I wonder if English as a spoken language is going to be extinct in schools. I don't mean to say that it is not spoken any more. But the way one speaks - a comma or a full-stop, an exclamation or a question, is lost on todays children. When I dictate notes (and I dictate slowly with all the nuances) children often ask if there is a full-stop here or is it a question.
Children are not used to inferring the punctuation from the way English is spoken, and it is not entirely their fault. We are not making children aware of the nuances as we read to them. In the class we hardly read English as the rich prose it is suppose to be. As a result, children are failing to recognize the clues that come embedded in the speech.
A list is items separated by comma or quote-unquote means high-lighting something - all this can be understood when one speaks with a flair. The English we speak in classrooms today is mostly text-book English used to dictate notes. And much is lost in this kind of diction.
I hope we bring back a more sophisticated way of speaking English where punctuations become obvious from the way one speaks. Also, we should cultivate listening to English with all its nuances. Otherwise English will become a flat language, where children need to be told - yes, there is a full-stop here.
Children are not used to inferring the punctuation from the way English is spoken, and it is not entirely their fault. We are not making children aware of the nuances as we read to them. In the class we hardly read English as the rich prose it is suppose to be. As a result, children are failing to recognize the clues that come embedded in the speech.
A list is items separated by comma or quote-unquote means high-lighting something - all this can be understood when one speaks with a flair. The English we speak in classrooms today is mostly text-book English used to dictate notes. And much is lost in this kind of diction.
I hope we bring back a more sophisticated way of speaking English where punctuations become obvious from the way one speaks. Also, we should cultivate listening to English with all its nuances. Otherwise English will become a flat language, where children need to be told - yes, there is a full-stop here.
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