Correction And Clarification 1

Recently I submitted an article titled "Some Interesting PPSMI Issues For Principals To Reflect On" for publication in a journal (Jurnal Pendidikan Persidangan Kebangsaan Pengetua-pengetua Sekolah Menengah Malaysia, Cawangan Johor, Tahun 2009). When I read through my article in the journal I was shocked by the level of transformation or rather deformation that has occured to my article. Even the title "Some Interesting PPSMI Issues For Principals To Reflect On" was corrupted to become "Some Interesting PPSMI Issues For Principals To Reflection". I was dismayed that the first sentence of the distorted article started with the word 'TGood' (what nonsense is this?). Even some of the captions were truncated. I do know what happened or who was responsible for that deformation. (Please do not blame the viruses, worms or whatever computer devils who/which cannot defend 'themselves'.) Whatever it is as I promised to friends, I will publish the original article in my blog. It is also a way to safeguard myself from being sent to an English language concentration camp for using atrocious English. I know this article will still contain mistakes for the language purists, but at the punishment will be lighter. I will break the article into few parts for easier uploading.

The Article:

SOME INTERESTING PPSMI ISSUES FOR PRINCIPALS

TO REFLECT ON

Article and Illustration

By

YEW KOK LEH

Principal,

SMK Jalan Mengkibol, Kluang

Introduction

The problems related to the teaching and learning of Science and Mathematics in English, or more commonly known as PPSMI, are much talked about. Many controversies have surfaced ever since its introduction a few years ago. More often than not, we hear of superficial suggestions or advice whenever a related problem is being highlighted. Few of these so-called quick fixes have addressed the real issue or provided new insights. Usually the only difference is the rank of the person who speaks. In this article, I merely pick ten issues for discussion. Or rather, it is more of asking probing questions than providing solutions. Neither are these issues exactly new, but then again many of the old issues have not been dealt with satisfactorily in a real sense. Though written in a humorous (hopefully) manner, it is hoped that this article will provoke some serious thinking or rethinking among school principals and super principals with regards to issues concerning PPSMI.

Issue # 1

With all the PPSMI courseware available, is PPSMI as simple as ".... the clicking of the mouse..." as somebody once said? Is the role of a science teacher reduced to that of operating the computer and LCD projector only? Are we sending a wrong signal to teachers when we overemphasise the use of courseware at the expense of 'hands-on' activities?