Remember the old Rajnikanth dialogue in the film Velaikaran – “I can talk English, I can walk English.” If you are aspiring for the same kind of skill, remember, it all depends on your teacher. For students to have a passion for English, teachers need to change the way they teach, experts say.
English has become more than just a subject; it has become a skill required for life, according to Vijayapadma Srinivas, Senior Assessment Services Manager, Cambridge English Language Assessment. “Other subjects such as mathematics, science, or even social sciences may or may not be used in everyday life after a child leaves school, but English is a requirement in every field,” she says.
Teachers and parents need to make English fun to learn, and make sure it is part of the daily life of children.
“It is alright to make mistakes, but it is important to keep their mind open to exposure, whether it is through books, newspapers, movies, or just speaking it as often as possible,” Angela ffrench, Director of Operations, South and South East Asia, Cambridge English Language Assessment, said. The Cambridge team is currently working with a number of schools across the city to improve their language learning.
The schools too will see a lot of progress in teaching English in a different way. “Activity-Based Learning, which is a part of the school’s curriculum, is a great way for people to learn English. As a child, we learn languages by listening first, then speaking, and then only reading and writing. With English, both teachers and parents need to understand the importance of letting their children listen to and speak English first,” she adds.
There is a huge difference between the way teachers were taught to learn the language, and the kind of methods that have to be adopted in the classroom today, teachers say. “Now, the need is to teach the kind of English that will be used in day-to-day life, even if it does not have impeccable grammar,” Haripriya Ramakrishnan from AIM English services, said.
