the relevance of Geography

It's amazing. How time flies. It has been almost 4 months since I attended a series of courses at the Tourism Management Institute of Singapore. The sessions were pretty useful for me in a sense that I realise that in teaching, we can become very insulated from the real world. The world out there is so wide, expansive and exciting waiting for us, teachers to explore and put them into our lessons. After a few months in NIE, I realise that when one talks about teaching resources, almost none of us talks about linking what is being taught in school to what is happening outside in the working world. It is almost as if that the realms of schools and the working world are cut off from each other, which in actual fact, are not.

Such knowledge will certainly be very useful to teachers I think, as we attempt to make the lessons more interesting and relevant to our students. It is good to motivate the students to learn for the sake of learning. However, it is equally pertinent to motivate and prod the students to study and to make them see the relevance of what they are studying. This is actually one of the reasons why I wanted to take the course, as I wanted to know if there were any connections to what students are studying to what they might be working after they graduate. Mind you, I am talking about average students who may not excel in their 'O' levels and who may not see the relevance and importance of what they are studying in schools.

While the courses in TMIS are not as 'fantastic' as compared to the tourism modules that we take in NUS, what is being taught there can certainly be very impactful to us, teachers. I was completely astounded to know that much of what is being taught in the syllabus about tourism, is also being covered in the course as well, in a very practical manner. And I do see the importance of Maths and its link to Geography too in the industry if one has to deal with air flights and time lags.

I am very encouraged to know that Geography is not at all an 'useless', 'abstract' and 'easy' subject that students may see it to be (I know that there are students who think this way, back in my ESE time). But, I am also equally worried that Geography teachers of the present may miss the important point about linking Geography back to the real working world. Much of what I observe in today's ICT microlessons packages deals with somewhat unrealistic scenarios of asking students to put themselves into the shoes of government officials or some other roles that they know they can never be (I mean, come on, let's be realistic. Don't throw brickbats at me for even suggesting that). While I am not saying that this is bad, my point is there is a real urgency in drumming in to the students that Geography is very important and relevant to what they may be doing in the near future. It can definitely be a very practical and useful subject, as seen in the case of the Tourism Industry.


Not related to this post, but I find this highly interesting. and thought-provoking. Something on river/canals.