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« on: August 27, 2013, 07:06:19 AM »
The commonly given advice to folks fighting their poor spoken English is speak, speak, speak. Such a suggestion makes a great deal of sense if the learner lives in an English-speaking country. It becomes unrealistic, however, for someone in a country like Tanzania, where English speaking is restricted to a very small number of people. Extremely tough is to encounter a person on the streets of Dar es Salaam, our capital, talking English to another person--let alone perfect English.
I am fortunate to have been sent to an elementary school in neighboring Kenya. Kenya is a former colony of Britain like our country. But unlike our country's first president, its didn't abolish the use of English as a teaching language in primary schools. It's during the course of my time there that I became somewhat capable of speaking the language confidently. That happened between 1996 and 2002, but the benefits are unfolding today at the university and they certainly will further reveal themselves in the future.
I managed to be enrolled there because my parents were happy to pay for my school fee. Both of them can be described as belonging to what one can call a class of educated citizens, so they may not need to be lectured about the importance of English speaking skills in the integrated globe. An itinerary biology lecturer, my father spends much of his time traveling around the world delivering his lessons in different universities. He also has taken part in several academic conferences, being involved as a speaker or a moderator. A spokesperson at a government institution, my mother issues press releases and holds meetings with reporters to explain issues related to her office almost every single day. She is now preparing to open an evening class that will be dedicated to helping the wannable information officers to become familiar with the kind of job they're about to do. In short, they thought nothing of expending a total of USD 4,000 (it was quite a huge sum then) on the school fee for my seven years at the Kenyan school.
My parents are sort of privileged. Not all parents are having the similar level of education or exposure as them, with the number being more than 20 million of adult people without a college degree in a country of just over 40 million people. To such people, knowing English language is not more important than having a good command of any other local language.
But for those who realize that the usefulness of a good grasp of English language can't be underestimated, the challenge is always there. Foreign English-medium schools charge so high amounts of fees that many parents literary can't afford and dismiss all hopes that their children can be enrolled. For instance, the school I attended now wants parents to pay USD 2,000 per one year of studies, and it isn't even close to the country's first-rate schools. So the amount might be twice as much in comparatively better schools. In a country where the minimum wage is less than USD 130, telling parents to make such exorbitant payments comes close to saying to them that their children are not needed in those schools.
But these children certainly have to become fluent in spoken English in order to survive the forces of modern world. Everywhere English is growing an increasingly demanded language. US and European colleges don't register students who are not conversant in spoken English. Foreign multinational companies operating in our country make it as a criterion that their potential employees must be familiar with spoken English. Ironically, even local employers also demand that job seekers be at home with spoken English. Surely, a precise understanding of the King's language is a must in today's highly competitive society. And to achieve that, one has to speak, speak, speak. But how if he or she is surrounded by people who can't speak?
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