The Learner

Muhammad Muhsin Ibrahim @muhsin234 I was his favourite student. Our Agricultural Science teacher at junior secondary school was certain that I understand his lesson more than others. He soon also became my fave. I admired his pretty handwriting and his good command of English. He would occasionally call me to another class when members of the class fail to answer his questions. He would throw the same question to me. I never disappointed him. As my reward and a punishment for the student(s), he would imprudently order me to slap him very hard in the face. That endeared him to me, but also made me somehow infamous among my mates. By virtue of this endearment, I was slowly tempted to be like him, in fact to become him by studying his discipline. Once I told my brother about it. He suspiciously asked why. He simply laughed it off when I finished. I was earlier afraid that he was going to blast me with the litany that that was not what everyone wanted me to do, or at least show

Muhammad Muhsin Ibrahim @muhsin234 Yippee! I got a new bicycle! This, coupled with my recent admission into a private primary school, inflated my ego so high. Admittedly speaking, I sort of started feeling pompous among my peers. A very few children were that blessed then in all our neighbourhoods. I had, though already, finished another primary school when I was taken back to this school. It was an expensive, prestigious, privately-owned primary school now, so no problem. I would stay for only a year and then I would proceed to another famous, private college. All of this was meant to pave my way to study medicine in the university. It became my routine before taking bath and breakfast to go to my new best friend, my bicycle. I would check it; dust it; and try it. Until I was satisfied that everything was fine, I could not move to another thing for the morning. I would then get ready and bid farewell to my stepmother and siblings and set out to my new school. The s

Muhammad Muhsin Ibrahim muhsin2008@gmail.com @muhsin234 Writing—not speaking, reading or listening—is the most complex aspect of language learning skills. Writing is a talent which not everyone is endowed with. Writing is best done by the students of language or those in the Arts, and blah-blah-blah. Often one hears statements like these. No doubt writing is not a piece of cake, but it is neither a gift nor, with apologies to Niyi Osundare, an esoteric whisper for any coterie. As you are able to read this article, you also can write and write a well-composed piece. Yes, you. An award-winning American cognitive scientist, Steven Pinker asserts in his book, The Sense of Style that “Writing is an unnatural act”. He further quotes Charles Darwin who observed that ‘Man has an instinctive tendency to speak, as we see in the babble of our young children, whereas no child has instinctive tendency to bake, brew or write’. I can’t agree more. Language is acquired by a child and no