I refer to MM Lee's recent speech about the bilingual policy in Singapore. One that has obviously captured the attention of many people around the country. Parents, Teachers, Education Officers. Ironically, perhaps the ones that is the least interested are the students themselves. I shall come back to this point again.
First a summary from the PM.
1) Parents should speak in Mandarin to their children at home.
2) "Nobody can master two languages at the same level. If you think you can, you are deceiving yourself."
3) "I get e-mail from Singaporeans in China who thank me for having insisted that they learn two languages... if they had no such foundation, they would not have made it good."
4) "Any language in the world begins with speaking and listening. We started the wrong way. We insisted on ting xie (writing words as dictated), mo xie (writing entire passages from memory). Madness! Parents spent a lot of time and money, extra tuition on their children, but (children had) no interest, they were burnt out." - ie. I screwed up.
..
I find it quite sad that this speech was even initially given in the first place by the MM. Imagine all the more senior Mother Tongue Teachers, being told that they had been under a defective policy for the past 40 years, that has only been recently resolved in 2004.
Moving on, let us look at the problem that is facing the MT policy. Our MT remains to be an essential part of our education, not only because of the potential benefits of learning the language, but also learning about our roots, and our culture. Yet, interest in the language has been dwindling in the youths as we speak. As students, we do no see the importance of the Chinese language as compared to other subjects. It is something to pass much like every other of the subjects that we took in school. English on the other hand is seen with much importance, with our environment in the whole of Singapore consisting mostly of the language. From studying other subjects, to signs on the road, even to most conversations that takes place while shopping. We recognize English as a Universal Language that is much more important than Chinese in Singapore and beyond in the future.
And nobody can ever deny that fact. Let us lay this first down, English, will probably remain as most important language in the whole world. China may be rising as a large economical power as we speak, but the ability to speak decent English will forever remain more essential than the ability to speak Chinese.
I am not denouncing Chinese saying that its an unimportant language, but English will always be more important. The ability to speak Chinese will always be helpful in our lives, no doubt about that. But we must not compromise the English standards of our students when improving their Chinese language.
Remember, this is an issue of BILINGUALISM. Not MOTHER TONGUE.
But back to the issue, as students start to put less importance onto MT, they would thus easily lose interest in the subject, especially if they are bad at the subject, or if excelling the subject requires an unreasonable amount of work. And that has been the problem with MT Teaching in the past, no doubt. As I look back today, I can still remember the times when I cringed as I had to memorize my ting xies and such.
But let us not forget something else. It Worked. Yes, as we speak, I see myself as someone bilingual, with the ability to speak in both Chinese and English to others. It was tough, but it has given me many great advantages. Coming to London, it cannot be clearer as I am able to effectively communicate with my English Roommate and Chinese hallmate. Before putting most of the blame on the system, let us remember the most important factor in the whole equation. The students.
"Oh God Forbid that he bad-mouths our precious ones!", I can hear the parents almost screaming in the background. But we have to remember that the greatest factor for anyone to learn anything is the person himself. The brain belongs to him, the tenacity to learn belongs to him. Even with the worst possible situation, as long as one can create interest within himself, rather than waiting for something to spark it in him, he can learn anything.
This is obvious, look around to so many of my friends. Whom, while scoring Fs on their Chinese in score are able to speak and write fluent Japanese. Students should not be waiting for interest, they should be looking for the spark themselves as well.
Nevertheless, that is no excuse for an imperfect policy. And it should be improved to help the students as much as possible in their bid to master the subject, or at least gain an ability to converse in it. Go ahead, introduce more creative methods of teaching, change the methods of assessment, teach listening and conversational skills first. But remember that in the end, the learner is still the student.
...
Since I'm on the subject of Education, I might as well talk about something else I read on research. Read This, quite an interesting post.
And sad to say, mostly true. But let me make one of my opinion clear.
Good Grades Are Important.
Give whatever excuses, and whatever evidence you want. The ability to get good grades might not be a sign of a capable child, but the inability to get good grades, will never be a sign of a capable child. I do not neglect the fact that there is more to education than simply good grades, but I am sick and tired of all the writings I've read, emphasizing that grades are not everything and using Bill Gates as an example.
First things first, Bill Gates did drop out from university. But he dropped out from HARVARD. Harvard University. He scored 1590 out of 1600 on SAT to get in. He didn't drop out because he failed a test. He dropped out so that he could start his own computer software company with Paul Allen. If anything, he was a genius who aced practically everything.
Nevertheless, back to the topic, we should never forget what exams can tell us about the individual. For one, he has the intellectual capacity to score well in it. It is not essential to being a capable man, but I'll wait for the one to deny that it helps.
A Lot.
Also, even if one does not have all the intellect to score well, most of the people who do, are actually those who work hard. We made fun of them back when we were kids, calling them muggers and such, for mugging so much on their textbooks. You can argue that it only leads to pure memorization, with the lack of creativity. But I see it differently.
It cultivates the diligence of the youth, which frankly, is something that is missing from most of us nowadays. In the future, between a creative man with no diligence and a diligent man with reduced creativity. The latter will be the one employed in most companies. Creativity is nothing if not diligently expressed.
Long post. Should stop. Hope to have tickled your brain.
First a summary from the PM.
1) Parents should speak in Mandarin to their children at home.
2) "Nobody can master two languages at the same level. If you think you can, you are deceiving yourself."
3) "I get e-mail from Singaporeans in China who thank me for having insisted that they learn two languages... if they had no such foundation, they would not have made it good."
4) "Any language in the world begins with speaking and listening. We started the wrong way. We insisted on ting xie (writing words as dictated), mo xie (writing entire passages from memory). Madness! Parents spent a lot of time and money, extra tuition on their children, but (children had) no interest, they were burnt out." - ie. I screwed up.
..
I find it quite sad that this speech was even initially given in the first place by the MM. Imagine all the more senior Mother Tongue Teachers, being told that they had been under a defective policy for the past 40 years, that has only been recently resolved in 2004.
Moving on, let us look at the problem that is facing the MT policy. Our MT remains to be an essential part of our education, not only because of the potential benefits of learning the language, but also learning about our roots, and our culture. Yet, interest in the language has been dwindling in the youths as we speak. As students, we do no see the importance of the Chinese language as compared to other subjects. It is something to pass much like every other of the subjects that we took in school. English on the other hand is seen with much importance, with our environment in the whole of Singapore consisting mostly of the language. From studying other subjects, to signs on the road, even to most conversations that takes place while shopping. We recognize English as a Universal Language that is much more important than Chinese in Singapore and beyond in the future.
And nobody can ever deny that fact. Let us lay this first down, English, will probably remain as most important language in the whole world. China may be rising as a large economical power as we speak, but the ability to speak decent English will forever remain more essential than the ability to speak Chinese.
I am not denouncing Chinese saying that its an unimportant language, but English will always be more important. The ability to speak Chinese will always be helpful in our lives, no doubt about that. But we must not compromise the English standards of our students when improving their Chinese language.
Remember, this is an issue of BILINGUALISM. Not MOTHER TONGUE.
But back to the issue, as students start to put less importance onto MT, they would thus easily lose interest in the subject, especially if they are bad at the subject, or if excelling the subject requires an unreasonable amount of work. And that has been the problem with MT Teaching in the past, no doubt. As I look back today, I can still remember the times when I cringed as I had to memorize my ting xies and such.
But let us not forget something else. It Worked. Yes, as we speak, I see myself as someone bilingual, with the ability to speak in both Chinese and English to others. It was tough, but it has given me many great advantages. Coming to London, it cannot be clearer as I am able to effectively communicate with my English Roommate and Chinese hallmate. Before putting most of the blame on the system, let us remember the most important factor in the whole equation. The students.
"Oh God Forbid that he bad-mouths our precious ones!", I can hear the parents almost screaming in the background. But we have to remember that the greatest factor for anyone to learn anything is the person himself. The brain belongs to him, the tenacity to learn belongs to him. Even with the worst possible situation, as long as one can create interest within himself, rather than waiting for something to spark it in him, he can learn anything.
This is obvious, look around to so many of my friends. Whom, while scoring Fs on their Chinese in score are able to speak and write fluent Japanese. Students should not be waiting for interest, they should be looking for the spark themselves as well.
Nevertheless, that is no excuse for an imperfect policy. And it should be improved to help the students as much as possible in their bid to master the subject, or at least gain an ability to converse in it. Go ahead, introduce more creative methods of teaching, change the methods of assessment, teach listening and conversational skills first. But remember that in the end, the learner is still the student.
...
Since I'm on the subject of Education, I might as well talk about something else I read on research. Read This, quite an interesting post.
And sad to say, mostly true. But let me make one of my opinion clear.
Good Grades Are Important.
Give whatever excuses, and whatever evidence you want. The ability to get good grades might not be a sign of a capable child, but the inability to get good grades, will never be a sign of a capable child. I do not neglect the fact that there is more to education than simply good grades, but I am sick and tired of all the writings I've read, emphasizing that grades are not everything and using Bill Gates as an example.
First things first, Bill Gates did drop out from university. But he dropped out from HARVARD. Harvard University. He scored 1590 out of 1600 on SAT to get in. He didn't drop out because he failed a test. He dropped out so that he could start his own computer software company with Paul Allen. If anything, he was a genius who aced practically everything.
Nevertheless, back to the topic, we should never forget what exams can tell us about the individual. For one, he has the intellectual capacity to score well in it. It is not essential to being a capable man, but I'll wait for the one to deny that it helps.
A Lot.
Also, even if one does not have all the intellect to score well, most of the people who do, are actually those who work hard. We made fun of them back when we were kids, calling them muggers and such, for mugging so much on their textbooks. You can argue that it only leads to pure memorization, with the lack of creativity. But I see it differently.
It cultivates the diligence of the youth, which frankly, is something that is missing from most of us nowadays. In the future, between a creative man with no diligence and a diligent man with reduced creativity. The latter will be the one employed in most companies. Creativity is nothing if not diligently expressed.
Long post. Should stop. Hope to have tickled your brain.
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