SUPPORT "LEARN SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS IN ENGLISH (PPSMI)"

When technology is always changing, is it logical for Malaysian government to establish a RM2 million fund to publish advanced academic books on science and technology in the Malay language?

The right thing to do is to encourage learning of science and technology in English so that we can catch up and compete with technologically advanced countries. So let us support "LEARNING SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS IN ENGLISH (PPSMI)"

Please read, take part and forward.

Please email, share and/or share this with all your friends so that we can quickly collect the numbers that we need to transform us all into a voice loud enough to be heard. Hopefully with everybody’s effort, we can make this go viral on the internet and strengthen our voice in the shortest time possible.

Dear Students, Parents and Malaysians,

MALAYSIANS APPEAL TO THE GOVERNMENT FOR THE OPTION TO LEARN SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS IN ENGLISH (RETAIN PPSMI AS AN OPTION)



You would have heard by now that the teaching and learning of Science and Mathematics in English (better known as PPSMI) will be abolished in January 2012. The Parent Action Group for Education Malaysia (PAGE) has been in the forefront to champion the cause to maintain the policy for those who wish their children to learn these two (2) subjects in its lingua franca that is English.

Here is how the abolishment of this policy is going to affect you.

For Primary School Students

You have been learning Science and Mathematics in English since Standard 1, however when you enter into Form 1, you will have to learn these subjects in Bahasa Melayu until Form 5 and do your PMR and SPM in Bahasa Melayu. After SPM, you will revert the study of these two (2) subjects back to English.

For Secondary School Students

If you are entering Form 1 in 2012, then you have been learning Science and Mathematics in English since Standard 1, however in 2012, you will have to learn these subjects in Bahasa Melayu from Form 1 until Form 5 and do your PMR and SPM in Bahasa Melayu.

If you are entering Form 4 in 2012, be prepared ... you may have to switch to Bahasa Melayu for Science and Maths after learning these subjects in English for the past 9 years, do your SPM in Bahasa Melayu and then switch back to English when you enter college or university. Yes we know this is crazy and unless you are “super-adaptable”, you will most likely be stressed out and confused. We have heard that the choice of language for Form 4 in 2012 may be determined by the Gurubesar of the different schools (???).

If you are not in Form 1 or Form 4 in 2012, there is no escape either. You WILL eventually be affected by the change when you reach Form 4.

If you have just completed your SPM in 2011, then you are in the luckiest group !!! You will be able to go straight into college and continue to do these subjects in English.

For Parents and Malaysians in General

After only a few years of implementing PPSMI and despite strong evidence that PPSMI is good for our students and Malaysia’s future generations, the Government has decided to change its mind and will abolish this policy in 2012. They think that it is best for ALL Malaysian school children NOT to learn Science and Mathematics in English. They actually believe that learning these two subjects in Bahasa Melayu is adequate and equivalent (or better) than to learn it in Englsh !!! ???

The sad truth is that despite the constant voices that they hear and read wishing for the option of PPSMI, the authorities seemed determined to proceed with the abolishment with the excuse that PPSMI will be replaced with another policy known as MBMMBI, to improve the standard of English amongst Malaysian students.

They keep missing the point (maybe on purpose) that we want PPSMI, not to improve the standard of English but rather, we want PPSMI simply because of the need to learn the subjects of Science and Mathematics in its lingua franca, that is English, for our children to be globally competitive, and for our nation to progress in the desired direction and speed.

In realising that perhaps the voices speaking out for the retention of the PPSMI policy (for those who want it) are too soft or too sporadic, PAGE Malaysia has decided to go all out on a nationwide wide and international campaign to reach out to as many Malaysian students and Malaysians wherever they are in the world, to come together as one and to build up the voice of the “silent majority” to inform the authorities that there exists a large and substantial number of Malaysian citizens (children and adults) would like to have the option for our students to learn Science and Mathematics in English.

We are not against the MBMMBI policy nor are we against the wishes of other groups who prefer to learn Science and Mathematics in Bahasa Melayu, Mandarin or Tamil.

We are simply asking to be heard and for the right to have the freedom of choice for an option to learn these two subjects in English, alongside Bahasa Melayu, Mandarin and Tamil.


Where and how to make your preference known

PAGE Malaysia has specially set up two (2) separate platforms for Students and for Parents and Malaysians to register their wishes.


Students are requested to visit : http://goo.gl/QHd42
Parents and Malaysians are requested to visit : http://goo.gl/cFSlD

1. 2012 is just a mere two (2) months away … do visit the website, complete the form today and make a difference !!!

2. Please email, like and share this with all your friends so that we can quickly collect the numbers that we need to transform us all into a voice loud enough to be heard.

3. Hopefully with everybody’s effort, we can make this go viral on the internet and strengthen our voice in the shortest time possible.


Thank you.


PAGE
Parent Action Group for Education (1266-10-WKL)
pagemalaysia@gmail.com
www.pagemalaysia.org
For Our Children. Demi Anak Kita

18 October 2011

An Ode To English Plurals

Warning:  Not to be shown to children with poor results in English or it will be used as a reason to explain why they can't do better.


From My InBox:

An Ode To English Plurals

We'll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes,

But the plural of ox becomes oxen, not oxes.

One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,

Yet the plural of moose should never be meese.

You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice,

Yet the plural of house is houses, not hice.

If the plural of man is always called men,

Why shouldn't the plural of pan be called pen?

If I speak of my foot and show you my feet,

And I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?

If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth,

Why shouldn't the plural of booth be called beeth?

Then one may be that, and three would be those,

Yet hat in the plural would never be hose,

And the plural of cat is cats, not cose.

We speak of a brother and also of brethren,

But though we say mother, we never say methren.

Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him,

But imagine the feminine: she, shis and shim!

Let's face it - English is a crazy language.

There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger;

Neither apple nor pine in pineapple.

English muffins weren't invented in England.

We take English for granted, but if we explore its paradoxes,

We find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square,

And a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing,

Grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham?

Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend.

If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?

If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught?

If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?

Sometimes I think all the folks who grew up speaking English

should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane.

In what other language do people recite at a play and play at a recital?

We ship by truck but send cargo by ship.

We have noses that run and feet that smell.

We park in a driveway and drive in a parkway.

And how can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same,

While a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?

You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language

in which your house can burn up as it burns down,

in which you fill in a form by filling it out,

and in which an alarm goes off by going on.

And in closing, if Father is Pop, how come Mother's not Mop?

-Author Unknown-

You speaking Engrish?

Talk about national pride, I know for a fact that the Japanese are very proud of their culture. My sis-in-law was there for a holiday with her family and she was surprised that employees at amusement parks like Tokyo Disneyland cannot communicate in English.

So, what is the consequences of such national pride? You get Japanese Engrish. Here are more of such grammatical mistakes when signs or notices are done through direct translation of a local language where English are not taught or considered not important to pick up.

Engrish

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: english asian)

Will Engrish be the way Malaysians write and speak in future?

Mind Your Language - For Indians

Check out these useful tips for communication with American or foreign clients by Priyanhere on SlideShare.

Useful tips for communication with client - For Indians

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: british clients)

I remember Malaysia used to be one of the top English speakers in Asia. That changed when the government started using our National Language, Bahasa, as a medium to teach after gaining our independence from the British.

In 2003, the government decided that mathematics and science should be taught in English and worked on it under a multi-million dollar four-year project run by the Malaysian government and Melbourne's Deakin University. This is to help Malaysians catch up with information technology which was not possible due to lack of vocabulary for information communication technology (ICT) terms in Bahasa.

Then the report came in; the Malay students are not performing well over the other races in Malaysia. So, now there are talks about reverting to teaching maths and science in our national language again. If my government go ahead with that decision, how do you think I will feel about it?

Let me tell you. I feel like a step-daughter in a fairy tale. My step-mother is not going to give me the best in anything. She will clip my wings so that I cannot soar higher than my step-sisters. Then when she needs expertise help, that I would otherwise have been able to provide through proper training, she would seek it globally and pay the price for it, most willingly.

My step-mother will forever dwell in this fairy tale land if she continues to believe that it is possible for all her daughters to be winners in everything they venture in. If this is true, there would be more successful people in this world, right?

So, now you know why I need to keep this copy of "Mind Your Language - For Indians" presentation. I may need a place to seek revision in English since my country has decided not to re-develop our former strength in this international language.

If you like that presentation, then like me, you should also appreciate this Business Dictionary.