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Use and Misuse / Some observations in the teaching of English

« on: September 05, 2009, 11:23:39 PM »

Let me share some observations in the teaching of English:

Elementary pupils are taught that plural words in English end with an “s.” However, pupils get confused when teachers add that “man” and “woman” and other basic words are the exception.

The plural of “man” is “men” and “woman” is “women.” Why is that so? pupils ask. The teachers give no reason. They can't explain that odd rule of English grammar.

Pupils should be taught that English is a Germanic language. However, it gradually evolved through the help of French, one of the Romance languages. The use of “s” to form a plural word is a French characteristic that English had adopted.

However, some basic words like “man” and “woman” have retained their Germanic characteristics. The plural of “ox” is “oxen” and “brother” is “brethren.“ Other English words do not end in “s” when in their plural form.

The interaction with French and its Latin parent had gradually estranged (another word of Franch origin) English from its Germanic family and evolved to what it is today.

Take the English word “submarine.” It comes from the Latin words for "underwater" (sub and marine). English did not use the more descriptive “underwater boat.” In German, a submarine is an unterseeboot. It means “underwater boat.”

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Education and Teaching / Massive brainwashing to foist the “one nation, one language” myth

« on: September 05, 2009, 12:39:14 AM »

Elementary pupils in the 1960s were taught that Filipinos speak various dialects, and that the national language was Pilipino. The government conducted the massive brainwashing to foist on that generation the myth of one nation, one language. The government wanted to forge a nation out of a collection of tribes speaking various languages.

However, elementary graders of that generation referred to Pilipino as the name of an academic subject. For them, the national language was Tagalog and the other languages were dialects. Up to now, some of those pupils still refer to the various Philippine languages as “dialects.” The brainwashing they went through in the elementary grades had not been undone.

The government has renamed Pilipino as “Filipino” However, it remains the same Tagalog-based language. Today’s elementary pupils are taught that Filipino is the national language. Outside their classrooms, they continue to refer to the national language as Tagalog. Pilipino remains an academic subject for them.

To many Filipinos, Pilipino and Tagalog are interchangeable. The constitutionally-mandated Filipino is unknown to them. Filipino exists  only in the Constitution and the directives of the Department of Education. Newspaper articles sometimes refer to “Filipino” when attributing quotations in Tagalog.

That encapsulates the education of two generations of Filipinos on the national language.