准备好提控教育部

准备好提控教育部   15/9/2013

        教育部官爷们是聘请来办好事情。 没有把事情办好的照理当然要把那些没有能力的官爷们通通解聘。  这是天经地义的事。  肯定全世界 都会认同的事。 

        华小学欠缺400多个老师。  现在我们有460位大学毕业生又 经过师训18个月在家苦苦等教育部分配去学校任教。  可是，我的教育部就是没有采取任何行动。  Mary Yap, Deputy Education Minister, 还好意思叫这些受过师训的大学生们先去找别的工作。  这是很不负责任的话。 我想全国关心教育的国人都在问[为什么不分派这460 位去填补空缺呢？这到底怎么一回事啊] 

Muhyiddin Yassin and Mary Yap 教育部的领头羊应该站出来给大家好好地解释一番。  不然， 我认为董/华/教总有必要上诉。  如果国内始终没有方法解决，为什么不向United Nations 伸冤。 我56年拉拉扯扯的事应该有个了断。  软的是绝对不行的。  该是时候用硬的坚持自己的立场。  请United Nations 来主持公道。 强迫Muhyiddin Yassin and Mary Yap 还有那些不会办事的官爷们走路。 

        哼。。。。我们中学还缺300 位合格华文老师。  教育部在做什么？？？？  我们为什么要花钱养一群不做事的官爷？？？？
        教育办的如此下场都是因为我们有关领袖们太得过且过。   教育是建国之本也是全民的共同资产。  这是要全民的共同努力。 我们不要再忍受官爷们用我们人民的税金撒野和胡乱非为。 是时候我们人民一起来整顿教育部了

Practise more with less tests

Practise more with less tests /exams        13/9/2013

        I believe a child can learn so much more and better if they are not bothered by tests all the time in language learning.    Learning English in school through stories besides some some planned learning of grammar and phonics.

        Give the school the rights to choose the English curriculum/ programme.  I would recommend Singapore English curriculum.  You may think the British one is even better, so go ahead with it, why not?   It is because all these programmes go in depth and width to learn the language.    Personally, I have gone through Pets series of books and some of another series called In Step.   I have the full set of Pets series and 3 levels of In Step

        For Pets series of books from 1A1B to 6A6B, for example,  each level of the books also goes with workbooks related to each unit and another revisionary exercises also correspond to each topic/unit.  Besides, there are 13-15 readers to view/go with.  You see how rich the language exposure /experience.  

        In this case, children have the chance to learn grammar and vocabulary in contexts in such a natural way.  Grammar is also drilled in isolation, too but related to the topic.   There is always a grammatical item/ two to emphasise in each unit/ topic.

        I taught in an English tuition school using Pets Series of books.   I am convinced that it is exactly as I believe.  Children need to go through all processes to learn the English language.   It is a well-planned learning.    Our Malaysian syllabi lack most of the things for the development of the language.    It was a shock to me then.

        After I resigned from a school, I taught in an English language centre for a year.   They used Pets series of books, workbooks, revisionary exercises and readers for Level 1 and 2.  For higher forms they had the access to the library.   Reading was highly recommended to improve one’s English.   I am convinced that learning a language has to go through all these processes and exposure.  Our Malaysian syllabi lack most of these elements for the development of the language.  I was shocked then when I had the chance to compare the two.

        Ya, the centre also gave them 4 tests in a year.  Other time, children would have the topic to view and exercises to do.  They had a lot of chances to hear spoken English in the language centre.   They had Spelling and Dictation for each unit.

        Once I also gave tuition on my own.  I used the Pets series of coursebooks, some good exercises in the workbooks and the revision exercises, of course all the readers for Level 1 and 2.   Of course, I also gave Spelling and Dictation,  too.

        Believe me, through Spelling and Dictation, we can create the awareness of the clues of  English spelling /phonics in general.   Knowing how to pronounce the words  enables our children to remember the words easily and for life.  For example,

Dictation

        I hear with my two ears.

        I can hear you clearly now, dear.

        Though I am only 7 years old,  I can tell you an apple from a pear.

         That teddy bear near you is mine.

         My mother wears a pearl necklace once in a while.

        

        Before you give them the dictation, give them the spelling of the words and phrases a day ahead.   Of course let them have the chance to learn them.  You may give them 10 minutes to learn in class before you test them.   If they do not score well, don’t worry.

Spelling

1  ear   2  hear    3  clearly   4  dear   5  years                6  pear

        7  teddy bear     8  near      9  wears    10  pearl

        11  once in a while      12   neck    necklace

      Creativity for English  teachers can only become possible when we all forget about scoring good results at the expense of good learning and processes/ exposure / experiences.    Exam-oriented teaching and learning makes life difficult and frustrating for all.  Test less and learn more  for the good of all.   After all language learning or whatever is life-long commitment to excel.

A language to learn

A language to learn    13/9/2013

        To learn a language well, I believe in using the language and reading widely for vocabulary as well as getting familiar with the structures.  Text reading intensively in school is mainly to learn grammar and pronunciation.  Text reading extensively that you can do it at your own pace is to acquire vocabulary and to get familiarised with the structures.    It is reading for knowledge as well as for pleasure.  Constant exposure to the language enables a person to become spontaneous / natural with the language.   You will culitivate the linguistic intuition without knowing it just as how you use your mother tongue intuitively and creatively.

        I  started speaking English to my son when he was a few days old.  Yes, I created the environment for English learning at home though I also spoke Foochow to him at times when I thought I could tell the point exactly culturally to his understanding.    All his friends spoke Chinese and Foochow.

        Besides speaking English to him, I also read English story books to him.   Look, children learn by hearing.   He liked certain books and so there were a lot of repetitions and rehearsals of the books.   He could say them here and there from memory before I came to the points though he did not recognise the words then.    It was the depth and width he explored in the language when he went through the stories by listening to them. 

        When he was about nine years old, you could read books geared to his level on his own.  Ya, I had bought many English story books for him to read.  He enjoyed reading, too.  So, he could cope with the English language quite easily in school though he did not score A results most of the time.   He could not sit still at his desk for long except when he was playing computer games.

        When he was in Form 2, he could read Harry Potter on his own.   My youngest sister’s eldest sister-in-law’s (大姆) daughter just a few days younger than my son could such thickness of books when she was 9 or 10 years old.   She was really good at English and always got good results for her English.  She did not have tuition in the English language at all.  

       The 3 children of my youngest sister also speak English at home and read English story books.  They can also cope with the English language so well.    

        Hence I believe in reading widely to learn a language.   For many who do not have the English speaking home environment, our school should play the part well for the development of the language.    Don’t confine the learning of English to the textbooks and commercially produced workbooks / just workbooks alone.  Exploring the language through stories, to me, is the best way to inspire and get children spellbound and learn the language in fun ways.         

Not surprising at all

Not surprising at all     12/Sept/2013

        It is reported that our locally trained lawyers are not on par with those trained overseas when expressing/ presenting themselves in the English language in the court / not.    Our English teachers  also fall short of this requirement being competent enough to use the language properly for teaching and learning.  It does not come as a surprise to me at all.  

        They , after all are what they “had been fed”.  How had they been trained since small from kindergarten to university in the English language?    Do the survey to find out how well-versed they are in the language knowledge in the forms of grammar, phonetics  and  pronunciation.    

        The intensive part of learning the language in school had not been done properly.   Check around to see how the English is learnt in school.  Don’t be shocked when you find that at least 90% / more focus on exam-oriented workbooks  to learn English.    What can you expect from this obsession to score good results in English?

        Hence it is just natural that our pupils’/ students’ knowledge of English is fragmented.   I can bet  that most of them are blurred with the tenses, be them the Active Voice / the Passive Voice.   For pronunciation, they are not much better.   

         For extensive learning of the language,  ask around to see how many books in English texts have they read so far?  Do they read texts in English every day? 

        To speak a language at will requires a person to experience /be exposed to it in depth and width.   That means you have to read widely/ extensively to acquire enough vocabulary for use and to get familiarised / reinforced with the structures.    

     You got to have the ideas of how a language works to use it properly especially in the written form.  That means our primary and secondary schools must be given enough repetition and rehearsal of the language grammar.  For phonetics and pronunciation, our pupils/ students must also have enough drilling and exposure to learn them.     At the end of the secondary schooling, our students must have acquired the full set of of grammar knowledge and phonetics.   This preparation is for life-long learning.

        Focing on the exam-oriented workbooks to score ends up in nowhere.   The poor command of English in the locally produced lawyers is well-understood as they lack both the competence in the language knowledge and use in both spoken and written English.   As they seldom engaged in the active use of the language during their schooling since small.   Besides, I believe there were very few mental processes and language use in English, too.   

           Our lawyers and teachers are advised to take up some English lessons to brush up.  I wonder what will be emphasised in the lessons.   Am I too arbitrary to say that all they need now is to know the English grammar and phonetics as well as read widely to master the language?