English Environment While Teaching English as Second Language: Observations and Investigations: The Rising Middle Class

"Poor Knight! he really had two periods, the first—a dull man writing broken English, the second—a broken man writing dull English."

Vladimir Nabokov (1899 - 1977)

Russian-born U.S. novelist, poet, and critic.

The Real Life of Sebastian Knight

With intensive interaction with the teachers, parents, and people interested in education in the post modern era in non speaking zone of English, we are simply much impressed by the widespread desire for English in almost all stations of life, and in all classes and categories of people. An overwhelming majority of the parents told in clear and unambiguous terms that they wanted proactively to learn English, and learn it early. This is true for general query to Google search.  They do not simply call what the neurologists say, unless they say something which, coining to them second-hand and much distorted, they feel works in their favour, and they remain totally rigid. They are impervious about the pedagogical or logistical arguments against the early introduction of English. Read More TEFL  Nor do they ponder over how the teachers, with the present load on their hands and their inadequate command on the language, can take the extra burden of teaching it. They just want that their children are given an opportunity to learn English, the earlier the better. The middle class parents of rising economy of the Asian and middle east countries say this in chorus, but even those who cannot be called ‘middle-class’ in the strict economic sense of the term, but are aspirants to become members of it sooner or later, i.e., rickshaw-pullers, rickshaw-van drivers and other members of the day-labouring class, demand in union that English must be a component in the syllabus at the elementary stage.

If such is the scenery, how can  English be barred in the post modern era when language has become a more liberal domain and  English has gained the status of more importance along with the regional languages? This is an achievement of which post colonial countries can justly be said, for this is where liberal will seems to have taken deep roots and working well. But such empowerment of the people creates its own demands and the people begin to desire the ‘good things in life’, as they imagine them, which is to be encouraged by all means, in order to wound them up of the mire of historical deprivations. In this region (i.e. South Asia) of the world, a region that has been described as “the poorest the most illiterate, the least gender sensitive—indeed the most deprived region of the world” (Hug. 1997), even after half a century since it has ceased to be a colony, progress in terms of human development has always been uneven, and uneventful to the majority. There has always livened a class of elites who have enjoyed all milk and honey of the Ids id, and the vast majority of the area was marked for exclusion from unprivileged. Read More TEFL  The elite cultured seldom told the natives what it meant to be human in a civilized world—what kind of life they were entitled to have just by being human and nothing raised. This is still largely the reality of this region, but there are pockets where things seem to be changing. We can easily feels that once colonized countries were all of them. Here the walls protecting the elitism have been broken, and those who were condemned to remain outside the charmed circle are now ready to enter it, as they are equipped either educationally or economically or both.

Keeping that objective, Teaching English as Second Language in institutions of Asian and middle east countries is intended generally to help the students as well as the teachers to solve the problem of Teaching English systematically in model schools. The object for most of these governments has been to supply an  English grammar teaching way for easiest forms which shall teach a student to apply grammatical terms and explanations to his own language (mother tongue), and which may be learnt by the side of his vernacular grammar with little additional trouble; and to supply a reading atmosphere which shall be to the study of English what a Sanskrit Panini is to the study of Indian.

 The Teaching English in institutions of Asian and Middle East countries commence from Class I or elementary. Read More TEFL  Children are introduced to the English alphabet and learn the meaning of some simple words and expressions in this class along with his vernacular. Mostly noted this will not come in conflict with the syllabi for vernacular.

A long debate chain consisting of specialists in language— teaching and other experts had been already appointed to recast the series of Learning English so that the course content becomes easier to communicate to those for whom the series is intended. These experts   decided whether some elements of English Grammar could not be more directly introduced in the course.

The manual of instruction for teachers are now suitably presented and translated into mother tongue in order that teacher, whose acquaintance with English is at the ordinary level can comprehend its contents more easily. Nearly all teachers in TESL need drilling courses, each of at least a month’s duration are thus organized in that teachers could go through an intensive training in the theory and practice of Teaching English. Read More Teaching English TEFL  There is a farther need fulfilled to supervise the training programmes and suggest, from time to time, whatever improvements, in the course content or method of teaching are felt necessary both in the concept of neuro-physiological or pedagogical. In the primary and elementary education system in Asian and Middle East countries, it is not the learner who decides which additional language he/she has to learn, but, as is natural, the society decides it for him/ her.

Ardhendu De