as an assistant teacher guide- teaching all the other classmates.

After completing the six-year primary courses, I passed my Secondary Entrance Examination 1n the year 1960. The next year I was posted to study in a newly established Dato Bentara Luar National Secondary School. Mr. Lee Cheng San was my English language teacher. He was a young and handsome teacher who had just graduated from the Malayan Teachers' College. He used to encourage all the students to listen and speak in English. He told us that he was English-educated, could not understand or speak Mandarin. This gave me and those from primary Chinese school students a golden opportunity to learn and adapt to a English-speaking environment. And gradually we proved to him that we made it with willingness and grace.

In the year 1963 I came to know Mr Jimmy Chan, who taught me English language. I recalled asking him a new word 'stripteaser', which I could not find in my small dictionary.

'Sir, what is the meaning of striptease?' I waited eagerly for the answer.

Jimmy Chan might be feeling shy, " Just strip to tease , that's all." At that particular moment, he did not appease my curiosity.For Jimmy,who was a devout Catholic did not really satisfy my expectation, I remained doubtful and keen to get an answer. After quite some times I came to understand the actual meaning of the word from after reading local newspaper, The Straits Times with a picture of Jane Chan , then the famous stripteaser and dancer of Malaya and Singapore.

At the end of the year, I passed my LCE (Lower Certificate of Education) and was transferred to Batu Pahat High School for studying in Form Four the next year.

New enviroment means new challenge ahead, but luckily my cousin, Ow Peng was teaching Science in High School. This appease my upset and worry. I was given free authority to study with the kind assistance of my cousin. I studied in a Form 4 Arts Class One. This time we had two English lesson teacher, Mr. Chin Shin Peow taught me English Literature, Mr. Ong Teow Hoon taught me English grammar and composition.

In High School at that time, all the students were scared of Mr Chin, who was an old experienced teacher there. He walked like a professor, with books kept tight under his right armpit while his left long sleeve swinging to and fro . He was a chain smoker . Before he entered the classroom, he finished his smoking and blowing.We all knew him because he was very serious and straight while teaching in class. I enjoyed reading All Man Are Brothers, the life story of Peace Nobel Prize winner ,Dr. Albert Schweitzer and William Shakespeare's Macbeth.

We all tend to be very attentive during English Literature lessons conducted by Mr. Chin. Those days, some Malay students did not like him, just because their pronunciation did not meet Mr. Chin's requirement. He always criticised our learning attitude, and straightaway pinpointed our mistakes and tried to correct them right away, but still we could not follow his steps. Finally he became very angry and scolded the class for stupidity and ignorance. Some of the students who did not like to attend his lessons would prefer to skip class. Next day, Mr Chin forced them verbally to admit their bad behaviour in a very sarcastic tone. Eventually those who did not turn out yesterday would surrender themselves. Although I could not remember the exact words of a statement Mr. Chin used to force the unscrupulous elements to give out to him, but imagine how powerful was the verbal language of Mr. Chin Shin Peow.

Last but not least, the most wonderful experience I had been a High School old boy is that in Form Five, my English teacher was a Sikh, Mr. Chandran singh, and the English literature teacher was a young American, by the name of Duncan. He taught us The Old Man And The Sea , While Mr. Chin taughtJulie Caesar. We enjoyed playing a role in the drama on stage. He gave me full mark for my literature context questions. I still recall his tall and fair apperance.

I am very happy today because nearly all my former English language teachers are still alive, except Mr Chandran whom I still do not know his whereabouts and the former High School Principal, Mr. Mathai who had emigrated to his hometown in India after retirement.

Sincerely speaking, I am very grateful all my former teachers especially those who understand my feelings, I still owe my gratitude to their kindness and dedication for educating me. I like English language and literature very much, but under our present system of education and administration, I have been neglected for continue contributing my English knowledge and skills.