English

May be some will say that it is just a matter of time before Chinese replaces English as the international language. However, English is still the international language, a common language used to communicate with each other, when the two parties are from different country.

The Japanese students, who joined us in the UNESCO activity, said out their desire to learn English during the discussion session. Well, they found it very hard to use English to communicate with the foreign students. It is a good sign, I think. If they were not given the chance to join this activity, I have my doubts they may never discover that desire. Ok, may be they will find it out one day, but that might be too late already, isn’t it? We used to say that the standard of English of Japanese students is quite low. Well, we don’t have to say much about this. From what I saw before, they seemed to be having no confident at all whenever they are asked to say something in English. Is it the problem of lacking confidence?

Yet, they are marching in front of the high technologies. They use Japanese to educate, and to learn. Low standard of English doesn’t seem to be a problem for them to be among the top. So, what is the secret for that? When many youngsters express that they feel worried about lacking of English, many from oversea come to Japan to search for knowledge. So, mother language should always be the best way to learn? Oh, I am not here to debate about the English for Science and Math in Malaysia…

Well, from what I have been through along the activity, I myself really need to power up my English. It is still hard for me to express my opinions in English. The problem is, it is very hard to get a chance to speak in English here. So, what are we going to do? And may be i should add up another question: What really is the best way to improve our student’s English standards?