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| Malaysia Boleh! |
All you need in some short term exposure courses and walla! Malaysia boleh!
This is apart from those that have formal training to teach English of which 70% failed miserably to perform.
Endless Possibilities!
This first person reports of the inadequacies felt by some teachers is truly frigthening.
Read on!
While
parents decry the low standard of English among teachers, some lecturers lament
that they were “cheated” by the way they were trained.
Devi,
for instance, chose to make teaching a career about eight years ago.
Her
pride in graduating as a teacher quickly disappeared after her first few weeks
in the classroom as she taught English to the students.
Devi
discovered a significant gap in ability between her and them.
“Some
speak much better English than I do, especially those from the better classes.
“It
really affected my confidence,” she recalled.
“How
can I teach these students when they know more than I do?
“I
felt let down by my education and training; I felt so unprepared,” said Devi,
who only opted to teach English while she was enrolled in her teacher training
course, and appears to have quite a good command of the language.
“It
was embarrassing at first when I mispronounced words and got my tenses wrong,
and my better students corrected me.
“Now
I look at it as a learning experience, and I just have to keep trying to
improve myself,” she said.
Another
is Zeti. With English not being her teacher training option, Zeti felt lost
when she was asked to teach the language in her school.
“I
can communicate fairly well in the language, but I’m definitely not trained to
teach it.
“A
few in-service courses here and there only helped a bit,” she pointed out.
“It’s
really frustrating to hear complaints about how bad we (teachers) are when
people don’t acknowledge the kind of challenges we face.
“I’m
good at what I was trained in, but suddenly I’m expected to be an expert in
another area overnight – how can I stay motivated?”
Meanwhile,
experienced English teacher Gina opted to undergo a masters programme at a
private university in the hopes of expanding her teaching skills.
“I
wanted to learn more about the methodology of language teaching, but I didn’t
feel like I was learning anything new. In fact, a short course I went for on my
own time had more to offer.
“But
how many teachers have the time to do this?
“It’s one thing to have a good command of
English, but teaching is a different ball-game altogether.”
