Newspapers / The Brunswick Beacon (Shallotte, … / March 15, 1990, edition 1 / Page 13
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under the sun THE BRUNSWKXftSEACON THURSDAY. MARCH 15. 1990 D D \ Writer Raises Questions About How We Teach, Learn Language BY SUSAN USHER News Editor Is there such a thing as standard English, and if so, should our schools be teaching it? These are just a few of the provocative ques tions raised by educator and linguist Dwarka Ramphal in his just-published book. Let Us Talk. The slim, hardbound volume looks critically at how language is taught and learned ? and how, with or with out intent, language education and use have been used by the ruling classes as a means of oppressing the com mon people, perpetuating classes of society. The author sees the potential of using language sharing to "liberate," to encourage creativity and accep tance of differences, rather than perpetuating conformi ty and standardization. And he would like to see the learning process relate more closely to the world in which students live and the language they already know. Ramphal says his first book is intended not to pro vide any answers, but merely to provoke discussion, to raise "pertinent" questions about how and why we tcach language. Let Us Talk picks up where several other linguistic studies leave off. It is the first investigation, says Ram phal, to merge the concept of "deschooling" with a spe cific subject matter, the teaching of language, rather than with classroom education in general. "That is what makes it unique," he said. Deschooling is a concept developed by Ivan Ilich in his 1983 book, Deschooling Society, and advanced by Paulo Freire. in the 1Q8R work. Pedagogy of the Op pressed. Most children learn their language casually, during their early, formative years. Yet, the system is based on the "fallacy" that one has not learned language until and unless one has been schooled in it, taught the standard responses which, Illich suggests, project mid dle class values. The language learned at home typically isn't the "standard" English taught in the classroom. But that "standard", maintains Ramphal, isn't standard anyway, varying from community to community and society to society. In the final assessment, he suggests, "standard" is whatever a specific classroom teacher declares stan dard. Rejecting the student's own language has a "dehu manizing" effect, Ramphal argues, helping alienate the child from him or herself and inhibiting the child's use of and ability in language by imposing a "new" lan guage. Further, a teacher's first impression of a stu dent ? often based in part on the. student's use. of lan guage, forms the basis of expectations that can con t M l\i i^A tU/k f 1 ? ? ? uiuuu/ iu uav jiuuvui o dUUdCifUViii ouwwm ui laiiuiv. Ramphal would like to see linguists and teachers create "a brand new system of language sharing and language respect and dispense with the traditional con "I don't claim to have all the answers. All I claim is the right to ask questions." ? Dwarka Ramphal I A UTHOR DWARKA RAMPHAL is ? concerned that current approaches to I teaching language " dehumanize " stu dents, taking away rather than build' ing on what they already know. cepts of language instruction and classroom manipula tion." "In teaching language, therefore," he continues, "it will be more bcr^ficial for the teacher to dea! with lan guage usage and the process of communication as a whole rather than isolated issues of a preconceived no tion of correctness." Rather than opening doors of opportunity through acceptance of differences in language, he contends, lan guage teaching today tends instead "to polarize the so cial differences and grades the nation of the world. . He uses as an example the leaching of the King's English (Queen's) in Bahamian schools rather than a West Indian dialect, Anglicized Creole or Americanized English ? all of which arc in common use by the people in their private lives. Citing his own classroom experiences as student and teacher, Rjsnpha! would like to sec acccpisr.cc cf the concent that most Isngussc ski!! is !c2rr.sd, net taught, especially in a classroom. In a classroom setting, he would like to see that learning become more of a partnership between stu dents and teacher, rather than the assumption that the tcachcr knows, the students learn. He welcomes more dialogue, discussion, questioning. "When a child ques tions is he being rude or is he learning democracy?" Ramphal asks. The author lives with his wife and two children in Southport. Most recently he has taught part-time at Brunswick Community College and as a sub stitute in the Brunswick County Schools. Now, he says, 'This book is my inspiration to continue writing." A Bible teacher affiliated in the ministry with the Full Gospel Church in Georgia, he is preparing a collec tion of sermons for publication and seeking a publisher for that project. Ramphal is also exploring the possibili ty of a second book, about a man's experiences growing up in West Virginia. When he first began looking for a publisher for Let Us Talk, he knew nothing about the t-j/% ? u \z. ? UUOUIVOO. A IV VIIUW up pujuig U f UllllJ IIUIMV, f UllUtgV Proce r\f KJ#?\u VrvrV- Pitv tr\ rvuKlich I Ko Krv\lr uiKirh ic ? w. ~ M.v uwn, available locally for 510.95. Now he is looking for a regular publishing house to take up paperback rights once his two-year contract with Vantage ends. Before coming to Brunswick County, Ramphal worked seven years in the Bahamas. There he served as head of the English department at St. Paul's, a high school, and founded and coordinated its evening insti tute, which he said is evolving into something like a community college program. He also served as assistant pastor of a Methodist church in Frccport. RamphaJ first came here to work with a church in the Southport area pastorcd by a long-time friend, but the arrangement didn't work out as well as expected. He now serves on a "consulting" basis, he said. While it would be easier to find permanent work in a large urban area, Ramphal would like for his family to remain in Brunswick County. His wife, Arani (Rita), tcachcs early childhood education at a private Christian school in Wilmington. His son, Rudha (Rudy), 13, is a ninth grade student at South Brunswick High School. Daughter Zhenya, 10, is in the sixth grade at South Brunswick Middle School. In his writing, Ramphal draws heavily on his practi cal experiences as an educator in Bermuda, as well as on his research in descriptive linguistics. He earned his master's degree in linguistics from the University of Guyana in 1982, and also directed a study there of di alects of indigenous Indians of South America. The book represents part of the dissertation he com pleted in 1987 as an "external" or off-campus student for his doctorate in education from Pacific Western University in California. But the book's inspiration also stems from deeper roots, from the 35-year-old author's first-hand and painful experience with discrimination based on the way one talks. Born in Guyana to Indian parents, his childhood was spent in the country. He faced a rude awak ening when it came time to continue his school ing in the city. Fellow students and faculty treated him as an "inferior," he recalls, "because I didn't speak the way the city boys did." "People should not be judged on the basis of how they talk any more than they should be judged on they dress," says Ramphal. He believes, and very strongly, that all languages, all dialect, have merit, that none should be judged "in ferior" or "superior" to anothfcr. "They all should be ac cepted as long as communication is achieved, he says." How his book may be received by educators Ram phal doesn't know and doesn't venture to predict. What , he does know is that he wants the book to leave read ers ? educators or not ? with an openness to the basic premises of the book, anu a willingness to continue in vestigating "the ccnccpi of language teaching arid ilic concept of siagrianl English." "I don't claim to have all the answers," he says. "All I claim is the right to ask questions. We ask ques tions, but they are not always pertinent questions." Jesus cares for^uu. BRUNSWICK BAPTIST CHURCHES PARTICIPATING IN HERE'S HOPE REVIVALS ANTIOCH March 18-25 B. G. McMahan BEACH ROAD March 18-25 Richard Hall BETHEL March 18-23 Mark Tilley BEULAH March 11-16 A. L. McGee BOILING SPRING LAKES April 1-4 Bob Watson BONAPARTE March 19-23 Barney Barnhill CHURCHES, BOONE'S NECK March 18-23 Norman Bellamy, Walt Ellington, Ed Robinson ELAH March 18-25 James Whitworth FAITH March 18-25 W. W. Thompson FARMERS CHAPEL March 18-21 Dan Bennet FRIENDSHIP March 5-9 Anthony Clemmons REVIVAL DATES, GOSPEL CENTER March 25-30 Randy Gruber JENNIES BRANCH March 18-23 Amis Daniels LELAND March 23-April 1 Sherrill Welborn LEBANON MOUNT PISGAH March 18-25 D wight Mabry OAK ISLAND March 18-25 Buddy Freeman OLD SHALLOTTE March 18-25 Tommy Inman r CHANGE 1 SPEAKERS PEACE MEMORIAL March 18-25 Keith Darnel, Henry Thompson PROSPECT SABBATH HOME March 18-25 Bob Watts SHALLOTTE FIRST March 25-30 Johnnv Foster V SHELL POINT March 11-16 Gyles Saunders SOLDIER BAY SOUTHPORT March 18-25 Bruce Anthony SUNSET HARBOR March 18-25 Bill Greer SUPPLY March 25-30 William Rice TOWN CREEK March 18-25 Alex L. Booth Jr. WOODBURN FIRST March 18-22 Robert Clegg CALVARY March 18-23 Talmage Williams GOSHEN April 22-25 Johnny Phillips
The Brunswick Beacon (Shallotte, N.C.)
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March 15, 1990, edition 1
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