Rote learning wrong? Yes. Bilingual policy wrong? No.

http://news.sg.msn.com/commented/article.aspx?cp-documentid=3709347

Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew admits Singapore's billingual policy started on the wrong footing in the 60s because as the system's chief architect, he was led to believe it was possible to master two languages equally well.

As a result, Chinese lessons were pitched at too difficult a level and this "turned students off completely," he recalled, adding that he now wants Chinese language teachers to make learning the mother tongue fun for children.

Shouldn't all subjects be made to be fun for students to learn?

In 1979, I first came to Singapore as a student when I was 9 years old - and that was the time I started learning Mandarin.  Until then, my only knowledge of the language were common terms such as to eat and to sleep.

It took me several years to learn the language through school, through conversing with schoolmates, through reading, through watching television series.

Subsequently, I learned it well enough to score A's for Mandarin as a second language in the PSLE, GCE 'O' and GCE 'AO' level examinations.

I do not think there was anything wrong with the methods used in teaching Mandarin.

Upon reflection, I believe learning any language is a matter of opportunity, motivation and choices.

Opportunity is created by the environment so use the language at home, in school and among friends.

Motivation depend on whether there is anything that would interest the student in using the language - I was keen to read comics of Doraemon, Journey to the West, as well as watching kungfu television series and movies, and when I was older, to read wuxia novels and Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

Choices is about the decision by the individual.  We all have 24 hours a day, and we need to decide what to do with our time - be it to go gallivanting with friends, reading, playing sports or something else.

Teaching style is only one of the factor in a student's grasp of a language.

As a student, it never occurred to me that it was an option NOT to learn Mandarin, anymore than it was not to learn English, Mathematics or Science.

I went through the education system in Singapore through the 1980s and almost all my Mandarin teachers were Chinese-educated.

I believe parents should ask themselves what part have they played towards their children's learning of Mandarin.  No change to the teaching style would make any difference if the parents send a message to their children that Mandarin is not something that their children must learn, especially by not using the language at home at all.

While I believe there will always be areas for improvement in teaching styles, that observation is not unique to Mandarin but applicable to all subjects.

Someone posted:

Thursday, November 19, 2009 2:43:35 PM
Thanks for this opportunity to share here. I was studying in Australia from 1994 to 1995 and this nice Aussie English Man walked up to us a group of Singaporean Chinese and asked me why are we not communicating using mandarin and instead using their english.
Well, first of all, we speak in English too because we are Singaporeans, not Chinese nationals.

While I am comfortable in using either Mandarin or English, we should not let others decide what language we Singaporeans should converse in based on our physical appearance and ethnic background.

Second, the Australians could harldy claim to monopolise the English language, so I would have replied I was not speaking "their English" but "our English".

Thursday, November 19, 2009 2:43:35 PM
He commented that we spoke horribly with other languages included (ie. Singlish).
The British might have thought Aussie-English was horrible, but so what?

Thursday, November 19, 2009 2:43:35 PM
In-addition, he was curious too that some of us uses name like John, Albert, Ann instead of our own given names.
And what's his own name?  If he's descended from British migrants, then he'd probably be of Celtic or Gaelic etc., origin, but he didn't continue using Celtic or Gaelic names, did he?

We are Singaporeans, not Chinese (nationals).  There is nothing wrong with Singaporeans adopting and evolving, just like how the Canadians, (US) Americans or Australians did.

Thursday, November 19, 2009 2:43:35 PM
So there was some exchanges and understanding with my Aussie classmate. I have been always reminding myself and kids to speak proper language and we should not mix them.

This part I can agree with.