Malaysian Teachers & Education

"Govt anxious to counter slump in test results by local students IN PERAK on the northern Peninsular Malaysia, an English teacher uses textbooks meant for seven-year-olds to teach her Form One class of students, mostly aged 13. "When I first taught them, they could not even tell the difference between 'when' and 'what'," the teacher, who wants to be known only as Yee, told The Straits Times recently. "I had to put my planned lessons aside and start with the basics." It is the type of story many English teachers in Malaysia share, but are reluctant to speak openly about because they worry about being sanctioned by the education ministry."

"This paper provides a brief overview of early education in Malaysia with focus on the issues and challenges in providing quality early education for a multiethnic society. Conflicting interests between majority and minority ethnic groups not only cause different educational outcomes and expectations for children and families but also create challenges to the government to provide quality and equality of education to all young children. Some suggestions for a framework for early education in Malaysia are discussed."

USM Penang & UBD Brunei

"Clines can be very effective in conveying and clarifying language, giving a very visual representation of meaning. They highlight shades of meaning, they are efficient and can cut down on teacher talking time. They also provide students with a good record of language to take home."

"ADHD is about having broken filters on your perception. Normal people have a sort of mental secretary that takes the 99% of irrelevant crap that crosses their mind, and simply deletes it before they become consciously aware of it. As such, their mental workspace is like a huge clean whiteboard, ready to hold and organize useful information. ADHD people... have no such luxury. Every single thing that comes in the front door gets written directly on the whiteboard in bold, underlined red letters, no matter what it is, and no matter what has to be erased in order for it to fit. As such, if we're in the middle of some particularly important mental task, and our eye should happen to light upon... a doorknob, for instance, it's like someone burst into the room, clad in pink feathers and heralded by trumpets, screaming HEY LOOK EVERYONE, IT'S A DOORKNOB! LOOK AT IT! LOOK! IT OPENS THE DOOR IF YOU TURN IT! ISN'T THAT NEAT? I WONDER HOW THAT ACTUALLY WORKS DO YOU SUPPOSE THERE'S A CAM OR WHAT? MAYBE ITS SOME KIND OF SPRING WINCH AFFAIR ALTHOUGH THAT SEEMS KIND OF UNWORKABLE. It's like living in a soft rain of post-it notes."

"For children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder who are ruled by their impulses calling out in class or pushing to the front of the line comes naturally. These kids live in the moment, undeterred by rules or consequences. Lack of impulse control may be the most difficult ADHD symptom to change. Medication can help, but kids also need clear expectations, positive incentives, and predictable consequences if they are to learn to regulate their behavior."

"The proposal to make English a compulsory pass subject in the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination could be implemented as early as 2016, Deputy Prime MInister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said Friday. Students who fail English will not receive their full certificate but will have the opportunity to re-sit the paper in July the following year, soon after the SPM results are released. Muhyiddin said in preparation for this, the Education Ministry had started training 61,000 English teachers to be more proficient in the language."

Rapper's tweet sparked debate in the Twitter-verse after his performance at 'Suara Kami' - but was he misinterpreted?

"With all its accents and dialects, the English language naturally includes variation in sound. But sometimes people just flat out mispronounce words.  Take a look at these 11 examples. We bolded the emphasized syllable and included links for audio (click the word to listen). While some words have multiple acceptable pronunciations, the audio links include the standard pronunciation. The true pronunciations might surprise you."

"One of the moons of Saturn has turned out to be another possible habitat for extraterrestrial microbes after scientists have discovered that it possesses a large ocean of water beneath its icy surface. Measurements of gravity fluctuations around Enceladus taken by Nasa's Cassini spacecraft indicate that there is an underground ocean of melted water at the moon's south pole which may be the source of dramatic vapour plumes seen at its surface."

"Feedback from local and international employers shows that verbal and written communication skills in English remain the most sought-after attribute in prospective employees. According to a recent Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) survey, it is the most important trait employers look for when recruiting graduates."

"The article describes an exploratory study to develop and conduct preliminary testing of the PFIL (perceptions toward factors influencing workplace learning among novice teachers) inventory. The 20-item inventory was tested among 90 recent graduates of one teacher training institute in Sarawak, Malaysia"

The world's largest ranking of English skills

"Malaysia has the highest English language proficiency level in the entire Asian region, according to a latest research by Swiss-based international education company EF Education First (EF)."

Malaysian Journal of ELT Research 2011

"Malaysia took top marks in an English skills test given to Asian nations, narrowly edging out Singapore, where English is one of the official national languages."

"The EF English Proficiency Index (EF EPI) is a report which attempts to rank countries by the average level of English skills amongst adults. It is the product of EF Education First, a global language training company, and draws its conclusions from data collected via English tests available for free over the internet."