A compelling true story. text from 15888 came in and my finger shivered as i pressed the button to reveal...all i saw was.....7A. For a momento, i thought it was part of nikkis UPSR exam code. A second look...closer...,O..M..G....omg..omg...IT IS 7A. Tiada mistakes, nikki scored 7As....ahhhhhhh......!!!...(screamed...!!) and threw my phone onto the floor! Checked the floor though...for cracks...coz i hv Nokia and Nokia hardly breaks! (ahahahaa...but yea, it doesnt ring sometimes) Still reading her Clockwork Angel with her school uniform on, nikki remarked reposefully,What..? no way...A for my Chinese? mom, u must hv typed in the wrong code...or perhaps someone used my code by accident...or somethin...? Let me take you guys 7 yrs back, when nikki was 5. Started learning chinese both written and spoken...with frustration..esp chinese writing...with lots of strokes, again and again. 写到歪歪。。不美。。cant fit in the squares...that sort of things. and yes, 写到哭。。tear drops on pages made them tear easily. holes everywhere built up even more frustration. this whole chinese scenario started to tick me off...felt impatient and wo mian myself. thats when it happened...i grabbed and threw her book into the bin while shouting,dont learn chinese if it frustrates you so much. you can be like mommy..juz go to a malay/english school..no chinese, no frustration! with tears pouring down her cheeks, she ran towards the bin..picked up her book, still holding tightly in her little psoriasis (later came to know as gloves palms) hands. Not done with my lectures, i prompted her with this 1 question. Gv me 1 reason why you wanna learn chinese?! to which nikki replied, because you dont know chinese, mommy! in her american english accent.. i wanna learn so that i can teach you. i can and i will. i will prove it to you, mommy. yeah, that sure shut the hell out of me! Juz a reminder, she was 5 back then. when i told chuah about it, he said,nikki couldnt hv said it better. right on the target..bulls eye!! since then, i uttered no words whenever shes doing her chinese homework. that was year 2007...lets fast forward to this year, back in june 2014. no matter how hard she tried, only manage to get a B for her chinese...at times, so close to getting an A..yet still a B. with months away from UPSR, i asked her if she wanted to go for tutorial class. at least someone there could guide her, provide some tips or hints or something. normally, i could easily talk anyone into it, anything and everything nice...but not my nikki. tuition may not guarantee in aiding me of getting an A for my chinese. 我要靠自己。。会拿到A 就A， 不会拿到A也无所为。。我尽力了“ what can i say? nothing but to gv her my full support. so be it, no tuition for her. and again, in her final trial exam, failed to obtain an A(pple) for her chinese. no giving up yet for nikki...she drafted an intensive schedule 1 month before The Day with 40 questions everyday for 31 days and went thru collection after collection of essays for her reference. sometimes, i wonder if she possesses the heart of a lion. determined to get hold of that letter A soaring above her head, she finally GOT it. Seized it and never let it go.! am i proud? hell yeah. big deal? definitely YES. both nic and vic are raised with a very strong english background, without any profound inspiration and direction from me in 华文。。simply becoz wa bay hiao 华语ma...pai seh, pai seh... they learn from their class teachers and thru internet besides worksheets and reference books. here, i would like to thank all the teachers of SJK (C) Connaught 2 who hv taught nic and vic throughout the years esp. Leong Mei Yen 老师。。who once rang up to express her concern when nikki was falling behind. truly grateful, 谢谢您，老师。 so, there you hv it. a compelling true story of an extraordinary gal of mine. ive always wanted to write this long time ago...and perhaps someday ill write about 179...yea, that would probably be my 2nd piece of work. ok, make it real quick, 3 fabulous (nikkis favorite word) confabs for a fabulous gal: Bravo...félicitations..and mantener el buen trabajo.! contented mom, tess tiang.
Posted on: Thu, 27 Nov 2014 08:09:59 +0000