Look! Opportunities are everywhere!

Opportunities are always around. The opportunity to be a lawyer, a doctor, to be anything exists at all times.

However, that does not mean you can decide to be a doctor today, just open a clinic and become one.

That is because, to be a doctor, you have to earn a certicate to perform. The opportunity is there but you have to prepare yourself for it. Are you prepared for such an opportunity?

You are the one who decides what you want to be through your thoughts or someone else’s thoughts. You plan to be one. You have to prepare to be one. When you are prepared, you can grab hold of the opportunity as it presents itself.

Okay! You or your mother wants you to be a doctor. She prepares you in language proficiency; starts you with lots of talking to you in the language with the whole world as your audio visual aids. Then, as you grow older, she gives you the Lady Bird Reading Programme to improve your English. Next, she prepares you for the science stream with books and other materials that are suitable. As you grow older, if you agree with her, you study hard to ensure you get a place in the university to study medicine. Each year, those who are eligible because they have the best suitable results, find places in the universities. Of course, if at any time you change your mind, it has to be early enough to give you the chance to change to another stream of study.

Thus, if you are prepared and ready for whatever you want, opportunity is always there.

Tiger Woods was never handed the opportunity to be a golf champion. He planned for it by practicing golf. If he had never wanted to swing a golf club, he would not be where he is today. He went for competitions; competitions which emplaced him to be a golf champion. The opportunity has always been there and he reached for it with the right preparation.

I once taught the English Language to graduates who could not find jobs because the jobs or professions require a certain proficiency in English. Initially, they were not prepared for the opportunities offered them. By improving their English, the opportunities were within their reach.

One such student told me she found a job as an adventure guide. She was required to remove her head-covering cloth. Apparently, her boss believed that her attire did not impress anyone who needs an adventure-guide. However, as a Muslim, she refused to remove her head-covering which covers her hair totally. She told me that her boss was a Muslim too. She wondered why he could not understand the necessity for Muslim women to do that. She was told that she was not suitable for the job.

It was a delicate question as I was not a Muslim. I understood her boss’ view just as I understood hers. Her boss was thinking of hiring a person who looks capable of trekking the hills and jungles. With her shawl or ‘tudong’, she did not give tourists the confidence of going on an adventure trek with her as their guide.
I told her if she was not prepared to abandon her shawl, it was her right but that also implied that she was not prepared to have that Muslim man as her boss. She just was not prepared for that opportunity.

So, we have to be prepared in every way possible. You may be well qualified to teach English Language to others but unless you are willing to show your face and the movement of your mouth and lips, you cannot be a good English Language teacher.

To learn a language well, students must know how the words are pronounced. Correct pronunciation can better be obtained through not just hearing the sound but also through observing the movement of mouth and lips as well as the placement of the teeth and tongue. Thus, a teacher must be prepared to expose the face for students to observe while teaching a language.

So, despite the fact that the opportunity to be a language teacher is always present, if a teacher is not prepared to do the necessary to teach effectively, then the opportunity to teach will never be within reach.

Understanding this, we should realise we need not worry about opportunities. All we need is to prepare our children for whatever they want to become.

Give them language efficiency and all the necessary knowledge possible. Imbue them with the desire to improve themselves. All these can assist them to grab the opportunities they want.