Pee Pee As Emm Aii

What if I'd tell you I'm on the fence for this one?



SURPRISED?

I'm all confused whether this is one of the many political struggles happening within the country in which I'd rather not comment about or is it a movement that wants whats best for others.
Well for whatever it is, PPSMI has it's pro's and cons.

MY TAKE?

In my honest opinion, PPSMI, in spite the claims of it helping students get to grips with English better, is totally FALSE.

The fact that the students are scoring their science and math subjects respectively doesn't mean that they have total control of their English.

No,no,no no no. NO, it's not that simple, for what they have mastered is science and maths, nothing more and nothing less.

In all honesty, if they plan to produce students with exceptional English speaking abilities then the thing they need to address is how did they present English education to these students and in what way could they improve the teaching system.

Frankly, I think so far it has failed, because we continue to produce if not a lot surely a healthy number of students who could write grammar error free articles but when asked to present and talk, would still be struggling to conjure up the words they would like to say.

Well not everyone is bestowed with the gift to be able speak proficiently, that is why we need to roughen up the diamonds, make em' shine.
......

PPSMI also states that a lot of the talk from some quarters students who enter matriculation or higher institutions would undergo "English Medium Shock" as not entirely true.

I'd like to think it didn't really affect any of us, but the fact that it did really disturbs me, greatly.

If we continue to assume that everyone could go through their schooling years learning in Bahasa then could quickly grasp the idea of learning their respective courses in matriculation/university level in English with new and different terms, then sooner rather than later we would find out that NOT everyone is picking up.

My stand is that they need to reassess the situation and improve an awful lot in context of the English education, in order to have students who are capable in understanding,writing and speaking proficiently in the near future.

CLUSTER Schools& Their Roles?
The cluster schools are given freedom to alter their ways, and I think its high time they do so, what with the amount of money given by the govt they should be able to produce students who are best at both sports and studies.

And they could start by rectifying the English language situation.
They should allow the teachers to reach the students and allow them to be self-motivated in order to allow the students to get better grip of English, in the speaking sense.

Teachers should instill the motivation and emphasize on how pivotal English language could be for students, open up their minds and make them realize the very fact and the harsh reality of the world today. On how English language could be the difference between getting a job or facing unemployment.

With the cluster schools setting a shining example, I'm sure the other schools would follow suit and try their very best to improve the students.

I'm not taking any sides here, but I think cluster schools do have it's' advantage since it's been given the freedom and the responsibility to produce the cream of the crops, the students who are all rounders and are able to excel in almost everything.

Which ever way they would like to go its up to the people responsible to not allow the students to be mere lab rats in their experiments. I believe that all it takes is a little patience and a sense of determination along with critical thinking to allow us to understand and implicate whats best for future generations to come.

p/s: the writer has no affiliations with any political organizations or movements. peace :)