salam all,
Our kids should be flexible enough to adapt to whatever changes there are in their education - because in the real world, nothing is certain and we should be adaptable to change - whether favourable to us or not.
hmmm.. i think in my area ie TTDI - even if the teachers were not as good (my kids come home with stories of correcting teachers' grammer and all), the tuition culture is very in...so i suppose they get back-up from the tuition classes. My kids who don't go for tuition are seen as a minority if not a novelty.
Back to my observations....my kids are all quite proficient in English but one of them still has problem with Maths. It is not a language problem then. Proficiency in language does not equals excelling in subjects taught in English. And i think it would be vice versa.
When we did A Level's i found that some kids who could hardly speak English or were not as proficient were still the ones scoring straight A's....hmmm...they managed to adapt to the English environment and the English referance books - and here we can't say anything about lowering standards as these are marked overseas.
MAybe there is some truth in the reasoning that most terminology would require major translations...and maybe the subjects taught now are more advanced then when we were in school.
I once worked as a copywriter and i can tell you - nak demam kalau nak translate English to BM if it came to technical writing. Takkan semua benda nak "inverted commas" or italics.....
Yes - learning Maths & Science in English will not make you more proficient in the language. My kids learn all the other subjects in BM, but BM still tak dapat nak score. MAybe BM should also be made more interesting to make kids enjoy the classes.....
The PR kids i know go for tuition with the older kids. They have a fantastic support group. When the M&S in English was first implemented i actually offered to do tuition for them, but it turned out they have senior kids who help out and teach them in their own area.
BUt with the right attitude and support from everyone, i am sure there would be a positive outcome out of this. Yang kena tengok negative aja kenapa? Adalah sebab polisi dibuat....and i think we can collectively work to making it feasible and i think the govt should take steps to improve the quality of teachers.
I am sure you faced this in school..siapa yang cakap Orang Putih tu "action" or tak sedar diri........padahal si polan tu memang nak improve their English.How to improve if got attitude like that?
As it is, i agree with Dr M....why take to the streets to demonstrate? It may make things more complicated.........and once NAtional Security and such becomes an issue, then politics and media steps in.
If parents decide AF is their solution to making millions...or getting rezeki dapat kahwin rich man, then it is their personal choice...MAsuklah all the virtual reality game shows....boleh famous....tapi yang pasal entertainment jelah...sebab kalau yang intellectual kena study....=P
Whatever, i still think we have to look at this objectively...i still think it should be left as a choice for the parents and students....
(and i write in English because on the WWW not only Malaysians are reading our postings........)
ina ali
Who is not being very coherent today.....
Tuesday, 14 July 2009
To English Or Not TO English Part 1
Salam,
Of course if you ask my daughters,, they will definitely say ENGLISH...coz they have learnt M&S in English all through their schooling life. Fiqa ( born 1996) was the pioneer batch in this new system.
I did have some discussions with my staff who are PR Indonesians - who have kids in this current system....their parents speak no English at all.
(though we have some really hysterical Mind Your LAnguage English classes in case they need to help in the shop)
Anyways, their kids go to SRK Damansara Utama or SRK Damansara Jaya or the likes coz most of them are in Kayu Ara....and surprisingly, with Chinese classmates some of them can still emerge in the top 10 students in the class. I suppose they are the ones who can grasp the knowledge and the language skill...even though i hardly hear them speaking English.
Same goes to when we were studying abroad - some students could not even speak English but their academic English were par excellence and they get first class honours. And do you notice how the Post Grad's kids who go to indy and school there all talk like MAt Salleh.....even though when they started school they knew tad of English. Kids learn faster if the environment is encouraging.
Then again..those PR kids are in urban schools and yes - probably the teachers are more fluent in English or are not even Malay for that matter.....and the fact that they mix with the non-Malays does make them have a boost to speak and comprehend the language.
MAybe one solution is to have two streams - Malay medium and English medium - as in the old days (masa my mom & dad) - some schools are Malay medium and some schools are English medium. Or if it is a big school, they can have Englsih medium classes and Malay medium classes ( as in schools with 10 classes). It would be another headache to class the kids..but at least you have the choice of what you want to learn.The question papers come in 2 languages anyway.....
But for me - Malay or English is not the problem - if there is consistency then we would achieve a focused generation - not a whole lot of guinea pigs or laboratory white mice. If you are lucky the experiments may result in super beings..but if not you get confused freaks who lean towards world domination (i have been watching too much Kim Possible and Totally Spies).
To sum up - yes we can keep the English teaching ( English does not make you un-nationalistic or lupa daratan or lupa agama dan bangsa...) IF we can sort out the Education system to accommodate the urban/rural divide, brush up the teachers ( kena tukar mind set....) OR we can give the students and their parents a choice.
BTW I think my non-English speaking staff would want their kids to continue the English system coz it gives the kids exposure they would not have otherwise...cakap Boyan & JAwa jelah......
But demonstrating in the streets on this matter? what is Malaysia coming to??? That is another heated topic again........ha!ha!ha!
Wallahualam...may Allah guide us in this matter......
Of course if you ask my daughters,, they will definitely say ENGLISH...coz they have learnt M&S in English all through their schooling life. Fiqa ( born 1996) was the pioneer batch in this new system.
I did have some discussions with my staff who are PR Indonesians - who have kids in this current system....their parents speak no English at all.
(though we have some really hysterical Mind Your LAnguage English classes in case they need to help in the shop)
Anyways, their kids go to SRK Damansara Utama or SRK Damansara Jaya or the likes coz most of them are in Kayu Ara....and surprisingly, with Chinese classmates some of them can still emerge in the top 10 students in the class. I suppose they are the ones who can grasp the knowledge and the language skill...even though i hardly hear them speaking English.
Same goes to when we were studying abroad - some students could not even speak English but their academic English were par excellence and they get first class honours. And do you notice how the Post Grad's kids who go to indy and school there all talk like MAt Salleh.....even though when they started school they knew tad of English. Kids learn faster if the environment is encouraging.
Then again..those PR kids are in urban schools and yes - probably the teachers are more fluent in English or are not even Malay for that matter.....and the fact that they mix with the non-Malays does make them have a boost to speak and comprehend the language.
MAybe one solution is to have two streams - Malay medium and English medium - as in the old days (masa my mom & dad) - some schools are Malay medium and some schools are English medium. Or if it is a big school, they can have Englsih medium classes and Malay medium classes ( as in schools with 10 classes). It would be another headache to class the kids..but at least you have the choice of what you want to learn.The question papers come in 2 languages anyway.....
But for me - Malay or English is not the problem - if there is consistency then we would achieve a focused generation - not a whole lot of guinea pigs or laboratory white mice. If you are lucky the experiments may result in super beings..but if not you get confused freaks who lean towards world domination (i have been watching too much Kim Possible and Totally Spies).
To sum up - yes we can keep the English teaching ( English does not make you un-nationalistic or lupa daratan or lupa agama dan bangsa...) IF we can sort out the Education system to accommodate the urban/rural divide, brush up the teachers ( kena tukar mind set....) OR we can give the students and their parents a choice.
BTW I think my non-English speaking staff would want their kids to continue the English system coz it gives the kids exposure they would not have otherwise...cakap Boyan & JAwa jelah......
But demonstrating in the streets on this matter? what is Malaysia coming to??? That is another heated topic again........ha!ha!ha!
Wallahualam...may Allah guide us in this matter......
Wednesday, 8 July 2009
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