It’s All About Language..

I wonder how many people do realise that English has different kinds.. I wonder how many people stop and think which English to use when they write a letter or an essay.. I wonder if teachers or educationalists care to emphasise this matter to their learners..

Because I find it rare to find another person using the English that I am using. Because of One Tree Hill, House MD & CSIs, I find almost every other person is using the American English to converse or write. Because I find the dictionary too is unwilling to take notice of this. 

Gone are the days when our radio frequencies can catch Capital fm on the stereo. Gone are the days of British & Australian expats coming here and exposing us to the ‘correct’ use and type of English. Gone are the days when English, known to us has only one face.

I still remember my high school years where my Singaporean English teacher always reminded us to use the BRitish English. To use ’s’ and not ‘z’ in ‘organisation’ and ‘emphasise’. To pronounce ’singing’ and ‘hypocrite’ in the way the British say it but still understandable to the Bruneian ears. Teachers play an important role in exposing the young’ens to the correct English. When I was doing my teaching-practice just a few months ago, I got this very good co-operating teacher and she gave me excellent advice and showed what she wanted in my performance. In her mind is that her pupils are exposed to the fun way of learning English and that it’s correctly pronounced and every syllable enunciated so that they can see and hear the difference. And this is the kind of teacher that we want in our schools, the ones who are passionate about teaching and despite their hectic lives, can give the best education to their pupils. And so I think the new scheme introduced my the MOE is terrific and wonderful, in order to define quality teaching amongst BRuneian.

So, back on track, an important urgent matter is that Brunei is still giving it’s citizens the English examination papers from the UK. Brunei is still sending a majority of other exam papers to the UK to be marked and checked. Brunei is still and will be consulting top UK language experts for the English language.

This is what should be made clear off. That the tv series we watch are mostly American programmes that uses the American English. American English is way on the other side of the English we should be using. But then here we are devotedly sitting in front of the tv every night, flipping through channels for our favourite drama and learn English through it. I’ve done an informal and small observation that BBCE and the Australian programmes aren’t getting the attention they should. It happens in my family too. I wanted to watch Waterloo Road or McCleod’s Daughters or THe Weakest Link even, my siblings would groan and moan.

In the end, it doesn’t matter if our students write an astoundingly wonderful and colourful essay, or a simple two-sentence answer, if the spelling isn’t correct, then won’t be given the mark they should have. 

So please, to everyone out there, teachers, tutors, lecturers, government staff, please use English-English so that confusion can be rid and that students would have a higher mark in their exams.

~ by pin3apple on July 9, 2009.