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<span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"> </span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">L O W L A N D S - L - 25 February 2007 - Volume 01</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">=========================================================================</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">From: </span><span id="_user_mrdreyer@lantic.net" style="color: rgb(121, 6, 25); font-family: arial,sans-serif;">Mark Dreyer <<a href="mailto:mrdreyer@lantic.net">mrdreyer@lantic.net
</a>></span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">Subject: LL-L "Language politics' 2007.02.24 (01) [E]</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
<div style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">Dear Sandy</div><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;" class="q">
<div> </div>
<div>Subject: LL-L "Language politics"</div>
<div><br><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">This is because in Scottish schools English is taken seriously as
</span><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">subject, whereas in English schools the language tends to be taken
for</span><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">granted (I don't really know about Welsh schools). My
personal</span><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">observation from working in England is that English people from
purely</span><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">English-speaking backgrounds are very weak on the grammar of
the</span><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">language beyond whatever they're used to speaking (unless, of
course,</span><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">they're big readers - this is the sort of thing that doesn't always
need </span><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">to be taught). Whereas I, as a Scot who never spoke English outside
of</span><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">school til I actually left school have such a strong
theoretical</span><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">background in the language that I constantly correct English
people's</span><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">grammar and expression when reviewing their work (again, such
people</span><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">will be clueless when it comes to discussing literature!).</span></div>
<div> </div></span>
<div style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><font size="2">Coming from another polyglottal country I would say
you've hit the nail on the head. This same slackness when it comes to teaching
English to native English speakers by native English speakers (among others) is
manifest in S Africa too, & has been for a long time, to the extent that
grammatical material handled by Afrikaans pupils in their eighth year of
schooling is first dealt with in English in First-year University - usually by a
native Afrikaner.</font></div>
<div style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"> </div>
<div style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><font size="2">The native English speaker can almost get away with
it, but now that the schools are integrated without respect for the 'learners'
native tongues, the chickens have come home to roost. Sadly, the only community
with a sense of vocation in teaching here is the Afrikaner, & there are not
enough of them. A majority of the teachers in the 'Model C' upward (parents
pay in to supplement the quality of teaching) are Afrikaners. However
the rest must make do with English medium instruction under teachers who were
taught by bad teachers. To some, the medium of instruction is not a native
language to the teacher or anybody else in the class.I cringe.</font></div>
<div style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"> </div>
<div style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><font size="2">Yrs,</font></div>
<div style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><font size="2">Mark</font></div><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
•
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