PPSMI - I told you so

I suggested in my earlier posting that two conditions must be present for an effectively efficient and efficiently effective transfer of knowledge

1. Teacher and Learner share the common language 
2. The Knowledge has been effectively captured (originally or translated) in that common language to facilitate teaching and learning.

Apparently, the Ministry of education had done their homework and to a certain extend concur with my views. They discovered that the student performance in the two subjects (Science & Mathematics) actual decreased when PPSMI was implemented. They also discovered that "...only 5% of primary schools nationwide taught the two subjects fully in English, while less than 9% learned them in English at secondary school level." I could breath easy now that the Ministry acknowledged that "...student's improvement in understanding scientific and mathematical concepts is closely linked to the language of communication that he or she can easily understand."  Exactly my point!!

I know there are people out there that would say "ah ha! It was not implemented fully. That's the reason it has not been successful."  My response is: if it had been implemented fully, we will see that the decline would have been more drastic. Thanks to our teachers that in the spirit of wanting the children to learn, had accommodated with bi-lingual class. Yes, some would say that it's violation of "direct" order to teach the two subjects in English. But the teachers knew that the issue was not the two subjects cannot be taught in other than English BUT the issue was English Language proficiency. If the English teachers could, they would have teach the subject in BM (pretty much the same way a BM teacher had taught the subject in English due to the the language her students were comfortable with were English - this happened way back several years in an Urban Secondary school)

My suggestion to those who still want to insist on PPSMI to continue....

1. Drop the emotion, be more objective.
2. Examine your motives.

Personal Effectiveness

Personal Effectiveness: What is the meaning of personal effectiveness? What makes a person effective?

Performance by SKPU3 students - Winter Sonata

What you are about to see in the video below seems like an ordinary school performance. What you do not know is the kids performing in front of a live audience (Parents/Guardian/Teachers) were (some still) stage shy. For the last 6 years in school they had not been selected to perform in any show due to, among others, they were perceived  having low social competence - shy, introvert, "hyperactive", can't follow instructions, etc. They pleaded with their teacher (my wife) to give them the opportunity, at least once in their Primary School days to showcase their performing art talent. The deal was simple: commit to the performance or your are out. Surprisingly all showed up for practice sessions and put the "extra-mile" to ensure a successful show.

I'm just proud of these kids, coincidentally they also participated in the English Camp I facilitated. Yes, some of them did performed (or forced to performed) in front of their friends. Stage fright? yes....but they overcame it.

We can teach values in any subject?

While in Malaysia teaching of values is tasked to Moral / Islamic Study classes, across the causeway it has been incorporated in all subjects. An approach based on common sense as well as good application of learning concepts. They call it holistic approach, I prefer to call it Integrated Social Development (just like Integrated Marketing).

 

If the whole idea of Integrated Marketing is to consolidate all efforts towards marketing communication and incorporate communication elements in all business activities, then for Integrated Social Development, I suggest that the idea is to consolidate all efforts towards developing social competency by incorporating social development elements in all education activities. 

PPSMI - Last remarks

I know that PPSMI will be topic of discussion long after it become part of education history in Malaysia. People will start comparing PPSMI to MBMMBI in terms of effectiveness. Some as soon as the new policy is implemented. Some after the new policy has been given a chance to proof it self, regardless which way it goes. Therefore, I've decided to give the issue a rest for now. This would be my last post with regards to the issue, unless some interesting event happened which compel me to comment.

I read with interest the news report published in the Star Nov 10. It reported the join press conference by PAGE (Parent Action Group for Education) and JMM (Jaringan Melayu Malaysia = Malaysian Malay Network). I am not part of either group. Neither to I advocate, support, or oppose these NGOs. What attracted me to include this newsclip in this posting is the statement made by PAGE Chairman Datin Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim ".....Teaching and Learning of Science and Mathematics in English (PPSMI) is not about language proficiency but gaining knowledge on Science and Mathematics through English." In other words, it is not about Language but about Knowledge.

My comment: if it is about Knowledge acquisition, then why insists on using English as the teaching and learning medium? I wrote in my earlier posting that language of knowledge is not exclusively English but can be any given language. I agree that most critical knowledge of Science and Mathematics are readily available in English language but please do not put it in such a way that it cannot be acquire by or from other languages. 

She was also reported to said "this would enable the pupils to understand and use scientific terms in English". Ah ha! now I understand why insists on English. We want our children to use "scientific terms" in that language. But wait. Is there a need? Of course! You communicate to an English speaking audience, you need to use English terms. What if you address a non-English speaking audience like in Malaysia or in Japan or in Korea etc?

My point is: drop the argument that must use English in teaching and learning Sains & Matematik (misspelling on purpose). I say: "Seek and you will find" don't put a limit to acquiring/transferring of knowledge on language. Language is not and should not be a barrier in teaching and learning. Allow me to illustrate below.

Mr Yap is deaf so he can't understand a word you say. However, he can understand what you show him or describe to him using sign language the word you are saying. Let's say Mr Yap only know the Thai Sign Language (yes, like spoken language, there are many standards for Sign Language). It is as good as Mr Yap is a Thai speaker. Amazingly, he can still learn any subject written in any language as long as someone can describe to him in Thai Sign Language the subject to be learned. Imagine if we insist people like Mr Yap to learn using only English language, then he needs to first learn the sign language of native English country (British/American/Australian/NZ, etc). Similarly, our children can learn Science and Mathematics in Malay as long as someone can describe it in Malay. If we insist that our children can only learn Science and Mathematics in English, they must first learn English. 

By the way, do you know that most scientific terms currently used in English Language are originally from non-english? Well, that another story :)

Added Nov 12 (Saturday)

Interestingly, some is suing the government over the issue.

Social Competence - start 'em young

Interesting news. UNICEF is campaigning "Teach Respect" to your children. What's more interesting is that our children develop social competence with or without our guide. So start guiding your children's social development before they grew up with the perception that their social values, influenced by others, is correct.

At Pro Mind Resources, we are concern. Our Pro Mind Camp for school children is designed to develop social competence among school children using school subjects (English/BM/Science/Math/History/Geo) as the platform.

PPSMI - Follow up discussion

What's the issue?

Closed or not closed?

If I may borrow the famous quote from the X-files...."the truth is out there." 

The government (Education Minister) admitted that there were implementation issues surrounding PPSMI. 

When the policy was introduced, like any other government policies there were supporters and oppositions. Those supporting it said that it will help improve English among our school children. Also supporting were those who believe that English is the best language to teach and learn Science and Mathematics. On the other camp, people noted that command of English was poor among school children, let alone learning Science and Mathematics in English. Thus there were calls of discrimination i.e. the policy was favoring urban school children as well as the non-malays, under the assumption that these population had better command of English, thus would be advantaged. With strong political will (under Dr M) the policy was "bulldozed". Incentives were given to teachers who teach the subjects in English (it started with English teachers then overflowed to Science and Mathematics teachers).

As the English physicist discovered (Read my blog "PPSMI - why must we learn Science and Mathematics in English"), the best way to share their scientific discoveries was to use a common language i.e. English, teachers and students in our schools also discovered that the best way to progress through the Science and Mathematics curriculum is to use a common language.  End results, our school children still rely on their English teachers for English competence while Science and Mathematics knowledge were transferred using language comfortable to both teacher and learner (could be English, BM, Tamil, Chinese, etc). Since textbooks were printed in English, terms used were kept in English....no issue (read my blog "Is English the language of knowledge by default")

My analysis of what's happening today has a parallel the QCC cycle = Plan, Do, Check, Action (PDCA).  The Plan was to improve English language competence among our school children. The Do was to implement PPSMI. Obviously Check was done to discover the many deviation from Plan, including the fact that majority of schools had used bi-lingual in teaching and learning of Science and Mathematics. Thus the original objective  of improving English language competence is at risk. Action is to repeal PPSMI and introduce a new policy MBMMBI. In a way, this will put the original Plan back on track. On that ground, I do salute the Ministry. However, I would also suggest that the Ministry should also practice Stakeholder analysis (fishbone diagram would be useful) besides practicing PDCA. While we are at it, do also capacity and capability analysis. I'm sure what I had described is nothing new to the Ministry as the Quality Movement (QCC) was common in government offices during its peak, pretty much the same way KPI is now. Or has these productivity and quality tools has become ancients artifact to civil servants (I bet KPI will one day be). As usual, I guess, we always like to do things right but not the right thing.

PPSMI - Let students finish in English

It makes no sense at all to not allow the students currently learning Science and Mathematics in English to switch mid way. In fact I would suggest that we allow these students to continue learning the two subjects in English all the way till they graduated from College.

PPSMI - why must we learn Science and Mathematics in English

I find it interesting how parents are reacting the Government's decision to repeal PPSMI. Not that I am emotionally supporting either side but I would like to share a rationale view on why it make sense to have teaching and learning of Science and Mathematics subjects in English language (at least for now).  The first question I would like to ask is "do we have a choice of language to effectively and efficiently transfer the knowledge of Science and Mathematics other than in English language?"  Someone might point out that any language can be used to teach and learn these two subjects, and I totally agree. The fact is that these two subjects are being taught and learned in other languages besides English, for example in France, French is used; in Germany, German is used, in Japan and Korea, Japanese and Korean being used respectively. So what is the issue of using BM to teach and learn Science and Mathematics in Malaysia? It is the national language right? And all Malaysian are expected to be proficient and competent in this language. So if BM can be used to teach and learn the two subjects as it is being used to teach and learn other subjects (yes, in some schools English teachers are using BM to teach English!), so what is the PPSMI issue?

Well the question I asked was not only what language to use but what language to use to effectively and efficiently teach and learn Science and Mathematics. Granted that any language, including sign language can be used to teach and learn any subject.  However, for Science and Mathematics, the most effective and efficient language to use in Malaysian context is English. Allow me to explain by inviting you to watch the 1 min clip below (loaded from Youtube - search and you will find)

In conclusion, I would like to suggest that two conditions must be present for an effectively efficient and efficiently effective transfer of knowledge

1. Teacher and Learner share the common language (in the clip it was English rather than Latin, the "original" language for Knowledge)
2. The Knowledge has been effectively captured (originally or translated) in that common language to facilitate teaching and learning. (my Taiwanese classmates referred to textbooks translated into Mandarin while studying Engineering in an American College!).

If you would like to share your perspective on this issue, you are welcome to leave a comment under this posting or visit Pro Mind Resources on facebook for a real-time intellectual discourse.