85 cops give thumbs up to NST English workshop
KUALA LUMPUR: Despite their busy schedules in keeping the country safe and sound, 85 police officers from Bukit Aman police headquarters took time off to attend the New Straits Times-Newspaper in Education (NSTNIE) workshop.
A participant, Superintendent Mashita Ismail, 52, said she was motivated to continue improving her command of English after attending the four-hour workshop, which boosted her English language skills and imparted pointers on how news reporting works.
“I never stopped advising colleagues, friends and family not to spread false information, but to read the newspaper instead for reliable news sources.
“The workshop gave pointers on ways to write and communicate fluently in English. This is important in our work as we deal with people from all over the world.
“We need our officers to be fluent in English while having a grasp on the latest news,” said Mashita, who has served in the force for 20 years.
Another participant, Inspector Mohamad Nazerin Masrol, 32, said speaking and writing in English were skills needed by police officers, regardless of rank.
“Some of us lack a good command of the language, but it does not mean that we should give up.
“We need to know how to speak and write in English so we can do well in any situation.
“For example, we need to be fluent in English when faced with press conferences that deal with major incidents involving foreigners.”
The NST-NIE workshop was organised by Johor English Language Teaching Association (Jelta) and sponsored by University Book Store Malaysia. NST is the official newspaper.
“We have tourists arriving to our country and we need enforcers to speak the language,” said Jelta president Vincent D’Silva, who conducted the workshop.
“The standard of English is deteriorating.
“The prime minister said we need to improve the teaching and learning of English and it will be a problem if police officers do not have a good command of English.”
D’Silva taught participants newspaper jargons, such as “byline”, “blurbs” and “captions”.
They scrutinised newspaper reports through skimming and scanning exercises and were given insights into how to distinguish fact from opinion, as a prelude to encouraging them to express their own opinions.