I am a happily retired English teacher. Sitting idly at home, enjoying my time reading books and watching movies is great fun for the time being. I love it now. May be I will get bored after sometime. I loved teaching. I loved to be with children. But it’s all over.
These days two little sisters come to me almost all evenings with a desire to learn English grammar. The elder one is in the seventh standard and the younger in the fourth, both studying in the C B S E school. They bring that big grammar book published by some private book companies. Their mother believes that without learning grammar they won’t learn English. She is an average Indian mother.
I feel sad at the way these children are forced to learn grammar. Why should a child learn English grammar or the grammar of any language. We learned to speak our mother tongue without learning any grammar. It is the exposure to the language that helped us. The child learns a language that it is exposed to, I believe.
I honestly feel the whole concept of teaching languages should be changed. Teaching interesting stories and making them read other simple stories will help them a lot. By giving them the chance to watch good cartoons and movies will also help them. By and by when they reach higher classes if their option is to learn English language and literature, let them learn grammar there.
Sadly, I can’t tell ‘my great theory’ to the mother of these two kids or to any mothers or teachers of language. This particular mother will think I am rude and unwilling to help. Most teachers will also think the same. So the system will go on as such.
Article by Saly Joy
Saly Joy is a postgraduate in English and an HSC Teacher who writes columns on lifestyle and social issues and you can contact her |
