English as a life skill

The Sri Lanka India Centre for English Language Training (SLICELT) will be opened by Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao tomorrow. It will mark a new beginning in English language education in Sri Lanka.

The establishment of SLICELT also marks a radical departure from the past in the way of learning and teaching English. While all other nations were speaking and using English in their own ways Sri Lanka continued to speak and use English just as the English did. In fact, we were proud to admit that we use English the Queen's way long after becoming independent.

English educated gentry used to mock at other countries that developed their own English. Little did these brown sahibs realise that most of them would have been mocking at Sri Lankans for their attempts at safeguarding a colonial heritage. It was the Americans who started using English in their own way. The influence of American English has been so great that even the orthodox Britishers were compelled to borrow words and phrases from the American diction.

In retrospect we could observe that this overt subservience to the former coloniser's language practice was a method to keep the knowledge of English language to a select few, to perpetuate a stratum of brown sahibs. Even after the introduction of 'swabhasha' as the medium of instruction and official languages English retained its super-status as a tool of oppression and class division.

The reaction from the hoi polloi was to shun English as an alien subject. This attitude was well epitomized in the popular reference to it as the kaduwa. In the meantime the government used millions to teach English language in schools even getting down British experts for consultations and curriculum development. However, nothing succeeded.

Though the thirst for English language proficiency became great after the onset of globalization and the advent of the Internet with its immense resource base, results were comparatively poor.

It is at this juncture the Presidential Task Force on English and IT took a strategic decision to formulate and promote learning English as a life skill and that too in a unique Sri Lankan way.

For the first time the authorities have turned to a developing country in seeking expertise and assistance to develop English Language teaching. The choice of India is commendable. As India and Sri Lanka share historical cultural values it would be much easier to orient our teaching programs taking India as an example. Besides India has become a leader in the teaching of English as a second language.

A language is best understood when taught in the context of indigenous culture. It is SLICELT's task to translate this vision into reality.

The authorities have correctly understood the objective of teaching English as a life skill. That is why it has prioritized spoken English over written English. Even in the Mother tongue a child first learns to speak before he develops the writing skills. The ability to speak is the preliminary stage of mastering a language. It exempts the students from the rigours of learning grammar. Once fluency is attained in speaking, writing skills could be better imparted.

The new method will have its detractors. Lovers of Queen's English will not take it lying down. English should be learnt to broaden one's horizons, to reach a new world of knowledge not yet available in the vernacular. It would open the gateway to higher knowledge in IT and other fields. English should be used as a life skill and not as a tool of oppressing those that are not conversant with it. Nor should knowledge of English be flaunted to impress upon the less fortunate.

Neither should it replace the native languages, Sinhala and Tamil for they are gateways to indigenous culture. in the 21st Century, the ideal goal should be to obtain proficiency in all three languages-Sinhala, Tamil and English. Such trilingual citizenry would be broad minded and tolerant towards other cultures, customs and traditions. It would be the gateway to a more harmonious and humane society in this beautiful land, the Jewel of the Indian Ocean.