Banning language teaching rules will leave us tongue-tied
I went house-hunting last week. I drove off in pursuit of that elusive item, the perfect place to live. I was following directions printed on the estate agent’s glossy brochure. “Turn left,” it said, “then bare right.” Obedience could have led to arrest for indecency. Wouldn’t that have been a flashy way to greet potential new neighbours?
It is, of course, all in the spelling.
I am appalled to read that teachers in England and Wales are being told by the government to stop teaching the rule, “I before E except after C”.
Why banish what is one of the easiest pieces of linguistic guidance? It’s a catchy rhyme which has kept me right over the years as my pen hovered uncertainly over ceiling or piece; deceive or reprieve. Why ditch it?
A NEW APPROACH TO ENGLISH LANGUAGE
The last GCE O/L Level Examination witnessed a large number of failures in the English language paper. The decline in the subject at schools had been a recurring problem faced by the education authorities.
Time and again, different systems and methods were adopted to change this pattern but from the steep rise in the failure rate with each passing year it appears that the problem had only got aggravated.
There are many reasons that have been attributed to the deteriorating standards of English in the school system. Chief among them is the incompetent and in most cases unqualified teachers posted to rural schools. But the problem is much more complex and goes deep down to the attitudes and prejudices towards English as whole.
http://www.dailynews.lk/2009/06/23/main_Editorial.asp
ESL Teacher Opens Up World to Students
The English language is full of idioms that make it difficult to understand, says ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher Robert Davis, who gives some examples: “‘Let’s go over that’ makes it sound like you’re flying over something; ‘Stand behind a product’ is another confusing statement,” says Davis, an associate director at the Boston Language Institute. Davis teaches advanced level classes that prepare foreign students for the linguistic and cultural challenges of such MBA programs as MIT Sloan and other business schools, but he also has experience teaching what he calls “true beginners” – those who have never been exposed to English before.
For immigrants living in the U.S. who don’t know English, life can be difficult, whether asking for directions or listening to a lecture at college. But with the help of teachers like Davis, who are certified to teach English to non-English speakers, every lesson makes a big difference in helping often-befuddled students get through the day. Davis starts with the general building blocks of language, like the verb “to be” and expands from there. “ His lessons start slowly: “I begin with, ‘I am,’ ‘she is,’ ‘you are,’ and then pair with an adjective or noun. Like, ‘I am a teacher,’ or ‘I am happy.’ I stick to present tenses, and then start to branch out,” says Davis, who encounters students from all over the globe, including Brazil, France, Vietnam, and Japan.
http://www.boston.com/jobs/news/jobdoc/2009/06/esl_teacher_opens_up_world_to.html
Now Koran to be taught in Kannada, English
MANGALORE: Seyyid Madani Sunni Kannada Education Board of Karnataka has prepared a syllabus to teach Koran, the holy book of Muslims in Kannada and Englishmedium.
Addressing reporters here on Friday, board president U K Monu said their efforts in the direction of teaching Koran in Kannada and English languages at schools have proved to be successful. At present the experiment was made at Seyyid Madani Hazrath English Medium School in Ullal.