Salam

If you were an English teacher in Malaysia.

Suppose you are a malay graduate in TESL.  Before you walk into the class .. I have the feeling that you have lots of butterflies in your stomach.

The anxiety is ‘.. can I teach well .. this Form 5 Science I ?’

The answer is YES you can .. anytime.  Why?  If the school is a situated somewhere in Felda this and Felda that.  Any time you can teach them well ..

Why?  Before you graduate, the whole population of Malaysia is angry at the standard of English  among the so called graduates ( like UTHM, UMK, UMT, UMP , etc etc …  ) ,  so by joining into the teaching service .. today .. I have the strong feeling that you cannot solve all that problem by yourself.  So don’t worry.  Let you be you.  Let the problem as it is.  If professors in English Faculties UKM, UM, USM, UPSI could not solve that problem …  all these years .. then you are just OK.  Be happy , don’t worry.

THere is a song entitled ‘Don’t worry , be happy ‘.  He..he..

3)  The most important thing is you must enjoy teaching the boys and girls .. somewhere in Felda.  (laugh).

4)  I was a maths graduate .. but my former principals SM KOTA and SM Tumpat .. wanted me to teach English.  But mind you duriing my A-levels I answered all my GCE A levels - Economics / Geography ..  in English.  May be because of that I was allowed to teach English.  O yes.  I took MCE / GCE ‘O’ levels in 1974/75.  It was English all the way then ..that time before 1979 ..when Malaysia started with BM as the medium of instructions.  PPSMI ?  good ..  but it did not last long. 

5)  In England, you have to be punctual.  I took that point very seriously.  So my students ..know all the while I am very punctual in my duties/  marking their books, put them into a test, quiz and what not.  I brought them to the library.  Homework:  write a page .. what you read in the library.  It was a big struggle for them ..but soon , sooner .. I saw many students enjoyed writing .  That is it!

If you are serious with your teaching. t hey will know that ..easily and insyallah their English will slowly improve at the rate of ‘the tortoise approaching the endding tape …. ‘.  Ha..ha..  Why do I laugh?  Because you are teaching Form 5.  They have their standard of English from Standard 1 to Form 4 ..all these while.  What do you expect?  What do the parents expect?  U giving them a miracle ..they improve by leaps and bound …?

Impossible.

So enjoy your teaching ..  don’t lose any sleep.

Be happy / don’t worry.  After 25 days .. in a month .. you get your pay. So go to the bank..and enjoy the money.  But remember ..you daddy ..plz.  He wrote this tips (laugh).

Wallahu aklam.

Original link: https://nenez9595.blogspot.com/2012/01/two-tips-teaching-english-in-malaysian.html