English for everyone

Maureen Wickremasinghe

TEACHING: Overheard in a commuter train full of office workers travelling to work - “My father spoke English, and so did my grandfather. They had good jobs in the government. Look at me! I am stuck in the same job, because I can’t speak English, although I passed my O’levels in the subject!” This is a common complaint of many who have struggled for years to gain some knowledge of the language. Why? What happens to our children? Because every adult does start as a child!

The “Montessori classes” which abound in the outer suburbs and rural areas attempt to teach English, by starting the children with “drawing balls”! It is hard and boring work for children of two and three years to do this accurately between lines, so homework is given ! This is the start of their dislike and failure.

Next come the Speech lessons—Children are taught to say, “A (ay) for apple” which they have to repeat 50 times for home work! After several months our local “Montessori” has worked down to “F” (ef) for fish” through “C (see) for cat” Phonics Or Confusion?

Next come the two years of “No English reading or writing” in schools, because “the children will be confused at using two languages!” Perhaps they will forget their “phonic” lessons!

No! - This cannot happen so the private tutors have a field day with the old “Ridout Workbooks”, which are generally quite alien to our culture. It takes a lot of explaining to teach them that “Corgis are dogs,” and that “Policemen wear helmets”, and that Traffic lights do exist in one or two towns!

At this stage the Education Department is supposed to introduce Active English, but in many cases this is not done due to lack of time.

Perhaps the children will learn that old favourite, “Baa baa Black sheep” which is equally alien and out of context. Even England banned it at one time, saying that it was racist! Next come the Grade 3 Text book which contain over 500 words, and will send the child scuttling for more tuition, and ultimate failure!

Unlike Latin, which some of us attempted to learn, but never spoke—English is a living language, which lends itself to change and adapts itself to various accents and cultures.

There is the Indian English, the African English, the Chinese English, the French English and even the English English! The Latter is more varied than all the rest put together, and sometimes almost incomprehensible! In Yorkshire “up” is pronounced as “oop”, and in Birmingham a simple “I” is “oyi”! In London it varies from area to area, and I was always told by the children that I spoke “Funny”! SO why do we appear to speak the “King’s English”? Perhaps this goes back to our Colonial roots!

The English Language is dividing this country into “haves” and “have nots”, with the introduction of the Fee levying BOI International school and Nurseries.

The gap gets wider each passing day. Here and there help comes in the most surprising ways, with older people and volunteer groups collecting children for lessons in Temple, Churches and homes. But these people are mainly amateurs, and are in need of proper guidance” and libraries of simple texts, interesting stories, and games, that build up vocabulary gradually.

The “limited vocabulary” books are almost non existent in Sri Lanka. And most of the children books which are beautifully illustrated, are almost incomprehensible to the age range of the readers who should be reading them, except perhaps for those children in Private and International Schools.

Story books, songs and rhymes are the foundation of a Thinking and Speaking Language. Language was spoken and passed down through the ages with stories and songs, long before books came into being. They are the foundation of “sentences”, and without sentences there can be no meaning. We have to re-think our teaching of English, if we are to save the structure of this Nation.