Wait-And-See

Checking through some of my old files, I came across this photograph that brings back the memory of an interesting interactive session for English, Mathematics and Science teachers in the school last year. As one of the supporting activities for PPSMI (the teaching and learning of science and mathematics in English) in the school, this session was conducted at the camping site of the school. There was plenty of fun and the teachers were required to interact with each other using the English language. Everyone was so excited and engrossed in the game that nobody was shy to speak the language aloud. Or, perhaps they have forgotten to be too conscious about the standard of their spoken English.

To give them credit, most of the Science and Mathematics teachers in the school can speak English reasonably well. I suppose most of them have put up with a serious effort to master the language, after all, this skill affects their rice-bowl directly. Like it or not, Science and Mathematics teachers require the English language to deliver their lessons.

Human beings, unlike animals, are very adaptable. Otherwise, how else can we explain the fact that while you seldom find the same kind of animal that can survive in all type of climates, you can find human beings from the poles to the equator to the most arid desert? So Science and Mathematics teachers can master the English when they need to, when they are told that there are no alternatives, when they are very sure that this need is a long term need. However, anything less than that may cause some of them to play the 'wait-and-see' game.