Thank you,Peter Pan , my darling...

1979 

The first place goes to Scarlett O'Hara

   I walked in front of the audience and received the prize.It was a thin book wrapped using a faded brown paper.Once I reached home, I unwrapped the prize and ....  Peter Pan and Captain Hook. At first I was quite disappointed since I did not know the language.(Yes, I started learning the language when I was 7 but just for the sake of exams.Got no passion to learn it by heart )

   The whole day I 'read' ( I mean looked at the pictures ) the book.The more I read it, the more I wanted to learn the language.Then I took a small dictionary owned by my uncle who was an under graduate during that time.I translated word by word and I wrote the meanings.I forced myself to memorise as many words as I could. I could feel that the more I understood, the more passion to learn the language grew in me.So after two weeks, I could understand the story.

   From that day onwards, I took the efforts to read more books in English.Since I did not have enough money to buy my own book,  library was my favourite place. Every day during recess, I finished my food as fast as I could then I ran to the library.I liked Disney's books so much.Then I knew Cinderella, Beauty and the beast, Snow White, Rapunzel, Ariel, etc.I also read books on Pluto, Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck,Goofy etc.I loved the books with beautiful pictures so much.Then, I got to know the Enid Blyton's series.I was like in the adventures myself while reading those stunning books.

   Later, my interest in this language grew deeper.I felt like reading was really my passion.In 1982, when I was in form 1, I continued my passion by reading more genres of books.I also learnt the language by reading the subtitles when watching chinese soap opera aired by SBC.I was also lucky to have a native English speaker as my english teacher when I was in form 1 to form 3.So, my english is now 70% ok.I hope that this language in me will be 90 or 99 % ok once I get older.Meanwhile, I would like to thank the teacher who came out with the idea of giving me Peter Pan book when I was 10 for my first success in studies.....and I still keep my darling 'Peter Pan' until today...Thank you, Peter Pan my darling.