Game of English

The statistics of people speaking English is increasing every year as people have to learn English in order to keep them updated with the world news on politics, economy, education and many more. Let's not go far, we need to know English even when we want to use our smart phones. Like other developing economies, we Nepalese too learn English to develop our life style get a job and enrich our knowledge. Most of all we all know the importance of English language when half of the youths of our country are striving to book the dates of 'English as Second Language Test' for their abroad studies and good career.

Generally 1853 is considered the year when English education started in Nepal. Some credit can be given to Junga Bahadur Rana who arranged two of the English teachers, Rose and Lord Canning from Britain, and had them teach his brothers and nephews. But it was kept confined to the clique of his family and relatives due to which English was considered as the language of elites; those who knew it were automatically considered from the upper class and it continued for decades.

Little can be said with certainty about English as a 'compulsory subject' in National Education system, however from 1981 onwards, English has been kept as a compulsory subject in high-school curriculum. In the interval of three decades time, history has been altered. Though English is still considered the language of elites, the positive aspect is that by now it has reached the mass from the urban locations to schools in the hills.

Being a Teach For Nepal Fellow, who has been teaching English as a second language from past one and a half years, English has become a part of my life. This for me has become both a bliss as well as a defy; a bliss of knowing different new words and phrases and using it in daily life and a defy of teaching the use of those very words to the kids and making them use it. I love doing it also. But the saddest part for me as well as for all those who love the language game of English is the failure rate of students in English in the examinations.

The most recent example is the failure rate of students in Compulsory English in the 2070's SLC examination. According to the Office of the Controller of Examination, 134,729 students failed in English, which is the third subject after Math and Science in which students fail the most.

Recently I talked to some of the students on how they take English as a language and found out that they take it just as another subject but not as a language. Even in private schools where all the other subjects too are taught in English language, there is the opinion that Compulsory English is too like another subject, which they need to mug up and pass. One fifth grade student had the opinion that English is Social Studies as both the books are typed in same language.

On the other hand there are some students who have never seen their English teacher teaching them using the cassette player, visual aids. Most of the students of a community schools complain that their school hasn't even provided English newspapers which they think would be helpful for her in achieving good marks in English.

When dealing with these issues, another important concern not to be missed is whether or not we are being able to link the English language with students' real world view as a teacher. When we look on to these issues so many questions need to be answered. Are we promoting sustainable learning through critical thinking or just making students rot the rules of grammar like a parrot? Are we teaching linking it with local and global issues? Similarly are we creating our own methods that fit our context?

We may give the answer according to our context. We may blame the government, the society and even the primary teachers due to which the background of English of even the secondary level student is poor or may be we are trying our level best, what we should keep in mind is that English is not our national language and our children need time to incorporate this. Once they start taking English as a fun language, not only as a subject then they may start doing good in it. I too, feel difficulty in dealing with these issues as a teacher but the fact is as I have accepted this role I will give my hundred percent on it and make my students learn. If we try our level best then of course we will get success otherwise, English will continue to become the symbol of 'hegemony' in Nepalese society.  

http://sopannews.com/game-of-english/ (published on online newsportal Sopan News)