Discussion | Teachers do the talking :)

“Kalau kita belajar Bahasa Arab pun cuma perlu ambil tempoh setahun dua saja untuk menguasainya... kenapa belajar Bahasa Inggeris selama 13 tahun tapi tak mampu kuasai?,” fakta atau auta? ahahahaha...

It's hard for me to make this blog a serious one. I rarely put my serious discussion in this blog. The last time I wrote about politics here and I have been bombarded by some friends and foes. Realizing that the responses might make me losing some friends, I stopped making any serious discussion in my blog. If I really wanna make a discussion, prompting ideas, sharing my thoughts, etc...I will straightaway write a letter to newspaper (usually the articles will come out in Berita Harian). As an English Teacher, I found that the current education ministry like to 'attack' us. The very recent statement by someone-up-there makes me trigger the light of discussion. I pasted the newspaper excerpt from the Berita Harian into my fb page and I got a lot of responses. the followings are the responses from my friends (all of them are Teachers--English teachers to be specific.)

This discussion is triggered by the article here:

Kurikulum Bahasa Inggeris dinilai semula

http://www.bharian.com.my/bharian/articles/KurikulumBahasaInggerisdinilaisemula_TPM/Article

• A : tadi kelakar, ni aku sokong: "Muhyiddin yang juga Menteri Pelajaran berkata, semakan juga perlu dibuat mengenai penugasan guru opsyen Bahasa Inggeris yang kemungkinan mengajar subjek lain di sekolah masing-masing..."
  

  
  
• Y: Cikgu2 sndri x pndai ajar n ckp eng thn cm ne stdnts leh kuasai ?
  

  
  
• A: kerana itu cikgu juga perlu terus belajar :)
  

  
  

  
  
• W:  when you teach communicative english, how do u expect a child to shine in an exam which isn't shaped according to what you have taught?
• A: I just can't understand what's the meaning of the word 'menguasai' the language? Maybe someone should also take a look at how the students 'menguasai' bahasa Malaysia after 13 years?
• W: likewise, some chinese students although scored A in BM are facing problems communicating in national secondary school.
• A: but, if they really want to change it, let it be. of course, it will take sometime for the effect to happen. whatever the new curriculum will be, we have to teach using it :-D
  

  
  
• TD: Writing in English may take short period of time to master.. But to speak fluently, it takes years of practice..
  

  
  

  
  
• A: I do agree with u, TD. it's not easy. to become a teacher (esp english teacher), 5 years is not enough. we need more than 5 years to master the language what more to teach the language to students.
  

  
  

  
  
• AM:  haha..13 tahun..kalo latih pasukan bola sepak dari kecik ni, brazil pon bleh kalah ni....
  

  
  

  
  
• SN: we don't read enough nor speak enough...'nuff said. hahah
  

  
  

  
  
• A: AM, kita tidak memandang tahun, tetapi apa yg dikuasai dengan tahap yang mereka ada. kalau 13 tahun, tp seorang yg buta huruf dapat membuat satu ayat bahasa inggeris dgn grammar yg betul, baca dgn pronunciation yg betul, itu pun kejayaan...
  

  fu: but,we do change things easier..esp in education area.hari ini tak berjaya, esok tukar buku baru lah
  

  
  
• SN: cause we focus too much on assessing the language while not letting it bloom properly. pokok pun boleh mati mcm tu. the students are not familiar with the language. they treat english not as a language that can be used but as a mere subject to be answered in quizzes and exams. that's why they're afraid to speak and read and write in english
  

  
  

  
  
• A: the thing is as simple as this--it requires us to understand a poem in a solid 2 hours class (or more)..but to make heterogeneous students understand a poem might take more than one week :) they are able to koyak-tepek da notes. but, to read is another challenge that the teacher need to overcome with.
  

  
  

  
  
• SN: true enough... kalo setakat nk suh bc on surface level with correct pronunciation pun terkapai2, cmane. ko bg poem tu kt uni students pun blm tentu they can do better at it
  A: and then, they say we are teaching small L, not big L.. define it properly la small ke big...kalau small, watpe bg poem heir conditioning tu...
  

  
  
• W: I know that answer. Bcoz it is written by d great S!
  

  
  

  
  
• A: which great S? haha
  

  
  

  
  
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  ZZ: ******** cakap melayu pun rojak lagi, dari kecik padahal belajar BM
  

  
  
• A: tu la dia, bro..13 tahun belaja bm pn masih ada student yg terkapai2 nak tulis karangan. sama2 la naikkan dua2 subjek..bukan tgk salah english je...
  
  

  SN: kalo tgk budak2 skang... malay pun xreti nak eja... tu pun jadi ue.. the heck is goin on.. it's not wrong to be creative with language but what if such spelling becomes a habit??? rusaklah bahasa
  

  
  
• A: mungkin terlalu bercita-cita tinggi. berhasrat ubah itu ini.
  

  
  

  
  
• EZ: they r just not putting themselves into the students' and teachers' shoes...they simply implement new curriculum without looking at the pros n cons.maybe it is nothing for the good students and schools. but for my students? (who are in band 6 school)....*sigh....and i have to attend more courses...oh nooooooo.....
  

  
  

  
  
• MI: mende yg ******* kata betul gak.since bro dlm sistem benda yg xkena ye smpai 13 thn blajar pun xfasih2?
  

  
  
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  A: EZ: it's hard to put em in our shoes. too cheap the price tag of our 'shoes' hahaha...
  MI: kalau nak tgk, sistem tu sendiri salah. cuma biasanya guru yang berasimilasi dengan sistem untuk memastikan kemandirian sesebuah subjek. beginilah syadie, contoh mudah...pengajaran Grammar di dalam kelas seringkali diminta guru agar tidak mengajar grammar secara isolated, maka kami mengajar secara isolated. naik menteri baru, minta ajar grammar secara isolated, naik menteri baru, minta ajar communicative english. jadi, belum sempat berkesan sesuatu, dieksperimentasikan bidang ini menjadi itu ini.
  

  
  
• MI: tu yg payah malaysia ni,bila menteri rasa lagi pandai dari pakar bahasa.semua nk tukar,konon nk letak keunikan masing2....
  

  
  p/s-seriusly dah 9 tahun aku xdengar perkataan 'kemandirian'.last aku dengar zaman darjah 6,kemandirian species.hehe
  

  
  
• A: tapi walau mcm na pun ak dan kawn2 aku ni bising di wall ni pasal apa pak menteri cakp, kami sedar kami makan gaji :) dan akan cuba mengadaptasikan segala macam genre baru yg akan dipersembahkan. kalau kami x mengajar, boikot dan sebagainya apakah nasib anak2 murid sekalian. dahulu ada program class reader (baca english books dalam kelas), sgt berkesan sbb pelajar dapat baca dan faham buku. tp da x buat da.
  

  
  

  
  
• MI: jgn la boikot bro,ko bkn keje kilang,kalau kilang paling teruk pun xkuar barang je.ko boikot xmngajar naya bebudak.=)
  

  
  

  
  
• A: aku x boikot. penat kerajaan bayar masa belajar, elaun dapat, yuran percuma...watpe nak boikot2..suarakan pendapat kan lagi best :)
  

  
  

  
  
• A: W: da Great S is a great poet indeed.
  

  
  

  
  
• W: he was poetic when he talked to u people, wasn't he?
  

  
  

  
  
• HH: ini maknanya bertambah keja untuk guru bahasa inggeris
  

  
  

  
  
• A: W: yup. he was :D grasping all the literary elements..
  

  
  

  
  
• AH: when I studied Curriculum Design few years ago, at the very early stage of my reading, I found out that " A curriculum is a political tool". Why put a politician at the first place to head a ministry of 5 millions clients? A politician always think like a politician especially the current one... What had happened to the Sekolah Wawasan? can't be implemented because the minister will lose the votes of Chinese.. What had happened to PPSMI? can't be implemented because the minister will lose the votes of Malay.... kind of funny because the teachers and the students are merely a tiny rat inside a big lab called "the politics"...
  

  
  

  
  
• W: can't help but to agree with anwar. why isn't the education minister someone who is from this field? these are decisions to form the future of malaysia.
  A: Tun Dr M tried by appointing Tan Sri Musa Mohamad as an Education Minister. however, after that some politicians said dat it's against da tradition whereby the next PM usually comes from Education Minister (one of Menteri Kanan in cabinet). so, the new tradition brought up by Tun Dr M were not agreed (i guess). if not, the following Edu Minister should be from sum1 who KNOWS, UNDERSTAND AND HAVE BEEN IN THE TEACHING FIELD for certain periods. we always heard that education is a LAB and our students are the rat-labs and Teachers are the so-called-scientist but need to follow some stupidos-rules-of-thumb instead of coming up with their own hypothesis, inferences, etc.
  "CIKGU PERLU BERSABAR..." --quote of the year for teachers!!

p/s: thanks to Facebookers who click the 'like' button on my wall. those 'Likers'  are lecturers, teachers and teachers-to-be, students and future professionals. They understand and they can see what's happening around them :)
thank you,friends for the thoughts :) we are not a bunch of teachers who just sit and relax. we are teachers who know and can differ what are the best things for our students. Today's youngsters are future leaders.

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