JobStreet English Language Assessment

After some incubation, finally JobStreet English Language Assessment (JobStreet ELA) is borned!!!

Today, New Sunday Times gave a good write-up on it on Page 13 on NST. Check it out here .

Eric Sito, General Manager of JobStreet.com shared with NST on the mechanics of JobStreet ELA, and hopefully, we will be able to do our little bit to help improving the English Language of the workforce, where employers would have a better way to select job seekers with better English language command, and hence, job seekers would work hard to improve on their English.

Check it out at here .

It is launched for Malaysia now, and it would be launched for Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand next month.

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Encourage any of my blog readers to share with me any event that you come across. As long as the event/activity/initiative is education/charity/youth oriented and is not-for-profit, I will be more than happy to post it to share

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Brainyflix.com and also FreeRice.com

Thanks to Mark Lee for this sharing!

To all of you who feel bored in learning English, this could be a good way to learn English vocabulary. Do check out this Brainyflix.com .

You would get to view videos that are made by general public on each word! It could be a good way for you to learn and remember it well.

And you can contribute to the knowledge base too, by creating your own video to share!

And again, I would make the plug for FreeRice.com . It is getting better and better!!! A very good way to build up your english, and now it has a lot of other stuff too. Keep up the good job! And the founder has donated the website to UN Food Program already, so it owuld be direct donation to helping to feed the poor!

19,200 grains feed a kid a day. You can make the difference!
And you can learn your vocabulary, learn your geography (knowing countries and its map, and also capital), chemistry symbols, French, Italian etc.
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Chen Chow's Other Posts
Subscribe to Chen Chow's blog

Would encourage any of my blog readers to share with me any event that you come across. As long as the event/activity/initiative is education/charity/youth oriented and is not-for-profit, I would be more than happy to post it to share

Feel free to quote any post within my blog, as long as you link it back here. Sharing is always a good virtue. :)

Top 10 Articles in chenchow.blogspot.com (Aug 08 to Nov 08)!

Since it is Hari Raya Haji and I am staying in my room today, I feel that I should go back and look at my blog further.

I decide to look for which articles are most popular at which month.

As I only activated Google Analytics in late July, so my analysis can only be done for 4 months, August to November.

Below would be the top 10 articles for each month! This traffic is based on those who click into my specific links. So, the actual readers would actually be much more, since a lot would be reading from the main page of chenchow.blogspot.com .

Thanks to my blog reader for helping to pick up these articles! :)

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All-Time High (21st July 2008 to 30th November 2008)
1. Malaysia Budget 2009 - 821 Page Views (4 Times Top 10)
2. Past Year SPM Trial Exams - 428 Page Views (3 Times Top 10)
3. SPM Trial Exam Papers - 411 Page Views (2 Times Top 10)
4. Teaching of Mathematics & Science in English - 267 Page Views (3 Times Top 10)
5. TMI New Board Members - 245 Page Views (1 Time Top 10)
6. Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) Top Universities Ranking - 232 Page Views (1 Time Top 10)
7. McKinsey & Company - KL & Singapore Office Recruitment - 222 Page Views (3 Times Top 10)
8. The 10 Commandments for Business Failure - 199 Page Views (1 Time Top 10)
9. JobStreet.com - Forbes Asia "Best Under 1 Billion" - 193 Page Views (2 Times Top 10)
10. Northeast Malaysia Forum - Datuk Tony Fernandes - 184 Page Views (1 Time Top 10)

November 2008

1. Malaysia Budget 2009 - 130 Page Views (4 Times Top 10)
2. SPM Trial Exam Papers - 127 Page Views (2 Times Top 10)
3. Free Sepang A1 GP Grandstand Tickets Courtesy of JobStreet.com - 97 Page Views (New Top 10)
4. Bill Clinton Free Public Lecture in KL - 90 Page Views (New Top 10)
5. 2 Malaysians Among 10 in UN Commission of Experts on Reforms of the International Monetary and Financial System - 78 Page Views (New Top 10)
6. Comprehensive US Applications Guide - 63 Page Views (New Top 10)
7. Past Year SPM Trial Exams - 59 Page Views (4 Times Top 10)
8. In Memory of Lee Nian Ning (1987-2008) - 50 Page Views (New Top 10)
9. McKinsey & Company - KL & Singapore Office Recruitment - 50 Page Views (3 Times Top 10)
10. Teaching of Mathematics & Science in English - 49 Page Views (3 Times Top 10)

October 2008

1. SPM Trial Exam Papers - 284 Page Views (New Top 10)
2. Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) Top Universities Ranking - 183 Page Views (New Top 10)
3. Past Year SPM Trial Exams - 132 Page Views (3 Times Top 10)
4. Teaching of Mathematics & Science in English - 121 Page Views (2 Times Top 10)
5. Malaysia Budget 2009 - 112 Page Views (3 Times Top 10)
6. Global Peace Festival 2008 - 63 Page Views (New Top 10)
7. JobStreet.com - Forbes Asia "Best Under 1 Billion" - 58 Page Views (2 Times Top 10)
8. Singaporean who made it to Princeton after failed to enter NUS 4 times - 56 Page Views (New Top 10)
9. Doha International Conference - 53 Page Views (New Top 10)
10. CEO Series of Talks 2 - Justin Leong - 51 Page Views (New Top 10)

September 2008

1. Malaysia Budget 2009 - 398 Page Views (2 Times Top 10)
2. Past Year SPM Trial Exams - 121 Page Views (2 Times Top 10)
3. JobStreet.com - Forbes Asia "Best Under 1 Billion" - 119 Page Views (New Top 10)
4. McKinsey & Company - KL & Singapore Office Recruitment - 59 Page Views (2 Times Top 10)
5. Speech By Abdul Kalam, Former President of India - 56 Page Views (New Top 10)
6. Accenture Graduate Consulting Opportunities - 54 Page Views (New Top 10)
7. Siow Lee Chan - Bronze Medalist - Paralympic Games - 54 Page Views (New Top 10)
8. UPenn Acceptance Rates Increase - 51 Page Views (New Top 10)
9. 1Malaysia.com.my - Datuk Seri Najib bin Tun Abdul Razak - 51 Page Views (New Top 10)
10. Teaching of Mathematics & Science in English - 47 Page Views (New Top 10)

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August 2008

1. TMI New Board Members - 223 Page Views
2. Malaysia Budget 2009 - 181 Page Views
3. The 10 Commandments for Business Failure - 142 Page Views
4. Past Year SPM Trial Exams - 96 Page Views
5. Northeast Malaysia Forum - Datuk Tony Fernandes - 57 Page Views
6. Mavin Khoo - Devi: In Absolution; In Aid of Pusaka - 56 Page Views
7. Additional JPA Scholarships for SPM 2007 - 51 Page Views
8. Celcom Launched Executive Plan - 48 Page Views
9. McKinsey & Company - KL & Singapore Office Recruitment - 46 Page Views
10. JPA Scholarships - Interview with Tan Sri Ismail Adam - 45 Page Views

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Click here to read more of Chen Chow's posts

Would encourage any of my blog readers to share with me any event that you come across. As long as the event/activity/initiative is education/charity/youth oriented and is not-for-profit, I would be more than happy to post it to share!

Online Resources to Learn English

The importance of English is not to be undermined. This is an initiative by UTM to share the resources with Malaysian students of other universities. I couldn't find the URL of this initiative. If any of the blog reader found it, please do share it.

This is quoted from NST

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The Online Resources for Learning in English (MyLinE), initiated by Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) two years ago, will be open for use to all students in public institutions of higher learning (IPTAs), beginning today.

Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said the programme highlighted the benefits of collaboration among universities, besides representing the right response to the use of technology for teaching and learning.

“We would like to see the best practices in IPTAs. We will expand programmes or technologies from any university to be shared by other universities to prevent them from developing a new programme which has been initiated by others,” he said after launching the MyLinE portal at UTM city campus here today.

MyLinE, which was first introduced to semester 1 UTM students in 2006/2007, is a self-access learning resource to enhance English language communication skills among students at tertiary level.

The current main learning resources of this portal are grouped under topics such as English for Academic Purposes, English for General Communication and Rest and Relax with English.

Mohamed Khaled said the portal generated further interest among the students and the hits soared to 30,950, as of 8am today.

“We will monitor the usage of MyLinE by other IPTA’s and hope they will also share ideas to develop and update the portal contents,” he said, adding that about RM4.5 million was allocated to develop the programme.

Meanwhile, UTM Vice-Chancellor Tan Sri Prof Dr Mohd Zulkifli Mohd Ghazali said the programme would benefit all students as the resources were designed with the academic needs of tertiary-level students.

“It is hoped that such resources will add variety, choices and opportunities for learners to improve and enrich their English language competency,” he said


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Click here to read more of Chen Chow's posts

Would encourage any of my blog readers to share with me any event that you come across. As long as the event/activity/initiative is education/charity/youth oriented and is not-for-profit, I would be more than happy to post it to share!

Teaching of Maths and Sciences in English - What do you think?

Kian Ming highlighted in Education Malaysia on 2 letters to editors recently on this topic of Teaching of Maths and Sciences in English.

One of them is by our YB Khairy Jamaluddin in NST and the other one is by Yap Soo Huey in The Star .

What do everyone think on this topic? Do you think that Teaching of Maths and Sciences in English would be the best way? Or what would be the best solution, judging from our country's current situation. I.e. if we want to move on from here, and you were the Minister of Education, what should you do?

Personally, I would like to say that I admire YB Datuk Seri Hishamuddin for being very thorough in getting opinion, before making up his mind. He is conducting various roudn tables to get feedbacks from teachers, students, parents etc, to gauge on this program of Teaching of Maths and Sciences in English. He doesn't change the policy overnight due to political reasons, although he could have easily done that.

As it has been rightly pointed out by YB Khairy, no one denies that we need Malaysians to have solid command of English. That is not the question. The question is how can we strengthen the institution of English Language.

Personally, I would like to suggest that for primary school, lets revert back to old system, but put in a lot of emphasis to bring up the standard of English Language. Bring back those retired teachers and I'm sure many Malaysians who are retired and yet with good command of English, wouldn't mind spend additional hours teaching the children - future generation of Malaysians English Language. It would take a lot of efforts, especially to bring up the standard of English for rural areas, since most of those retirees who can speak English are in urban area. But that would be a good step.

At the same time, lets have some English-based Maths and Science textbooks for parents to purchase for their children to learn on their own. This would enable those who want to go further have an avenue to learn. Perhaps, even allow those books published by those Singapore publishers to be sold here in large scale. That would enable more people to learn English.

From there, the students would hopefully have better command of English after Primary 6. Gradually increase the standard of English Language tested in UPSR and in school assessments. As what Andrew Loh mentioned, cultivate the learning of speaking and listening in English.

After my Form 5, while I am quite ok in reading and writing English, listening and speaking of English is a challenge, particularly on listening. This is the same experience, when I learned French at Cornell University.

So, my hope is that when it comes to secondary school, there would be whole-hearted effort to really boost up the English Language standard of students. And in fact, bring SPM to even earlier, say around June/July of Primary 6. After that, have the students learn the bridging of Maths and Sciences in English, while brushing up their language command. Maybe not just for English. This would prepare them further for secondary school.

It would take a leap of faith for our government to make this move. A lot of people are going to look into this issue from a political angle. But lets hope that goodwill will prevail, and we can do something for our future generation of Malaysians.

It is my hope also that there would be an online collaborations among Malaysians to set up a large resource of learning English for Primary and Secondary School students. Maybe this might benefit the urban and suburb one more, but with internet penetration growing, that would help a lot of students.

What do you guys think? Feel free to share your thoughts.

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Click here to read more of Chen Chow's posts

Would encourage any of my blog readers to share with me any event that you come across. As long as the event/activity/initiative is education/charity/youth oriented and is not-for-profit, I would be more than happy to post it to share!

Aid To Children - Supporting World Vision

Thanks to my blog reader for highlighting this.

Besides Free Rice , which tries to build up world's population vocabulary, besides trying to solve world hunger, by donating rice through advertisements in those page. So, for all of us, it is just answering those vocabulary questions and the rest is provided by the sponsors. A large number of world's population has helped in that aspect.

This one is in support for World Vision , where it is called Aid To Children . It is giving 0.25 cent per vocabulary question that one answers correctly. You can try answer and see that the dollar amount is going up. Do help spread the words around!




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Click here to read more of Chen Chow's posts

Would encourage any of my blog readers to share with me any event that you come across. As long as the event/activity/initiative is education/charity/youth oriented and is not-for-profit, I would be more than happy to post it to share!

NiEXUS - an e-learning site to learn English

Thanks to a reader for forwarding this to me.

This would be another good initiative to promote the learning of English Language, to strengthen the level of English for primary and secondary school students in Malaysia.

The link of this article is at NST

Full article as follow
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NiEXUS, the latest addition to the New Straits Times' Newspaper-in-Education programme, is a new English e-learning site for primary and secondary school students.

Built as a self-access learning site, NiEXUS has content that teaches English through fun, animated games and news-based exercises.

The site also provides web space for the sharing of views and creative expression while helping students enhance their IT skills and general knowledge.

The site contains more than 10 links to various language activities that complement the English language syllabus in schools.

Central to this site is News Flash, where four major news events from around the world are highlighted each week.

Clicking to this section will enable users to learn more about the countries involved, read the featured articles, and test their language skills through the given exercises.

The stories are presented in a simplified format with a glossary of difficult words for weaker students.

More advanced students can also access the published article for reading through a PDF link.

The Language Games section teaches grammar, vocabulary and writing via animated games.

Students at any proficiency level can access this section, regardless of their prior knowledge.

After finishing their activities, students would have improved their language skills to some degree, thanks to the short explanations after each answer.

Students can challenge their creative and critical thinking abilities via The Continuing Tale, Writing Prompts, My Say and Creative Twists sections.

For the more adventurous, NiEXUS hosts two links -- My School Rocks and A Day in Your Life -- that give students the experience of newspaper publishing.

Students can design their own front page using the tools given.

These are among the first journalism-based activities made available online for Malaysian students.

Teachers, too, can download ready-to-use NIE lessons from the site and monitor their students' NiEXUS activities online.

A progress chart is automatically created for every registered student.

NiEXUS is an authorised site so only schools registered with NIE will be able to access its activities.

Access is free to schools under NST School Sponsorship Programme (SSP), and to those subscribing to the NST this year (for the period of their sponsorship and subscription respectively).

Schools not under either category but who are interested in participating can register with a fee of RM150 per school year.

The NIE unit is currently holding teacher briefings around the country.

The new NiEXUS site has got teachers excited, as its first briefing session proves.

Jacob Matthew, from SMK Subang Utama, Petaling Jaya says it is an interesting and attractive portal with a good selection of activities where students will enjoy writing on the happenings at their school in this portal.

Sri Wahyuni Mohamed Kham, a lecturer at a teachers training college, is enthusiastic about what the students can do on the site.

The Continuing Tale is a very creative way to get students to think critically and creatively.

"And the beautiful part is that students are encouraged to write," she says.

My School Rocks, A Day in Your Life and My Say are great ideas to get students to write and express themselves, providing an excellent opportunity for students to have their work published and shared.

The Teacher Site is good in helping teachers monitor their students' progress and providing generous amounts of NIE activities.

As NIE facilitator Jagdish Bain puts it: "I think it is an excellent way to get students involved in the net. Even I am excited!"

For more details on NiEXUS and to subscribe, call Hanna Sheikh Mokhtar or Kulwant Kaur at the NIE Unit at 03-2056-9615/9692 or fax 03-2282-2335.

NiEXUS can be accessed at NiEXUS

ESUM Public Speaking Competition 2008

ESUM Public Speaking Competition 2008

The annual ESUM(English Speaking Union of Malaysia) Public Speaking Competition is back! As usual, two finalists will be selected to represent Malaysia in the International Public Speaking Competition in London in May.

The preliminary round and semi-finals will be held on the 8th of March. For the preliminary round, participants will have to deliver a 5-minute prepared speech themed "New Frontiers, New Horizons" as well as a 3-minute impromptu speech. For the semi-finals, participants will have to deliver a speech themed "If I could change the world…"

Interested participants must be aged 16-20. Watch out for the registration forms will in the upcoming Sunday Star Education pull-outs.