Teaching non-English subjects in English a distant dream

Teaching non-English subjects in English a distant dream

JAKARTA (JP): The government's policy to allow high schools to
teach subjects like mathematics and physics in English seems a
distant dream for most high schools.

Good English teachers who are able to teach in English are
hard to find, especially in the provinces.

It is no secret that high school graduates in general speak
poor English and they need to take English courses to improve
their skills.

Even top high schools in major cities like Jakarta, which have
the resources to teach their students non-English subjects in
English, are reluctant to do so.

Only a few elite schools, which aim to create English-speaking
Indonesian students and have recruited many foreign teachers for
that purpose, find no problem with the policy.

The following are comments of several high schools which were
interviewed regarding this new policy.

Arifin Rusmana, principal of State Senior High School (SMIN)
I, Jl. Boedi Oetomo, Central Jakarta:

Mathematics and physics need deep comprehension and teaching
both subjects in English would make it difficult for students to
understand the lessons.

Our students, coming from various income groups, have
different levels of English knowledge.

Rich students can go to English courses to improve their
English language skills from a young age. They would have reached
a high level of English by the time they get to high school and
might be ready for lessons in English.

But many students who come from poor families only learn
English at school, due to a lack of money to pay the fees for an
English course.

So, why should we force ourselves to teach in English when our
students could not fully understand?

For the moment, we prioritize improving our students' English
skills. We are renovating our language laboratory for that
purpose. When the renovation is done, we will run extracurricular
English courses for free.

Hen Sugirdjo, vice principal of the Catholic girls' high
school Tarakanita I, Jl. Pulo Raya IV, South Jakarta:

As a matter of fact, we would probably not face many
difficulties to teach non-English subjects in English because
most of our students are familiar with the language.

They mostly come from middle- to upper-income and educated
families. From childhood, many of them speak English at home,
learn English at noted courses, or get private English lessons at
home.

Many of them have traveled overseas extensively and have had
direct contact with English-speaking communities.

As such, they have enough proficiency in English when they get
to high school.

But, as yet, we have no plans to teach non-English subjects in
English.

I don't think it is necessary to teach in English if we can
use Indonesian to make them understand.

We might teach many lessons in English in the future.

K.H. Machrus Amien, founder and one of the principals of the
Darunadjah Islamic boarding school, Jl. Ulujami Raya, South
Jakarta, which has about 2,000 students studying in the junior
and senior high schools.

For the moment, we don't think it is necessary to teach
mathematics and physics or any other subject in English because
the national examination is done in Indonesian.

We don't think the policy is feasible for now.

Anyway, we do think English is very important. English is the
source of knowledge and the key to developing ties with the
international world.

In our school, we have a program of learning to teach in
either English or Arabic. The purpose is to make students able to
teach Islam to people in both languages.

So far, the number of students opting to teach Islam in
English is 30 percent higher than those wanting to teach it in
Arabic.

Andy Mountain, curriculum coordinator of Global Jaya Junior
High School in Bintaro Jaya, Tangerang.

For us, teaching non-English subjects in English is not new
because we have been applying the system since its establishment
in 1995.

About 40 percent of subjects are currently taught in English.

Junior high school students are taught mathematics, science
(physics and biology), arts and humanities (geography and
history) in English.

Math is taught six times a week; three times in English and
three times in Indonesian.

If the subjects are given in English by an expatriate teacher,
an Indonesian teacher is present during the class as translator
should there be any difficulties.

Science classes are bilingual. Practical lessons are conducted
in Indonesian but theory is explained in English to make students
acquainted with international scientific terms. (gis/02)