How should English be taught in schools?

Warning: long post!

Following my earlier post on Andre’s composition skills, there was a debate on Lilian’s blog about education systems around the world and whether the Singapore system stifles creativity. For this post, I'm focusing specifically on the teaching of English. I’m cutting and pasting some of the comments here (Lilian and YY, hope you don't mind!)

YY, who’s in Canada said:

“It was a pleasant culture-shock for us when we saw my boy & his classmates' journal entries when he was in Grade 1 last yr. They were full of spelling mistakes but never-the-matter, the 'suggested' correct spelling is written unobtrusively under about half the wrongly spelled words without any 'crosses' implicating you're 'wrong'. Kids are encouraged to explore & express themselves freely without fear of making mistakes; if they don't know the spelling, just make out the word according to how it sounds. It's like the emphasis is on developing the confidence to put down on paper all their thoughts as much as possible, before developing the skills to follow often-arbitrary language rules that's culturally or historically dictated…

So he came up with these 'creative' spellings that reduce words to bare phonics: 'peyeno lesens'; a good 'pursen'; 'jakat'; 'elafant'; feeling 'nurvas'; 'tabl'; 'apl' (for apple); 'bamntan rakt'; 'avry sumar' I go to the 'beech'; 'rimot' control' I want to be an 'egeener' when I grow up... ; a 'speshl' toy.

I read somewhere that creativity has to do with not being afraid of making mistakes. So fostering creativity may have something to do with even small things like this... I'm not saying that not correcting spelling mistakes is one way to foster creativity, but it's within the the overall context & culture of not being so anal about everything having to be right to the extent that it cramps the free flow of ideas.”

Lilian, whose kids have attended a prep school in London and are now in an American school in Moscow, said:

“The teachers in his UK school do not use red-inked pens, but green ones, how's that for some positivity? Green for go, red for stop. And there are no angry markings (unlike when mummy dearest is in charge), just the correctly- spelled word written at the end for the child to write say, 4 more times. But unlike in North A, I don't think British schools would allow spelling mistakes to go uncorrected. You know how proper they are…

And I definitely think he was getting a much better academic education over in the UK than here (in Moscow). They had specialist teachers for every subject there, even the artwork they produced were of outstanding quality. Over here, one teacher teaches everything (except music, art, IT and PE) so good luck to you if you get a lousy one that year… That said, the atmosphere here is a lot more relaxed. There are lots more project and team work. The kids in the UK seem more competitive.”

Here’s my take: Each style of teaching seems to mirror the ethos of the country, ie the Americans (and Canadians) emphasise freedom of expression, the Brits focus on proper usage and Singaporeans? Well, Singaporeans, typically Asian, focus on results.

I think there are two different issues here – teaching competence in the language and fostering appreciation of the language. Sometimes, one is sacrificed in the over-zealous quest for the other. I think the two extremes are reflected in the American and Singaporean styles – ie Americans foster appreciation (to the extent of not correcting mistakes) and the Singaporeans drill down to getting everything right (to the extent of dictating content).

I’m not sure if the British system is a good balance of the two, maybe. Using green ink instead of red to mark is a positive method of encouragement – I found this adopted at Morris Allen, a British tuition centre here.

Don’t take this personally YY, but I actually disagree with the American system because I feel that the emphasis on creativity above all else comes at the expense of competence. I think that could be the reason why Americans as a population have a poorer grasp of the language, especially written, than other English speaking countries. (Just my opinion! Don't shoot me!)

Since we won’t be migrating anytime soon (and possibly ever), I don’t want to write off the Singapore system just yet. Yes, it has taken a lot of flack but it has certainly proven itself in terms of building competence. Eg. Singapore has consistently churned out kids who win international writing competitions, and we are ranked 4th in the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study despite not all kids here coming from an English-speaking background (coincidentally, the same score as Canada British Columbia, YY!) See? Results!

With regards to appreciation of the language, earlier this year, I was invited to give a talk to the GEP kids about what I do, as part of a programme to showcase different professions. They were very excited that I was a writer, even though I did explain that I'm not the JK Rowling type of writer whom they would be more interested in. I was pleasantly surprised at how many of the kids were keen on becoming writers, even though it’s not the most prestigious or money-making (remember these are the high-flying kids, the potential leaders, doctors, lawyers, etc.) Obviously the love of the language is very much alive and the system didn’t quash that passion.

The system does try to promote expression without correcting mistakes (albeit to a limited extent) via the journal. Every kid has a journal where they can write about anything they want. Here, the entries are not corrected for spelling or grammar, the teacher only makes a comment at the end. Eg. when Andre wrote about his holiday, his teacher wrote “Sounds like you had fun!” One of Lesley-Anne’s classmates in p3 wrote pages and pages about how the government hates children because it makes them wake up so early for school and piles them with homework. (Must have been a fascinating read!) The teacher wrote at the end, “I don’t agree with your views but I see your frustration. Keep writing.” I thought that was very understanding and encouraging.

Having said that, I’m not blind to the flaws of the system. As many parents here have noted, there’s too much focus on correcting spelling and grammar mistakes in composition. Andre’s papers often have red marks all over, which must be very discouraging. I’m not sure they do any good anyway, because he only cares about the overall score, which again, is a problem arising from over-emphasis on results.

In my opinion, one of the biggest problems is the standard of English among primary school teachers in Singapore. Like in Moscow, many of the teachers in the lower primary levels teach everything – English, maths, social studies, art, music, PE. Jack of all trades, master of none. Many of these teachers, sad to say, have a really poor level of English themselves. Grammar mistakes galore, even in the simple notes they write. A friend was lamenting how her son said his p1 teacher pronounced "kennel" as "canal" and told him to "on the computer". And this is in a mission school, usually known for good English! Aiyoh, how to teach kids like that? These teachers also don't know how to handle off-the-wall content, probably stemming from their own traditional experiences as a student. If Andre wrote “the furious fox came to eat John for his lunch” at school, I’m pretty sure it would be given a big cross because the teacher has no idea how to deal with such unconventional thinking.

But we’re not just dealing with an isolated educational system that's easy to replace as a single entity. We’re talking about an entire psyche of a population. I may consider myself an “enlightened” mum but my Asian roots emphasising achievement are still deeply entrenched. I suspect even if the MOE suddenly decides to adopt the American system, majority of parents here are not ready for it.

YY wrote that in Canada, “Asian kids win the vast majority of the academic awards despite forming only maybe 1/4 to 1/3 of the student body. I was telling hubby that if not for the 2nd, 3rd & 4th categories, the white kids would have very few awards to win!! I was proud that one of the top Social Responsibility awards was given to a pair of Japanese twins (but being Japanese, it kinda figures too, doesn't it?)”

So at the end of the day, even when we’re out of Asia and in a Western system, our Asian values still take over! It’s a symbiotic relationship – the system shapes us and we shape the system.

I like what Lilian said: "But seriously, so many of you also went through the stressful system and you all turn out great, so something has to be said for the Sg education system".

It’s not perfect, but I’ll work with it and change what I can.