The Learning Teacher

I’ve had a great start to the new year working with more than a hundred English language teachers in Kuala Lumpur  but from various parts of the country, last Saturday and today.

The teachers who turned up were enthusiastic and there was keen participation. There was a lovely mix of novice and experienced teachers. It was quite clear that these teachers were interested in  being there! They were open to ideas and so very willing to share their knowledge, experience and skills.

Reading the texts with these teachers was an enjoyable experience. It is always interesting when there are variations in the readings of the texts. A fresh point of view livens up any discussion. And there were quite a few of these!!!

A few of my colleagues in Asia TEFL have been sending out greetings for Rosh Hashana, Eid and the Puja festivals. Amidst all these message a Singaporean colleague shared a common ground among all our varied religions - the golden rule.

As I had just written about International Peace Day, I thought how appropriate it is to look at the various religions which attempt to bring out the best in us. So I googled “golden rule” and found the following quotes from the many religions of the world.

The religions are listed in alphabetical order.

Do take time to have a read.

Again - such wonderful material for classroom discussions.  

Bahá’í Faith:   “Ascribe not to any soul that which thou wouldst not have ascribed to thee, and say not that which thou doest not.” “Blessed is he who preferreth his brother before himself.” Baha’u'llah

 ”And if thine eyes be turned towards justice, choose thou for thy neighbour that which thou choosest for thyself.” Epistle to the Son of the Wolf

 Brahmanism: “This is the sum of Dharma [duty]: Do naught unto others which would cause you pain if done to you”. Mahabharata, 5:1517 ”

 Buddhism:   “…a state that is not pleasing or delightful to me, how could I inflict that upon another?” Samyutta NIkaya v. 353 

 Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.” Udana-Varga 5:18

 Christianity:   “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.” Matthew 7:12, King James Version.

 ”And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.” Luke 6:31, King James Version.

 ”…and don’t do what you hate…”, Gospel of Thomas 6. The Gospel of Thomas is one of about 40 gospels that were widely accepted among early Christians, but which never made it into the Christian Scriptures (New Testament). 

 Confucianism:  “Do not do to others what you do not want them to do to you” Analects 15:23

 ”Tse-kung asked, ‘Is there one word that can serve as a principle of conduct for life?’ Confucius replied, ‘It is the word ’shu’ — reciprocity. Do not impose on others what you yourself do not desire.’” Doctrine of the Mean 13.3

 ”Try your best to treat others as you would wish to be treated yourself, and you will find that this is the shortest way to benevolence.” Mencius VII.A.4

 Ancient Egyptian: “Do for one who may do for you, that you may cause him thus to do.” The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant, 109 - 110 Translated by R.B. Parkinson. The original dates to 1970 to 1640 BCE and may be the earliest version ever written. 3

 Hinduism:   This is the sum of duty: do not do to others what would cause pain if done to you. Mahabharata 5:1517

 Humanism: “(5) Humanists acknowledge human interdependence, the need for mutual respect and the kinship of all humanity.”

 ”(11) Humanists affirm that individual and social problems can only be resolved by means of human reason, intelligent effort, critical thinking joined with compassion and a spirit of empathy for all living beings. ” 4

 ”Don’t do things you wouldn’t want to have done to you, British Humanist Society. 3

Islam: “None of you [truly] believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.” Number 13 of Imam “Al-Nawawi’s Forty Hadiths.” 5

 Jainism:   “Therefore, neither does he [a sage] cause violence to others nor does he make others do so.” Acarangasutra 5.101-2. 

 ”In happiness and suffering, in joy and grief, we should regard all creatures as we regard our own self.” Lord Mahavira, 24th Tirthankara

 ”A man should wander about treating all creatures as he himself would be treated. “Sutrakritanga 1.11.33

 Judaism:   “…thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”, Leviticus 19:18 

 ”What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow man. This is the law: all the rest is commentary.” Talmud, Shabbat 31a.

 ”And what you hate, do not do to any one.” Tobit 4:15 6

 Native American Spirituality:  “Respect for all life is the foundation.” The Great Law of Peace.

 ”All things are our relatives; what we do to everything, we do to ourselves. All is really One.” Black Elk

 ”Do not wrong or hate your neighbor. For it is not he who you wrong, but yourself.” Pima proverb.

 Roman Pagan Religion: “The law imprinted on the hearts of all men is to love the members of society as themselves.”

 Shinto:   “The heart of the person before you is a mirror. See there your own form”

 ”Be charitable to all beings, love is the representative of God.” Ko-ji-ki Hachiman Kasuga

 Sikhism:   Compassion-mercy and religion are the support of the entire world”. Japji Sahib 

 ”Don’t create enmity with anyone as God is within everyone.” Guru Arjan Devji 259

 ”No one is my enemy, none a stranger and everyone is my friend.” Guru Arjan Dev : AG 1299

 Sufism: “The basis of Sufism is consideration of the hearts and feelings of others. If you haven’t the will to gladden someone’s heart, then at least beware lest you hurt someone’s heart, for on our path, no sin exists but this.” Dr. Javad Nurbakhsh, Master of the Nimatullahi Sufi Order.

Taoism:  “Regard your neighbor’s gain as your own gain, and your neighbor’s loss as your own loss.” T’ai Shang Kan Ying P’ien. 

 ”The sage has no interest of his own, but takes the interests of the people as his own. He is kind to the kind; he is also kind to the unkind: for Virtue is kind. He is faithful to the faithful; he is also faithful to the unfaithful: for Virtue is faithful.” Tao Teh Ching, Chapter 49 

 Unitarian: 

“The inherent worth and dignity of every person;”

“Justice, equity and compassion in human relations…. ”

“The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;”

“We affirm and promote respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.” Unitarian principles. 7,8

 Wicca: “An it harm no one, do what thou wilt” (i.e. do what ever you will, as long as it harms nobody, including yourself). One’s will is to be carefully thought out in advance of action. This is called the Wiccan Rede

Yoruba: (Nigeria): “One going to take a pointed stick to pinch a baby bird should first try it on himself to feel how it hurts.”

 Zoroastrianism:   “That nature alone is good which refrains from doing unto another whatsoever is not good for itself”. Dadistan-i-dinik 94:5

 ”Whatever is disagreeable to yourself do not do unto others.”  Shayast-na-Shayast 13:29

Some philosophers’ statements are:

 Epictetus: “What you would avoid suffering yourself, seek not to impose on others.” (circa 100 CE)

 Kant: “Act as if the maxim of thy action were to become by thy will a universal law of nature.”

 Plato: “May I do to others as I would that they should do unto me.” (Greece; 4th century BCE)

 Socrates: “Do not do to others that which would anger you if others did it to you.” (Greece; 5th century BCE)

 Seneca: “Treat your inferiors as you would be treated by your superiors,” Epistle 47:11 (Rome; 1st century CE)

Source: http://www.religioustolerance.org/reciproc.htm

In my last blog I briefly mentioned my fears about the idea of making it compulsory for students to get at least a passing grade  in the English language subject for SPM. I want to take up that issue a little more.

It is common knowledge that for some SPM and STPM subjects, the passing marks are ridiculously low. I wont be too surprised if that might already be the case for the English Language subject even now.

We need to rethink about the notion of grading our students. The letter-grade has become so meaningless and we don’t know what a student with an A grade is capable of doing. We need to focus on competencies and skills. One of the things that Dr. Lee Boon Hwa, Head, English Language and Literature Unit, Curriculum Development Section, Ministry of Education, mentioned at the Wawasan Open University Forum on 4th July was how the new Primary School syllabus will focus on skills development. I believe this is a step in the right direction.

We need to focus on developing vary language skills and sub-skills. We should then set certain benchmarks to gauge our students’ development and competencies in these skills. As is the case with many other examinations, including the MUET (Malaysian University English Examination), we should have bands to show what the learners have achieved and are capable of.

We don’t even have to given an overall band. We can give individual bands for each language skill. This way, it will be clear to all what the learner has achieved after 11 years of English language instruction. There is no fear that grammar and the language arts (literature) will the be ignored. The reading and writing components will incorporate these elements in the assessment.

Let us set some benchmarks for our students to achieve so that they know what skills they are competent in and what skills they need to work at in order be considered a competent user of the language. Both the student and those reading the student’s results be able to know what skills have been achieved by the student. This I believe will help raise the standard of English among students. Appropriate remedial work can be carried out for students according to the deficiencies in the specific language skills.

What good is it to claim that students have an A grade when they cannot speak well or write a coherent paragraph? Let’s just explicitly state what the student has achieved in terms of skills and competencies.

It is that time of year when I work with my students on how to develop their scheme of work for teaching the literature component. Each year, I tell my students how impossible it must be for Form 1 and Form 4 teachers to teach all the poems and short stories in a year.  In Form 1, students need to study 3 short stories and 3 poems while in Form 4 , students need to study 5 short stories and 6 poems.

It is a easier lot for Forms 2, 3 and 5 teachers who need to teach just a novel and maybe do some revision of the texts read in the previous year(s).

I would think that a more manageable distribution of texts would have been the case. A short story and/or poem could have been added into Form 2, Form 3 and Form 5, reducing the lopsided number of texts being taught in Form 1 and Form 4.

Teachers who work out the scheme of work for teaching the literature component within the English Language paper know the limited time they have to teach the texts. On a paper, teachers are supposed to teach literature in English only one period a week. However, there are some schools who have allocated a double period - a god sent for the teachers.

At best, I calculated that after deducting time taken for examinations, sports day and other school activities, Form1 teachers at the most will have about 5 or 6 lessons per text and Form 4 teachers will have between 3 to 4 lessons per text. I wonder how much can be taught during this limited time. 

I would really like to get some honest response and feedback from teachers in schools on how they manage to actually teach all the texts in Forms 1 and 4 or do they not teach all the texts, especially those who teach weak and weaker classes. What strategies do these teachers employ in the reading of the texts or preparation for the PMR and SPM papers?

Also, even as texts are being selected for the second cycle, I hope not only will the choice of texts be given great care, I hope there will be a rethink on how they texts will be taught. Let there be a fair reading load at all the different levels.

After much thought, I have set up a new Yahoo group on teaching literature in English. It will provide a platform for discussing various issues related to teaching literature in English. 

The group is open to all who are interested in participating in the discussions. However, it is a moderated group and permission is required to be registered as a member.

The discussions will cover a whole range of topics on teaching literature in English, with reference to Malaysian schools - primary, secondary and  also tertiary education. I do hope to give some attention to the SPM Literature in English Elective paper and also to the STPM Literature in English Paper.

The following is the web address: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/teachlitmalaysia

Look forward to your participation!!

I am again thinking of what texts to teach my undergrads for the survey drama course I teach at UPM. Over the years I have started with either Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex or Antigone and then gone on to do a Shakespearean text - either King Lear or Antony and Cleopatra. Then I would teach a play  by Shaw - Pygmalion and an American text, Tennessee William’s A Streetcar Named Desire. And then choose one final play, usually a recently published play. Over the years I have used Mahesh Dattani’s Thirty Days in September and Wong Phui Nam’s Anike. 

I like teaching living writers as students can actually meet them or contact them. Wong Phui Nam has spoken to my students and through a blog, my students actually chatted with Indian playwright Mahesh Dattani.

In fact, one of the most exciting things we did when reading Dattani’s play was to create a blog where students connected with each other and the playwright.  Do see this link:

http://dattani30daysinseptember.blogspot.com

You can also read Dattani’s blog to the students through this link: 

http://dattani30daysinseptember.blogspot.com/2004_07_01_archive.html

They also were quite fortunate to watch the play being performed by an Indian troupe at the Actor’s Studio. In fact, we booked the whole theatre for UPM students. After the play, the students had an interview session with the cast and the Director. I believe this was a rather educational and entertaining experience for most students. I found the whole experience very rewarding as part of my teaching experience.

I have had various levels of success teaching the plays I have selected for my students and feedback from the students confirms this. The responses have been so varied from the different groups of students that I have never thought of dropping any of these plays permanently from my pool of teaching texts.

Over the years, sad to say, my students are not quite what I would like them to be. It is both their lack of exposure to the world of theatre and also the level of language proficiency. The lack of exposure is easier to deal with. Often one of the course requirement is going to watch a play and there are other activities to familiarise them to the world of theatre. The latter is more challenging. That’s where the choice of texts become crucial.

So before the second semester begins, I will make my choices. One text that I have decided to include is Kee Thuan Chye’s recently performed new play entitled The Swordfish, Then the Concubine . I also hope to get him to meet my students.

If anyone reading this blog posting happens to be my student or were my student,  I welcome your response. Others are welcome to respond too.

Cheers

Edwin

I have not written a posting for a while. This is largely because there are things I want to say and then wonder if it is really worthwhile. One could be saying the truth and even that could get you into trouble – of all sorts. So what more if one was merely expressing an opinion!!!

So I’m trying to sort out when to blog and what to blog on.

I don’t want to write on banal things.

But I will be back.

 Edwin