Spelling time

1. I love watching children spell some rather difficult words on The Great Australian Spelling Bee. Apparently there are words they haven’t come across before and it’s amazing to see them spell the words correctly. I suppose the regularity of English spelling enable them to predict likely spelling patterns.

2. Spelling may not be taught directly in language classes, but in primary schools and even in kindergarten there are teachers who still give spelling quizzes to their pupils. That brings me to my grandchildren, Umar and Nuraina. They have spelling quizzes twice a week both for Malay and English on Monday and Friday respectively. For each quiz five words are given beforehand for them to learn.

3. Umar and Nuraina were quite good in spelling. My daughter cared about their intellectual development, so she made time to guide them in their learning. She shared her fun experience with me via WhatsApp messages.

4. Their teachers started giving them spelling quizzes on 7 February. Umar started well getting full marks for his first quiz. His teacher stuck five red star stickers on the page of his spelling book. His sister got full marks too and her teacher stuck a praise sticker.

QUIZ 1*

5. Nuraina got another praise sticker for her second quiz. Unfortunately, his brother got only four stars. He told his mother somewhat carelessly that only three people made mistakes including him. His Chinese friend, Cotton, spelled ‘sekolah’ as ‘selahki,’ Afif, a Malay friend, spelled ‘arnab’ as ‘arnad’ and Umar spelled ‘lelaki’ as ‘lekaki.’

QUIZ 2

6. Umar got one star less for his third quiz yet again. His mother was rather disappointed and I told her it was not the end of the world. Umar spelled ‘draw’ as ‘braw,’ but he spelled all the other four words correctly. Nuraina spelled all words of different spelling patterns - flag, gift, gate, hand, horn - correctly and earned another praise sticker.

QUIZ 3

7. I told my daughter to help them prepare for their next quiz on the following Monday. She texted me that Umar was quite ready for his coming quiz, but anything could happen in the actual situation. For instance, Umar tended to mix d up with b. Anyhow, their mother took heart from the siblings’ results on Monday. Both got all their spellings correct. ‘Praise be to God,’ she texted, ‘they did so well.’

QUIZ 4

8. The following Thursday my daughter did revision with the siblings for Friday quizzes. Umar seemed able to spell all the English words fluently including ‘children,’ but when asked to write them down ‘children’ was written with the ‘r’ missing. Thus I felt a bit doubtful if he could make it.

9. It was Friday. I was curious when there was no message from my daughter about the children’s spelling quizzes, but my wife had troubling news from her that they didn’t fare as well. So I texted her that there seemed to be no report for that day. And seconds later two unexpected photos appeared on my mobile. It was a pleasant surprise. Nuraina did very well. Umar was splendid. Their mother wrote: ‘I am a proud mummy.’ I responded: ‘You pulled mum’s leg. She’ll pull your ear tomorrow.’

QUIZ 5

10. Around noon the following Monday my daughter texted me that Umar had made the same blunder again – mixing b up with d. He spelled ‘datuk’ as ‘batuk’ thus earning one star less. Nuraina did well earning another praise sticker. I suggested giving Umar simple drills on the use of b and d, for example, asking him to spell and write down pairs of words beginning with the two letters such as baku/daku, basi/dasi, bata/data, batu/datu, beli/deli, bini/dini, buka/duka, buku/duku and bulu/dulu.

QUIZ 6

11. There were no text messages regarding spelling quizzes on Friday 28 February, but I learned later that both Umar and Nuraina scored full marks on that day.

QUIZ 7

12. Nuraina seemed to fare better than his brother in spelling quizzes from the beginning. She did quite well scoring full marks all along. Then the unexpected happened. My daughter was waiting at the entrance downstairs to fetch her and Umar. After a while she caught sight of them coming down the stairs. Halfway down Nuraina burst out crying piteously telling her mother that she’d made one mistake in her quiz. She’d spelled ‘sentuh’ with the ‘n’ and ‘h’ missing apparently because she was unfamiliar with those closed syllables.
13. Her mother comforted her with encouraging words. She began wondering what went wrong despite making time to help her daughter do revision. She was worried because Nuraina had to learn words with closed syllables quite unfamiliar to her. So she’d helped the little girl revise a number of times, but Nuraina was inconsistent. Her mother was partly blaming herself thinking that she might be pushing the girl a bit too hard. I suspected her technique was ineffective. I thought to myself, it’s not easy to become instant teacher.

QUIZ 8

14. Umar had been given five words, namely ‘big,’ ‘small,’ ‘robots,’ ‘together’ and ‘crocodile,’ for subsequent Friday quiz. I thought he would be able to spell the first three words easily, but I wasn’t sure about the other two. My daughter agreed with me and recounted what Umar had told her in his usual careless way: “Mama, ‘robots,’ ‘big,’ ‘small’ OK; ‘together,’ ‘crocodile’ sure not OK la.”

15. I tried to help and texted her to tell Umar to spell ‘father,’ ‘mother’ and ‘brother’ stressing on the syllable ‘ther’ and ask him to spell ‘toge’ then just add ‘ther.’ She OK’d it and admitted it was a good formula. Thus I thought Umar had just to memorise ‘crocodile.’

16. Later I texted her: ‘… if you care to play with him, break up the word into three syllables cro/co/dile. Write each syllable on a piece of paper. Jumble up and ask him to rearrange. Do this several times. Then hide one syllable and ask him to arrange the two syllables. Where must the missing syllable be?’

17. My daughter thanked me for the tips. I reminded her not to forget Nuraina. She was certain Nuraina would make it because she’d been given quite simple words: ‘ring,’ ‘star,’ ‘vet,’ ‘vest’ and ‘tea.’ I supposed my daughter carried out the tips with Umar, but later when he was told to write down ‘crocodile,’ it became ‘crocobile.’ I responded I was just about to remind her about the letter ‘d’ suspecting he might mix it up with ‘b.’ Anyhow Umar and Nuraina did very well on Friday and I congratulated them.

QUIZ 9

18. I missed the following Monday morning text from my daughter which ran: Pray for #umaraina ejaan paktok maktok.. Then around noon she sent me a recording of pages from Umar’s and Nuraina’s spelling books showing the results for that day. Both got all their spellings correct. I was amused to hear the siblings singing “Aya Che Siti” in the background. I responded: Very good Umar and Aina. Congratulations!

QUIZ 10

19. The following Friday my morning text ran: ‘Good morning. Hope Umar and Aina do well for spelling today. Good luck.’ Later during the early afternoon my daughter texted me to tell that both did well in their spelling and I congratulated them. Later she sent me audio of Umar and Nuraina declaring they got five stars for spelling and afterwards photos of the relevant pages.

QUIZ 11

20. Those were the last quizzes before school was indefinitely closed by reason of the Movement Control Order (MCO) or lockdown imposed by the government to contain the spread of Covid-19 disease affecting the population at large. And now after a lapse of more than three months since the MCO came into effect, school will reopen on 1st July which means that Umar and Nuraina will be able to resume classroom learning to acquire basic skills in writing, reading and counting.

21. Regarding their spelling quizzes I’m glad that they never got lower than four marks out of five. Umar got four marks three times, twice due to mixing b up with d. The other mistake might be due to carelessness. Nuraina made only one mistake in the entire spelling quizzes apparently on account of not being familiar with certain closed syllables.

22. I care about how they fare in whatever they do because motivation is an important psychological factor in learning. They’d be motivated if they fare well in what they do in classrooms. The main aim is to build their confidence. I conclude with a quote from a Greek writer: “In order to succeed, we must first believe that we can.”

*Pages from Umar’s (left) and Nuraina’s spelling books.

The thief of time

1. Having procrastinated much too long, I finally decided to carry on with my application to correct errors in my birth register. The last time I went to the registration office last October I was given forms to fill in, including a statutory declaration form. It was not until January that I started to make a move.

2. Apart from the applicant, the statutory declaration form must include a near relative to jointly make a declaration pertaining to the matters of the application. So I made an appointment with my sister for that purpose and we met at the high court complex in Alor Setar to make the declaration and have it certified by a commissioner for oaths.39/63

3. While in Alor Setar I got all the necessary documents from my sister such as her birth certificate and a copy of her identity card and from my sister-in-law who lives in Titi Gajah, I got a copy of my brother’s death certificate.

4. Having got the necessary documents and the forms filled in and the declaration letter ready, there was a lapse of another two months before I went to the registration office to submit my application. The clerk who attended to me went through all the forms and checked all copies of the supporting documents against the originals that I showed him.

5. I was assured by the clerk that my application would normally take six months to process. After paying the application fee I left the office and walked to my car. Along the way my phone rang. It was the clerk. He informed me that I must submit a certified copy of my sister’s identity card. I told him I would submit it later.

6. My sister had refused to give me her identity card the last time I asked for it, but gave me a photocopy instead. I’d overlooked the matter of getting it certified before submitting it along with my application.

7. I immediately called my sister and it was a stroke of luck that she was in Penang that day. She promised she’d stop in Sungai Petani and hand me a certified copy of her identity card. So I had it submitted to the registration office the following day.

8. It was March then and the country was slowly affected by the novel coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, China. By mid-April government departments were closed down on account of the Movement Control Order. It meant that my application would take longer to be processed. As the saying goes: “Procrastination is the thief of time.”

138 years ago

1. My father was born on 14 February at Church Street, George Town, Penang, about 138 years ago. Thenceforth began his much obscure life journey that would end 74 years later away from his hometown in the village of Alor Merah where he was laid to rest at a cemetery in the vicinity of a local mosque.

2. He lost his father at an early age of two and was then placed under the guardianship of his uncle who was responsible for giving him proper education. His alma mater the Penang Free School was where he started his early career as a teacher before leaving his home town to move on to greener pastures.

3. He took a chance on joining the KCS in Alor Star, the capital town of mainland Kedah. His first appointment dated 6 February 1911 was as headmaster of a newly founded English school, the Government English School. However, on the following day he was entrusted to carry out the job of Chief Clerk Census Office, so the school was closed for about two months until the census was taken.

4. He was headmaster for two years, and subsequently became acting superintendent of education, senior auditor, high court registrar, registrar and acting sheriff, assistant superintendent monopolies and custom, and assistant legal adviser. He was acting under secretary II before retiring on 24 September, 1937.

5. I believe he stayed on the ball and apparently regarded as a safe pair of hands, hence his appointment to various jobs that he carried out so well especially the herculean tasks of translating hundreds of enactments in English into Malay during his time as assistant legal adviser. In this regard his role was highlighted in a newspaper article. The writer wrote inter alia:

“… He (M.I. Merican) is the soul of the Translation Committee and is really the translator of the English version into Malay. His work is not paste and scissors but putting every English word in the laws into intelligible Malay.”

6. In a tribute to him another writer sang the praises of his achievement in the civil service. Among other things, he wrote:

“Mr. Merican made his mark and reputation not only in the teaching profession but also in the Kedah Civil Service of which he was a star of the first magnitude. As Auditor, Registrar of the High Court and Legal Adviser, he proved himself an able and capable officer with his usual thoroughness. He was the first Malay in this country to become Legal Adviser.

“There can be no question that Mr. Merican was not only a great teacher in English education but also a great Civil Servant of the best traditions of the Civil Service.”

7. Little is known about his personal life. He probably got married for the first time sometime in the 1920s and after his wife passed away in mid-1930s he got married again probably in late 1930s. Apparently after the war his second wife died of oedema and thereafter he married my mother. He had no children from earlier marriages.

8. During the war he was recalled to service by the Kedah government to head the Department of Justice. He was appointed a member of the State Council and held the post of Legal Adviser and Public Prosecutor for Kedah and Perlis until the end of the war.

9. In 1946 at the age of 64 he retired again after continuing to serve in the Office of the Legal Adviser through the British Military Administration and subsequently under the Civil Administration (Malayan Union). Later he served as unofficial member of Executive Council and Council of State from 1948 to 1955. May he rest in peace.

On their way

1. My firstborn and her husband are blessed with two children; Umar aged 6 and Nuraina aged 5. Early last December, they were preparing to send the children on their first step along the road to formal education.

2. My wife and I were excited to see how the children would behave on their first day in a kindergarten, so we stayed for three days at their house in Simpang Ampat, Seberang Prai which is about 60 kilometres from Sungai Petani where we live.

3. On the awaited day of 16 December, my daughter woke her children up round about 6.30 in the morning and then helped them to shower and dress. Umar and Nuraina seemed cheerful and excited to go to school for the first time.

4. My wife and I accompanied the parents to send the siblings to participate in a five-day orientation programme called “Holiday Camp” at the kindergarten. It was on level one at the northern end of a commercial block.

5. I staggered up a flight of rather long stairs after the children and their parents to a crowded reception area. Through the partial glass partition, I noticed the adjacent room was already alive with children seated around circular tables doing various activities under the guidance of several teachers.

6. Umar and Nuraina were ushered by their mother into the room and led to one of the attending teachers. That was when Nuraina suddenly burst into tears and cried uncontrollably. The teacher promptly began to console her without any effect.

7. By the look on his face, it seemed that Umar was affected and near to tears, but another teacher quickly consoled him and upon being ushered to an empty seat at a table he called out to his mom to stay put in the reception where he could see her through the glass partition.

8. The other teacher took his crying sister in her arms and carried her somewhere out of sight. In a while Umar was quite settled and began to play with some bricks. At that time I was aware that the piteous sound of Nuraina crying had subsided.

9. Later that day, a teacher shared photos of the siblings on their mom’s smartphone and she shared them with us. Umar seemed contented and happy, but Nuraina hadn’t fully recovered from sadness. Her mom was curious to know why she burst out on her first day in school and Nuraina put it simply, “I tried to prevent my tears from flowing, but my tears flowed anyway.”

Nuraina's first day blue

10. She burst out again on the second day and later after school she confided her feelings to her mother, “I pity you, mama. You’re all alone at home. Who will take care of you?” On the third day, she was on the verge of tears but one of the teachers quickly calmed her down and involved her in an activity. That prevented her from crying.

Keeping busy

11. Every day they would bring home simple items they did in class. We complimented them and felt happy for them. At the end of the third day upon leaving for home we told the children to love school. I thanked the breadwinner for his hospitality.

Items they brought home

12. He is a hard-working man and I believe that he would keep his nose to the grindstone to make ends meet. The monthly fee for the kindergarten is RM330 per head and that would slice a significant amount from his monthly salary. Nuraina is fortunate because one of her mother’s siblings is willing to pay for her monthly fee on account of latter’s fondness for her.

13. On the second last day of the “Holiday Camp” my daughter waited for quite a while before the siblings came down the stairs accompanied by their teacher. Halfway down Umar called out to her saying he went to the toilet. It was obvious to her noticing the back pocket of his trousers turned to the front.

14. The orientation programme lasted until December 20. After a lapse of nearly two weeks the kindergarten session for 2020 started in early January. We wondered if Nuraina would burst out again as she did before. A morning photo shared by her mother before they left for school showed Nuraina and Umar in happy mood and we took heart from that. 

 

In happy mood

15. However, later that day we learned that Nuraina burst out again upon joining class. Her teacher shared a photo of her in class with a trace of sadness in her eyes. By contrast, Umar was a picture of content. 

Umar contented, Nuraina still sad.

16. The first three or four days were trying for Nuraina. She sulked and started complaining to her mother when she came to fetch them. She’d expected to be in the same class as her brother, but was put in a different class. She thought her brother was ignoring her because he was busying himself making new friends.

17. Not a week later my daughter shared an unlikely quip from Nuraina who happened to have soft flyaway hair. Her mother spends a few minutes every morning to do her hair using cute, colourful hair clips to keep it tidy. My daughter wearies of monotony, so she does different hairdos for her daughter every day such as messy buns, braid, tied mini ponytail and palm-leaves bunches. For that Nuraina complimented her mother candidly, “You do my hair so nicely, Mama. The girls won’t like me for sure, because I look cute.”

Nuraina's hairdos

18. By the second week, Nuraina gradually settled in at the kindergarten and adjusted herself to its routine. She made friends with the kids and knew them by names. Every day she would talk to her mother about her friends and what she did in class.

19. We were glad to learn that Umar and Nuraina loved school and they were doing quite well in their learning. Umar told her mother that his teacher asked him to count. So he counted up to hundred in English and the teacher patted him on the back. The following day positive comments about Umar came from his teacher who told his mother that he was so good on account of being able to write, read and count.

20. Sometimes the unexpected happened. The children were supposed to take off their socks in class for obvious reasons. One day while checking the siblings’ school bags, my daughter found extra pairs of socks in Nuraina’s bag. She told her mother that the boys asked her to keep their socks. Thus, on the very next day my daughter duly made a move to straighten things out.

21. It seemed that Nuraina was diligent whereas Umar got bored easily with his homework. Despite his careless way, teachers liked him. His teacher sent a WhatsApp message to my daughter: 

“All teachers give good comments about Umar. Although this is his first time in school, he has all the basic skills and he can follow the class like other children. Thanks to you for training him up at home.”