Hanging Our Dirty Linen In Public

Star Q

i.  Reading Activities

ii.  Lemon Grass Chicken

iii.  Majlis Titisan Restu

The letter written by En Hassan Talib of Gombak to The Star newspaper which was published on 14th November 2013, which gave glowing remarks about the English proficiency of the youths of a neighbouring country was not the only thing that got my attention.  The statement that really grabbed me was the statement made by our Second Minister of Education who admitted that 75% of our English teachers are not fit to teach English.

I have been putting on hold about my intetions to write about this for quite some time but I fear that my patience is growing thinner by the day.  My contention is not about the fact that has been brought to light but in fact, the manner in which it was made.  It saddens me as a member of the English teachers' community to have our dirty linen hung in public by someone who should be saving out skin no less, without making us a mockery of our own public and that of the international community at large.

It is all fine and dandy that after more than fifty-six years of independence someone from the ministry has finally and intelligently come to the realization that English teachers are not fit to teach English.  I mean, what have all those people there been doing about this all this while?  Aren't you the people who set guidelines to determine who get to become English teachers?  Aren't you the people who determine the academic qualifications of people who apply to become English teachers?  And aren't you also the people who set rules and guidelines as to whom should be teaching English in schools?  Perhaps, somewhere down the line, there lies the reason why 75% of our English teachers are not fit to teach English.

One of the glaring mistakes made by these people is to accept the applications of people who are less than adequate in their English to enrol into the teaching profession.  I assume, in order to teach English to other people, the applicants should have more than adequate command of English, if not excellent.  I assume those people who applied to become English teachers would have got consistent distinctions for that subject in all their school examinations.  However, judging by all the finger-pointing that seems to be directed only towards the teachers, I can safely say that all my assumptions far from the truth!

And based on all the unfortunate series of circumstances mentioned above, I shudder to think  if we can ever stand shoulder to shoulder with the youths from our neighbouring country as far as our English proficiency is concerned.