Spoken as learnt

MANORAMA MOORTHY, Little Scholar School, Hyderabad

An English Teacher is the bridge that spans the gap between the students and the textbook.

She is the general overseer of her student's learning, leading to greater communicative ability.

She has to always be at her convincing best, proving that English is important in one's daily life. Of course there are people who feel it is not necessary to study English.

They argue that grammar is really not important to get along. As long as we make ourselves understood, it does not matter whether the tense is "past" or "passed". To be a good scientist or a technical professional, one need not be proficient in writing essays, is what these die-hard fanatics would say. They feel that communication gets stilted or hampered while the exercise for better grammar is on. Maybe they are right, but as language teachers we would say, wouldn't it be better in finding out ways on "evening" out these differences to make the "evening" more pleasant? Hence there is a need to strike a balance between good grammar and good communication, to write better and speak better.

We cannot deny the fact that a correctly spoken English sentence always sounds better than a khichdi of words in all languages put together. We need not stick to textbook learning always. A word wrongly pronounced could be checked immediately to set things right.

Sometimes students correct themselves making it easy for the teachers. Nobody can get away with "everybody are talking". A chorus would at once sound "not everybody are, but everybody is". A student who would dare to say "I and my brother...." would be shouted down with "put the donkey last."

Reading good poetry and literature helps in the all round development of a child. His thinking becomes more mature and refined. Poetry makes him more sensitive to feelings and emotions, thus making him a better person.

As a traditional teacher, we play the role of moral keepers of society. We become the educationist, counsellor conscience keeper all in one. While playing this role we must first seek to understand the individual child, only then can we be understood. Through lessons the students are taught values. Targets are set. Good healthy relationships are made that strengthen individual personalities.

A communicative, interactive method of teaching English gives the students opportunities to voice their opinions. Group discussions should be encouraged to help the shy ones. A student who finds difficulty in writing grammatically correct sentences should be advised to read more books and refer to the dictionary often. For better diction and pronunciation listening to the English news everyday is helpful.

The purpose behind this method of teaching is to break down the student's inhibitions. Of course this very often leads to "breaking down the silence" in the classrooms. The use of visual aids like charts and pictures in lower classes has always helped the child understand the concept better. Helping children to imagine, to think independently, have view points of their own is what is needed.

Perfectionism and fear of losing or failure can seriously handicap bright children. They must be taught early that failure is part of the learning process.

Armed thus, they would indeed make a nation proud of its "leaders of tomorrow".

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