like it or not, english is the lingua franca of our time
Malaysia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin asks you, “Should a pass in the English language be made compulsory for the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) Certificate?”
Apparently he raised this question after being informed that many students in rural areas would fail the nationwide examination if English was made a compulsory subject to pass. Then he offered his opinion that a pass in English should be made mandatory, else what’s the point right?
Initially I was pissy, as I’d read through the article in a flash and misinterpreted his intentions. I thought he was recommending that a pass in English for SPM should not be required because students in rural areas would be unable to get their certs. Now I feel quite bad about it: need to stop myself from automagically assuming the worst of government officials.
(Though they make it so easy at times.)
Here I’m preaching to the converted. We know the importance of English for school and work, bla bla bla. It is the medium of arts and science today: even China is pushing the language to its people so they could take over the world because they understand its importance and relevance in a globalised economy. Being Chinese, trust me — I know how much pride the Chinese takes in the Chinese language.
Seeing that I sat for SPM in 1998, I might be rusty in how the accreditation works. If I remember correctly, the only subject you need to pass in order to get your cert is Bahasa Malaysia That is assuming you don’t suck too terribly in other subjects.
I’m not going to ramble on for long. Just a quick note on how English is taught in national schools, or rather, not taught. I was lucky to have a couple of good English teachers who take pride in what they do. I’ve also heard countless stories of English teachers who can’t speak the language. That, or their methods are discouraging. Can’t spell ‘ball’? Stand at the corridor for the rest of the lesson! Don’t know how this works? Go see the headmistress for more punishment! Heh if I were the unfortunate student, I’d hate the stupid language till world’s end and would refuse to open myself to learning it. Actually there was one such student in my primary school. Until Primary 4 when she got transferred to another school, she could not spell ‘ball’ to save her life, or from further punishments.
But that’s our system for you and I’m sure we aren’t the only country experiencing this problem. For the record, I don’t really care if a pass in English is compulsory for SPM. I personally don’t think it matters because school and tuition teachers are great at ’spotting’ SPM questions and making you memorise all sorts of points so you could ’score’ or hopefully pass. Their accuracy often amazes me.
Want to make students more interested in English? Make learning fun! Don’t force-feed them with boring grammar rules and regulations from the start. It’s definitely important but can make one go zzz. Errr, make sure your English teachers know how to speak/ use/ teach the language. Introduce Enid Blyton’s works to kids in primary school! If things go right, they’ll automatically seek to learn and understand more of the language. Win-win! Kthxbai.
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suanie will you be our minister of education!
Make them read interesting books too, give them a passion for reading and language don’t force it on them.
Suanie, there are worse countries than Malaysia about this subject. I don’t know the exact numbers, but I wouldn’t say that more than 1% of the students can say a word in english other than “Hello”.
The sad part is that we actually study english at school, but I guess there is something wrong in the way we learn it. I’ve had to learn english due to my job and I’ve complained sooo many times about my lack of education on languages…
All the movies in the cinema are dubbed (not subtitled, DUBBED) in spanish. All the tv is in spanish also, so you can guess a typical spanish citizen never listen an english word in his life.
Well, I won’t complain more about it, I just wanted to let you know that there are more undeveloped countries regarding to languages than Malaysia
yeah enid blyton! if not i’ll be a statistic– chinese private high schooler who sucks at english!
I had the same and wrong assumption as you when I first read the headline, bad job. hehehe.
Did you know at SRJK(C) we only started learning English by Standard 4? I’m not sure how it is now, that was in the late 80s :/
English should always be the main concern and not BM. Who else in the world uses BM to communicate or conduct business?!! It’s such a waste especially to study science in BM and then having to convert everything you’ve learnt into English after you leave high school. Isn’t that a waste of energy, time and brain space?!!
i will always always remember the teacher who produced crocodile as krokodili
But you see, I think our DPM is just paying lip service, with regards to the question. I firmly believe that everyone should learn English and speak it well. Bahasa Malaysia, while important, does not make our SPM graduates speak well on a level playing field in the real world.
Read: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/malaysia/28906-bahasa-malaysia-key-to-1-malaysia-says-dpm
Made on the same day. He believes that Bahasa Malaysia is key to 1Malaysia. Rally behind a language, and we can all be united? Absolute bollocks.
So in conclusion, let them make English not suck. But I fear the national agenda, will prove more important, and English will take a back seat. Its OK, its to the peril of Malaysia anyway – look at Japan in the early-90’s instilling English, look at China today. Everyone wants to compete in a globalised world.
Us? Its OK, the government will bail us out… Lets just remain united…
-c
pinkpau: err okay
though i don’t think Tan Sri Muhyiddin will take it kindly, heh
ST: that’s the difficult part though
VivaDomo: TV shows and international movies screened in Malaysia have Malay subtitles. definitely better than being dubbed! but spanish is more widely spoken than the malay language. though regarding english, from your description i suppose our education methods may be slightly better… slightly
i learned a lot more stuff on my own than in school though, e.g. history
min: well done you! i know you are a ferocious reader
KY: yah i know, my mom told me long time ago. think in national schools they start in primary 1 or 2. but i went to an all-english kindy
eiling: i agree that math and science should be taught in english, but i think BM should also be retained as a major language. in many ways, it’s national identity, 1malaysia and all that blah. but shouldn’t get in the way of math/science. i remember having the most difficult time trying to get english translations for math, i.e. punca kuasa dua etc
LT: best!
colin: hmmm from my impression of the article, i think it’s a separate issue? we can learn both BM and English at the same time in school.. math and science definitely.. i think history can be kept in BM. not sure about geography… until today i’m having a difficult time trying to find english translations for malay words used in geography lessons.
though english is emphasized in many countries, they also retain their original language, i.e. german, chinese, japanese, korean etc. personally i think it’s important as one of the uniting factors.
the issue i have with it is the teaching methods, KBSR and KBSM system where we learn by rote. a particular grip i had was history — my teacher used to read off the text book, tell us which sentences or paragraphs to highlight, then copy the entire thing onto our exercise books without much explanation. that was tedious and made me dislike the subject. shame really because after high school, i found that i do like history. wikipedia ftw.
again, i don’t see problems being able to learn and use both languages at the same time.
did you ever sit through moral studies? a compulsory subject for non-muslims who do not attend islamic studies. most useless and time-wasting subject ever.
OMG ENID BLYTON FOR THE WIN!!!!!!!!! The Magic Faraway Tree … now I need to go find my books and read them all over again!
You know my sister is learning Modern Maths, Add Maths, Biology, Chemistry and Physics in English and I don’t understand a majority of it, so embarrassing. I have to keep asking her “Er, how do you say this in Malay?” >_<
Need better teachers in school, the old generation of teachers have all retired and the new generation can’t even speak proper English to begin with, how to teach it.
I teach English to Italian kids, and if you think the M’sian system is bad, you should see the kids here. Heck, 80% of the adults here can’t speak English to save their lives.
It is not just the underdeveloped countries facing this problem. A LOT more needs to be tweaked in our Msian education system. If I didnt speak English at home or loved Enid Blyton to bits, I wonder where I’d stand where English is concerned. Remember Miss Ng who used to G R I L L us with her super long list of English homework every single day?
@suanie: Its never a separate issue. Its just pandering to different audiences.
Why not teach BM for Literature and BM? I agree, in countries like Germany, Korea, Japan, China, their respective languages do help them unite, but the emphasis alone isn’t that. There’s also a role that needs to be played by cultural studies, and parents help here, too. Look at India – Hindi/English is widely spoken, but mother tongues/dialects still stay alive (no thanks to the school system). Look how competitive they are…
Singapore in my opinion is a good example to follow. Official languge: BM. Language used mostly: English (and Mandarin). Method of teaching? English. OK, you can laugh and say Singlish and all, but at least when they go elsewhere, or they are dealing with foreign counterparts, they can converse. No statements like “we have erection every 5 years”, and all.
Rote learning, I’ve heard is a problem in the Malaysian school system. As I was not a product of it, it would be unfair for me to comment, but I’ve heard the horror stories. And no, I never sat through moral studies – again, a by product of me not being part of the Malaysian school system. So my views are a bit skewed, having being schooled in Malaysia, but not with the usual system most people go through…
Learning languages is important. Learning culture is also important. But to some extent, culture needs to be cultivated at homes, not just schools.
In the globalisation era, people should be free to choose 2nd and 3rd language they like, to open themselves to various opportunities. For example, there is limited English country University seat (since lots of people choose English as the shortcut) . If one choose to learn Finnish, Swedish,German, there is more option for them than limited themselves to English.
Language suppose to be another windows to open our view. However, country like Malaysia, Singapore, English are merely a tools to riches, most people just use it, ignore its substances. English can’t make people smarter or creative, it is way of thinking that matters.
But, THINKING MIND ARE DANGEROUS to 3rd world ruling government. That’s why our country teaching method EXACTLY the same as what British colonial system 50 years ago.
It is a common trend : young open minded middle class won’t vote stale-stinky government that held obsoleted ideology.
It’s another one of those “mau tapi segan cakap” things. See, politicians generally like to narrowcast their messages (different message in different language media), and this works wonderfully for as long as different ‘communities’ read different language papers. From their point of view, the first thing that they would be forced to ‘give up’ if people converge upon English throughout the country would be the wonderful ability to say different things to different people. Is it any wonder that the command of English in the general population has deteriorated so far in the last 40 years? I knew a Malay chap – veteran teacher and MoE official, he told me that he had Form III level education before going into teacher training college (which was usual back in the 50s and 60s). Yes, his English is better than yours and mine.
I won’t talk about English, because like you said, that would be preaching to the choir. Everybody who reads this english blog knows how important it is.
However, some of your readers are confused about BM. No matter what, it is the national language. It is the heritage of this country and we cannot chuck that aside as we learn English.
To those who claim that BM has no use outside Malaysia and Indonesia – neither does German outside Germany, Greek outside Greece, Thai outside Thailand. And Latin!?! Where and who speaks Latin these days?
what is the point when u imply exam just to make the student pass and not to equip them with the tools that will help them with their future living?
scare to have low pass rate is really intolerable lor. it just like covering up your own mess with a piece of paper where all the dirt still there. shit.
For practical reasons, spoken and written communication in English is a must for dealings with most of the world.
Paper qualifications merely come second to this. Although many institutions (corporate and otherwise) do, indeed, require English academic qualifications, in the actual day-to-day business, a language certificate means nothing much. If you speak good English during the interview, chances are that some companies might not even inquire after a certificate.
Conversely, if you’re operating your own business, small time (online shop for example), or something bigger (like a store chain): such certificates mean nothing. Only your own skill in the language matters.
All in all, I would conclude that proficiency in the major languages English (foremost), Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Chinese or French is crucial to working alongside with others around you, depending on which part of the world you are in. However, learning more languages would only serve to help better your relations with others and add to your knowledge.
There! That’s my two pence on the matter.
mell: hahah i just told ryan the story of The Magic Faraway Tree. Now i have to buy the book to read him the rest of it. my mom was like, NO ENID BLYTON.. then ryan mimicked her, YAH I DONWAN ENID BLYTON… i asked my mom why? KIDS THESE DAYS WHERE GOT READ ENID BLYTON?? OUT OF DATE.. THEY READ HARRY POTTER.. me: WTF NO ENID BLYTON IS FOREVER! then i told him the stories… of the ‘people’ you meet when you climb up the tree. he’s hooked bwahhahaha
whimsicaljottings: haha but they speak in romantic italian! who cares what they say if they are whispering it into your ears.. eh? ehh???
miss ng hated me 
colin: imo singapore’s BM as the official language is a farce. sure they go all out to learn english and mandarin, but most of them can’t sing their national anthem to save their lives. or understand what it means, even. a bit like a running joke. so why have it there for internal mockery purposes? of course i’m talking about the chinese singaporeans, then again they are the majority in the country. then they should take away BM and install english as the first and official language to reflect the language’s true standing in the country.
moo_t: true. it’s not just what they have to teach, it’s how they have to teach it.
suertes: oh definitely… they had serious english lessons back then! then the authorities made exams compulsary to ‘pass’ and not how they get to ‘pass’ it. honestly speaking, still writing ‘my life as a pen’ when you are 16 is a bit stupid
vincent: don’t look at me, i agree with you
horng: oh yeah. read my earlier reply to suertes
The Envoy: true. since i submitted this blog post to the MoE and they replied back with a reference number, they will be able to read your comment
Thank you.