<span lang="EN-GB"><font face="Verdana" size="2"><strong>The Language Issue<u> </u></strong></font></span>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><font face="Verdana" size="2"><span lang="EN-GB">"If a three-year old can hold a conversation in his mother tongue, how come that after six years of formal teaching in a primary school and five years in a secondary school, my daughter cannot express herself fluently in either English or French?"
</span></font><font face="Verdana" size="2"><span lang="EN-GB">This question was raised by a perplexed father who could not understand why his daughter who had passed the SC examinations and had scored credit in both English and French and in whose honour a party had been organised could not, when invited to do so, thank the guests in either English or French. His pride was hurt.
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><font face="Verdana" size="2"><span lang="EN-GB">Each year, just like a cyclone after a lull, the language issue in school comes to the forefront again. As usual, debates sidetrack, facts are distorted and issues deliberately mixed up to impress and sometimes intimidate those sitting on the other side of the fence.
</span></font><font face="Verdana" size="2"><span lang="EN-GB">The impression has been created in some people's minds that it is the language used as medium of instruction that is the root cause of the poor performance in certain schools. Nothing can be further from the truth since failure depends on a number of factors and not a specific one. Even France has its ZEP schools and England has its failures though the medium of instruction in each country is in the mother tongue of the students.
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><font face="Verdana" size="2"><span lang="EN-GB">What goes on inside the classroom of a primary school? Standards I and II teachers and others do not abide strictly by official instructions to teach all subjects through the medium of English. The fact is that most teachers usually have recourse to Creole while some turn to French whenever they feel the need. The Ministry does not insist on English being utilised throughout the day for it is well known that progress would be slow without a good interaction between pupils and their teachers.
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><font face="Verdana" size="2"><span lang="EN-GB">If language acts as a barrier and prevents the essential two-way communication in the classroom, then obviously learning cannot be expected to take place as teaching and learning go side by side. Certain teachers, however, make an abuse of this flexibility in the use of the official medium of instruction and conduct classes in Creole for the best part of the day. Some do so because they feel it makes their task easy, others because they have not mastered the art of teaching and do not possess the skills and qualities required of a good teacher. Stress should be laid on quality teaching.
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><font face="Verdana" size="2"><span lang="EN-GB">Like the father quoted above, many parents are sad to note that after a dozen or so years at school their children cannot hold a simple conversation in English, French or even the Asian language they have learnt at school. What are the causes behind this sad state of affairs?
</span></font><span lang="EN-GB"><font face="Verdana" size="2">Let's consider how children learn their mother tongue before trying to answer the question. Children learn by listening, by associating names with objects, by imitating, by constant repetition, revision and correction and the encouragement of parents. The child has one teacher at school but more than one at home. He/She learns from father, mother, brother, sister, grand parents, etc. The child is immersed in the language he/she is learning.
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><font face="Verdana" size="2"><span lang="EN-GB">A child learns a language not because he is born in a particular religion or community. He learns what those around him use daily in their conversation. If an Indian baby is brought up in a Chinese family, it will grow up talking the language of its environment. Learning a language, other than the mother tongue, at school is a different matter. Recreating the emotional environment of the home and similar developmental conditions is not always possible at school. However, without good exposure and without adequate repetitive oral work, students cannot be expected to make great progress.
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><font face="Verdana" size="2"><span lang="EN-GB">Language acquisition in such conditions becomes difficult. If a teacher does not talk in the language he is supposed to teach because of the inability of his pupils to understand that language, he is doing a great disservice to them. The lesser the exposure; the greater the difficulty to learn a foreign language. This is something obvious and we don't need any expert to come and tell us that.
</span></font><font face="Verdana" size="2"><span lang="EN-GB">Some teachers do not teach in English or French because their pupils don't understand those languages; the pupils don't talk in English or French because they are not exposed to these languages and not encouraged to express themselves in them. It's a vicious circle and a comical situation as well. This state of affairs is not restricted to primary schools only.
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><font face="Verdana" size="2"><span lang="EN-GB">If the teacher and the pupil talk two different languages, the child who comes to school with lots of personal experience finds if difficult to express himself. He does not feel confident; he feels frustrated and may eventually not open his mouth at all in the classroom for fear of being misunderstood or being laughed at. While such children should be allowed to express themselves without fear, they should also be encouraged to express themselves in the new languages they are learning. That's the reason why parents send them to school otherwise they could well have stayed back at home.
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><font face="Verdana" size="2"><span lang="EN-GB">If children are constantly exposed to the language, they will definitely learn it. I had my primary schooling at Père Laval RCA. I spoke only Bhojpuri like my grandparents while my teachers spoke mostly French and English. Though I had no notion of Creole this did not prevent me from doing well in French. The environment was such that I was compelled to learn French in order to communicate with my teacher.
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><font face="Verdana" size="2"><span lang="EN-GB">Language learning can become fun through games, songs, poems, stories, dramas etc. though a great deal of repetitive work is imperative. This is one reason why new words in children's stories, poems and songs are repeated a number of times. If oral work is taken care of to a certain extent in the lower classes in spite of the constraints of oversized classes, the same cannot be said once the pupils step into senior classes where, for obvious reasons, the emphasis is on written work. In spite of the reforms, teachers as well as parents are still examination conscious and examinations are written not oral.
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><font face="Verdana" size="2"><span lang="EN-GB">Those workers who are shouting for shorter working hours from housetops are the same who are forcing longer working hours on their children, sometimes even seven days per week. Mental fatigue is worse than physical fatigue but who can tell that to parents whose children are in the CPE class or preparing for SC or HSC examinations?
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><font face="Verdana" size="2"><span lang="EN-GB">Teachers use mostly Creole to converse with colleagues outside the classroom. What can be expected of the pupil who does not get enough exposure inside the classroom and gets almost none outside it? In most homes, children are not encouraged to practise oral English or French because of the burden of homework. In Mauritius, unlike other countries, it is rare for children to get homework if they don't take private tuition. All homework is directly linked with private tuition. The main purpose of learning a language is to be able to communicate in that language both orally and in writing. If the spoken part is taken care of students will be able to read with understanding, will have fewer problems with writing and will hopefully develop the reading culture which is at present sadly lacking.
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><font face="Verdana" size="2"><span lang="EN-GB">Many parents who spend a lot of money sending their little children to pre-primary schools where the medium of instruction is French are appalled when they see the same children forgetting their French once they join the primary school. They feel that the gap, instead of being bridged, is being widened. Many concerned parents express their despair with the system of education because the intention of the Ministry is not always translated into action.
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><font face="Verdana" size="2"><span lang="EN-GB">Compare the fluency in French of a student who attends an RCA school or the Loreto Convent with that of another one from a different school. With the same number of contact hours per subject, one masters spoken French while the other does not. It's the school culture that makes the difference. At a time when Call Centres are multiplying like mushrooms, our language teaching strategy definitely needs to be revisited, not on paper but in the classroom.
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><b><font face="Verdana" size="2"><span lang="EN-GB">Leckram Gunnasaya</span></font><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 20pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">
</span></b><b><i><span lang="FR" style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></span></i></b></p>
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