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The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts fkom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or othecwise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. DEDICATION
Mydedication goes to my family - Ama, apa, my nephew Yeshey, ashirn Pema, and achu Ugyea Your strength, love and belief in me helped this thesis becorne a reaIity.
I love you. Reader-response theories, particularly Aidan Chambers's 'Tell Me" fom of
reader-response approach, post-colonial writing theories and the experiences of
Cornmonweaith and post-colonial authors helped me recogaize the conflicts in high
school English instruction in Bhutan. The high school English curriculum (with its
colonial origins) and the traditiond teaching methods are alien to Bhutanese needs and
experiences. Furthemore, the aim of the Bhutanese Government, partïcuIar1y Education
Division, to provide education that will simultaneously prepare students to participate in
the global economy, and develop a greater appreciation for Bhutanese culture, remaius
1 employed Aidan Chambers's ''Tell Me" approach to teach literature to ten hi&
school students in Bhutan over a perïod of two months. Ten student participants, eight
hïgh school English teachers, and three education officiais were interviewed about the
hi& school English c~culum,and also about the idea of teaching Bhutanese literature
in English. Following the anaiysis of the 'Tell Me" sessions, the interviews, and post-
colonial and Commonwealth literature, I concluded that we can help students leam
English better and achieve the vision of access to Western markets and culture - while retaining the distinctive features of Bhutanese culture by:
using Aidan Chamber's 'Tell Me" as a way of engaging reader-response theory to read English literature in high schools; introducing Bhutanese literature in English developed by native Bhutanese writers; being informeci about pst-colonial and Commonwealth writing; supporting the development of Bhutanese English in the works of Bhutanese authors. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
1 am very gratefid to the Royal Govemment of Bhutan, particularly the Education
Division for nominating and giving me the oppurtunity to pursue a Masters in Education at the University of New Brunswick. 1 also thauk the CIDA for providing the necessary fiinds.
My supervisor Dr-Lissa Paul always had time to constantly encourage me. Her positive oultlook and belief in me tUed me with confidence especially at tirnes whm 1
Iost faith in myself and in my work. The many discussions with Dr. Lissa Paul helped me gain a better understanding of myself and the changes that surround Bhutan- 1 thank
Dr. Lissa Paul for being both a supervisor and a fiiend.
1 extend my thanks to Dr. John C. Bali and Dr. Jennifer Pazienza for taking the out of th& busy schedule to read my thesis. 1 am particularly grateful to Dr. John C. Bail for his insightful comments which have also helped shape my thesis.
1 thank Nancy Strickland and Karma Tsherhg in the Candian Co-operation Office in Bhutan for being a great source of help while conducting my study in Thimphu. 1 also thank them for heiping me maintain a constant Link with my family in Thimphu-
My gratitude also goes to Kathy Aubin of the Bhutan Project Office at UNB. She always had tirne to listen to me in troubled moments as well as in happier days. 1 will always remernber our taiks.
1 thank Dr. Gerald M. Clarke and Dr. JeMifer Pazienza for always making me feel at home in th& hearts and in tbeir sweet litde home at 660A Charlotte street, Myetitude also extends to Diane Shannon, her husband, Mike, and their daughter, Ashlee, Dr. John Stuart, his wife, Pat, and their daughters, Dr. Alan Sears, his wife Jane Ann, and th& children for king great host families. 1 will greatly miss oui
'Progressive Suppers' at Christmas time.
Christmas in Canada will always have a special place in my heart because of the love shown by Dr. George Haley, his wife, Joanne, and their daughteq Tobin. 1 thank you for inviting me into your hearts and into your home at Christmas Eve every year and always.
1 would also Like to thank Dr. Kathleen S. Berry for her fkiendship, kindness, and generosity. 1 dlalways remernber your cottage by the ocean, your family, and most of al1 your frankness and your contagious spontaneity.
My gratitude also goes to the English teachers of Motithang High School and
Yangchenphug High School, the students of Motithang High School, and the Education
Division officids who participated in my research. Their time and effort have greatly contributeci to the successtll completion of my thesis.
And last but not the least, I thdal1 the Bhutanese at Fredericton for their fiiendship and support. 1 am glad to have had the opportunisr to know you. My special thanks goes to my good fnend Tshering Dolkar who understood me and always stood by me through thick and thin. TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE.. Dedication ...... ii * * . Abstract ...... rii Acknowledgments iv ...... ListofFigures ...... vlii
PART ONE Introduction ...... 1 WhyEnglish? ...... 5 The History of Education in Bhutan ...... -6 The StatusRole of the English Language in Bhutan ...... 11
PART TWO Contlicts in Teaching the EIigh Schwl English Curriculum ...... 14 Colonial History of the High School English Curriculum ...... 14 Conflicts with Bhutanization and Cultural Preservation ...... 19 The Problems in Teaching Shakespeare ...... 21 Cultural Dislocation in Isaac Bashevis Singer's 'The Needle" ...... -26 Traditional Formalist Approach to English Instruction ...... -31 Conflicts in Expectations ...... -39 Western Education and Cultural Devaluation ...... -42 PART THREE The Need for a Change in Discursive Practice ...... -47 Aidan Chambers's "Tell Me" Approach for English Literature Instruction ...... 51 Bhutanese Literature in English ...... -59 Bhutanese english: A Future Perspective ...... -63
PART FOUR Research Method and Data Collection Strategies ...... -70 Chambers's Tell Me: Thoughtfully Reading and Talking about Literature ...... 70 Qualitative Interviewhg ...... -72 Interview Questions for the Students ...... -73 Interview Questions for Teachers ...... -74 Interview Questions for the Education Officials ...... 75 Documents ...... 75 EthicalConsiderations ...... 76 PAGE PART FIVE Discussion and Andysis of the Reseuch Data ...... -77 Using Chambers's 'Teil Me" Appmach to Read Literature ...... 77 East .West conflicts in Dr. Pem Namgyal's 'TheU~shedDream"...... 78 Filiing "gaps" in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice: Act 1, Sc 1 ...... 89 Establishing 'Extra-textual' Connections: WaIt Whitman's "O Captain! MyCaptain!" ...... 96 Students' Views about 'Te11 Me" ...... 102 The Inclusion of Bhutanese Literature in English ...... 107 Students'Views ...... 107 Teachers'Views ...... 109 Education Officiais' Views ...... 110 PART SIX Conclusion ...... 112 The Discrepancies in High School English Literature Instruction ...... 113 Aidan Chambers's ''Tell Me": A Way to Teach Literaîure ...... 116 A Different View of Teaching and Leaming ...... 119 Post-Colonial Thmry: Its Relevance to Bhutan ...... 122 The Need for a 'Reading Environment' ...... L26 Suggestions for Future Research ...... 127 Final'ïhoughts ...... 129
APPENDICES ...... 136 Appendix 1: Table of Contents For A Pageant of Poems ...... 136 Appendix II: Table of Contents For A Collection of Short Stories ...... 140 Appendix III: Aims and Objectives For High School English Literature Instruction . . 142 Appendix IV: Aidan Chambers's "General Questions" and "Special Questions" .... 144 Appendix V: Letters of Permission ...... 147 Appendix VI: Written Permission From Authors ...... 155 Appendix VII: Student Participants' Views About Aidan Chambers's 'Teli Me" .... 158
vii LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1 . The Medant of Venice. Act 1 Scene 1. 1 ...... 22
Figure 2 . The Merchant of Venice. Act 4 Scene 1. 76 ...... -25
Figure 3 . A Collection of Short Stories. 'The Needle", 22 ...... 27 PART ONE Introduction
In 1994, I completed the Post Graduate Certificate in Education at the National
Institute of Education in Samtse and got my appointment as a teacher in Motithang High
School in Thimphu, the capital of Bhutan. For two years 1 taught English to grade nine
and ten students. I had always enjoyed studying English and 1 loved teaching it,
especially English literature. In those fkst years 1 still had the ideaiistic fire that bu= in
every teacher who just starts on the job and loves it and thinks she or he can make a
difference in the students' lives. 1 was highly motivated, and wanted to work very hard to
help my students leam better English. But there was a criticai factor that pushed me to
work harder still. Engiish is one of the major subjects taught in schools throughout
Bhutan. If students do not pass the English examinations they fail in class and have to
study in the sarne grade for another year. The importance attached to students passhg the
English examinations puts great pressure on the teachers and students. An incident that
occmed during my second year as a teacher in Motithang High School perf'y
illustrates the sort of pressure most English teachers in Bhutan experience.
In my second year of teaching, I taught English to thixty-two grade ten students.
As grade ten is their final year of secondary schml and they have to write the indian
Certificate for Secondary Education examinations (ICSE), it is a crucial year for them.
They have to do well in the examinations in order to be admitted to a junior college.
Every year the school hspectorate, consisting of inspectofs for aii the subjects, visits each school for two days. The inspectors observe teachers' lessons, make students answer questions related to the subject being taught, and check students' exercise books to see if assignments and evaluations are carried on regularly. After the second day of obsewation, the inspectorate, the school head, and teachers sit together while the inspectors report thei.observations and conclusions. It was during such a meeting that the inspector for English asked me if al1 my grade ten students would pas in English in the ICSE examinations. 1 did not think so. In that class, except for one student who was exceptionaliy proficient in English and always achieved good marks in the eighty and ninety range, most of the students scoreci in the forty-five and sixty percent range. There were also two students who were very weak in English. 1 honestly told the inspector that
1 did not know, but he asked me to promise him that ail students would pas. 1 was at a loss for words. He was asking something I knew to be impossible. 1wondered if any teacher could do it - let alone a new one with iittie experience.
1 also felt that even if most of the students could pass the examinations, they were not necessarily competent in English. In high schools', Engiish examinations consist of two papes: English paper 1, which deais with comprehension exercises, language structure, and grammar, and English paper II, which focuses on Engiish literature.
Preparation for English papa II requires students to memorize factual information fiom
'In the Bhutanese context, some high schwls consists of graâes seven through ten, though some high schools include grades seven through twelve. For the sake of clarity, it is necessary to note that whenever 1mention high school English literature instruction or high school English curriculum 1 am specifically referring to grades nine and ten. 3
the poems, a Shakespearean play, ancl short stories studied in class. For many students,
English papa II helps them make up for the marks they may have lost in English paper 1.
So, when the marks for the two English papers are added and the average worked out,
most students manage to pass the English examinations. But even so, 1 knew that many
students who passed the ICSE examinations did not possess skills to use English
efficiently for cornmunication in rd-life situations.
Experiences Iike these and the fact that 1 liked Engiish Iiterature, loved teaching' and wanted to make a difference in students' lives encouraged me to work hard. Every day 1 spent a lot of tirne preparing the next day's lesson and thought of ways and examples to help students understand Shakespeare's As You Like It' or Coleridge's
"Kubla Khan," or Mark Twain's 'Tom Whitewashes the Fence." But many grade nine and ten students could not write a sentence without errors, and many stniggled to read and understand the textbooks prescribed in the curriculum. 1 Myundefstood the importance of students passing in the English examinations, and 1 concentrated my efforts into thinking of ways to teach English better.
Quite a few English teachers shared similar experiences with me, and we expressecl our shared disappointment with our students. The way we saw the situation was that students were disinterested in the subject, or they were not trying hard enough. 1 thought the reasons tbat many students found English difficult was because there was something lacking in the students, or that we (teachers) were not teaching effectively. 1 thought that a strong fomdation in Engiish was missing. 1 felt that students would do 4 better in English if the English teachers in the primary and junior high schools did a better job teaching students to rad, -te and speak English. At the high school level, 1
felt 1 could help dentslem English better by keeping my language simple and providing many familiar examples while teaching.
My inability to recognize the conflicts that are inherent in hi@ school English instruction in Bhutan dtedin my limiteci view of the situation. I was only faced with a sense that my students were not doing well in the examinations, and that students could not speak or mite English well either.
But the problems surrounding reading, writing, and speaking English were not the whole story. Other issues began to surface in my mind, and won 1 understood that the problem was much deeper than 1 had initially thought. High school English instruction in
Bhutan is currently based on the Indian Certificate for Secon* Education curriculum, a curriculum with a colonial history. The studies of Gauri Viswanathan (1989) and Judith
E.Walsh (1983) state that the British parliament institutioaaiized English studies in Indian public schools with the ideologid intention of making the Indian subjects identifjr with and accept British values and culture as superior to their own. The present curriculum in
Bhutan reflects these ideological assumptions. It may have worked for the British public schools of the Empire, but it is culturally, ideologically, and Linguistically ineffectua1 for my students in a Bhutan of the 1990s. The curriculum that 1 taught was not preparing students for the two things the Bhutanese Govemment wanted: Bhutanization, an emphasis on Bhutanese culture, and the ability to participate in the global ecowmy. 5
Gradualiy, 1have corne to understand that if 1hope to teach English better, 1 will have to do more than update my methodologies. 1 will have to address some of the culturai and curricular dislocations present in the curriculum. If teachers and Cumculum developers recognize and address the cultural and cmicuiar confiîcts that exist in teaching English in Bhutan, we will be able to help students leam English better and enable teachers to teach Englîsh better.
My thesis is in six parts. In the first part 1 trace the development of English instruction in Bhutan and descriie the important status English has acq* in Bhutan.
The second part examines the conflicts in teaching the high school English literature c~culurnthrough an analysis of some cUmculum materiais presently studied by high school students in Bhutan. in the third part of the thesis 1 provide possible approaches to a more effective high school English literaîure instruction, Part four of the thesis describes the research method and data collection strategies used in conducting the study in Bhutan. In part five of the thesis, 1discuss and analyze the research data. And in the final part, 1 address the implications of the research and offer suggestions for fiinire study.
Why Engiish?
As an English tacher, 1 find myself in an awkward and htrating position.
English is the medium of instruction and one of the core subjr;~~i~ schools. Passing the
English examinations is a source of great pressure on the teachers, who mut prepare di students to do well in the examinations. 1 am expacted to teach English as though it were 6
a language native to Bhutan. Although 1 worked very hard, 1 hewthat it is irnpossiile
for ali students to do weil in the English examinations, and tbat even if they did well, it
did not always reflect their ability to read, wrïte, and speak English effectively. In order
to understand how we have arrived at this position, 1 will trace the events that have
guided the Bhutanese Government to adopt English as the language of leaming and as
one of the core subjects in the Bhutanese education system. I wili show how the
Bhutanese education system evolved into what it is now.
The History of Education in Bhutan
Bhutan is a kingdom in the eastem Himaiayas situated between India and Tibet.
It is roughly the size of Switzerland. It measures 300 km west to east, and 175 km north
to south. The population of the country is approximately six hundred and fi@ thousand.
The national religion is Buddhism. Dzongkha is the official language of the Bhutanese.
Along with Dzongkha about sixteen dialects are spoken in the country.
Education and leamïng have always been accordeci a place of high esteem in
Bhutanese culture. From a broader perspective, the history of educational development
can be traced as far back as 747 A.D. when the first great religious teacher, Guru
Padmasambhava, came to Bhutan to propagate Buddhism. Various sub-sects of
Buddhism and different schools of Buddhist philosophy developed between 800 - 1500
A.D. (Hasrat, 37-59). In the history of Bhutanese religious teaching, Shabdning
Ngawang Namgyal is regarded as a great personality who came to Bhutan in 16 16 A.D.
from Tibet at the age of twenty-three. He was the most important builder of Dzongs 7
(fortresses). Though these Dzongs were primarily used for conducting political and religious affairs, they would serve as the centres of education and scbolarship in years to corne. A monastic education was started in these Drongs (Hasrat, 166). At lest one male child fiom every family would attend a Dzong for monastic education. Traditional scholarship focused on Buddhist philosophical teaching, classical scriptures and Buddhist mental and spintual discipline. Subjects such as history, philology, medicine, ethics and a variety of other subjects could also form a part of an individual's curriculum in a
Buddhist monastic school. The vehicle for instruction was the liturgical language
Chokey, and over centuries a vast quantity of leanid treatises and scholarly work had been written in ChoRey. The non-fonnai reiigious ducational institutions are responsible for producing fine scholarly wrïtings which shape the present day history of Bhutan. The chief works of Bhutan's religious literature includes two great Lamaic Encyclopedias: (a) the Kanjur (treatises of Buddha's revelation) and (b) Tenjur (doctrinal commentaries).
Furthermore, there are numerous biographical, literary, and historical works, and chronicles (Hasrat, 174-1 77).
Bhutan remained isolated hmmost of the world until 1959. After it gave up its policy of isolation, it created its First Five Year Plans for development in 196 1. Bhutan dso became a member of various world organizations. These changes twk place under the reign of King Jigme Dorji Wangchuck who ascended the throne in 1952. It became apparent that an improved ducational system was necessary if Bhutanese society was to benefit fbily hmeconomic and social development that would begin with tbe adoption of the FbtFive Year Plan (IFYP) for development in 1961. Western education was 8
promoted and expanded since the beginning of the lFYP in order to meet basic
educational needs as well as to develop human resources essential for the Mersocio-
economic development of the country (Eighth Five Year Plan, 178). Thus, the
Government of Bhutan decided to set up a nationwide network of formal secular
education, and sixty-one schools were built and opened througiiout the country. In a
short time the effects of these changes were felt on the Bhubnese culture, especially on a
system of education that was primarily still monastic.
Dzongkha, a modified fom of Choekey, the traditional language of leamhg in
Bhutan, was taught at Bhutanese schools hmthe start. However, because of the lack of
modem Iearning materials in Dmngkha, a second language had to be chosen as an
ancillary medium of formai secular instruction. Until 1964, the policy had been to
educate in Hindi. The factors which led to the choice of Hindi as the medium of
instruction were two-fold: afEordable learning materials were readily available in Hindi
from neighborïng India; and the choice of Hindi medium enabled the new system of
formal secular education to get off to a quick start. In The Jesuit and the Dragon,
Howard Solverson states that, "Hindi was little spoken in Bhutan; its use in the schools
had been purely pragmatic. And it was, after ail the language of a neighbo~gcountry''
(1 07). Along with Hindi medium instructional materials, Bhutan also imported the
majority of teachers into Bhutan fkom india, as well as the old fashioned didactic methods
characteristic of Indian-style forma1 secular education.
In 1963, Father Mackay, a Canadian Jesuit who had been the headmaster of St.
Robert's High School in Darjeeling, was invited into the country by the Bhutanese Govemment. He was asked to build Bhutan's fïrst high school in Kanglung, on the mode1 of schools in Darjeeling. In 1965, Father Coffey and Brother Quinn joined him
Science, and Sports in Tashigang elementary schml. English was adopted as the medium of instruction; except for Dzongkha, ali subjects were taught in English.
The hteniational EncycIopediu of National System of Education sbtes that the decision to use English as the medium of instruction in Bhutan was made at a time when primary education was considereâ, in the main, to be a preparation for secondary schooling. To have chosen Dzongkha or any other Tibetan-based language would have created problems, since almost all teachers had to be recruited from abroad, mainly India
(104). Concerning the adoption of English as the medium of leaming, Solverson in The
Jesuit and the Dragon writes that:
@3]huta-nhad no completely indigenous written language. Choekey was a '"foreign" classical language used mostly within the Buddhist religion, and for govenunent documents . . .English, while also foreign, was an international language. Even India recognized English as one of its languages, and used it officially and quite gendy. As weli, English had already been taught as a subject in Bhutan's schools. Adopting English would not involve any perceived threat of cultural influence hma neighboring country. And finally, the better schwIs that Bhutanese leaders had seen were English language institutions. The choice of Father Mackey to start the country's first quality school fit well with the adoption of the English language for schools. (107)
By the time the new high school in Kanglung was completed, Tashigang efernentary school had become a high school, and its students sat for the f'ust Bhutan
Matriculation examinations in December 1968, at Shenibtse Public School. Shenibtse
Public School in Kanglung was iaaugurated by the late king, Jigme Dorji Wangchuck, in 10
26th May, 1968. Within three and a half decades since the beginning of the l FYP in
196 1, the Govemment developed a modem education systern hmprimary to a tertiary level, There were a total of over 77,276 students enroiid in 288 schools and institutions in the Kingdom of Bhutan in 1995 (8FYP, 178).
The change hman education systern that was purely monastic to a secular and comprehensive Western educaîion has resulted in a huge cultural sh.Monastic education was religious in nature and was responsible for teaching ethicai, spintuai and moral values. It was concerneci with the moral improvement of the monks, who in tum would teach the general comunity to live morally. The fundamental principle of monastic education was that spiritual wisdom should guide one's actions to benefit aU sentient beings on earth. It focused on communal weli-being above concem for the self.
In cornparison to traditional monastic education, the Western education system introduced in Bhutan was seen more as a tool for materid benefits rather than a principle that dehes one's life. Students develop a cornpetitive spirit which values
"individualism" over the well-being of others.
The need to modernize and develop Bhutan led to the introduction of formal secular education based on Western lines. Western education, with English as its medium of knowledge, was supposed to prepare the Bhutanese to take part in the global economy. Thus, leaming skills in reading, witing, listening, and speaking in English has become a necessity for the Bhutanese. The StatudRole of the EnWh Language in Bhutan
The English language situation in Bhutan is similar, and at the same tirne
different, fkom many countries in the world which were formerly colonized. It is similar
in the sense that the Bhutanese, as weli as the people of the formerly colonized countnes,
are not native speakers of English, yet English has become their second language and
linguafianca. The différence lies in the fact that Bhtxtau was never colonized. Engiish
language and English studies were never imposed on the Bhutanese by a colonial power, as was the case in many çountries of the world. In ï7ie Story of Enghh, McCrum et-al., states that one of the factors that contnbuted to the spread of English in countries where the native language(s) is not English, was that lcnowing English gave the third wodd access to economic and ùitellectual privileges.
During the rule of the third kgJigme Do ji Wmgchuck, the Bhutanese
Goveniment decided that studyhg English language was necessary if the country and its people were to begin the process of modemization and participate in global matters. To participate in the global economy and also to implement development activities, the
Bhutanese Govemment needed financial aid nom foreign countries. In this context,
McCnun et-ai., state that:
The demands of modernization, technological change and international bank fûnding, still largely controlled by Anglo-American corporations, provide the main reason for global Engiish, the language of the multinational corporations. (The Story of English, 24)
Thus, the status of English as a second language, as the language of instruction, and as one of the core subjects in educational institutions was chosen by the Bhutanese 12
Government In English as Global Language, David Crystal states that English is the
language of education. According to him, English is the "medium of a great deal of the
world's knowledge, especially in such areas as science and technology. And access to
knowledge is the business of education" (1 0 1).
Due to the growing importance of English in Bhutan, there was a linguistic
jostling for position as langtxage of choice between English and the more local languages,
particularly Dzongkha This phenomena was evident in the field of media, in the
education system, and in govemment offices.
Along with Dzongkha, Sharchopikha, and Nepali, Engiish is the language of the
Bhutanese media. The only national radio broaâcast, Bhutan Broadcasting Service, and
the national newspaper, Kuensei also use Dzongkha, English, and Nepali to disseminate
national and international news to the people. Other forms of popular media in Engiish
including newspapers, magazines, novels, comics, children's story books, music, videos
and movies, have also made their way into the country.
Both Dzongkha and English are used for goveniment administration, as welî as in
pnvate organizations and businesses. Along with Dzongkha, English is used for many official purposes such as govenunent announcements, cornespondence, and many departmental and interdepartmental discussions.
Enghsh is used for all sorts of international co~ll~~lunicationincluding diplomacy,
commerce, transport, higher education, science and technology. Conceming English,
David Crystal in Engliish as a Global Language, writes, 'The language plays an officia1 or worhng role in the proceedings of most other major international political gatherings, 13 in al1 parts of the world" (79). Bhutan has become a member of many international and regional organizations. This involvement increased the necessity for the Bhutanese to develop cormnmication skilis in English.
Al1 the above factors have led to more Bhutanese leaming and using English in their daily lives. The widespread use of the English language in Bhutan, where not even a single person is a native speaker of the Imguage, is astonishing considering Bhutan opened its arms to modedzation, and Western education with emphasis on the English language only in the 1960s. The important hctional deof the English language in
Bhutan clearly dernonstrates the type of English instruction required in Bhutan. English instruction in Bhutan should prepare students to be proficient in using English for communication in various situations. Students should also be able to criticaily read different types of texts and write for different audiences in English. Teaching these skills will help students to use English for diffkrent reai life purposes within the country, and with other English speakers in the world. PART TWO Confücts in Teacbg the High School Engiïsh Curriculum
My responsiiility as an English teacher is to help students make sense of their
texts as if they were being shared among native Engiish speakers. 1 am supposed to use
the texts to teach Bhutanese students to speak and write 'like' native English speakers so
that they can acquire the co~~l~llunicativeand analytical skills necessary to participate in
the global economy. 1 am also supposed to help snidents appreciate and value Bhutanese
culture, traditions, and customs. Unfortunately, the conflicts inherent in teaching the high
school English c~culumprevents teachers and students fiom achieving these aims of the Bhutanese Govertunent and the Division of Education.
Colonial History of the High School English Curricuium
The English curriculum used in the country has colonial origins, because it is the same curriculum that the ICSE prescribes for the Indian high schools. The colonial ongins of English education in India, accordhg to Judith Wdsh in Growing up in British
India, cmbe traced back to the time when English was institutionaiïzed by the British parliament in the Indian education system in the mid-ninteenth century. Gauri
Viswanathan, in the fkst chapter of Masks of Conquest, traces the origins of English literary study in India. Accordhg to Viswanathan, the first step in the creation of the study of English literature was made indirectly with the passing of the Charter Act of
18 13, which transferred the responsibility of educating the Indian natives fiom the 15
English East India Company to the English Parliament She beliwes that the English
parliament introduced the study of English literaîure in India not as a moral duty to the
Indian subjects (as the official lines suggest) but as a way of malMg the Manpeople
ideologically cornplid. She States that the British imperïaiistic intention ofpolitical
subordination of India is speîied out clearly by J. Farish in a minute issued in the Bombay
Presidency:
The natives must be kept domby a sense of our power, or they mut willingly submit hma conviction that we are more wise, more just, more humane, and more anxious to improve their condition than any 0thrulers they could possibly have. (2)
The discipline of English was developed in india to serve the imperid purpose of educating and civilizing colonial abjects in the literature and thought of England, so that the Lndian subjects could be sociaily and politically dominated by the British (2-3). The same situation prevailed in those parts of Atnca that were colonized by the British.
In Decolonising the Mind, Ngugi Wa Thiong'o gives an acanexample. He writes that the study of the English language and Engiish literature in colonized Kenya alienated Kenyans fkom themselves and their world, and famiiiarized them with other selves and other worlds. He writes about the home and the field as their pre-primary school, where the language of instruction was the language of their immediate and wider community. Once they got to a colonial school this unity of language was missing. He writes, "the language of my education was no longer the language of my culture" (1 1).
The language of his colonial education was English. He writes thaû, "In Kenya, English became more than a language: it was the language, and aii the others had to bow before it 16
in deference" (1 1). He also talks about how success in Engiïsh determined a child's progress up the ladder of fomal education. As in Bhutan now, if a student failed the
English examinations she could not be promoted to the next grade no matter how weU she had done in the other abjects. Literacy studies completely excluded oral literature in
Kenyan languages and reidorced the dominance of the Engiish language by including only the works of British writers in the curriculum: Dickens, Stevenson and Rider
Haggard in primary school; Scott, G.B.Shaw, John Buchan, Captain W.W. Johns in secondary school; Chaucer, TSEliot and Graham Greene at Makerere. The imposition of a colonial curriculum which alienated the students fiom the language and culture of their imrnediate surrounding is also dected in the Caribbean.
Edward Kamau Brathwaite, a disthguished Caribbean pet, literary critic and historian, recognizes the coloniang power of the English education system to dernoralize people of ficaand the Caribbean, and speaks against it. In "English in the Cariibean,"
Brathwaite writes:
What Our educational system did was to recognize and maintain the language of the conquistador - the language of the planter, the language of the officiai, the language of the Anglican preacher. It insisted that not oniy would English be spoken in the Anglophone Cariibean, but the educational system would cary the contours of an English heritage. (English Literaîure: Opening Up The Canon, 18)
British literature and literary forms including Shakespeare, George Eliot, Jane Austen that were familiar in Great Britain, but that bad very little to do with the environment and redit-of the Caribbean, were dominant in the Caribbean educational system. People were forced to learn thhgs that had no relevance to themselves. Paradoxically, the 17
Caribbeans educated in this system became more familiar with the world of th& English
colonizers than thei.own society. Brathwaite States that they came to know more about
English kings and queens than tbey did about their own national heroes, and slave iebels -
the people who helped to build and to destroy their society. He says, 'We are more
excited by English literary models, by the concept of, say, Sherwood Forest and Robin
Hood, than we are by the Namy of the Maroons. a name some of us didn't even know
until a few years ago" (Engfish Literature: Opening up the Canon, 19). I recognized in
Brathwaite's descriptions my own feelings of dienation fiom the curricuium.
In Bhutanese high schools, the textbooks prescribed for the study of English
literature are a Shakespearean plaf, A Pageant of Poems (see appendix I), and A
Collection of Short Stories (see appendix II). The Merchant of Venice textbook was
published in 1979 by Oxford University Press in Delhi (India). A Pageant of Poem was
published in 1996 by Selina Publishers in New Delhi (India). It is a collection of fie
nine poems of which students have to study twenty. Some of the more familiar poems
are by William Wordsworth, Walt Whitman, Lord Byron, and John Keats. A Collection
of Short Stories was published in 1992 by Inter University Press (P) Ltd in Delhi (India).
This text has fifieen short stories contniuted by indian, European, and American writers
such as C. Rajagopalachari, R.K. Narayan, Rabinciranath Tagors, Alexander Baron,
H.G.Wells, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Anton Chekov, Leo Tolstoy, O'Heniy, Mark Twain,
Ernest Hemingway. 1 can see the point in trying to offer a curriculum which includes the
The Shakespearean play studied in high schools changes evay three years. At present the play in study is Merchant of Venice. 18
works of writers hmdifferent cultures, but as a tacher it becornes very difficuit to
navigate the cultural and linguistic distances in the texts.
We have adopted an English curriculum which has its history in nineteenth
century British imperïalism without recopizing the uony. The intention of colonial
education was to make the oppressed subjects believe that their language, culture, and
value systems were Merior. They were led to aqtthat everything about the British -
values, language, culture, howledge, literature etc., - was good and noble. The purpose
of the institutionalized study of Engiish literature was imperialistic. The Bhutanese
reason for adopting English was different. We value Bhutanese culture and identity. The
late twentieth-century reason for education in English is not like the nineteenth century
one at dl. Britain is no longer ding the seas or most parts of the world. In fact, now
American popular culture and American currency drive market forces. In The Empire
Writes Back, Bili Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths, and Helen Tiflin are of the view that Britain,
like the other dominant colonial powers of the nineteenth century, has been relegated to a
relatively minor place in international affairs. In the spheres of politics and economics,
and increasingly in the vital new area of the mass media, Britain and the other European powers have been superseded by the emergent powers of the USA and USSR (7).
Although 1 appreciate the attempt at making the short stories and the collection of poems culturally inclusive, there are no distinctions betweeri, for instance, Chekhov and
O. Henry, or Wordsworth and Tagore. Thus, tbe lack of contexts for these texts contributes to the confusion in teaching them. These texts, which make up the high school Engüsh literature curriculum defeat the dual purpose of providing a school 19 education which will help Bhutanese to value Bhutanese culture, and inmeasiagly participate in a world community.
Conflicts with Bhutrninrrtion and CPlturai Preseicvation
The King and the Govemment were apprehensive about losing Bhutan's unique culture and identity to the forces of modernization. Thus, every devefopmental activity has to exist in harmony with the preservation of the Bhutanese culture. This led to the initiation of the Bhutanization policy. The importance of a curriculum based on the
Bhutanese culture was highlighted in the nrst National Etkation Policy established in
1976 to direct the growth of the educational system in the country. The major objectives of the policy were:
-To prepare every student to take a more mature and responsible, loyal and intelligent part in the new society that is being created in our country under the enlightened leadership of His Majesty the King. -To preserve our country's rich cultural and spiritual heritage while seeking time to reap the Eniits of science and technology. -Education must be related to planneci development goals. It should as fat as practicable be closely linked with actual man power requirements of the country at different ievels in various fields, with a view to avoid the problem of L'unemploymentof educated" in hture. -Education must be closely linked related to and immediately applicable to local conditions. -Education must avoid the dienation of education fkom the culture, religion, and tradition of the mass of the people. (20)
The importance of the objectives of the National Education Policy outlined above are also very clearly reflected in the rationale, aims, leaming experiences, and leamhg outcornes for the study of Engiish literature in the high schools mentioned in The Puvose
Of School Education In Bhutan (see appendix III). 20 However, the high school English c-dum in Bhutan conflicts with the
Goveniment's concem with Bhuttanization and cultural preservation. III the English class,
students and teachers consistenly deal with texts that are located in foreiga cultures and
are uafamiliar. Literature that relates to the Bhutanese environment is not a part of the
cu.niculum. "The Enchanted Pool" which is one of the short stones included in the
textbook, A Cu1lectiun of Short Stories, is a case in point. TheEnchanted Pool" is a
mythological story taken fiom the Mahabharata. The Mahabharata is an epic of ancient
india containeci in the holy book of the ffindus called the Baghavad Gita . This story is
set in the context of the twelve y- of exile for the Pandavas wming to an end. Earlier
in the story, we find the Pandavas in the forest, very depressed because they had failed to
render a simple service to a brahmana. Theu attempt at catching the deer who had
accidentally got the brahrnana S tire-kindling mortar entangled in its homs, was
unsuccessfiil. In a state of dejection, the Pandavas talk about their sorry state. Bhima and Ajuna make references to earlier events when they had been humiliated by their half-brothers, the Kauravas. To understand these references and the first sentence of the story, 'The stipulateci period of twelve years was drawing to a close," students need background information about the Mahabharata. It explains the limage of the Pandavas and the Kauravas and the events that led to the great battle that ensued between them called the Mahabharata .
Since knowledge of the Mahabharata is foreign to Bhutanese students, 1, as the teacher, was supposeci to provide students wiîh the information needed to understand the story. 1 could not find any literature on the Mahabharata, so 1 did the next best thing - 1 21 got some information fimm an Indian teacher. The Indian teacher gave me some information on the limage of the Pandavas, and the Kawavas. He told me the circum~fancesthat led to twelve years of exile for the Pandavas and the ultimate battle between the Pandwas, and the Kauravas.
The difficulties that 1 and the students fa& in reading 'The Enchantecl Pool" is reflective of the time and effort we spend in teaching and studying the cultures of other corntries. The present high school English cmiculum, which includes storia, poems, and a Shakespearean play, expresses Eurocentric, American, and Indian experiences, which are rooted in other lives and cultures. The English textbooks prescribed for study in high schools are isolated hmstudents' Lives and culture and create problems when students attempt to read and understand the texts. To provide an illustration of the gap between students' cultures and the cultures represented in the presm'bed texts, 1 will reproduce some parts of the texts 1 taught and explain wherein the gap lies.
The Problems in Teaching Shakespeare
Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice is one of the texts ïncluded in the high school English curriculum. Students in Bhutan begin the study of this text in grade nine.
Since students are not exposed to Shakespeare's plays in their junior high years, studyïng
Shakespeare is a very difficuit experience for most of them. In the two years that 1 bave taught Shakespeare to grade nine students, 1 have seen students becorne very ftightened and connwd. They have a hard time understanding the language, the metaphors, the references to mythical classicai gods and godesses. The best that 1 çould do to help was to read and explicate the text, line by line. in order to describe some of the difficulties inherent in teaching The Merchunt of Venice, 1have reproduced a part of the text in
Figure 1.
* Act I
Figure 1. The Merchr of Venice, Act 1 Scene 1, 1. It is easier to understand metaphors when the things comparai are familiar to the reader. The metaphor of Antonio's mind "tossing on the ocean" was difficult for students to understand, Bhutan is a landlocked country and most students have never seen the ocean, the sea, boats, or ships for that matter. A few may have seen ships with sails in movies or in magazines. But movies and pictues in magazines do not convey the feeling of "tossing" on the ocean, which is a S~LISOIY expience, in these circumstances, the teacher does the imagining (because it is new even to most teachers) and tries to explain this picture as best as she or he cm. Even in the first fourteen lines of The Merchant of
Venice we fhd cultural dienation, so imagine the many foreign cultural concepts that students (and teachers) are bound to encouter as they struggle to complete the whole text. Furthexmore, the Eiizabethan English of the text is different than the type of English students had been studying in their junior high classes. It is not the Engiish students use when they study other subjects, nor in their everyday lives outside school. In English QS a Second and Foreign Language, Brian Harrison says:
m do not see, for example, how a seventeen-year-old school boy in Asia or Afiica can be expected to cope with the ramifications of Victorian life as expressed in full - blown novels by Dickens or Thackeray. That he is still in some areas expected to cope appears to rest on the surprising belief that a curriculum appropriate in an English public school at some uncertain date in the past is appropnate to a developing country in the last decades of the twentieth century. (46 -7)
Many times words are used in different contexts. For instance, the word "simple" in a Shakespearean play means stupid, dull, an idiot etc., but the Bhutanese use "simple" to signifj. a quiet and unassuming petson. Then there are many references to classical
Greek mythology: gods and gocidesses, heroines and heroes. The study of Shakespeare 24 becornes more çomplicated when students and teachers are required to go beyond understanding or imagining unfamiiiar objects and make sense of ideas and cultural practices. If the point of teaching Shakespeare to students is to introduce them to English culture, then why not teach it in translation? If the point of English instruction is to enable students to speak the English of the global economy, to speak "modem" English, then Shakespeare is not a very good way to leam that. The cmTiCUIum focuses on getting the 1itera.l meaning right, and that is extremely diflicult given the texts at hand. And the language is not idiomatic at d.
Another problem in teaching English literature to predominantly Buddhist students is the ideological insistence on Christian virtue. About the inclusion of Christian values in Shakespeare's plays, Roy Battenhouse in Shakespeare 's Christian Dimension states that:
in Elizabethan England religion was considered the anchor of mords, and the God of Christian faith was generally believed to be the creator, SUSfaitler, and judge of aii mankind. The guidebook for understanding good and evil in al1 sorts and conditions of life was Holy Scxipture, a capstone to testimonies provided universally in the Book of Nature. In such a context everyone's history ddbe one of joumey toward self-knowledge and heaith, or else of opportunitties squandered. Do not Shakespeare's imply this sense of history? Histoncal crïticism in our time shouid be open to perceptions that a ha'shorizons of understanding can be uitirnately Christian in their outreach. (1)
Robert Speaight (1960) in his commentary "Christianity in Shakespeare," states that,
"No one but the most reactionary agnostic any longer thinks it is paradoxical to assert that
Shakespeare's plays are penetrated through and through by Christianity. Indeed, without without an understanding of Christian doctrine, they are quite unintelligible"
(Shakespeare 's Chrisrian Dimension, 2 1).
The belief in colonial power, in Christianity, or individuality, infoms many of the
English Iiterature texts that hi& school students in Bhutan study. The text reproduced in
Figure 2, presents another typicai example- In Act 4, Scene 1 of The Merchant cf Venice.
Antonio orders Jewish Shylock to convert to Christianity.
371 mm for Aiuaio: Che ukmty due to Antonio rül aa k duad
Figure 2. The Merchant af Venice, Act 4 Scene I,76. 26
Christianity encourages missionaries to convert people into Chnstians. The act of
converting to another religions is very foreign to Buddhist doctrine. Buddhist teachings
do not validate converting people of other religion to Buddhism. In fact, we do not force
our own people to practice Buddhism if they feel they are not ready. The reason is
simple: forcing people to practice Buddhism when they are not willing may make them
completely lose interest in it. A popular Bhutanese saying, "jigenmachhey, damchhoe
maha," supports this belief It literaiiy means, do not delay in conducting one's worldiy
duties, particularly mmiage, and do not be in a hurry to take on religious and spiritual
cornrnitmentsyparticularly becoming a nun or a monk. The sense behind it is that if a
person becornes a monk or a nun without due consideration, there are more chances for
her or him to lose interest and become a "gaîey," that is, to give up his or her vows. For a
nun or a monk, breaking religious vows is the greatest sin. Thus, Bhutanese &dents may
not understand Christianity's positive outlook in converting people of other religions to
Christianity.
The problem of cultural dislocation does not only lie in teaching Elizabethan
texts. It can also present difficulties in teaching twentieth century texts.
CuIturai Dislocation in Isaac Bashevis Singer's CLTheNeedleH
The problem of understanding foreign cultures portrayed in high school English
texts is also evident in my experience with teaching Isaac Bashevis Singer's "The
Needle." This is one of the fifteen stones found in the textbook called A Collection of
Short Stories. There were few cultural clues about Judaism in the text The only notes 27 provided were some information about Isaac Bashevis Singer, a very brief summary of the story, and the mord in the story. The text explained that Isaac Bashevis Singer was a
Jew born in 1904 in Poland and lived until 1935, when he emigrated to the United States.
He lived through both world wars. "The Needle," like al1 his other stories, was onginally written in Yiddish. in Figure 3,1 have reproduced a part of the notes about "The Needle" fiom A Collection of Shorr Stories to show the Little information that teachers and students have to work with.
Isaac Bashevis Singer was born in Poland in 1904. He belonged to a farnily of Rabbis and educated at the Warsaw Rabbinnical Semina? In 1935 ire emigrated to the United States. Most of his fiction rwrvritten in Yiddish. It is on& recen- that Singer S work hm been translated into English and his meriz recognked. In 1978 he \vas aavarded the Nobel Prke for Literahtre. He died in 199 /. Nis ivell knorvn publications inclride il Friend of Kafka ', 'The Slave *, 'The Magician of Lublin : 'The Manor ', etc. The story 'The Needle' lays ernphask on the values of good and coztrteous behaviour towards others. One shoztld be polite and well disposed totvards eveyone without erpecting any rmvard. lll rnanners not on& ntin our relationships but also cause bitterness andpain. ln this story, itte. the yorrng and harrghv girl learnt thisfact at a great pn'ce. The stoty centres around a ivealthy la& 's search for a avelZ-mannered bridefor her only son. You will agree with the airthor how iittfe rhings Zike our geshrres, greetings. etc.. tell volumes about our personality Read this interesting stoty ro find out avhat role the neede plays in Esther Rosa S mission to get a nice ctrltured daughter-in-larv. Does she succeed in her endeavour?
Figure 3. A Collection of Short Stories, "The Needle", 22. 28
1 had a very difficult theteaching this story because the story centered on Jewish culture, and I did not have the necessary background information about the Jews. There were many colloquial words such as love shmuv, rnazel tov, groschen, Talmud, and
Torah, to name a few. Here, I will provide the context only for love shmuv and mazef tov. Zeldele, the narrator of the story, tells the readers that these days young folk fall in love, start dating, and then they start qpamling and end up hating each other. She says that in her tirne, they relied on th& parents and the matchmaker. She says, "Ys,love- shmuv. What does a young boy or a girl know about what is good for them ?" (A
Collection of Short Stories, 23). It was not util1 arrived in Canada that it was explained to me that "love-shmuv' is a way of expressing süght ridicule or contempt, a way of underminhg the high value placed on love. Yet another word that 1 could not comprehend was Mazef Tov. The main character in the story is a very nch woman,
Esther Rosa. Her mission in life is to find a good bride for her nineteen year old son,
Benze. She wants a daughter- in-law who possesses nobility of character. After setting out on her mission testing many eligible women, she finally fin& the right one in Frieda
Gittel and says, "My daughter, Mazel Tov !" The Indian guide books or the dictionary did not contain any information about these words, so 1used the contextua1 clues and attempted guessing. 1 was not sure whether my guesses were accurate or not, but that was the best 1 could do.
It was really hard for me to teach these lines, Tes, a needle. Because of a rooster and a chicken a whole tom was destroyed in the Holy Land, and because of a needle a match was spoiled" (A Collection of Short Stories, 33). The guide books did not provide any explanation for this and there was no literature in the schwl lïbrary to which 1 could refer. 1 resorted to using the Bible, which 1received as a fareweii gift when 1 graduatecl from the Christian missîonary hi& school. 1 could remember the story in the Bible of
Judas betraying Jesus and vaguely recalled how Jesus told one of his disciples that before the cock crowed he wodd have denied Jesus thrice. The words 'Holy Land' and the phrase 'Because of a rooster and a chicken a whole town was destroyd' became dues for me and guided me in thinking that these sentences had a Biblical refermce. 1 looked through it for the story of betrayal, and when 1 fame to Matthew 26:34 1 found the words spoken by Jesus to Peter' 'Truly 1Say to you that this very night, before a cock crows, you shall deny Me three times." 1related this to the content and explaiaed it to my students. When 1 taught the story 1 felt good about the extra information that I couid help my students with and 1 was pleased with my effort, 1 also assumed that with this extra infoxmation my students would understand the story better. At the tirne' it was unlikely for me to know that Singer would not likely have been using Christian references. 1 also did not lcnow that the referme was to a nursery rhyme familia in European, particularly in English tradition. The Oxford Nursery Rhyme Book contains this nursery rhyme:
For want of a nail The shoe was lost, For want of a shoe The horse was lost, For want of a home The rider was Iost, For want of a rider The battle was lost, For want of a battle The kingdom was lost, And ail for the want Of a horse shoe nail. (1 1 6)
In America, 'there is a hole in the bucket' is of a similar type. It is Like saying, for an insignificant thiog you lose something very valuable. Because of my cultural background and experienca, 1 had problems understanding many of the cultural concepts in the texts.
Now, when 1 revisit my experience teaching "The Needle," 1 mdize that it had enormous implications for the examinations and for helping -dents becorne profiCient in using the English language. The Purpose of School Educution Ni Bhutan states that the study of English literature should enable students to develop the ability to critically appraise different literary works and appreciate the best thoughts and ideas of other cultures. But merely including a collage of literatures hmdifferent cultures in the
English literature cumculurn does not work. Students and teachers need to be surrounded by literature that they can refer to and discuss in the context of the texts. 1 have also begun to see that if 1, the teacher, could not understand the cultural context of the text, then the task of enabling ali my students to do well in the English examinations becornes al1 the more difficult. 31
Traditionai FormalWt Approach to Englhh Instruction
Two years of teaching English Literature brought out the best and worst in me. I
worked hard every day preparing a good lesson for my students. A good lesson in my understanding included these elements:
Understanding the content myself first; Providing the meanings of difficult words; Thinking of examples, petsonal or otherwise, to explain the meaning of àïf£ïcult words.
Like many students in the world, Bhutanese students rightly read to pass examinations.
Teachers want as many students as possiôle to pass with high scores. The reputation of the teacher depends on the success of the students. So teachers teach directly to the test using strict mid-centuxy forms of pedagogy. Teachers lecture to silent and passive students. Students are kept busy with assignments based on factuai questions and answers. Teachers and tex& are the authonty and there is only one correct meaning or answer wbich al1 students must accept and remember well for the exams. Students seldom ask questions and class discussions never happen. The texts read are not related to students' experiences or the Bhutanese context. Many grade nine and ten students cannot realiy read a text without help hmthe teacher. Interpretation is closed down and making sense of a text, learning to rd,write, and speak proficiently in EngIish are ail relegated to the background. As a resdt language becornes a very flat medium. Yet the study of poetry, and Shakespeare in particdar, depends on a nuanced understanding of interpretive possibilities in a text, of metaphor, and of allusion. Al1 that is closed domin the pursuit of the "right" examination answer. The methods used in Bhutan are much like the fonnalist methods used in mid- century America and England- Nicholas J. Karoiides in "The Transactional Theury of
Literature," states that the traditional fomalist methods are based on several underlying
(a) the author's intention is the key to ascertaining what the work means and this meaning çan be identified; (b) the text is an object that has a detenninate meanhg of its own; (c) the text can be analyzed îhrough objective, close smtiny of its formal structure and techniques to establish the meaning. Fdermore, it is oh assumed that there is but one meaning. In these approaches, the reader's role is neglected or omitted entirely. (Reader-Response in the Classroom, 28)
This type of traditional instruction fails to prepare the Bhutanese who are sent to the West for iùrther studies. Most Bbutanese lack the skills to read critically and express personal opinions. The curriculum and the learning process alienates students' experiences and all that is familiar to them. Teachers and students do not have access to sufficient background information about the foreign cultures represented in the texts.
These factors create difficulties for the teachers and the students in understanding the texts. In Investigating Cultural Studies in Foreign Language Teaching, Michael Byram and Veronica Esarte-Sarries are of the view that:
Language is the main medium for expressing and embodying other phenornena. It expresses and embodies the values, beliefs, and meanings which members of a aven society, or part of it, share by virtue of theu socialization into it and th& acceptance of and identification with it. (5)
Byram and Sarries believe that literature is supposed to introduce the readers to the cultural values of the target language. But in Bhutan, the high school Engiish curriculum and the instructional approach makes the false assumption that English cultural values are 33 already known. 1 did not understand tbis problem as a student and later as a teacher. 1 only reaiized that these were problems when 1 found myself stniggiing with undergraduate courses in English îiterature at the University of New Bnmswick.
When 1 was in school 1 enjoyed studying English and did well in the examinatiom. My interest in the abject made me chwse to teach English in Motithang
High School, Thimphu I received a wondenul opportunity to puMe a graduate degree in English literature. The Education Department ailowed me to fomplete a Masters in
English at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, Canada. 1 was excited about the prospect, but after a few months of attending English literature classes at the university 1 realized the education and the instnrctional approach I received did not prepare me for a graduate degree in EngIish fiterature. 1 couid not cope with the very diflerent teaching methodologies and appmaches. Students, particularly graduate shidents, were required to possess enough background information on the subjects of their interest. The instructionai approach involved class discussion, presentations, and assignments. Discussions focused on students expressing their opinions. Presentations and assignments ernphasized research and providing critical arguments. These instructionai methodologies and approaches were too foreign, for me.
The traditional formalistic approach to teaching English literature does not give students any opportunity to experience a petsonal engagement or involvement with the text. English literature instruction in Bhutan does not help students make sense of what they rad: 0 It marginalizes the snideats' ability to think and have views or opinions; It is disconnected fiom their lives; It does not provide students the opportunity to bring th& experiences and share them with peers for a more meaningfuf reading of literature.
These limitations make studying Engiish fiterature isolated, objective, and boring. We should not want to participate in the reinscription of an attitude that is destructive. Yet the school system insists on it, abetîed by an Eastern phiiosophy of discipline and obedience.
Bhutanese culture values respect to elders, and this value is very explicit in the education system, where teachers are regarded as the source of knowledge and students respect them. In Bhutan teachers and texts are attributed with the status of "the authority," and students accept the information irnparted by texts and teachers as the
"truth" without questionhg them. in my English classes 1 was the sole participant: 1 read the text word for word, and explained the meaning of difficult words and concepts. The students would dutifblly underline and write the meanings of words and lines in the text-
For assignments students were made to answer questions which required them to merely recall known information such as the theme, plot, setting, and charactem. Students had the same "correct" answer to factud questions based on theme, plot, character sketch, setting, or other formal elements of the text. 1 will use the classroom edition of
Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice to illustrate this point.
You swore to me when 1 did give it to you, That you would Wear it tili your hour of death, And it should lie with you in your grave: Though not for me, yet for your vehement oaths, You should have been respective and have kept it. Gave it a judge's clerk! No, God's my judge, The clerk wiii ne'er Wear hair on's face that had it,
(i) Two people are quarreiing: who are they? (ii) What does 'it' refer to? (iii) WiU the 'clerk' ever 'wear haïr' on his face? Why? (97)
The questions that students have to answer do not requins a deeper reading of the text; they encourage only a fachial, flat reading of the text. To answer these questions students merely need to remember that Nerissa and Gratiano are involveci in the quamel, that 'It' refers to the ring given by Nerissa to Gratiano, and that the 'clerk' will never
'wear hair' on his face because the 'clerk' is Nerissa But the important nature of the argument is never under discussion in the classroom. The source of the conflict is suppressed. The discussion about Gratiano breaking his promise to Nerissa that he would never take off the ring that she had given him, the circumstances which forced him to part with her ring, and the reasons why Nerissa chooses this moment to question Gratiano about the ring are not discussed at ail. If the nature of the argument and the source of the conflict were addressed, the students might have a better chance to understand the passage, especially in the context of other passages fiom the play.
Even when questions that encourage students to share th& views and allow them to talk about their experïences in life are presented in the text and also in the examinations, most teachers discourage the students fkom attempting them. This is because both students and teachers are only used to questions that require students to merely reproduce factual information firom the texts. For instance, these essay questions are off& in page 93 of the clasmon edition of The Merchant of Venice: 1. Portia's father, even though he is dead, has power over his daughter's choice of husband - the will ofa living daughter is cirrbed by the wili of a dead father. Do you think that parents - alive or dead should have any influence over their children's marriages? 2. Shylock dernands justice, but Portia advocates mercy. Discuss justice and mercy in the world of the twentieth century. 3. Jessica, a Jew marries Lorenzo, a Christian; do you approve of such mixed marriages ?
These questions are complex to Bhutanese high school students and are relevant to their experiences. They present students with the opporhrnity to address the implications of Western ideology on their lïves and the Bhutanese values. "Respect" is a value that is the essence of Bhutanese life. This value is especially important for
Bhutanese adolescents, as they are requged to have respect for th& parents, their elders
(including th& elder siôlings), and th& teachers. Adolescents are at a stage where they are easily attracted to and influenced by Western ideas and popular culture- These foreign influences encourage many of thern to look at values and beliefs held by their parents and elders as old fasbioned and infirior. But they do not realize that Western ideology is making thern devalue Bhutanese culture. Concepts such as justice, mexy, rnixed marriages, racial prejudices, parents and elders exerting their will over their children's are not uncornmon to the Bhutanese. Weexperience these reaiities and have our particular values and belie& about them. Students would be able to compare his/her values and beliefs with the ones contained in the texts and also compare them with the values their parents and elders uphold.
John Wood, in The Teaching and Leurning of EngIish in Bhutanese Schools with
Pariicular Reference to the Role of the EngIish Language Adviser in the Yws1987 - 89, 37 comments on the questions developed for the English examinations He obsemes that,
''In the literature paper ail questions are concernai with memory of contents and 1 fail to see how such questions test either the pupils' English proficiency or their appreciation of
1iterature"-(14). 1 have begun to recognize that making students memorize factuai answers which they can later regurgitate in the exdations is not very usefbl for language or literature instruction. The questions in the examinations and also the ones provided in class should be similar to the questions 1 have mentioned earlier (in page 32).
Students shouid be encouraged to draw on their experiences and also on textual clues to produce an anaytical reading of the text.
1encomterd Shakespeare for the first time in gracie nine. In grades nine and ten
1 studied The Merchant of Venice, Macbeth in grades eleven and twelve, and Othello in my final year of the Bachelor of Arts program. Al1 through my high school to my college days, the traditional lecture method of teaching prevailed. In high schwl, 1 studied very hard remernbering the names of characters in The Merchant of Venice and where they were when they said certain things. Most of the learning was focused on mernorizing information. Studying Macbeth and Othe120 in college was not very different fiom studying The Merchant of Venice in high schml. Teachers still lectured, dentslistened and wrote as many notes as possible. The difference 1 found was that in college we had to memorize more - we memorized names, remernbered the plot, memorized the important passages hmthe text so that we could impress the evaluators by quoting them in our answers. The other différence was that unlike high school, we never got home assignments in coliege. We were considered mature enough to study on our own. So, for 38 me studying Shakespeare meant remembering the plot line, the characters, and the important passages. 1 depended entirely on the textbook, the Indian guidebooks (similar to Cole's notes in Canada), and the notes that 1had written in class. We were not encouragecl to ask questions in class; examples familiar to us were not provideci; we were not helped to think critically and follow a critical line of argument in the examinations; and we never searched for more information in the liarary on the plays being studied.
Things were very different in the undergraduate Shakespeare course 1 took at the
University of New Brunswick. The course extended over two terms, and in that period
(about eight months) we had to study fourteen plays. The teaching approach engaged a mixture of lecture, discussion, assignments, and tests. Lechirees went on in this course too, but with a difference. In his lectures, the professor would provide background infornation about the play and offer diffaent critical arguments on various themes.
Students were given oppominities to voice their opinions and views. Assignments were meant to demonstrate students' abilities to follow a critical argument and strengthen it by refhgto simiiar literature. Tests also vaIued the student's ability to analyze a text critically, rather than memorizing factuai details. Though the course was for undergraduates, 1had to struggle to get through it. 1 had to deal with studying one play a week - sometimes even before 1finished reaâing a play, the professor would start teaching a different one. 1 listeneci attentively to discussions but never twk part in them. in discussions you were expected to share your opinion and justifjr it. 1 was not used to this kind of discussion because my education had never shown me that I could have opinions and never taught me to have one - 1 was only used to repeating the information 39
taught by the teacher. 1 had never written a critical piece in my life, so the assignments were a problem too. Assignrnents had to reflect our ability to focus on a theme in the play and logically develop it into a critical argument; and, at the same tirne, we were expected to support our views with literature hmthe ii'braryracyThis sort of writing required me to read works of writers who had developed similar arguments. 1 did not howhow to develop a cntical argument, d the ody writing 1 couid accompiïsh was mostly quoting writers who had written on the theme on which 1 had chosen to &te my assignment. This lack of skill to think, write and create an original qiticai argument did not go unnoticed by the professor. In one of the assignrnents that he handed back, he cornmentecl that the quality of my work was that of a first yesr student
Confiicts in Erpectations
From grade five to ten 1 studied in a Christian missionaq school cailed Dr.
Graham's Home in Kalimpong, India Dr. Graham's Home was founded by Dr Graham, a Christian missionary - thus the school's name and its Protestant nature. Students of diffaent nationaiities and ethnic backgrounds attended Dr Graham's Home: tbere were
Chinese (settied in Ma), Tibetans and Nepaüs (fkom Nepal and India), Anglo-Indians,
Bengalis, and Bhutanese. The medium of instruction was Engiish and al1 subjects except for second language subjects were taught in English. Second language subjects included
Hindi, Bengali, Nepali, and Dzongkha, which were taught in their respective national languages. Our national languages were considenxi second languages and the English language enjoyed the status of a first language for ail students. 40
Students were expected to acquire a higher standard of English than 1 was used to in my previous Bhutanese school. 1 remember failing in English in my fïrst half yearly examinations. My class teacher told my elder sister, who studied in the same schml, to make me understand that if 1 failed in English during the fùll yearly examinations 1 would have to study in the same grade for another year. My problem was solved through
English immersion in school. We had to always taik in English. Using our mother tongue was discouragecl. In a year we spent only three months on holidays with our families and nine months in school. Those three months in a year were the only thewe got to live in our own languages and culture. When 1 Grst joined school 1 had to try very hard to adjust to the new culture, because in Bhutan 1 never had to use Engiish twenty four hours in a &y, every day. 1was also new to attending church every day, singing hymns, listening to sermons, and saying the lord's prayers. After a few months 1 leamed to fit into the nomof school, and as years went by 1 grew into the English language and
Christian culture and lived happily in it.
There were many times 1 gave myself to Jesus Christ, especiaiiy afier religious skits performed by some missionaries visiting the school and watching religious movies.
One movie in particular really fiightened me. It was caiied "Like a Thief in the Night" 1 forget the detaiis, but I vividly remember the scenes when the 'gcmd' people are taken to heaven by god. A man was mowing the lawn when suddenly rays of light fiom the sky fell on him and he was gone - 1 undefstood hmthe message explicit in the movie that he was one of the 'good' people taken by god before the events in the "Book of
Revelations" came to pass. It was dark when the movie was over, and 1 rememba being 41 afkid while I waiked back to our cottage with my fieads. That night before goiag to bed, 1 gave my life to Christ once more. 1remanber feeling guilty about adopting
Christianity because 1hew my parents wouid not iike it. 1 never told my parents. When
1 think about my childhood encounters with Christianity, I do not think that 1 genuinely wanted to be a Christian. 1think 1 was too young to understand how the compulsory participation in Christian culture - going to church everyday, the Bible classes, the Youth
Fellowships, the Christian skits staged by missionaries, the Christian movies - infiuenced my mind to do what 1 did. 1 became more cornfortable living in a new language (English) and culture, and pushed my language (Dzonglcha), and rny religion (Buddhism) to the background. 1had learned to live with the doubleness, and 1 did not have to worry about failing in English. In fact, English became my favorite subject, and 1 always did weii in the examinations.
Comparing the leamhg environment of Dr. Graham's Home to the leaming environment available to students in Bhutan helps draw out some of the conflicts in teaching the hi& school English curriculum. The reality that we must recognize is that
Bhutanese students leam English in a very different environment. In Bhutan, English is studied as a second language. Students are not indoctrinated as I was in the study of
English. They do not study in ducational environments that make it mandatory for the students to get immersed in the English language and live in it as though it was their first language.
The story of my education has made me recognize many confiicts in English instruction. Though Dzongkha is the national language of Bhutan, English is expected to 42 be learned as though it is the native language of the Bhutanese. Teachers are expected to teach students to speak and write 'cstandard"or "modern" English- Bhutauese students use English only in the classtooms. Outside the classrooms they prefer to use their dialect(s) in convershg with fnends and family members. The content of the English textbooks are culturally very different hmthe culture of students' lives. Most of the
Bhutanese are Buddhists, so the inclusion of many references to Christian culture creates difficdties in teaching and studyïng the English texts. The traditional teachg method does not relate the texts they rdto Bhutanese experiences which are fdarto them.
Studying English literature alienates the students hmth& lives and many struggle to understand the contents of their textbooks. These conflicts make studying English literature problematic for Bhutanese students, and they need to be recognized if we want to enable teachers to teach English better, and students to leam Engiish better.
Western Education and Culturai Devaiuation
We are the first genecation to be educated in a 'modem' Bhutan- The weaknesses of the system are clear fkom the following remarks made by my mother. One day my mother, annoyed by my Western ways, questioned my identity as a Bhubnese. She asked, "1 can't cal1 you a chilip (a foreigner) because you can't speak English well enough. Neither cm1 cal1 you a Bhutanese because you can't speak Dzongkha effectively and you are quite ignorant of the Bhutanese traditions and customs. So who are you?" These remarks made me uneasy. I did not know then that my mother might have stmck at the kart of the problem that 1 was facing with my students and the threat 43
to the preservation of the Bhutanese culture that the King and the Government foresaw.
She had expressed the sense of identity confiision and dienation that many Bhutanese are
beginning to feel hmour culture due modemization and the introduction of Western
education with English as the medium of instruction. The threat to Bhutanese identity
and culture by Western influences has been cleariy expressed by Sangay Zam. In
FolktaIes as a Bridge Beîween Culture and Literacy: Englislh Instruction in Bhutrm,
Sangay Zam states that, "we are caught in a tug-of-war between the seductive attraction of modemity and the perceiveci securïty of our traditions" (1-2). This type of identity conhion is somethllig that Canadians of Chinese origin, black Canaùians, and others who find themselves straddling cultural borders have to deal with too.
Colonial India stands out as a perfect example of the ideological impact of
Western education. The Indian case illustrates the psychological effects felt by a people when there is a clash of cultures. Their language, vaiues and cuiture(s) were marginalized by the educational system so that the foreign values and dture dominate.
The colonial intent of the British to cuîturaily assimilate the Indians is evident in Thomas
Macaulay's words. In Growing up in Bn'tbh India, Judith Walsh says that in support of
English language education, Thomas Macaulay (histonan and parliamentarian) stated in
1835 that it wouid create a small group of Westernized Indians - "lhdians in bldand color" but "English in taste, opinions, in mords, and in intellect" (4). We would now find tbis statement patronipng and abhorrent, but the curriculum stiil -tes it.
The ideological vision of the British to socialiy and politically contml Indian subjects was propagated through the çurricuîa and textbooks. Through these agencies, 44 indian students were led to believe Western cuitures and values were superior to their own. And for the development of a higher morality and financial prosperity they needed to abandon their decadent traditions and accept the Western values. Growing up in
British India is a study based primarily on one hundred and two works written in English by indians in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries - eighty-nine are autobiographies, seven are diaries, five are travel books, and one is a work of fiction. nie basic question that this study attempts to answer is "what were the psychological consequemes of growing up in British India for those who had to adjust their îraditional world with the realities of foreign power and Western education?" Walsh wrîtes that Western ideas found their way into the Indian life very easily. By 1830s, the British had taken over most of the administration of the country. In the mid nineteenth century, English was institutionalized in the Indian education system. The purpose behind this act was to create a group of Westernized Indians who could be manipulated as buffers between the
Bxitish and the peasant society they ded. With more exposure to Western ideas over several generations, the Indians' identification with the ideologies and values of England and the West increased As these foreign ideas and values integrated with traditions, the line separating the foreign values from the traditional became thinner and the Mans become more uncertain of their relationship to either (3-6).
In Ancient Fumres: Learningfiom habkh, Helena Norberg-Hodge writes about the results of modern education on the Ladakhi culture. She states that Ladakhi cbildren are recipients of a poor imitation of an Indian cmiculum, which itself is an imitation of
British education which wmpletely lacks Ladakhi representation. It isolates children fiom th& culture and nature and trains them to be narrow specialists in a WestetIllZed urban e~~vironment.Mai children leave school they lack the skiil and knowledge of using their own resources and fail to hction in thei.own world They study books written by people who know nothhg about Ladaich. They receive an "education" built on a Eurocentric rnodel and assumptions about a universai knowledge. The author concludes that modem education in Ladakh not only disregards locai resources, but makes Ladakhi children regard themselves and their culture as inferior. Everything in school promotes the Western model, and makes children feel ashamed of their traditions.
Norberg states that:
This situation is not unique to Laâakh. In every corner of the world todayythe process callecl education is based on the same assumptions and the same Eurocentnc model. The focus is on far away facts and figures. On ''universal'' knowledge. The books propagate information that is believed to be appropriate for the entire planet. But since the only knowledge that can be universally applicable is far removed hmspecific ecosystems and cultures, what children leam is essentiaiiy synthetic, divorced fiom its living context. (1 1O- 1 14)
A similar situation is emerging in Bhutan. Without the insisteme of any colonial power we have consented to a Western education and an English curriculum that validates the values and cultures of Europe and the West and marginalizes and devalues
Bhutanese values and experiences. We have initiated the process of modernization which has resulted in importing Western popular culture into the homes and the hemof the
Bhutanese. There is an increasing sense of identity confbsion among Bhubnese due to these ideological forces. Many Bhutanese, especially the young, are embanassed about 46 the Bhutanese culture and regard it as inférior. The gap between the young and the old is graddy widening. This is why 1 am writing about ways of addressing these problems. PART THREE The Need for a Change in Discursive Practice
The adoption of the "open door" pcdicy by the Royal Govexnment of Bhutan in the 1960s began the process of making the country and its people known to the rest of the world. With the influx of Western media, especially radio, newspapers, magazines, and movies, Bhutan couid not stay remote even if it wanted to. Like it or not, Bhutan was going to become a part of the global village. Once the Government realized the inevitability of Western influence, it sought to have some input into the shaping of that influence. So an active aspect of Govermnent policy became human capital development, involving both interna1 and extemal training. Bhutanese were sent to south-east Asia,
Europe, Amerka and Canada for educationai purposes. Though the idea of flying thousands of miles to study abroad was a novelty even in the 1960s, it has now become one of the realities of Bhutanese iife. Even mothers leave their young children in order to pursue opportunities to advance their education abroad. ln just over a generation, Bhutan has started to produce qualified and competent professionals for both the private and public sectors of the new economy.
But if we look back at the education system started in the 1960s, and then at the present system we are so proud to have now, we realize that our education system has undergone tremendous changes in those thirty short years. The education system, especiaily up to the junior high level, is fast evolving into a self-reliant one. Geography, history, and science textbwks have been developed by the Cumculum and Professional 48
Support Section (CAPSS). English textbooks for primary and junior hi& schools, called the DriuC English series, have been adaptai to the Bhutanese context as much as possible.
The standardized examinations conducteci in grades six and eight are created and evaluated by the Bhutan Board of Examinations (BBE). There are Bhutan History textbooks for grades six through grade ten, and Bhutan Geography and Bhutan
Economics textbooks for grades nine and ten. The examination papers for these subjects are also developed and evaluated under the supervision of the BBE. The National
Institute of Education in Samtse and the Prirnary Teacheers' Training Coliege in Paro offer three training programs such as the Post Graduate Course in Education, the Bachelor of
Education, and the Primary Teacher Training in Education. These institutions promote the idea that leaming is not an isolated event and cannot happea away hmthe child.
"Leamùig by doing," "child-centered" activities, and "discovery leaming" are the buzz- words in the tacher training institutions. These ideas, which did not have any standing in traditional monastic education, have developed fkom contemporary Western education.
Despite the changes in the Bhutanese culhue, and the development of an education system whose basic goals are to enable the students to think critically and logically and to help them vdue the "uniqueness of Bhutanese culture," the approach to teaching English literature in high schools is still traditional and formal, closing down on the interpretive possibilities in texts. The modenUzation process and the incorporation of
Western education in Bhutan is bringing the Bhutanese closer to Western popular culture and distancing the Bbutanese fkom üleir own culturai identity. Many Bhutanese, particularly the younger generation still in school, are not aware of the serious consequences of these changes. Following mid-century Western teaching methods
merely exacerbates the situation. Students and teachers continue year after year,
memonMg the texts of other countries' cultures, without using them as tools for
discussing the cultural dislocations that threaten the Bhutanese existence and its
education system* On the other hand, capitdizing on the most visionary aspects of
contemporary Western teaching methodolo@esmay help the Goverment of Bhutan to
achieve its goals of education. We cm enable students to think critically and logically in
different situations, to value the wriqueness of Bhutanese culture and identity, and to
participate in the development activities for national progress. Though it seems ironic to
advocate the application of contemporary teaching methodologies nom Western
education to teach English in Bhutan, the important point is that they serve our purpose.
The fomalist discursive practices employed in the schools of the fifties and
sixties in the United States and England are not suitable for the present Bhutanese
situation. Conternporary discursive practices have changed. Instead of a formalist
approach which favored the idea that meanings were "in" the texts and rernained to be
discovered, meaning in the late twentieth century has corne to infer a negotiation between
the text and the reader. This negotiation can happen if the instructional approach allows
students to relate their realities and experiences to the text, or draw their attention to the
context of the text, or to the conditions of publication, and the ideological assumptions
which ground it. Ody then is it possible for teachers to engage with students in the interpretive possibilities available in texts. For high school English teachers in Bhutan, the important point is to help students make sense of the texts they read so that they can 50 fiuiction more proficientiy in Engiish. Making sense implies helping students relate their
experiences to what they read, so they can share their views with each other and
understand what they read in the çontext of their Iives and their culture.
When reading about the painfiil colonial educational expiences of authors such
as Viswanathan, 1 recognized similar implicit dangers in the current Bhutanese systems -
and reco&nized possibilities for curricular changes. Change has to be made in the
curriculum, because it is through this medium that knowledge is selected and distributed.
The selected knowledge then cornes to be socially and culturally valued. As in the case
of colonid India, Viswanathan is of the view that, "the cunicuium is conceiveci here not
in the perrenialist sense of an objective, essentialised entity but rather as a discourse,
activity, process, as one of the mechanisms through which knowledge is socially
distributed and cuituraUy validated" ( MCLS~Sof Conquest, 3).
1 am offering three suggestions for improving the curriculum, while respecting current constraints. The fint is to change the pedagogical approach to high school
English literature instruction. 1 favour the kuid of reader-response theory developed by
Aidan Chambers in Tell Me :Children. Reading. and Talp to read and talk about literature?because of its easy adaptability for classroom use. Sonam Daker (1 996) and
Sangay Zam (199 1) have also put forward similar suggestions in their theses. The other alternative is to include some existing literature written in English by native Bhutanese
)When Tell Me appears in italics, it refas to the book developed by Aidan Chambers called Tell Me :Children. Reading. and Taik. Whtm "Tell Me" appears in double quotation marks, it refers to the approach or the sessions or the discussions. authors as a part of the present high schooi English amich. A curricular change in
this direction has been supported by Sangay Zam (1 99 1), Sangay Tshoki (1996), and
Zinpai Zangmo (1999). The third is to de-emphasize the idea of "standard" English, in
favour of making Bhutanese English one of the pst-colonial englishes evolvhg in the
world.
Aidan Chmbers's "Tell Men Approach for Engiish Literature Instruction
In A Glossary of Liferav Tenns, M.H. Abrams describes the p~ciplesof
fornalism. He states that:
Traditional formalist theories views literature primariiy as a specialized mode of language, and proposes a fitndamental opposition between the literary (or poetical) use of language and the ordinary, "practical" use of language. It conceives that the central fiinction of ordinary language is to communicate to auditors a message, or Somation, by references to the world existing outside of language. In contrast, it conceives literary language to be self-focused, in that its fùnction is not to convey information by making exûinsic refixences, but to offer the reader a special mode of experience by drawing attention to its own bYormai" features - that is, to the qualities and interna1 relations of the iinguistic signs themselves. The linguistics of literature differ fiom the linguistics of practical discourse, because its laws are orienteci towards producing the distinctive features that fonnalists dl litetariness. ( 102- 103)
Traditional formalist approach emphasizes the form of a text for establishing rneaning. The text is viewed as an object that has a fixed meaning of its own, and it is assumed that an objective analysis of its fonnal structure and techniques can establish its meaning. The notion of the universai tmth is upheld, thus questions can have only one correct answer. The texts and teachers are the authority. When these latter approaches infonn instruction, the inclination is for teachers to teach about literature. The role of 52 extrinsic motivations for interpreting a text is completely rded out In these approaches, the reader's roie is disregarded or excluded entireiy-
My education - right hmthe elementary years to the time 1wmpleted the
Bachelors in Arts program in Shembtse coiiege - was based on traditional classrwm practices. No one told me that 1could have an opinion about the texts 1 read, and that a text offers many interpretive possibilities. I became very go& at ammering comprehension passages, and memorizing notes. 1thought my performance in the
English examinations and my command of the English language was something to be proud of It was only when 1 encountered Aidan Chambers's "Teil Me" form of reader- response theory in a literacy course cailed "Access to Literacies," at the University of
New Brunswick, that 1 began to understand that the traditional classroom pctices had failed to teach me how to really 'kead."
The course "Access to Literaçies," was offered in the fall term at the education faculty of the University of New Brunswick. 1 was nervous when 1 read the outline for the course. 1 realized that students would be expected to be the main contributors for class discussions, journals had to be written every week sharing personal thoughts and opinions about what went on in class, and there were group presentations too. The thought of expressing my views in hntof Canadian classrnates scared me.
We read a lot of children's literatwe in this course. in the beginning, when we were asked to rda children's book with illustrations, 1 thought the whole exercise was inappropriate for the class, which consisted of undergraduate and gtaduate students. For me, a children's book represented nothing more than a pleasant story with colorful 53 illustrations meant for children and not aduits. In the next few weeks 1realized how wrong 1 was about children's literature. Every tirne 1 read a children's book 1 thought the meaning of the story was quite simple. In class we would listen to each other's views and opinions about the book and this would generate serious discussions about issues related to our lives. 1 could not believe that a children's book could have such profound meanings- At the end of chwe would always possess firller and mon meaningfûl interpretations of the book. We were enableci to comtnict meanings by listening to other's opinions and voicing our own. This success was the result of the reader-response approach to reading Literature that was evidently being practiced in this class. According to reader-response criticism, relatiag the experienfes of the readem to the text is central to the act of establishing meanings in a text. To illustrate how reader-response approaches helped me relate my experiences to the text, and in the process enabled me to possess a multi-layered reading of the text 1 will share my experience of reading Ti.
Wynne Jones's 2bom Wpstream. Tim Wynne Jones is a Canadian author, and Zoom
Upstream is the third book in his Zoom trilogy.
When 1 fhtread Zaom Upsîream by myself, at home, it seemed a simple story.
Zoom wakes up fiom an aftemoon nap. He fin& his niend Maria gone in search of his uncle, captain Roy. He follows her muddy bootprints and reaches the baaks of the river
Nile - he reaches Egypt. He fïnds himself in a catacomb su~roundedby engravings and
Stone statues of cats. Maria (in the fonn of a mummy) is carried into the catacomb by
Egyptian cats. Zoom uses bis shears to fke Maria, They find a dver button fiom uncle
Roy's captain unifonn. After leaving the catacomb, they follow a trail of silver buttons 54 that lead them to the river Nile, where they hda boat with a silver button in it They row away in the boat and finally fînd uncle Roy and his catship. Uncle Roy and Zoom make plans of goùig upstream to look for the source of the Nile. 1 thought it was a story about two cats out on an adventure.
Mer 1read it once more in class, and listened to my classrnates talk about the story, 1began to see the layers of meanings in the story. 1made inter-textuai and world- to-text connections. Maria and Zoom foilowing the trail of silver buttons reminded me of the Hansel and Gretel story. Zoom, seeing a light coming hma space on the shelf where a book had been and foilowing if made me remember a movie called "The Light in the Tunnel." The movie is about a srnail boy dying of ADS. On his deathbed he tells his mother that he is in a tunnel, and he can see a light at the other end of it Sbe tells him not to be ahid and teils him to foilow the light. These world-to-text co~ectionsand the dedications in the book which includes Zoom's date of bVth and death, made me see
Zoom Upstream as a story about Zoom's death. Maria and uncle Roy were guardian angels gently guiding Zoom to heaven (the source of the Nile).
My Buddhist beliefs helped me read Zoom Lrpsîream as a story about Iife after death. We believe that when a person passes on, his or her sou1 leaves the physical body and joumeys hughBurtiol nhodrel (or the spirit world) for forty-nine days before it goes to heaven or to hell. This is why the fdyof the deceased gets monks to perform religious rites and chant prayers for the safe joumey of the deceased's sod. During its joumey through the spirit world, the soul encounters various goâs in terrifying animal and bird fonns. In this context, 1 wuld relate the catacomb and stone statues of cats in 55
Zoom Upsiream to Bardo! Thhodrel and the gods in their terrimg manSestations,
respectively. Thus, I constnicted another layer to the story. Soom Upstream was a story
about Zoom's soui traveling through Bardo1 Thhodrel.
These experiences made me rdect on how I read and how 1 helped my high
school students read and understand the English texts studied in class. I began to reflect
on my understanding of "readlllg" and on my classroom instructionai method in helping
high school students read and understand poefry, short stories, and a Shakespearean play.
1 saw that my life as a student and teacher was devoid of experiences which valued
students' views and experiences in constructing meaning(s) of a text. Discussions about
the texts studied in class never took place. The ody time students taIked was when the
teacher asked questions related to the content taught. Teachers asked questions to assure
themselves that students had understood the lesson. In these situations students provided
the answer that the tacher wanted, The study of English iiterature was close reading
divorced fiom personal or historical conte- nus, for students, already difficult texts were robbed of joy, making it a task, not a comection to life. Students became isolated
from the texts they studied and became passive recipients of howledge. Many students were bord and some were even repelled.
When 1 was a student I experienced the same instructional approach, so, as a teacher, 1 taught students the way 1 had been taught While teaching English to high schooI students, 1 was constantly disappointed by the fact that many of my grade nine and ten students could not mite pmperly and many failed to read and understand a text on their own. Once 1 sbrted seeing how much more 1 could understand by using "Tell Me," 1 recognized how usefiil it wouid be for my own teaching. 1 wanted to find out whether the reader-response approach would work in Bhutan - 1 wondered if students would understand the English textbks in a meaningfid way by comecting their experiences to the text. The more 1 thought about the possibility, the more interested I was in trying it out.
Theoretidy, I understocxi the significance of reader-respose approaches.
Reader-response strategis view the reader as active creator and does not hold the concept of the "one tme interpretation" or the "universal truth." The meaning of a text changes depending on who is reading the text, when and under what conditions. According to
Rosenblatt, the reading event for each reader is unique:
Through the medium of words, the text brings into the reader's cunsciousness certain concepts, certain images of things, people, actions, scenes. The special meanings and, more particularly, the submerged associations that the words and images have for the individual reader will largely detennine what the work commuicates. . .. The reader brings to the work personai@ traits, mernories of past events, present needs and preoccupations, a particular mood of the moment, and a particular physical condition. These and many other elements in a never-to-be-duplicated combination enter into the reader's relationship with the text. (Lirerature as FJcploration, 30-3 1)
However, 1 needed something practical that would help me apply the reader- response theory in a Bhutanese instructional setting. Chambers's Tell Me, which was included as one of the texts for the CcAccessto Literacies" course, provided me with a concrete practical hework that would help me apply the reader response approach to teach English literature to high school students in Bhutan Aidan Chambers is a novelist, critic, and a teacher who is interesteci in helping children improve their literacy skills through thoughtfid reading. Tell Me cornes fium
The Thimble Press (founded by Chambers and his wife Nancy in 1969), publishers since
1970 of Signal: Approaches to Children 's Books, the thrice-yeariy journal devoted to books and reading for children and young people, and other writings on literature and literacy. The TelI Me is a cornpanion to the Reading Environment. These books are designed as workshop approaches, so that teachers and other practitioners can apply these approaches directly to their teaching. Chambers's pedagogical practices, grounded in the phenomenologicai reader-tesponse theory of Wolfgang Iser, are directiy applicable to classroom practices.
Chambers realized the importance of 'W' in reading when he was a part of a mal1 group of teachers who worked to fhd better ways of teaching children to read.
This led to the development of the "Tell Me" approach which, according to Chambers, is a repertoire of questions that assists readers in articulating their reading. The "basic questions" that helps students to ta& about a text are:
Was there unything that you liked about thik book? What especiaiiy caught your attention? What would you Liked more of? Was there anything that you disliked? Were there parts that bord you? Did you skip parts? Which ones? If you gave up, where did you stop and what stopped you? Was there anything that puzzled you? Was there anything that you thought strange? Was thete anything that you had never found in a book before? Was there anything that twk you completely by surprise? Did you notice any apparent inconsistencies? 0 Was there any pattents - any connections - that you noticed? (Tell Me, 87-8)
If the teachers need to encourage -dents to generate more discussion, or focus on a
specific aspect in the text which might help students attah a more meaningfid readhg,
they can ask "the general questi~ns'~and "the special questions" (see appendix IV).
These questions can be adapted to suit the teachers' personalities and the ne& of
the students (Tell Me, 1O- 1 1). 'Teii Me" does wt follow an orderly and linear mode of
discussion. It is not a "totalin'ng discourse" which looks for specific answers to questions
asked in a fixed order, one question 'logicaiiy" following another (Tell Me, 20).
Teachers of literature do not pose as the authority. instead, they ûy to make possible a
sharing of th& students' most obvious observations, be they valid, semivalid, and
erroneous in relation to the text. ln that sharing, students can leam fiom each other, reconsider what they found in a text, keep, modie, reject parts of their own responses,
and go away to rethink their reactions. in Tell Me, Chambers writes:
Such an activity maintains a balance between respect for the rights of the individuai as a reader and talker and the corporately composed readiag of the group - the community text which is always more complex and insightfid than one individual reading can ever be. (44)
Thus, readers ultimately possess a heworkof understanding and constmct critical lines in order to develop interpretive possibilities. 59 Bhutanese Literature in English
Most of the content in the Englîsh curriculum is what is considered among literary circles as valuable literature belonging to the lïterary canon. But the process of selecting certain literature as great lit- works and canonid presents a platforni of discrimination. About English studies, Isaiah Srnithson in English Shrdies, Culture
Smdies: Instiîutionalùing Diissent, says:
It has attempted to transmit a carefÙlIy chosen cultural heritage through elucidation of canonized texts, and it has concerned itself with the canon of dominant culture within Britain or America, not with the texts of several cultures making up a singie nation. (4)
Thus, the superïority of the canons is graduaily being questioned in other parts of the world. It is ironic, for example, that the canonical works (say those by Twain) are regarded as timeless and universal, whereas folktales - which probably have a greater clah to universality and timelessness - are devalued and regarded as culturally specific, limited and as only of use for children. In this context, H. Bruce Franklin, in "English as an Institution," argues that a handtùl of literary works were canonized as "timeless,"
"universal," and transcendently "great" to accomplish three interrelated purposes, the appointai cultural mission of the American literature departments: to justiSf hperialism, literary hegemony, and a policy of exclusivism. He views the practice of selecting the
"canon" as a way of pmpagaudïzing the world-view of the canon, which was ahost entirely the view of white males hmrelatively privileged social classes in societies actively engaged in conquering and niling other peoples. Since the literary canon portrays the world view of the social class selecting these canonical works, it reidorces 60
the authority and the position of the professors of literature. The canon demeans and
considers subliterary almost the entire body of the world's literature, especidiy popular
literature, folk literature, oral literature, literature based on industrial and domestic
experïences, and almost aîi literature by nonwhite people. He meraddresses the need
to change fiom such a fixed world vision to a vision of a "world in which most of the
people are nonwhite, over half are fernale, the overwhelming majonty are workers, and
al1 live in a time of transformation so intense that it may coIlStiMe a metamorphosis"
(English Literature: Opening up the Canon, 95-96).
Bhutan has a rich oral literature which infonns us of the values, beliefs, and customs of Bhutanese society in the past. This needs to be recorded before it is lost forever. Bhutanese legends and myths have a religious context and are mostiy contained in the religious scriptures. Some of them have been reproduced in Dzongkha textbooks.
In fact, we can be proud that some Bhutanese have already begun to make use of this literary base to write in English. Recently a few Bhutanese writers have emerged. Karma
Ura has written Be Hero with a Thousand Eyes (a historical novel) and The Ballad of
Pemi Tshewang Tashi (translated in English). Kunzang Chhoden is the author of
Bhutanese Folktales and has published a new book, Tales of the Yeti. Jigme Loday has written and illustratd a new children's book, Nado and Zangnro. Sangay Zam has written and illustrated a children's book Tsampakai Metho, based on a traditional folktale about a boy who saves the mon fiom a demon. Pem Wangyal's The Unfinished Dream and Paimma Lhaden's Not Even For Love are contemporary short stones set in a modern 61 context, which were published in the fecently created Dnik Air in-tlight magazine Tashi
Defek This development shows a gradual growth of Bhutanese literature in English.
With more Bhutanese getting educated in the country and abroad every year the nmber of Bhutanese Wfiting in English will hcrease. Soon we wiii have more
Bhutanese authors translating Bhutanese iiterature written in Chohmostly containeci in the religious scripts, into Engiish. We will have Bhutanese authors writing modern short stones, novels, poems, dramas, etc., which will address contemporary social issues that represent the Bhutanese dture. Bhutan ne& space to create this kind of new literature, and this space is provided by the Afiïcaa and Indian writers. These writers show us the road that is open for the Bhutanese too. The growth of Bhutanese writing in English, though not very considerable right now, is a healthy change, especially when we look at the effects of modernization on Bhutanese society.
The process of modernization has brought about and is stili b~gingabout many changes in the lives of the Bhutanese. Many of these changes, such as better educationai facilities, health, housing, drinking water, have benefitted the Bhutanese. in appreciation of the effectts of these changes on our iives, we very often ignore the negative consequences of modernization on our cuIture and values which inforni the Bhutanese identity. Modemkation has brought Western popda.cultures into Bhutan, and this has directly led to many Bhutanese devaluing our customs and values which seem inf'or or outdateci. The innuence of modemkation can aiso be observed in the field of literature.
We are flooded by the literature of other corntries - be they magazines, or novels, or literature studied in schools aiid kept in school libraries. Until recently, the only texts which cuntained literature on Bhutan written by Bhutanese authors were some textboolcs
such as Bhutan History, Bhutan Geography, Dzongkha, the national newspaper Kuensel,
and religious texts. Modemization also threatens the survivat of folktales and a once rkh
oral tradition in Bhutan. In earlier tïmes, folktala kept dive by the oral tradition enabled
the older generations to communiate knowledge, values, beliefs, and customs, which
fonned the Bhutanese identity, to the yomger generations. In the foreword of Folkales
of Bhutan, Her Royal Highness Princess Sonam Chhoden Wangchuck states that "[tlhe
oral tradition is a powerfiil living medium of co~nmunicationbetween one generation and
the next. It ensures the survival of undocumenteci knowledge" (v). Unfortunately, in the
face of popular Western media and literature, we are forgetting the tcemendous value of
folktales and our oral tradition in preserving the Bhutanese culture. Her Royal Highness
Princess Sonam Chhoden Wangchuck expresses her concem:
Since the progress of modernization began some three decades ago there has been rapid change in many aspects of Bhutanese society. Inevitably the crucial role that the oral tradition has played in transmitting howledge is also likely to decline. There is an apparent danger that the foWes and fables whose deep significance and origins we do not yet fully understand couid disappear. It is already apparent that children are reared on folktales f?om distant places at the expense of local ones, which could begin a process of alienation firom the local dture. (vi)
In the midst of these realities, rather than making our children study (without
understanding) only Shakespeare and Wordsworth and other English literature, because
they are regarded as canonical, a better appmach will be to encourage Bhutanese writers to create literature and include some of them in the present high school English curriculum. Since the writings produced by Bhutanese writers will speak to the 63 Bhutanese identity of the students, they wiiI present students with opportunities to talk
about their experiwces and îheir lives, and enable them to participate in the idea of
"englisbes" rather than standard English.
Bhutanese english: A Future Perspective
In the Bhutanese education system, in the various govemment departments, and in the country's dealings with regional and world organizations, "standard" English, with the Indian education system for its model, is still used and encouraged AU the prescribed
English textbooks contain standard Engiisb. Standard English is what teachers look for when poised with a red pen to evaluate students' auswer papers derexaminations
The rigid and almost fanatical belief that British English is the only standard to masure students' profïcimcy in writing and speaking and that the only literatures worth studying are the ones hailed by the iiterary canon is exemplified in the attitudes of some
Bhutanese teachers. They argue that the curriculum should be left as it is, since it contains the works of great writers. The same argument is provided by some teachers for the rejection of Bhutanese literature written in English. Acçording to them we do not have enough writers, and the few Bhutanese literaturs in English that we do have, do not fultil standard English criteria These arguments are cornmon, and they illustrate hegemonic ptactices. In The Empire Wn'tes Back, AshcroA et al., explain where such attitudes come hm. They state that though Britaïn is no longer dominant in the world scene, post-colonial societies stili engage with the imperid experience: F]hrough the iiterary canon, the body of British texts which al1 too fkequently stiu acts as a touchstone of taste and value, and through RS - English (Received Standard English), which asserts the English of south- east England as a universal nom, the weight of anti@ty continues to dominate culturai production in much of the post-colonial world. This cultural hegemony has been maintained through canonid assumptions about literary activity, and through attitudes to post-colonial fiteratures which identi* them as isolated national off-shoots of English literature, and which therefore relegate them to marginal and subodiaate positions. (7)
1 now recognize the cultural hegemony of British texts validated by the high school
English curriculum and also by the attitudes of many teachers. It is important to make teachers aware of the hegemonic practices and make them understand the need for changes in the present English curriculum.
I have begu. to realize the pssibility of Bhutanese writers employing the use of
Bhutanese Engiish to express their experiences in the fbture. My view hm been influenced by the literatures of writers hmfonnerly colonized countria, which clearly show and validate the existence of engishes, rather than mimicking the standard English of Britain. In The Empire Wntes Back, Ashcroft et al., explain that pst-colonial wrïting takes the Ianguage of the centre and re-places it in a discourse Wyadapted to the colonized place (38). This cmbe achieved through the processes of abrogation and appropriation. Ashcroft et al., state that:
Abrogation is a refusal of the categones of the imperid culture, its aesthetic, its iiiusory standard of normative or 'correct' usage, and its assumption of a traditional and fixeci meaning 'inscribeci' in the words. It is a vital moment in the de-colonizing of the language and the writing of 'english'. (The Empire Wn'tes Back; 38) According to Ashcrofi et al., appropriation is the process by which the language of the centre is ''made to bear the 'burden' of one's own culturai experience" (The Empire
Writes Bock, 38). In this context, many writers hmcolonized countries support miting about their experiences in Engiïsh. Peter Young in "The Language of West Afkican
Literature" quotes RK. Narayan's comment. about using English as a litemy language to express the Mian environment:
English has proved that if a language has flexibility any experience cm be comrnunicated through it, even if it has to be paraphrased sometimes rather than conveyed....In order not to lose the excellence of this medium some kters in India took to writing in English, and pduced a literature that was perhaps not first-class; often the writing seemed imitative, halting, inapt, or an awkward translation of a vernadar, mode or idiom; but occasionaily it was brilliant. We are ail experimentalists. I may straightaway explain what we do not attempt to do. We are not attempting to write Anglo-saxon English. (TheEnglish Language in WmAfncn, 66)
These "colonial" writers are changing the nature of standard English. The inclusion of some of uiem such as Rabinciranath Tagore and R.N. Daruwalla in the short stories colIection is one way in which that change is made manifest. Regarding the question of standard EngIish in commonwdth literatture or pst-colonial iiteratures, they argue aghtusing standard British Engüsh as a measuring nom. They explain that they are "experimentalists" and, therefore, their work may not always fulfii British literary standards. The important point expressed here is that they are attempting to create their own form of English and not an Anglo-Saxon English. Thus, the issue of standard
English does not arise. 66
The argument that standards of British English should not be solely applied in judging literature emerging fiom non-English speaking corntries is also supported by
Douglas Killam. He writes in 'Wotes on Adaptation and Variation in the use of English in Writing by Haliiurton Furphy, Achebe, Narayan and Naipaul," that these writers should not be judged solely by the standards that have been applied to British literature.
He States that the criteria by which the works are judged will be decided by a contemplation of the works, by determining the intentions of their authors and by assessing the success achieved. But whether nom Australia, Trinidad, Nigeria, Malgudi or Nova Scotia, the English of the Commonwealth is as legitimately English as that form of the language which happem to be spoken in the mother country and should not be judged Serior merely because it deviates fiom the standards of British English ( The
EngIish Language in West Afnca, 133).
In "On Not Being Milton: Nigger Tak in England Today," David Dabydeen maintains that if a West Indian &ter wanted recognition, he or she had to Iaboriousiy mimic the "expressions of the Mother Country." According to him, Edward Brathwaite and others rescued West Indian writers fiom imitating "nonsense sounds" (The State of the Languuge, 12). Brathwaite, in The History of the Voice, writes against the use of
British literary writing styles that cannot appropriately express the West lndian environment, About the inappmpnateness of the iambic pentameter in English poetry to describe Canibbean experiences, Brathwaite states, 'The hurricane does not roar in pentstmeters. And that's the problem: how do you get a rhythm which approximates the natural experience, the environmental experience T' (10). He encourages West Indian 67 writers to use creole, or Nation language. Using these languages involves understanding and recognking the vitality, the earthiness, the energy, and the rhythm of the West indian environment.
The experiences of writers in formerly colonized countries, and the theories of post-colonial writing in The Empire Wntes Buck, cleariy explain that the Engiish language possesses enough flexibility to express pst-colonial experience. But, in order to do so, it needs to develop an "appropriate" usage by becoming a distinct and unique form of "english" (1 1). Under pst-colonial discourse, three main types of linguistic groups have been identified: monoglossic, diglossic, and polyglossic (39). Diglossie societies are those in which bilingualism has become an enduring societai arrangement.
In diglossic societies English has gendybeen adopted as the language of government and commerce, and the literary use of English demonstrates some of the more pronounceci fonns of language variance (39). Though Bhutan was never colonized,
English has become its finguafianca through its own consent, and it shares similarities with a diglossic society. In tenns of displacement, Bhutan is doubly displaced or distanced from the language and the cuiture of the centre. First, Dzongkha is the national language of Bhutan, and about sixteen dialects are spoken throughout the country.
Second, the use of English in Bhutan is greatly influenced by its close contact with hdia - on whom we depend for many curricuiar rnaterials, teachers, fùrther studies, professional and technical training. These conditions influence the way Bhutanese use English to describe their experiences. Jamie Zeppa, a Canadian hmToronto, came to teach in Bhutan through the
Voluntary Service Overseas organkition. She married a Bhutanese and has a son. Now, she iives in Toronto, but occasionaliy visits Bhutan. While living in Bhutan, she wrote
"Letter fiom Bhutan," for the CBC Morning side "Foreign Correspondents." In her letter,
Jamie Zeppa writes about how the Bhutanese were appropriating English to suit their
In Bhutan, you don't take sorneone to the airport, you 'keach" them there. You don't go away on a joumey, you go "that side." If you are a vegetarian, you do not "take" meat, but if you get sick, you have to "eat" medicine. Students do not graduate, they "pas out." Graduates are thus called "pass outs." In conversation, objects are dropped immediately after they are introduced. Did you bring mik? No, 1 couldn't get. You couldn't get? No, the shop didn't have. The standard greeting is not "How are you?" - it's "Where are you going?'If you meet sorneone who has just returned fiom somewhere, the correct greeting is "When did you corne?" If you ~n'texplain why something is the way it is, you Say 'Tt's just like that ody." The same vague answer works with time. When did you hand in your assignment? Oh, last time ody. "But" is often stuck at the end of the sentence, as in: Why didn't you cal1 me? I did, you weren't home but-
Zeppa also shares her experiences of teaching Engiish to students in Sherubtse college.
She writes:
During my first few months teaching English at Bhutan's only college, 1 went on a rampage against the damiliar and idiosyncratic English everyone around me was speaking. You go shopping, notfar shopping, I'd lecture my slightly bewildered students. You write a letter, take a bath, look at the stars in the sky, but enjoy - no article - nature. On and on 1 went, &y der day, with examples and exercises and tests and drills. And slowly 1 began to realize that the only English that was changing was mine! 1 caught myself saying that I would dteletîer after 1 went for shopping. Shortly &er this dization, whiIe 1 was explainhg the diffefence between A.canand British spellings to a senior class, a student raised his hand and asked, "So are there two Englishes then, American and British?" Tes,sort or1 replied. %ore than two, really- There's Canadian English and ManEnglish -" "But then why not Bhutanese English?" he asked. (CBC Morningside "Foreign Correspondentts" - Fa11 96)
Zeppa's anecdotes and the question asked by her student, "But then why not Bhutanese
English?" is profod in its implications. They illustrate the possiibility of Bhutanese writers working with Bhutanese engiish to describe their own cultural experiences, and should be considerd positively for fiiture Bhutanese writing in english. PART FOUR Reseauch Method and Data Coiiection Strategies
1 designed this study with two inter-related purposes:
1. To find out if a change in classroom discourse and curriculum materials
would help students improve their understanding of English texts.
And
2. To hdout what students, teachers, and curriculum developers thought
about the idea of introducing literature written in Engiish by Bhutanese
authors into the Cumcuium.
As 1 see myself both as a teacher and a scholar, 1wanted to try out with a group of
Bhutanese high school students some of the discursive practices 1 had leamed at the
University of New Brunswick, particularly the form of reader-response theory Aidan
Chambers uses in Tell Me: Childm. Reading and Talk 1 wanted to analyze the results and see if it would help me improve my practice of teaching high scbool English literature in Bhutan, so 1 have employed "action-reseafch" as my methodology.
Chambers's "Teil Men: Thoughtfidiy Reading and Taiking about Literature
The voluntary research participants were fifieen' high school students fiom
4As the research progressed the number of students dropped to ten. Since Motithang High School is a àay school, and 1 conducted the "Teii Me" sessions der class hours (3 :15pm to 4:00pm), it was diEcult to keep track of the students who had stopped participating in the research. 71
Motithang High Schwl in Thimphu Their ages ranged hmfifieen to eighteen. 1 visited the grade ten classrooms, explaineci that 1 wanted to try Chambers's "Tell Me" as an instructional approach to teach English literantfe, and 1 requested volunteer participants.
Three students fiom each of the four sections of grade ten, and two students from a section of grade nine volunteerd for the research. 1 got them together and informeci hem that 1 needed to work with them for an hour after school, three times a week, over a period of two months. Since the participants were not sure about their invoIvement in CO- cmicular activities (which were planned on a weekly basis), the participants suggested that they would choose the suitable &ys on a weekly basis too. Out of the fifteen, ody two were boys. Most of them lived with relatives in Thimphu, but during the holidays they would join their families in the villages. A few lived with theh parents, who were govemment employees in Thimphu. With the exception of two studentq all the other students' parents were uneducated. I asked the participants to ask their parent(s) or guardiaas for permission to participate in the research. Aii the participants infomed me that their parent(s) or their guardians had allowed them to participate in the research. The students generously allowed me to use their real names and also to quote their words in the thesis.
In order not to disrupt regular classes, I conducted the "Tell Me" discussions after school hours. The discussions were always held in Motithang hi& school, but the mms used alternated between grade ten (c) classroom and the lady teachers' staffroom, depending on its availability. The grade ten (c) classroom was a typical Bhutanese classroom with a chalkboard and a teacher's table facing rows of desks and chairs for the 72 students. The lady tacher's staffrwm included a long table with chairs surrounding it which was quite convenient for the "TeU Me" discussions.
1 chose three texts for the "Tell Me" sessions with the fiftee~lstudent participants.
One was a mntempoary Bhutanese short story entit1ed"The Unfinished Dream," written in Engiish by Dr Pem Namgyal. The story won the Kuensel prize and was pubfished in the Druk Air in-flight magazine. The other two texts were Act 1, Scene 1 hm
Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, and Walt Whitman's "O Captain, My Captain'' from A Pageant of Poem The latter texts are prescribed by the ICSE for the hi& school
English c~culumin Bhutan.
Al1 the discussions were tape recorded and transcriied. 1 kept a joumal in which 1 reflected on the discussions generated by the students, and on what 1 thought were the positive or negative aspects of the 'Teil Me" approach at that moment. The students also maintained journals. They were encouraged to make a journal entry derevery discussion. Students were advised to hand in their joumals to me after we finished discussing a cornplete text.
Qualitative Interviewhg
The fundamental principle of quaiitative interviewing is to provide a nrimework within which respondents can express their own understandings in th& own terms. The three approaches to qualitative interviewhg are (1) the informal conversational interview,
(2) the general intewiew guide approach, and (3) the standaniized open-ended intemiew.
1 found the standarciized open-ended interview appropriate for my study. This interview 73 approach involves a set of carehilly worded questions, atratlged for the objective of taking each respondent through the same order and asking each respondent the same questions with basically the same words. Flexibility in probing is more or less bted, but it can happen depending on the nature of the interview and the skilis of the interviewer (Patton, 1987).
The advantages of this intaviewing approach are that it minimizes variation in the questions posed to interviewees, and also lessens the bias that can occur fiom having different interviews for different people. However, the disadvantages of this approach are that it curtails flexibility and spontaneity (Patton, 1987).
For the purpose of my study, 1 interviewed ten students, thtee high school (grades nine and ten) English teachd, and three Education officiais. An audiotape recorder was used during the interview sessions.
Interview Questions for the Students
The students to be interview& were the ones who had volunteerd to participate in the "Tell Me" discussions. The interview questions were intended to allow them to express their feelings about (1) studying the present high school English literature curriculum, (2) the 'Tell Me" approach to reading literature, and (3) the idea of including
'Since the responses of merely th= teahers did not pmvide a strong ground for validity, 1 wmte and asked five (5) English teachers hmYangchenphug High School in Thimphu to answer a questionnaire consisting of the interview questions used for the teachers fiom Motithang high school, with the same wordiag and in the same sequence. Bhutanese literature as a part of the English literature curriculum. The intefview questions for the students were:
Do you like studying English literaîure? What are some of the reasons for the way you feel? Do you fhd the present Engiish literaîure texts easy or difficult to understand? Why do you feel so? If you were given the Momto make some changes to the ICSE English literature syllabus, what changes would you tbink of? What did you lFke about the ‘TeLl Me" approach? What did you dislike about the "Tell Me" approach? How do you feel about studying Bhutanese stones written in English as a part of the Engiish literature curriculum?
Interview Questions for Teachers
The three (3) high school (grades nine and ten) English teachers to be interviewed were selected fkom Motithang high school. Al1 three were Bhutanese nationals. The interview questions necessitated that the teachers talk about their experiences of teachuig high school English literature, and also that they express their feelings about the idea of introducing Bhutanese literature as a part of the English literature curriculum. The questions for the interview and the questionnaire were:
How long have you been teacbuig high school English? What are the aims and objectives of teaching English literature in high schools? Do you think the present high school English curriculum needs changes? If so what changes would you suggest? Or if you feel it is best left as it is, will you explain why? What are some of the problems you encounter(ed) teaching English literature? What wouid you say about your students' achievernent in English literature? What could be some of the reasons for this performance? Would introducing Bhutanese literature into the high school English curriculum be a good idea? Why? Do you think one of the rasons sîudents fïnd English difficult is because of the lack of Bhutanese cultural representation? Interview Questions for the Education Officiais
The thtee education officiais intewiewed worked for the Education Division in
different capacities, such as the secretary of the Bhutan Board of Examinations (BBE),
the deputy director of the Curriculum and Professional Support Section (CAPSS), and
another CAPSS official also the Chair of the English Subject Comxnittee. The intent of
interviewhg them was to kdout tbeir views on the aims of English instruction in
Bhutan, and on the possibiiity of introducing Bhuîanese literature as a part of the high
school English curriculum in the fbture. These were the interview questions:
What are the reasons for using English as the language of instruction in schools? What are the objectives of teaching English Literature instmction in high schools? 1s it taught to help students in language aquisition or to expose students to 'great authors'? Who selects the textbooks for high school English literature instruction? What factors guide the selections of these books? Do you have any fiiture plans for the English ICSE examinations? Do you feel that the present high school English curriculum needs changes? If so what changes would you suggest? Or if you feel it is best left as it is, please explain why. What do you feel about the idea of introducing Bhutanese literature in Enghsh or other literatures closer to the Bhutanese culture as a part of the English curriculum? Please provide reasons for the way you feel.
Documents
In order to understand the context for English instruction in Bhutanese high schools, 1 refmed Government documents such as the Curriculum Policy Guidelines; the
Eight-Five-Year Plans; the hiipose of School Education in Bhutan; and the report developed by John Wood on English instruction in the prirnary levels. The textbooks 76 prescn'bed by the ICSE for high school English literaîure instruction and students' journals were also collecteci.
Ethical Considerations
In order to observe the guidelines stated in the "Ethical Guidelines for Research with Human Subjects" (UNB Ethics Fonn), 1 wrote letters to the necessary authonties in
Bhutan and to the research participants. A letter (see appendix V) to the Director of the
Education Division was written requesting permission to conduct this research. Copies of this letter were also sent to the Petsonal Officer of the Education Division, and to the
Field Co-ordinator of the Canadian Co-operation Office in Thimphu. The letter briefly describeci the purpose, significance, and nature of the research study. 1 also wrote to the principal of the selected school (see appendix V) explainhg the purpose of the study and asked for permission to conduct the research study with fifteen volmtary participants from grades nine and ten in the school. Letters were also written to the English teachers of Motithang High School (see appendix V) and the education officiais (see appendix V), describing the nature of the study and asking for their willingness to be interviewed. 1 wrote and asked the English teachers of Yangchenphug high school to answer a questionnaire (see appendix V). 1 ais0 obtaineâ denpermissions (appendix VI) fiom the authors whose texts have been reproduced in my thesis. PART FWE Discussion and Anaiysis of the Research Data
in this part of the thesis, 1wiii first present an analysis of the students' discussions
generated by usiag Aidan Chambets's 'Tell Me" approach to read texts. Subsequently, 1
will discuss the data generated trom the interviews with students, teachers, and the
cunlculum developers.
Using Chambers's YTeiiMe* Approach to Read Literatan
1 was very excited and nemous about using Chambers's 'Tell Me" with fifteen
hîgh school students in Bhutan. Bhutanese students have never participated in a leaming process where they voiced th& opinions and dso Listend to the views of their
classrnates. The practice of co~ectingth& experiences to the text is dso new for them.
Bhutanese students are used to listening to teachers explain the meaning of the text.
Many are shy and do not speak out in class. Another cause for aaxiousness stemrned
from my own ability to use the "Tell Me" approach- Though 1 had studied the approach in the "Access to Literacies" course at the University of New Brunswick and had done a group presentation on it, 1 had never aied it out witb students. 1 was not sure how the first 'Tell Me" session would tum out. 78
East-West confiicts in Dr. Pem Namgyai's "The Unnnished Dreamw
Pem Namgyal's 'The Unfinished Dream" is significant because it carries within it the implicit ideologid assumptions of Bhutanese culture. Though this story is not written in Dzongkha or other 'mother tangues', its value systems are completely coherent to native Bhutanese. It addresses Buddhist moral values, not Christian or Western ones.
It allows students to talk about Buddhist reîigious concepts such as ^impermanence" and
'bma" (fate or destiny). The story highiights the cultural codict that the Bhutanese are beginning to face. The forces of modernization are changing how Bhutanese perceive their culture. The changing values and attitudes are creating a distinction between the way of life of Bhutanese in the modernized and traditional areas. In the modemized areas, more Bhutanese are influenced by the attractive Western culture and their iives revolve around achieving material happiness, whereas the forces of modernization have not touched many traditionai villages, in which prirnarily agrarian economies dominate-
Materialistic fulfïlment is not a major concem for them. They are happy and have no cornplaints if they have three healthy meals in a âay. This story is about the desire for
European values, not Buddhist ones. The values such as "ïndividualism" and material prosperity portrayeci in the story are closer to Western life. For Buddhists, wealth or material happiness are symbolical of desire. According to Buddha's teachings, desire is the cause of al1 suffering. To lessen SUfferùig we must try to control our desires. It also provides an opportunity for students to discuss important contemporary issues such as reasons for students discontinuhg their education, and the ciiffitrealities lived by city people and village people. These are the reasons that led me to select this story. Short Story by Pem Namgyal
Karma Tshetup stood in hntof the tail dressing &or in his thickly carpefed bedroom. He hnned his back to the mirror, twisted his head backwards slightly and adjusted the edge of his new Mura gho. Then he tightened his belt. The time was 8.45 am. He strode down the steps of his bungalow with confidence and purpose. His gleamhg, cream-white land cruiser stood at the fmt of the steps, engine running. His driver stood aside respecthlly holding the door open. He climbed in and glandbackwards. His gilded sword and red swf lay on the passenger seat. He got out at the north gate of Tashichhodzong. The driver held out his sword which he tied to his waist and gave a final tug to the edges of his gho to smoothen any creases. Then he put on his red sdand walked lightly up the Stone steps. The security man at the gate gave a smart salute, to which he nodded almost imperceptiily as he entered the Dzong. He was only 25, one of the rapidly nsing stars in the bureaucracy. Only three years ago, he was appointed as the Assistant Director. Now he was the Director General of Department of Socio-cultural Bureau. With hard work and good liaison, he rose rapidly to the rank of Director Gendtwo months ago. There are whispers that he may be appointed to a higher pst sooner than expected. Today is the third &y of the National Assembly. He was to present an important issue on the changhg trends of socio cultural milieu and the enonnous efforts of the government to promote the unique cultural traditions in this fast changing world. As he ascended the steps to the Assembly Hall above the Kuenrey in the Tashichhodmng, he quickly ran through his mind the main issues that he would like to cover. Everyone was seated. He sat two rows behind hm the fiont. The Assembly was in session. Soon he heard his name being announced. With a racing heart he approached the nearest microphone stand. He looked across the rows of orange, red, blue and white scarfmembers sitting with heads bowed slightly, but Wly attentive in anticipation of what he was to Say. He c1eared his throat to begin. Karma Tshetup woke up with a start. It was the soft monotonous mumuring of "om muni padme hum,om mani padme, ..."of bis grandrnother that awoke Karma. "Som she will be calling me to get up," he thought. He peered through the crack in his window at the pale light of winter dawn. It was cold and Karma pulled up his legs towards his chest to keep wm. "What a beautifid dream. 1 wish 1 had actually hished addressing the Assernbly," he mused wistftlly. Kama Tshetup was 16 years old. He had dropped out fiom school &er standard five to look after the house and the cattle in his village. He would oh wonder how it would have been for him if he had continued his studies, He would often sigh and console himself by saying, "Anyway it could not be helped." Soon he was up and busy. First he went to collect a load of firewood, then he let the cows out hmtheir pen. After his breakfast of me@ dhengo and fiery amajaajhu, he dkedhis five cows. T'enhe was off with the cattle for the &y. Including heifers, calves and bulls, he had 23 heads of cattle. He was taking his cattle to graze behind Dhochezur. The latter was a sharp ridge that rose straight and steep f?om the Mangdi-chhu up to a height exceeding 15,000 feet. Behind this ndge was open cowtryside, pIenty of shrubs, forests and grazing land. Before tuming amss this ndge with bis cattle, he leaned on his stick and gazed dom on his village. Gagar-pam lay sprawIed below him. The 10 or 1 1 odd houses scatterd below on the northern dope of an escarpment, the upper part of which aiso rose to meet, at the top, the same ridge where he stood. Below the village were the paddy fields, hanging in thin terraces as they dipped towards the Mangdi-chhu. It was a bright and sunny day. Most of the day he sat in the sun, taking a nap occasionally. When not asleep, he played his flute fkom theto the. His cattle had gone into the shrubs. He was confident that nothing would happa. Close to sundown, as usual, the cattle began to emerge, one at a time or in smaller groups. He made a wide circle through the thick shrubs, shouting and calling &om time to time to encourage the remaining cattle to begin moving towards home. When he fùialiy emerged hmthe thickets and counted his cattle, there was only one bdl missing. He was a little annoyed, normaUy al1 his cattle moved together and they rarely strayed apart. "Stupid animal," he thought. He moved into the shmbs again. This time he did not make any noise. He would stand stiii and Listen fiom time to time. He hoped to hear the crackhg of the bu11 pulling at or through the thickets. He covered quite a distance, yet there was no sound or sign of the animal. '?rCrhere could it have gone," he wondered. Now he was moving in the thick forest, the shades were darker, the ground quite marshy, and dotted with thick bamboo under bnish. At one point he thought he heard some crackling noise. He stopped and listened. Nothing. He bathis head and peered at the marshy ground. Yes, there was a fwtprint. The shape was not disceniable, but the muddy water in the print was stili whirling gently. Mer foilowing the muddy prints for about 20 meters, he heard the distinct crackling of bamboo brush quite close. He gave a yeli. There was no sound. He moved a few steps forward. Suddenly there was en do us rom. And al1 he saw was a huge black thing hurtling straight at him fiom the bamboo thicket in hntof him. He tried to move back, but his legs stuck in the marshy ground. He fell backwards. Something stmck bis head and throat. He was back in the Assembly Hall. He peered down at the expectant faces. "So many of them," he thought. He cleared his throat to speak. No sound came out. He began to panic, his heart rad;there was a hissing in his ears and something pounded in his head, or was it on his head? The sea of faces staring at him began to blur; then everything statted whirIing amund him. He wiped his eyes: something was flowing down his face wet, sweat or was it bld? He struggled to stay clear." 1 mustn't make a fool ofmyself in front of ali these important people," he thought. The room and everything in it started going out of focus. 'What is happening to me? 1must get myself under contrd. Why can't 1 see clearly and what is this coming into my eyes?" desperately he tned to wipe off whatever was flowing down his face. Then, everything went dark- As dusk descetlded quietly on the viilage the catile lowing gently every now and then, straggled their way home. But there was no sign of Karma. His father and uncle gazed anxiously towards Doche-zur. It was dark now and, distraught with anxiety, the two men set off with huge barnho torches to look for Karma. They shouted his name over and over. They scoured some part of the grazing area, but to no avaif. They lwked at each other, their mwedbrows knit with great apprehension. They had to give up the search. It was too dark and late now to do anything. Next day early morning, the search resumed with three other men fiom the village. Mer about two hours they found him dead. He was lying face up, his feet Mystuck in the marshy ground. His right throat was tom, bis scalp tattered and puiled domover his severely scratched face. There was blood al1 over. And al1 around him were the distinct footprints of a huge bear. (Tashi Delek, March - Apd 1998) 82
One of the dynamics 1 observed while students shared what they liked and disliked about the story was the students' discovery of puzzles of which they were previously unaware. They also reaiized that they had misread some parts of the text.
Unlike traditional teaching where teachers point out mistakes made by -dents and comect them, the students ushg Chambers's 'Tell Me" helped each other in discovering puzzles and dm helpod solve thw. I will illustrate this point by sharing one such incident fiom the 'Tell Me" sessions. While taiking about the aspects that they Wred in the story, students related the events in the story to their personal lives. Seydon explained that she liked Karma's (the protagonist in the story) dream because to become successful and to be noticed in Society is a common dream shared by many people. Lekema, in the process of supporting Seydon's view, mentioned that she liked Karma's dream because
'%e makes it happen." She explained that many people dreamed about these things but they did not do anything about it Dechen asked, "Did he make it happen?" Some fiiends chimed in, "No," and Tshering explained that Karma could not continue his education and therefore he could not achieve his dream.
Lekema reaiized she had read incomectly and explained, "1 have made a mistake no ma'am . . .1did not how that this (refegto the beginning nrst paragraph of the story) was a part of the dream." Under a traditional fomalist instructional approach, this incident would be looked upon as a huge mistake or a misreading on the part of Lekema
But in Chambers's reader response approach to reading, the students were a community of readers sharing their thoughts in a sincere attempt to make sense of a text. About children sharing puzzles found in a text and discussing them Chambers States, "The 83
fiends discuss the puzzle and the suggested expIanation, and out of this cornes an understanding of (or an agreement to disagree on) what the text is 'about' - what it
'means' - to that group of readers at that time" (Tell Me: Booktalk, 17). The readhg which fêils to make sense is the one that is deliberated, then rejected by the group in the process of finding a more rational meaning. This is a Westem approach to Lit- discussion that is foreign to Bhutanese thought. But if orn aim is to enable students to speak English 'better' and to understand how better to work in English, then a reaâing approach which iafludes a comrnunity of readers and encourages the idea of challenging texts ought to be part of the cultural awareness.
Chambers's 'Tell Me" provided students with the opportunity to make personal connections: it provided them with an avenue to date their personal interests or experiences with the situations or incidents mentioned in the story. For instance, while the students talked about the parts in the story they liked, Seydon (afktalking to two other friends) said that they (she and her fiiends) liked Karma's Drearn because they cherished the same dream too. She said, "our dream is like to become same as Karma
Tshetup's dream . . .he has also wanted to become like dasho, high rank, popdar, that is what also we want to become rich, popular, famous." This discussion is ais0 important in the sense that Tshering's words expressed the desire of many Bhutanese, especially the adolescents, to reproduce Western values.
Students went beyond merely scanniag the dacemeauing of a text They addressed some of the values and social issues sunoundhg their lives. Talking about
Karma's dream started students sharing heir thoughts about the importance or value of 84 dreams. Lekema shared, 'Y's nia to dream no ma'am but we should make it happen no ma'am not just continue dreaming. You need dreams to heZp to motivate you." Some students said that day cireamhg is a waste of tirne. Lekema again added, Tt is not that nice to dream al1 the time no ma'am . . .you should stick to reality. If you keep on dreaming one &y you are gohg to disappoint yourself.' Thse conflicting opinions provideci by Lekema reflect the larger values Society attaches to 'dreams'. On the one hand, dreams are looked upon as a motivating factor to achieve our goals. On the other hand dreams are regardai as a waste of time, an Uusion which cuts us away fiom dity.
Seydon looked at dreams bma religious and cultural perspective and said, "sometimes if we ciream, the dream tells us something about . . .aii the time we Bhutanse people believe no oh 1 saw this dream today so in fùture the ciream might teli us what to becorne and how to do and like that and al1 those things ma'am."
The different ways of reading dreams exhibited by the students portrays the mnflict between Bhutanese and Western value systems. Dreams are respected and valued in the Bhutanese culture. Dreams play an important part in our Lives. For many
Bhutanese the presence of certain objects, subjects, and events in drearns can si@@ the occurance of fùture events. As a way of illustration 1offer a personal incident. In the winter of 199 1, my elder sister was pregnant, and her delivery date was fast approaching.
My mother dreamed that she clirnbed a hi11 canying a basket with a sword in it. She told me that judging by her dream, Pema (my sister) was going to have a baby boy. She explained that dreams of going up - waiking up a steep road, climbing a hi11 - is considered a good omen. If some one in your felyis pregnant and you dream about 85 jewellery and precious Stones, a baby girl will be born. If you dream of a sword, a boy
will be born. On 24 March 1992, my sister gave birth to a baby boy, whom we named
Yeshey.
Many Bhutanese believe that dreams are reiated to our realities and the events that
we see in dreams may redy happen. For instance, you might have an unpleasant dream of someone close to you ill, dying, or in an accident. This causes you to worry until you are sure that everybody is fine. You hear many loved ones ask, Y dreamed you were very iU, are you fine?" These values that we attach to dreams lead us to lamas or pnests for the rneaning of dreams, especidy when they are very unpleasant or disturbing. Many
Bhutanae belonging to the older as weii as the younger generations uphold these values.
However, due to the influence of modernization, Western education and its process of validating scientific rationalkation is beginning to encourage some to question the Bhutanese values and beliefs attached to dreams. A discussion such as this has the potential of providing students an oppomuiity to rdect on the values held dear by their culture and how they feel about these values. Students can also talk about how their lives and values havehave not been infiuenced by the forces of modemkation and Western education. Tremendous change has taken place in Bhutan since the process of modernization was started some thirty years ago. The Bhutanese are at a critical stage where Bhutanese knowledge, culture, and values face degradation fiom modern scientific knowledge, and attractive and popular Western cdture. The Bhutanese Government is aware of the threat to our culture and has always made the preservation of ow culture a top pnority in any government policy. It is not enough for the Government to think of 86
strategies that dlbalance cultural preservation and modemization. The process of
valuing Bhutanese culture has to take place in the min& of the people. This can only happen when people realize that though modernization improves the standard of living and studying English literature prepares the Bhutanese in some way to communicate with the rest of the world, the drawback is that we are losing the culture and values that shape the Bhutanese identity. The peuple, especially the younger generation, have to be made aware of this reality, and opportunities should be provîded for them to address it.
Applying Chambers's "Teil Me" to discuss Pem Namgyal's 'The Unfinished Dream," created an opportunity for students to begin to address the changes that surround them.
The discussion that students had about what muld have been if Karma Tshetup had not discontinuexi his education was rooted in Bhutanese values about fate and dreams.
Some students mentioned that Kanna would still have been aiive and could have fùlfilled his dream. Students talked about the Buddhist religious belief in fate or destiny, and wondered whether we should let this belief in our destiny realiy influence our lives. On the one hand, being Bhutanese and Buddhists, students expressed their belief in destiny and attributed Karma's mfidfilled dream and his untimely death to his '%anna" or his
"destiny." On the other han& the infiuence on the Bhutanese by Western education and modernization was evident, as students aiso supported the view that we should not let our lives be completely controlled by our '?canna"In this discussion we see an illustration of the dislocation that occurs when East meets West. And this dislocation is a representation of the changes that are developing in the min& of the Bhutanese by valuing modernization and Westm knowledge and marghalizing the Bhubnese value and belief systems mted in the culture and religion. 1 have reproduced a part of the students' discussion about 'Tate."
Sevdon: But ma'am if fate decided for you to die at that time whether you work in everything else you will die. Teacher: Since we are Buddhists we believe in "karma" -meanhg what we do in our previous life rnakes us what we are in this life. But if you are poor would you accept and choose to remain in the same state because you believe it is your destiny? Lekerna: 1believe you have to make your own destiny... not just accept it rna'am. Padm_ar: We should make our own fate but ma'am ... but we have to beiieve in our thing aiso ma'am ...50% in science and 50% in religion. Dechery You should not just give up by believing in your fate.
This discussion about destiny continued a little later when they talked about the lost cow in the story.
If the cow had not gone in the jungle no madam, he wouldn't have died. How to explain no ma'am ...the cow is not fieno ma'am maybe he just wanted to wander around ...imagine always being gathered around ...not being able to move everywhere he lilces, so maybe he just wanted to wander around Like that. Seydon: But why this cow ma'am? AU the cows were in a group but why did he choose that day of al1 the days to wander around? Maybe he wanted to kill Kanna Tshetup indirectly. Padma: Maybe it was pulling KarmaAt maybe Karma's enemy. Tshewa: Dream, the lost cow, bear, death are related madam.
In a normal Engiish literature class, students would have listened passively to their teacher explicate the meaning of the story. When we used Chambers's "Te11 Me" to talk about ''The Unfinished Dream," students were more interested in class than they had been otherwise. We were supposed to be in class for forty five minutes, but the students 88 were very involved in the discussion, and they did not reaiize that they had spent almost two hours. In a usual Engiish fiterature lesson, students would have only achieved a very flat reading of the story and possessed a literal meaning of the story. They would have understood "The Unfinished Dream" as a story of Kanna Tshetup, who had to give up his education in order to help his family in the village and in the end is killed by a bear while tending cattle in the forest.
in this class students discussed the multilayered meanings within the text. They negotiated severaï interpretive possïbilities: the story is about some of the factors that cause students to discontinue their education; it is a story about death and impermanence; this story portrays the dangers and diffidties of nual life in Bhutan; it represents youthful dreams and ambitions; it depicts the simpiicity of village life in contrast with the materiaiism of city dwellers.
1 was pleased with the rdts, and 1 recognized how much more able students were in their use of analytical skills. They could pracîice making Bhutanese sense of an
English text - and in the process they may improve their English. The success of the first 'Tell Me" session made me excited about ûyhg it out with Shakespeare's The
Merchant of Venice. 1 wondered if the same techniques would be successfid witb an archaic English text, with its overtiy Christian value system and Elizabethan idiom.
Lekema, one of the student participants, also shared the same eagerness. In her journal she me:
We have just finished discussing 'The Unfinished Dream." It took two days, but it was worth it, Looking back at ou.discussions 1 never realized that 1 could look at a story in so many different ways. It was amazing, we taiked about everything hmreligion to life just hma few points . - . Usualiy 1never partake in class discussions as 1 find them quite borhg. This is the first time 1 let myself completely fkee and expressed my views. 1 realized that 1 had a lot of feelings about different issues like religion locked inside of me. We are going to start the Merchant of Venice soon. 1 hope it will be interesting tw.
Füiing "gapsHin Shakespeare's The Merckant of Venice: Act 1, Sc 1
'What was Antonio sad about T' - this gap in the text led to an interesting
discussion. As d,students started talking about what they liked and disliked, what
puzzled hem, and the emerging patterns in Act 1, Scene 1, of The Merchant of Venice.
The most significant part of the whole discussion occurred when the students began
talking about Antonio's sadness as something they did not like. At the beginning of the
discussion, some students said that nobody, not even Antonio himself, hewthe cause for his sadness. The 'hot knowing" htrated them. 1 realized that this was what Chambers
and WoIfgang Iser would desmie as "gaps" in the text. In "The Reading Process,"
Wolfgang Iser States that:
&]iterary texts are fidl of unexpected twists and tums, and iFustration of expectations. Even in the simplest story there is bound to be some kind of blockage, if only because no tale cm ever be told in its entirety. Indeed, it is only through inevitable omissions that a story gains its dynamism. (Reader Response Critickm, 55)
1 was eager to see if the "gap" - the cause of Antonio's sadness - would bring about the kind of "dynamism" that Wolfgang Iser refers to. So, 1 asked the students if everyone agreed that the cause for Antonio's sadness is not mentioned anywhere in the text. In other words, 1 encourageci them to till the "gap" by using textual clues and th& imagination. In the process of hding dues to fill the gap, the participants' discussion exhibited what Chambers in Tell Me descri'bes as the 'Tour kinds of saying" (21). When some of the students began talking about why they did not like Antonio's sadness, they were participating in the process of "saying to yourself? Chambers States that:
The private motivation for this speech act is the need to hear said what has been so far only inwardly thought, because, as is often repeated, 'we don't know what we think tili we hear what we say' . . . Saying something out loud can teii us whether or not we know what we are thinking about . . . So the public motivation for 'thinking out loud' is not just to hear what we are thinking but also to help clarifi, what we mean in a way we cannot do on our own. (Tell Me, 22)
Padma: Sometimes it happens. . .we feei very sad but we don't how what's the reason. m: I don't like this because even he (Antonio) himself does not know the reason for his sadness. So it is quite btrating for the readers. Sevdon: Antonio . .. without any reason he does not know why to be sad no ma'am if there is nothing to be sad about. So he is just sad like that so it makes us fhsîrated. Teacher: Do you agree that the reason for Antonio's sadness is not mentioned ?
Lekema presented extra information provided in the notes at the back of the text, to the discussion. But what she said next, started off a chah of interesting talk.
Lekana: In the back of the book it was mentioned that Shakespeare purposely wrote that to give the audience a sense of foreboding about what is going to happen ma'am the disturbing events that happen later on. 1 think Antonio is sad no rna'am because Bassanio told him that he wanted to speak to him no ma'am and usuaUy its because Bassanio is in financial trouble and he wants to borrow money so he knows he has no money right now. Maybe that is why he is Sad. Seydon did not understand the new direction of the discussion, and so she asked for clarification. You would not find this happening in the usual English class.
Traditional lecture methods do not offer students the opportunity to ask questions if they have not understd something. Even if somethhg is not clear to the students, they wili pretend that there is no problem and continue passively listeniag to the teacher's lecture.
Seydon's question was also miportant in the sense that it aîiowed me to summarize what had gone on before. Thus, if other students were not following the discussion up until this point, my summq wouid help them. 1realized the need for summaries at certain points in the discussion so that students did not lose sight of the point of the discussion.
Sevdon: Ma'am we are talking about why Antonio is sad or why we dislike Antonio's sadness ? Teacher: TsheMig and you mentioned that you do not like Antonio's sadness because you do not know why he is sad and this fiustrates you. 1 want to know whether mybody feels differenly so 1 asked if everyone agrees that there is no clue or hint in the text as to why Antonio is sad.
Tshewang supported the view offered earlier by Lekema. He put himself in the place of Antonio and irnagined how he would feel in Antonio's situation.
Tshewang: Presently Antonio is not having any money so when his dear and near one asks for money . . . someone who is very dear to us if they ask for money especially when we are not havhg any money so we feel üke 1wili get some money at any cost so it womes us.
After listening to Tshewang add on to what she had said, Lekema got the opportunity to clarie what she had meant earlier. In Tell Me, Chambers desmies this process as
"saying to others" (22). According to Chambers: Whether we speak to cl&@ our min& for ourselves, or in order to communicate our thought to amther person (or, most Wcely, doing both at once), the saying of a thought to someone else means that the listener has to interpret what has been said. The listener reflects on it and redirects it back to the speaker. We see what we've said 'in a diffeteat light' . (Tell Me, 22)
Chambers explains that the point of saying to 0th- is that others will interpret what we have said and help us understand it better. He believes that by sharing our thoughts we increase our individual ability to think (24). Tshewang's interpretation of Lekema's thoughts enabled her to fiirther explain the comment that she had offered earlier.
Lekema: We feel sad because we love that person very much and he is in hancial trouble but we can't do anything no ma'am.
Seydon argued about the comments put forward by Tshewang and Lekema conceming the reason for Antonio's sadness. She was not satisfied with their reasoning.
She felt that since Bassanio and Antonio have not spoken to each other yet, how codd
Antonio know that Bassanio needed to borrow money hmhim. This argument developed by Seydon is signifiant because it reflects the beginning of critical thinking.
Sedon: They are saying like Antonio is sad because he does not have money to give his £iiend, but that time when he is sad no ma'am, does he know that my fnend is going to corne today and he is going to ask for money . . . he is sad before Bassanio cornes . .. (interrupted by Lekema).
Lekema and Padma tried to explain why they thought Antonio knew that Bassanio wanted to meet him to in order to bmwmoney. They justifid theu views on patterns of Bassanio's money borrowing behavior mentioned in the text. They explained that on many occasions in the past, Bassani0 had bomwed money hmAntonio. Though they had not read out loud the part of the text which speaks of Bassanio's habitua1 monetary loans fkom Antonio, we can clearly see that they are resoxting to the use of textuai clues
to back their views.
Leka: Every tirne no ma'am, Bassanio borrows money . . . (Padma intermpts) Padma: He always cornes no ma'am, now and then he reach there no ma'am, to ask money. Maybe Antonio feels what if he cornes and he is thinking like .. .
I obseveed that the students had an interesting diSÇUSSIon going and they were
beginning to foUow a critical line. They had begun filling in the "gap" to make the text
meaningfiil to them. I wanted to encourage them to look for and quote textual ches to
support their views, so 1 asked, '?)id Antooio and Bassanio talk to each other before they
meet in this scene?" The students flipped pages and went back to their text for clues.
Tshewang found the section on page five of the text which aliudes to a meeting between
Antonio and Bassanio and started reading it. Others joined in.
Tshewq: Antonio says (reads hmthe text), 'We11, tell me now, what lady is the same / To whom you swore a secret pilgrimage, 1 That you today promis'd to tell me of?"
Lekema refmed to her earlier comment, that Antonio knew Bassanio needed to borrow
money from him because of Bassanio's habitud hancial difficulties. Like Tshewang,
she found a textuai due on page five that supported her comment, and she quoted it.
Lekema: So this shows no ma'am, Bassanio says (quoting from the text) "tis not unknown to you Antonio how much I have disabIed my estate", so Antonio knows that Bassanio has spent ail his money. So maybe whem he calls maybe he thinks that Bassanio is in financial trouble.
Dechen offered a fiesh perspective to the whole discussion and created the possibility of an alternative interpretation. Dechen's comment about real-life possibilities, mmuraged Tshering and Tshewang to share their personal experiences to support Dechen's view.
Dechtq: Maybe he thinks he is going to lose his fiiend to a woman . . . he is going to lose his fiendship so he is sa& This sort of thing happas ma'am. Tsheriw: When my fiend's boytiiend corne and get her .. .take ber away ma'am you feel bad no ma'am like if he is just coming and bking her away and leaving me alone no ma'am. m:When someone get marrieci so . . . before if we are very fnendiy and we go to his place My. Mer he is rnanied we don? go because we feel awkward and ali and it is not same, they change.
Seydon voiced her disagreement that Antonio may be unhappy because Bassanio was in love with a lady and explained why she felt that way. Tshewang and Dechen went back to the part in the text that mentions Bassanio having alluded to Portia The progression of this talk arnong the paaicipants is an illustration of "saying together." Chambers states that in saying together:
The private motivation of joining in discussion is a conscious attempt to sort out with other people matters we recognize as too difficult and complex for anyone to sort out alone. . .The public effect of this conscious pooling of thought is that we come to a 'reading' - a knowledge, understanding, appreciation - of a book that far exceeds what any one member of the group could have achieved alone. (Tell Me, 25) s&!m: Ma'am we are tallung about Bassanio being taken by somebody and this is why Antonio might have feel sad. But then Antonio was sad before ody when Bassanio came, he was sad that time only. And then out here when Bassanio telis no ma'am, after only when he is sad. Tshewu: No but . . . but it is wrîtten ma'am that Antonio knows about the Bassanio . . . (Dechen continues where Tshewang leaves off). Dechm: Antonio says (quotes hmthe text) 'how tell me about the lady that you today promised to tell me of ', so he knows hmbefore Bassanio is in love with a lady.
In the traditionai English class, students would have rendered a flat reading of
Antonio's sadness. The teacher as the "authority" would have explained to students that
nobody knew the reason for Antonio's unhappiness - Antonio was sad for no reason at
dl. They would have accepted the teacher's explication. Things were very different with
the research participants. Since the text did not explicitly provide the reasons for
Antonio's sadness, the lack of a source for Antonio's gloom became a gap in the text for
the students. 1 obsmed that the students were eager to tIll the gap. in their desire to till
the gap, they shared their thoughts and listened to each other's views. If some of the
ideas did not make sense to them, they produced arguments. If they agreed with a
fiiend's opinion, they supported it with the teiiing of personal experiences. They were
completely absorbed in the discussion. The discussion illustrated the "four kinds of
sayings." And, true to the words of Wolfgang Iser, the "gap" helped the text gain its
Once the participants began recognizing the clues in the text, their imaginations took over and helped them read Antonio's sadness in three ways: Antonio was sad for no reason at ail; Antonio was not in a financial position to help Bassanio; Antonio realized that he was going to lose Bassanio's fnendship to Portia The construction of these interpretive possibilities was supported by experiences hmthe participants' lives and textuai clues. The discussion generated ncw understandings and increased appreciations that none of the students couid have articulateci alone. in Tell Me, Chambers explains 96 that, '%y closely attendhg together, we are rewarded with riches of meaning in the text we did not know it offered before we fht shared our individual understaadings" (25)-
Establishg 6Extra-textuai' Connections: Wait Whitman's uOCap-! My Captain!"
"O Captain! My Captain!" is among the twenty poems included for study in the textbook, Pageant of Poems. It is mandatory for high schod stuclents in Bhutan to snidy this poem. 1 had access to an Mian guide book in Bhutan which wntained the historical background for the poem similar to the one provided by Barbara Marinacci's O
Wondrous Singer..An Introduction to Walt Whibnan. That knowledge helped me and my students read the poem as a metaphor for political leadership. Since 1 do not have the
Indian guide book, it is necessary to refer to Marinacci's O WondmSinger obtained fiom the library at UNB. In the ninth chapter titled 'Shut Not Your Dwrs To Me',
Marinacci writes about the captain in the poem being an analogy for Abraham Lincoln :
Abraham Lincoln's death stirred witbin Walt Whitman songs that expresseci his sorrow. Whitman now wants to speak out not only for himself', but to summarize the American people's grief In the past he had likened the President to the captain of a ship sailing over turbulent seas towards a distant harbor. He had also compared a single soul's joumey through life, or a nation's course through history, with the voyages of ships. The spirit-ship of the United States had been traveling across the perilous ocean of war, where huge waves had dashed against if sometimes nearly engulfing or capsizing it; and ail the while its courageous captain stayed at the heh, detennined to bring his ship safely into port. At last the stormy passage was over and the peacefùl harbor gained. A large crowd of gratefbl citizens waited, greeting ship and captain with cheers and bouquets. But the ship of state came in without its master: the captain was dead. In his desire to reproduce the nation's mood and possibly to make himself readily understood by everyone, Whitman composeci his most famous dirge, "O Captain! My Captain!" (23 8-39) O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done, The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is won, The port is near, the bells 1hear, the people ail exulting, While foliow eyes the steady keel, the vesse1 and daring; But O heart! heart! heart! O the bleeding drops of red, Where on the de& my Captain lies, Fallen cold and dead.
O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells; Rise up - for you the flag is flung - for you the bugle trius; For you bouquets and nibon'd wreaths - for you the shores a- crowding, For you they cd, the swaying mas, their eager faces tuniing; Here Captain! dear father! This arrn beneath your head! It is some dream that on the deck, You've fden cold and dead.
My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and dl, My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will; The ship is anchored safe and sound, its voyage closed and done, From fdtrip the victor ship cornes in with object won; Exult, O shores! and ring' O beUs! But 1, with mo& tread, Walk the deck my captain lies, Falien cold and dead (A Pageanf of Poems, 79-80)
Students taked about what they liked in the poem. Lekema mentioned that she liked the captain because he was brave. Seydon dded that she liked the captain because of the things that he had done for his country and his people. Lekema elaborated on what she had said earlier. w: The captain tried to stop slavery no ma'am. Teaçher: Lekema, can you provide a context to what you have said? Lekema: He was the president of the United States. He believed in abandoning slavery. North America said slavery should be against the law but the south believed in slavery. So there was a war between those two and the north won. Teachet: Who is 'he'? Dechen: Abraham Lincoln.
1 felt it was important for the students to have some background information about the
historical facts that Walt Whitman refers to in the poern.
Teacher: The war that Lekema has mentioned was calleci the Civil War of 186 1 to 1865. It was fought between the North (the Union) and the South (the Confèderacy) in the U.S. In those days the Americans brought many AfÏicans to Arnerica and made them their slaves. Abraham Lincoln who was then the president of U.S. wanted to abolish slavery. The North supported bis cause, but the people of the South wanted to continue slavery. This led to the Civil War between them. Abraham Lincoln is refmed to as the 'Captain' in the poem. 2iQ1lam: When was Walt Whitman born ma'am? Teacha: He was born in 1819 and hedied in 1892. Tsherirg: Did he also fight in the war? Teacher: 1 am sorry, 1do not have information about this. Can we tdk about other reasons for liking the captain? Padma: 1 like the captain because he avoided slavery. Teacher: What do you thinlc 'slavery' is? Padma: Slaves are people who are brought fkom other coutries to work.
At this point, the discussion shifted and Seydon made a world-to-tex? comection by relating something that is fdarto her world to the world of the text. This encourageci some of the students to do the same. According to Chambers, a world-to text connection means comparing events or characters or language in a story with events or people or language known personally to the reader. By bringing theu world to the world of the text and by comparuig theni, the readers discover meanings in one or the other or in both (Tell Me, 19). Students brought their world to the world of the text and discussed a form of slavery that had been prevaient in Bhutan during the reign of the first two Kings.
They recognized that now there is no slavery in Shutan. Now families, especially those living in modernized areas, maintain salaried servants.
Sevdon: From your own country also you can get slaves. Dechen: Before the second king or something there was slaves in Bhutan. Before we used to have these family systems . . . (Jangchub interrupts) The slaves are dedkhi, and jhau means the rich family. So the khi are staying under theùjhau. Teacher: Does this still go on? Padma: No ma'am. Sevdon: Some ma'am. Leka: It was not like how it was before you know. Dechm: That time before no salary right, just food. Sevdon: But in the village no ma'am, tâey don't really pay. They just give them food, shelter, and clothes. But if they are working here (Thimphu) they surely hows about ail these and they ask for money.
1 had assumed that the students would be aware of the inhuman treatment of the slaves by Americans, and it would not be necessary for me to talk about it. But the comments provided by the students earlier made me see that most of them did not know anything about the torture and suffering experienced by the Mrican slaves. 1 felt that a discussion about slavery in the American context was appropriate. So when Dechen and
Lekema mentioned Aiex Haley's Roots, 1 became very excited. Dechen and Lekema had made an inter-textual connection and cornpared Roots with the poem. While making inter-textual comections, the readers describe how one book is üke auother or how it differs. Or, they compare a character in one story with a chamter in another, understanding both a little better by thinking about their similatities and differences (Tell 100
Me, 19). 1 hoped that when Dechen and Lekema shared the experiences of the slaves as
descriied in Roots, the students would understand that the type of slavery that had
prevailed in Bhutan in the past was different hmthe slavery established by the
Americans. 1 also hoped that through such an inter-textual connection students would
understand the importance of the poem, and appreciate the poem.
Teacher: The slavery alluded to in the poem was vezy extreme and cruel. It was inhuman. Dechen: Roots ma'am, talks about slavery. Lekema: 1borrowed it hmher. It's very nice. Teacher: Wouid the two of you tell us something about the book, Roois. If any of you have questions about the book you should not hesitate to ask. ûechen: Ma'am Alex Haley, his ancestors you how . . . (intempted by Sonam) Sonam: Who is the author? Dech-: The book is caiied Roots and the author is Alex Haley. Lekemê: When they Say Roots no, it means that they are looking back (interrupted by Dechen). Dechen: He has traced back to his origins . . . about six generations he goes back, and his parent Omur he is an fican. He is somewhere in Afiica but these American settlers they come and take hi.away to Anmica. Teachm: Are you talking about his father or one of his ancestors? Lekana: (talking to Dechen) You are talking about Kunta Kinte, one of his ancestors. Dech-: Yeah . . .Kunta Kinte . . .that was one of his ancestors. And then they take him to America and he is sold. He tries to escape but he never succeeds. And this goes on for five more generations and finaliy they gain freedom. The book is mainly about that. But it's very explicit. Teachq: Explicit means the book expIained some scenes very clearly. How was the book explicit? Lekema: They the slaves were very meanly treated. They were bmded on the back and throughout the whole joumey their backs were swollen. It's very horrible ma'am. Dechen: The joumey ma'am . . . they were taken to America on ships. AU of them were kept in one rwm and they were tied. The Americans only come dom to give them food. It's very . . .thete is pus and stool over there, and rats. They get cuts and infections. Many people they die over there in the ship oniy. Lek-: Yeah, it's very hom'ble the way they were treated. The fernales were abused every night. Sevdon: In one of the movies a smdblack girl gets raped by two white men. Leka: Oh, it is the movie 'The to KU." Teach: SU for Aiex Haley Roofs means ? Lekema: Origim. Dechen: Going back to his origins.
Making extra-textual oonnectious helped students understand the poem better, and they also appreciated the poem for the moral cause to which it referreû. They expressed that they admired Abraham Lincoln because he fought for what he believed in and sacrificeci his life for a good cause. Before we began taiking about the poem, Tshering commenteci that she did not understand the poem, but at the end of the discussion she found the poem very meaningfiii. Tsherhg described her expdence in her journal. She wrote:
We had an interesthg talk about the poem 'O Captain ! my Captain'. The captain referred to was Abraham Lincoln, the president of America. 1 should Say that the poem was written in the memory of Abraham Lincoln after his death. 1 didn't read or went through this poem. 1 didn't have any idea but my fEends had and 1 learnt bmthem .. . Dechen told us about one of the books calleci Roots which she read. She told that people as slaves were treated so badly . . . She told all these things and 1 feel very homble. I feel so disgusted and you know 1 can't find words to express how 1 feel . . -1can't think how people can be so cruel. So 1 uillik Abraham Linwln was good, fighting to avoid slavery and let people not suffer. 1 was happy to hear that he won the battle and it means all people were saved-
At the end of the discussion the students undersfood that the poem was an anaIogy of the
American Civil War of 186 1-65. The dentsunderstd that the words 'my captain' 102
and 'my father' referred to Abraham Lincoln; 'the fearful trip' ami 'the voyage' referred to the Civil War, 'the prize' and the 'object won' referred to the triunph of the cause for which the North (the Union) of the U.S. fought the war, 'the ship' refened to the nation
(the U.S). The students concluded that the poem was about fighting for what you believe in. It was about patriotisrn and sacrifice, and it was about good winning over evil. They also said the poem was about the loss of a great leader.
Students' Views about 'CTeMMe*
My conceni about whether the students would feel confident to express their thoughts was unnecessary. In the beginning students were a little hesitant about sharing their views, but my constant encouragement helped them overcome their initial inhibition. As the discussion progressed and the students began to feel wdortable, most of the students contnbuted to the discussion. The students' inbi'bition in the begianiog and then the gradual adjustment to the idea of sharing their thoughts is illustrated by
Dechen:
1 felt hesitant at first and 1 thought what I had felt about a particular text, verse or line was stupid and would not make much sense. But now 1 am more confident,
The students felt that the opporhinity to voice tbeir thoughts and the aeation of a classroom environment where everything was "honourably reportable" (Tell Me, 45) helped them become confident about sharing their views. Many of them also stated that this had helped them to speak English better. They were very excited about relating their experiences to the text while taking
about the likes, dislikes, puzzles, and patterns in the text. Sometimes the participants
debated their views. Gradually they understood that they could think very differently
about the same text, and everybody's views were important. The process of resisting
different views and graddy realinng that different people think differently is descn'bed
Some of the things my fkiends said startied me. 1 never knew they wuld feel that way. When Padma said a few things which were different hm my opinions, 1 was a little hurt It made me wonder how she was my fiend the way she went against everythiag 1 said. After a while it dawned on me that she had read the story differently than 1 had. In fact it made me understand her even more.
Dechen also &tes about how she has learned to accept that different readers will have different views of the same text In her journal she describes her first experience with
"Tell Me" while tallcing about Dr. Pem Namgyal's "The Unnnished Dream." She states:
This is a really new experience for me. It's the fbt time 1have looked at a story fiom different angles. 1 have also found out that not dl people think the same. It took almost one and half hour of fiery debating to make me realize that différent peopIe have different views.
Unlike the usual teacher-dominated classes, the participant students worked together to understand the text better. The participants pooled their ideas to fill in gaps or to understand parts of the text that pdedthem. Jangchub describeci how the 'Tell Me" sessions heiped her understand the texts. She said, '%y using the "Tell Me" reading approach we could share our feebgs, what we understand in the story. We çould tell our doubts and clear them out.'' 104
The 'Tell Me" way of reading and talking about texts encouraged students to ask questions and become anaiytical of the situations, events, and characters presented in the text. They listened, raised questions, referred to the text, and shared personal experiences to emphasize their views. This communal act of sharing helped the students to constnrct interpretive pssibilities which could not have been achieved individually. Many of them recognized that relating their personal experiences to the text helped them to understand the texts better. Seydon said:
Before when 1 rdbooks 1 did not used to go through its deep meaning and did not even used to relate the other stories or things happened to me with the story of that book. Now 1 know better ways of understanding the text. It has made us know how to really read books.
1 was conçerned that a few students remaineci quiet most of the tirne, but Zam, one of the student participants, pointed out that there was meaningfbl leaniing going on even while they were silent. She explained that just by listening to her fiends' opinions she gained a better undetstanding of the text. At the end of the 'Tell Me" sessions she said,
'%y keeping quiet we Listen to what other talks and we understand."
However, the students also revealed some of the limitations in ernploying the
"Tell Me" approach in a Bhutanese context. Doji said, 'Tell Me" approach is always speaking, sharing our own experienîes but there won't be writing . . . lack in writing experience." Dorji's comment reveals the danger of overIoolMg the importance of writing in the process of valuing students' discussion about texts. He stressed the importance of integrating students' talk with writing. Some students pinted out that the
"Tell Me'' sessions invo1ved a considerable amount of time. They felt that this aspect of "Tell Me" might prove an obstacle in covering the vast syllabus on the. In this context
Lekema said:
In a way 1 would support the method as it helps us understand the text more properly. On the other hand there is such a vast syllabus, that it would be impossiiIe to cover if we use the 'Tell Me' approach.
Some students even recommended ways of overcoming this problem. Tshering
'Tell Me" takes quite a long time for discussions so we need to shorten the syllabus. We also have to reduce the number of students. Each class they have at least thirty students and one teacher cannot handle them because many students they will be coming out with new ideas. So the discussion ïnight not finish in the fixed time.
The suggestions provided by the students are important, but not practical due to fünding constraints, and also due to the shortage of teachers. In regard to the 'Tell Me" sessions taking up a lot of the, Chambers explains in Tell Me:
Because so much time is needed, a high educational value is being placed on the activity itself as weil as on the books chosen for discussion, which means that 'Tell Me' sessions can never be a matter of everyday routine. Most upper primary classes these days are lucky if they cmmanage one every two weeks. If the book involved is a children's novel, one every three weeks is more likely: about nine or ten in a school year. Nine or ten books judgeà worthy of such concentrated attention. Quite obviously, the teacher must identie strong reasons for the choice of book. (62)
The important point of 'Tell Me" is that you just have to do it a few times - in order to encourage the habit of critical thinking. There is no need to do a 'Teli Me" session with each text- Thus, the 'Tell Me" sessions should be used to read certain texts that deserve lengthy attention. The teachers have the Momand the responsibility to make the selection, but the selection must be supported by a strong rationale. Although 1 was satisfied with the 'Teil Me" sessions, there were a few missed opportunities that need to be pointed out. For instance, Dr. Pem Namgyal's "The
Unfinished Dream" provided the platfonn to make the East-West links, but we couid not do so. Students did not recognize the cuiniral confiicts that have emerged due to the
Western cultural ideology pervading the min& of the Bhutanese. This does not mean that Bhutanese students do not have the mtellectuai ability and the experiences to make such links. But this draws out the importance of the teacher being thoroughly prepared and being able to recognize the cultural mnflicts îïrst. The idea of drawing out East-West links to talk about cultutal confïicts in Bhutan is a new ideological concept that 1 am just becoming familiar with. Under these circumstances 1couid not help students recognize these links and conflicts.
Apart fkom these limitations on my part, the discussion was hitfiil. 1think that
Dechen's words best sum up the positive impact of the "Tell Me" sessions on the student participants:
Through this approach 1 have realized that one story or poem does not have just one meaning but cmmean so many different thùlgs to different people. It was surprishg at the beginning as 1was always under the impression that a text can have ody one meankg. It is nice to be able to share my feelings with my fiends and having them do the same to me. This way of reading has helped me to understand a text better. 1 would support this approach because it allows us to voice our thoughts and opinions instead of us having listen to our teachers giving their explanations. Sometimes what the teacher teils us might not Wywith our views, but we feel that what the teacher says is right so we keep mum. This approach encourages us to ask more questions and think more about a text. 107
I was satisfied that 1had managed to introduce sîudents to a reading approach that
would help improve their understanding of a text. Sonam also expressed her appreciation
and said, "1 also want to thank our Mdam for giving such an opportunity which we never
had before . ,. because it makes us understand better."
The positive results of the discussion generated by Chambers's "Teil Me" form of
reader-response is evident fiom the snident participants' mmments (see appendix VII).
These comments iliustrate that using a reading approach that helps students' relate their
worlds to the text and allows them to express their thoughts oui enable students to
achieve a better understanding of the texts.
The Inclusion of Bhutanese Literature in Engüsb
Students' View~:
Before discussing how the students felt about the idea of including Bhutanese literature in the curriculum, it is important to consider the students' responses to the question, 'Tf you were given the Momto make some changes to the ICSE English literature syllabus, what changes would you think of?" Only then do we possess a proper context for understanding the students' feelings on including Bhutanese literature.
The students' responses revealed that most of the participants did not want any changes to be made to the present high school English curriculum. Some of the reasons provided were that the texts prescribed by the present English curriculum belonged to the literary canon, and the works of the authors were very creative. They admitted that some texts, for instance Shakespeare's The Merehant of Venice and poetry, were difficult to 108
understand, but they felt that experienced and highly qualified teachers and Manguide
books would help them understand the te&.
The responses of the students to the first question showed that most of the
students did not want any changes in the present English çurridum. 1 can rmgnize a
few rasons that may have influenced the students. The present English curriculum has
been used for some years now. This fact, together with the canonical label attached to
most of the texts included in the curriculum, may have influenced the students to attri'bute
a fixed literary position to the present curriculum. The student participants were only
hi& school students, but even coltege students are used to studying whatever is
prescribed by the Education Division without questioning it. Another cause for students
resisting changes in the curriculum may have been the fact that the students did not
realize that there was any alternative other than the preserit curriculum. They were not
aware of the gradual development of Bhutanese writing in English. Furthemore, they
were not in a position to understand the importance of studying a literature that validates
the Bhutanese culture and identity, and also presents the opporhrnity to address issues
that are familiar to the Bhutanese environment.
When 1 asked the students, 'Wow do you feel about studying Bhutaneese stones
written in English as a part of the English iiterature cimiculum?" they recognized the
existence of an alternative. Students' responses indicated that they supported the idea of
including some Bhutanese literature in the present hi& school English curriculum. Most
of the students felt that they wouid find Bhutanese literature easier to understand because the content would depict the Bhutanese culture and tradition. This wouid heIp them eady co~ectthe tex& to th& hes and help them know more about th& present
situation, culture, and society. Some even explained the practical benefits of introducing
Bhutanese literature. They said that introducing Bhutanese literature would provide a
wider scope of choices, especiaiiy when it came to attempting questions driring the
examinations. So the chances of passing in the examinations wiîi be gr-. However, a
few of the participants stated that we should not go to the extreme of making students
read only Bhutanese literature. They suggested that ali the textbooks in the present
chculm should be used, but the number of stories and poems prescnbcd for study
should be reduced. And some Bhutanese short stories should be added instead.
eachers' Views:
A few teachers misunderstood the meaning of the word ''incorporating." Some thought that my question implied the complete rernoval of the present English curriculum and only Bhutanese fiterature taking its place. They strongly voiced their opinions against the idea of only using Bhutanese literature for high school English instruction.
Some of the reasons they provideci were:
Most Bhutanese literature in English is generally steepeù in religion, folklore, and history. The féw stories that corne up in the KuemeI are arnateurish. Bhutanese literature motrepiace Shakespeare, Dickens, Keats, Shelley, Byron. These writers' works have been in the curriculum since antiquity since they deal with universal themes and have timeless appeal. At the present moment it would be tine to continue with what there is already because Bhutanese writers are not quite accomplished in their writings. As long as the literatwe de& with common aspects of human nature, it does not matter fiom which culture it is taken. 110
However7most of the teachers supported the introduction of Bhutauese Iiterature in English as a part of the present cmicuium. They stated that since Bhutanese fiterature reflects the Bhutanese society and culture, it will be easier for students to understand.
Some teachers were of the opinion that since many Bhutanese are attracted to the Western cultures, studying Bhutanese iiterature will help students leam more about th& own society and culture7 and appreciate it. Some teachers were of the view that the introduction of Bhutanese literature would help students to appreciate fiterature in the
Bhutanese context They also stated that incorporating Bhutanese iiterature in English in the present curriculum will help students to appreciate and be proud of indigenous literature. This may encourage students to create literature based on their interests and may even iead to the emergence of fùture Bhutanese writers. They pointed out that fiensel is already making efforts to encourage the growth of indigenous literature and writing workshops have been held to encourage literary work within the country.
According to them, these were positive steps towards encouraging future Bhutanese writers.
Education 0- -9-Views:
The three Education Division officiais interview& were involved in different capacities with curriculum matters. AU of them advocated the inclusion of Bhutanese literature in the present high school English curriculum. They stated that the idea of introducing Bhutanese literature is already under consideration in the Education Division.
According to them, using Bhutanese literature in English instruction is appropriate, 11 1
because the context is fdarto the -dents, and it is easier to understand and study. It
has relevance with reference to values and tradition. Bhutanese literature in English is
needed to provide more relevant leaming material for our chiidren. They also expressed
the notion that Bhutanese Iiterature needs a boost.
The education officials were vay optimistic about the possibility of incorporating
Bhutanese literature in the Engiish curriculum. They explained that the BBE intends to
take over the grade ten English examinations hmthe ICSE by the year 2000, but the
examinations will still be based on the ICSE syllabus. They stated that by 200 1, the
Education Division hopes to have developed a national syllabus for grades nine and ten,
which includes the works of Bhutanese wnters. Therefore, the selection of textbooks,
forming a core group to study, select, and develop the syllabus are high on the agenda.
However, the education officials also outlined some of the constraints that have to be dealt with. The deîails for introducing Bhutanese literature hmgrade seven onwards had to be worked out, including the availability of a variety of good iiterature. They stated that at present, oniy a few gdbooks dtten by Bhutanese authors are avaiiable on the market. Moreover, these books may not cover the range of skills students need to know when they graduate hmhi& schwls. Steps are already being taken to ensure that standard Bhutanese literature is selected for our children. The CAPSS has developed a
Book Selection Committee, and it has already reviewed several books written by the
Bhutanese authors. PART SIX Conclusion
Bhutan is at a cntical moment in its history, as it stniggles to maintain a balance between modernization and Bhutankmtion. The process of modemization, which began in the early 1960s, will inevitably continue. But, if Bhutan is to nwive independently within the context of a global mnomy, then it will also inevïtably deai with the influence of popular Western, particularly American culture. That inauence is aiready evident in the changing Lifestyles of the people, particularly in the towns. The scary thing is that the
Western idluences are not just cosmetic and extemal; they are happening in the mind.
There is an ideological shift, but it is so subtle that it is difficdt to define. Many
Bhutanese do not even realize how seductive Western values are beginning to make us disregard our Bhutanese culture, custom, Mtions, and noms. If we are to survive as an independent entity, then our best hopes will depend on understanding what is happening to us, so that we cmmake our choices as idormeci as possible.
The aims of the Bhutanese education system have been hedin relation to the needs of the country to participate in the modernization process, as weil as to preserve the
Bhutanese culture. Education is expected to prepare students to take part in development activities within the country, and also to help students appreciate the unique Bhutanese culture and identity. These aims of education are also reflected in the aims of high school
English literature instruction. In nePupose of School Education in Bhutan, the
Education Division states that teachers should guide the students to develop their
ability to make critical appraisal and interpretation of a variety of literary works; 113
interest in writing pieces of literary works of th& own thoughts and interestS.
But the reality that is well known to most English teachers is that the aims of education in
Bhutan and high school English litmture instruction remain unfulîïlled. It is true that many high school students pas the English examinations But it is also tme that most of thern cannot read and write proficiently in English. They do not possess the skills necessary to render a critical reaâing of Literature fivm other cultures, and the Engfish
Iiterature curricuium and traditional teaching methods are devoid of experiences that will help the students to appreciate the Bhutanese culture.
1 designed this study so 1 could engage the personal narratives, the voices of some of the Bhutanese most irnrnediately effected by the conflicting discourses of
Bhutanization and high school English Iiterature instruction: ten high school students, eight high school English teachers, and thtee curriculum developers. My conversations with these people have offered me insight into the possibilities of improving the teaching of English literature in high schools and fülfilling the aims of education and high schwl
English literature instruction.
The Discrepancies in High School Engüsh Literature Instruction
One of the aims of English literature instruction in high schools is to guide the students to develop their ability to appraise critically and interpret a variety of literary works. The ICSE curriculum has providecl a variety of texts such as Shakespeare's The
Merchant of Venice,A Pageant of Poems, and A Collection of Short Stories, representing
European, American, and Indian cultures. However, it seems that many education 114 officiais and teachers assume that the portraya1 of foreign cultures in texts is unprobletnatic for Engiish literaîure instruction. This may be the reason for the lack of sufficient and appropriate refetences about the texts in school libraries. It may also account for the attitude among many teachers that the failure of students to read and write effectively in English stems fiom a lack in their teaching skilis, or hma deficiency of interest or abilities in the students.
The teacher participants' comments clearly indicated that one of the major difficulties they ençountered in teaching English literature was teaching about cultures that were aiien to the Bhutanese. In order to follow the wishes of the teachers, 1 have not cited their names while reproducing some of theh comments. One of the teachers stated that, "the major problem 1 have faced in teaching English is the inability of the students to relate to the literary pieces being taught, since many are completely out of our cuItural context." The dusions to the Bible also contribute to the difliculty in the texts. Another teacher said, "it is difficult at times because you are teaching about a different society, tradition, and cuiture. We usually have to depend on guidebooks which sometimes tum out to be wrong." These comments, which addressed the problem of cultural dislocation and lack of sufficient and appropriate reference materials, reflected the views of most of the teachers who participateci in the study.
Whie 1 was conducting my research in Bhutan, one of the student participants told me about her experience with complethg a project work on Shakespeare. She said that since there was ody one referencce book on Shakespeare in the school library, it was very difficult to get it. The Iack of su&icient and appropriate references about the texts 115 increases the problem of teaching texts which rdect foreign cultures. And, without first understanding the forpign cuiîud practices and idioms in the text, any critical ceading and interpretation of the texts becornes impossible.
One of the education officiais stated that, though the objectives of teaching
English literature were to expose students to the great iiterature of other cultures and for language acquisition, "emphasis and focas on both the objectives are lacking as fidl focus is in memorizing and regurgitating factual information during the examinations." The examination questions - which measure the ability of students to recall factual information - encourage the practice of traditional mid-century teaching methods.
Traditional approaches to teaching emphasize lecturing on the one tnie meaning of a text, or the one cox~ectanswer to a question, They do not encourage students to bring in their experiences and views to the learning process. T'us,the high school English Iiterature curriculum, the examination system, and the traditional teaching methods alienate the students fiom experiences of Bhutanese culture, increase the problem of Bhutanese cultural devaluation, and create difficulties in understanding the foreign culturai concepts in the English texts. Therefore, the high school English literature instruction has no relevance to Bhutan. Students are alienated hmthe culture, religion, and tradition ofthe mass of the Bhutanese people. The examination system, the traditional instructional approach, and the lack of background information about the texts in the English literature curriculum, fail to help students critically read and interpret a variety of literary works fiom different cultures and countnes. Traditional lecture methods and intensive reading of texts are very tirne consumiag, hence teachers do not have time to encourage students 116 to develop an interest in writing pieces of literary works hmtheir own thoughts and interests.
In the process of writing this study, 1 have started to realize that if we want to achieve the aims of education and high school English literatwe instruction, it is very important that teachers, educators, cUmculum developers, and the Government recognize and accept the existence of cultural conflicts and doubleness in the hi& school English literature instruction. Once we understaad these conflicts, we can begin to address them.
Although the sensible direction is to design the curriculum to account for the culturai difference, 1 recognize that a complete overhaul of the high school English curriculum is neither practical or advisable, and is unlikely to happen in the short term. However, there are things we cmdo immediately to address the curent problems.
Aidan Chambers's "Tell Me": A Way to Teach Literature
The most immediate way to address the problem is to educate teachers in instmctionai strategies that will provide students and teachers with the opportunity to recognize and address the conflicts in the high school English literanire curriculum.
Incorporating reader-response approaches, particularly Chambers's Teil Me" approach as one of the rnethods to teach English literature, is a step in the right direction.
The comments of the student participants revealed that Chambers's "Tell Me" was very usefid, because it exposed the students to the idea that a text contains many possible interpretations. The students were given the oppomuiity to realize that they had opinions about différent issues and values in Life, and it also presented them with the 117 chance to share their views. The students were able to come closer to a Western contemporary methodology of asking questions, sharing their views, and also presenting justifications for their views. Sharing ideas enabled them to interpret a text in a range of ways. This was something that they were not used to doing, something antithetical to eastern education. But if students hope to comrnunicate in English and read texts critically, they have to understand the cultural expectations m concert with the linguistic ones.
Another useful thhg about the "Tell Me" approach is that by encouraging students to draw on their own experiences, they couid make Bhutanese sense out of foreign texts. For instance, while discussing Act 1, Scene 1 in fie Merchant of Venice, the students ùlitially thought that there was no explanation for Antonio's sadness - he was sad for no reason at al1 - because that was what they had learned in their English class.
When I encourageci them to look at implicit textual clues and asked them to reflect on their experïences, the students constructesi multiple readings of Antonio's sadness. They decided that Antonio may be sad because:
he was sad for no reason at dl; he knew he could not offer the financial help that Bassanio desperately needed; he realized that he was going to lose his fnendship with Bassani0 to Portia.
The experiences that the students shadhave been presented earlier in the thesis (page
9 1). Connecting th& expiences to the text helped students to compare the situation
Antonio was in to the situations that were familia.to them. In the process, the students were able to improve their understanding of the text. In other words, they possessed a
Bhutanese/Bhutanized reading of Antonio's sadness. 118
Using the ''Te11 Me" approach to read fiterature in schools, presents students with
the opportunity to talk about cultural differences, East-West links within Bhutan, and
issues important to the lives of students.
Wetaiking about the circumstances that compelled the protagonist to give up
his education in Dr. PmNamgyal's 'The Unfinished Dream," the students addressed
Bhutanese values and social issues. Their discussions also demonstrated the opportunity
for the teachers to guide the students to address the East-West cultural conflicts withb
Bhutan. They taiked about children disçontinuing their education in order to help in the
fans or in the household chores - a social reality in the remote dages. A discussion
on this issue made studenîs address the Bhutanese value of respecting one's elders,
especially one's parents. The students' cornparison of the hardships experienced by the people iiving in the viilages, to the materialistic needs of people in the more modemized areas could have led to a discussion about modernkation and its consequences. Their views on "dreams" and '%arma" (fate), can also be extended to a discussion on the influence of Western scientific knowledge on the Bhutanese culture. These types of discussions may also help students to develop a greater appreciation for the Bhutanese culture and the Bhutanese identity.
However, applying Chambers's 'Tell Me" as one of the approaches to teach high school English literature entails changes in the way students, teachers, teacher educators, and curriculum developers think about the teaching and leamhg process. A Difterent View of Teachhg and Learning
Using the "Tell Me" approach in English instruction wiU require students to
change their roles hmpassive recipients of howledge to students wiiiingly
participating in discussions. Students have to become cornfortable with the idea chat a
text can have many rneanings, and different readers may read the same text differently.
They have to recognize that the "Teil Me" approach is intendeci for rneaningfur
discussions ancl is not a platfonn for debate, unnecessary arguments, or mincliess chatter.
They must realize that the communal act of listening to others' views and sharing theh
will help them uncover interpretive possibilities in the text, which could not have been achieved alone. This will be a big change for students used to the traditional methods which ernphasize one fixed meaning in the text, It may take some time for students to get used to the "Tell Me" approach, but it is possible, as has been expressed by the students who participateci in the study.
Practicing the 'Tell Me" approach wiil also necessitate a change in the way teachers think about teaching. The traditional attitude of the tacher as the authority and the explicator of knowledge has to change. Teachers must take on the role of an
"'enablingadult" or a facilitator. Rather than lechrring to the students, teachers need to recognize the importance of children's talk in the learning process. The teachers have to enable the students to generate the discussions and constmct rneanings in the text. An environment in which everything is "honourably reportable" (Tell Me, 45) has to be nomished. Teachers in Bhutan are unaccustomed to such an instructional approach.
They should not feel threatened and disrespected when students put forth questions about 120 any aspect of the text. Teachers need to be weil prepared about the texts under discussion and should have sufficient information about a text.
Having described the implications for the teachers and students, 1 must also discuss whether it is possible or not to expect such changes in attitude. Some readers may be skeptical about the possïbility of applying a contemporary Western method of questionhg texts to a group of Bhntanese students. They might question how
Chambers's 'Tell Mey'method can be employed in a cultural and acaâemic environment which encourages the students to Iisten respectfdiy to the teacher who is responsible for imparting knowledge. in the Bhutanese culture "respecting" your elders is a value. The elders are respected because they are older to you, and also because they have lived longer than you and are wiser about life. So when an elder talks, you listen well and do not interrupt. 1 think that the value of respecting your elders is also evident in the
Bhutanese classroorn where the teacher is seen as the explicator of texts, and the students as the recipients of knowledge. Thus, we cannot expect a complete change in the teachers' and the students' attitude to the teacbing and learning process - it wouid be a major culturd shifi. However, my research and using Chambers's "Tell Me'' with the student participants have helped me recognize that it is one way of bridging the gap between traditional teaching methods and contemporary European discourse. During the
"Tell Me" sessions with the students, I realized that the teacher as an "enabhg adult" stilI maintains authority in class. The success of a 'Te11 Me" session rests not only on students' tak, but more importantly, it depends on the ability of the teacher to guide the students through a discussion that will bring about meaningful learning and the 121
construction of knowledge. The teacher has to be well infonned and prepared with
respect to the texts under discussion, and provide information whenever she/he feels it is
necessary (as I had done in the discussion of Wdt Whitman's "Oh! Captain! My
Captain!" desmbed on page 94).
The important point is that while using Chambers's 'Teli Me" or other similar
approaches, we must understand that these are contemporary Western approaches. We
must recognize that the challenges - voicing your opinions, expressing your doubts,
interpreting a text in many ways, and the tacher as a facilitator - are inherent in
contemporary European discourse, and use it to our advantage.
Teachers have to be made aware of rader-response theories which influenced the
development of the 'Teil Me" approach. This can be done by organizing School Based
In-service Programs (SBIP) and workshops. There are many Bhutanese teachers who
completed th& Masters in Education at the University of New Brunswick, in
Fredericton, Canada. In their theses, some of them have emphasized the use of reader-
response approaches to teach English. These teachers could be recommended to be
resource persons for the SBIPs and the workshops. If fûnds are available, professors who
teach and practice reader-response approaches could be inviteci to teach mini courses at
any of the teache training institutes, or conduct workshops for teachers already in the
field.
The responsibiIity of creating an awareness of reader-response theones can also be taken by the teacher training institutions at Samtse and Paro. The institutions can
integrate the 'Teil Me" appmach with the other child-centered strategies that are already 122 offered for study. The tacher trainees should be given the opportunity of practicing reader-respome as one of the teaching slcills during the teaching practice period. For teachers who are already teaching in schools, fiquent in-comtry training, school based in-service programs, and workshops on different fomof reader-response approaches, including Chambers's Tell Me" form of reader-response, must be conducted.
incorporating the 'TeU Me" appmach in teachg high school English has implications for the examination system. At present, the examination questions are limited to requiring the students to reproduce factual information about the setting, characterization, and the plot If teachers engage students in "Te11 Me" sessions, the examination questions have to be modifkd in the way 1 have demonstrated eariia in
(page 3 1) the questions about the The Merchant of Venice. The questions should be more open-ended, requiring the students to analyze and express their opinions about events, situations, and characters in the text.
Post-Colonial Theory: Its Relevance to Bhutrui
The high school English curriculun, which for many years now has been prescrïbed by the ICSE,has a colonial history. The content of all the textbooks is culturally remote fkom the students and teachers and is therefore less meaningfûl and difficult to understand. Yet the attitude of many teachers and education officiais until now has been that the present English curriculum must be studied, because it represents the literary canon. Thus, the present cUmculum was assumed to be fixeci and unchangeable. 123
Now, the attitude towards the curriculum seems to be gradualiy changing. Most
of the students, teachers and the education officials who participated in my research
supported the introduction of some Bhutanese literature in Engiish for high school
English literature instruction. The education officiais' comments indicated that the BBE
plans to take over the high school English examinations hmthe ICSE in the year 2000.
With this step, the incorporation ofBhutaneese literature hothe present curriculum is going to be explored. 1 feel that some teachers and curriculum developers are beginning to accept the idea of including Bhutanese literature in the curriculum because they recognize the cultural disiocations in the texts, and also because of the emergence of a small body of Bhutanese traditional and contemporary Literature in English, written by native Bhutanese authors.
However, the education officials and the teachers were concernai about the ability of the Bhutanese literature to teach students the range of skills needed when they graduatesi eom high school. Another conceni was whether or not the language in the texts written by Bhutanese authors would be acceptable as English literature. Lo order to ensure that literary standards are maintaineci, the CAPSS has created a Book Selection
Cornmittee to review and select Bhutanese literature in English. The cornmitte tries to select material that is:
culturally relevant to the Bhutanese needs; able to teach students the range of litffary skiils and knowledge necessary for facing the English curriculum in higher studies; illustrative of the literary standards exhi'bited by most of the texts in the present curriculum. 124
1 feel that since Bhutariese literature in English is not going to completely replace the present English curriculum, most of the present English texts will still be maintained.
The function of teaching the necessary literary skills and lmowledge and maintaining literary standards can be carrieci out by these texts which, as claimed, belong to the literary canon. The emerging Bhutanese literature in English should not be judged prirnarily on this basis. If it is, then the &cation officiais and teachers are missing the point of making indigenous Bhutaneese literature a part of the cuniculum. The selection cornmittee should evaluate Bhutanese litmature in English for any promise of giving its readers the opportunity to discuss values and conternporary issues, and address the cultural changes overwhelming the country.
Expectations of a standard English language usage in Bhutanese literature is not possible. A Bhutanese writer could never write like a native English &ter for obvious reasons. English is not a native lauguage of the Bhutanese - for many Bhutanese it is a second or third or even a fowth language. Furthemore, Bhutanese writers use English to express Bhutanese culturd practices and a Bhutanese environment, not an English one.
Another factor that needs to be understood is the way Bhutanese use English has been influenceci by its close deaiïngs with India - especially the lndian teachers. In "The
Beginnings of a Nigerian Literature in English," Martin Banha.explains that the phenornena of "low" standards of English exhibiteci by writers who are not native speakers of the language is a natural step in the evolution of the English language that is appropriated to express non English cultures (Review of Engksh Literuture, III, ii. 88). 125
Bhutanese writers working with English can bend and shape it to express their own purposes and particular environments. These writers should not be judged solely by the standards which have been applied to British iiterature. The criteria by which the works are judged shouId be decided by a contemplation of the works, by detennining the intention of their authors, and by assessiag the success achieved. The Bhutanese writing in engiish is as legitimately English as that fmof the language which happens to be spoken in England. It should not be judged inferior merely because it deviates fiom the standards of British English.
At a time like this, when native Bhutanese writers are ddoping a Bhutanese literature in english, it will be very beneficial to possess an understanding of pst-colonial theories and the issues surroundhg Commonwealth literature. Post-colonial theories and
Commonwealth writers question the belief in worshiping the standards set by the literary canon. instead they validate the creation of nomstandard literatures in English by wxiters whose native language is not Engiish. Post-colonial theories also justi* the development of a distinct Indian or Caribbean or ecanor Maiaysian English, rather than mimicking the standards of a foreign language, which cannot fiilly describe their cultural experiences. Thus, it is important for the curriculum developers to become aware of the developments in the field of writing in English in other south-east Asian countries, and
India, Having access to the theories and discussions related to pst- coloniaUcornmonwealth writing will broaden the outlook of the Book Selection
Committee while reviewing works of Bhutanese authors. 126
The Need for a 'Reading Environment'
One of the observations that 1 made fkom students' 'Tell Me" sessions was that
most of the discussion revolved around persond incidents. Except for Lekema and
Dechen, the rest of the participants never referred to eariier readings, even &er much
encouragement. This indicated to me that most of the participants lacked reading
experiences. In his thesis, Kinga Dakpa (1994), also Cotnments on this probIem among
most senior high school students in Bhutan. This has important implications for the
improvement of reading facilities.
Having taught in a high school for two years, 1 am aware of some of the
constraints that high schools face in maintahhg a ii%rary. The problem of sufficient
fiinds is a reaiity of most schools and libraries. Due to the lack of professional librarians,
most of the high schools have a tacher also performing the duties of a librarian. in the
school where 1 taught, grade nine and ten students did not have any library pesiods due to
tirne constraints. Though these are problems that most Bhutanese schools will have for a
long tirne, the curriculum developers, dong with the head and other teachers of the
schoois, need to think of ways of making the books in the school iiirary accessible to the
students.
For effective English literature instruction, the CAPSS must recognize that the
guide books and work books published in India fail to provide teachers and students with
suffiCient and appropnate infornation about the texts prescribed in the ICSE syllabus. A range of relevant references must be purchased and kept in the school Libraries. This way, both students and teachers will have access to them. Suggestions for Future Research
The teachers stressed the tepresentation of foreign cultures in the texts and the
lack of sufficient and appropriate references about the texts. Students' comments
revealed the need for grade seven and eight students to read appropriate texts that would
prepare them to face Shakespeare, poetry, and short stories in high school. Regarding this, in Tell Me Chambers states that "ali new reading depends on earfier reading" (65).
He further illustrates:
Look at what happas when the public exam system requires a fifieen- year-old to study, let's say, a selection of poetry by Ted Hughes. If the pupil has not read or been taught much poetry, then the probability is that Hughes's poems will seem 'difficult'. . . The question for teachers is: What does a child need to read, what poems wodd prepare her for her enCounter with Hughes and his 1Md of poetry. The same question cm be applied to aii reading. What should a chiid read in order to be 'ready' for Shakespeare by the time she is in her teens? (65)
The students' responses and Chambers's assertion implicate the responsibility of the
CAPSS and the English teachers to maintain a continuum in the English curriculum, pariicularly fiom gracies seven through ten. Studies need to carried out to see if the present junior high school English curriculum prepares students to hdethe English texts in hi& school. If not, which texts will be appropriate to prepare students to deal with Shakespeare, Wordsworth, and Mark Twain in high school? These are questions that need to be studied through hture research.
At the very beginning of the 'Tell Me" sessions, 1 told the participants that they had to maintain journais. 1 explained that they should keep short notes about the discussions so that when they write a journal it wodd be easier to remember details that 128
interested them. The participants were encouraged to share any experiences that had led
them to understand the text better. 1asked tbem to hand in theu journais for every text
that we had discussed. Unfortunately, some of the students failed to submit a few
journals. From rny observations, the probable reason for this could be that the "Tell Me"
approach used the integrated skiils of talking, listening, reading, and writïng. Some of
the students could not manipulate aii the skilis together and could not keep aay notes.
This made it difficuit for them to maintain journais. The other reason could be that,
because the joumais were not graded or marked in any way, some students slackened in
subrnitting a few joumais. This indicates that research needs to be conducted to find out
how jounial writing can be effdvely carried out with the 'Tell Me" sessions. Research
is also needed to explore ways in which joumal writing can be integrated with the present
system of assessrnent so that students find the act of maintainhg journals worthwhile.
Literature in English developed by pst-colonial /Commonwealth writers who are
not native English speakers is gaining prominence in the reading world. Many post-
coloniai countnes, such as the ficm contries, India, the Caribbean, Jamaica, Australia,
New Zealand, and Canada, have already been through this stage of developing substantial
national literature. In many universities abroad, courses in pst-colonial literature or
Commonwealth literature are offered. The graduai development of Bhutanese literature in English by native Bhutanese writers cannot be compared to what the pst-colonial
countries mentioned above have achieved. However, we are proud of these humble beginnings, and we recognize the need for more Bhutanese to mate literature. We need to create an awareness among the Bhutanese of the existence of alternatives in literary 129
forms and variations in the use of the English language which allows for the development
of Bhutanese literaîures in Bhutanese Engiish. One of the appropriate sites where we can
attempt to create an awareness in post-colonial writing theories and Commonwealth
literature is in Sherubtse College, Kangiung. Research should be conducted to study the possibilty of introducing a Commonwealth Literature course involving the study of post- colonial theories as a part of the English howurs program.
Final Thoughts
Before I came to the University of New Brunswick to pumie a Masters in
Education, there were many things that 1 did not how as a Bhutanese high school
English teacher. As a Bhutanese living in the midst of modemization, 1 did not realize that the Western infïuences overwhelming Bhutan had distanced me from the Bhutanese culture and identity. 1 appreciated the Western (American) popular culture and values more ttian my own. 1 regarded them as a natural part of me. As a high school English teacher, 1 never questioned the reasons for teaching Engiish when we, the Bhutanese, are not native speakers of Engiish. htead, 1 was disappointed when many of my grade nine and ten students could not rad, write, speak and listen effectiveiy in English. I felt that 1 needed to work harder or that the students lacked the ability and the interest to learn
English.
Writing this thesis has been a tremendous leaming experience for me. Post- colonid literary theories and the works of pst-colonial and Commonwealth writers have opened my eyes to the subtle infiuences of Western dtural imperialism in Bhutan. Now 130
1 appreciate more the farsightedness of the King and the Government to realize the threat
posed by popdar Western culture. As a Bhutanese, this research has made me
understand why 1am in a situation where 1 am ignorant about many Bhutanese values,
culture, tradition, and noms. As a high school English teacher 1 have begun to
understand that 1 can help my students to leam Engiish better to participate in the global
economy and appreciate the Bhutanese culture by using an instructionai approach me
Chambers's 'Teil Me." 1 recognize the need for ernploying the "Teil Me" approach or other similar approaches which will dow students to relate their experiences hm
Bhutanese culture and address the conflicts and changes that are a part of their lives in school and outside schoot. When I go back to Bhutan 1 will serve my country again as a teacher, but this the as a more informed teacher. As far as possible, 1 will try to use the lessons that I have leanied in the process of writing this thesis. Abrams, M.H. A Glossary of Literary Tm.Seventh Edition. Fort Worth, USA: Hartcourt Brace College Publishers, 1957.
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Wood, John. Report Teaching and Learning of English in Bhutanese Schools with particular Reference to the Role of the English Language Adviser in the Years 1987-89. Educaîion Department: Royal Government of Bhutan, N.d.
Wynne-Jones, Th. Zoom Upstream. Toronto: Douglas & McIntyre, 1992.
Zam, Sangay. Folktales as a Bn'dge between Culture and Literacy :English i-nstnrction in Bhutan. Master thesis. University of New Bninswick: Fredericton, 199 1.
Zangmo, Zinpai. Strîking a Balance: Englikh l~sstructionin Bhutan. Masters thesis. University of New Brunswick: Fredericton, 1999. APPENDIX 1 Table of Contents For A Pageant of Poems REFLECTION 1. The Characîer of a Happy Life* .. Sir Henry Wotton ...... 1 2- To the Indian Who Died in Afnca* -T.S.Eliot ...... 2 3 . Ozymandias* ..Percy Bysshe Shelley ...... -3
4 . Timbuctu .O Edward Braithwaite ...... 4 5 . Who Can Make a Poem of the Depths of Weariness .. Car1 Sandbiug ...... 5 6 . The Lotus Eaters ..Alfiexi Tennyson ...... 6 7 . Ring Out ..Mfied Tennyson ...... 8 8 . The Tige ..Wfiam Blake ...... IO 9 . A Child's Thought of God .. Elizabeth Barrett Browning ...... 11
LOVE & SORROW 1 . The Universal Prayer ..Alexander Pope ...... 12
2 . Sweetest Love. 1do not go* W. JobnDonne ...... 14
3 . Broken Song+ o. Rabindranath Tagore ...... 16 4. She Walks in Beauty .. Lord Byron ...... 20
5 . Night of the Scorpion .O Nissim Ezekiel ...... -21 6 . The Fishennan Mourned by his Wife* ..Partick Fernando ...... -23 7. The Dead ..Rupert Brooke ...... -25
NATURE 1. The Stolen Boat* ..William Wordsworth ...... 26 2. Three years She Grew in Sun and Shower ..William Wordsworth ...... -28 3 . The Solitary Reaper ..Wiam Wordsworth ...... -30 4. The Kingfisher =. WH. Davies ...... -32 5. Mendïng Wall .. Robert Frost ...... -33 6. There is a Hill Beside the Silver Thames .. Robert Bridges ...... -35 7. Nightingales ..Robert Bridges ...... -38 8 . On Killing a Tree ..Gieve Patel ...... -39
9. To a Sicylark o. Percy Bysshe Shelley ...... -41 FACTS & FUN 1. Jack* ..E.V. Lucas ...... -45 2 . The Unknown Citizen* .. WH.Auden ...... 50 3 . Miss Gee -WH .Auden ...... 52 4. The Professor ..Nissim Ezekiel ...... 56
5 . Mosquito W. D.H. Lawrence ...... 58 6. The Raiiway Station ..Anin Kolatkar ...... -61
PATRIOTISM & HEROISM 1. To India .My Native Land .. Henry Louis Vivian DeroPo ...... 65 2 . The Song of India ..Vinayak Krishna Gokak ...... 66
3 . 1 Vow to Thee. My Country O. Sir Cecil Spring Rice ...... -68 4. The Village Blacksmith* .. Henry Worth Longfellow ...... 69
5 . The Wamior' s Return o. Shoshee Chunder Dutt ...... -71 6 . My Native Land .. Sir Walter Scott ...... -73 7 . Auningzeb at his Father's Bier ..Hur Chunder Dutt ...... -74 8 . An Irish AVman Foresees bis Death .. William Butler Yeats ...... -76
COURAGE & REMEMBERANCE 1. The Solitude of Alexander Selkirk ..Wfiam Cowper ...... 77 2 . O Captain ! My Captain !* .. Wdt Whitman ...... 79
3 . Punishment in Kindergarten* O. KamalaDas ...... 81 4. Prospice .. Robert Browning ...... -82 5 . fast and Present ..Thomas Wood ...... 83 6 . A Baliad of Sir Pertab Singh* .. Sir Henry Newbolt ...... 84 7 . Akbar's Bridge .. Rudyard Kipling ...... 87
PEOPLE & PLACES 1. Ulysses* .Alfred Lord Tennyson ...... 91 2 . In the Bazaars of Hyderabad .. Sarojini Naidu ...... -94 3 . The Beggar ..Keki N Daruwda ...... 95
4. Dawn at Puri o. Jayanta Mahapatra ...... 96 5 . The Lake of InnisiÏee ..W. B .Yeats ...... 97 6 . Sita ..ToniDutt ...... 98
7 . The Vagabond o. Robert Louis Stevenson ...... 99
8 . King Canute o. William Makepeace Thackeray ...... 100
9 . Nod O -Walter De La Mare ...... 104
MYTH & MYSTERY 1. La Belle Dame Sans Merci* .. John Keats ...... 105
2 . A Musical Instnunent O. Elizabeth Barrett Browning ...... 107 3 . The Forsaken Merman ..Mathew Arnold ...... 109 4 . 1s This the End .. Sri Aurobindo ...... 114 * these are the poems presçn'bed by the ICSE for study. APPENDIX 11 Table of Contents For A Coltedon Short Storr'es 1. Tom Whitewashes the Fence MarkTwain ...... 2 2. The Enchanted Pool C. Rajagopaiachari ...... 10 3. The Man Who Knew Too Much AlexanderBaron ...... 18 4. The Needle Isaac Bashevis Singer ...... -23 5. Gateman's Gift R-KNarayan ...... 35 6. The Truth about PyectaR H.G.WeUs ...... 46 7. The Castaway RabindraaathTagore ...... 60 8. The Last Leaf 0.H- ...... 71 9. The Bet AntonChekhov ...... 79 10. God Sees the Truth but Waits CountLeoTolstoy ...... 88 1 1. History Lesson ArthmC.Clarke ...... 99 12. A Day's Wait EmatHemingway ...... Ill 13. Cyclone P.Padmaraju ...... 116 14. The Sniper Liamo'Flaherty ...... 128 1 S. Love Across the Salt Desert K.N.Daruwalla ...... 134 APPENDIX Ill Aims and Objectives For High School English Literature instruction LITERATURE: IX - X
Much of the in depth knowledge in any cuitme canuot be leamt uniess a thorough study of their literature is made. It is in fiterature that we find the expressions of higher thoughts, ideas and idealism. It improves language development through exposure to different styles of language used
Though Bhutan has a rich heritage of culture and traditions, most of it is passed fkom generation to generation orally and by way of p&es such as, traditional etiquette (Dngklm Nanda), festivals, prayers, and offerings. Therefore, it is of utmost importance that, now we should begin to develop literature to presewe such values and etiquette.
Teachers should guide the students to develop their - ability to make critical appraisal and interpretation of variety of literary works - interest in writing pieces of lit- works of th& own thoughts and interests.
Students should be exposed to a variety of iiterature hmvarious cultures and corntries. They should have the opportunity to interpret and appraise some of the works of literature. A lot of writing should be stressed especiaily in the study of literature in the Bhutanese çontexts. Students shodd also be encomged to organize and çonduct literary activities in thei.schools.
These experiences will help students to: a value literary culture; a enhance students' knowledge of different literary works; a provide opportunities to make interpretations of the iiterature of various types; a write literary pieces and carry out literaiy activities.
(The Purpose of School Education,32 ) APPENDIX N Aidan Chambers's 'Generd Questions' and 6SpcciilQuestions'
h.ppcnrndchrtchr~&?Dopu~œ dhpp~dthaa? ~Oj--~aI)riar~Wdriiia?pYmrirdrw? DiIp*su~atcilrrciahrkdmyor.ru~rr dirgS~u-clnrirrrf1i5d~a~. rlmd Wmpu..ritrrm,imik(bcbCadœœdtâe c&rwttn,ody ~~Jbrbwr,adidtbc~ tJrrpuinadtasmrkrdcbuœmd ~Iw~~~~abul4E~~~~Jwm muœtddv&*~~?*œ*~w~tA8~ ~~dr~~~*~d~& fhydkwa~rilr~~wffi? wbenyourr~~~~#(h~d/ayœJbidicrrii hppeningnow?Ordid pumit ummhppdngia dœ putindûeingrcmcmbrrrd?C.nyouaOmeiaytûingia lhe~tin#Ihumdrpufkdlitctbu? Dii you ki u ifevuychgwahppaiagto pu, .i if ~rrmoncddœchrrtrrr?Ordidpukduiïyou rirtre.nobrncr*~\*hcr*.rhrppaialbutmc pmd tbc &th? lfpu-iaobara*rlrn*acp.n;diUuf-? Didyouœancori0cb~~t~-amcàma, prk.pr. fna baidc the -, mmdmu ha .bonc&muifya,wcrria.~C.nyoucdlmc pi.#rinI&booLrrbcrrpufdtiikeLhu? APPENDIX v Letters of Permission From: Karma Dyenka Faculty of Education University of New Brunswick Fredericton, NB,Canada
To : The Director Curriculum and Professional Support Section Educaîion Department Ministry of Social Sencices Thimphu, Bhutan
Subject: Ra-uest foron* - to conduct Ed- res-
Respected Sir, I am pursuing a Masters of Education at the University of New Brunswick, Canada. In partial M£üment of the requirements for my degree, 1 am required to write a thesis. My thesis is focused on the teaching of secondq English in Bhutan. My thesis topic is Teaching Secondary English in Bhutan: A Study at the Crossroads of Language, Li terature, and Culture. Engiish instruction in Bhutan is amently based on the Indian Council for Secondary Education curriculum. This essentially colonial course of study presents confiîcts between govemment desires for Bhutanization and govemment desires for English instruction that will enable Bhutanese people to participate in a global economy. In my thesis, 1 wiil examine the conflicts between these two discourses through: an examination of the history of English instruction in Bhutan, and an analysis of some of the cunicuium materials. In order to examine the history of English instruction in Bhutan 1 plan to research historical documents and education documents, and interview high school English curriculum developers. Then, 1 will provide possible approaches to a more effectve approach to Engiish instruction. This will involve intewiewing high school English curriculum developers, interviewhg grade nine and ten teachers in Motithang high school, and using Aidan Chambers's 'Tell Me" approach to study literature, with 15 grade nine students in Motithang high school. My research will be conducted fiom May 11 through July 29.
Yours sincerely, Karma Dyenka. Copy to: 1. Kinley Yangzom, Personnel Officer, Education Division, Thimphu 2. Nancy Strickland, Canadian Co-operation Office, Thimphu From: Kama Dyenka Fadty of Education University of New Brunswick Fredericton, NB, Canada
To : The Principal Motithang High School Thimphu, Bhutan . . Subject: P~~L~USSL~Pto w&ct a resear& shiduln vour school,
Dear Madam, 1 am pursuing a Masters of Education at the University of New Brunswick, Canada In partial fiilfilment of the requirements for my de-, 1am required to write a thesis. My thesis is focussed on the teaching of secondary English in Bhutan. English instruction in Bhutan is currex~tlybased on the Indian Council for Secondary Education curriculum. This essmtially colonial course of study presents conflicts between government desires for Bhutanization and government desires for English instruction that will enable Bhutanese people to participate in a global economy. In the first part of my thesis, 1 will examine the conflicts between these two discourses through: an examination of the history of English instruction in Bhutan, and an analysis of some of the curriculum materials. In the nnal part of my thesis, 1 wili provide possible approaches to a more effective approach to English instruction. The research study will involve interviewhg three grade nine and ten teachers in your school, and using the 'Tell Me" approach to study literature, with 15 volunteer senior high schooi students. The "Tell Me" approach ailows students to bring their experiences, their beliefs, their values, and their culture to the study of literature. The teacher's role is that of a facilitator. This process of reading gives students the opportunity to vaiue their ideas, share it with thW pers and also listen to their friends' opinions. Through this shared reading students will be enabled to make more sense of literature in the context of their culture and go beyond answering factuai questions. At present 1have planned to teach three forty minute classes in a week. These classes will be held after school hours so that 1do not interfere with regular class hous and the syllabus coverage. The interviews with the teachers will be carrieci out at their convenience. 1 wiil start conducting my research fkom May1 1,1998 through July 17, 1998. This is a tentative plan which can be replaced or modified by a more appropriate one according to the convenience of the school, the students, and the teachers. We can decide on a more appropriate tirne hewhen we meet in the fhtweek of May, 1998. 1 need your time and guidance in identiS.ing and selecting the teachers and hding student volunteers for this study. Your CO-operation,and that of your teachers and students is crucial for the success of this research and may be valuable to the future of secondary English instruction in Bhutan. I assure you that the participants for tbis study and your school will not be subjected to any thmat or risk Thank you for your co-operation. Yours sincerely, Karma Dyenka From: Karma Dyenka Faculty of Education University of New Brunswick Fredericton, N.B, Canada
To : The English tacher Grade: IX or X, Section:.... Motithang High School Thimphu, Bhutan
Subject: ate in a resear-
Dear Madam\Si., 1 am writing this letter to tequest you to participate in a research study in your school. I am pursuing a Masters of Education at the University of New Brunswick, Canada. In partial fiilfilment of the requirements for my degree, 1 am required to write a thesis. My thesis is focussed on the teaching of secondary English in Bhutan. English instruction in Bhutan is currently based on the Indian Council for Secondary Education curriculum. This essentiaiiy colonial course of study presents conflicts between govemment desires for Bhutanization and govemment desires for English instruction that will enable Bhutanese people to participate in a global economy. in my thesis, 1 wiil examine the confiicts between these two discourses through: an examination of the history of English instruction in Bhutan, and an analysis of some of the curriculum materïals. 1 will also provide possible approaches to a more effective approach to English instruction. The research study will involve interviewhg three grade nine and ten teachers in your school, and using the "Teil Me" approach to study literature, with 15 students fiom three grade nine sections in your school. The Te11 Me" approach allows students to bring their experiences, their beliefs, their values, and their culture to the study of literature. The teacher's role is that of a facilitator. This process of reading gives students the opportunity to value th& ideas, share it with their peers and also listen to their fiends' opinions. Through this shared reading students will be enabled to make more sense of Iiterature in the context of theu culture and go beyond answering factual questions. At present 1 have planned to teach three forty minute classes in a week. These classes will be held after school hours so that 1 do not interfere with regular class hours and the syllabus coverage. 1 will start conducting the research study in 1 1 May, 1998 through 17 Jdy, 1998. in this regard 1 need you to participate in an interview on secondary English instruction and curriculum. We will decide on the day and the of the interview according to your convenience, when we meet in the tkst week of May. I will also value your help in hding fifteen (1 5) senior high school students to volunteer for the study, if possible fiom different sections. Wormation on these students' performance in English and the problems they have will be very usefiil to the study. Your participation will be a valuable contn'bution to this study. Thar& you for your CO-operation. Yom sincerely, Karma Dyenka (Letter to Education Officials)
From: Karma Dyenka Faculty of Education University of New Bninswick Fredericton, N.B, Canada May 13,1998
Dear MadamBir, 1 am pursuing a Masters of Education at the University of New Brunswick, Canada 1 have to mite a thesis in partial IiWment of the requirements for my degree. The topic of my thesis is "'ïeaching Hi& School English: A Study at the Crossroads of Language, Literature and Cuiture." English instruction in Bhutan is currentiy based on the Indian Council for Secondary Education curriculum. This essentiaiiy colonial course of study presents conflicts between Government desires for Bhutanïzation and Govenunent desires for English instruction that will enable Bhutanese people to participate in a global economy. In my thesis, 1will examine the conflicts between these two discourses through: an examination of the history of Engiish instruction in Bhutan, and an analysis of some of the curriculum materials. 1 will aIso provide possible approaches to a more effective approach to English instruction. As a part of çonducting this study, 1would like to request your participation in being intemiewed and recorded. Yours sincerely, Kanna Dyenka From: Karma Dyenka Faculty of Education University of New Brunswick Fredericton, NB,Canada
To : The English teacher Grade: iX or X, Section:. ... Yangchenphug High School Thimphu, Bhutan
Subject: -est to answer a
Respected MadardSu, 1 am pursuing a Masters of Education at the University of New Brunswick, Canada. In partial fùlfilment of the requirements for my degree, I am rquired to mite a thesis. My thesis is focused on the teaching of secondary English in Bhutan. My thesis topic is Teaching Secondary English in Bhutan: A Study at the crossroads of language, literature, and culture. English instruction in Bhutan is currently base-on the Indian Council for Secondary Education curricuium. This essentiaily colonial couse of study presents confiicts between govenimeent desires for Bhutanization and govemment desues for English instruction that will enable Bhutanese people to participate in a global economy. In my thesis, I will examine the conflicts between these two discourses through: an examination of the history of English instruction in Bhutan, and an analysis of some of the curriculum materials. In order to examine the bistory of English instruction in Bhutan 1 plan to research historical documents and education documents, and interview high school English curriculum developers. 1 will provide possible approaches to a more effective approach to English instruction. This wili involve intentiewing high school English curriculum developers, interviewing grade nine and ten teachers in Motithang high school, and using the 'Tell Me" approach to study literature, with 15 grade nine students in Motithang high school. My research will be conducted from May 11 through July 29. As a part of conducting this ducational research, 1 would like to request your participation in responding to a questionnaire.
Yours sincerely, Karma Dyenka. APPENDIX VI WtenPermission fiom Authors Dr. Ptnrkzz' N Thimphu Bhutan
APPENDIX VII Student ParticipantsyViews about Aidan Chambers's uTeU Me" Jangchub: It is very interesting when we were shating our ideas and feelings with i6riends and teacher because I understand everything by fiiends and teacher's idea. Therefore, 1 like talking and shhgideas with each other. 1 wish to have this method of leaming and understanding English in Bhutan. By "Teîl Me" reading approach we could share our feelings, what we understand in the story. We could tell out doubt and clear it out. We wiil know what our fiends think and understand. We will compare the story with our own experience.
Padma: The "Tell Me" approach is a very interesting approach of sharing our ideas. In this approach we ail corne to know the way our fiends feel for the story, and we come to know that we have différent views. With the 'Tell Me" approach we also learnt to read stories in different ways. This has also improved the speaking skills. Mouslywhen we used to read stories we just used to read it once and then we do not read it anymore. Now we go through them and come to know that even a simple story has many meanings hidden in them. Usually in the class ou.teacher never asks us about our feelings. But with this method the doubt carried by the students could be cleared due to the discussions.
Kuenzang: 1 felt excited about taking and sharing our feelings using 'Tell Me' Approach. Because we come to know how others feels about the particular story and what new ideas they have gained.
Lekema: 1 feel that it is quite essential. Sometimes when we talk and share ideas, we unravel feelings deep within us, which is good as it helps us to understand each other. It also helps us understand the text and the motives of the characters betîer. 1 never realized that 1 muid look at a story in so many different ways. It was amazing. We talked about everything hmreligion to life just fkom a few points. In a way 1 would support the method as it helps us to understand the texts more properly. On the other band there is such a vast syllabus, that it would be impossible to cover if we use the 'TeU Me" approach.
Sonam: 1 felt very interested when we shared and talked about different ideas using 'Tell Me." 1 also want to thank out Madam for giving wch an opportunity which we never had before. 1 feel using Teii Me" approach is a very good method in order to make students self confident and they wili develop th& slcül. 1wouid support 'TeU Me" reading approach in our literaîure classes because it makes us understand better. We gain extra knowIedge and we know how to think about different sentences and we can fiil up the gaps which means we can make up our own stories. The students will also take more interest in the daily classes.
Tshewang: 1 wouid support the use of the ''Tell Me" approach because it would let the student to participate in the class. Till now what we usuaily do is that what ever the teacher says we believe. We do not give our opinion to the class. In "Tell Me" approach students are given opportunity to express theu opinion.
Dechen: 1 felt hesitant at fïrst and 1thought what 1 had felt about a particular text, verse or line was stupid and would not make much sense. But now 1 am more confident. Through this approach 1 have realized that one story or poem dues not have just one meaning but can mean so many different things to different people. It was surprising at the beginning as 1 was always under the impression that a text can have only one meaning. It is nice to be able to share my feelings with my friends and having them do the same to me. This way of reading has helped me to understand a text better. 1 would support this approach because it dows us to voice our thoughts and opinions iastead of us having listen to our teachers giving their explanations. Sometimes what the teacher telis us might not tally with ou.views, but we feel that what the teacher says is nght so we keep mum. This approach encourages us to ask more questions and think more about a text. 1 wish we could have this kind of discussions in our regular classes, but 1 guess if we did, we will never be able to cover our syllabus.
Seydon: 1 really liked and appreciated the Tell Me" approach. This way of reading has helped us to understand the text better. Before when 1 read bks1 did not used to go through its deep meaning and did not even used to relate the other stories or things happened to me with the story of that book. Now 1 know better ways of understanding the text- It has made us know how to reaily read books.
Tshering: 1 think that sharïng our ideas derwe have read the book is very helpfûl to us because sometimes we are confbed by the book and our confisions will be solved. It was so interesting sharing our own views. We can also study the story in a different manner and we can really go deep inside the story, wbich makes us understand the story better. We can also rdother stories in the same manner too. There are aiso negative points 'Te11 Me" takes quite a long tirne for discussions so we need to shorten the syllabus. We also have to ducethe number of snidents. Each class they have at least thirty students and one tacher cannot handle them because many students they will be coming out with new ideas. So the discussion might not finish in the fked tirne.
Dorji: 'Tell Me" approach is always speaking, sharing our own experiences but there won? be w&ing . . .lack in writing experience. There is not enough time so we should duce the syllabus. When they are studying the main aim is to understand al1 the stories. But if they leave the same syllabus to be completed in a year and if they introduce the "Tell Me" approach, 1 am sure that they cannot complete dl the syllabus. I also think like twenty to twenty-five numbers of students will be better for using Teli Me" approach. Everybody will get chance for speaking like in one period.