 Problems for ESL learners in Malaysia. Malaysia is located in Southeast Asia which occupies parts of the Malay Peninsula, and some part of the Borneo island. These two lands are separated by the South China Sea. It was once colonized by the British from the 18th century, until it gained its independence in 1957 as the Federation of Malaya, and later informed Malaysia with joining of the North Borneo and Sarawak in 1963. Bahasa Melayu commonly known as the Malay language, is the national language of the country while English becomes the second language. English in the Malay history. In the early 18th century, many Malaysian can converse in English fluently as they need the language to communicate with the British ruler. However after independence, English was no longer important as it was during the colonization. The Malay language had been recognized as the national language, and every formal letter must be presented in Malay, to respect the Malay king's constitution and the right of Malays as the majority in the origin of Malay Peninsula. Due to this, people started to get comfortable in using their mother tongue in daily life. Be aware that there were three main races in the Malay Peninsula which made up from Malay, Chinese, and Indian, and indigenous people such as Arang Osli, while there are more than 20 ethnics of natives in the Borneo island. All of these races have a different mother tongue. Therefore, the ability to speak in the national language will be gap-filling the indifference in term of communication. Those who are living in Borneo were exposed to the English language, as they had been colonized longer than those in the Malay Peninsula. Most schools in the Borneo island were established by the British and the educators were among the church members, such as the priests and nuns who were British, and later on train local priests and nuns in the English language. The close bond among people of Sarawak with British ruler, especially the White Rogers family, made the old folks fluently communicate in English. Problem for learners in Malaysia, scenario. After Malaysia gained its independence, one of the changes was recognizing Bahasa Melayu as the official language. However, English remains as the second language. In every government national school, Bahasa Melayu becomes the medium of communication and all the textbooks are printed in Malay language, and Mandarin for Chinese government school while Tamil and Tamil government school. The main reason for the separation of schools curriculum, was to respect these three main races who dominate the peninsula of Malaysia. In another hand, Sarawak and Sabah still use English as a medium of communication until the curriculum was revised and standardized. The changes in the curriculum had slightly left a big impact on the next generation of learners, especially in mastering the English language. When the Malay language had been recognized, learners had not given extra focus on English. They became comfortable in communicating in their mother tongue, and use Malay when communicating with other races. Problem. According to Michael Richardson, barely 50% of Malaysians are literate in English. This figure worries the government as English has emerged as the leading international language, especially in science and technology. Malaysia had always wanted to be leading in the global economy or host in major international events. Therefore English is essential, and its proficiency is a must to enable them to interact with visiting foreigners. Language learners mostly shy to make mistakes either in their writing or speaking English. They always get demotivated to use the language, thinking that people will make fun of them if they make a mistake. Hence they tend to be passive and keep quiet the whole lesson. Another problem is the lack of English option trained a teacher to teach English in school. This is also due to the impact of changes in the curriculum after independence. Most of the product that complete high school still cannot master the language, and not confident enough to take up English study. How to solve the problem? Introduce games in English lessons. Games can actually help learners to communicate more in English. It can be used to establish rapport between learners and teacher or among themselves. Learners will have fun learning and motivated to achieve their target. Use pair group work. Learners learn better together than to work individually. Interactive lessons. The teacher should guide learners to communicate with abroad learners through social media, such as Facebook, to tackle their interest involving a real-life situation. Government policy on English. The government should support and financial to send teachers for training, or get native speakers to assist a group of teachers to build up their confidence and upgrade their proficiency level. Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course today. If you like this video, please subscribe by clicking that button down here, and click on any of the videos here on the left for more interesting teaching tips for getting certified to teach English abroad and online.