Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1190498
11 JAMES DEBONO ORTHOGRAPHIC mistakes plaguing Maltese 'O'level exam papers have examiners worried, year after year. "The large quantity of ortho- graphic mistakes reinforces the idea that after many years of studying, Maltese students still continue to get their spell- ing wrong," a report by exam- iners on the performance of candidates for the Maltese 'O'level exam concludes. The examiners' report re- veals "the level of culture" of those who actually used the word 'pilatu' – which is the Maltese name for the biblical Pontius Pilate – when asked for the synonym of 'bdot' (pi- lot), or those who misspelt Mater Dei hospital as "Mater Day" or "Mother's Day" hos- pital. Despite these mistakes, the report thankfully notes a large number of good answers, in- cluding citations from Imma- nuel Mifsud poem Aqta' Fjura u Ibni Kamra, when writing an essay on the environment. A number of students used interesting and imaginative metaphors in their writings: "I felt like the Sant Antnin plant with all the plastic bags I held in my hand," a student wrote on a shopping experi- ence; while another writing on obesity observed: "while in other countries diners would already have finished their dessert, in Malta we would be still eating the appetizers." Those writing on the envi- ronment referred to over-de- velopment and construction, the uprooting of trees and the amount of plastic in the sea causing the deaths of turtles and fish, and in their solutions to these problems students recommended clean-ups and avoiding buying single-use plastics. One student was congratu- lated for his metaphor on the environmental situa- tion in Malta: "Malta is like a rose. Nature is the flower and buildings form the stalk of this rose. But I would like to ask the question: where is the flower because all I am seeing are thorns." When conclud- ing, he augured that "in the future there will be less thorns in the flower." The examiners also found a number of refer- ences to Mifsud's Aqta' Fjura u Ibni Kamra. Despite these positive as- pects the examiners also noted the use of incorrect terminol- ogy lifted off other languages like English and Italian, like "gassijiet serra" (greenhouse gasses), "elettriku renewabbli" (renewable energy), "jiddis- trijuwixxi l-pjaneta" (destroy- ing the planet), "atmosphera" (atmosphere), "surġ erija" (surgery), u "tippreventa" (to prevent). Some candidates also used terms taken wholesale from Italian, such as "Kienet ġ urnata bellissima" (it was a very beautiful day) and "Nink- winaw l-ambjent bil-fattoriji" (we pollute the environment with factories). Others relied on English words in phrases like "nixxe- mex fuq is-sand" (sunbath- ing on the sand) and "ried joqtolni bil-fear" (he wanted to scare me to death). Some even literally translated Ital- ian or English expressions in referring to a car's body as "il-ġ isem tal-karozza", and bone fractures as "fratturi f'għadmu". One student referred to obese people as "nies li huma ta' tqala ż ejda", while anoth- er answering a question on shopping referred to needing a new pair of football shoes because his were ancient, as "anzjani". The examiners expressed a positive verdict on students' performance in the oral ex- am. The report also notes a discrepancy between stu- dents who performed well in the language component but underperformed in litera- ture. But these were balanced out by those who under per- formed in language compo- nent and performed well in literature. Only 3% of all reg- istered candidates achieved a top grade but 62% surpassed the pass mark, making them eligible to continue their studies at sixth form level. jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt maltatoday | SUNDAY • 8 DECEMBER 2019 NEWS Mater Day (the hospital), Pilatu (pilot), and other howlers plaguing Maltese exam Flying a plane? Don't mind if I do... Michael Palin in Monty Python's Life Of Brian. Students sitting for the Maltese 'O'level used the incorrect 'pilatu' (derived from the English 'pilot' but actually meaning the Maltese for Pontius Pilate) as a synonym for 'bdot', the Maltese for 'pilot' Large quantity of orthographic mistakes leaves examiners exasperated: despite many years of studying, Maltese students still continue to get their spelling wrong