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Ask for help > Teaching of Maths and Science in English
Teaching of Maths and Science in English
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Logos
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Teaching of Maths and Science in English
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I live in Malaysia and the �hot topic � in education is to make a decision as to whether Government schools should teach maths and science in English or in the local language of Bahasa Malaysia. To give a little background. Malaysia in the colonial days taught these subjects in English, but in the late 1970 �s they changed the medium to local language.
In 2003 the former Prime Minister reverted back to teaching these subjects in English, but since then there has been a groundswell of protests from teachers, particularly in rural areas who do not feel proficient enough to teach in English, despite the number of courses and training that has been arranged over the last five years.
My request to you is could any of you give me examples of using English to teach Maths and science in an non-English environment. Has it worked? Is it still working? Is it a failure? Has it been abandoned? What is the general feeling about this policy?
This is such a devisive issue here in Malaysia with the �progressives � on one side and the �traditionalists � on the other. I would appreciate some realistic opinions both for and against this idea. Thank you. |
10 Mar 2009
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worldangel
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Hi, I am currently teaching in Singapore but I used to teach in Malaysia as that is my home country. I think in order for them to be able to learn Maths and Science in English, something has to be done about their language proficiency first. So you might want to teach them certain words and explain the terms slowly to them or come up with a glossary which contains all the difficult terminology which you think they might problem understanding.
Another thing is for Maths, you can try using a lot of manipulatives such as pattern blocks, cuisenaire blocks etc to demonstrate a concept rather than just teaching it to them orally. Most of them will respond pretty well when they have a visual picture of what is going on.
Good luck!
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10 Mar 2009
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crazy_turtle
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Hi Logos,
I teach maths and science in my school. However, it is not so much teaching math it is more teaching the language of math/ science. My students already have the universal skills of math but they cant describe what they are doing in english. I tend to use a lot of word math problems eg " if i cut a cake into 8 slices and eat two how many slices will remain". With science I used a lot of the bogglesworld cards to explain continents etc. and and up a few of my own solar system materials. There are also a wealth of wonderful dinosaur materials (very popular with my class). Bogglesworld has a great quiz/ board game related to disosaurs.
It works very well, but again I treat the subjects as still in the context of teaching english.
Cheers
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10 Mar 2009
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eng789
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I have a Math oriented grade 7 class. Their English isn �t as good as their Math so I give them brainteasers and riddles in English that can only be solved using Math. It gives them a chance to work on their comprehension of the problem in English which is the challenging part. Once they understand the questions - solving is easy.
My daughter is almost fluent in English but even so, she was afraid to study in Canada because all the textbooks would be in English. You can imagine her surprise when she saw her textbooks for the University here. They are all in English. She is studying - Medical Lab Science.
I think it is a great idea to teach Math and Science in English because I assume there most university textbooks are in English as well. |
10 Mar 2009
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