You might think a seven-year-old would not remember much, but I remember a lot about my childhood.
My early school days were rather interesting. English was one of those subjects which appeared to be weird, somewhat complicated and also fancied by almost everyone. To some parents, they are always satisfied to know that their kids can speak the language even if they are not doing well in other subjects.
The ability to speak, write and understand the English language was used as a yardstick to measure people's intelligence. I bet it's still the case in many primary schools. There were instances where you come across those that can speak the language beyond beginner level but writing in English was rather tough for them. Others were able to write compositions and letters, but speaking the language was way too tough for them.
At some point, when I got to primary 5, we were fined for speaking any of our native languages in the classroom. It had to be English or nothing. While the instruction lasted, many chose to stay mute instead of being fined. Those that couldn't hold it in tried their best to communicate in English. I can still recall how a lot of people were made fun of because of the half-baked sentences they made. Hehe.
It's all part of the learning though. As kids, we didn't take it to heart. By the end of each session, it's usually a matter of passing and getting promoted to the next class or failing and repeating the same class. Oh, some parents/kids would rather change to another school instead of repeating a class.
We are not native English speakers. Some parents were also not learned enough to interact in the language. Sometimes, the only chance of practising the language usually comes when we are in school. Outside school periods, many of us speak our native language at home. This kinda made it harder for many to be conversational in the English language.
English was a big deal, but Mathematics was another tough one. To be honest, that subject almost became the death of me. I was very poor in mathematics. Whenever I think of how I got to improve, it reminds me of when I used to burn night candles with my Mum by my side. She worked during the day as a seamstress and uses her rest time at night to teach me mathematics.
Man, I got hit a couple of times as she tried to knock some senses into me. Hehe. She also used bread and biscuit to motivate me. At that time, I hated the idea of being awake to learn basic arithmetics and quantitative reasoning when I'm supposed to be sleeping. We maintained this method for a whole calendar year before I became lit.
That was then!
A lot has changed since then and I'm grateful for everything I learned growing up. Those lessons are still fresh in my mind. The words of advice I got from my parents, teachers, elders and even my peers are still fresh in my mind.
So, those are snippets of the childhood memories that I keep with me.
Thanks For Not Missing Any Full-stop Or Comma
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