Panel Perunding Mata Pelajaran (PPMP) State Level Meeting 1/2010

Date: 4th May 2010
Venue: SMK Indahpura, Kulai

The first state PPMP English meeting was held recently in Kulai. As chair for SPM English, I attended the meeting which was chaired by En Shanmuganathan, Principal Assistant Director, English Unit , JPN Johor. Also present were En Rozlan and Hj Jemali (senior suprevisors) and Pn Eva Abdullah (Pengetua Cemerlang and Chair for PMR). About forty members were present and the state programmes for 2010 were lined up. The programmes are:

• LET (Learn English Together)- primary schools to make use of S-BELT module
• Exam Techniques workshops
• Pedagogy course
• Immersion Programme
• Video-taping of lessons
• Internationalisation programme
• "Common Errors" Module
• "Writing Simple Sentences" Module
• Spelling Competition
• EW20
• Public-speaking/Drama/Play

Public examinations results were also discussed and targets for UPSR, PMR and SPM set by the JPNJ. In my capacity as the chair for SPM, I think PPMP should also look into research on teacher competencies to address the real problems faced in teaching English. We must have realiable data in our decision-making process. Decisions on what strategies to choose must not be based on what we FEEL is the problem. This is to avoid giving the wrong treatment for the wrong  problem. I am wary of the current role of PPMP - module-production seems to be the order of the day whereas it should be more forward-looking and that data-driven culture must be a part of it. Mr Rozlan (senior supervisior English Unit) responded to my idea and said it could be done on a small scale first. I reached home at 6.30 p.m. really exhausted.