Teaching languages

Teaching languages

From Kompas

The government has sent a lot of civil servants to foreign countries to study. Many other candidates failed in the English test. Even those with university degrees often lose the chance of going abroad because of their poor English.

English is the only second language taught in both junior and senior high schools. Some 50 years ago, during the Dutch colonial period, Dutch was taught as a foreign language and at the same time used as the medium of instruction in elementary school (Dutch: HIS -- Hollandsch Inlandsche School).

In the junior high school (Dutch: MULO -- Meer Uitgebreid Lager Onderwijs) three more foreign languages were taught -- English (compulsory), German and French (optional), or Malay and Javanese. Senior high school (Dutch: AMS -- Algemeene Middelbare School) was divided into two departments -- A and B. In AMS-A, besides English, German and French, Old Javanese and Arabic languages were taught to those who majored in Eastern culture, and Latin and Greek for Western culture.

Today more foreign languages should be taught at high schools. Beside English, German or French, Japanese, Tagalog and Mandarin could be taught to make language teaching East oriented so that the students' perception can be broadened.

IMAM RUSDI

Jakarta