I am from an old school
idioms, phrases and expressions
were taught with intensity
years have passed
still I remember them.
The voices of my teachers reverberate
they made us expand the idioms
use our imagination
strike a story and go ahead
they would say.
The way we learnt the language
with exercises on conjugation
precis, paraphrase, and analysis
of sentences all in detail
has made me what I am.
I owe the language to them
to my mother who was equally strict
a slip here or a misspelt word
would earn a punishment.
It was a hard way of learning
it has its own reward.