2009 is already here. 2008 wasn't such a good year for me. It has been tough, lots of drama and all. The coming of the new year means I have to face the demons I have been trying to run from last year. Tomorrow I will have to brave the lion's den with nothing in my hand. I was going to come prepared but as usual God had other thing in mind. My last blog, was an outpouring of emotion. Sometime I just had to get angry at others because it's a bummer to get angry with myself all the time.
That aside. Last night I had an interesting night. Even though I was still in pain and all doped up with pain medication I followed my dad to Suara PRIMA new year celebration. Suara PRIMA is an organisation of poets blogger and they have a gathering every month or so to read poetry on any given theme.
Last night for the new year reading, the theme was protesting against the teaching of science and mathematics in English. It was interesting because there I was an English lecturer and they were all passionately speaking against the Education Ministry current policy and you know what I totally agree.
It was a bad idea in the first place. When I was doing my sociolinguistic project, we had a survey done whether teaching of English could be improved. Basically we found out that most people have the opinion that there is a flaw in the teaching of English at school. One lecturer said there's not enough exposure especially in reading, that if the student could be encouraged to read more in English and exposure to English literature would be a help. Not once did anyone suggested that English should be use as the language of instruction of other subject. It was because everyone knew the root problem was with the teaching method of English and the students' attitude towards the language. That was the real problem, that is why even after 11 years of learning English as a second language most Malaysian students lack proficiency in English
When it was announced that Science and Maths were going to be taught in English, I pittied the students. It was hard enough learning those subjects in a language they understand but now having to learn it in a language that they did not only understand but for some a language they detest. I also pitied the teachers who have been teaching the subjects for a long time, now having to retrained themselves. A lot of jokes was passed on what would happen to these "experienced" teachers.
One gentleman last night made a point that we are not against English but we are protesting the murder (I can't find a better word to describe this) of the Malay language as an academic language. Furthermore, he adds, it is true that in school it is only 2 subjects but further down the road in higher learning institute these will branch to almost 80% of subjects taught. That effectively kill all the effort of those who fought for the right to use the national language as the language of instruction. As he said the policy murdered Malay as an academic language.
When I was in school I read a lot about other people in countries like France and Japan refusing to speak other language apart from their own because of therir love of their mother tongue. I respected that and wished that we have the same fervour. I mean we were lucky that we can actually lay claim to multilingualism, because on average Malaysian can speak at least 2 language and that is great. So why don't we leave it all alone. Japan has advance so fast using on Japanese as their language of instruction. Students from Malaysia are learning Japanese so that they could study in Japan. Why can't we make other people learn our national language instead of torturing our own people to learn 2 difficult subjects in English. My cousin who teaches Maths commented that the students couldn't even understand the concepts ion Malay let alone in English.
So I call upon Malaysian who cares, make your voices heard because this is our future we are talking about, we can't continue in this blind accepting state. The children of Malaysia needs someone to stand up for their right. This experimenting business should be stopped once and for all.
That aside. Last night I had an interesting night. Even though I was still in pain and all doped up with pain medication I followed my dad to Suara PRIMA new year celebration. Suara PRIMA is an organisation of poets blogger and they have a gathering every month or so to read poetry on any given theme.
Last night for the new year reading, the theme was protesting against the teaching of science and mathematics in English. It was interesting because there I was an English lecturer and they were all passionately speaking against the Education Ministry current policy and you know what I totally agree.
It was a bad idea in the first place. When I was doing my sociolinguistic project, we had a survey done whether teaching of English could be improved. Basically we found out that most people have the opinion that there is a flaw in the teaching of English at school. One lecturer said there's not enough exposure especially in reading, that if the student could be encouraged to read more in English and exposure to English literature would be a help. Not once did anyone suggested that English should be use as the language of instruction of other subject. It was because everyone knew the root problem was with the teaching method of English and the students' attitude towards the language. That was the real problem, that is why even after 11 years of learning English as a second language most Malaysian students lack proficiency in English
When it was announced that Science and Maths were going to be taught in English, I pittied the students. It was hard enough learning those subjects in a language they understand but now having to learn it in a language that they did not only understand but for some a language they detest. I also pitied the teachers who have been teaching the subjects for a long time, now having to retrained themselves. A lot of jokes was passed on what would happen to these "experienced" teachers.
One gentleman last night made a point that we are not against English but we are protesting the murder (I can't find a better word to describe this) of the Malay language as an academic language. Furthermore, he adds, it is true that in school it is only 2 subjects but further down the road in higher learning institute these will branch to almost 80% of subjects taught. That effectively kill all the effort of those who fought for the right to use the national language as the language of instruction. As he said the policy murdered Malay as an academic language.
When I was in school I read a lot about other people in countries like France and Japan refusing to speak other language apart from their own because of therir love of their mother tongue. I respected that and wished that we have the same fervour. I mean we were lucky that we can actually lay claim to multilingualism, because on average Malaysian can speak at least 2 language and that is great. So why don't we leave it all alone. Japan has advance so fast using on Japanese as their language of instruction. Students from Malaysia are learning Japanese so that they could study in Japan. Why can't we make other people learn our national language instead of torturing our own people to learn 2 difficult subjects in English. My cousin who teaches Maths commented that the students couldn't even understand the concepts ion Malay let alone in English.
So I call upon Malaysian who cares, make your voices heard because this is our future we are talking about, we can't continue in this blind accepting state. The children of Malaysia needs someone to stand up for their right. This experimenting business should be stopped once and for all.
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