Teaching
English as a Second Language (ESL) has really been beneficial, amazing and fun.
It has exposed me to different types of people: the intelligent, the brilliant,
the good, the silly. LOL! I have learnt a lot from these persons. In fact,
this article wouldn't have been published but for the silly persons I met online
while teaching English. These are some of the questions they asked
or statements they made to cover up their lack of proficiency in the language:
1. Who English help?
This is the silliest of
all the reasons. It is a Pidgin expression, and its English translation is,
"Whom has the English language helped?" People who ask this question
don't know that they are blind. They fail to see that the words used in this Pidgin
expression are English words. As a result, they also fail to realise that the
English language has at least helped them in expressing themselves in Pidgin by
lending them some of its lexicons. If you think the English language has not
helped you in any way, kindly answer these questions using the comment box:
i. In what language is
the user manual of your phone written?
ii. What language did you
use when configuring/setting your new phone?
iii. What language do you
use when chatting with friends outside Nigeria?
iv. What language do you
use in banking, commerce, education, politics and advertisement?
v. What is the linguistic
prerequisite for gaining admission into any Nigerian university?
The right answers to these questions will
definitely change the structure of this dumb question.
Also, I'm propelled to
you inform you that English is the linguistic glue that holds our multilingual
nation together because of its neutrality in the country. If you doubt this,
try to make any of the "major" Nigerian languages the official
language of the country. I bet you, you won't like the outcome.
2. Na grammar
we go chop?
This question is asked in
Pidgin, and its English translation is, "Will grammar bring food to our
tables?" Well, neither good grammar nor bad grammar brings food to our
tables. But the knowledge and use of good grammar shows evidence of
learning. Bad grammar does not only show evidence of poor learning but
also portrays one as an embodiment of illiteracy. It is nothing to be proud of.
3. English is not our
mother tongue or language.
You are very correct.
English is not our mother tongue/language, and that is why your ability to
master its rules shows the effectiveness and agility of your brain. In other
words, the mastery of the grammatical rules of a language that isn't yours
shows evidence of your cognitive agility. It would be proper and literate to
find out how many Nigerians can write and speak their languages proficiently
instead of adorning our lips with this statement. Isn't it obvious that
Nigeria is raising a generation whose first and only language is
English? Before you mutter Pidgin, don't forget that even the Pidgin that
is spoken in Nigeria is English-based.
English is not our mother
tongue, but that doesn't make it less or least important in the country. In
fact, it plays more significant roles than our indigenous languages. It is our
lingua franca and second language; therefore, learning it shouldn't be an
option except you don't know the meaning of English as a
Second Language (ESL).
4. English is just a
language and not a test for one's intelligence
I get this response from
my friends and followers on a daily basis, especially when I correct their bad
grammar. Perhaps they haven't realised yet that correcting their bad grammar
doesn't imply that they are not intelligent. The truth is that no one
is immune to making errors when learning or using the English language; thus you shouldn't feel that you are unintelligent when someone corrects
your bad grammar. We learn every day.
You may argue that
English is not a test for one's intelligence, but also note that several
studies have shown a correlation between mastery of grammar and intelligence. People with a high Intelligent
Quotient (IQ) grasp grammatical concepts faster than those with low
Intelligent Quotient (IQ).
However, there are people
who are highly intelligent but have no mastery of English. It is not because
they can't, but because they invest their intellectual energies elsewhere. In
other words, people who are highly intelligent but have no mastery of English
have not dedicated time to study the grammatical rules of the language.
5. English is the
language of the "slave masters or colonisers"
It is quite unfortunate
and pitiable that some Nigerian learners of English, who cover up their incompetence
in the language with this dumb statement, gladly opt in for white weddings at
the expense of their traditional weddings, embrace the religion of the
colonisers with open arms and strive to learn the letters through western
education. If they could do all these without a second thought, why do they adorn themselves with the veneer of this hypocritical statement? Learning the culture
of a people means learning their language too.
Even the name of our
country (Nigeria) was handed to us by those we call
"slave masters or colonisers." We are still stuck with it for over 50
years after independence. And they feel very proud not to learn the English
because it is the language of the colonisers? I don't want to call them jokers,
but it is high time they stopped basking in ignorance and embraced the
absolute reality that English is the world's lingua franca, and proficiency in
it opens a world of endless opportunities.
6. If you got the
message, why are you bothered about the grammar?
Maybe I shouldn't be bothered
about the bad grammar if the message is clear, but that can be considered only
where poor grammar does not change the meaning of the expression. You can't say
"Wreck havoc" instead of "Wreak havoc", and expect to be
applauded. You "wreak havoc". You don't "wreck" it.
Otherwise, the meaning is altered, and correction becomes very necessary.
Apparently, English is
now, for all practical purposes, the world’s lingua franca. Proficiency in it
opens a world of opportunities. Therefore, the earlier you become abreast of
its grammatical rules, the better for you.