SPM English not far from Manglish
20 April 2008
Had a short talk with my church mate recently on the standard of English that is being taught in our national schools. She is an English teacher for almost 20 years and teaches the students of Form 4, 5 and 6.
She felt the bitter aftertaste of the declining standard of English, comparing it with the standards of the yesteryears. Not only that, I got the shock of my life when the Kerismuddin Ministry of Education (MOE) decided to insert graphic stimuli (just like PMR) into SPM English 1119 Examination Paper.
I refused to believe the wide spread rumors until i finally tainted my vision after viewing the book with my naked eyes.
As you know, I am actually saddened by the truth of PMR English being degraded incompetently.
Why must they insert graphic stimuli and short texts into the 1119 Examination Paper?
Haven’t they done enough to vilify the beauty of English?
It’s amusing to see how the MOE is confused at examining the students on the subject of language or Mathematics.
I strongly believe that this is not the standard the Pre-Uni undergraduates and college-bound teens should be subjected to.
Where is the benchmark?
I realised the MOE has a uncalled for tendency to question students on irrelevant issues like road signs.
Are the students taking JPJ L-license exams?
NO ENTRY again?
I thought I saw something similiar at the PMR English workbook.
Those who cannot score an ‘A’ for today’s SPM English should be prosecuted!!!!
(Read: Not literally!! The level is too easy for you to miss an “A”)
- 33 Comments »
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Posted by Grace at 10:42 pm
Categorised as Malaysia Boleh & Poli-Circus!!
April 20th, 2008 at 10:47 pm
WTF is a ‘Vista’ card..
bq. Those who cannot score an ‘A’ for SPM English should be prosecuted!!!!
Prosecuted, sent to jail and also castrated!!
April 20th, 2008 at 10:50 pm
me0wster: No idea what is Vista Card! Castrated?? Wow…. that’s so mean lah!!!
April 20th, 2008 at 11:09 pm
haha… ya seriously man… comparing to my parents time english now is like nothing at all… if la english now were to be like last time I am sure I will fail terribly already… haha…
castrate?? OMG… how about female student then.. lol:D
April 20th, 2008 at 11:32 pm
Haha! that look like Kindergarten student exercise book. What are they thinking? Imagine going to university with THAT kind of English. I have classmates who have to pay someone else to write their thesis for them because of their very poor English, and I wonder how will it be like after this.
April 21st, 2008 at 1:13 am
tim : now lets be a bit more democratic here wont we? IMHO, its not appropriate to say that those who cant score A in English should be penalized bro.
its like this. we are malaysians right? no matter if we are msian chinese we should be eloquent in BM as well, no? so should those who dont score A in BM be sunat-ed?
grace : i do honestly want to believe that the MOE is trying to put more pictures into education to increase students interest in studying. but not to this extent.
April 21st, 2008 at 8:31 am
hahaha…
wow, looks like similar standards to PMR….
*sad sad*
now we all know why…
April 21st, 2008 at 10:00 am
Samuel: Female student? Hmmm… ask Tim to suggest….
Angie: Agree with you totally….
Kev: Well, I understand ur point. But MOE is overdoing it.
Jesca: U understand my pain now?
April 21st, 2008 at 1:25 pm
wah…. like tat kind of level….. sien…. if now the students dun get A, they can go DIE liao…. sien…….
April 21st, 2008 at 7:50 pm
Pity the students in this era..they will be totally deprived of good English when they come out……..they’ll have some culture shock when they enter Universities….
April 21st, 2008 at 9:26 pm
Loong: Aiya, we sometimes also cannot expect too much from the kids nowadays. Too much pressure will kill them indirectly too. Now, I suggest education must start from home whereby parents must play a vital role in helping them with their language.
Gerald: Like what I just mentioned to Loong, as parents, we should cultivate their reading habits from young…so that reading will help them to widen their vocab and learn the correct usage of grammar through the story books and young novels.
April 21st, 2008 at 10:02 pm
grace : i dont agree with them not being able to handle pressure. its all back to upbringing. if you notice msians now, especially the chinese. see how OVER PROTECTIVE they are over their children. touch their young abit, there goes a lawyer letter so on so forth.
i mean come on. a little knock here and there wont kill the child. its vital at times that children are exposed to the harsh side, to buff them up abit. cant handle pressure and then kill themselves? study also wan die liao, then working? MAMPUS-ED.
parents out there are too bloody much. look at us, we took quite a beating when we were young and we turned out OK. what doesnt kill you only makes you stronger.
April 21st, 2008 at 10:28 pm
Kevin: Agree with u..but hey…..let’s adapt back to what’s changing in the world right now…no doubt the values stays the same..we educate them..but i believe as the world changes…the way to teach and educate our children should also change…and be relevant to their time…..and we need to be prepared that during their childhood…our ways of teaching may no longer be relevant……..it’s just the way we do it…and we shud be tactful in doing that…:) just my penny’s worth
April 21st, 2008 at 10:42 pm
i know its important to improvise, to be relevant in the ever changing world. but dont you feel that the ppl now are less firm?
April 21st, 2008 at 11:59 pm
Kevin: Well, you will be the person to hold the STERN FACE at home in future ok? I shall be the one that holds the cane??????OoPpss… Don’t call TELEDERA yah!!!
Gerald: Ephesians Chapter 6….. sigh… but kids just don’t get it these days…too pampered….
April 22nd, 2008 at 10:11 am
ok ok. fine i get the idea. i’m know when to bend when the wind blows.
if i stern face, you rotan. the child meninggal dy. grow up to be serial abuser.
April 22nd, 2008 at 6:33 pm
i agree with gerald, i think they WIll definately experience culture shock once entering private college/uni.
on another note, grace, i cant make it for retreat. This comin IA job im working is really tight.coz wasted two initial weeks,so rushin this week, and next 2 weeks.doubt can finish. so, u all go ahead and have fun k!!!!
April 22nd, 2008 at 7:51 pm
sigh……… IN CONCLUSION…….. EVERYONE need to be involved. If not.. our future children will be in DANGER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
DARN GOVERNMENTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
April 22nd, 2008 at 8:12 pm
I like the standard, simple, easy to understand, very good actually, yes its very Malay minded like, good for idiots and people who tend not to think that all they need is Bahasa cause their on top of (their own) the world.
April 22nd, 2008 at 8:33 pm
Jonathan: I totally like ur sarcasm…hehehe
April 22nd, 2008 at 9:12 pm
Kevin: As long as u know how to educate them, I am fine with it. I just wanna make sure my kids will know more vocab than me!
Jesca: It’s okay, girl. Yes yes… ask your junior junior mates, are they experiencing culture shock?
Loong: In conclusion, you need to quickly brush up your English and then you can educate your children FOR FREE! So do i here!!!
Jonazan: Well, you are darn sarcastic! I love it!!!
April 23rd, 2008 at 12:46 am
yes2leong : Why like writing penutup for karangan wan?
April 23rd, 2008 at 3:54 am
Solution: YB Tony Pua for Minister of Education, vote those racist beruks who are luckily still there out in GE13.
April 23rd, 2008 at 8:24 pm
They should be beheaded! But I got a 3B for my 1119! So maybe I should be too..
Ever heard of the New South Wales English Proficiency test? A student who would have easily score our English paper would be scratching their head over this paper. Never in my schooling life was I thought about puns and oxymoron..
April 23rd, 2008 at 8:39 pm
TokMoh: GOOD IDEA! I second that!
Vincent: 3B for 1119 is fair enough, don’t be too harsh on yourself as I myself too scored only 3B for 1119 7 years ago. Wow, that’s long ago. Now coming to college will be a culture shock for these students…especially for those who are taking IELTS and Pre-U English test.
April 23rd, 2008 at 9:27 pm
tokmoh : TONY PUA as education? i dont know man. i am still awaiting his super suggestion of being able to reduce LDP toll.
vincent : lol. been reading your cerita’s on your blog and i think you deserve a A2 not a B3. try TOEFL.
grace : aiseh. language can be polished wan. dont worry. its just a grade. its just a scale of measuring. it doesnt measure of success. one can get 14A1’s academically doesnt mean that he/she will make it in the working world.
April 23rd, 2008 at 9:30 pm
Kevin: Language can be polished when one reads a lot, and practises in writing at the same time. I doubt I have that time now.
April 23rd, 2008 at 9:49 pm
no time? MAKE TIME.
24 hours isnt enough yea. it isnt. but its how you make the most of it that counts girl.
April 23rd, 2008 at 9:54 pm
Well, provided if I don’t carry 2 jobs… why not?
April 24th, 2008 at 3:14 am
I dunno what, I actually find IELTS is still a bit too easy kot. I never studied, I always sleep in class, I go around room to room kacau people who’d study for IELTS, even dota the night before the exam!! The result? A superb 8.0, while all the people I kacau got 6.5, 7.0 like dat, wakakakakakakakak.
IELTS made me realise the power of love is stronger than the power of fear. Those people I kacau are studying cuz they’re scared to get below the minimum requirement’s score (6.5 for most courses in UK), but I simply did it cuz I love the language
. I pwn those noobs, wakakakakakakak.
But that said, IELTS perhaps should be introduced at an earlier stage in life, say, for SPM then. It’s definitely sooooooooo much higher std than SPM.
Kevin: Well……he can’t be any worse than Kerismudin, no? Oxford graduate mah……the complete opposite of the other Oxford beruk graduate.
He may debate abt the toll, bt the final verdict is in the hands of the racist beruk. Dare any Beruk Nasional MP even debate for lowering the toll? I must be drunk if I hear you say yes.
Grace: I can give you an optimistic advice: rather than complaining there’s no time, start asking yourself “how can I find time?”
April 24th, 2008 at 9:39 am
Tokmoh: Kinda agree with u.Well, i’m basically trying to find time between 2jobs and i’m logging in from my handphone via GPRS.
Again,we need to solve education problem in Msia soon
April 28th, 2008 at 5:46 pm
Grace : vote 4 Azfar in the coming elections! On a more serious note, yes things need to be done, but how? Personally, I feel that our standard of Bahasa Malaysia is even higher than the standard of English.
January 21st, 2009 at 5:47 pm
is iT easY?? i gO tuiTion wAt …..tHe teaCher saId nowaDayS the EngLish is mUch eAsIer ….
January 21st, 2009 at 10:15 pm
chiekong & vincent: English is seriously darn easy to pass in M’sia now. Close eyes also can tembak all correct lah.