Achievers

Everyday at school, we encourage learners to use English. There is a girl in my class who held fast to her mother tongue. When I asked her why she didn't want to speak in English. Her reply came back like a pebble skipping across the water... "I don't like". I smiled. I didn't push. 

However, I simply kept the conversations open.... slowly made her make an attempt to speak English. I didn't force her to speak. Whenever she spoke in her mother tongue, I answered in English, adding a playful expression to soften the edges. Bit by bit—through class discussions, friendly chatter, morning greetings—she began to venture a few English words of her own. 

Each attempt came with a small, determined smile, as if she were unlocking a new doorway.This took me back to my childhood days...

I never really liked English back in school.

Maybe because I began my early education in a small village, where proper language training wasn’t available. I even failed that subject once — in 3rd grade.

Soon after, I was admitted to a missionary school — a place where English wasn’t just a subject, it was a rule.

Every word, every sentence had to be in English.

But I didn’t know how to speak.

Not even a single sentence.

Fear took over me so completely that I fell ill.

I couldn’t explain to anyone what was happening — how helpless I felt inside.

Then, one day, a teacher noticed.

She didn’t teach me English.

She taught me calm.

With her gentle words, she made me believe that I would be okay.

That patience could be a language too.

I stayed quiet for months.

Just listening.

Letting the rhythm of words wash over me.

And then, slowly — almost magically — I began to understand.

By the end of that year, I spoke my first full sentence.

Not perfect, but mine.

Years later, we moved to the city.

And life changed again.

I discovered that newspapers could build my vocabulary, that listening to American and British news could tune my tongue to a new rhythm.

By grade 9, English — the subject I once feared — became the one I loved most.

That’s when I began to love to read & write. I share my thoughts through social media, WhatsApp status, my blog. It’s my way.

My way of hygge. The silence after the storm.

Perfection is a myth. Just start. Let us give learners an assurance of a safe feeling to start something which they are scared of.

Take one small step, even if it feels uncertain.

Because one day, you'll realise — those small steps were quietly building a little beautiful mind all along.

Jo