Thank You English Teachers!

I once had a wonderful dinner with a group of total strangers.They eventually became my friends long before the night was over.

That evening started with a cocktail followed by a candlelight dinner in an open area, the ambience of which I would only say was magical.

The food was amazing.

There were two choices of starters, three choices of main courses, and two choices of desserts, followed by a free flow of beverages and alcoholic drinks – a wide array of food to suit different palette.

All the dishes were exquisitely prepared. Delicious and well presented.

Although the food were cooked based on recipes from different parts of the world, the menu and description of the food was printed in English.

Around the table, we had people from different parts of the world. There were friends from South Africa, Swaziland, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, and other countries.

We had a wonderful conversation over dinner and exchanged many jokes.

Throughout the evening, everybody spoke mainly in English and I was able to interact actively with everybody.

At the end of the memorable evening, I went back happy and feeling grateful until today.

I was thankful that the Singapore government adopted English as the lingua franca for our multiracial society. This was not the norm in the past and is still not the norm in our part of the world.

As a result, I had to go through my formal education in English.

Coming from a non-English speaking environment, English was not the easiest language to master and I’m still learning about the language.

Particularly in the last five years, I have put in a lot of effort to not only brush up my spoken English, I have also tried very hard to improve my written English.

In the initial years of my working life, I was working with English-speaking expatriates from England, Germany and the USA.

At that point, I have to admit I was not the most confident in speaking and writing in English.

Thankfully, over the years, my command of the English language has improved and it has helped me in my career development.

I was able to conduct businesses literally all over the world.

You might not believe it but I have even spoken in quite a few international conferences with luminaries such as President Bill Clinton, Prime Minister Tony Blair and Robert Kiyosaki, and have also authored a few publications – all in English.

Through the English language, I have a better access to some of the best information. It has also helped me to cultivate a stronger base of knowledge and develop different expertise and life skills.

I have travelled all over the world and met many interesting people. I have also gone to wonderful places and enjoyed a vast array of conversations, delicious cuisines and other exciting experiences.

I could do all that mainly because I was able to communicate my thoughts and heart’s desires in English.

I could not have imagined how much worst my life would have been if I could not communicate in English.

My world would have been a smaller and quite possibly, a darker one.

Without a good command of the spoken or written English, it’s very hard to go far and run faster on the journey of life. That’s one of the first few steps to achieve sustainable success.

Thank you English teachers and all those who have corrected my spoken and written English.

I am committed to improve my command of the language. Please continue to help me.

Thank you.

Go4It!

I hope this message will find a place in your heart.

By the way, I have also recorded other reflections.

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Please read my reflections and continue to teach me.

Life is FUNtastic!