SJKC Lick Hung Parents' Q&A Support Group

[wongjie90]

I had heard of students dropping out in Std4 because the difficulty level shoots up at that stage. My daughter nearly quit after Std4. This was becoz she had illiterate parents who were schooled entirely in English.

What LH probably does not realise today is that a lot of kids come from non-Mandarin educated homes where both parents are not from Chinese medium schools. In the past, LH had more understanding teachers who knew that a lot of parents in SJ/USJ are more comfortable in English.

I had always known of teachers and supporters of Chinese medium schools to be very proud of their language and that they probably think lowly of the bananas in their midst. Sometimes they need to be reminded that some of us choose the vernacular schools because of their reputation for better education. My main reason for selecting LH for my kids was quality education. Mandarin was secondary.

What do you mean by Quality Education " Base on what kind of criteria ?

[sydneymak]

as long as the kids do their very best, they r 100% in parents eyes

[fRaNkY]

Wow, your wife is very resourceful leh ...

FYI - Choy Kee was busy frying chicken wings and drumsticks for some of the classes - walau lagi "high-class" party leh ....

Anyway, I was heartened to hear my son and his friends shouting to each other at the school gate - "Nie yeo tai lai mah ? " - and all replying in the positive affirmative ... wah, really a small group of "gangsters" ....

Son saw some parents bought over 40pcs of those specialty big donuts, sj parents are real rich!

[currymee]

as long as the kids do their very best, they r 100% in parents eyes

Just wait till you start Lick Hung as a Std 1 parent, then you will feel the "heat" after the first/second exams .... if your child doesn't do so well and you have a chat with the class teacher on report-card collection day .... can be stressful leh ....

Not because the class teacher is nasty or bad, but ... don't know how to say it but when you are there sitting in the class waiting for your turn to talk to the teacher, you will feel it .... closest feeling is that of sitting at the waiting room waiting to see the DENTIST when you were young !!

I "kena" during the Std 1 report-card collection when I have to explain why my son did so badly in BM and English (back then, he just passed both subjects - now, he tops the class in them !!) .... and what remedial actions I plan for my son .... I remember mumbling a lot of "nonsense" as I was caught off-guard. The teacher then mentioned that she is concerned if his performance does not improve esp with LINUS screening starting in 2010.

The rest is HISTORY, my son and I went into a CRASH COURSE of BM and English ... see how stressful that can be ....

PS: Now, we have to "CRASH COURSE" for Mandarin pulak ... This time, I am way out of my "comfort zone" ...

[currymee]

Son saw some parents bought over 40pcs of those specialty big donuts, sj parents are real rich!

KFC and Domino's Pizza in the class next to my son's !! - in my son's class - 100% ALL JUNK FOOD - teacher nearly "pengsan" !! (according to my son, the children had co-ordinated all purchases by every child even though the teacher asked them to bring healthy food ) - there were so many varieties, I thought I was looking into a Speedmart99 !!

One of my son's classmate, a girl that I knew well was carrying 2 bags full of "precious goodies" home , I asked her, "Did you go shopping ? - She turned and said cheekily, No-lah, Uncle, we just have a BIG FUN class party with a BIG BRIGHT TWINKLE in her eyes !! " hahahaa ... they may not have the pizzas and chicken, but they sure had FUN AND SUGAR HIGHS !!

[Rhiga]

...What LH probably does not realise today is that a lot of kids come from non-Mandarin educated homes where both parents are not from Chinese medium schools. In the past, LH had more understanding teachers who knew that a lot of parents in SJ/USJ are more comfortable in English.

I had always known of teachers and supporters of Chinese medium schools to be very proud of their language and that they probably think lowly of the bananas in their midst. Sometimes they need to be reminded that some of us choose the vernacular schools because of their reputation for better education. My main reason for selecting LH for my kids was quality education. Mandarin was secondary.

You have a choice to choose a school when Mandarin is regarded as secondary or the least important subject..

What you are saying is - because you are illiterate in Mandarin and hence your kids are weak in Mandarin. So, you expect the school that you have chosen for your kids will reduce the standard of Mndarin to suit you kids ..

You have a very interesting mindset...

This is the same mentality/mindset from some politicians --- > because some students from different background are weak in English, they should reduce the standard of English from primary to tertiary level so that these studenst can cope.... And I never failed to hear criticisms from parents like you and others regarding the foolish English language policy of this country…

Well, why not just ask the World to wait for you because you are incompetent...?

Sounds faimilar in this country, right ??

[wongjie90]

There are 2 schools : SJKC A and SJKC B. Every year,the PMR result for SJKC A always execellence and more than 100 over students scoring 7A"s but the result of SJKC B are normal and only have about 30 7A's students. Therefore, a lot of parent rush in to school A because they though it given a quality on thier education. I won't deny it but how about school B, C and etc ? Do you think the Hm and teachers of these school not hard working enough ? In my opinion, quality education = quality parent because all these quality parent actually are very concern on their children future and a lot of attention and hardworks has been carring out. How about if i move all the students from school B to A and vice versa, what do you think the result of school A and B?

[wendy loke]

Actually all schools are categorized in three categories. A , B and c based on the numbers of enrolment. Schools will be graded as smart schools, cluster schools and high performance schools with one of the criteria is their outstanding results. The school management and the teachers do play an important role on the pupils results. Just compare the test paper of Lick Hung and any other schools and you will know what I meant. Be patient with your child and make sure they do their home work then they will be okay.

[wendy loke]

Mandarin is very important now. My children thank me for sending them to the Chinese school. They told me that their friends were surprised that they are able to speak Mandarin.( As they speak good English as well).

[Rhiga]

Of course, of course, where on earth except Malaysia that people will be surprised when a Chinese can speak Mandarin….!!!

Ops, I have forgotten Singapura-pura….

[Rhiga]

Mandarin is very important now. My children thank me for sending them to the Chinese school. They told me that their friends were surprised that they are able to speak Mandarin.( As they speak good English as well).

Hi Wendy,

May I ask why Mandarin is very important now ?

[currymee]

Slight deviation from usual topics on Lick Hung but kind of related due to forumer's Q&A - I just kay-poh to add my 2 cents ...

Hi Wendy,

May I ask why Mandarin is very important now ?

World history (from my understanding and interpretation - need to clarify this statement as I don't to be the next "Mat Sabu" ) has shown repeatedly that the IMPORTANCE/SIGNIFICANCE of any language is tied to 2 significant factors:

The first key factor - the economic and military prowess of the then-dominant country/empire.

Greek - during the Hellenic era
Latin - Rome
French - through the European royal houses
Spanish - South/Central America
ENGLISH - British empire followed by US domination afer WW2.
Indian dialects - for Weat Asian countries around Indian Ocean
Chinese dialects - East Asia

Mandarin (or to be more accurate Chinese dialects) has always been influential on the Eastern Asian languages - most notably on Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Mongols - unlike the European empires which sought to conquer the other countries, China was too busy and too big in just trying to "conquer itself" - hence its impact on other countries beyond its immediate neighbours were not so significant.

The recent (last 20 years) rise of "super-economic" power China has seen the world paying attention to it and Mandarin - for Mandarin to reach the global reach and influence of English, well, China has to become the defacto super-power in both economic and military spheres - something which America may try to prevent.

As for people wanting to learn Mandarin/English/Swahili/Urdu, MOSTLY FOLLOW THE MONEY !! Only the Chinese will learn it for their CULTURAL IDENTITY and even that some may dispute Mandarin as its mother tongue, I know coz I am one of them - for me and my family, Mandarin is not my mother tongue (it is just a close linguistic "relative") - ours is HAKKA and I made sure all my kids speak HAKKA. Learning English/BM/Mandarin/Swahili/Urdu/etc ... are all OTHER LANGUAGES as far as I am concerned and the more you know or can master, the BETTER !!

The second key factor - CULTURAL STRENGTH - a country that has developed a strong cultural strength/identity (esp in the HEAD - mind share !! ) can withstand any of the sweeping influences from the first factor - just think of France and Japan.

In Malaysia's case, the country and population is always swayed and influenced by other powerful neighbours, racial and religion factors, hence its cultural strength/identity is still evolving. Malaysia was once part of the greater Hindu/Buddhist sphere (era of Majaphahit, Langkasuka, etc), Siamese empire, Indonesian (via Palembang, Padang, Aceh, Bugis, Jawa), Islam, Arab (currently ) etc ... then of course, the British came, threw into the mix their culture, language plus a good mix of Chinese and Indian - so a REALLY GOOD BOWL OF ROJAK !!!

The most similar country in SUCH A ROJAK STATE like us is USA - except that we are weaker in population size, military and economic sense !!!

[currymee]

SJKC Lick Hung is on 1-week Deepavali (Diwali) Holiday

Lick Hung is ON HOLIDAY - others are studying !!!

Repeating this just in case, you start to panic when you see children from other schools ARE GOING TO SCHOOL and start to doubt ... !!!

[Rhiga]

Slight deviation from usual topics on Lick Hung but kind of related due to forumer's Q&A - I just kay-poh to add my 2 cents ...



World history (from my understanding and interpretation - need to clarify this statement as I don't to be the next "Mat Sabu" ) has shown repeatedly that the IMPORTANCE/SIGNIFICANCE of any language is tied to 2 significant factors:

The first key factor - the economic and military prowess of the then-dominant country/empire.

Greek - during the Hellenic era
Latin - Rome
French - through the European royal houses
Spanish - South/Central America
ENGLISH - British empire followed by US domination afer WW2.
Indian dialects - for Weat Asian countries around Indian Ocean
Chinese dialects - East Asia

Mandarin (or to be more accurate Chinese dialects) has always been influential on the Eastern Asian languages - most notably on Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Mongols - unlike the European empires which sought to conquer the other countries, China was too busy and too big in just trying to "conquer itself" - hence its impact on other countries beyond its immediate neighbours were not so significant.

The recent (last 20 years) rise of "super-economic" power China has seen the world paying attention to it and Mandarin - for Mandarin to reach the global reach and influence of English, well, China has to become the defacto super-power in both economic and military spheres - something which America may try to prevent.

As for people wanting to learn Mandarin/English/Swahili/Urdu, MOSTLY FOLLOW THE MONEY !! Only the Chinese will learn it for their CULTURAL IDENTITY and even that some may dispute Mandarin as its mother tongue, I know coz I am one of them - for me and my family, Mandarin is not my mother tongue (it is just a close linguistic "relative") - ours is HAKKA and I made sure all my kids speak HAKKA. Learning English/BM/Mandarin/Swahili/Urdu/etc ... are all OTHER LANGUAGES as far as I am concerned and the more you know or can master, the BETTER !!

The second key factor - CULTURAL STRENGTH - a country that has developed a strong cultural strength/identity (esp in the HEAD - mind share !! ) can withstand any of the sweeping influences from the first factor - just think of France and Japan.

In Malaysia's case, the country and population is always swayed and influenced by other powerful neighbours, racial and religion factors, hence its cultural strength/identity is still evolving. Malaysia was once part of the greater Hindu/Buddhist sphere (era of Majaphahit, Langkasuka, etc), Siamese empire, Indonesian (via Palembang, Padang, Aceh, Bugis, Jawa), Islam, Arab (currently ) etc ... then of course, the British came, threw into the mix their culture, language plus a good mix of Chinese and Indian - so a REALLY GOOD BOWL OF ROJAK !!!

The most similar country in SUCH A ROJAK STATE like us is USA - except that we are weaker in population size, military and economic sense !!!

Thanks Bro,

I know, and I think you know I know..

I just get pissed with the mentality of certain people who regard Mandarin is important now because of the commercial/career value..

I learnt the language because of cultural identity (as you correctly mentioned) and I thanked my father for sending me to Chinese school during the time when Mandarin has the lowest economic value. As a matter of fact, knowing Mandarin is a ‘liability” at that time as English is the de facto language for further studies and career opportunity.

Well, probably I am the old-fashion type.. To me, to be able to write my own name in my mother tongue, to be able to recognize my father and mother name in Chinese, to be able to name my kid in my ancestor language is the fundamental identity as a Chinese…


Cheers.

Ps. No disrespect to those from English-education background.. I understand your Mandarin limitation is not your choice. It was the result of your parents educational decision. But, what I hate and I reiterate I damn bloody look down on those who carry the mentality that Mandarin is a secondary language to Chinese. For those who belong to this category, you are welcomed to try me , in the language(s) you prefer.

[QuietStorm]

SJKC Lick Hung is on 1-week Deepavali (Diwali) Holiday

Lick Hung is ON HOLIDAY - others are studying !!!

Repeating this just in case, you start to panic when you see children from other schools ARE GOING TO SCHOOL and start to doubt ... !!!

That explains it. My neighbour's kid has school today. He sends his kid to Chee Wen.

Just curious ah....many Indian students in Lick Hung ah? Why one week holiday to celebrate Deepavali one?