Sarawak education autonomy

Tweets 12/Nov/2017

In Sarawak, we really…………don’t need psychometric test to decide who is fit to be a teacher.  In the past, 100% of our teachers were not tested but they were devoted and good.  So as long as our Sarawak teachers are qualified academically and they have strong desire to be teachers.  They have good habits and character.  That’s it. 

So, our Sarawak government and education department should stomp their feet to say, “No!” to those political scoundrels who think they know best and who always have ulterior motives to discriminate and belittle us, Sarawakians.  So, exercise our education autonomy or be prepared to secede for good. 

I hope Abang Johari and his team will do something to stop the aggressiveness and domeering power of the Peninsular Malaya government in the name of federation of Malaysia.

I am enraged to see that 75 Sarawak teachers whose posts are frozen, I believe in favour of teachers who may score A in psychometric test from Malaya.  But we really………………….don’t need teachers from Malaya to staff here.   The Malayan government do not have to worry about the Sarawak teachers who have failed the psychometric tests as long as we Sarawakians have the confidence in them. 

British or American Version of English 3/11/2017

British or American Version of English  3/11/2017

        In my homeland, Sarawak or elsewhere in the Federation of Malaysia, the first question I think everybody should ask everybody is that which version of English we are studying.  It is said that we follow the British system of English.  However,  batches and batches of American English teaching assistants have been sent to us under the Fulbright programme.  What are our political scoundrels doing?

        Which system to follow, I think, is very important for our students who needs the set forms and rules to follow first before exposing them to other variations of English.  Otherwise, they will be so much confusion and frustration.   It is so important for our students to learn the forms and their functions firmly in one system first.  For example, the words:

                British Forms              American Forms

                centre                       center

                fibre                          fiber

                litre                           liter

                theatre                      theater

                colour                        color

                flavour                      flavour

                humour                     humor

                labour                       labor

                humour                     humor

                neighour                    neighbor

                apologise                   apologize

                organise                    organize

                recognise                   recognize

                analyse                     analyze

                paralyse                    paralyze

                travel                                travel

                travelling                   traveling

                travelled                    travelled

                traveller                     travelled

                quarrel                      quarrel

                quarrelling                 quarrelling

                quarrelled                  quarrelled

                fuel                           fuel

                fuelling                      fueling

                fuelled                       fuelled

(https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/spelling/british-and-spelling)

        American English is ubiquitous and our computer, I think, also has both the American hardware and software.  Thus, the British English words are changed into the American version automatically.  I often have to change  it back to the British version whenever I am aware of it.  It is terrible! 

       

The theory of Input & Output of the English language 3/11/2017

The theory of Input & Output of the English language   3/11/2017

        English in my homeland, Sarawak has been crippled by egoistic and megamanaic UMNO-BN political scoundrels.  It has declined to such an appalling state that many people speak English in words and phrases like terrible 2-year-olds of native speakers.  Now Sarawak Ministers led by Abang Johari are planning to upgrade it.  I wonder how he will do it.  He has organised a symposium on a really huge scale with a constellation of expects from different fields to discuss about it.  I wonder if they have come to a conclusion how to input or programme up our students with different learning materials in texts reading and listening to prepare them for the output in speaking and writing.

        From nurseries to Form Five, our learners have gone through at least 15 years of schooling.  If there is enough proper input in school and after school, I believe that at least 70% can speak and write quite accurately.  At least they know how to construct simple, compound and complex sentences to express themselves to fulfil the daily needs. 

        They know where to refer to to repair the ‘sore spots’ of their language if they have gone through the English language parts to know how to fix them by themselves.  I wonder if Sarawak ministry of education will moot the learning of grammar item by item like a mechanic or technician.  And there are 30 marks allocated to test them to coerce or woo them to learn English grammar seriously. 

        With the proper input of texts reading and listening to build up the stock of vocabulary, reinforce language structures in context and gain general or specific knowledge, are our learners not paved to the platform to produce the language creatively and innovatively.

        With the proper preparation of our students since small, do they need to be recalled after college or university to be retrained again to use the language properly? 

        I am not an expect but I have a very strong belief in this theory of input and output in the process of learning the English language as I have experienced it this way.   Bear in mind that the skills of creativity and innovation just cannot be taught.  They only happen when you have enough knowledge of your skills.  For example, in cake making, you can only be taught how to make a cake but how creatively that you can make it depends on your innate ability, disposition and mentality. 

Mother Tongue Vs Second Language 3/11/2017

Mother Tongue Vs Second Language  3/11/2017

        It should be clear to everybody now that if English is your mother tongue.  The language is so dominating and that you get connected to it round clock.  And you are the end-user like a licensed car driver who drives without any knowledge of the mechanical parts of the car or the users of smartphone or any electrical appliances.  BUT if you study English as a second language and as a single subject supplemented with some literature, well, you are just like a car mechanic who needs to know every part of the car or a technician who must know the machine well to do the repair.

        I repeat once more, we study English like Geography, History, Science, Mathematics and the like here in my homeland, Sarawak and else in the Federation of Malaysia.  Thus, we had better know every part of the language like a mechanic or technician so that we can do the repair of the English language that we use in speaking and writing, especially.

        With a good understanding how language works also helps us greatly in understanding a reading passage and listening text.  For example, the sentence

[You] are /the end-user/ *like (a licensed car driver){ who drives *without (any knowledge) *of (the mechanical parts) *of (the car)} or (the users) *of smartphone) or (any electrical appliances). 

[Subject] Finite Verb /subject complement/*

*Preposition/Prep + Noun/Noun Phrase/Noun Clause/ P3/P4/P5/F2

Personal Pronouns 

P1             P2             P3             P4             P5                    

I               my            me            mine          myself

Forms of the Verb

        F1             F2             F3             F4

        talk           talking       talked        talked

        go             going        went         gone

(Object) of a transitive verb or a Prep

Conjunctions/Conj

For reading and listening texts, you have to meet another condition, i.e. you must have enough stock of vocabulary and prior knowledge to understand the text well. 

What is communicative English after all?

What is communicative English after all?

        Language is meant for communication, be it in a spoken or written form.  The merits of communicative English teaching approach are the emphasis and focuses on teaching and learning topics related to learners’ life, involving learners as much as possible in classroom activities and the shift from teacher-centred to student-centred teaching and learning.

        But can the communicative English teaching approach really help our learners to become more communicative in speaking and writing?  Well, again it is the question of information that a learner possesses and how much grammatical knowledge s/he has to communicate on call.  I see it as speech records / registers in one’s head that decides.

        Limited classroom learning in the input helps learners very little in speaking or writing if s/he has not launched his/er extensive texts reading and listening activities in the environment where English is learnt as a single subject.  S/he must try to use English as much as possible outside the classroom.

        With the limited time in the classroom, I still strongly believe that learning grammar item by item and communicative English in whatever manners should co-exist side by side to help our learners.