Hobbies

Do you have a hobby? I used to collect stamps when I was in Primary School and now I collect First Day covers. But I must admit, I missed out on a few already. Some of the First Day Covers are really very pretty. The latest one is a Butterfly theme. It's so sweet! Here is a picture of it:-

There's also another cool one with pictures and stamps of Malaysian Bridges!! Wah so nice also :P


Besides First Day covers, I also read. Now usually when I tell people I read, they will ask me what's my current read and who my favourite author is. Now unlike most people, I don't typically go out and buy the latest release. Like when everyone was reading The Da Vinci Code, I wasn't. I just don't do much of mainstream reading. I might sooner or later get round to reading those books. For instance, I did read The Da Vinci Code, but only found it so-so. Instead I like reading older books and my favourite genre is Fiction, mainly - Murder Mysteries. I love a GOOD Murder Mystery. My favourite author is Agatha Christie and I still read her Hercule Poirot series. In fact, I could not find alot of them in MPH, so I ordered a few from Amazon.com and when I'm done, I will order the rest. I want to make sure I read all her Hercule Poirot books before I move on to Ms Marple. Some may feel or say "Ala..those are children's books". But I assure you, they are not. In fact, the level of English in these books are quite high. Not unexpected, considering she is afterall English herself. So really it helps improve your command of the language as well. Some of the true English phrases are never used today, which is such a shame. I always say, if you want to learn English, read good English books. Not American English, but English English. For those of you who have kids, please run out and buy Enid Blyton books if you are trying to cultivate reading among the young ones. Wonderful books, I tell you and even more wonderful stories.


On the topic of English, who here is appalled by the level of English in Malaysia? I tutored for one year last year, and honestly, students don't even know what a Noun is. If you're reading this and feeling a little embarassed because you don't know what it is also, don't feel bad. It really isn't your fault. Blame it on Malaysia's education system. When they decided to change Science and Maths to English, I must say that was a good move. But little did I know, they didn't give it much thought at all. Do you know the level of English the Science books use are way way way higher than the level of English a student in the same level would understand? I feel sorry for the kids, I really do. If they haven't learnt those kind of words and phrasing, how are they to answer those very difficult English type Science questions? I am not surprised if what the kids are learning to do is just to memorise instead of truely understanding what they are reciting.

No wonder we have so many people about these days who cannot read, write or speak well at all. What is the use of BM being SOOO difficult, if an international language is left to the dogs? As a progressive nation (or so we would like to call ourselves), are we not ashamed at the majority of the public, who can't spell nor conjour up proper sentences even if it were to save their life? I particularly despise the use of the word "collection" with an S behind. For instance, it's like as if I were to say, " Take a look at my collections" Now doesn't that just sound awful?? The word collection is implied to be singular here which means it does not require an S at the back. It would be different if I were to say, "I have many different types of stamp collections". In this sentence, the phrase 'many different types' show us that there are many collections and hence the addition of the S. But having many handbags in ONE collection for example, requires no S behind the word "collection".

I came across this phrase on the internet. It said, "Philosophy is of little comfort to the starving." I shared this phrase with my friend Amit and asked him,

"Amit, do you think this phrase would be seen in any Malaysian Englist text book?"

Amit says, " Hell, no."

"..and if it was, do you think they would understand what it means?"

"It would be translated as, 'Kalau lapar, tak payah la fikir sangat' "

Wakakakakakaka....

Anyway, getting back to my point again, why is the level of English in our country so low? Is it mainly to accomodate non-native English speakers so that they can pass English as a subject? And if it is, isn't that just lying to ourselves saying, "Yes we passed our English" but in reality the English of a Form 5 student here, is akin to a Standard 5 student in another country? If we really want to progress and build a nation of youth who will one day lead the country to greater heights, I think it really has to start with the ability to read, write and speak better English.

Have you ever met someone who looked really good, then when the person goes to open their mouth and speak, you almost feel like you want to pengsan? On the contrary, have you ever met someone average looking, but when the person speaks, you are swept away by his/her ability to speak fluently and express himself/herself liberally? Isn't it nice to socialise with people who are able to carry their own in a conversation without sounding illiterate? Now I am in no way implying that people who don't speak properly are illiterate, but don't they sound illiterate? They may have all the knowledge in the world, but for pity's sake don't know how to share it with the world. Knowing BM is not going to enable them to get on in this world. It is English and only English which is called an International Language and whether we like it or not, we have to embrace it, adopt it, cultivate it in our daily lives, immerse our children in it and ensure the future generation is not left behind. Plus I have to add, that contrary to popular belief, learning English is not going to turn someone into a 'murtad' ok... Please let's not be so close-minded on this one. Learning to speak Spanish doesn't make me a native of Spain. Learning French does not make me a Mademoiselle who only eats Croissants. Learning Malay does not convert me to Islam. So learning English does not make me a traitor to my country, race or religion. On the contrary, if I learn it and learn it well, it will be a useful tool I can use to propel myself to greater heights and to make my country proud.

So here's to the Malaysian education system, and hoping that somehow someday, they will stop thinking of their people and start thinking for their people.