The ManicaPost
Morris Mtisi —
ONE week gone after schools opened. Teachers please do not wait until secondary school to coach and drill students to pass examinations. Why? Because passing examinations, especially at Grade Seven, even with a fabulous one unit pass, does not mean having mastered all the essential ‘tricks’ and all ‘jigsaw puzzles’ of English Language.
Please get this straight and get it straight now. If you want your children or students not to struggle with their school work in the later stages of their learning, ensure that they go to a good ECD centre and primary school. And not all ECD centres, pre-schools, call them nurseries are good ones.
A good nursery school cultivates your child’s first fundamental tool for learning: English Language. The child begins not only to speak well at ECD A or B, but to correctly choose words to express him or herself. A good pre-school will go on to develop the child’s pronunciation, enunciation and articulation. First and foremost it is this speaking that needs developing and sharpening before the writing which when it comes too, must thoroughly but carefully emphasize correct spelling and placement/ arrangement of words (Grammar).
Some parents or adults don’t understand this and only realize it when it is too late. The idea is not to inculcate English culture and values in our African in this case Zimbabwean children. We do not teach children to speak like Princess Anne’s or Harry’s children. We teach them to speak clearly enough and as close to them as humanly possible. We teach them to be able to differentiate between ‘bird’ and ‘bed’ or ‘bad’, between contest (as in the noun-a competition) and contest (as in a verb-to contest-meaning to compete). In proper English, the two are spelt exactly the same. It is the intonation arising from the stress on the con … (high sound) and …test in the second contest, the verb (low sound) that brings out the difference in meaning. If you pronounce the verb and the noun exactly the same because the spelling is the same, you are not only wrong but will face problems being understood, especially by first language speakers.
Remember the world has become a global village and your children may go out of Zimbabwe for further studies in America, Britain or other parts of Europe. Their fluency and mastery of spoken English (Power of Communication or Command of English) will ease their interactive links and increase their chances of learning, studying and socializing. Ask those who have been there. Your mastery of the English Language does not only ease interaction and studying but raises confidence and mental ego both which are critical in the shaping of goals and purpose in education.
You don’t want your child to say “firidge” where others are saying “fridge”, “filimu” where others are saying “film”- one syllable; “kwenzekwenzi” where others are saying “consequence”; “Come-for-table” where others are saying “comf-tble” or say “refuree” where others are saying “referee” “fes (for face) where others are saying “feys”; vege-tebhulu where others are saying “vej-tble”. You don’t want your child’s friends to always say “Come again” ‘Sorry” or “I beg your pardon” to which you may think something is wrong with their ears or hearing. There is nothing wrong with their eardrums. You are not speaking English as they know it and they can hardly make head or tail of what you are trying to say. A good ECD Centre or primary school will make sure your child speaks English clearly and beautifully, sounding as close as humanly possible to the first language speakers. This must not be mistaken for teaching African children to speak through their noses and twisting their tongues. Noooo! We are here referring to perfect clarity of intonation and enunciation; clear and distinct speech. Many of our children, many teachers too, think good English in speech is determined by speed and ‘nose-brigading.’ We hear this beautiful nonsense on most radio stations and television and all it amounts to is irritating noises, not beautiful English.
A good ECD centre and primary school will deal with all, may be almost all common errors-whether caused by malapropism,(confusion of words with similar sound) mother tongue interference and the tendency to transliterate, tautology(foolish repetition)…whatever! All these diseases can be cured at a good ECD. If the language ailments are not completely cured here, at least by the end of Grade Six to Seven your child must know the difference between ‘popular’ and ‘famous’ or ‘well-known’. You do not want your child to grow up thinking a street vagabond, a mentally deranged man or woman everyone knows can be described as “a popular mentally challenged man (or woman) in the township.” The word ‘popular’ suggests not only well-known but more importantly suggests ‘liked’, ‘respected’ and ‘admired’. Who likes a mentally challenged street vagabond? Who respects and admires him?
The use of ‘popular’ already shows that the user does not quite know or understand its meaning. That is perhaps why our children today grow up thinking being well-known (famous)…everybody recognizing you and calling your name, means you are a celebrity? What celebrity? A celebrity is ‘popular’… namely ‘liked’, ‘respected’ and ‘admired.’ There is something to celebrate in celebrities, often extraordinary achievement, money, wealth perhaps…earned honourably, not just wake up and say you are a celebrity… who begs like all of us and lives from hand to mouth at best…unable to pay debts—dodging and lying to those you owe? These dangerous egos and foolish dreams about self are not only the foundation of a fool’s paradise but crazy wishful thinking based on often times misunderstanding of the meanings of the words they love to use every day. Celebrity is one of them!
You don’t want your child to grow up saying or thinking all past tenses end up with ‘-ed) as in looked, cooked, stopped, brushed, kicked, finished, worked, etc but thinking ‘grow’ also becomes ‘growed’, ‘blow’ becomes ‘blowed’, ‘dig’ becomes ‘digged’, ‘drive’ becomes ‘drived’, ‘write’ becomes ‘writed’, ‘break’ becomes ‘breaked’, ‘spit’ becomes ‘spitted’, ‘speak’ becomes ‘speaked’, ‘fly’ becomes ‘flied’, ‘teach’ becomes ‘teached’ etc. These are irregular verbs…and they do not take ‘-ed’ to form the past tense. Teachers please test your children to ensure they know the correct past tenses of the given verbs (action words) above. You can add a few more of your own examples.
You do not want your children to talk about ‘sheet-beds’ but ‘bed-sheets’ / not cover-beds, but bed-covers; to talk about ‘equipment’ and never ‘equipments’, no matter how much it is; to talk about ‘Master or Director of Ceremonies’ not Master /Director of Ceremony; to know that ‘sleeping with others’ is not English, but Shona (kurara nevamwe) and so is ‘scolding others’ (kutuka vamwe). Both are not English expressions though the words used are.
I could go on until tomorrow citing examples of common errors our children learn from us, including us teachers, but go on to use without an idea what is wrong.
A good Nursery school employs at least one specialist who takes care of all these little impurities which if not nipped in the bud will make them grow into Masters of Incorrect Grammar (MIG). This degree is increasingly becoming ‘popular’ as evidenced by what we hear on radio, television, and what we read in the print media-(newspaper and magazine articles written by young journalists and magazines) and of course what we hear in the streets, pubs and other public social places.
A good pre-school will deal with all these obstacles and equip your child with a perfect or refined tool for use in socialising and learning.
The question is, “How many ECD centres or pre-schools stand up to the occasion? How many prepare children for the world out there and arm them with skills to make learning easy and fun? The answer is, “Very few.” Many do these children more harm than good. And by the time we know it, it is too late.
Trust me, not all pre-schools stand up to the occasion. But the good news is that The Manica Post has seen and reported on best-practice pre-schools in and around Mutare.
Watch this space for profile coverage and interviews with only the best of them in The Manica Post and Diamond FM Radio. I will cover them for you in the paper and give them an opportunity to have interviews and discussions with them on HEAD-TO-HEAD WITH MM. Watch the space!
This New Year, I will focus more on ECD and primary school profiles and tuition. Why? Because this is where all education begins! A strong foundation gives durability and quality in education. Educationally speaking, children are made or broken here.
Next week, I continue with more on what makes a sound ECD centre or pre-school.
Watch the space!
