How many English teachers out there teaches English in Malay? I do. In my weakest English classes, I do. I feel really bad about it, but it just seemed to me, well, necessary.
I have seen successful examples of teaching using English as a medium as well as content to students with minimum proficiency. Yes, those were inspiring examples, carried out by the humblest of teachers.
However, I never did that in 1USM, and now, 2USM.
On Friday, I dreaded going into 2USM for their English class. Under the SET system, I lost a few of my students who used to help me in class. There have a better command in the language and therefore can always help me to coach some of their friends with their homework too.
I started off with a few commands that we are comfortable with in English: please repeat after me, active listening position, please raise your hand etc. Then I started giving instructions in Malay addressing the agenda for the day.
S who was sitting in the first row said to me in hushed voice "Teacher, speak English."
I was pleasantly surprised. I never thought that my kids would actually want me to speak in English.
So I started to say more English. And to my surprise, some of my kids who are more outspoken than the rest started asking me questions in their broken English: Apa you speak?
It struck me then that if I don't speak English and expose them to English, where else would they be able to do that? If I don't start somewhere, if they don't start somewhere, we will never go anywhere.
Armed with this new mindset, I am determined to make sure I speak English in my classes (: Wish me luck!
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