NST Online: Topnews
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| Price control scheme to deter unscrupulous traders Posted: 13 Aug 2011 08:18 PM PDT SEBUYAU: Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob is to identify about 20 goods under the Aidilfitri festive season price control scheme he will launch on Tuesday. Deputy Minister Datuk Rohani Karim said today the scheme would deter
Bernama. The ministry launches the festive season price control scheme during the
Rohani, who is the MP for Batang Lupar, had earlier handed out "duit raya" (Aidilfitri cash donations) of about RM15,000 from Bank Rakyat's business tithes
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| Posted: 13 Aug 2011 06:33 PM PDT 2011/08/14 Questions have been raised about the weakness in the English language among Perhaps we should ask some American Fulbright scholars who are raising the bar in English among secondary school students in Malaysia.
b>KUALA TERENGGANU: Strictly speaking, the 17 American Fulbright scholars posted in Terengganu secondary schools as English Teaching Assistants(ETA) are not qualified teachers. The New Sunday Times went into their classrooms to observe them in action and discovered that, instead of sophisticated pedagogical approaches, the ETAs have been successful without even a syllabus. So what is the secret of their success?
The textbook and learning by rote normally used in our schools are replaced by discussions and games. However, after the first few students spoke, the others saw that the American really wanted to hear their opinion and before long, everyone was clamouring for a chance to voice his or her opinion. Taylor-Watson made no bones about his lack of teaching qualification. "Although I don't have any teaching experience and proper training as a teacher, I am trying hard to make learning the language a fun experience." He said the students' communication skills had improved a lot since he started eight months ago. The students concur with him. SMAAZA Form Two student Muhammad Naim Fadhilah Kamaruddin, 14, said he understood Taylor-Watson's lessons well. "He speaks in simple English to help us understand," he said, adding that the games helped him improve his writing skills. Nurul Anisah Mohd Zaki, 14, said the fun way the language was taught made everyone want to take part in class activities. "The charades game that we played in class today improved our vocabulary as a friend was given an English word and we had to guess what the word was from his actions." Local teacher Anita Chik said the students' grasp of the language had improved by leaps and bounds. "The teaching techniques used by Taylor-Watson are really effective as my students' English exam results have improved since he came here," At Sekolah Menengah Agama Khairiah (SMAK) Lynn El Harake, 23, took the same approach. "I am focusing more on their ability to speak and listen in English as the other teachers are focusing on the students' writing skills. "In my opinion, the students generally can write well but they are lacking in their ability to listen and speak in English," she said. To make the lessons fun, El Harake staged a fashion show in June, showcasing Islamic fashion that was modelled by her students, to an audience including students from other schools. "It is a mutual learning experience because the ETAs are also learning new things from the students." SMAK student Nor Mardhiyyah Azman, 15, said she felt no pressure at all in El Harake's class. "If the discussion topic is too difficult for us, she will change it to an easier topic. We are also at ease as we can always speak our mind in class," she added. The pressure, or rather the lack of it, could also be a factor in the ETAs' ability to capture the students' interest as local teachers have to keep to a tight schedule to finish the syllabus. The local teachers' race against time was noticed by Nabihah Mohamed Hanafi, 15, who said it was probably the reason why local English teachers could not emulate El Harake's style of making the lessons more exciting. "The other teachers will usually read from the textbooks and base the lessons on textbook chapters. They also teach at a faster pace as they need to finish the syllabus by the end of the year," she said. The difference in focus between local teachers and the ETAs, as El Harake pointed out, could be the key to unlocking the secret of the Fulbright scholar programme's success. About 40km away, SM Tengku Ampuan Intan (SMTAI) ETA Blair Daly, has taken the lessons out of the classroom and into the playing field. Rather than restricting English to the classroom, the 25-year-old has made it into a living language to be used in the students' daily activities. Daly sent out his students as cub reporters to find out the origin of their village names. He was inspired by the "Places" column in the New Sunday Times and told his students to follow its format in writing the stories about their villages. "To make it more fun, I made it into a competition so that the best stories would be put up in the school hall during English week," he said. His effort was given a boost by the New Sunday Times when the winning story was published in the "Places" column. "The students were very happy to see their names and stories in print. It made them feel like real reporters." He got his students to push the envelope by taking them through a journey of discovery. SMTAI students have never had a baseball team before but under Daly's guidance, the school now has one and they even went neck and neck with last year's district champions, emerging as first runner-up. "Although we came in at second place, the students are very proud. They were the underdogs by a huge margin," he said. At first glance, their second place medal was the only thing that the students got from playing baseball but in reality, they achieved something far more precious -- the whole team communicated in English with Daly throughout their entire baseball adventure. The ETAs' "back to basics" approach in teaching the language shows that English is best learnt when students use it to communicate in daily life. |
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