BY JOY FANG

THE BAD: MEDICATED OIL RUBBED INTO EYES OF PRIMARY 2 PUPILS

OPERATIONS executive Christopher Teo, 48, remembers having medicated oil rubbed into his eyes by his Primary 2 teacher during Chinese dictation, or mo xie, when he could not recall the words and stared into space.

His teacher mocked and neglected pupils like him who were weaker in the language, so he stopped paying attention and had no motivation to learn, he said.

Mr Teo, whose family speaks Hokkien and English, failed all his Chinese tests in primary and secondary school until he scraped through his O-level examination with a C6.

"I regret being born too early. If I had had the Chinese lessons that some primary-school pupils have now, I might have come out of school better off," he said.

Tax lawyer Shauna Lye, 24, whose family is English-speaking, was so traumatised by her Chinese lessons that she decided to migrate with her family to Australia after her O levels.

She said: "Chinese was taught at a standard which I found very difficult to comprehend. I struggled to grasp even the basics of the language. I felt discouraged."

It would have made a big difference if her teachers had been more encouraging and suggested ways to improve, instead of merely pointing out her shortcomings, she said.

Sales manager Evelyn Lim, 25, would get rapped hard on the arm with a wooden ruler in primary school if she did not know how to read words in a passage during Chinese lessons.

"It was embarrassing. I started to hate the teacher and the language after that," she said.

Film-maker Yong Shu Ling, 23, whose family does not speak Mandarin, said: "It was a tremendous uphill battle, and the difficulty increased each year. Ten years of torture, I'd say."

In the end, she got a C6 for her O levels, and chose to go to a polytechnic even though she qualified for a junior college, because never having to study Chinese again "was a big plus".

Doing away with exams and grades might make learning the language more enjoyable, she said.

THE GOOD: TEACHER USED FAVOURITE PICTURE BOOKS

CIVIL servant Clarissa Koh, 24, used to be quite weak in Chinese, but her teacher changed her perception of the language by introducing her favourite Chinese picture books by Jimmy Liao to the class.

Anderson Junior College's Ms Siau Fong Fui described the pictures to the students and asked them to write a short Chinese poem based on an illustration.

Ms Koh said: "This gave us a lot of room for creativity as well as freedom to express ourselves.

For people who come from English- speaking families like me, learning from pictures and stories is much more effective and enjoyable than just memorising words."

Ms Siau still uses these methods to teach her students.

Since 1995, enrichment centre Julia Gabriel Centre for Learning has been using music, drama and poetry to teach children aged between six months and 12 years.

For example, a teacher tells pupils a story, which typically ends with a problem that they have to brainstorm about and solve.

Ms Dong Yue, head of its Mandarin EduDrama department, said: "Children can learn the language best if they love it, and they can love it only if they feel interested and have passion for it. It is the teacher's job to make them feel involved."

Mrs Regina Cher, 40, enrolled her 31/2-year-old daughter, Clara, in the centre, fearing that the girl would face difficulty picking up Mandarin since the family does not speak it.

For six months, Clara did not speak a single word of Mandarin, but her interest began to grow and she began to ask her parents how to say words in Mandarin. Now, she is not afraid to speak the language, said Mrs Cher.

Xue Ni Language Centre's teachers use picture books to spark discussion, increase children's interest in reading, and think creatively about questions.

Founder Wu Xue Ni said: "We must make friends with them and communicate with them so that they can accept what we teach. Teachers who scold and punish you will only cause children to resist you and dislike the subject."

joyfang@sph.com.sg

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