Speaking? In public?

Some or rather my full review of my upcoming speech.

The title - English, should it be made compulsory in SPM?

To kick off the speech, a brief explanation of facts about English language. The popularity of English cannot be denied. English was so widely spoken and written used as bridge connecting people around the world. In some countries it was used so frequently it became the local's first language instead of their official language.

This is not a scene here in Malaysia. Although we can be proud of our mother's tongue the lack of English usage was worrying especially between Malaysian students. Once, Malaysian commanded English language very efficiently as for they must use it to interact with the English colonist in our country’s colonization era. Because of these necessity even villagers at that time was a regular in using English.

One of my relative once studied in an English school and got some benefit from it. Because of his education he got a good career in post-colonization era. However this reality has long gone and now replaced with the declining of the standard of English.

So, as a initiative to prevent this alarming event to stretch to a disastrous occurrence our deputy prime minister (also acted as Minister of Education) came up with a scheme to make English subject as a “must pass” subject in SPM examination.

From this proposal, a few responses immediately surfaced with different kind of standpoint. Of course there are sides that back this plan up and others that wholly rejected this idea. One of the strong reactions came from Tun Dr Mahathir, our former Prime Minister. He said this regulation, if it became a reality will not only prepares us for globalization but also improves the future of Malaysians entirely. For example English language could give us an edge in securing jobs. For your information, Tun also once proposes the revival of English middle school (like the ones on British era).

On the other hand, the opposite side also had given their own piece of mind. It is said that English would be a huge burden to bear by majority of Malaysian students. It would hamstringing other subjects they excelled at, so said the president the Movement of Abolishing Teaching Science and Math’s in English, Datuk Dr Hassan Ahmad. For instance he said, if a student got straight A’s in other subject but failed in English subject he/she would have to retake the exam and this could harm their performance and at the same time wasted most of their time.

The third party however is more on supporting this idea. Chairman of Parent Action Group for Education, Datin Noor Azimah Abd Rahim said it could be done only after the weakness within the teaching profession that has brought down the PPSMI has been dealt with. The teachers on Malaysia should be prepared for anything like this so the inputs received by the student can be exploited efficiently moreover improves their level of education.

Finally I like to share with all of you my point of view based on the stances of this 3 party. The best way to resolute this matter turn up to be the idea of Datin Noor Azimah. It is true that this rule must be applied and it was also true that it is unfair to some students. Therefore we must prepare our teaching workforce that can provide our student with the best information that can transform our young generation to English utilization machines.

It became inevitable to us to stand up for this idea, as it will ignites the desire for the youngsters to master English furthermore brings up the standards of Malaysian English. It is not really an excuse for anyone to just said learning English is hard because if someone can get a grasp on something like physics, chemistry, and thermodynamics why can’t they become skilled at English?

To me, learning English can be done in many methods the ones that was fun to do instead of traditional teach and learn system we are using now. It has to be enjoyable otherwise it can never attract anyone to learn English.

For a conclusion, I’d say that this issue can be solved, with proper and patient approach for Malaysian is being known as the people who love to improve themselves. This can ensure that mastering English is not out of ordinary between us Malaysian in the future.

It is quite tiring to prep this speech actually, so I really appreciate your comments. Just to see how much I can grasp with this simple unpolished draft.