The School Of Tots blog is “the inner feelings from the heart” of a Malay-Muslim professional originally from Kelantan – Hisham (SoT) is a family man, with three teenage children, and living outside the state.
His latest post of Sir, May I Go Out? is a personal account about his entanglements over the years with this matter so dear to Mat Cendana’s heart – the English language.
If it were up to me, I’ll not only make English a compulsory subject to pass in the major examinations – I’ll also push through the Mat Cendana English Language Act (2010).
Among other things, those who fail this subject at the GCE `O-Level’ will be required to keep on trying every year. Those who don’t turn up – or don’t appear serious with their answers (like doodling something somewhere) will be sent to a converted Pusat Serenti, which will be “Pusat Cemerlang Bahasa Inggeris Serenti”. They’ll stay there until the next examination. They will have to repeat until they pass; OR, until age 55 – Kalu dok gagal jugak, ini memang baka jenis benak Heheh!
Anyway, this was my Comment at the blog. I saw that it was getting to be very long, so I decided to make it a post here; with the link at SoT’s blog. You should read his post first or my comment below might be confusing:
Thank you for your high ratings of this `Mat Anom'. It's flattering indeed to be mentioned, although the glare from the spotlight makes me a bit embarrassed too. But this is a lot better than around 16 or so months ago - I would actually be extremely uncomfortable; tense and stressed even. This is what happens when one has been "in the wilderness for years".
Among other things, I couldn't accept good/positive things coming my way. I had felt that people were too kind and were overly generous. Thankfully, people whom I know are honest and truthful (to the best of their ability and knowledge) had repeated the same - Michelle Yoon (I am Malaysian), Zaharan Razak, Mat Salo and especially Mekyam, whom I've known since 2001.
Well, since you have said so too, I feel I should add to this matter in the hope that everyone will benefit. I was thinking about your problems with English; trying to pinpoint what it was that had held you back. At the same time, I was also weighing what probakti21 wrote; trying to synthesise and distill the points and observations of a matter that leaves a profound effect on how individuals and Malaysia will fare in global matters.
SoT is right about Pak Mat and I being of "the English era" (I was the last batch, like your sister) –- English-medium schools from Standard One to Upper Six, with only Bahasa Malaysia and Agama not being in this language. Yes, of course it's a very important factor.
But please take note of probakti21's level of English here. So he was from a Malay-medium primary school, and had only been exposed to the English medium environment from Form 1. There are a few spelling and grammatical errors, but the comment, taken as a whole, is basically `sound enough'. The acid test to any language is: Does the reader understand what's written? YES, that's for sure.
And he has provided the answer - something that I wholeheartedly agree with: Everyone can make major improvements through reading.
From my own experience, it had started in primary school with the Fleet Street comics - Beano, Dandy, Topper especially. They were 15-25 sen each from around the end of the 1960's to 1971 when I was in Std 6.
Oh, I didn't connect it with "learning English" at that time, of course. In fact, many people - including teachers - would scold you!
Ah, how ignorant they were! 
I can't think of a better teaching aid at that stage - the drawings and colour (and even the black-and-white) were enough motivation for me to persist... read again (absolutely no problem), read, read, think, spell, see the sequence in the frames, the facial expressions and actions, think..CONCLUDE.
My English improved without my realising it – until in Standard 5, when I was always getting marks of 80-plus; third-highest, second-highest in class while being mediocre in the other subjects.
From Form One, it moved on to interest in English literature (the abridged versions, of course) – I would read and reread Treasure Island (my favourite then), Iliad and Odyssey, King Arthur (and becoming a sucker for knight-things) Oliver Twist, Robinson Crusoe, Gulliver’s Travels, Grimm’s Fairy Tales, The Arabian Nights and whatever else.
At the same time, my elder sister, who had obtained a scholarship from Form One due to her academic excellence (guess why I didn’t even get the form to fill in?), made a subscription to Reader’s Digest – it was at RM1 per issue.
The teachers made special efforts to point out that “the spelling is in American… wrong spelling!” Yeah, but the grammar was perfect, and it contributed immensely to vocabulary. No less important were the unofficial lessons in crafting an article – from Form 2 onwards, whenever there was Composition, guess whose writing the teacher would read in front of the class? ;-)
There was another major contribution to my picking up the language – my father subscribed Berita Harian and the New Straits Times daily. From Upper Six onwards, it was to the international news magazines – Time and Newsweek.
There was dishonesty in obtaining some of these issues; that is in accepting the magazines using a false name, but not paying. And I’m telling this not with glee and gloating – not with something that reveals a glaring character defect then. But I did pay for them later on when I started working.
If anyone twist my arm and insist on me selecting “the most important”, I’d say the news magazines, which also included occasional copies of Asiaweek and Far Eastern Economic Review. There’s this style of forceful sentences, irony, authoritative ending of articles etc – they help with my own writings later on.
There’s one more very important contribution in my self-learning of English – the libraries of Sultan Abdul Hamid College, Alor Star; and the State library too. Nowadays, the Internet does help somewhat with providing reading material. But there’s something about libraries; of having material in printed form. Yes, they are costly, but if we are serious about wanting to improve not only the level of English but also life, it is imperative that we walk the talk and bite the bullet.
So, if you folks are still reading this “originally started as a comment, which morphed into a post… a long one” – and you really want improvement, provide yourself/them with the material. This needn't be prohibitive: can you spare RM1.20 a week?..or should I start a derma ikhlas collection here?:-)
At the minimum, buy an English newspaper once a week (Sunday is great) and then read everything. It's hard in the beginning - not knowing so many words, which of course affect the understanding of the topics. But just keep at it. There will come the time when you realise that you can `agak-agak' what a particular word might mean given the context. Get a dictionary too, please.
If you read regularly, you will surely improve. “How fast and by how much?” How much time and effort are you going to make? If it’s `Panas-panas tahi ayam’, you’ll get your tahi ayam-level of result.
I’m just an anonymous (as in `tak famous punnn’ ) blogger in a rural part of Kelantan, so don't take my word for it. But here's an article from Britain's Guardian, and is written by the author of a bestselling book: The best advice for writers? Read [Guardian uses `Ikraq’ too apparently]
Reading is essential for writers – it instructs, inspires and offers a blissful escape from the blank page
By the way, please don't short-sell yourself by proclaiming "But I'm not a writer!" Even if you `only' write blog posts and comments, raise your standards and elevate yourself to this level. Or do some people associate `writer’ with `getting paid’?
So this is my main contention – the essential part played by `reading’. And this, I am convinced, is more important than schooling in/during “the English era”. This belief is empowering – it means “We can do something – a lot of things – to improve.” So do it instead of complaining and lamenting.
And STOKE CITY … after the 1-0 away win against West Ham, they are at number 11, with 39 points. Another season in the top flight should now be guaranteed YAAY!
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