Learn it well – or not at all. That was the cardinal rule for learning diction and syntax at school during my time. One did not speak Singlish and Tamlish or bits and pieces of a language rolled into non-sense: one learned to speak a language in the manner it is supposed to be spoken. English – whether we like it or not, is an accepted link language, it should be spoken well.

We have local TV channels and crude, half-baked politicians as well as public figures to thank for the continuous deterioration of the English language. They tell our kids to speak English any which way because it is the ‘Suddha’s language’and doesn’t belong to us, whilst ensuring their own children learn the language under good tutors.

Should we also speak Sinhala, Tamil, Japanese, French, German, Arabic, Divehi, Bahasa Indonesia, Korean and other languages on this planet any which way we like/want? Learning another’s language is a mark of respect to another person and his culture. When the ‘suddha’ speaks one word of Sinhala /Tamil, don’t we double up in laughter or mimic their diction in jest? The rift between the have’s and have-not’s widen as we speak…….  

From the Past & Present…………

Around the ages of 8 or 9 we read Children’s Classics. We were read to at the beginning, using the Ladybird Series which did justice to language learning. Then came the Longman Series………My mother wouldn’t tolerate anything other than the original and so I became a young member of the British Council. We listened to somewhat scratchy recordings and devoured the Classics over the years.

I was fascinated with Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte) and even loved reading the Sinhala translation, then came Little Women and the following volumes – Good wives, Jo’s Boys and Little Men by Louisa May Alcott, The Katy series and the Hardy Boys, The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander (who passed away in 2007), to name just a few.

In between we also read works by Charles Dickens, Graham Greene, Kenneth Grahame(Author of Wind in the Willows),Eleanor Farjeon, Washington Irving(Rip Van Winkle), Laura Ingalls Wilder(the Little House Series), Harriet Beecher Stowe(Uncle Tom’s Cabin), Rudyard Kipling, Charles Kingsley, Uma Krishnaswamy and our very own Martin Wickremasinghe, Sybil Wettasinghe, Punyakante Wijenaike, poems by Anne Ranasinghe(I consider her Sri Lankan!),and the mighty Wendy Whatmore. (To watch the grande dame in action was a treat!) To a youngster, it was a sea of pearl oysters!    

All this without attending “elocution” classes – not until I was around 12 years old anyway………Even at that time it wasn’t called elocution – it was Speech and Drama with allied areas for Effective Communication and Acting in Pairs. Unfortunately the word “elocution” has stuck like that of “Montessori” for identification purposes!!!

All that is Spoken – is Not English !

In the areas of Greater Colombo, the suburbs and smaller towns small ill-ventilated spaces are packed to the rafters with small children. Gullible and innocent parents wanting a better standard of English education for their children drag their young ones to these hyped-up low quality classes of “international” repute.

A standard answer to the question : Koheda yanne? is : meyava/babawa elocution class ekata ekkang yanava…………or expressing inability to attend a family function would be : aney senasuradata elocution panthiya ne….eka miss karanna be!

On the upper crust :

“So how much did your son get this time ah? “Oh, he got 98…aiyo! How did he miss by 2 marks…don’t know men – must ask the teacher………..last year he got 100 out of 100…don’t know what went wrong…..”

“My son of course sat for Speech and Drama and got 87- missed the prize this time – in vain….…very difficult exam no-I don’t want him to do spoken English – useless …..!!! (try explaining the syntax in this conversation to a learner of English!)

Words….. – Who????

Recently I posed a question to a child of 12 who was brought in by her mother to join a class I conduct for young readers.  

Who wrote The Daffodils?
Ummmm…ummm……no, sorry, I don’t know miss.
The Daffodils was written by William Wordsworth - and pat came the question:  “ “Words Who????”
 Wordsworth. William Wordsworth. Have you not heard of this poet?
errrrrrrrrrr no…
 …”I wondered lonely as a cloud …” I began….
Oh, I know that one…we did it for elocution!!!
I didn’t dare question her knowledge of run-on-lines!!!

Spoken English wasn’t necessary because we spoke it well from our childhood. Corrections were immediate because adults were fluent. We were made into voracious readers – not out of force but by parent leadership. Spoken English was mainly for children who spoke Sinhala/Tamil at home. Many of my peers learnt effectively through these lessons and subsequent examinations. In our family we studied in the Sinhala medium but communicated in English at home.

Even in my grandfather’s sleepy village there were followers of the Bard who eloquently quoted verse after neat shots of heady arrack! A favourite being: ‘to be, or not to be : that(my friend), is the question !!!’  I remember watching in exhilaration my grandfather and his mates perform excerpts from Othello and Hamlet and listen to quotations from Henry the viii during school vacations.  

“Heat not a furnace for your foe so hot-That it do singe yourself.” And here’s another:
“Men's evil manners live in brass; their virtues we write in water.”      

As movie buffs we cut our teeth on Jesus Christ Superstar, Cromwell, Julius Caesar, The Sound of Music, My Fair Lady, Mary Poppins, and for rich Sinhala language learning as teenagers we turned to Mahagedera, Ganga Addara, Kalu Diya Dahara, Dadabima, Duhulu Malak, Janelaya, Viragaya and many other prestigious 5th circuit productions.

There were also wonderful stage dramas such as nari bena, rathu hettakari, hunu wataye kathawa, sinhabahu, muhudu puththu to name just a few. These were the makings for children’s learning back then. It doesn’t do well to say that your child ‘doesn’t read’ when he/she isn’t exposed to literary works from a young age.  

 
Examinations

We sat for examinations when the teachers deemed us fit. Parents didn’t interfere in a teacher’s choice. If the teacher decided that the student would have to sit out that particular year without an elocution examination, they would respect that decision and not go simpering to another teacher !!! The teachers weren’t vying for titles and celebrity status – they enjoyed teaching us, imparting their knowledge with guidance. They knew their onions. They knew that the word ‘adjective’ is spelt with a silent-d, and wouldn’t call a knowing child a ‘pandithaya’ when her mistake was pointed out!

At a typical class, work was not limited to filling in the blanks of a workbook or writing a passage in 10 sentences(with numbers!) about My Self/My Home/My pet/My School/My Family/Holidays/A Rainy Day and other mundane topics. We wrote wildly – and widely about Sundays and sundaes…of hot porridge slosh and avocado pudding!   

Compositions were part of the main program. Sessions on free writing were embarrassing but fun….the teacher would take up a piece of a student’s writing for reading out loud….

The effective use of a dictionary was part of a lesson. It would be good to see committed teachers returning to some of these qualities without strictly counting the fees at the end of each month.

For poetry we were introduced to Longfellow and Wordsworth, Walter de la Mare, Thackeray, Mary Howitt, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Christina Rossetti, R.L. Stevenson and a whole host of international stars ! Our sense of imagination broadened as we were exposed to their work.

Stance was of great importance.

Choice of clothes were another. I recall one of my favourite teachers Tamara Britto(Tammy) who went through at least 3-4 dresses to pick the right one to wear for an  examination. She made sure our clothes weren’t annoyingly bright and silly-she also made sure we were decently covered!!! We weren’t prim in those days – not by a long shot…but she made sure we maintained overall quality.

Parents and teachers have their work cut out in these modern times – it only takes a click of a mouse to introduce your children to the world of classics.            

(Text by Shanthi Wijesinghe, Resource Person – Seekers Research )