A MONTHLY SUPPLEMENT OF RAKAN SARAWAK BULLETIN (People, events, activities and programmes which make for a total quality-managed Sarawak Civil Service) ISSN 1394-5726

Online Publisher:          Contents provided by:	IN MY OPINION... GAP or Gap Activities Project Ltd is a United Kingdom-based voluntary organisation who send volunteers to help the education system in Malaysia and other countries improve English standards in schools. Guru Steven Stuart, as he is fondly known among his pupils at SRK Tebedu, is from Berkshire, England. He was in contact with RAKAN Sarawak and has this to say of his stint at SRK Tebedu. "All volunteers pay their own way, often by working to earn extra income before they leave England and give up 6 months of their time to teach English to children. The major benefits of this in summary is to educate both children and teachers of the differences between 'Malaysian English', 'American English', and 'true English.' As an education system, Malaysia encourages true English to be taught, however, often due to outdated resources, the Engliah taught is equally old, or at another extreme, incomprehensible to a young Englishman, as I have found at times! With the huge influx of American-influenced music and films entering Malaysi,. much American English is creeping into young Malaysian English. It may be slight, such as the difference between 'favourite' and 'favourit', 'night' and 'nite', but when such importance is held on Englich exams, such spelling errors seem significant, especially when the ease to correct them is so simply solved! Teachers must continue to change the review their methods and resources. Learning about the country the volunteers are from has the added benefit of teaching the students English customs, which , as background learning, help the students comprehend where it all comes from."     (If you have anything you would like to comment on, then please drop us a line and we'll try our best to accommodate your views and news. RAKAN Sarawak is here for all your civil servants out there. Share with us your thoughts on any subject which may interest you and your fellow civil servants. So, what are you waiting for. Start scribbling!)
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