Help, I Can't Read! Confronting English Illiteracy In Singapore | Write Of Passage - Part 1/3
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- Опубліковано 14 жов 2021
- Diana Ser finds out how her motley crew of adult illiterates keep their secret hidden in a world labelled in English.
Stephen, 33, is a successful engineer who can drive without reading road signs. But he has a secret weapon to cope with his inability. Jega, 40, speaks eloquently in his job as a waiter but he reads like a 6-year-old. The hospitality veteran fears being promoted because he can’t read food tags. Jimmy, 60, spent most of his adult life in prison. He wants to start a new leaf but he is bewildered by the English-centric world he’s thrusted into. Xiao Ling, 35, worries that her poor English is the reason her Primary 5 daughter is falling behind. And finally Maya, 40, only lost her literacy 3 years ago in a stroke. Her aphasia causes her to struggle to find the words she wants to convey.
Join Diana as she finds out what each of them would like to do, if only they could read and write English like the average Singaporean.
WATCH MORE Write Of Passage
Part 2: • We Can't Read English:...
Part 3: • Our Last English Lesso...
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About the show: Diana Ser meets a motley crew of Singaporeans, with one thing in common - they can’t read or write. Diana is surprised one of them is a 33-year-old engineer!
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To all the participants, I applaud the bravery on stepping forward to share their stories especially Jimmy. For him, it is a brand new start and everything might seems new to him however, I do hope he understands that "respect" doesn't comes from speaking English but rather on what he does ( the willingness to learn and adapting back into the society at his age is not an easy task hence, you have my respect Jimmy). Keep fighting everyone!!!
It looks to me that, maybe, some these participants actually have (undiagnosed) dyslexia. Some of them are quite fluent while speaking, but have real issues with reading and spelling. Unfortunately, that's a very common scenario for people with with dyslexia.
I have dyslexia and have found ways to cope. Developing a good memory for some details help. I'm great at visual problem solving. Comes in really hand when I need to build things. This allows me to make a good living building cabinets. I also struggled in school. But with great effort, I was able to complete my masters degree in business. There is hope.
This is interesting and should be known to many people, given conditions like dyslexia could also cause illiteracy and are generally 'invisible'. Its also interesting to see this as someone who faces the opposite problem sometimes (I can read very easily but sometimes have trouble understanding speech esp accented speech or if its really fast speech).
I like that Diana is helping is trying to help them and Jimmy’s story is just heartbreaking
Jega is definitely trying to learn
Stephan is trying to improve
Xiao Ling wants to help her daughter
Diana Ser is such a great host in many ways. Liked watching her many years ago...good to see her back, still looking so presentable and likeable.
At the beginning Diana asked Stephen how to spell "Hougang" and "Toa Payoh". I felt it was an incredibly unfair test to test those words. They are not phonetically regular words so it is impossible to break down with phonics. She could have tested Stephen "Redhill" or "City hall" "Raffles Place".
But that said, there is an added challenge in reading road signs and maps in Singapore because our locations are named in Malay, Chinese and dialects. There is no way to use phonics to break them down. We can only use memorization.
Realistically, to be useful in reading in Singapore, you do have to be able to handle cross-language mixin words. Plus their various kind of spelling
The names are easy to spell if you are a individual bad at English but good at mandarin and hanyu pinyin.
@@blackmoon483 Well, Hougang and Toa Payoh aren't really Mandarin. They are dialects. Dialects don't really have a standardized way to spell. So it's a little hard even for Mandarin speakers who don't even have a learning disability.
It's funny yet moving how it's the simplest of goals that are motivating them to do this. I rmb my own illiterate father's wish long ago when he tried studying - He just wanted to read Mcdonalds' menu and be able to order something besides filet o fish for us.
Their stories made me cry a bit. Especially Xiao Ling's. She sounded like a good mother.
You're looking at the ones who're still hopeful that they can change. The truth is, there are a lot of illiterate people, including my parents, who's given up on even trying to learn, because they've tried so many times and got knocked down. Only with much patience and understanding, then can one slowly help them ease out of their shell and open their mind to learning.
Its really heartening to see learners who don't give up on their learning even after they leave school.
I can totally relate to these people…that is how I’m like trying to learn Mandarin…there should be free adult English classes for those who wants to improve beyond their primary school level…
I believe theres an online english learning classes at 25min per session..check on it :)
There are a lot of free resources on UA-cam. So much that we wouldn't even have enough time to go through all of them
I feel like it's slightly different because you are not living in a world designed for Chinese speakers... All the best for you in your Chinese learning!
i feel like the test subjects could and should have been divided into two categories: those with dyslexia and those with difficulty acquiring english as a second or even third language
Agreed! Stephen probably has dyslexia too :( Despite the exposure he has in English, he is still misspelling and misreading the English words. He is very hardworking and very intelligent. I am sure that the literacy intervention he is receiving will help him improve by leaps and bounds!! Rooting for him and all the other participants! Their spirit is undeniably something we can all learn from!!
It takes immense courage to come on national television and speak about your vulnerabilities . Huge respect for all of them ❤️
Jimmy’s store broke my heart and it was so hard to watch . Hope you find peace and acceptance .
This is also a lesson to all of us to be more kind to people around us .. you never know what struggles everyone is going through ❤️ .
I am surprised CNA and presenter never heard of the learning disability known as dyslexia.
Even the therapist didn't mention it. how strange.
Nope, they arent dyslexic.
Episode 2 shows that one of the participants has dyslexia go and watch
@@ericneo3780 Yep. The first epi didnt seem like he was a dyslexic. But came epi 2 they found out that he was.
This is a very heartwarming, touching and enlightening programme reminding us to be more inclusive and understanding.
It is unfortunate that Maya has a left hemisphere stroke which causes her to have aphasia. The left hemisphere is responsible for language and the right is for spatial and creativity.
I taught reading in a local primary school once. I was tasked to help the little ones read better. To my horror, the kids chosen for the class could not even read. This was some 13 years or so ago. I was horrorstruck and started going through reading phonetics and stringing the sounds together. Unfortunately, the English HOD was unhappy with me. “They already learned all this before. You must follow the syllabus we set.” “But Madam,” I argued, “How can I teach kids who cannot even read words like windows, door, school… to read well if they cannot even read what’s on the paper??” She terminated me. I was very saddened then by my weekly sessions with the kids. Some had parents working two shifts & only their illiterate grandparents were caring for them. One of them told me her sibling hit her and was physically abusive. Another spoke of his uncle who tied him to the toilet pipes to whip him with his belt if he did poorly in school. All of them had heartbreaking stories. Compared to my son, who was their school mate, they had such hard lives and I still wonder how they are today. I cried at home after every lesson. One of them told me a year later, when we bumped into each other near the bus stop, “I fail every subject. I cannot read the question so I cannot do. Everything blank.” Sighs. These are the little ones who fell through the crack then. They should be in their 20s now. I hope they are doing okay.
I had thought that English was a relatively simple language, especially when compared with say, Russian, Finnish, Chinese, Japanese, etc., but it turns out that it can be pretty complex. Very eye-opening! Thanks for posting this!
I know how they feel, I’ve studied till O level Chinese.. but I think my current Chinese standard is only primary 3….
same
The tutors could also do with some English lessons. But I applaud them for taking the time and effort to helps these learners.
This programme made me cry …
OMG the best intro ever!!! I was so shocked by realizing I was doing something that it is not the normal human condition, reading.
It feels just like you're just beginning to learn and assimilate to a new language. For those unfamiliar or just learning Mandarin or Arabic, try reading and writing it, it front of the native speaker. This feeling isn't so foreign or out of reach. Also, is the illiteracy caused by dyslexia?
Nah, not because they are dyslexic. Just that they either have not received enough formal education or seldom use the language in their lives. Dyslexia is more of seeing words and characters jumbled. Like b's looking like d's and stuff like that. Speaking from experience coz my mandarin is worse than their english here. :/
To be fair: writing is the hardest part about learning Mandarin, closely followed by pronouncing cluttered, long sentences comprehensively. You could easily be able to read and talk in everyday settings, but be unable to write characters beyond simple and common stuff like 是, 对, 出, 不, 多, 人, 我, 你 or 他.
In Chinese, it's less about being 'dyslexic' than having a good strategy or plenty time to fit all the characters in your head. For me it actually helps knowing some other languages already as I can build the silliest mnemonics. Even Mandarin natives regularly forget how to write characters by hand and re-word a sentence as a result (if they can't look it up).
Four things, in my opinion: 1. The school system - does it encourage the students to use English? 2. Exposure - are the learners using English in context outside of school, ie; in daily life. and 3. We have to incorporate the learner's will (and skill) in absorbing the language and lastly is 4. Access - how easy / difficult is it for the learners to access learning?
For question 1, English is the mandatory language of instruction in all Singaporean public schools. So it is compulsory that students use English in all their classes, with the exception of their second-language classes of course.
Should let Vivian Bala watch this
i think same like u, insult parliamentarian "illiterate" over a CECA disagreement, turns out its the same thing responsible for 42.25% of covid cases , what an irony
thank you for sharing and this is very motivating for me to not give up!!! I have my own struggle too, thank you soo much. Semangat!!!!
*_"I didn't know you could play games in prison"_* 🤨
Thank you for sharing CNA!
0:20 I love that they censored the giant K like no one would be able to tell what it is 😂 sometimes you just can’t help unintentional product placement lol
Kudos to all the participants to step up and want to improve themselves, it takes a lot of courage to face your blockages and overcome them.
The social experiment irked me, the Indian couple and the girl in pink was the loveliest.
The purple haired chick was rude firstly, yea she did help but you could feel she really didn’t want to. Scared of scam? Psssh. What can he scam if he’s asking you to check his form????
To that feminine dude, I have no words for you.
So proud of them! Great job on wanting to improve. Mad respect. 👍🏼
Singapore isn't bad. I know many Singaporean women and their English is superb.
Go check Japan. 99%of japanese are English illiterate despite English language curriculum starting in highschool. The main reason for it is because japanese government use two hundred years old educational methods and ministry of education give English teaching diplomas to japanese teachers based on writing skill tests only, and 99%of teachers can't speak fluent English in Japan. And still they make tons of errors in writing mixing British English and american English.
Japanese also use japanese English, in which confuses foreigners because the meanings are completely different.
I honestly like the fact that foreign workers in Japan adjust to the local language instead of the other way around. And despite the low English literacy rate among its citizens, I'd say Japan is very tourist friendly, even to those who couldn't speak Japanese. That's just what I observed.
high school is kinda too late to start learning a new language imo. shouldve began in elementary
The point isn't how well a citizen of a country can read and write English; the point is how well a citizen of that country can read and write that country's native language. Imagine, if you're a Japanese civil servant for example working for the municipal government office, and you see a native Japanese person, born and raised in Japan, come in to e.g. apply for birth certificate of their newborn, but that person cannot read the forms or write the answers. That is what this series is depicting.
Singapore is an English-speaking country, we teach everything in English. Japan doesn't teach everything in English right? They speak only Japanese in their day to day life right? So I don't think it would be fair to compare these two countries like this.
@@rettosei ? Why Chinese? Chinese isn't the language of education. It's only taught during Mother Tongue lessons. And Chinese ethnicity only makes up around 70% of Singapore? I'm an Indonesian who studied in Singapore from Sec 3 to Univ. I studied Malay as my Mother Tongue. The only time I speak Chinese is in hawker centres because I look Chinese so sellers speak to me in Chinese, but if I were to reply in English they eventually use English too.
Petition MOE to make Ms Diana the official SG English ambassador! Trust me, ppl would improve their English in a hurry
05:50 In the UK, "Stephen" is pronounced the same as "Steven." This just shows, even for someone's name, how spelling and pronunciation can cause problems.
Similar to what Sandi Toksvig has done un the UK. Great Job.
It's wild to me how someone could become a licensed engineer while having the reading/writing comprehension of an 8-year-old.
Learning a language requires practise. Besides books, they can try apps and youtube videos. If they can afford to, they can also throw themselves into an environment where they would be forced to use English frequently. However, they would need to prepare their ego, because they may encounter people who laugh at their mistakes.
I agree with you. This method has been effective for me since I discovered UA-cam back in 2006.
Cant believe I am crying
Not that guy at 38:40 saying he "didn't want to be judgmental" then go pointing out his tattoos and saying he "didn't want to provoke" the other participant.
dude seems like a typical SJW, hate hypocrites like him.
I'm Indonesian and when I went to Singapore, most of the people speak Singlish which is different from the other English, Singlish sounds so mandarin but changing the vocab. Never thought that this problem happens in Singapore, thought only in Indonesia which 30s or above can't speak and write in English properly...
They're code switchers. They adjust according to the environment, different between work places & social settings.
Meanwhile I felt bad having a slow start at reading simplified Chinese just after few mins practice a day for a few months. Though unassisted writing will take its time.
Imagine being illiterate in a rather easy (despite vocabuly-rich and orthographically illogical) language such as English.
Such a good programme👍 esp. when its hosted by Diana Ser ahh....👏😍
She is filled with compassion for humans leh 🥰
She shd be a teacher if not an educator👍. Then she can teach old people like me ah hahaha😉
I’m very sorry to say this but the educational therapist speaks rather badly. Is that a concern at all (I realise she doesn’t teach speaking per se)?
I agree with you … I hope she doesn’t teach speaking!!
Diana: You're so pretty :) Perhaps the prettiest Asian English language teacher I have seen on T.V Yes I am an English language teacher too. I'm in Australia...
Everyone don't learn to read the same way. Schools teach all students the same way without thinking about how each child is wired.
Grammar: Everyone "doesn't"...
I don't believed all schools in Singapore teach the same way, In fact, my secondary school do not have a Science Teacher for Normal Technical (NT) stream but we still end up going for NT GCE N. In my primary school, we do learn and have school exams for science subject but we are not given an opportunity to have science subject for PSLE which affect our score compare to our EM1 & EM2 peers. Do other schools face the same problem as my cohort?
@@jennyleesiewmee7664 Not everyone learn to read the same way.
illiteracy does not mean people who can only read/write Chinese, Malay, Tamil or other languages.
They literally said "English illiteracy" in the title.
@@bryanjohnang So sad I m illiterate, I can only pass examinations but cannot read a book.
Can CNA or anyone here share the information of the English tutors who were engaged for this show? Thank you
I think they’re from Dyslexia Association- and they usually work with children. I wonder whether there is a proper study on adult dyslexia or other kinds of reading disabilities in SG and what kind of help can be offered.
How in the world he passed his driver licence test ?
not a problem.
In my opinion its mainly because the character they use when start learning to read/write is not latin character
Yes. It's easy for German/French to learn English because they are using latin characters, but they are hard to learn Chinese or Japanese. So do the Chinese to learn English.
Yeah, but I mean if some of them are Chinese, memorizing somewhat similar looking characters shouldn't be too difficult for them. I think it's more the distance between written and spoken English that's throwing them off as they're thinking of such rules in their heads.
@@whohan779 I think this is the reason too. Unlike Latin, Italian, or even German, there are a lot more gotchas in how you spell vowels in English.
Same is true of Korean and other Asian languages that do not use our alphabet.
when the spelling part came, I felt that and i think I need to take some lessons.
One consolation that at least most of them speak ok.
They need to read and write starting at the elementary level. It will be hard for them to jump to a higher level of lesson. Their learning will speed up if they are happy with the result.
It nothing still lot of people cannot understand English in spore , quite common
me too some words are I can't really read my pronunciation is really problem I can't study well too really sad for me too😭😭😭....
🙂🌻
Many here, including me, don't even know what gantry is before watching the video.
Stephen isn't bad; How he forms the words are based on the sound of the word. How I view it.
Yes, I think he is using phonics well! He just wasn't formally trained in phonics yet. Hence, we can see that his inability to read and spell could be a sign of dyslexia (even though they didnt formally state it in the video), but having dyslexia is not a sign of poor intelligence. I think he is quite a smart man! So I think he will be receptive to the formal phonics help that they have given him!
i wonder if they had like another language they speak like chinese or malay, bcus i think some of them doesn't
Aphasia impedes a person's ability to verbalise lies but does not stop the creativity to make up stories
I'm a fluent English speaker and I for the first time heard the word gantry
*_"Gantry"_*
Is that what they call *_"toll booth arm"_* or *_"gate"_* in Singapore? I think port crane when I hear gantry.
in surprised by how well youtube auto generated subtitle understand them
Grammarly popped up on my youtube Advert
Was I the only one who didn't know what a gantry is? I've never heard of it during my 30 years of living in an English speaking nation.
Me too, it's my first time coming across the word "Gantry". Maybe it's a word exclusive to Singaporean English?
@@oiawoo9168 That's good to hear! My self-esteem was going down the drain as she was critiquing his unfamiliarity with the word gantry.
It's a Singapore thing 🤭
ua-cam.com/video/2v_pn2Pe0qE/v-deo.html
@@aishx Thanks for the link. I watched it and we use most of those words in Australia, with the exception of menses and luggages. However, if someone says menses, I would 100% understand what they're talking about. I don't think those two are very educated. Surely their are other people in the UK who are more cultured. Gantry on the other hand, truly obscure. 😅
The word 'gantry' is not commonly used in Singapore unless you are working in a relevant job like security officer. If they used the words 'carpark barrier', I think most of them will be able to understand.
I totally empathise with them and I do have a similar problem just that mines mandarin. I doubt my level is even Primary 1 standard :/ My mandarin is so bad, my chinese teacher back in sec sch told me to skip taking my chinese O levels so that an AB would look better than an F.
Although I do fine without relying on mandarin to function on a daily basis, it sucks when I'm unable to read nor write the language. Even speaking is an issue for me. That being said... perhaps its time to try and learn the language again... (3rd attempt) lolz.
Same haha. I didn't grow up in a Mandarin-speaking environment. I can write/speak very basic things, but everyone automatically assumes my Mandarin is good because I'm Chinese. Awkward leh... Still learning what I can 😅
@@noonehere_kasut Ya, i totally know how that feels bro. T-T I often get responses like... "are you a foreigner?" when i have conversations with taxi drivers (in mandarin). :/ haizzz
I think some of these people might have dyslexia
In my opinion, what is more terrifying than not being able to read and write English is, in Singapore many people are not even fluent in the National language, the Malay language.
This is not surprising as Malay is not offered as a mandatory subject in schools :)
Be realistic. Malay is the national language for historical reasons, not practical reasons. You can get by in Singapore easily without speaking a word of Malay but not English. After all, English is the most used language, it's the language of instruction in education and government services, all the public signs and notices are in English, and so on and so forth.
siri on an android lol
It's in the mind. That guy spelling "together" just needs to make the letters bigger and more pronounced, in his mind, when he looks up and to the left. The "r" was so small and dark he thought it was an "n". Not his fault, he learnt to spell that way from his formative years, maybe lighting wasnt that good or the text he played with are all dull and small. So parents remember to buy big and colourful learning materials (or ipad apps) for your babies.
I suspect some of them have dyslexia. The youngest he spelled Hougang initially as Hon… then Houn…he could have caught himself coz folks with dyslexia sometimes mirror write.
They should have met lao su.
How Stephen can become an engineer when he cannot read and write .
a big part of learning a new language is learning vocabulary, if you can memorize a relatively large of common vocabulary, then it becomes more of a task or learning how to properly connect the words, personally i dont particularly like the focus in learning "conjugation names" and "I ,E ,O goes after this letter", such intense theory makes people feel frustrated while learning.
On the contrary, I highly disagree, especially having a brother with dyslexia, if they could figure things out on their own when given a new vocabulary, they wouldn't be struggling with their current condition.
On the other hand, personalised tutoring and breaking down of words helps them connect sounds with written syllables.
They also help answer the big "WHY"s of how things work within a word.
They also help people INFER the pronunciation of a new word they see or the spelling of a new word they hear.
And some of those don’t work for the British English in Singapore. ‘Coeliac’, say.
Would like to test the Chinese ability of the host and the psychologist....lets start with "满江红“
怒发冲冠凭栏处“ haha
Jovale???
Sending a text to someone illiterate is just mocking them.
1:18 wow the edit
All of them are right handed. Most dyslexics are left handed.
This is me .....but in Chinese language~ also one of the participants look like Andrea Razali
Diana Ser stifling her laughter when interviewing Xiao Ling? Such arrogance!
She did addressed it in the video
I can read and write better than them but their handwriting is better than mine
Many are Foreigners from 3rd world as residents here.
It's me but in Hindi and sometime English while writing-
Fix the English spelling system like the French fixed theirs. It's a great idea.
I can tell stephen has dyslexia the way he confuses p with d, n with u etc.
seems like some might be dyslexic?
If not dyslexic, those are not abnormal because they cannot read English. How many can read tamil, thai, etc if not brought up in that environment.
English is my primary language and I don't know what a gantry is either.
Are you from singapore? If you are and take the MRT, you pass through the gantry everyday
I was born and grew up in Canada and I had to look up what a gantry was HAHAHA!
Oh, I thought it was just me (native German). Actually I thought it was a translation for German 'Schranke', but that's more like 'barrier' or 'limit'.
This might be an exceedingly rare instance where a useful sub-3-syllable word does exist in German but not English for a certain concept. I almost thought I went crazy when having no immediate translation.
To be clear though: the opposite (no German equivalent for English word) happens much more often.
@@mikebrown354 actually lta calls it faregates not gantry
@@musicluver85 yeah, i think in NA they use turnstiles as opposed to gantry
Bananas and Coconuts are more white than the white. Ha ha ha!
Stephen's wife is lookin' like stephen's sister. Cute couple though ^_^
Maya 49 yrs old n stroke tat young
God….
'Stephen' is pronounced like 'Ste-ven' and not 'Stef-fen'! Ironic for a video talking about English illiteracy
A bit worrisome to know that. So, reliance on cut n paste from google is good enough for him. What if he did not understand the copied content, in a chemical industry setting? Will be disastrous.
theres no translation involved or changes in the content. google simply read out the words.
its the same as reading comprehension or listening comprehension
C.A.P CAP CAP
Why CNA cant make a show about Chinese illiteracy in Singapore: Chinese but can’t use Chinese!
that should be done by Channel 8😁
I don't think Singapore Government will allow it since majorly of Chinese Singaporeans will fail.
English as a working language is more important for Singapore.
@@SuccessforLifester : That is what I don't like about Singapore Government for making things confusing and complicated.
Our national language is Malay, our official languages are English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil, but we only learn English as our main language and mother tongue language according to our race.
Take our neighbour, Malaysia as an example. Their national and official language is Malay. Even in Chinese Schools in Malaysia, Students also learn Malay as a language. This is a clear cut situation.
@@davidchew6449 It is better for Singapore as Singapore needs the global outreach.
Got phone why need to read and write, just use audio to type your words can already
So you are saying for the rest of your life you would prefer to type everything before saying it right away? Sure, it's handy to have phone to do all the thing these day, but language is a life skill. Depending on where you live, you need to be able to master the language that majority use on that area at the very least.
First
oh dear, they should do Chinese illiteracy instead. Cos most of us had already lost the identity of being Chinese race. In future let's call ourselves "Singa" as race instead.
Usage of Chinese language is not that important locally. In fact it may hinder your advancement in executive career if you are good in Chinese but weak in English. And some mainland Chinese said that we shouldn't be called Chinese, as it would be a disgrace as people would think that we are from China.