How to teach English effectively.

Title: Four persons who inspired me the most to succeed in this life.

Writer: Mani ak Jack

            A very good morning I bid to our principal, vice principals, specialist teachers, teachers and my fellow students. This morning, I would like to talk about four persons who inspired me to succeed in this life.

            The first person who inspired me the most is my own father. His name is Mr. Jack Sparrow ak Bujang. I believe none of us have a perfect father. But, there are two things that I really like about my father which inspire me to be a better person. One of his noble characters is determination. He is a very determined person. His father died when he was 14 while his mother died when he was 16. It was very difficult for him to accept the loss of his parents as he was still very young and immature. He thought of giving up, but his father’s hope kept him going. His father always wanted him to be an educated person. His father wanted him to be a teacher. Therefore, he went to Batu Lintang Teacher’s College to realize his dream. Gradually, he graduated and became a teacher. I am also inspired by his ability to forgive and forget. My father had never had a grudge against anyone no matter how bad he was treated. As the matter of fact, it is not easy to forgive and forget. Amazingly, he could do that. I wish I could do that. Perhaps, one day I will be able to learn and understand the beauty of forgiving someone.

            The second person who inspired me the most is Mr. Kieran. He was my English lecturer when I was doing my first degree at UITM, Shah Alam, Selangor. It is not easy to find a lecturer who can respond to criticism positively. I was very weak in English before. When he asked me to submit my first essay, he condemned me badly and claimed that I was not fit to be considered as a university student as my essay was full of common and critical errors. The worst thing was, I could not even speak in public due to zero exposure to public speaking when I was in primary and secondary schools. Furthermore, I had never sat for MUET compared to my classmates who studied English during their matriculation years. After criticizing my essay, I stared at him. I was angry and disappointed with him. I told him that he should help me instead of criticizing me because I believe that if we expect the best from our students, we must also learn to give the best. I thought he was going to report my rebellious act to the dean. I thought that day was my last day at UITM for criticizing a lecturer. I was wrong. He was silent for a while and I was surprised that he accepted my comments positively. Starting from that day, he began to teach me about grammar and how to write a good essay. He was very gentleman. He was one of a kind. I really appreciate his ability to respond to comments positively. I will not forget everything about grammar that he taught me before. The only way to appreciate him is by sharing the knowledge that he had shared with me.

            The third person who inspired me the most is Tan Sri P. Ramlee. I admire his versatility as he was a singer, actor, director, songwriter and scriptwriter. We can hardly find a person who has many great talents. He was definitely one of a kind. I have never been bored with his movies as each of the movies was carefully and beautifully designed and directed. The movies were very simple but the messages were deadly and deep. There was a lot of sarcasm in his movies. He also conveyed the messages though jokes that the audience didn’t even realize that he was actually playing with sarcastic remarks throughout the movie. He was also a great thinker. He spent a lot of time thinking about how to present his ideas and messages effectively through films. He was also a perfectionist. He didn’t want to produce a film or a song which lasts a few hours. He always wanted his songs and movies to be relevant, acceptable, remembered and loved forever. In other words, he was trying to teach us the importance of giving our very best in everything we do.

            The fourth and last person who inspired me the most is Bruce Lee. I admire him mainly because he was not a racist. He shared his knowledge about martial art named “Jeet Kune Do” with everyone. He was small in size but he was considered as one of the strongest men in this world. He trained very hard because he had a goal. His main goal was to defeat his opponent in a few seconds. He could punch and kick faster than a cat. Due to his remarkable speed in fighting, the film crews advised him to slow down his speed. If he failed to reduce his speed, the audience would not be able to see each of his movements. I also admire him because he was a great thinker. He encouraged everyone to learn martial art to defend themselves instead of provoking others. Another reason why I admire him is because he inspired others to fight for their rights. He portrayed patriotism through his movies as he didn’t want the Chinese to be fooled and tortured by the Japanese. He also inspired the Chinese to fight for their country. In reality, he encouraged me to fight for my rights as a citizen. He taught me to think critically about my surrounding and be sensitive to the racial discrimination and social injustice which occur in my own country. He inspired me to be a teacher who gives my best to my students regardless of my students’ background.

            I hope the world will think critically and wisely about their contributions to the world. May God bless all the inspiring figures who had made me a better person today. Thank you for listening.

Written by: Mr.Mani ak Jack

Date: 2/3/2011

“I wrote this text so that you will learn how to say and write things from your heart instead of copying facts from reference books. “