'Speak only standard English in schools'

[Mosiah]

'Speak only standard English in schools'

Published: Wednesday | December 19, 2012 0 Comments


Rita Humphries-Lewin being robed by Dr Carol Clarke, vice-president academic affairs, at The Mico University College, before receiving her honorary degree during the institution's graduation ceremony held last Saturday at the Jamaica Conference Centre, downtown Kingston. - Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer






Jodi-Ann Gilpin, Gleaner Writer


RITA HUMPHRIES-Lewin, head of Barita Investments Limited, has plunged a dagger in the heart of the teach-patios-in-school movement, urging graduates of The Mico University College to use English language in the classrooms.


"I urge you to speak only standard English in schools as a lot of children have not been exposed to the language. Not only do we have to compete with patois, but the patios is not what we heard from Miss Lou, which was a very beautiful and expressive dialect," said Humphries-Lewin after she was conferred with an honorary doctorate degree of education in leadership by the institution.


"What is happening now is that the language is deemed with crudeness, crassness and vulgarity, and this is what is being planted in our children's brains at a very early age," Humphries-Lewin declared.


Disappointment


She also voiced her disappointment in the education system, saying that major errors could have been prevented.


"Education has become of concern to me in recent times, because the more I get involved, is the more distressed I have become, thinking that successive governments could have allowed education to fall to the level to which we are now at."


She further stated: "It is a little heartening that in recent years, governments have discovered that major errors have been made and as a result, remedial learning has become a major platform not only in high schools but in universities."


As such, she urged the prospective teachers to be firm and to do their best in correcting errors that have been made.
jodi-ann.gilpin@gleanerjm.com

[Islandman]

... the patios is not what we heard from Miss Lou, which was a very beautiful and expressive dialect

It is amusing to see people rewrite history. I wonder if she was saying that about Miss Lous poems and drama in the 60s?

Similar to when you hear certain people in the US quoting Martin Luther King today when you KNOW they considered him a disruptive force when he was alive.

[Sir X]

i find it odd, that people take this patios teaching thing serious, the teachers can barely teach english given the supplies to work with , how in the world would they begin to teach patwa?

[Lazie]

i find it odd, that people take this patios teaching thing serious, the teachers can barely teach english given the supplies to work with , how in the world would they begin to teach patwa?

Huh? .... Out of curiosity, are you for or against teaching patios in school?

[Islandman]

I haven't heard much talk about teaching patwa, the primary discussion recently has been mostly about experimenting with teaching children other subjects USING patwa because they are more familiar with it.

[Islandman]

As an example, go to about the 1:50 mark in this video and watch a teacher intentionally teaching students in patois as part of an experiment.

http://televisionjamaica.com/Program...x/Videos/20626

[Mosiah]

She speaks about it as if Miss Lou was not speaking the dialect of the people, as if Miss Lou had invented this "style".

Having said that, I don't know anyone who uses the word "boonoonoonoos" in regular every day speech. Is that what Ms. Humphries would want us to sound like?

[Islandman]

He actually does teach some patois in part of this one.

[Sir X]

Isnt that already being done from prep to universities , I mean when we have study groups kids communicate in patwa to learn from each other , even teachers do it at times.Granted the teacher is expected to verse in english more frequently than the student.

[Islandman]

Yeah it is done in an informal way all the time but this particular video was part of a study by some academics at UWI , to determine if teaching students who don't know English well in patois instead results in them understanding more and hence performing better.

[Sir X]

What is there to teach about patwa ? we verse in it everyday , it would be more prudent to teach english which is needed for international communication and which we use on the occasion in jamaica.

I am not against it being taught at a higher educational setting i.e universities or colleges, where the student has proven he has mastered a language be it english,spanish ,portugese etc etc.

You see if you can communicate in a language written and orally , then that should be the prerequisite to teach and learn patwa , it has to be communicable, written and orally.

Lnaguage is all about comprehension , writing and oral.To teach it would take up valuable resources required to teach english, and lastly what type of patwa, Jamaican,Barbados,Trini, Guyanese,etc etc. goes back to my point ,what good is it on the international scene ?

[Sir X]

So how does that prepare them for the global world where english is the language of global commerce ?

[Lazie]

What is there to teach about patwa ? we verse in it everyday , it would be more prudent to teach english which is needed for international communication and which we use on the occasion in jamaica.

I am not against it being taught at a higher educational setting i.e universities or colleges, where the student has proven he has mastered a language be it english,spanish ,portugese etc etc.

You see if you can communicate in a language written and orally , then that should be the prerequisite to teach and learn patwa , it has to be communicable, written and orally.

Lnaguage is all about comprehension , writing and oral.To teach it would take up valuable resources required to teach english, and lastly what type of patwa, Jamaican,Barbados,Trini, Guyanese,etc etc. goes back to my point ,what good is it on the international scene ?

Wow ... I had to pinch myself.

[Islandman]

Well , Miss Lou has been validated by history so she haffe find a way to separate what Miss Lou did from what the masses do.

I am not really sure if this lady is doing it consciously or not, but that is what she is doing.

[Islandman]

Nobody is saying teach it or use it at the expense of teaching English, the debate is whether using it more intentionally in the classroom for certain groups of students will help them to grasp concepts in other subjects like maths and science. Hence their education is advanced.

Clearly they need to learn and be fluent in English as well, that is not in dispute. It is basically treating English as a second language for some students.

You haven't been following the debate? I am surprised.