OUR TRUE CHALLENGE LYING AHEAD

Dear students,

An x student of SMAS who bagged the most number of As in PMR last year came over to her alma mater just recently for some undisclosed business or maybe just to pay a visit. As I happened to be his teacher once for two years in a row. She at first poked her head through a thick glass door to have a check whether or not i was inside. 'Hah..Dayah'..i exclaimed upon seeing her sheepishly approaching my so called small 'cubicle'.She was the same Dayah whom i once knew of. She is an embodiment of a true fighter who kept on fighting till the end. Though she always came close to be the best amongst her batch during her stay at SMAS,only being edged by her stongest rivals as well as best friends the likes of Ainur, Iman, Aina and the geng. She could never materialize her dream. In the end,she did show her true mettle in the final league and tasted even sweeter as they said save the best for the last.I remember once, when she was always the first to get the tasks assigned done as most probably to her speed also really matters. That speed might have helped her to get what she has got.

In retrospect, during twilight meetings, when asked to translate phrases or clauses into either English or Malay, she was always the first to submit that made me think of other tasks not to let her sit still while waiting for dozens of her other colleagues struggling to finish the task.Of course, the easiest way to me but beneficial to her maybe was i scribbled a few words on a piece of paper and asked her to do freewriting. Her writing was never short of errors, but the more she wrote , the lesser my red ink spilled on her paper. In short, she was a gift to any teacher who happened to have ever taught her. To copy Adele's lyrics 'i wish nothing but the best for you', as a teacher, i wish nothing but the best for her and all her colleagues. There, upon seeing our pupil standing tall becoming an individual with a purpose and determination, the joy of teaching lies and all hard work paid off.And this undescribable feeling is of course the one that money cannot buy.

This year is a real challenge for me for two obvious reasons. First and foremost i have now without someone whose assistance is beyond compare. And during her two-year stint here, she did a tremendous job and made the school rock.I did not mean the result as it might not reflect the true story,what i meant is the awareness and belief that have spilled to the following generations after the so called mild revolution. English is no longer regarded as killer subject, instead some students look so earnest to get the best grade possible. Another reason, we have no key players like we once had, the guardians who mutually supported each other.Now, students really depend on teachers at the cost of depriving them of their creativity and critical thinking. Twilight meetings just lasted a few sessions with different group of students. It was a bit difficult for us teacher to gauge their performace as they entertained more their emotions or modes instead of thoughts.Our preparation at times were in vain as we teachers could not discuss the previous lessons for poor attendance from previous group. This forced me to contemplete to sort it out. One of the ways is i made it compulsory to attend the class especially 3A. Yet, still a few looked reluctant to come. I have ever crouched on the saggy sofa thinking of my modes of teaching which might have been obsolete already.

I think if all failed the only success i could have reaped so far is, some students started to read through 'Reading Makes A Man's program. I made it a must each student especially 3A to read at least 7 articles no matter how short it was on a daily basis. Apart from that, they need also to find seven new words or phrases that are new to them. This will be of a great help for them in the long run as once the reading habit is formed, no one can tell us when its effect comes to an end. The wise man once said beautifully as follow:

Watch your thought, they become your words.
Watch your words, they become you actions,
watch your actions, they become your habits,
watch your habits, they become you character,
and watch you character, it becomes your destiny.

And, it seems, the task to educate is far more critical as our teenagers in no time might turn out to be unruly creating mayhems like what happened in London recently .What roles so far have i played to help address the alarming issues remain unanswered.The challenge to tackle to ever declining of English standard to me is nothing if the demise of character is like a ticking bomb.This to me is more urgent as it might become endemic.

Sir