English, like all human languages, is full of difficulties
for the foreign learner. Some problems are easy to explain and understand.
Other problems are tricky and cause difficulty even for advanced students and
teachers. Today, English is an official language in more than 60 countries—an
only global language for communication.
Some of the existing varieties of English such as UK English,
US English etc have posed a great threat to the universality of it. If someone
makes too many mistakes in a foreign language, s/he can be difficult to
understand, so a reasonable level of correctness is important. Nonetheless,
it’s not essential to speak or write a language perfectly just to communicate
effectively.
Owing to the practice of journalese and officialese,
non-native speakers have difficulty in attaining a natural English style. As a
matter of fact, there’s a high impact of India’s homely English on Nepal’s
English standard. Nepal’s English heavily relies on the standard of Indian
English, for most of the books published in India are imported and used widely
at the school level. The books published or imported from English-speaking
nations aren’t affordable. In the past, there’s a dearth of teachers,
lecturers, professors, authors, resource persons with a good knowledge of
English or expertise in using English efficiently.
English, in Nepal, is taught right from the pre-primary
level to the university level. Moreover, English is a compulsory subject up to
the first year of tertiary level. Since the growing importance of English has
been realized, private schools and colleges teach all subjects in English
except one—Nepali, the official language. Parents strongly believe that the knowledge
of English helps their children blossom into a successful citizen endowed with
all academics and worldly qualities required to keep the pace with the changing
world. The government organizes workshops, training, conferences aiming at
teachers of English to guide them through different aspects of learning, and
introduce them to the varied methodologies of teaching in the current
tech-savvy world. In addition, teachers of English can avail themselves of
world-class scholarships funded by the American Embassy, British Council,
Australian Embassy, etc.
I’ve already taught English at six schools. I’ve spared no
effort to equip myself with necessary competencies, expertise and skills. I’ve
also reaped a wealth of benefits as a teacher of English. My confidence has
been built, all skills of English improved, work efficiency and my job
prospects have been enhanced. The language and job itself have been a valuable
aid to develop different perspectives of teaching, paving the way for
up-to-date information. Above all, I’ve been to the UK due to British Council’s
reciprocal visit grant.
On the other hand, I’ve got through several ordeals and repellent
situations. In other words, I’ve to confront conflicting ideas, pig-headedness,
bootlicking, arrogance etc of know-it-all colleagues. Some teachers are exasperated
when their mistakes are rectified. They don’t consult authentic dictionaries. They
endeavor to be jack of all trades but the master of none. The following are a
few common mistakes made by the faculty of English: An employee receives a
higher dearness allowance (a high cost of living allowance); someone expires
(dies); five into five is twenty five (one); someone is an in-charge (in charge
of); a student requests me to help(requests helps from me); someone talks
(speaks) English; a participant stood (came/finished) first; a student passed
in the exam (passed the exam) etc.
Grabbing at job opportunities without fluency in English has
been almost impossible in Nepal as well. The one who speaks English is highly
regarded in society. People in Nepal are highly influenced by English and
western cultures. Nowadays, parents name their new-born babies after English
names. Despite living below poverty line, some people manage to send their
offspring to English medium schools. This tendency has resulted in the shutdown
of state-owned Nepali medium schools. To my surprise, youths have started
singing English songs even at their social, cultural and religious functions.
Due to the knowledge of English, students subscribe to English papers, do
online research, download e-books, watch English programs on TV, listen to
English music, communicate in English on the phone, text pals in English, write
letters in English etc. This hints at the improvement and disseminating high
influence of English on Nepal’s new generation.
Amar Bahadur Sherma
English Teacher at
Graded English Medium School (GEMS); founder member of Sustainable Education
Group-Nepal (SEG-N) and full member of the Learning Teacher Network (LTN). It
was published in The Learning Teacher magazine 2/15.
1 Comments
actually english is spoken throughout the world because it is one of the most important languages and alot of countries make thier students learn it. i dont know why english is that hard to learn(probably because there are a lot of different meanings for one word) but as a native english speaker it seems easy.
ReplyDeletecommon mistakes in English speaking
Comment here !