Skip to main content

More Lit, Less Grammar, Vocab and all that nonsense.

There is a call to expand the literature component in the English language school syllabus in The Star. (Our Star, not the one in Dunedine. Nor am I referring to Proxima Centauri.)

Quoth the owl:
I suspect the whole problem lies in the English language school syllabus and the way it is taught. I think we would be able to make people write well if we expanded the Literature component and forgot about teaching grammar, comprehension, vocabulary, and the works.

Just concentrate on Literature and writing. People are unable to write in English because they don’t think in the language. Lacking practice makes it very difficult to write. Once people start to read and write, everything will fall into place. They will understand sentence structure. No amount of grammar lessons will make people understand syntax.
I don't totally agree with that no-grammar-vocab-comprehension thing, but this nocturnal mouse-eater does have a point.

Comments

  1. I agree with you, we do need grammar, vocabulary and comprehension. But we equally need literature. Both should go hand in hand. We need to learn the rules, as well as feel the language.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Exactly. We cannot break the rules if don't know them!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Such calls have been put out for years. But until serious action is taken, it will remain wishful thinking.

    By serious action, I mean clamping down on corruption. The primary reason our syllabus remain lethargic is because our board of education is so closely affliated with the textbook publishers and distributors that supply our schools. Kickbacks, bribery, and profiteering are common.

    This is precisely why our syllabus is so resistant to change. Because as it stands, it is profitable for the powers-that-be. So why mess with a winning formula? ;)

    ReplyDelete
  4. And of course, that wont be changing so soon. I guess then it's up to the parents to instill literature reading in the minds of the young.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

REVIEW: Confessions of an Old Boy by Kam Raslan

Kam Raslan's right. In the preface for his new book, Confessions of an Old Boy: The Dato' Hamid Adventures he writes that we've known Dato' Hamid all our lives. Seeing as my own dad is an old boy of MCKK, the people I get to meet when he drags me to an Old Boy function and the people he tells me of, reflect the characters found in Kam's book. It really does feel like I've known Dato' Hamid all my life. Dato' Hamid is a civil servant of the Tunku Abdul Rahman generation. He is the sort of person you rarely see nowadays, a fine example of the anachronistic Malay. This generation, groomed in the ways of the colonial British would be out of place not just in 21st century Malaysia, but in Britain too. And yet, Dato' Hamid, in all his snobbishness and patronising ways, is essentially a Malaysian. Without people like him, our country would probably never exist at all. At least not like we know it now. I'm glad that Kam Raslan decided to capture this ...

Lesson: Commemorative Covers are Lame.

Well, I got the first day cover that commemorates the 35th anniversary of the establishment diplomatic relations between China and Malaysia that I mentioned a couple of posts ago. Except that it's not a first day cover, it's a commemorative cover, which is a slightly different beast. I guess I should read the news article properly next time! The difference between the two is that first day covers are specially-designed envelopes stuck on with specially-designed stamps, and marked with a specially-designed postmark. A commemorative cover is a specially-designed envelope... and that's it. All in all, it's an unremarkable affair, especially if you're used to well-designed first day covers (not that Malaysian first day covers are well-designed... but I digress). Oh sure, a commemorative cover has a stamp printed right on to it but that's just like an overglorified aerogramme. Lame. On the whole, what a disappointment. I haven't been collecting first day cover...

REVIEW: Pinball, 1973 by Haruki Murakami.

UPDATE: My Wind/Pinball review can be found here . ISBN: n/a Publisher: n/a Paperback: 160 pages In Murakami fan circles, simply owning a copy of Pinball, 1973 is a mark of hardcore-ness. Like Hear the Wind Sing before it, Haruki Murakami does not allow English translations of Pinball, 1973 to be published outside of Japan. Back in the 80s, Alfred Birnbaum translated it into English and Kodansha published it as a novel for Japanese students who wanted to improve their English. While the English edition of Hear the Wind Sing continues to be reprinted and sold in Japan (and available for a moderate sum via eBay, see my review ), Kodansha stopped its reprint runs of the English edition of Pinball, 1973 and has now become a collector's item, fetching vast amounts of money on auction sites and reseller stores. Last time I checked, the cheapest copy went for USD$2500. Of course, Murakami addicts or the curious can always download a less than legal PDF of the book, painst...