For this blog post, I will be posting on this >>>article<<<

It reports about Singaporeans wanting to drop Chinese as a result of doing badly in it. The writer also attempts to convince parents to not allow their children to drop the chinese language. Or any second language for that matter. The writer emphasises the importance of a bilingual education system due to the economic trends in the world today favouring the uprise of china, india and vietnam.

I find myself agreeing with him to a rather large extent. For a person who has failed the recent Chinese CCT such as myself to actually acknowledge the importance of a second language requires many reasons. This, I have.

Firstly, as the article stated, a second language, apart from english, is important in this world where china, vietnam and india are uprising countries. We learned in school that English is important as it is the universal language of math and science. I do not doubt the truth of this fact, the English teachers, or teacher, that is marking this blog entry right now are and important part of our wholesome environment.

Secondly, in a world in which connectivity is so often emphasised, the more languages one knows, the larger the number of people he can connect with. A businessman who knows the Chinese language will have an edge over another businessman when it comes to deals with Chinese speaking countries.

Thirdly, having a second and a third language gives you bragging rights. I feel that this is very important for teens today. Many of us enjoy watching anime, picking up Japanese lines from these anime. What for? To confound their friends with their foreign lingo.

I feel that the government has done the right thing in denying the parents' constant complaining and staying its path. However, I can also see where the parent's are coming from. Every parent cares for their child. In Singapore's meritocratic society, failing will not get you anywhere. If one's child is failing a certain subject, tuition teachers will be hired, parents will try all means to give their child a distinction in that failing subject. When the child continues to deprove, there is nothing these parents can do but complain about the toughness of the subject and how it is impossible for anybody to score. This is true, as some people just cannot absorb/learn/study a certain subject.

Language teachers are also having it tough. With all the emphasis on the language, it is hard to arouse interest in students unless they have the interest in the first place. Students who do not care about studying Chinese will not want to learn anything about Chinese and will thus cause themselves not to absorb what is being taught in the classroom.

How then can we allow our teens to be interested in the Chinese language. A simple solution, movies and tv shows. Many of my friends and classmates have been addicted to the channel 8 9pm show, no matter how repetitive the stories are, how stiff the actors are and how weak the dialoguese are. Yet, it appeals to us. Perhaps it will be possible to find out what teens like about these shows and apply it to our chinese lessons. This may not only be for the chinese language. Languages like Japanese can utilise the ever so popular japanese anime and manga.

As said in the film Mary Poppins, "in every job to be done, there is an element of fun. You find that fun, and snap, the job's a game." For those students bored with their 2nd languages, as long as the teachers can find the fun in it, the students will definitely enjoy.

I used to hate Chinese. But this year, our Chinese teacher is an excellent one which can connect very well with us students. She uses our competitiveness, pitting one side of the class with the other. The result in an extremely hyped up and attentive class.

What about weaker students? It is possible to conduct special remedial lessons to teach them techniques to score better in their tests. What these students need are not to study more, since they cannot absorb knowledge, but to learn techniques to score well.

I know that our school as well as the ministry of education has been trying their hardest to increase a chinese interest and results in schools. Activities ranging from the hua yu cool! campaign to project superstar and even campus superstar have tried again and again to evoke interest of the chinese language in youngsters. The methods I have stated above may not be practical but I have tried to analyse the problem to the best of my ability.