Brunei Students Highlight Skills In Chinese Language

Bandar Seri Begawan – Brunei pupils and students studying in a Chinese school have expressed its advantages in acquiring skills and learning the Chinese language.

Besides acquiring skills to communicate in the Chinese language, making students to be multi-lingual, they are also exposed to certain aspects of a different culture.

Radio Television Brunei crew went to the Chung Hwa Secondary School, in the capital to take a closer look at how some of the Malay students are progressing in their basic studies of a totally new language.

For three year-old Abdul Khabir who studies in Kindergarten One, it looks like he's having fun learning the Chinese language and counting the numbers in Chinese.

Abdul Kabir can also sing a Chinese song.

A group of Malay kindergarten pupils is able to sing a Chinese song fluently.

Mohamad Adi Fadli who's studying in Primary Four has already shown his expertise in Chinese calligraphy.

He also reads out a Chinese story on winter season.

Meanwhile, Rashidah Damayanti, a Secondary Three student, told RTB's crew that she goes to a tuition class to improve her study.

She said she communicate with her classmates in Chinese, but speaks in Malay with her Malay friends.

The Malay students in this school are encouraged to converse in Chinese language among them.

Through consistent practise, the students will be able to become more fluent and master the language.

Meanwhile, in the Temburong District also records a high number of Malay pupils studying in a Chinese school.

The Pai-Yuek school is the only Chinese School in Temburong where almost half of its pupils are Malays.

Located in Pekan Bangar, the Pai-Yuek school has less than 200 pupils.

Although the number is small, what is significant about it is that almost 50 percent of the pupils are Malays.

Zulhairi Bin Pendi, 12, started his foundation in education here, studying at this school for almost seven years.

Now, Zulhairi is able to read and write in the Chinese language fluently.

Meanwhile another pupil, Nur Syafinah Binti Haji Abdul Rahman, is a Primary Six pupil.

She can speak Mandarin very well because her mother is a Chinese origin, while her father her is Malay.

Nur Syafinah said that at home, she and her mother like to communicate in Mandarin.

According to Dayang Jamaniah Binti Mohammad said a mother whose four children are studying at the Pai-Yuek school, she regards the school has a high educational standard when compared to some of the government schools in the country.

Dayang Jamaniah admits that she would not hesitate in sending her children to the school.

Meanwhile, Dayang Tee Muk Tang, one of the teachers at the Pai-Yuek School, said the level of fluency among the Malay pupils is low.

Dayang Tee has been teaching at this school for 20 years. -- Courtesy of Radio Television Brunei 

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