Irony

The Ministry of Education spent millions of RM to bring in native speakers of English to share expertise and train teachers and students. As an English teacher of 22 years who had been trained in the USA, I humbly think that the action is such a waste of money. Their expertise is very much questionable. I wonder if any Tom, Dick and Harry would fit for the job if they are able to speak English fluently.... Of course they are capable. it's their mother tongue. But are they equipped with necessary pedagogy and teaching methodology? I was quite surprised that some of these teachers came from South Africa! My guess is quite a handful of them probably just couldn't find a good job in their on native land and this offer from the Ministry of Education was just in time for an escape! (Of course I am not generalizing all... I insist on the word handful). Some of these native speakers came to school for a few weeks then went missing. Some complained incessantly about everything - school rules, teachers' attitude, hot weather, etc. Some commented that code switching is a must and Malaysian teachers need to do code switching most of the time to teach English effectively. Some commented on the books we use as references... too old and out dated.... there is NO Future tense! Instead future forms should be used. English is arbitrary anyway! Some middle men would definitely make plenty of money! If they get a comision of RM2k per person a month, 2K x 200 person = 400k per month x 24 months = count! The money spent on these foreigners should be spent on Malaysians! My privilege to further my study has been denied twice! Allocation given was too limited. There was no allocation to allow more teachers to further studies. The money spent on these so called English language expert should be spent on funding Malaysian teachers/ lecturers to do and complete their PhD so that they could train more teachers at various levels. And these Malaysian expertise will definitely bring more profit and benefit to the whole nation..... Just my 2 sen....