Once Upon a time...

... it used to be known as "the Queen's Language." No more!!

Language is one of man’s most powerful inventions. The ability to transcribe our thoughts into words that can be written down for future reference is a wonderful gift. It helps us share our collective experience with future generations. English Language teachers, worldwide, face a tremendous responsibility. They must ensure that their students not only obtain syntactic/semantic skills, but also develop a genuine appreciation and enjoyment of the subtle nuances of the language.

My parents initiated my earliest forays into the world of English language and literature. I remember my father reading out aloud from abridged versions of famous classics like David Copperfield and Jane Eyre. The nuns who ran the traditional Catholic school I attended made sure that I mastered the intricacies of “the Queen’s English,” and eventually, I was able to delve into these wonderful stories myself.

Since most of the classics I read were written by Britons, there was no variation between the English I had learned in school and the English I read in print. Imagine my surprise, then, when (as a teenager) I stumbled upon the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew. An ingenious substitute teacher had teamed up with the school librarian and dreamt up a new approach of incorporating literature into our lives. Whenever she subbed for us, instead of having us go over the work our teacher had left us with, she encouraged us to read these American classics. We devoured every word voraciously.

Holy Molly! Here was a whole new way of speaking (and writing) the language I thought I knew so well. Suddenly, I didn’t know how to pronounce some of the words. Many of the words seemed to lack a vowel or two (e.g. 'colour' was now 'color'). I could make no sense of the cute expressions either. This was my first foray into the world of “multi-cultural” Children’s Literature.

I learned a lot about America from reading books written by Americans. Eventually, I began reading books written by authors from around the world in an attempt to understand the curious variations of the English language.

As a college-level Rhetoric/Composition and Reading teacher, I encounter students from many different walks of life. All of them share one thing in common – they want to become better at comprehending and writing using the English language. Since many of my students are immigrants, they suffer from low self-esteem issues and feel that the way they speak English is “wrong.”

My first job is to ensure them that while their “accents” are certainly not “main-stream American,” they are not “wrong.” I never tire of pointing out to my students that English is not “dead” like Latin or Sanskrit are. It is a living, breathing, constantly evolving entity. There are differences in the way we speak and use the language. Even so called Americans are not immune to this “problem” known as an “accent.” It is ok to have one. That is the beauty of the language.

I love a noisy interactive classroom. My goal is to develop a community of learners, who are co-dependant on each other for their learning needs. Since I have some leeway in designing my class/course content, I do not use any standard textbooks. Instead, I encourage my students to bring in their favorite ethnic story from their childhood/family history. We then take turns reading these stories out in class, and analyzing their content and structure. Most of the writing we do in class also involves introspection into my students’ individual personal backgrounds. Apart from obtaining grammar and mechanical skills, my students gain some valuable insights into different world-views. They also develop a genuine respect/tolerance for people who are different from them. Helping my students gain confidence in themselves as unique individuals is certainly another tangible!