Part 1
a) Rationale/Challenges:
A unique characteristic of our schools
is that the students are from three different ethnic groups namely Malay,
Chinese and Indian. These three dominant ethnic groups have their own beliefs,
culture, values and norms that will affects their behaviors and actions. It’s a
goal of Malaysian education and schooling practice to enhance social
integration among these various ethnic groups beyond mere physical integration,
and intends to eliminate social prejudices and discrimination. In Malaysia, the
objective of nation building and forging national unity amongst the various
ethnic groups ranks very high in her educational and political agendas. In fact,
national unity and integration are the cornerstone of the education policy. It
was stated as our major goals of the national education policy as the
following: ‘To inculcate and nurture national consciousness through
fostering common ideals, values, aspiration and loyalties in order to mould
national unity and national identity in a multi-ethnic society’.
One way to achieve these goals
is to provide an opportunity for students of different ethnic groups to
interact with each other. In essence, the argument holds that bringing all
ethnic groups together will lead to cross-racial contact, which will lead to
better understanding of other races, or ethnic groups and would promote greater
social tolerance and interaction. Teachers in multicultural classrooms must be
open to their students and put forth the effort needed to get to know their
students inside and outside of class. If a teacher is hesitant about being
open, the reciprocate and the students will become estranged from one another
and the teacher. In order to be open, teachers class will must be interested in
their students, fearless, willing to try new and different things, sure of
themselves in order to avoid taking things personally, and non-judgmental of
his or her students. Many cultures have many different mores and folkways.
Teachers must be open to what the students are doing and find out why they do
what they do. This openness will create communication in the class, which will
ultimately develop into a classroom that is learning, understanding, and
culturally fluent. In addition to openness, teachers must know the learning
patterns of the students in their class. Teachers must understand the learning
patterns of the students who grew up in a culture other than their own.
Observations
in various schools in Malaysia found that it can be hard for a teacher to
understand and grow accustomed to students diversity. If a teacher uses
instructional methods like group discussion, student presentations, and tries
to activate students as they lecture, the teacher may become frustrated,
disenchanted, and may even think that students are below average students with
below average intelligence. This is not the case, Malaysian students are taught
to sit, listen, and recite memorized information. Students do not participate in
the class and believe everything that the teacher says is absolutely true.
Teachers who open themselves up to cultural difference will effectively handle
culture clash while teachers who assume that Malay students are rude and Indian
students are dumb will close communication in the classroom and destroy any
hope of having a multicultural classroom. The best way to handle culture clash
is to be open, knowledgeable, and not be afraid to talk about the cultural
differences in class no matter what discipline the teacher is teaching. An open
teacher will create an open class and an open class will have open lines of
communication that will create a positive and beneficial learning environment
for everyone.
Language difference is another
major issue that teachers must address when establishing a multicultural
classroom. A teacher who tries to learn the native tongue of her or his
students, if only a word or two, will convey respect for the culture of his or
her students and increase their potentially suffering self-esteem. Introducing
the language or culture of all students in the class into the curriculum will
communicate that students of that culture are important. However, a teacher
should not assume that a Chinese student grew up in the Malaysian culture and
knows about it. In order to establish a respect for other cultures in the
classroom, teachers must move beyond "multicultural moments" or
pseudomulticulturalism (Miller, 1997). Miller suggests that one very simple way
for all teachers to add multicultural ideas and content to his or her
curriculum is to build a classroom library of multicultural literature (Miller
,1997). No matter what subject you teach you can build a library of books by
and/or about different cultures.
An important
step in teaching children to be comfortable with their cultural background and
essentially themselves is to encourage and value their input in a small group
of other students. This has to do with the organization of the classroom and
the development of lesson plans. When grouping students, teachers should put
students from differing backgrounds and ethnic together.. An accomplished
teacher should be able to create projects for a group of students from
different backgrounds and ethnic groups that will require students to work
together, therefore allowing each student to be an important part of the group
and learn information through the interaction of the group. Lesson plans that
can do this and interest students will become invaluable for teachers to posses
as the need for teachers to become culturally fluent continues to grow. This is
rarely done in the schools observed.
The observations done also found that teachers are not competent enough regarding to
multiculturalism. Teachers should be competent in the context of actual
pluralism will mean being able to participate effectively in a multicultural
world. It will mean being ‘’bicultural’ as well as bilingual. It will
mean knowing how to operate as a competent actor in more than one cultural
world; knowing what’s appropriate and what’s inappropriate, what’s acceptable
and unacceptable in behavior and speech in cultures that differ quite radically
from one’s own. Competence in a pluralist world will mean being able to
function effectively in contexts people had previously only read about, or seen
on television. It will mean knowing how to be ‘different’ and feeling
comfortable about it; being able to be the ‘insider’ in one situation and the
‘outsider’ in another. Managing diversity, then, may very well be part of an
on-going process which enables teachers to become world citizens—persons
who are able to transcend their own racial/ethnic, gender, cultural and
socio-political reality and identify with students from different ethnic
groups. They are thus a transcending people who know no boundaries, and
whose operating life-principle is compassion. This is the principle that should
be modeled in schools at all levels, in the process of living diversity.
There
are many reasons to account for this concern. Many experienced teachers,
especially older teachers who earned their degrees more than 10 years ago, were
not required to take any courses specifically related to multicultural
education. These teachers have become acquainted with multicultural education
concepts and practices through a variety of avenues based on their own interests
and levels of motivation or the insights and incentives of their school and
district administrators. Cultural diversity was not a clearly defined
educational issue when many of them began their teaching career. The Malaysian education system
contains some multicultural aspects according to the National Education Philosophy but a fully multicultural education system is not implemented. For
some teachers, however, courses in multicultural education were included either
at the undergraduate or graduate courses level, but the multicultural education
concepts frequently were constructed as additive to education rather than
infused into the curriculum and instruction. Similarly, a few teachers may have
completed a course labeled multicultural education that was actually more of an
ethnic course – not a course exploring multicultural education inclusive of
people, policies, programs, process, and practices. Courses such as these did
not elucidate the meaning of multicultural education.
Discovering diversity takes
creativity, extra effort, diligence, and courage on the teacher's part. Thus, schools
in Malaysia have rarely offered an enthusiastic welcome for student difference.
However, a multicultural classroom must thrive on these differences and use
them as a foundation for growth and development. Differences command work,
resolution, openness, and understanding. Teachers who address these differences
and add them to the curriculum will succeed in creating a multicultural
classroom that will advance the educational goals of all students.
Reference:
Miller, Howard M. "Beyond 'Multicultural Moments' (Middle Gorund)." English Journal 86 (1997): 88-90.
Miller, Howard M. "Beyond 'Multicultural Moments' (Middle Gorund)." English Journal 86 (1997): 88-90.
b) Lesson Plan
Subject:
English
Level: Year
5
Duration: 1
hour
Theme: World
of Knowledge
Topic:
Culture and Traditions
Focused
skill: Writing
Integrated
skills: Listening and Speaking
Specifications:
1. Listen to
simple descriptions, recounts and factual texts and talk about them.
2. Talk about
actions of people and animals in a story read, heard or viewed.
3. Construct
simple sentences and compound sentences based on a given stimulus.
4. Write
simple descriptions with guidance.
Learning
Outcomes:
At the end of
the lesson, pupils should be able to:
i.
State
three different features of culture and traditions practiced by different ethnic groups, which are Malay, Chinese and Indian.
ii.
Complete
a text with missing words and simple phrases while listening to a recording by
dictation practice.
iii.
Take
part in dialog by asking partner about their favorite festival and how they
celebrate it.
iv.
Create
a short paragraph to describe ethnic groups.
Previous
Knowledge: Pupils have been taught about different ethnic groups in Malaysia.
Moral Values:
i.
Respect
other culture and traditions to foster a harmonious relationship among
multi-cultural society.
ii.
Preserve
rich cultural practices of the peoples in Malaysia.
Teaching
Materials: Flash cards, video and audio recording, worksheets and descriptive
text
Descriptive
Text:
Instructions:
Fill in the blanks as you listen to recording on festivals celebration in
Malaysia. The recording will be played twice.
FESTIVALS
IN MALAYSIA
Malaysia
is a (1) _______________ country consisting of Malays, Chinese, Indians and
numerous indigenous people. There are many festivals celebrated in
Malaysia. (2) ________________________is
practised almost all the festivals, which means inviting (3)
________________________to house on festivity occasion. Special dishes are
served for festivals and friends during "open house".
Major
festivals in Malaysia include Hari Raya Aidilfitri, Chinese New Year and (4)
__________________.
Hari
Raya Aidilfitri is the most significant celebration for Muslims. It signifies
the end of the (5) _____________ month of Ramadan. The words ‘Hari Raya’ means day of
celebration. It is also the time for (6) _________________________.
Chinese
New Year is celebrated by the (7) _______________ community and it lasts for a
full two weeks! It begins with a reunion dinner which is (8) ______________ for
every member of the family to attend. Chinese New Year is the time when spirits
are appeared and (9) ________________ are made to Gods. The unmarried
youngsters are given Ang Pows which are gifts of money enclosed in little (10)
________________.
Deepavali
on the hand is an Indian festival of lights. Deepavali means (11)
____________________. It celebrates the (12) _______________ of good over the
evil. Hindus take a traditional oil bath in the early hours of the morning on
Deepavali day and after prayers entertain their friends and guests to
"open house”.
Part 2
Sociopolitical Setting
As far as
demographic composition is corcerned, Malaysian society is very diversified.
The Malays and other indigenous communities who constituted about 60 percent of
the population are classified as Bumiputera. On the other hand, ethnic Chinese
who made up about 37 percent and Indian communities who contributed the
remaining 11 percent. These two groups were classified as non-Bumiputera. None of
these groups are homogenous, being made up of peoples with varying languages and
religions. Whilst the Malays are all Muslims and speak Malay language, other Bumiputera
communities especially in the two Borneo states of Sabah and Sarawak practise
differing religions and have their respective ethnic languages, On the other
hand, the Indians are mainly Hindus and speak Tamil, whilst the religious and
language backgrounds of the Chinese are much more complicated. The religion and
language divisions in Malaysia, therefore, occur both within and across ethnic
groups. In spite of the general increase in population, from about 10 million
in 1970 to approximately 22 million in 2000
as indicated in the censuses of 1970, 1980,1990, ethnic composition in Malaysia
has not changed significantly. As far as nation-building is concerned, it is
the Bumiputera and non- Bumiputera ethnic divide that is perceived as most important
by many Malaysians as it illustrates the delicate demographic balance between
the two categories, each constituting about half of the population (Shamsul
A.B., 1996a;323). And within this division, it is the Sino-Malay relations that
is perceived as most crucial as reflected in the socio-political development
and tend to dominate the politics of nation-building in Malaysia.
Ethnicity Nationalism and Nation-Building
In Malaysia,
the Malays felt that Malay nationalism that matured in 1957 should be the basis
for the country’s nationalism, as other nationalism were externally oriented
(pre-independence Chinese and Indian nationalism in Malaya). However, the non-Malays
were skeptical about this view, as they saw that accepting Malay nationalism and
its hegemonic tendencies might result in the encapsulation of other ethnic
communities into Malay society. This is something that would ultimately undermine
the culturally pluralist basis of the polity that was established in 1957. For
the Malays, their intention to subordinate other ethnic communities into the
framework of ‘Malay nation-state’ was obstructed by the consociational framework
that anchored the political system. This system is based on power sharing
mechanism in which every ethnic groups attempt to seek maximum power to protect
their interest and influence national policies. Therefore, ethnic struggle in
this connection may not be so much about political independence, but rather
about getting some limited objectives pertaining to economics, cultural, religious,
linguistics, and so on within the framework of the existing state. These
illustrate the notions of ethnic ideology of nationhood held by each individual
ethnic group. Perhaps, this might be the same factor that ‘saved’ Malaysia from
plummeting into endless ethnic confrontations, as the system provides adequate
space for conflict regulation, despite being severely challenged in the 1969
racial riot.
Managing Ethnicity and Consolidating Nationalism
History has
shown that Malaysia is never short of nationalist ideals to form the basis of a
nation. Indeed, the country’s independence was largely attributed to the
struggle of Malay nationalism. However, within Malay nationalist movements of the
pre-independence era there were clear ideological divisions between the radical
and conservative groups (W.R. Roff, 1994; Ariffn Omar,1993; Ikmal Said, 1992;
Firdaus Abdullah, 1985). Even after the conservative-nationalist group
represented by UMNO managed to dominate the post-independence Malaysian
politics, the aspiration of creating a Malay nation-state has not been
materialized. Instead, the nationalists had to compromise to the creation of ‘a
plural society nation’ when independence was granted in 1957 and shared power
with the non-Malays, who were mainly immigrant communities then had settled in
the colonial Malaya in the 19” century. Nevertheless, despite the creation of a
power sharing mechanism at the Federal level which illustrates the formation of
Malaysia’s model of consociational democracy, Malay political supremacy was reconstituted,
enshrined in UMNO as the backbone of the Alliance ( 1957- 1974) and later the
BN coalition government. Malay centric or rather UMNO centric government has
been the hallmark of Malaysian politics. Thus, in contrast to the‘ideal consociationalism’
arrangement (Lipjhart, 1977), the system in Malaysia can be considered as a
system of ‘hegemonic consociationalism’ (Milne and Mauzy, 1999: 18). Whilst the
Malays are politically dominant, the non-Malays, especially the Chinese are
economically superior. This delicate balance or perhaps an outstanding
discrepancy has further complicated the project of nation formation in the
country.
The post-independence
era, saw that Malay hegemony has been fiercely challenged by the non-Malays.
They felt that Malay dominant thesis was an ideology that served to dominate
them, hence perceived that there
were conscious attempts by the nationalists to turn nation-building as an
ethnic project which will ultimately threaten their ethnic identities and the
basis of the ‘plural society nation’. This partly explained the reasons behind
the non-Malays opposition to the national language and education policy in the 1950’s-
1960’s, and the national cultural policy that was introduced in 1971. Apart from
that, the post-independence Malay nationalism has also to cope with challenges from
other factions within Malay and Bumiputera communities who espoused the notion
of an Islamic state; and notions of Kadazanism and Dayakism as the definitive
identities in the two Borneo states of Sabah and Sarawak respectively.
Nation-building in Malaysia thus could be seen as a struggle of every ethnic groups
against the state (read a Malay centric state) on one hand, and on the other,
against each other to materialise their respective versions of a ‘nation’. But
the most obvious contestation was between Malay vis-a-vis the non-Malay groups anchored
by the Chinese. This is the most salient struggle which had left several
damaging political scars to Malaysian society, the worst culminated in the 1969
racial riots. This is also a struggle, which formed the basic characteristic of
Malaysian politics.
Whereas the
Malays were concerned about sustaining Malayness and strengthening Malay- Islamic
hegemony as well as improving their economic gains, the Chinese fear was the
perceived threat to Chinese culture and Chinese language, the defining features
of Chineseness, from the exertion of the Malay or Islamic dominant ideologies. Although
Wang Gung Wu (1988:4) asserts that, ‘the Chinese have never had a concept of
identity, only a concept of Chineseness’, the perceived threats to aspects of
their ‘Chineseness’ such as Chinese language and culture, be it real or
imaginary, that came from Malay nationalism and Islamism had resulted in the
revitalization of Chinese cultural movements to project Chinese identity. For
ethnic Chinese, the symbols of their identity lie in Chinese schools, the
Chinese mass media (especially the press), and Chinese associations. The main functions
of all these institutions are to promote Chinese language and culture, thus
sustaining Chineseness. Therefore, as long as the basis of cultural pluralism
is maintained in Malaysia, the Chinese and the other non-Malays’s aspirations
to sustain their distinctive ethnic identities will be guaranteed.
References:
1.
Lijhart,
Arendt (1997). Democracy in Plural Societies. New Haven: Yale University Press.
2.
Miline,
R.S and Mauzy D.K. (1999). Malaysian Politics Under Mahathir, Routledge: London.
3. Shamsul
A.B. (1996a) ‘Nation-of-Intent in Malaysia’, in Stein Tonnesson and Hans Antoev
(Eds.), Asian Forms of the Nation, London: CurzonPress, pp. 323-347.
