Mr. Lee -- Male or Female?!

Just yesterday, a Form One student asked me, "Teacher, is Mr. Lee a man or a woman?" She was doing a grammar exercise I asked her to, and was not sure if she should use the pronoun 'he' or 'she' to represent Mr. Lee. Although rather taken aback by this seemingly simple question which I thought every student who has gone through six years of primary school education should know, my teacher instincts took over and I answered her as objectively as possible, being careful not to betray any expressions of incredulity or shock on my face, lest I made her feel bad for making a genuine effort to learn. In any case, I should be thankful that I could clear her doubt now. I can't imagine how her future teacher would feel if she asked this same question even later in her school life.

However, in retrospect, I realised that given the type of students I have in my school, this question didn't seem quite so out of place. Many a time, my Form Four or Five students have asked me if I am married. This may seem like a perfectly normal question, until I tell you that they have been calling me 'Miss' (or 'Cik' in Malay) all the time, which in the Malaysian school context, means that I am still single.

So, I asked my students, "Do you call me Miss or Madam?" I like to make my students find out answers on their own rather than spoonfeed them, because they will retain the new knowledge better through self discovery. They answered, "Miss."

"So, what does this tell you -- am I married or not?" I asked again. Seeing their blank expressions, I prodded again, "Miss means Cik in Malay..." Still, blank expressions.

I was literally strangling myself mentally. If they did not understand English, at least they should understand Malay, as it is the national language. Fearing that I might actually strangle them with my own bare hands if I put up with this any longer, I finally gave up my attempts to facilitate their self discovery and answered their initial question, "No, I'm not married."

"Oh..." was all they could say. Their neutral expressions made me wonder if my short lesson had registered in their brains. In the not so distant future, some of them may probably ask another "Miss" in school if she is married.

I, as well as my counterparts in other schools within the district, have always remarked that English is more like a foreign language to our students rather than a second language.Instead of feeling miserable about the poor standard of English among our students and grumbling our heads off all the time about our near impossible task of educating them, we see these "eye-opening" moments in the light of humour. Not in a bad way, mind you. We do not look down on our students because of their poor English, but with all the stress we get from trying to teach them English, and half of the time, failing miserably, God knows we need some humour therapy to keep our minds sane till we retire!

Retirement is a long way from me right now. Think another 26 years. As I continue my journey as an English teacher in Malaysia, I wonder what other "eye-opening" questions my students will throw at me in the future. Well, at least I can tell people that one advantage of being a language teacher is that my students never fail to make me laugh (even if it is just in my mind)!