11th and 12th grades

As I majored in Mathematics and Science in 11th and 12th grades, I worked very hard in my studies in order to score high grades in the final exams. Even though I studied all my school studies in my native language Tamil through Tamil medium, I developed English speaking and writing skills very well. I developed English knowledge by reading English newspapers and magazines and watching English news on Television that we got when I was in grade 10 in the year 1980. I had a habit of going to the library to read books since the 6^th grade of my high school study. I read many stories about great achievers and successful personalities and set my mind to become a successful achiever in the future. Moreover, the Church I have been a member of had been helpful for me a lot to develop my English knowledge. When I was studying 11th and 12th grades, I was highly recognized by my subject teachers for my English language skill while being a Tamil-medium student. Once when I was taking part in the 11th-grade English final examination, one of the exam questions was to translate a Tamil paragraph into English. I did that translation accurately and correctly without any mistakes. Upon seeing my translation, my English teacher Mr. Mayilsamy appreciated me a lot for my English translation skill. Later this translation skill was very helpful for me to become a translator in the Church. I had been a translator in the LDS Church until I was in India. Whenever English-speaking people delivered talks at our Church services, I was the one who translated their talks from English to Tamil. I was really motivated then by my English teacher. Followed by that incident, I realized and wondered how a teacher’s appreciation motivates student progress! Later on, I applied that strategy in my own classes and could see positive results. Moreover, I helped my 11^th and 12th-grade classmates by teaching and explaining Math, English, and Science in a simple way which led my friends to graduate and score high grades on the exams. By helping my classmates by teaching I got double benefits, I too mastered Math and Science very well which made me score first-class grades in the 12th-grade final examination. As I have been interested in Mathematics since school age, after I graduated 12th grade in the year 1992, as per my father’s teaching, I decided to be self-reliant and didn’t want to be a burden to my father in my college studies. So I decided to earn and save some money by working part-time jobs during the 12th-grade summer vacation for my college studies. So during the 1992 summer vacation, I worked at a post office as a stamp vendor which was a leave vacancy of one of the staff in the post office that is situated at Theppakulam Street in our city Erode. I worked in textiles as well in our town for two months and earned some money. Moreover, I distributed hand-bills for some showrooms in our town to earn money. Actually, as I had no money at all to spend on my college studies when I completed my 12th grade, I decided to work in part-time jobs. I used the money that earned to buy my college books and for other college expenses.