Star Q
iii. Sukantara
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| Image sourced from Google |
He came into the Form Six teachers' common room asking where the principal's room was. We told him that it is in another building. All the same he spent time with us for a while, and chatted a little bit about himself.
He told us that he was the first batch of the school's Form 5 students, way back in 1957. My mental calculation immediately put him as seventy three years of age. Surprisingly he did not look a year over fifty five. He looked healthy and spoke with conviction and was proficient in his English.
He seemed more interested to talk further when he found out that I happen to teach English and proceeded to ask me about the poor state of English proficiency amongst youngsters nowadays and the possible cause of it. I pointed out that one reason would be the lack of opportunity to use the language outside the school.
While still on the subject, it was the statement he made about his visit to India that interested me. He told us that on his recent trip there, he found out that, young kids in kindergarten were fined (I failed to ask how much) whenever they spoke in languages other than English. I pointed out to him that if teachers here were to fine students for speaking other than English, the teachers will find themselves being fined (or worse taken to court!) by the students' parents instead. Upon hearing that, he waved his hand as a gesture of surrender and wished me luck as an English teacher!
I understood what he meant. I wish I could have spoken more with this man about how his generation learnt English. But alas, not only did I not do that, I did not even get his name!
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