I had a great English teacher when I was in form 3 and form 4. What's so great about teacher Zue, ntahlah. Maybe because I felt I was appreciated and my "intelligence" was acknowledged by her. She used to tell us stories, mostly about her kids and her college years. I liked to hang out at the English room and read books. She'd be there most of the time, so we lepak and talked about our lives. I told her that I had problems in identifying the verb categories (the more complicated ones lah, even now hehe) but I didn't have much problem in constructing grammatical sentences using those complex verbs. She explained to me that I pick up languages from my surroundings, books that I read, t.v. and radio progs, and most importantly from my parents, not really depending on the syllabus prepared. She said the details are not really important unless I decided to do TESL or linguistics for my first degree. Back then I was soooo confident that I would either be a great chef in a big hotel, or a manager of a small inn in one of those potential remote islands, or perhaps a full time martial artist. Mmm...SPM, was one of the top 10 achievers in my school, but my combination of subjects was not good enough, I could either become an ustazah or futher my studies in the business field. Asked my mom whether I could pursue a diploma in culinary or hotel management in UiTM, she advised me to complete my first "serious" degree first, after that I can go venture into anything that I like (culinary and hotel management is s'posed to be a play2 degree ah?) So, now am on my "noble quest" to complete a degree in English language and literature. Aiyak...I still have problems with those complex verbs and grammars, especially in linguistic courses.

One day teacher Zue mentioned about her outstanding lecturers and teachers. One of them is called Mr. R the walking dictionary, he's very famous in the ulu banat area because he memorizes the dictionary and even the thesaurus. If you ask one word, he would pronounce it Oxford style i.e. Brit, spell it out, and give the dictionary meaning, and the word in use (context). Teacher Zue reminded us that we should always appreciate our teachers especially those outstanding ones, not only they are "tere" in their subjects but also those with good personality and attitudes. Herm...I didn't have such a great time dealing with some teachers when I was in form 5, I was always at the wrong place, at the wrong time and ended up with more troubles than I could imagine. Outstanding teachers? Mmm...I think teacher Zue should be on my list, Ms.5th Dan blackbelt and the madam, and erm, I think my drama/poetry teacher in matric Mr.Abdel should also be on the list. The common things about these four educators - appreciate the students, respect them, listen to them, know the subject very well and able to convey it i.e. to go down to the student's level and make them really2 understand. What have I concluded after 15 years involved in the formal M'sian education system...when you're part of the inferiors (the ones being taught) in the system, don't put high expectations on it, you'll fall and break your neck!! Depend more on yourself!!