D’Silva (standing) briefing police personnel on the English Language Learning Course at Iskandar Puteri District Police headquarters.
Four-month programme aims to improve better communication with international travellers
IN line with the government’s effort to turn Iskandar Malaysia in Johor into one of the country’s leading investment hubs, the Iskandar Puteri District Police headquarters has introduced an English Language Learning Course for its personnel.
Iskandar Puteri OCPD Asst Comm Rahmat Ariffin said 26 policemen and women from various ranks had been selected to be part of the four-month pioneer programme which started earlier this month.
At the end of the course, those who have been selected will be deployed to tourist attractions or general public areas to help foreigners, especially international travellers, in Iskandar Puteri.
“We aim to strengthen English language knowledge among our personnel so that they can speak more confidently when helping the public.
“Since we are also located near the Second Link, our police personnel are often called to assist foreigners, so we hope that with their good command of English, we can reduce any issues of miscommunication,” ACP Rahmat said when met after visiting the first language session at the Iskandar Puteri District Police headquarters training room.
The 90-minute class is conducted every Sunday morning until November.
“They will be tested on their level of understanding before we deploy them to their designated area of work,” he said, adding that the personnel would also be placed at information centres, patrol teams and traffic units.
Depending on its success, the programme could be expanded to include courses in other languages such as Korean and Japanese.
“We have quite a number of Korean and Japanese communities here in Iskandar Puteri, and at the same time, we are also surrounded by international universities, so we might look into this idea.
“Communication is one of the vital tasks in our day-to-day operation, so we hope that with this effort we can improve our service to the public,” said ACP Rahmat, who also shared that he had previously taken a French language course.
The English Language Learning Course is conducted with the help of the Johor English Language Teaching Association (Jelta).
Jelta president Vincent D’Silva said the course aimed to help police personnel become proficient in English and explore methods to communicate in ways that were helpful to the public.
“The course is not long in duration or rigid in content as it is tailored to fit the force’s specific needs especially on real-life communication.
“The emphasis will be on listening, speaking, reading and writing skills.
“Our programme also does not follow the traditional format with emphasis on textbooks and grammar,” he said, adding that the personnel would also have the opportunity to engage in role-play, deliver talks and handle challenging situations.
He stressed that when learning a language, listening and speaking were fundamental for the further development of language skills.
“Reading and writing are incidental. The stronger the foundation, the easier it is to build on reading and writing, not the other way around,” he said, adding that the officers must sit for an examination with speaking and writing modules at the end of the course.
