by Santosh Kumar Mahadeo, former director of Curriculum, Ministry of Education

The level of performance in English language in Mauritius has always been the subject of controversy. We seem to believe that there was once a golden age of literacy in English that we have lost just as Adam lost the Garden of Eden. A probing scrutiny will reveal the tendency to compare different cohorts of students and widely dissimilar data and these facts do not stand the test of scientific analysis.

With the widening of educational opportunities, we, teachers of English have not changed our methodologies and by abandoning summarily certain elements of language development like clause analysis, reasoned use of punctuation marks and similar apprenticeship in syntax and grammar ? the whole language approach has caused harm to learners who cannot recognize a sentence and discriminate between a sentence and a phrase.

What follows, for the sake of brevity, is an itemized list of suggestions to teachers:-

(i) Do not yield to the temptation of substituting Creole for English in class and school leaders must ensure that English is used across the curriculum. Use the simplest English expression to transmit your message. This has to be prepared in advance.

(ii) Teaching is continuous self-development through vast reading. I suggest that teachers should spare Rs 500 per month for books and English magazines. Every teacher of English must make a magazine a ubiquitous partner.

(iii) Once you have acquired a command of the class, use the good equation you have to democratically enforce certain mutually agreed upon rules like speaking to your students in English and encouraging them to use the same language among their peers. The Head of school must expect compliance with this rule from the whole staff.

He should himself be unconditional about the use of English and French in the intercourse with pupils. Ask even the parents of Roche-Bois whether they would not wish their children to deftly use English and French and you?ll find a grandiloquent consensus.

?Do not yield to the temptation of substituting Creole for English in class.?

(iv) A sine qua non for fluency of any language is exposure. Teachers who use Creole in class are weaning their pupils of the few opportunities they have to listen to English. But exposure is mostly to listening and reading. I would set homework on news items of BBC of the previous day. I would take my class to the school library and ensure that every student takes a novel, reads it and gives me a summary in two weeks? time. Reading cannot be left to the discretion of pupils. This forms part of the teacher?s work.

(v) No class should start without an oral component for at least 15 minutes. If you are teaching a comprehension text, use the first 15 minutes to discuss the theme of the text, to gather the personal experience of pupils. Do not correct the child at every mistake he makes because even you made those mistakes at the pupil?s age. Find some other time to correct mistakes. Prod the pupils who tend to remain silent with simple questions that are very intimate to their experience.

(vi) Vary teaching strategies to engage the learner. You must find some time in your lesson to promote interpersonal dialogue, mobility from one place of academic interest to another in the class. If your students are too restive because they have sat for two periods, use their movement from one to another within a pedagogical and academic context.

(vii) No lesson is meaningful without a plan. A lesson plan gives you lesson direction, orientation and coherence. I know that some schools like Universal College believe staunchly in the value of lesson plans. The quality of learning improves consequently.

(viii) You must see the written work of your pupils once every week. An essay has to be assigned once every fortnight. Your marking must be productive. Do not correct all the mistakes. Underline the mistakes and put in brackets (Syn) for syntax, (Sp) for spelling, (T) for tense. This gives the learner the opportunity to reflect on his mistakes and contribute to his own improvement. Discuss essays before they are written for homework. Place a high premium on intelligent and imaginative perceptions. Pupils are taught to be so attentive to grammatical English at the expense of intelligent essays. Carry out tasks necessitating imagination. This can be done in Literature. Do not separate language from Literature at junior levels. The skills learned in Literature can be used in language production.

(ix) Creative reading is what the learner can remake out of what he has read. Can a short story be told from the point of view of a character other than the narrator? This will lead to group work and new stories will emerge from the one read. Creative reading leads to creative writing. Again lay emphasis on the imaginative, the wild, the deeply sensitive and the original. I would ask a group to think of one day in the life of a stray dog, of a few hours on the moon. Burst the barriers of reality and allow your pupils to dream.

(x) Co-curricular activities boost interest in the language. Ask your pupils to do research on the presidential US elections, climate change? Hold debates, recitation competitions in class to enliven your teaching.

Above all the teacher?s passion for the language should take him far from the beaten tracks and learning English can become a passionate adventure.