Amateur Baker

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Please take a look at this article

I've seen the reports regarding this matter on the news a few days ago and I quote from our respected MM:

"Insistence on bilingualism in the early years of education policy was wrong. We started the wrong way. We insisted on 听写，默写. MADNESS! We have teachers who were teaching in completely chinese schools, and they didn't want to use any english to teach english speaking children chinese, turn them off completely!

Educators should first get the child interested in the language, by focusing on the way it is heard and spoken, this includes incoporating Drama and IT into lessons to make them more engaging
it doesn't matter what level they reach, they will like the language, it's fun, and later on in life, they'll use it"

I'm seriously NOT TRYING TO BE RUDE here, but I actually find myself disagreeing to a FULL EXTENT!! I think one of the MAJOR thing which went wrong was the EXCLUSION from the subjects compulsory for the calculation for L1R5 and the fact that Mother Tongue is NOT A MAJOR DECIDING FACTOR for our admission into universities. On the other hand, the environment and the way the current generation perceives the language also plays a significant role. In my opinion, these 3 are the very core factors why students in Singapore are showing a HORRIBLE LACK OF INTEREST IN THEIR MOTHER TONGUE!

As students, our foremost concern will ALWAYS be our grades. With the STARTLING AMOUNT of subjects and contents to study, it's no surprise that we'll always try ways and methods to lighten our workload. Hence, people will always choose to dispose subjects which holds little importance to their overall performance of their finals. Which is in our case, mother tongue. In the past, mother tongue USED TO BE one of the core subject other than English which are to be used in the calculation for one's L1R5. Since it's exclusion, Mother tongue has lost it's footing in the eyes of students causing most students to only aim for a pass in the subject. The same applies for JC, since it plays such an INSIGNIFICANT role in the admission to university, students WOULDN"T EVEN GIVE A HECK about that subject. Now, how would they be proficient in a subject which they don't even feel that there is a NEED to learn?? Don't give me the 'It's our roots & culture' CRAP. For students, the ONLY PRACTICAL REASON for us to learn anything is that if it has a DIRECT EFFECT to our grades/future. If there isn't, I'm so sorry, we just don't have the time for it. Therefore, I don't think the problem actually lies with the policy. I mean, how else are you going to learn Chinese other than 听写 and 默写. The nature of the 2 languages are far too different. The objective of 听写 and 默写 is to imprint the image of the characters into our brains. For English, you are able to spell a word just by pronouncing it as words are phonetic based. For Mandarin, there is ABSOLUTELY no way of writing a character even if you repeat the character till your larynx gives way. Therefore, 听写 and 默写 and compulsory. I do agree that traditional boring teaching methods turn students off. But we have to be fair here, is Mother tongue the only lesson that uses traditional teaching methods?? Face it, whether a subject is boring or not largely depends on the TEACHER as well!! I was very UNFORTUNATE to have BORING teachers for certain subjects during my school days. I am SURE that most of the my classmates would have to agree. We are also turned off when it comes to the subject. But we still try out best to do well for it. Why?? It all goes back to the very same reason, it plays an important role in our overall academic performance. Take maths for example. I SIMPLY LOATHE MATHS!! I would walk out of a maths examination if I could. But I can't, just solely because it's a compulsory subject in the calculation of my aggregate score and a requirement for most courses in University. Therefore, I repeat, it has ALMOST NOTHING to do with the Bilingual policy! It is how we are being made to see Mother Tongue as a subject.

The next reason why Singaporean students aren't doing well in their mother tongue is due the the surrounding environment. We as a cosmopolitan society, naturally is filled with people of different races and culture. Now, one surely can't expect us to learn all the languages in order to communicate with people of different races. Hence, a common language has to be established in order to facilitate effective communication between people of different races and English was the pick. In Singapore, English is being spoken almost everywhere, in the workplace, in schools and other institutions or organizations. Labels of commodities are also mostly printed in English. Thus, speaking English has sort of become a habit for most Singaporean due to convenience' sake . It is due to this habit that we've began speaking English to EVEN PEOPLE OF OUR OWN RACE, resulting in the negligence of our own mother tongue. This is a VICIOUS cycle. Once a person becomes TOO FREAKING COMFORTABLE in the use of English. It's only natural that his/her offspring speaks converse in English. This not only causes the younger generation to become unfamiliar with the language, on a more serious note, they might be COMPLETELY CUT OFF from the language itself other than coming to contact with it in school. In school, most students only get to use mandarin during Chinese lessons. Even so, English is still being used in private conversations during Chinese lessons! Adding the fact that the other lessons are being held in English. Kindly enlighten me, but how is one suppose to increase his/her proficiency in mandarin if they barely use it FOR EVEN AN HOUR PER DAY?!

Lastly, it is how one perceives the Chinese language which has results in a lack of interest towards the language. It isn't considered trendy if one is speaking mandarin when most are using English. To students like us, no matter how advanced or developed China is, the image of FARMS AND RURAL AREAS will always be imprinted in our minds. Together with the NEGATIVE IMPRESSION which is left by the large amount of Chinese foreign workers and the SWINDLING SYNDICATE which makes up of normally Chinese immigrants, we have grown to DESPISE CHINESE. A simple China accent is sufficient for us to give a BIG CROSS when it comes to judging people. We tend to despise these group of foreign immigrants due to how they have conducted themselves. Thus, innately, mandarin has also become a THORN, something that the current generation would try to avoid. Furthermore, CHINESE PRODUCTS may also play a part no matter how crappy you think this point is. Chinese products mostly have LOW DURABILITY AND QUALITY. I think Koh FL as a victim of Chinese multimedia product would be able to understand what I'm trying to say. Plus the latest case of melamine being found in most milk products from China has also resulted in a widespread negative publication for China. The list of pseudo products goes on and on, BLEACHING OF WHITE FUNGUS, DYING OF SALTED EGGS, REPLACING MILK POWDER WITH FLOUR etc. The moment China is mentioned, all these image shattering information just pours out endlessly. Hence, speaking Chinese would associate you with being 'cheena' and stuff, causing people to abstain themselves from the language. The western civilisation is also a very powerful influence which cause us to refrain from speaking mandarin. Western pop stars, idols, movies and stuff. Western high-end brands like Chanel, Louis Vuitton and Burberry have established themselves as producers of high quality products and goods. Well, you get the flow. I must admit that I, myself is pretty much westernised as well. At least 70% I must say, even though I don't look so. The only things that are keeping my 30% Chinese are my family, friends and the fact that I'm in love with that language the the culture, the ancient culture. However, with all the NEGATIVE PUBLICITY that China is receiving, it is almost inevitable that I sometimes find myself rejecting the idea of coming in contact with PRCs. Not that I'm being racist or stereotyping, but it's just the CONSTANT EXPOSURE I have towards all these. If I were to migrate, China would most definitely be somewhere at the bottom of my list. Therefore, the negative image that the Chinese have brought about has affected the way we perceive mandarin as a language itself.

All these 3 factors have played their roles well in making students from shunning the mandarin language. The billingual policy itself maybe flawed, but it sure isn't the major factor which contributed to the failure of itself. It is how the education system is being operated which resulted students shying from their mother tongue, the English influenced environment and the reputation of the motherland of the language which resulted in the true failure of the policy.

|Shi Hao| 1:45 PM|

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