Learning English Our Way: a Unique Strategy
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Monday 5th April, 2010 9 Learning English our way: A unique strategy nal, with this little anec- Colonial Government, was com- stuck when it came to ‘About learning English Our Way. dote. This story was told to manded in English. How they Turn’. As you know, even edu- Another point. The other day, us trainee Police could hope to inspire local foot cated people are bemused ini- I read in your ‘World View’ Probationers in 1964 at soldiers to fight to save their tially by these movements, till pages that Lee Quan Yew, that the Police Training King’s empire by issuing com- they get used to it. One could visionary leader of Singapore College by one of mand in an alien language, is imagine how confusing it would who earlier advocated that all our Drill another matter. But that is how be to village folk to whom even Singaporeans should learn Bernard Shaw Instructors. it was. The British started to the concept of ‘right’ and ‘left’ English for many reasons These Drill recruit Ceylonese to their mili- was of little meaning in their including avoiding the catastro- Instructors, tary, when the WW II broke out. practical life. To them, the idea phe that befell Sri Lanka, is now English though they Many village lads turned up to of ‘About Turn’ would have been advising the Singapore Chinese are very join the Milteriya then, not so simply incomprehensible. community to start talking to without airs strict, and much for the love of the British Try as they might, the drill their children in Mandarin, as uncompro- Empire, but mainly to see the instructors failed to drive home Chinese was going to be the lan- n The Island of 27th mising on world at State expense. the idea that they should turn guage of the future world. Some March, P. S. Mahawatte the These recruits, who had per- about, while yet in standing people, I recall, wanted to turn Iwonders whether it was parade haps passed only the 4th stan- position. Then, one day, one of this country into a Singapore. in a film called Taming of ground, dard, did not know a word of the drill instructors came up Also, I read elsewhere earlier, the Shrew that Rex Harrison they English, not even their right with an ingenious method of that either in the US or UK high asks: “Why can’t the English had a and left, in that sense. Of course teaching English. So, they lined class families are already hiring speak English?” The rele- wide they knew their Bathkana Atha up the recruits on parade, facing Chinese nannies to talk to their vant context is as follows. reper- and the other hand which is the Beira lake where the usual children in Chinese. In 1912, George Bernard used for the other purpose. Now parade training was held. The In such circumstances, I Lee Quan Yew, now advising the Singapore Chinese community to Shaw wrote a play called the challenge to the military Instructor then yelled: Beireta wonder whether we Sri start talking to their children in Mandarin. Pygmalion. (According to drill instructors was to get this Puk! (arses to Beira) Lankans, a nation clever at legend, Pygmalion was a motley crowd of natives to Lo and behold! It worked. going by hindsight than fore- lease permit me to enter King of Cyprus who fell in toire of interesting stories to understand and obey their com- The entire squad turned about sight, have already missed the into this interesting ongo- relate, when relaxing. mands on parade. Various meth- swiftly!! bus? love with an ivory statue he Ping debate on ‘Learning had himself created). The There was a time the mili- ods were used, with some degree Thus, there is no limit to the English Our Way’ in your jour- tary of this country, under the of success. But they got really possibilities of the idea of Gamini Gunawardane play demonstrates that prop- er education can eliminate verbal class distinctions. A flower girl (Eliza) is made to arty leaders, these are get openly or whatever to cover Please advise voters not to pass off as a duchess by “Ladies, Gentlemen naive and optimistic com- the expenses- they must have vote for those whose posters Professor Higgins’ instruc- Pments from a private calculated a return on invest- and especially posters that are tions in phonetics. Based on individual (not a journalist), ment), tax the donors who also so big that all one can see are Shaw’s play Pygmalion in and those in between!” but please think on them even must have calculated a return the shoes/boots that one will 1956, Alan Jay Lerner wrote if you do not have the courage on investment in a candidate. have to lick afterwards. It was a musical play called My read with interest the pieces written ence consisting of men and women in or wisdom to publicly agree There must be so much black great that very recently some Fair Lady which was later by Gamini Gunawardena (GG) and that manner, the sort of slip-up even a and implement them. I do money that comes in to the of the leaders condemned vio- turned into a very popular IH. L. Seneviratne (HL) regarding the high school debater would not have believe you have the power to ‘open’ as a result of the posters. lence - but did not say the whip film. The English flower girl, above words attributed to the late S. W. made! As pointed out by HL, he began do so! Please try and set a trend Equally, the Central Bank would be withdrawn. Eliza Doolittle, speaks R. D. Bandaranaike when he his address with the words ‘Ladies and even at this late stage where should monitor big inflows to Withdraw the party whip addressed undergraduates at the gentlemen’ and when a heckler (whose elections begin to become ‘recipients’, not connected to from all who terrorise the English her way. Professor Peradeniya campus in the mid-fifties identity was fairly well-known) yelled cleaner and more civilized the sender. Police, or tax authorities, into Higgins, (an expert in pho- (The Island, 22/25 aloud from one of the rather than the reverse, and If you, the party leaders, any form of politically biased netics) declares that by March). My recollec- back rows “What about the country can then develop to action. Withdraw the whip speaking English in her own tion, as a Peradeniya the others?”, SWRD its full potential. from anyone directly or indi- way, Eliza is guilty of “the undergraduate during paused until the laugh- This is a democracy and rectly responsible for or cold-blooded murder of the this period, is that the ter died down and you have a responsibility to Requests involved in post-election vio- English tongue”. He adds event took place in the added the words “and present clean choices to voters, lence. that Eliza is “condemned by early part of 1956 those in between” so that they do not feel they If the number of candidates every syllable she utters” when SWRD was not pointing his finger in to party have to resort to undemocratic left is less than the number of and blames the quality of yet the Prime Minister, the direction from methods to get the government MPs, fill parliament with her English on “the elemen- and was the Leader of which the question the country needs. Please leaders ‘cleaner’ persons after the elec- SWRD John tary education” received by the Opposition. Since came, making the heck- remember thanks to political tion based on the party results. the British population of with gathering age and ler not know where to hide his face! chicanery there have been two Advise the public to turn that time. It is in this con- fading memories I may myself be sub- I cannot help raising a question Sinhala insurrections and a off the TV when shouting text that he asks: “Why can’t ject to the “memory and recall” prob- regarding HL’s reference to Hilarian long Tamil vs. country one and excessive propaganda lems that HL has referred to, I checked Fernando, the President of the Union after 1970. This statement is is shown - the advertisers the English teach their chil- this with a few of my university contem- Society, ordering him to accompany NOT a defence of terrorism will then pull their ads dren how to speak?” The poraries and can confirm with some SWRD to his car after the speech, giv- but an attempt to understand and some of the state final sentence of the lyric is: degree of certainty that my recollection ing him the opportunity to ask the causes in the interests of pre- have any political authority, channels will lose significant “Why can’t the English is correct. Prime Minister what he studied at vention. Of course some of the decency, or honesty, withdraw income (we hope), unless the learn to speak?” I was in the audience myself that Oxford and probe into his “knowledge culprits – both terrorists and the party whip and support advertisers are also hoping for This is an era in which SWRD addressed, and do not remem- of politics”, etc. This seems hardly those who created a situations from law breakers the police some under the counter return we in Sri Lanka are encour- ber exclamations such as hey Banda credible as the Union Society at the which made people feel they are not needed for this. I afterwards in the forms of con- aged to speak English ‘our and ado Banda being made when time was dominated by the Trots with had to resort to terrorism- are believe the candidature can tract etc.