The state government understands the importance of English, the first global lingua franca which, according to our Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg, serves as a master key to unlock doors of knowledge and skills.
Sharing ideas, knowledge on teaching English
KUCHING: The 28th Malaysian English Language Teaching Association (Melta) International Conference 2019 serves as a platform for sharing ideas and knowledge.
Melta is a voluntary, non-profit professional organisation operating since 1958 and its three-day conference from Aug 13 to 15 is currently being held at Riverside Majestic Hotel.
Education, Science and Technological Research Minister Datuk Seri Michael Manyin Jawong (representing Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg) officiated at the opening ceremony along with Raja Puan Besar Perak Raja Nazhatul Shima Almarhum Sultan Idris who represented her sister Raja Zarith Sofiah Sultan Idris Shah, the consort of the Sultan of Johor and Melta’s royal patron.
About 500 delegates from 30 countries participated in the
conference themed “English Language Education and Society 5.0: Developing Sustainable Literacies” to encourage greater alignment between Education 4.0 and the real need for universal
education and sustainable
development
Melta president Prof Dr Ganakumaran Subramanian said it is the sixth international conference held in Sarawak, five times in Kuching and once in Miri.
“The conference is an effort by Melta to bring to the state current and cutting edge developments in English language education.
“The state government is giving its full support to our conference believing that it will benefit teachers in Sarawak as they can learn new strategies for improving English language proficiency in the state,” he said.
Other unique sessions at the conference include the Creative Teacher Showcase, Creative Student Teacher Showcase, and Higher Education Teacher Showcase.
The opening ceremony also witnessed the exchange of two memoranda of understanding (MoU)
documents – between Melta and SABSADI Holdings Berhad and, Melta and Cahaya Educational and Training Academy (CETA) Sdn Bhd.
Melta was represented by Prof Dr Ganakumaran Subramanian while SABSADI was represented by its
managing director Law King Hui. CETA was represented by its director Sazali Abdul Rahman.
The first MoU signed was to jointly develop two English upskilling programmes specifically designed for Malaysian teachers. The two programmes are Professional English for Teachers online programme, and Mentoring for English Language Teacher Professional Development, an online mentor-mentee
programme.
The second MoU is for the development of English Language Training Programmes in Malaysia whereby both parties intend to enter into collaborative activities such as planning, implementing, managing and evaluating training programmes and other educational projects.
In addition, several prestigious awards were presented during the conference. These include the Melta Recognition Awards, Melta Hyacinth Gaudart Oustanding English Teacher Award presented to Ho Jia Ying from SMK Batu Lintang, Melta Lifetime Contribution Award to Education Malaysia deputy director-general Datuk Sulaiman Wak and the Raja Zarith Sofiah Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Award to Wildlife Conservation Society coordinator Joshua Pandong.
Among those present at the ceremony were deputy director-general of Education Malaysia Datuk Sulaiman Wak, Sarawak Energy Berhad senior manager Joanne Tan Cho Yian, SASBADI Holdings Berhad
managing director Law King Hui and Erican Education Group chief executive officer Datuk Eric Chong.
Sarawak ready for English: Manyin
KUCHING: The state government is ready for the implementation of English as the medium of instruction for Science and Mathematics
next year.
Education, Science and Technological Research Minister Datuk Seri Michael Manyin made this assurance yesterday at Riverside Majestic Hotel where he told reporters that the implementation would take effect on Jan 1.
“Apart from that, my proposal of allocating RM11 million to train teachers and purchase materials has already been approved.
“The only matter left is actually training the teachers which will begin next month,” he said after officiating at the Malaysian English Language Teaching Association (Melta) International Conference 2019.
He further mentioned that the Education Ministry officers are also all ready to get the 2,873 teachers trained.
While giving an assurance that the officers were quite confident to implement the programme, he also gave a reminder that the implementation of the Dual Language Programme (DLP) is not a policy but a programme.
“If one parent objects to this programme, we will not be able to fully implement it. Also, the board of directors of Chinese schools said they were not keen to implement the DLP yet. Thus the programme will be optional for Chinese schools,” he said.
He further pointed out that under the previous DLP, one thing that they did not oversee was the training of teachers which resulted in less than 50 percent of the teachers actually using Bahasa Malaysia to teach.
