ENGLISH TEACHERS' NETWORK

Fun: English is Hilarious / Brilliant

2012-02-17T20:25:00.000+08:00

English-absolutely hilarious/brilliant!

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 there 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 itsparadoxes,
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 oneamend?
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 speakingEnglish

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.???

Inspiring Poem: If I Had A Life To Live Again by Erma Bombeck

2012-02-06T16:09:00.002+08:00

Dear Readers,

Erma Bombeck is a great, down-to-earth poet who is able to express life in a commonsense, practical and humourous manner.

She is one of the much-loved American poet who had sadly passed away.

Here's a beautiful, read aloud poem for our reflection and enjoyment.

We could share with fellow educators and students about what's important and what's essential in life.

Do not let what's urgent take away what's important in lfe!

Rodney Tan
----------------------------------------------

If I had my life to live again

by Erma Bombeck (Written after she found out she was dying from cancer.)

I would have gone to bed when I was sick instead of pretending the earth would go into a holding pattern if I weren't there for the day.

I would have burned the pink candle sculpted like a rose before it melted in storage.

I would have talked less and listened more.

I would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was stained, or the sofa faded.

I would have eaten the popcorn in the 'good' living room and worried much less about the dirt when someone wanted to light a fire in the fireplace.

I would have taken the time to listen to my grandfather ramble about his youth.

I would never have insisted the car windows be rolled up on a summer day because my hair had just been teased and sprayed.

I would have sat on the lawn with my children and not worried about grass stains.

I would have cried and laughed less while watching television-and more while watching life.

I would never have bought anything just because it was practical, wouldn't show soil, or was guaranteed to last a lifetime.

Instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy, I'd have cherished every moment and realized that the wonderment growing inside me was the only chance in life to assist God in a miracle.

When my kids kissed me impetuously, I would never have said, "Later. Now go get washed up for dinner."

There would have been more "I love you's.". More "I'm sorry's" ...But mostly, given another shot at life, I would seize every minute... look at it and really see it ... live it...and never give it back.

Stop sweating the small stuff. Don't worry about who doesn't like you, who has more, or who's doing what.

Instead, let's cherish the relationships we have with those who Do love us.

Let's think about what God HAS blessed us with. And what we are doing each day to promote ourselves mentally, physically, emotionally, as well as spiritually.

Life is too short to let it pass you by. We only have one shot at this and then it's gone. I hope you all have a blessed day.

In memory of Erma Bombeck who lost her fight with cancer.

News: Professor Dispels Myths Around Teaching English (TEFL)

2012-02-06T15:41:00.000+08:00

Professordispels myths around teaching English

Using several methods simultaneously can be counterproductive for studentslearning it as a foreign language, research shows

By Iman Sherif, Staff Reporter
Published: 00:00 February 5, 2012

Image Credit: Courtesy: Zayed University

Dr Jase Mousa Inaty, assistant professor of Educational Psychology at ZayedUniversity (ZU), has been studying the challenges of teaching English as asecond languge to native Arabic speakers. She recently wrote a book ‘TheImpact of Spoken English on Learning English as a Foreign Language’.

Globalisation and the need to interact with various cultures means peoplehave to learn how to communicate in different languages these days.

However, becoming proficient in a second language is a challenge thatrequires commitment and a lot of practice and not everyone learns at the samespeed and through the same process.

Dr Jase Mousa Inaty, Assistant Professor of Educational Psychology at ZayedUniversity (ZU), has been studying this problem here in the UAE. Her recentstudy was focused on native speakers of Arabic, mainly ZU students, who were inthe process of learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL).

Her research has led to the publishing of a book titled The Impact ofSpoken English on Learning English as a Foreign Language.

Dr Inaty found that learning was not the same for everyone in the study.Some were better learners than others and some learned one skill better thananother. The level of proficiency was dependent on the person's ability tocomprehend, retain and use information.

"Teaching methods vary but, in general, we learn using one or acombination of these major skills: listening, speaking, writing andreading."

However, using more than one mode can be detrimental to learning, says DrInaty. According to her research, the human brain is limited in its capacity toprocess information, and learners, whether Emirati or otherwise, have the samehuman cognitive architecture with a limited working memory and an unlimitedlong-term memory.

"The human cognitive architecture indicates a working memory that islimited in both capacity and duration. When EFL materials are presented in waysthat exceed working memory capacity, the learning may be hindered. Thesehindrances may come from a split-attention effect or even more so a redundancyeffect, which was the case in my research."

An area of her studies focused on students' learning ability when teachinglistening skills using a traditional method of presenting written materialsimultaneously with auditory material.

"The thinking is that our students would benefit more since they areboth listening and reading the materials at the same time. My research hasshown that at least under some circumstances, students will learn best whenonly one mode of learning [eg reading only] is presented," she said.

Her research shows that teachers should recognise pupils' abilities andcautions them not to overload their students with material.

"The condition is that when a vast amount of material or informationis being presented simultaneously, it should not contain identical information.Otherwise, the learner is wasting his/her working memory space on two thingsthat contain identical information — which in turn may not enhancecomprehension," she said.

‘Cognitive underload'

"Her studies of Emirati students show that the majority of learnersare not using most of that working memory space that is available to them. Shecalls it "cognitive underload".

A possible cause is that students are not being provided with material richenough to maintain their interest in learning.

"We need to provide stimulating and rich learning experiences for ourhuman cognitive architecture to reach its potential and flourish. Teachers cando this by selecting and designing materials that are motivating, interestingand relevant to students," she concluded.

Source: http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/education/professor-dispels-myths-around-teaching-english-1.975882

Happy Chinese Lunar New Year of the Dragon 2012

2012-01-24T02:39:00.002+08:00

Dear All,

Here's another collection of pictures which was downloaded from my Facebook and from friends' referrals.

Enjoy!

Rodney Tan
------------------------------------------------

My children received this unique moveable action angpow (red packet with money). It's a Doraemon themed angpow where the two pictures will move when pulled. The circular Doraemon will turn clockwise while the smaller figure will move towards the right. The money will be in the envelope when you have pulled the right handle out. Cool!

This angpow was distributed by a Member of Parliament to promote her party and her constituency.

Chinese Character : loong meaning dragon

Chinese Lion Dance

Traditional Chinese New Year Meal

Old Style Hutong Chinese New Year Celebration

CNY Lanterns

Chinese Opera

Traditional Chinese Music - pipa

Traditional Lion Dance

Traditional Yee Sang dish (Cantonese)

CNY Lights at the Kek Lok Si Temple in Penang

CNY Lights in Penang

Humour: Lexophile

2012-01-24T00:06:00.000+08:00

Dear All,

Enjoy this play with words!

Rodney Tan

P.S. Can you create or think of any other sentences.
---------------------------------------------------

Lexophiles

1. A bicycle can't stand alone; it is two tired.

2. A will is a dead giveaway.

3. Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.

4. A backward poet writes inverse.

5. A chicken crossing the road:poultry in motion.

6. When a clock is hungry it goes back four seconds.

7. The guy who fell onto an upholstery machine was fully recovered.

8. You are stuck with your debt if you can't budge it.

9. He broke into song because he couldn't find the key.

10. A calendar's days are numbered.

11. A boiled egg is hard to beat.

12. He had a photographic memory whichwas never developed.

13. The short fortune teller whoescaped from prison: a small medium at large.

14. Those who get too big for theirbritches will be exposed in the end.

15. When you've seen one shoppingcenter you've seen a mall.

16. If you jump off a Paris bridge, youare in Seine.

17. When she saw her first strands of grayhair, she thought she'd dye.

18. Santa's helpers are subordinateclauses.

19. Acupuncture: a jab well done.

20. Marathon runners with bad shoessuffer the agony of de feet.

21. The roundest knight at kingArthur's round table was Sir Cumference. He acquired his

size from too much pi.

22. I thought I saw an eye doctor on anAlaskan island, but it turned out to be an optical

Aleutian.

23. She was only a whiskey maker, buthe loved her still.

24. A rubber band pistol wasconfiscated from algebra class because it was a weapon of

math disruption.

25. No matter how much you push theenvelope, it'll still be stationery.

26. A dog gave birth to puppies nearthe road and was cited for littering.

27 Two silk worms had a race. Theyended up in a tie.

28. A hole has been found in the nudistcamp wall. The police are looking into it.

29. Atheism is a non-prophetorganization.

30. I wondered why the baseball keptgetting bigger. Then it hit me.

31. A sign on the lawn at a drug rehabcenter said: 'Keep off the Grass.'

32. A small boy swallowed some coinsand went to the hospital. When hismother

telephoned to ask how he was, anurse said, 'No change yet.'

33. The soldier who survived mustardgas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran.

34. Don't join dangerous cults:practice safe sects.

Views: Why Are SMart People Usually Ugly?

2012-01-16T15:32:00.000+08:00

By Daniel Engber | Posted Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2012, at 6:52 PM ET

Slate.com

Why Are Smart People Usually Ugly?

An answer to the Explainer's 2011 Question of the Year.

Jean-Paul Sartre and Socrates were known for their brains and not their looks—at least not the good kind.

Illlustration by Charlie Powell.

It's been a few weeks since we posted the questions that the Explainer was either unwilling or unable to answer in 2011. Among this year's batch of imponderables were inquiries like, Are the blind sleepy all the time? and Does anyone ever get a sex change back? We asked our readers to pick the question that most deserved an answer in the Explainer column. Some 10,000 of you were able to register a vote, and the winning question is presented below. But first, the runners-up:

In third place, with 6.6 percent of the total votes, a bit of speculative evolutionary biology: Let's say that a meteor never hits the earth, and dinosaurs continue evolving over all the years human beings have grown into what we are today. What would they be like?

In second place, with 7.5 percent, an inquiry into pharmacokinetics: Why does it take 45 minutes for the pharmacy to get your prescription ready—even when no one else is waiting?

And in first place, with the support of 9.4 percent of our readers, the winner by a landslide and Explainer Question of the Year for 2011:

Why are smart people usually ugly? I get this isn't always the case, but there does seem to be a correlation. Attractiveness doesn't predict intelligence (not all ugly people are smart), but it seems like intelligence can be a good predictor for attractiveness (smart people are usually on the ugly side). Keep in mind, I have nothing against people who are really brilliant, I've just always wondered.

The answer: They’re not.

Oh, how the Explainer loves a false premise. When it comes time to assemble the year-end list, he'll always give extra credit to questions that are predicated on blatant untruths. In 2010, for example, someone wanted to know why athletes never sneeze. In 2009, a reader asked, Why is it always funny to put something on your head as a pretend hat? But this year's winning question isn't merely ill-posed; it gets the truth exactly backward.

The idea that an ugly face might hide a subtle mind has attracted scientific inquiries for many years. At first, scientists wanted to know whether it was possible to read someone's intelligence from the shape of his face. In 1918, a researcher in Ohio showed a dozen photographic portraits of well-dressed children to a group of physicians and teachers, and asked the adults to rank the kids from smartest to dumbest. A couple of years later, a Pittsburgh psychologist ran a similar experiment using headshots of 69 employees from a department store. In both studies, seemingly naive guesses were compared to actual test scores to see if they were ever accurate.*

Many such studies followed, and with consistent results: You can learn something about how smart someone is just by looking at a picture. But scientists couldn't figure out where that information might have been hiding in the photographs. The Ohio researcher said that some of his subjects were "greatly influenced by the pleasant appearance or smile, but for some the smile denotes intelligence and for others it denotes feeble-mindedness." The author of the follow-up in Pittsburgh wondered if the secret of intelligence might not be lurking in "the lustre of the eye."

While some researchers pondered this question, a Columbia University psychologist named Edward Thorndike made another, related discovery. In 1920, Thorndike published his theory of the "halo effect," according to which subjects, when asked to describe someone's various qualities, tend to "[suffuse] ratings of special features with a halo belonging to the individual as a whole." If they were describing the person's physique, for example, along with his bearing, intelligence, and tact, they would assign high or low ratings across the board. Later studies confirmed that the halo effect could arise from a simple photograph: If someone looks handsome, people tend to assume that he's smarter, more sociable, and better-adjusted, too.

Now there were two findings: First, scientists knew that it was possible to gauge someone's intelligence just by sizing him up; second, they knew that people tend to assume that beauty and brains go together. So they asked the next question: Could it be that good-looking people really are more intelligent?

Here the data were less clear, but several reviews of the literature have concluded that there is indeed a small, positive relationship between beauty and brains. Most recently, the evolutionary psychologist Satoshi Kanazawa pulled huge datasets from two sources—the National Child Development Study in the United Kingdom (including 17,000 people born in 1958), and the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health in the United States (including 21,000 people born around 1980)—both of which included ratings of physical attractiveness and scores on standard intelligence tests. When Kanazawa analyzed the numbers, he found the two were related: In the U.K., for example, attractive children have an additional 12.4 points of IQ, on average. The relationship held even when he controlled for family background, race, and body size.

From this, Kanazawa concluded that the famous halo effect is not a cognitive illusion, as so many academics had assumed, but rather an accurate reading of the world: We assume that beautiful people are smart, he argues, because they are.

The story does have some caveats and complications. First, a few other studies have come up with different results. A recent look at yearbook photos from a Wisconsin high school in 1957 found no link between IQ and attractiveness among the boys, but a positive correlation for the girls. Another researcher, Leslie Zebrowitz of Brandeis University, noticed that the looks-smarts relationship applies only to the ugly side of the spectrum. It's not that beautiful people are especially smart, she says, so much as that ugly people are especially dumb. Then there's the fact of Kanazawa's having gotten into trouble last spring for asserting—using the same dataset and similar methods to those described above—that African-American women are objectively "far less attractive" than whites, Asians, or Native Americans. (He later acknowledged some flaws in his analysis.)

So, getting back to the original question, the bulk of the evidence suggests that smart people are not "usually ugly." In fact, the opposite seems to be true: Either smart people are more beautiful than average, or dumb people are more ugly (or both). And while no facial features within the normal range could ever be that useful as a predictor of intelligence, people can perform better than you’d expect from random chance using nothing more than a head shot.

All of which leaves one great, unanswered question. If smart people tend to be good-looking, that might explain the halo effect. But what led our questioner to get things backward and assume that smart people were ugly? And why are there so many like-minded others, asking the same question—or its inverse—around the Internet? (Here's one, and one more.) Aren't we all familiar with the archetypical nerd, who is both ugly and smart? At the opposite end, what about all those beautiful, airheaded women and beefy, brainless men we see on television? Could the person who wrote in with the 2011 Question of the Year be succumbing to a bias that hasn't yet been documented in the lab—a sort of halo effect in reverse, a "horns effect," perhaps?

French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, 1957 STF/AFP/Getty Images.

Ugly geniuses aren't uncommon in history, of course, and while these anecdotes tell us nothing about the population as a whole, the memory of people who were famously hideous and brilliant might have an outsize influence on our judgments. Jean-Paul Sartre, for example, was short, bespectacled, and wall-eyed. ("I cannot even decide whether [my face] is handsome or ugly," says one of his characters in Nausea. "I think it is ugly because I have been told so.") Ancient sources tell us that the great philosopher Socrates had thinning hair, flared nostrils, widely-spaced eyes, a thick neck, slobby shoulders, and a pot belly. Ludwig van Beethoven was ugly and smelled bad; Abraham Lincoln's face struck the poet Walt Whitman as being "so awful ugly it becomes beautiful."

In addition, Kanazawa points out that a closer look at the data reveals an interesting fact: The very ugliest people in his dataset are dumber on average, but they also tend to be the most diverse when it comes to intelligence. That means that if you're at the low end of the spectrum for looks, you're more likely than anyone else to be at one extreme end for IQ (either very dumb or very smart). If that's the case, then it might provide another reason why Sartre and Socrates types stick out in our minds. We know (consciously or not) that ugly people tend to be a little dim; but at the same time, there are more brilliant brutes running around than we might expect.

For his part, Kanazawa rejects the notion of the horns effect—he doesn't believe the smart-and-ugly stereotype exists at all. (Indeed, it has never been shown in the lab.) Instead, he says, we may be assuming that smart people are nerdy, and that nerdy people tend to lack social skills. Since people with social skills are attractive, there could be an indirect link between at least one kind of "attractiveness" and intelligence. But if you're looking at pure "beauty," as measured by rating photographs or measured facial features, then intelligence and looks go hand-in-hand.

Bonus Explainer: Why might intelligence and looks go hand-in-hand? There are a few different theories. First, it might be that some common genetic factor produces both smarts and beauty. Or maybe there's a combination of genes that make people both dumb and ugly. Kanazawa thinks it's the former, arguing that intelligent men have tended to rise to the top of the social hierarchy and select beautiful women as their mates. Their offspring, contra George Bernard Shaw's supposed quip, would have had both traits together.

Another theory holds that certain environmental factors in the womb or just after birth can produce both facial disfigurements and cognitive impairments on one side, or facial symmetry and high intelligence on the other. A third suggests that attractive children are treated better, and receive more attention from their caretakers and teachers, which helps to nurture a sharper mind. It's also possible that smart people are better able to take care of themselves and their looks.

Explainer thanks Satoshi Kanazawa of the London School of Economics, Joshua Knobe of Yale University, Alina Simone, author of You Must Go and Win, and Leslie Zebrowitz of Brandeis University.

* * *

Good news: After years of hiding out in the Explainatorium like a banished superhero, answering submitted questions from deep inside the fortress, the Explainer has decided to soar out into the world, pen in hand, to spread peace and understanding among the column's faithful.

And so we present a new, occasional feature on Slate: the Explainer House Call. Do you have a family disagreement over some fact or pseudo-fact? Are you stuck in an endless argument with an annoying co-worker or a friend? Have your attempts to Google your way out of it only pushed you both into the filter bubbles of the Internet? Worry no more: The Explainer will be your arbiter and your savior, an avenging angel of argument, slinging thunderbolts of pure reason and drenching your squabbles in the heavy rain of explanation.

How does one qualify for this personal Explainer service? To get a house call, and have the Explainer resolve your special beef in Slate, you must first gain the support of your peers. What factual matter has been driving you and your friend/spouse/coworker bonkers in recent weeks? Post a short summary on or with the hashtag #ExplainerHouseCall. Then we'll ask the members of Explainer Nation to vote for the dispute that's most deserving of the Explainer's attention. (Winners: Please note that the Explainer will not actually visit your house.)

Correction, Jan. 12, 2012: The original overstated the magnitude of the results of the Ohio and Pittsburgh studies.

Source: http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/explainer/2012/01/are_smart_people_ugly_the_explainer_s_2011_question_of_the_year_.html

MUET 2011 - Views & Reply

2011-12-31T15:19:00.000+08:00

There was an interesting letter to the Editor of The STAR concerning what was perceived as changes in the frequency and the raised fees for the MUET exams & the deterioriating standard of marking.

Here's the letter below and the accompanying reply by the MOE of Malaysia for your information.

Rodney Tan

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunday December 18, 2011

Don’t make a mockery of MUET

AS A newly-retired English language teacherwho has taught MUET ( Malaysia University English Test) classes for more than adecade, I have always subscribed to the view that decisions taken abouteducational matters should always be guided by the best interests of thestudents and not sacrificed on the altar of financial gains.

Thus when I recently learnt that the testwould be conducted three times next year — March, July and November — and theregistration fee raised from RM60 to RM100, I am compelled to offer my views onmany of the issues affecting the MUET classes.

To begin with, logic will dictate that manyschool candidates will now choose to sit for the test in March to secure a goodBand score as fast as possible (which is what many Lower Six students are goingto do ), failing which they can then choose to sit for the exam in July andNovember to secure higher scores and in the process, swell the coffers of theMalaysian Examinations Council (MEC).

And that is what administering the MUETthree times a year will bring about — making a mockery of the whole purpose ofintroducing MUET in the first place.

So now, instead of the recommended 80 hoursof MUET sessions, many schools will have to make do with less than 35 hours.Leaving aside the question on whether such a move is practical or wise theissue should be: What good will such a plan bring about when students areallowed to sit for their MUET exam so soon? Clearly, a case of the left handnot knowing what the right hand is doing.

Unhappy situation

As matters now stand, the students arebeing given the option to sit for the MUET in May instead of November creatingan unhappy situation whereby after the test, MUET teachers have a hard timegetting students to stay engaged in their MUET lessons. In previous years, tokeep my English classes going after the MUET in May, I would teach my studentsPhonetics and Business Communication, among other things. However there werestudents who upon receiving their MUET results in July, were not keen to followthe MUET lessons, especially if they had secured Bands 5 and 4. This in effectmeant that I only had to teach the group of students who registered to resittheir MUET exam in November. With Lower Six students now allowed to sit fortheir MUET exam in March, students would be left to their own devices once theexams are over.

They would most likely use their MUETperiods to revise their other STPM subjects.

And such unfortunate circumstances haveconspired to make MUET teachers the butt of jokes and resentment in schools forallegedly getting paid for having such a “good” time in school, no thanks tothe flexible MUET dates.

Having taught MUET classes for so manyyears, I must say the standards of marking and grading MUET papers havesomewhat become inconsistent over the years.

In the early years of MUET, only two orthree students would manage to secure a Band 5. Then, after some years, justlike the grade inflation plaguing SPM subjects, almost half the students in thebetter MUET classes were able to secure Band 5. In fact, even average studentswere able to obtain a Band 4! And it is surprising to find that students whofared so poorly in their written English have still managed to secure a lowBand 5 for the test.

The fact is that when students are able towork out most of the answers for the Reading Comprehension paper which carries45% of the overall aggregate scores (under the old test specifications) and domoderately well in the speaking and listening components, which together carry30% of the aggregate scores, it is still possible for them to secure a low Band5 even if they barely pass the writing component which constitutes 25 % of theaggregate scores.

Thus, when MUET is not perceived as areliable measure of the candidates’ English language proficiency, it has becomelargely optional, if considered at all, in applying for admission in localprivate colleges with “twinning” courses with their overseas counterparts whichallocate little importance to it.

When students head to Singapore for theirtertiary education, they are made to sit for the English Qualifying Test, evenif they have secured a high Band 5 in MUET. This is not surprising as manyapplicants can’t even write a few sentences without grammatical errors!

It is a sad reflection of how the standardof English has deteriorated in schools these days.

Poor standards

Below is an example of an an opinionwritten by a student on whether modern advertising is a bad influence ontoday’s youth.

“… nowadays, when we swift on thetelevisyens, most of the time is for advertised the advertisement. When theywatching the TV programme, the children are also watching together by them.….Some of the business people are using a women body to advertised theirproduct …”

Let me also point out that fine tuning thewriting component by replacing Question 1, which was formerly a summaryquestion with a question on the interpretation of data will not do any good asMUET teachers do no have the luxury of time to put their charges through anintensive course to polish up the latter’s grammar and vocabulary skills. Topersist with the current writing paper is akin to putting the cart before thehorse.

It would also be wise if the MEC takes notethat since Question 1 in the writing component now involves statistics, somecalculations and analysis of data, maintaining the 1½ hours for the paper ishardly sufficient.

Candidates will face severe timeconstraints in tackling the writing paper and only with constant practice canthey hope to do well in the paper. Upper Six students will be hard-pressed todo well if they are allowed to take their MUET exams so early in March. Theselection of examiners for MUET’s speaking component is another issue thatneeds to be urgently addressed. It is puzzling why so many competent MUETteachers are sidelined when it comes to appointing examiners for this componentwhile those not at all involved in teaching MUET classes are selected.

Let me cite an example of a team leader whowas not a MUET teacher overruling his junior co-examiner who was a MUETteacher, by assessing a candidate who spoke excellent English and performedimpressively for both the individual presentation and group discussion task aBand 4, when it was obvious that the candidate was clearly of Band 5 or Band 6calibre. The rationale? The team leader, dogmatically claimed that they shouldavoid giving candidates a high band score for speaking as far as possible, asinstructed by their superiors!

This undesirable state of affairs is playedout in some STPM subjects as well. It brings to mind what a Maths teacherinvolved in marking STPM exam scripts said about one of his co-markers who wasa Chemistry graduate, and not a bona fide Maths teacher.

The latter had refused to accept a candidate’sMaths answer because the candidate had used another approach. The examiner, whowas apparently more at home with Chemistry, chose to blindly follow what was inthe marking scheme and penalised the poor student for securing the answer usinga formula that differed from the one in the marking scheme!

Such instances are reasons why it iscrucial to ensure that only competent and experienced examiners who areteaching the respective subjects be given the task of marking public exampapers which determine the academic future and career prospects of thecandidates.

Anything short of that will not only affectthe credibility of the marked papers, but also victimise some candidatesthrough no fault of their own.

The rationale given for the introduction ofMUET in 1999 was that undergraduates in local universities were wasting theirtime learning basic grammar, and therefore MUET was introduced to address thelow English proficiency of students before pursuing higher education.

If that is the case, the present MUETgeneral test specifications and MUET format do not address the poor grammar andvocabulary skills of many of the candidates. And things won’t get better withthe early registration for the test when candidates simply do not havesufficient and sustained MUET lessons to improve their low language proficiencyin English.

Grammar skills

There is a dire need to test grammar toensure candidates take pains to improve their grammar and vocabulary skills andbe aware of the common failings displayed in their written English. Grammar isan integral part of effective academic writing.

Thus, developing a better understanding ofhow individual words and groups of words work to form coherent sentences andparagraphs to construct academic texts will be useful. With knowledge born outof hard classroom experience, it is my contention that instead of the MUETgeneral test specifications and exam, Form Six students are better off if theyare given a well-crafted English course conducted by committed teachers toprepare them for entry to tertiary education. They can then be made to sit fora rigorous common English entrance examination for admission into publicuniversities.

It is about time the MEC carried out asurvey to find out if the present coursework and MUET serves to achieve theoriginal aims. The council should not be too concerned with raising fees toswell its coffers. The MUET exam must surely be a means towards an end and, notan end by itself.

HENRY SOON

Via e-mail

RESPONSE TO NEWSPAPER REPORT

Ministryof Education (MOE) would like to refer to an article by Henry Soon published inSunday Star dated 18 December 2011 on the issue of – Don’t make a mockeryof MUET.

TheMalaysian University English Test (MUET) is an English language proficiencytest designed to measure the English language ability of students wishing topursue first degree studies in local institutions of public learning. WithMUET, English is taught at Sixth Form or pre-university level to equip studentswith the appropriate level of proficiency in English to enable them to performeffectively in their academic pursuits at tertiary level.

TheMalaysian Examinations Council (MEC) fully agrees with Mr Henry Soon’s opinionthat decisions on educational matters should be in the best interests ofstudents. MUET will be conducted three times a year beginning 2012, in March,July and November. This policy is made after receiving numerous requests fromstudents who intend to take MUET and after an in-depth study of itsimplications.

Atpresent, candidates who take the Mid-Year MUET face problems in their appealsfor intake into institutions of higher learning. The closing date for suchappeals is end of June whilst the results for Mid-Year MUET are released inJuly. With MUET being offered three times a year, candidates who take the MarchMUET are able to obtain their MUET results prior to the closing date forappeals.

Atpresent too, MUET dates clash with the examination schedules, new studentintake and semester holidays of various institutions of higher learning. Hence,providing an additional test will offer better alternatives to students fromthese institutions to select the MUET session that best suit their needs.

Offeringthree exams a year too, allow more opportunities for candidates to improvetheir MUET score. They do not need to wait 6 months before taking the nextMUET. This benefits school candidates, private candidates, and also universitystudents who require a stipulated minimum MUET band to qualify for entrance orgraduate from university. Private candidates who work in the private or publicsector too have a better choice of MUET sessions as some take the MUET forpromotional purposes.

Contraryto Mr Soon’s claim, the decision to include an additional MUET session in ouryearly schedule was never made for “financial gains”. The additional session infact will put more demands on MEC’s operational, administrative and financialresources, but having the best interests of our clients in mind, we believe thatthe benefits to our clients and nation far outweigh the additional costsincurred. In an era where institutions of higher learning are opening upopportunities for flexible entry and exit points for tertiary education, theadditional MUET session will provide flexibility and enhance student mobilityin line with national and international development.

Onthe issue of school candidates sitting for MUET in March, students not beingkeen to stay engaged in MUET lessons after taking the MUET early and MUETteachers being the butt of jokes and resentment due to the flexible MUET dates,this is a school administrative matter. It is stipulated clearly in a circularto schools and also in the MUET Test Specifications (page 9) that “the MUETprogramme should involve 240 hours of teaching time spanning three schoolterms. Instruction should be carried out for 8 periods a week at 40 minutes perperiod.” If schools do not comply with this and students feel they are preparedto take the test earlier, it is beyond the jurisdiction of the MEC. We are,however, confident that school administrators and MUET teachers will have thenecessary expertise and creativity to manage the teaching-learning process intheir schools. Instead of viewing the additional MUET session as a burden, webelieve schools will make full use of the flexibility offered for the benefitof their students.

Withregards to the issue of students scoring Band 5, well, like Mr Henry Soonstated, they are students from “the better MUET classes.” With stringentmarking and a standardized set of scoring criteria, only the proficient canattain Band 5. So far, and again contrary to Mr Soon’s claim of a “gradeinflation”, national records show that only 1% out of 85000 candidates havemanaged to obtain Band 5.

Studentswho apply to universities in the United Kingdom, United States or Singapore arerequired to sit for the IELTS, TOEFL or qualifying tests because that is theentrance requirement of such institutions.

Question1 of the MUET writing paper has been changed from summary writing to reportwriting as this skill is more reflective of academic writing in universities,that is writing reports that incorporate the skills of analyzing andsynthesizing ideas based on data given. Candidates are not required to carryout any calculations. The example of a piece of writing given on “modernadvertising” is not based on any previous MUET question or script.

Onthe issue of teachers not having enough time to teach grammar and vocabularyand the MUET Test Specifications not addressing the students’ poor grasp ofgrammar and vocabulary, please refer again to the recommended number of hoursof teaching time as stated in the Test Specifications.

MUETteachers are selected to be MUET examiners based on their qualifications inEnglish or TESL. Some MUET teachers do not choose to be examiners, hence to geta larger pool of examiners, MEC has to appoint teachers who teach Forms Four orFive. MUET teachers have done well and are very committed in preparing theirstudents for the MUET and the examiners too have responsibly marked the MUETscripts. Examiners for Speaking and Writing have to sit for a proficiency testand are given training on marking besides attending marking coordinationmeetings. It should be pointed out that MUET is a criterion-referenced test,i.e. there is a set of established criteria or standard of performance for eachband. If a candidate has met the criteria set for a high band, there are noreservations in awarding the candidate the mark or band he or she deserves. Aspointed out earlier, the issue of “grade inflation” (or ‘deflation’ in thiscase) does not arise in MUET – candidates get what they deserve according to aset of established criteria.

MUETfees have to be raised from RM60.00 to RM100.00 due to the rising costs ofadministering the test. MEC, in fact has been bearing the extra costs incurredwhich are not covered by the previous fee of RM60.00. MEC carried out acomprehensive study taking into consideration the views of students, teachers,lecturers, examiners, institutions of higher learning and State EducationDepartments before reviewing and implementing the MUET Test Specifications,administrative procedures and costing.

Finally,we would like to assure Mr Henry Soon and members of the public that as anexamination body, MEC has always strived for continual improvement. We adhereto internationally established practices of assessment in ensuring the validityand reliability of MUET which includes among others, training of examiners,close analysis of test performance, benchmarking with and correlational studiesagainst international tests, and constant communications with our stakeholders,including feedback from students, teachers, examiners, universities and expertsin the field. Our close monitoring of MUET shows that it is a reliable measureof candidates’ proficiency in English in relation to their readiness fortertiary education.

CORPORATECOMMUNICATION UNIT

MINISTRYOF EDUCATION MALAYSIA

Source: http://bpa.bernama.com/details.php?id=2534b

Video: Words As Image

2011-12-03T18:13:00.001+08:00

Dear All,

The video below is just a brilliant representation of a creative concept.

Its main premise is words can be treated as images.

A book by the same title is out in the market.

Enjoy!

Rodney Tan Chai Whatt

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Inspirational Video: Poem - Knock, Knock

2011-11-24T09:43:00.001+08:00

Dear All,

The video that I've uploaded below is a poem recitation that was done passionately & powerfully. You can sense the energy and clear message that the man is trying to say.

One message from this poem is that we teachers can make a difference in people's lives.

Enjoy & share it with other teachers and students.

Rodney Tan Chai Whatt

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Inspirational Teacher: The Ron Clark Story

2011-11-13T23:46:00.001+08:00

Dear All,

Ron Clark is an unusual teacher with a passion and a mission to educate his students to love studying and to excel in their academic achievements.

This award-winning educator had been invited to the White House and appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show.

His achievements were recognised and he was awarded the Walt Disney Teacher of the Year.

He has travelled to schools and 49 districts in the USA, and also internationally.

An inspiring movie entitled "The Ron Clark Story" was made about him and it can be viewed in parts on YouTube.

He has written 2 New York Times bestseller entitled : "The Essential 55" and "The Excellent 11: tips about how to motivate, inspire and educate children".

Ron Clark had set up the Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta, Georgia in the USA. This school was primarily for fee paying student but most of them are actually on scholarship. But the main aim this special school was set up was to teach teachers his unorthodox methods that seems to be paying dividends in terms of the students love for learning and their above average academic and co-curricular achievements.

Below is the video from the CNN about this extraordinary teacher, his unusual methods and the school he had built in Atlanta.

Be inspired teachers as I have!

Rodney Tan
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Inspirational Story: Treat People Right & Hope That They Will Treat You Right

2011-11-11T14:30:00.001+08:00

Dear Readers,

Its heartwarming to know that one simple action can change the mind, heart and life of a person who had intended to steal.

Here's a true story about a social worker, Julio Diaz who practiced a principle espoused by Jesus of Nazareth. If someone were to strike you on the left cheek, you will give him your right cheek (Matthew 5:39). He gave not only his wallet but he also offered his coat as well so that the robber could keep himself warm. The result of this unusual encounter between a thief and his victim was just amazing.

Something to ponder about in our own lives.

Have a life-changing day!

Rodney Tan Chai Whatt

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Inspirational Story

Posted on January 28,2011

Julio Diaz has a dailyroutine. Every night, the 31-year-old social worker ends his hour-long subwaycommute to the Bronx one stop early, just so he can eat at his favorite diner.

But one night lastmonth, as Diaz stepped off the No. 6 train and onto a nearly empty platform,his evening took an unexpected turn.

He was walking towardthe stairs when a teenage boy approached and pulled out a knife.

“He wants my money, soI just gave him my wallet and told him, ‘Here you go,’” Diaz says.

As the teen began towalk away, Diaz told him, “Hey, wait a minute. You forgot something. If you’regoing to be robbing people for the rest of the night, you might as well take mycoat to keep you warm.”

The would-be robberlooked at his would-be victim, “like what’s going on here?” Diaz says. “Heasked me, ‘Why are you doing this?’”

Diaz replied: “Ifyou’re willing to risk your freedom for a few dollars, then I guess you mustreally need the money. I mean, all I wanted to do was get dinner and if youreally want to join me … hey, you’re more than welcome.

“You know, I just feltmaybe he really needs help,” Diaz says.

Diaz says he and theteen went into the diner and sat in a booth.

“The manager comes by,the dishwashers come by, the waiters come by to say hi,” Diaz says. “The kidwas like, ‘You know everybody here. Do you own this place?’”

“No, I just eat here alot,” Diaz says he told the teen. “He says, ‘But you’re even nice to thedishwasher.’”

Diaz replied, “Well,haven’t you been taught you should be nice to everybody?”

“Yea, but I didn’tthink people actually behaved that way,” the teen said.

Diaz asked him what hewanted out of life. “He just had almost a sad face,” Diaz says.

The teen couldn’tanswer Diaz — or he didn’t want to.

When the bill arrived,Diaz told the teen, “Look, I guess you’re going to have to pay for this bill‘cause you have my money and I can’t pay for this. So if you give me my walletback, I’ll gladly treat you.”

The teen “didn’t eventhink about it” and returned the wallet, Diaz says. “I gave him $20 … I figuremaybe it’ll help him. I don’t know.”

Diaz says he asked forsomething in return — the teen’s knife — “and he gave it to me.”

Afterward, when Diaztold his mother what happened, she said, “You’re the type of kid that ifsomeone asked you for the time, you gave them your watch.”

“I figure, you know,if you treat people right, you can only hope that they treat you right. It’s assimple as it gets in this complicated world.”

This is amazing.. Its kinda epic & life changing! ♥

Source: http://findsomecourage.tumblr.com/post/2968477702/julio-diaz-has-a-daily-routine-every-night-the

News: Dual Language for Science, Maths Still Allowed

2011-10-22T13:50:00.000+08:00

The Star Online > Parliament

Friday October 21, 2011

Dual language for Science, Maths still allowed

THE subjects of Science and Mathematics, except for Year One, can be taught in English or Bahasa Malaysia based on the capability of each school, said the Education Ministry.

Its deputy minister Datuk Dr Puad Zarkashi said the teaching and learning process as well as official examinations could still be conducted in both languages for those in the Teaching of Science and Maths in English (PPSMI) cohort.

“However, following the soft approach of the Upholding the Malay Language and Strengthening the Command of English (MBMMBI) policy, the bilingual option will be removed gradually and will be replaced with Bahasa Malaysia only,” he told Che Uda Che Nik (PAS-Sik).

Che Uda had asked the ministry to state whether dual language options would still be available during national examinations.

Dr Puad said the process was only applicable to the PPSMI cohort beginning from last year.

“This is to help teachers and student to adapt with the transition and to reduce any teaching and learning problems,” he added.

He also noted that Science and Mathematics subjects for Year One in the 2011 cohort had begun to be taught in Bahasa Malaysia in line with the Curriculum Standard for Primary School (KSSR).

Source: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/10/21/parliament/9740948&sec=parliament

Old Photos: ACS Malacca 2

2011-10-08T15:30:00.002+08:00

Dear All (especially the Old Boys of Malacca ACS).

I've scanned some photos from the Malacca Wesley Methodist Church 100th Anniversary book which are related to the ACS school and they include personalities, and ex-reverends and pastors who were the school's chaplain.

Should anyone have any of such photos, please email them to me so that I can upload them here or in the various Old Boy websites/blogs/groups. My email: tanchaiwhatt@hotmail.com

At the same time if you have seen such photos on other websites, please indicate the address of the URL in the comment form below this message.

Enjoy!

Rodney Tan

P.S. Please click on the photos to get a larger size.
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