Teachers from India join S'pore schools

[janet88]

pinky:

concern2:

It is a cultural thingy, isn't it? Shake head means 'yes' instead of a nod. You all ner watch Tamil movies or Bollywood ah?

only like the mass dancing and hugging trees segment

I only know of lovers playing hide and seek in forests.

[janet88]

pinky:

and we are being told again and again to embrace FT but didnt occur to them to integrate into our society instead of the other way round :x :x

A friend told me her company IT dept was manned by Indians. When she had to go there to settle a matter, the whole floor smelled of them when she opened the door. She said many of her colleagues had problems understanding their English, so they try to resolve problems themselves.
It's really not easy to integrate FT into our society, but we also hope on their part, they try to accommodate to us too. It's a 2 way traffic.

[optimistforum]

I am shocked, as I read all posts in this 17-page thread. A lot of it borders between intolerance and racism. It smacks of "Keep Singapore Singaporean, for pre-defined indigenous Singaporeans". Equally shocking for me, I have engaged in discourse, on this forum, with some of the posters.


I am of Indian antecedents. Whilst I was born in England, my parents are from India. My sister-in-law is from India; she is a teacher (trained in India) and has an accent. However, she is a fantastic teacher (standards of taught English are better than in the UK) and therefore her students can see beyond the perceived parochialisms of "accent".

Most of the call centres I contact are manned by Indians (in India). Like Singaporeans (and the rest of the world) they have accents, and like Singaporeans (and the rest of the world) they speak wonderfully constructed dialogue.

I am curious btw. I hope to visit Singapore soon. Are there many Indians there. Would I feel out-of-place if I visited? Ought I to bother? It is a genuine question!

Regards

[laughingcat]

Hi Optimistforum,


It's been awhile that we chat. I am going to reply your PM soon. So do watch out for it. :evil:

BTW, I may want to add on......I believe that majority of Singaporean are not racist. I also believe that most FT eithic and jobs being taken by FT, I believe these sparks some unhappiness among Singaporean. Jobs is a sacred thing to us all and it being taken away by FT is always a sore in the heart. Worse of all, the requirements set for Singaporean and FT over the teaching position doesn't tally and gel. They are vast different. Most Singaporean rant in the forum are basically ranting about the government policies. Not so much about targeting individual or ethinic. I hope it doesn't come across as us being racist.

I used to have local Indian Teachers during my hay days. They are fantastic. No.....they don't have such strong accent to the extent of not able to understand. Posh English and correct diction I must say so. They are one of my best teachers ever. :please: I still keep in touch with them even today.

To me race is not important. Most important of all is to be able to integrate/blend into the society and be gracious/respectful with one another. That is what everybody in the world wants. However not for certain foreign ethinics and they definitely cause a stir among the crowd. I am sure you will be able to spot them. :evil: :rotflmao:

If you must stop over Singapore. We definitely welcome you and your family. I will! :rahrah: Yes, of course we have Indian here as well. But do come by during the booksales. :evil: You will love it!

[Oppsgal]

kwokwc:

I remember when I was working with some native Indians, for the first 1 mth, really have a hard time understanding them. When they say 'No', they keep nodding their head. When they say 'Yes', they keep shaking their head. So already trying hard to understand their English and communicating, when wants to confirm certain design issue, still trying to figuring out whether they are really saying 'Yes' or 'No'. Wonder what will happen to our kids, if the teachers are also like that.


As for tuition, I think the syllabus has changed so much, that sometimes, it is really hard for parents to teach. Both of my 2 kids don't have tuition. I won't say they are very good, but I think quite well. If nothing goes wrong, they should be in the top 10 in their school. I coach them myself, but I must say, there is some levels of difficulties. Some stuff that they learn now are what we learn in sec school (such as science, they learn human bodies, which are covered in Sec 3/4 biology). I do know some basic and sometimes need to search internet to find the reasoning.

Imagine both parents working, where to find the time and energy to coach the kids. So I think most parents push this responsibility to tutors. Quite a sad thing.

For me, if not do my own biz, can find time, there is no way to coach them myself. In fact, doing my own biz doesn't mean more income, just more flexible time.

Wonder why have kids if not enough time to spent with them in the first place? No time to coach and not enough time to spent for the character development :?

So what's the point of giving birth to lots of kids :?

[resgmom]

I agree with laughingcat. When you look at the best Eng Lit teachers at the top schools, many of them are ethic Indians (interestingly, my Eng Lit teachers that are Chinese, all married Indian guys…haha). They do not have any disernable accents. I guess we do not disagree that many Indians have high English standards. We’re just doubtful on the kind of teachers Sg is attracting. I think it’s the same case with the Chinese teachers from China. I have a feeling that the best of the best will not come to Sg. They’ll either stay in China/India (because they love their country and will want to contribute to the education of children in their own country), or they’ll be attracted to the West with higher pay and higher living standards.


In short, we should continue to attract our native Singaporean to be teachers, who, because of their love for their motherland, would have a higher chance to be the best they can be, to pour their hearts out, to teach the local children. This rational should be the same all around the world.

[nansk]

optimistforum:

I am shocked, as I read all posts in this 17-page thread. A lot of it borders between intolerance and racism. It smacks of \"Keep Singapore Singaporean, for pre-defined indigenous Singaporeans\". Equally shocking for me, I have engaged in discourse, on this forum, with some of the posters


....
I am curious btw. I hope to visit Singapore soon. Are there many Indians there. Would I feel out-of-place if I visited? Ought I to bother? It is a genuine question!

Regards

Please don't let the racist attitudes demonstrated on this thread keep you away from visiting Singapore. It is a great place to visit and, as a tourist, you will be welcomed and treated with respect. (We need your dollars and pounds, you know. :evil: )

Singaporeans are not more, or less, racist than any other people in the world. Indians can be just as racist (even with Indians from other states). Haven't Indian parents in the UK ever balked when their daughters acquired non-Indian (or non-South Asian) boyfriends?

Singapore is not more racist, but rather, it is 'race-conscious', due to being a multi-racial society. So there are more 'generalizations' (i.e. stereotyping) of other races (especially the minority races) as in, \"Indians are like this,\" and \"Malays are like that.\" But overall, the people here have learnt to more-or-less live peacefully beside each other. Even if they feel less-than-cordial towards each other, their 'attitudes' will only be displayed anonymously on online forums, never face-to-face.

So don't let the posts in this thread deter you. Come on over to Singapore!

[optimistforum]

[quote]Nansk wrote: Even if they feel less-than-cordial towards each other, their 'attitudes' will only be displayed anonymously on online forums, never face-to-face. [/quote]
Sadly, they are expressing their real feelings online, and being hypocritical face-to-face........

Also, some views expressed by the Kiasumasters on this thread, are odd to me. I somehow expected a little more impartiality from them........

[nansk]

optimistforum:

[quote]Nansk wrote: Even if they feel less-than-cordial towards each other, their 'attitudes' will only be displayed anonymously on online forums, never face-to-face.

Sadly, they are expressing their real feelings online, and being hypocritical face-to-face........

Also, some views expressed by the Kiasumasters on this thread, are odd to me. I somehow expected a little more impartiality from them........[/quote]I get your point, and would urge you not to let it affect your mood or decision to visit Singapore. Although a person may be a 'kiasumaster' here, in real life, they are just normal people, with a normal person's opinions (right or wrong) and prejudices. Please don't let a normal person's base opinions expressed online prevent you from expanding your own world and experiencing a new country.

Also, the very fact that people cannot openly express racist views (and must resort to anonymous forums to do so,) shows that the establishment in Singapore is working towards becoming a tolerant and inclusive society.

Look at it this way: you (and your children) have a chance to open your mind to a new culture and be a better person after the experience.

[optimistforum]

Nansk, I still shall visit Singapore. There is after all a local Indian population there, and so I should not feel out of place, unsafe or unwelcome… I hope!!!


I just did not expect ca 98% of posts on here, from educated, civilised and enlightened Kiasu members to purport such views. I do agree that foreigners to any land should wholeheartedly assimilate into local society, and to add cultural, and economic value to it.

Anyway the matter is closed now, otherwise I may come across as a whinging Anglo-Indian polemic.