BEING a part of my job, I was observing a nursery class the other day. The teacher was trying her best not only to speak English herself, she was encouraging students to do the same.

While students were working in groups to complete an activity, many could be heard speaking Urdu. At one point, when a voice rose, the teacher got alarmed. Inquiringly she asked: “Who just spoke in Urdu?” Amazingly many fingers pointed towards each other.

Research supports that children learn well when they interact freely. In order to do so, they ultimately resort to their mother tongue. Since children are inquisitive by nature, they ask many questions. By limiting their interactions to using foreign language is, in fact, limiting full scope of their learning.

Many might have to struggle hard to make up question statements before they finally dare to ask. Yet many might resort to staying silent, fearing they might get laughed at.

On the contrary, a teacher may find it ‘convenient’ having been asked very few questions and, as a resultant, with increased discipline in the class. But from the learning point of view, our students are paying the cost more than they deserve.

Apart from students’ difficulty in ask questions spontaneously, the fact remains that many of them do not get any exposure to English language at home except for four to five hours of their stay at school. As a result, we are, though unknowingly, adding to their worries manifold: learning a new concept, forming questions in another language, self-esteem and so on.

Although many research outcomes support that the first language assists learning of the second language, why schools and policymakers stress so much on learning English right from start is beyond comprehension.

In order to trigger students’ learning, at least in initial years (from playgroup to kindergarten) students must be encouraged to use any language they prefer. However, in the absence of any choice, teachers need to be trained enough to learn chunks of English language which is simple and easy to get assimilated and reproduced by youngsters.

Farhan Basit

Lahore

Published in Dawn, April 22nd, 2015

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