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FRANCE’S lower house approved a plan recently to introduce more courses in English at universities despite critics alleging it will undermine efforts to promote French.

A majority of lawmakers in the National Assembly in Paris, approved the second article of a bill on higher education in a show-of-hands vote. The full bill is expected to be approved in the assembly soon.

Higher Education Minister Genevieve Fioraso (pic) hailed the adoption of the measure as a step forward for French education.

“I am delighted that we did this, after all these discussions. The way this (debate) was going was going seemed like we were turning inward.”

The vote followed heated debate with lawmakers from the main right-wing opposition UMP saying the measure threatened France’s identity. “A people that speak a foreign language more and more, loses its identity piece by piece,” said opposition lawmaker Jacques Myard.

But Socialist lawmaker Thierry Mandon called the controversy “a storm in a teacup” and accused opponents of having “a phobia of foreign students”.

The measure, which would also introduce lessons in languages other than English, aims to increase the number of foreign students at universities from 12% to 15% by 2020.

Critics say it will harm efforts to protect the French language, while supporters argue it will improve the employability of French youth and the attractiveness of the country’s universities.

But several leading unions in the education sector have said the proposal is unacceptable.

Hundreds of teachers took to the streets recently, to show their opposition.

Read more @ http://thestar.com.my/education/story.asp?file=/2013/6/9/education/13204653&sec=education

THERE have been calls for the Government to allow the use of English as a medium of instruction in schools again. As there are Chinese and Tamil primary schools alongside national schools, Malaysians should have the freedom for another option. Presently, English as a medium of instruction is already available but only in private and international schools. Only a small percentage of Malaysians can afford to go to such schools.

I HAD my early education at a Chinese primary school in Bidor, Perak. Upon completing my Standard Six examination in the school, I moved on to the Government English Secondary School in Tapah, where I completed a year of Remove Class before going on to Form One.

I had my upper secondary education at Ipoh’s St Michael’s Institution (SMK St Michael Ipoh) and then pursued my tertiary studies at Universiti Sains Malaysia and later at Universiti Malaya.

I taught Mathematics and Physics in secondary schools for many years before being promoted to school prinicpal. I have now retired

Since I was in a Chinese school during my primary school years, I wasn’t at all good in the English language

However, in Remove Class, I knew that I had to brush up on the language if I were to move up and do well in my studies.

To improve my English, one of the first things I did as a teen, was to keep a diary to record the daily happenings in my life.

My daily jottings also included my thoughts on events and activities both at school and at home.

We used to live in a shophouse. My father used its front portion to run his his Chinese medicine shop. There was a counter from where he conducted his business and surrounding it, were shelves of medicine that we referred to as the “medicine house” in Chinese.

We also had a “money room” but contrary to what most people might think, we did not stash bundles of cash and coins there. In fact, it was a cubicle at the back of our shophouse where my father would count the day’s takings, keep his books and carry out some administrative tasks.

by Liong Kam Chong,

Read more @ http://thestar.com.my/education/story.asp?file=/2013/6/9/education/13199788&sec=education

BEING a proud “product” of an English-medium school, I am all for the recent call by various quarters to reintroduce English as the medium of instruction in schools.

We have paid a heavy price for not giving the language the priority it deserves over the last four decades, and the results are for all to see — the terrible decline in our written and spoken English.

It is pointless blaming the authorities concerned for the damage done, but the way forward is to bring back the language into our school system in a big way.

After all, English has always been and will continue to be the global language.

I am now in my 70s, and those of my generation not only speak the language well, but know its worth as a universal language of business and communication.

I am not ashamed to say that the language is so much a part of my system that I even dream in English!

While there should be no questions raised about Bahasa Malaysia being the foremost language in our beloved country, I am of the view that emphasis on English at both primary and secondary schools, should have been done years ago.

Many Malaysians who went through the local school system up to the late 70s, have a good command of English. They are the envy of foreigners and younger Malaysians, impressed with the confidence and ease with which they speak the language. However, over the years we have slowly “lost grasp” of the language.

Read more @ http://thestar.com.my/education/story.asp?file=/2013/6/2/education/13170369&sec=education

Going one grade at a time, most English-medium primary schools in the country had changed to Malay-medium schools by 1975, while the conversion for the secondary level was completed by 1983. Schools in Sabah and Sarawak meanwhile, only started the conversion process in the mid-1970s.

Teachers from English-medium schools were offered courses in Bahasa Malaysia to cope with the conversion, but not all could manage the sudden switch in policy. Some even opted to become English teachers despite lacking the specific training to teach the language.

There was still a significant divide between the changing English-medium schools and other schools.

A “DropOut Study” carried out in 1973 concluded that most of the children of the poor attended vernacular schools while parents from wealthier and urban areas were more likely to send their children to English-medium schools.

Read more @ http://thestar.com.my/education/story.asp?file=/2013/6/2/education/13185500&sec=education

THE major education review in this period was the Rahman Talib Report in 1961, which was incorporated into the Education Act of 1961.

The report called for all publicly financed secondary schools to only use either Malay or English as the medium of instruction.

While Malay-medium secondary schools were free, English-medium secondary schools required tuition fees.

Both English and Malay were required in examinations to enter secondary schools as well as for post-secondary education.

The Chinese and Tamil languages were to be taught as separate subjects if required, and remove classes were introduced for students who were entering secondary schools from vernacular primary schools.

Chinese secondary schools meanwhile, had to change to either Malay or English as the medium of instruction, or risk losing public financial assistance.

By the mid-1960s, then Education Minister Abdul Rahman Ya’akub initiated a programme to convert the medium of instruction to Bahasa Malaysia. The race riots of May 13, 1969 further accelerated this idea.

In July 1969, as Malaysians were still coming to terms with the events of May 13, the Education Minister announced that English would cease to be the medium of instruction in any school from 1970 onwards.

Read more @ http://thestar.com.my/education/story.asp?file=/2013/6/2/education/13185495&sec=education

AFTER World War II, educational opportunities increased with the setting up of more English-medium and Malay-medium schools.

However, there was still a significant urban-rural divide in terms of access to English-medium schools and reports at the time noted a relatively low level of support for Malay-medium schools, especially in rural areas.

The first step taken by the colonial government to establish a national education system was with the Barnes Report in 1951.

The report called for all primary schools to be bilingual, using both English and Bahasa Malaysia, and students would go on to English-medium secondary schools after six years of free primary schooling.

This drew strong opposition from some quarters as it was felt that non-Malay vernacular education was completely sidelined; Chinese educationists endorsed the Fenn-Wu Report, which advocated a trilingual system using Bahasa Melayu, English and Chinese.

As the country geared for Independence, the Razak Report in 1956 sought to lay the foundation for a national education system with nation-building aspirations.

It proposed two types of primary schools based on the main medium of instruction; “standard schools” which used Bahasa Melayu, and “standard-type” schools which used either English, Chinese or Tamil. The report also proposed a new “assimilated national type” secondary school for all with English as the medium of instruction.

Read more @ http://thestar.com.my/education/story.asp?file=/2013/6/2/education/13185486&sec=education

Sweet memories: An old photograph showing the class of 1957 in a Johor Baru Convent school.

AFTER setting up the first English-medium school in Penang in 1816, it was the Christian missionaries who were responsible for establishing Western-style schools in Malaysia.

At the turn of the 20th century, following the success of the mission schools, the British colonial government also decided to establish English-medium schools.

Like the mission schools, most of these English-medium government schools were located in urban areas. As such, while those in English schools may have enjoyed a healthy mix of students of all races, this option was limited largely to an elite group of well-off urbanities.

For the bulk of the country, schooling was sharply divided by racial lines, with Malays, Chinese and Indians mostly attending their respective vernacular schools.

Although the colonial government also set up Malay vernacular primary schools around the same time, these were clearly not of equal quality.

One paragraph found in an official British document, routinely quoted in academic research on the era, neatly captures the government’s attitude towards vernacular Malay education at the time: “to improve the bulk of the people, and to make the son of the fisherman or peasant a more intelligent fisherman or peasant than his father had been, as a man whose education will enable him to understand how his lot in life fits in with the scheme of life around him”.

Aside from a limited number of Chinese medium secondary schools, most secondary and tertiary education available used English as the medium of instruction.

Besides the limited opportunity for social mobility through education for pupils from vernacular primary schools, there was a wide gap in terms of gender differences as very few girls completed schooling at the primary school level.

Those from English-medium schools had a much better chance of gaining civil service positions or entering into commerce and business fields.

by Priya Kulasagaran.

Read more @ http://thestar.com.my/education/story.asp?file=/2013/6/2/education/13185637&sec=education

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia has been identified as one of the eight primary locations in Asia for investors to expand international schools.

ISC Research, a company which tracks glo-bal international schools market, said the Malaysian market was set to grow rapidly due to the Government’s removal of restrictions of Malaysians attending international schools and its plans to develop the education sector.

“In the Malaysia Report, ISC Research identified 112 international schools for the country, which saw an increase from just 26 schools in 2000.

“Premium schools are particularly popular, with a third reporting that they have waiting lists. This creates exceptional investment opportunity for new and expanding schools,” said ISC.

In 2009, there were 67 international schools in Malaysia, educating almost 23,000 students. Today, the number stands at 112 international schools teaching 43,000 children.

Among the locations are Kuala Lumpur (24 schools), Petaling Jaya (eight schools) and Johor Baru (seven).

Read more @ http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2013/6/2/nation/13188359&sec=nation

I AM pleased that there are many Malaysians who like me, think that bringing back English-medium schools is a step in the right direction.

In his column last Sunday, The Star’s executive director and group chief editor Datuk Seri Wong Chun Wai had said that the Government should use English as the medium of instruction in schools again.

If Chinese and Tamil schools have been allowed to exist, perhaps having English-medium schools isn’t a bad idea as racial integration may stand a better chance with the universal language.

I consider myself a “victim” of the nation’s education system. I was proud to attain a distinction in Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) English, in 1990. However, it didn’t do me much good. I was not proficient, wasn’t able to communicate well, and struggled in the early years of my career.

It was only through my own effort and determination over time, that I progressed in reading, writing and speaking the language.

I often ask myself why I was “not good” at English despite attaining an “A” in those early years.

The answer, I’m sure lies mainly in the fact that we, as students, were not taught the fundamentals such as the rules of grammar, intonation and pronunciation, which are important when one is learning the language.

The absence of teaching and learning such essential language components at both primary and seconday school, is perhaps one of the many reasons why students like me failed to grasp English.

In fact, if we continue at the rate we are going, I think there will not be much improvement in government schools.

Those who are at an advantage would be those in private schools, where the subject is given more emphasis, or those who speak the language at home.

I must also point out that children in government schools are segregated and hardly mingle with their peers from other backgrounds and culture.

by Eddy Bong, Kuching, Sarawak.

Read more @http://thestar.com.my/education/story.asp?file=/2013/5/26/education/13136524&sec=education

ROYAL SUPPORT: English – medium schools can serve as alternative for parents.

JOHOR BARU: RAJA Zarith Sofiah Sultan Idris Shah yesterday gave her support for the setting up of English-medium schools.

The consort of the sultan of Johor said she would be all for it if the Education Ministry were to approve the idea.

“Having an English-medium school will serve as an alternative for parents who want their children to be proficient in English.”

She said this after opening the 22nd International Conference of the Malaysian English Language Teaching Association (Melta).

Raja Zarith Sofiah is the royal patron of the programme. She cited her own experience when she went to England to study after completing her education at the Datin Khadijah national-type primary school in Kuala Kangsar.

“For me, it was not much of a problem because in the 1970s, all school subjects were taught in English. My younger sister, however, found it challenging to cope when she went to England, because during her time, all the subjects were taught in the national language.”

Raja Zarith Sofiah Sultan Idris Shah (right) handing over the Hyacinth Gaudart English Language Teacher Award to Wan Hanim Mohamed Noor at the Melta conference in Johor Baru yesterday. Pic by Zulkarnain Ahmad Tajuddin

by Chuah Bee Kim.

Read more @: All for use of English in schools – General – New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/nation/general/all-for-use-of-english-in-schools-1.288808?cache=03D163D03edding-pred-1.1176%2F%3FpFpentwage63Dp%3A%2Fhe3D03Dn63Frea-