something that i wrote for academic purposes

The old-newspaper "apek" of my hometown in Kuala Pilah, Negeri Sembilan loved to stop by at our house simply because he knew that, tonnes of newspapers would be waiting for him there. Most of the newspapers were contributed by my late father. He loved to read the newspapers.

My late father did not have to forcefully shove the idea of reading in English to me. He would simply set the example by reading newspapers like The Star, The New Straits Times without fail everyday. The love towards reading was eventually passed onto his youngest daughter.

What started as a joke, eventually became a habit for him to talk to me in English. If I ever talked to him in my mother tongue, he would pretend not to understand it. Sometimes, he would deliberately handed me the wrong things when I requested for something in my mother tongue. Naturally, I polished my English speaking skills through his accidental game. I bet that it did not even occurred to him at that point that this simple gestures would do wonder to me in later years.

Stemming from there, I gradually showcased my love towards English. From primary level till secondary level, I have always performed quite well in English related activities such as debate, story telling, and coral speaking to name a few.

His fine example came to its grand peak when I graduated in  2008 with BEd (TESL) from Universiti Teknologi MARA or UiTM.Without him to witness one of the historic moments in my life was, of course, very hurtful. After all, I was there on stage because of his example.  Just a few months prior to the convocation ceremony in May, I was accepted to be a part of a very dynamic team of English lecturers in Multimedia University or MMU, Cyberjaya. Again, I was not able to treat him with fine dinner or a good watch with my first paycheck.

Nevertheless, he has given me the greatest gift of all, one that will stay with me forever. A gift that, with my profession right now, enables me to share them with my students - English.