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Showing posts from March, 2011

On the Subject of English

English is all the rage. We are well beyond the point at which one can even as why this is, without sounding moronic. It is a foregone conclusion that it must be taught to children in schools and practiced at home between parents and children and amongst children. It is taken to be a language of necessity and survival, not a gateway to a way of life, but the only way to survive the only surviving way of life. Who should teach this language? Do they know how? Do they know the language at all? Who taught the teachers? Is the teacher fluent? Where do the teachers go when they get stuck with teaching it? Is everyone sure what 'correct' English might be? What if no one at home is fluent in English? How do you support the child? Is there a grammar book that one can swear by? What if none of the other children at school speak the language either? What is appropriate instruction of English for children at Elementary school and where does one get it? This is a question that parents i...