Alamak! Yes that is what I said when I watched the news yesterday and got the news that the Maths and Science subjects would be reverted back to it’s original language, Bahasa Melayu, on 2012. One moment the government was intent in getting every Malaysian students to take up and brush up on their English and the next moment, they changed their mind.
I was so happy when the government had announced that the language they would be using in Science and Maths is English. I told to my self that finally the Malaysians would not be left out in the changes of the world. But when I heard the bad news yesterday, ALAMAK!
Come on, English is now the universal language and everyone in the world uses them. In the working world, almost everything is in English. When a customer calls up for enquiry most of my customers converse in English. Don’t need to look that far. The scientific chemical names are in English and it would be extremely hard to understand anything should the Malaysian Science students try to implement their current Bahasa Melayu chemical terms into English.
One of the reasoning the government gave about the new change is that the ministry found a small percentage teachers fully using English to teach the two subjects. If it was me, I’d send the teachers, everyone of the Maths and Science teachers to rigorous re-training in English. They are supposed to be teachers, not students and if they can’t make an effort to use the correct form of English while teaching, than I say the teacher is not fit to teach.
Why in the first place didn’t the government send their teachers back for through re-training to brush up on their teaching etiquette and their command of English before they even implement the policy of changing the subjects into English language?
I myself have taken a look at the Form 1 English textbooks and I was shock at the simplicity and low level standard. The English textbooks are as good as my Primary 2 English textbooks!
What I think the government should do if they really are so inclined to help their students out in their plight to better master the English language is to revise and re-study their English standards for all levels every 5 years or so. Primary school English are suppose to teach basic English as in Grammar, Vocabulary, Sentence Structure etc.
Form 1 and above are to polish the language they had studied and their mastery of English, not stick to basic use of English. I was brought up in Singapore school and I say their English teachings in Secondary school was great. Although there wasn’t grammar solving problems wasn’t easy but they had used English in Secondary school as a mean to ready their students when they step out into the working world.
I shudder and pity the current students which are taking Science and Maths. Understanding the subjects in English and then reverting everything in BM is not an easy task for the kids. I myself have trouble understanding the Malay form for Maths and to think I scored an A2 for my Malay language in O’ Levels.
Even though the Malaysian government try to add more hours in the English curriculum, I think it will not help anything at all. Until the ministry send their English teachers, scratch that, ALL of their teachers for re-training (YEARLY) and revise their English Module system, I’d say the future for our students understanding and speaking in English is looking very bleak.
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- Category: My Ramblings
July 9th, 2009 at 10:11 am
Had to agree with you there..
The reason they gave was too weak; “because teachers do not teach in English most of the time” and “there was a large performance gap between students in rural and city areas “.
If we keep pitying these people who don’t want to brush up on their English, Malaysian education standard will never get anywhere far!
If there’s one thing I know; learning IT in Bahasa Melayu is already a JOKE
July 9th, 2009 at 10:26 am
Good GOD!! IT in BM? You serious? damn I didn’t know that.. ouch! then all your php codes? ouch man..real ouch
July 9th, 2009 at 10:44 am
HEY! VAMP! IS NT IT A GOOD OPPURTUNITY FOR BUSINESS? If i were u i would make a business proposal to conduct english lesson enhanced. I would open a class and teach in english..For certification wise,i could liase the papers with any instituition…MY service would be to teach and train in written n oral in english.
Giving tuition individually is not bad idea..But imagine giving tuition to a class of 30 people in 1hr..would generate a hefty income.
Education business are on the rise. When economy is bad, workers and people do what? Of course,they go back to school to upgrade! Language is a broad subject.
Teaching women is best.you know why? Women in malaysia needs a drive and get ahead of men in the workforce! Men are lazy…
I truly recomend u to go into this biz…
SO the first step is..:
1)Get any contacts or expatriate english woman.
2)Share the skills
3)COPY ANY SUCCESFULL LANGUAGE SCHOOLL.And start small
4)If u know that ur current biz income stream is not generating ,you could alway open up another biz.
5)For classroom rental,you could rent a Government classroom or community centres.
6)There are MALAYSIAN government funds to help new biz ideas in education.
7)Teach women in MY ..be a change in MY.Let women rulez!!
July 11th, 2009 at 8:11 pm
My daughter is less than 2 years old and she can understand both English and Japanese, and later will introduce Malay, Mandarin and Cantonese.
http://daddyparentingtips.blogspot.com/2009/07/tip-161-reading-in-both-languages.html
I can’t see why we cannot take 1 step forward to integrate the BM textbooks few years back with the current English science and maths text books. Its a lot of effort, but why move backward instead of forward. We can allow students to use either English or BM to answer in the exams as long as the maths and science principles are correct.
Some good will surely come out of the dialectics at work between both languages instead of choosing either one. We need new advancements. We need Malaysia Boleh. Not some power struggle between languages.
When will Malaysia advance and not hold on to race and language as stumbling blocks but embrace our differences as advantages?
July 12th, 2009 at 9:21 am
I agree with you Daddy Parenting Tips. It seems Malaysia is becoming more backwards in trying to upgrade it’s people, so much for their 1 Malaysia, 1 Nation. They are always doing things haphazardly without years of research and counter answers in case problems arises.
Take a look at their submission of income tax online. Until now, they are still blaming others instead of looking into the problem and solving it as a team. So much for keeping up to date with the current changes and technology.
July 12th, 2009 at 3:56 pm
Anything That happens, Happens for a reason..