It’s A Wonderful World

Salam. Hello folks, its been awhile huh? No inspiration I guess..

Ah well, its rare that these days come by, so here I am, writing on…

The other day, Farhanah and I went by CBN to pick up Raudhah from school. Manje sungguh kanak-kanak ni, we used to take the LRT back under the hot scorching sun lagi! Anyway, Raudhah usually waits for us in the red hall, so we hung around there while waiting for school to end. As luck would have it, CBN 1 were practising for this action and sing competition they have the day after. Apparently, they’re at state level! So, me and farhanah sat there and watched as these kids performed their routine over and over again until Miss Low and Mrs. Phua were satisfied. Needless to say, Miss Low is still as garang as she was back when I was in school. Although the then often used ‘bangau’ word is no longer present, I can see that she still strike fears into these kids. Haha. Even I was scared! Nak beli makanan from the kantin and makan dalam red hall pun takut kene marah. Lol.

As I was sitting there, observing from a safe distance, the teachers drilling into these students that they have to be perfect and pronounce every single word properly (“open your mouths!!” / Miss Low: Its roooommm, not ruuummm; kids: “roooooooommm”), I can’t help but think no wonder we have quite a decent command of english. Not to blow on my own trumpet or angkat bakul sendiri, but I am proud that I can speak proper english (at least I think so!). Even the way these kids speak english is different than the average Malaysian. I think undoubtedly, CBN has a recomendable reputation for being a good english-speaking school.

I remember the days during english classes, we were made to read aloud and the teachers made sure that every enunciation was clear and loud. And my mom even made us do mouth exercises in the morning on the way to school. Memories of choral speaking competitions, drama competitions, public speaking and english days never fails to make my zygomaticus muscles to contract (that means smile, Apologies, I am a medical nerd). Even today, as I watch videos that my batch mates put up on their facebooks of our interclass drama competition back then makes me proud to be a CBNer

I think it is not the learning of the english that makes a difference, its the practice that you get from speaking over and over again. Listening to english songs and then trying to imitate the way they pronounce and speak does help. Who says listening to songs is a waste of time?! Maybe thats why our english sounds more American than it does British, we watch too many American shows.

Aah well..speaking and writing are two different things unfortunately for me. Too bad words don’t flow as well as it does for me when I write, hence the very limited entries. Its not that I don’t have ideas on what to write about ( I have loads, trust me), its just that every time that I am set to go clicking away, words just fail me. I guess I don’t express my thoughts as well as other people *sigh* Maybe I should talk more? Naahh, not me..

Ok, since I don;t have any ideas on what to say to close this entry, I shall just rant away..

Read the nwspaper today. I thought the government is on the right track to limit the numebr of SPM subjects to just 10 (although 12 would probably be more realistic). Its just unneccessary to take soo many subjects me thinks (kalau nak show off tuh lain lah cite). No disrespect to those who have (kudos to them for excelling), but I think taking too many subjects just increases the pressure on others (not to mention yourself!) to take up just as many. Plus, at the end of the day, how many subjects you take for SPM only takes you so far. Tak caye? Tanyelah mane-mane budak yang dah masuk university.

We focus too much on developing students who are excellent exam wise that we forget in order to survive the rat race that is this world, it takes more than a brilliant mind. I’ve seen loads of people who are not neccessarily the brightest students but have succeeded way further than the smart ones. You know what they had in common? They are all street smart, have good english and work their a** off. Of course, occasionally there are the ones who we like to call “pacat” but that’s a whole different story.

So, lessons for today, speak good english, be street smart and work hard!

Right, till next time peeps, I need to get back to my puzzles and Kris Allen