On the weekend, Malaysia’s Chief Minister, Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg, officially launched St. Joseph’s International School, a low-fee Catholic school that has a strong focus on sports, digital literacy and improving students’ English language skills.
Despite the importance of fitness and digital skills, it is perhaps this last area that is lacking most among Malaysian students, who speak mostly Bahasa or Chinese.
“Education is about giving our children knowledge. When it involves polemics, this year we will see ‘policy A’, next year we will see ‘policy B’ which create inconsistency,” Abang Johari said.
“I am not saying that our national education policy is not good, but English is an international language. [The state of] Sarawak is keen on preserving the English language as its other official language.”
Abang Johari said globalisation and the Fourth Industrial Revolution mean that mastering the English language is critical as new technological devices are often programmed in English.
The school’s principal, Brother Paul Hough, said that improving the English language skills of students is a big challenge in Malaysian schools.
“One of the things about international schools is that everything is in English. If you go to schools that are run by government programs, half of the subjects are Bahasa,” Brother Hough told The Educator Asia.
“The kids coming from other schools tend to be poor in English, and with Chinese schools, there is often zero English.”
When he became principal of the school three years ago, Brother Hough implemented an assessment test that all students enrolling at the school had to take.
“When I look at the results of that test, a number of students will be asked to go to an English language bridging course before I’ll accept them, but it’s improving now,” Brother Hough said.
“Last year I sent 18 students to a special intensive English course that lasted four hours a day, five hours a day for 10 weeks – and it worked.”
Brother Hough said the self-esteem and discipline of the students has “improved immensely” since their English language skills improved.
“The kids that I had discipline problems with were kids who could barely understand a thing in the classroom, but when you improve their English skills, everything else seems to improve along with it.”
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