I used to see her prepare many visual aids at home and I remember the piles of exercise books which she had to mark everyday. My father used to ask her why she had so much work to do outside of school. When we were bigger, we used to help her out in preparing the teaching aids, which had a lot of colorful drawings.
These days, teachers are very fortunate. They have ready-made charts to help them in their teaching. Rarely do you see teachers making their own visual aids. With the technology available these days, it is even easier to source for materials to use if the teacher is so inclined.
There has been much discussion in the newspapers about the teaching of Maths and Science using the English Language to do so. Opinions are divided. Some people want the two subjects to be taught in English while others want the mother tongue to be used. Among the reasons given is the lack of English proficiency among the teachers who have to teach these two subjects in English. Teachers slated to teach these two subjects have been sent for English proficiency courses but they are still found lacking.
The saying goes something like this: " English cannot be taught, it has to be caught."
In this context, I would like to share my experience. My siblings and I were very lucky to have our mother who insisted on speaking to us in English only so we grew up with English as our first language. We were under colonial rule then and it was a must to know English. Schools used English as the medium of instruction except for the vernacular schools which used the mother tongue.
Not only did we speak in English, but it also had to be proper English; no pidgin English was permitted. Then there were the weekly trips to the library to borrow books to read. After reading we had to summarise what we had read and what we thought of the stories. We also had a special exercise book to write down the new words and their meanings which we then had to use when we wrote compositions for our mother. She also encouraged us to write down the sentences that we found interesting and to be conscious of the style of writing.
During the weekends, our father would drive us to the beach at Morib or venture further where we could see padi (rice) fields or tin mines. At the end of each trip we had to write down what we saw, how we felt, what we did in the form of a simple composition.
This was how our mother trained us to use the language and to use it well. We did not learn any grammatical rules per se but if we made an error, she would correct us on the spot. She placed great emphasis on reading. This was how we caught the language, through reading, as by reading we got to internalise the structures and accumulated a wealth of vocabulary. Although she was very busy with her school work, she never failed to see that we did our homework plus the extra work that she set us. This was her greatest legacy to us, a good command of the English Language. In those days there was no television to distract us. There was only a small radio which was turned on only when our father got home in the evenings.
Sometimes my friends would ask me, " How do you know this is wrong? Why is it wrong?" when they made a grammatical error. I could only answer," I don't know. I only know it is wrong." Because I had internalised the structures of the language, somehow I automatically knew which was right and which was wrong.
It was only in secondary school that our teachers made us work through text books which had the grammar rules written out that I realised the language had rules and exceptions.
I can empathise with the teachers who go for week-long courses and are then expected to teach in the language. No way can they master a language within a week or even a couple of months.
However, I would like to share this with you. There was a Chinese national whom I met and I was impressed by his use of the English language. So I asked him how he managed to communicate so well when his compatriots fared badly. He said he came to Malaysia to work and he wanted to improve in using English so he would listen to the English news, read English newspapers, watch English tv programmes and speak with people in English. By regularly doing this, he improved in the language within a few months.
Thus I hope that our teachers will not be discouraged by their low English proficiency but take steps to improve by emulating this Chinese national. Do not be afraid or shy. Just use the language. By listening to others speak, you will improve as you realise your mistakes. Take steps to further your knowledge by getting a simple grammar book which can help you understand the sentence structures and how they are used
Because there is a need for teachers who look to improve their grasp of the English language, and who find the grammar books on the market difficult to understand, I have authored a guide to English grammar. The first one, inspired by my late mother, is "English Grammar, a Malaysian Student Guide" published by Sasbadi Sdn Bhd. It is a handbook for easy reference, with lots of examples which can be used by both students and teachers.
I was later asked to write a series of English grammar books with exercises for students and these are the "Casey & Penny's Guide to English", published by Pelangi. There are four books in this series, also very easy to use.
I was nudged into the teaching profession by my mother as she said that teaching is the best profession for a girl. So I followed in her footsteps and became an English teacher trained in the UK and later on headed a co-ed high school in Kota Kinabalu. Teaching had its moments of hilarity and frustrations but it is certainly a very rewarding profession when you see your students graduate and doing very well in life and they still remember you were their teacher.
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