A Malaysian teacher is sharing their frustrations over Chinese students at a national secondary school (SMK) in a rural area of Johor being unable to speak basic Bahasa Melayu (BM), making teaching extra difficult.
Taking to Reddit, the teacher, fifthreid, shared the need to vent about this issue, as a translator is often required to assist with communications.
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They wrote, “As a teacher in an SMK in Johor (rural area), I need to vent. I was quite disappointed to find that most of the Chinese students in my school struggle to speak Malay. I would say about 80% of them have difficulty with even basic Malay, and some can’t understand or form simple sentences at all.”
“In many cases, we need a translator – usually a Malay prefect who can speak Mandarin – just to communicate with them when issues arise. I was shocked because I graduated from a university in Selangor, and most of my Chinese friends there were at least somewhat fluent in Malay. Coming here, I wasn’t prepared for how different the situation would be.”
How can one learn subjects that are taught in BM if they don’t understand BM?
The teacher went on to explain the severity of the students’ lack of BM skills, which has posed a challenge for teachers who teach subjects like Sejarah (History) and more.
“Even Form 4 and Form 5 students can barely speak Malay. I’ve heard that during their primary school years in SJKC, BM was taught in Mandarin, which might explain the struggle,”
“It’s incredibly frustrating for teachers, especially those teaching subjects like Sejarah, BM, Moral and even Maths, as these students can’t fully grasp certain terms. It makes teaching and learning so much harder than it should be,” they added.
Many have since shared various opinions on this matter
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