How I helped a college mate scored distinction in Malay.

When Malaysians want to be teachers, they must pass the Malay language with a credit. However, some candidates are granted a place of study in a teachers' college conditionally. One of my college mates belonged to this group. She had only a pass in Malay, so she had to resit the Malay until she got a credit before she could be confirmed in the post of a government teacher.

This girl knew that I was proficient in Malay and asked me to help her with the language. I asked her to write me a Malay essay so that I could ascertain her standard. She was very weak in grammar and so could not express what she intended to say. I marked her essay and returned the almost-coloured-red sheet to her. The next day she copied the essay with my corrections and asked me to read over. My! It was flawless.

From then on she wrote an essay a day and asked me to mark it for her and I willingly obliged her because she was very serious in improving her Malay. Sometimes, she asked me about the mistakes and I explained the rules to her. As days went by, her mistakes became fewer and fewer but she still handed me her essays for correction.

It was a great surprise and pride to me when she passed the Malay paper with a distinction. She thanked profusely for helping her all along.

Running 30 rounds in the college field

When I was undergoing training in Malayan Teachers’ College, Penang, I used to run with my buddy, Yong Cheng Suan in the college field in the evening after lecture hours. We started to run one round on the first day. This was increased to two rounds the following day. Without realizing it, we had reached the day when we could complete 30 rounds in the field. Since then running 30 rounds or 12 kilometres was no problem for both of us. It shows stamina can be trained with the passage of time and with perseverance.

If I were to run the same number of rounds, I don’t think I can do it.