My take on this… hopefully I won’t get arrested!
Just my (and probably a whole lot of others out there) two cents…
Teaching Science & Maths in English should never be / was never about improving English. The ones who implement the rules and execute it probably may have it all wrong all this while… anyway, that’s another story.
Reasons why I support the teaching of Science and Maths in English to be continued are:
- Ease knowledge-sharing (English is after all the international language. As much as some hate to admit it, IT IS)
- To compete with others in the field of science and mathematics (How to compete if you can’t even speak on the same level with scientists and mathematicians all over the world? To compete must have understanding, to create understanding, one of the key factors are language of communication)
If teaching Science and Maths in English is only for the sake of improving our English language, than we have definitely got it all wrong all this while.
LANGUAGE CLASSES should instead focus on this aspect - improving our standards of English/Malay/Tamil/Mandarin/etc. And of course, we must have GOOD TEACHERS.
I enjoyed all my BM and English classes back then. And it had helped me tremendously. My grammar may still suck at times but hey, at least I can carry out decent conversations, BOTH IN BM & English. And yes, it needs conscious effort to do so.
8 comments:
I agree, I definitely had good English teachers back in high school, they really helped be tremendously!
Also the desire to improve oneself is also much needed. To master a language, instruction in class alone does not suffice at all. Immersion, in the sense of listening, speaking, reading, writing and thinking in a language is the better more efficient way, definitely!
cheers =)
Music helped to improve my English. Ahaha! This two cents worth is a lot...
music definitely helped me with my english too. and bm, and bahasa indon, and japanese, and etc.
-mayz-
ISA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU RACIST!!!!!!!!!!!!!! haha... how i wish we had english in science n maths back in high school last time. anyway now they say we need to learn mandarin if we want to take advantage of global economy, so how?
Mandarin has always been the most spoken language in the world (prob 'coz we Chinese invaded the whole world.. hehe)... so, i guess we do need to at least understand the language :)
I actually supported the idea of teaching Science and Math in English but the more I thought about it, I realized it may actually do more harm than good. We definitely do not have enough qualified teachers who are proficient in English. Sending the Science and Math teachers for English-refresher course isn't going to help. Let's get real, you don't become an English speaker overnight. Furthermore, many of us turned out fine despite learning these subjects in BM. I still remember my Pengamiran, Penyahpecutan, Julat, Pembezaan, Nombor Perdana, Janjang Aritmetik, and all that stuff. They helped me a great deal throughout my uni and even work. Over time, when you could make sense of these words in English (when you finally stumble upon its English equivalent), you tend to appreciate the knowledge better.
Ok I know suddenly I feel like I'm writing a blog entry. Anyway, it's good you brought this up, Mayz, because I can't be bothered penning my thoughts on my site. I'm actually here for a reason. Are you the one holding on to Julien's 013 mobile?;p *sneaky*
Hi David. Yes, I am holding Julien's 013 mobile. He no longer handles this phone 'coz he has passed the job - handling reservations to me. Quoting him, he's 'tired' already, to entertain calls on a regular basis. Hahha.
Why, coming for Skytrex?? You can leave me a text if it's regarding reservation, work, etc. Else, e-mail me at skytrex@skytrex-adventure.com
As for the whole teaching Sc & M3 in English/BM... actually, i grew up fine too and I went through both process - learning in BM and learning in English when i was in Form 6 (definitely tough time to switch at that point of study). Actually, i think it all boils down to the attitude of the teachers AND students. If they don't seek for improvement, nothing will ever work. That's my personal opinion la.
So conclusion, we need to have good command of English AND BM. I love the fact that I can hold decent conversations in both language. We don't need bombastic words, just make the communication is effective. That's all needed :)
I'm totally against teaching of S&M in primary school. I learnt english only in primary 3 mind u lol
Mother tongue comes first. (in my case, mandarin)
Albert eistein number 2 might be loss if he had to learn his first few mathematics chapters in a foreign language lol.
I'm supportive of english in S&M in secondary school, by then most of us should have at least a certain proficiency of english language already.
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