My school days were rich of information , knowledge and exposure, the three different parts of my school life is primary full of my culture and I learnt about my language, religion and literacy related to Tamil and my passion for dramas and plays.I had a Malay neighbour friend who was same age with me, but language was a barrier between us. My Malay was not so good but we still manage to be good friends. We at times in the evenings explored our schools, i mean we played most of teh evenings in both of our school compounds. I was in MGVS Sitiawan and she was in SK Seri Selamat, a national primary school.After scoring strait A's in UPSR, her family sent her to Tun Fatimah Boarding School. Her name is Siti Halimah and her father was a police driver. Her sister is Kamisah and she was my sisters friend.
When I started secondary school , I was very happy to gain many friends.Most of them were Chinese and they were all my classmates. The lower secondary school life was full of fun. My Chinese friends were my best friends during this time and I mange to polish my Malay and became the most friendlier girl in my class and liked by most of the students, even from other classes. The teachers were very friendly and learning hours were something I cherished. The environment was Malay medium, and I improved my Bahasa Melayu until I manage to get 78 or 79 , A not even once The mark which i gained considered very good compared to many of my class mates who failed the subject and even those who passed scored just 40 to 50.
Each and every one of the teachers were unique and few of them were very funny, when they speak in colloquial Malay, especially the Chinese Teachers. Mr. Wong, Mrs Diong & Mrs Jesudason, frequently spoke in English but when they saw no response from the students, they started to speak in funny Malay.I would like to share here that the seventies Teachers were gems. Most of my teachers were dedicated and the teaching and learning hours were quality . Lower secondary was the peak years of my study years.
When I was in form 4 the environment was totally different, from Malay medium, I was upgraded to English Medium, that was in ACS. Everything was in English, the teaching , learning hours and the discussion with the Teachers. Even during Bahasa Malaysia , The conversation was in English but the learning hour was in Malay, Same with the geography Teacher Mr. Ong Seng Hee. He taught my class geography but everything was in English only the names and things were mentioned in Malay. Mr Ong pronounce "potato' In Malay as "Gentang" which sounds funny.These Teachers have been teaching in English and when the Malay medium was introduced and my batch was the pioneer batch of the Malay medium, The teachers some how struggled to use Malay.
One more interesting news is , My Form Teacher in form 4 was Mdm Aida Abdullah, she was our English Teacher. A very simple lady without makeup but the most beautiful Teacher in our School. She wore simple cotton batik suits almost daily. A verysweet and soft spoken fair complexion lady.Who never utter Malay words. She was the wife of the ADO of Lumut in late seventies.Mr. Soo Fong Beng was our English Teacher in form 5, He is the writer of human geografi text book in seventies with Goh Cheng Leong.
Mr. Ong Seng Hee, joined Ulu Kinta Teachers Training College and became one of my lecturer during my study years. One of my classmate, Ling Siew Lee was in the same programme and was in the same class with me during my training years in Ulu Kinta.
Though Mr. Soo Fong Beng was a very strict man and at the same time a sporting teacher. He encouraged us to go outing on our own and without any teachers assistance. During school break, the first weekend we outing to Pangkor Island and Pasir Bogak was our choice . There were only mini huts at that time.We booked two mini huts for us. One for the girls and the other one for the boys. We were almost 14 of us. I was the only Indian girl and there were four of the boys, Baskar, Gopi, Ganapathy, and Ravindran, The rest of them, Toh Peng Leong and his sister Geok Sie, Oi Chan, Siew Lee, Chew Eng and several of my class boys. It was two nights and three days outing. We all like small kids played games and in the sand and in water. Ooi Chan and Geok Sie were the main cooks and the food was really delicious and fresh. Actually we bought everything in Sitiawan and took with us, such as few whole chicken, cabbage, eggs, onions, carrots, rice and cooking oil. Fridge , woks , stoves and pots were available there including cups and plates. So preparing food was something easy for us.
ACS has its own culture of nurturing the learners in literacy in the early morning and the first slot of the day is, newspaper test. This culture was applied to all the form 4 and form 5 studentss. Its an informal way of forcing the students to read the news papers daily. Monday to Friday News paper test, 10 questions given to students and we need to get at least 5 wright answers and those who get 4 and below will get canning(boys) and girls duck walking around the block.So we all visit the school library almost everyday to read the news papers and escape from being punished. This method had made wonders and thats why majority of the students, I mean the ACS students are quality students.
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