The ManicaPost
Morris Mtisi
THE following article is dedicated to the English teachers at Checheche, Katanga, Mutandahwe and Takwirira high schools all in Chipinge South. Hi fellow Ladies and Gentlemen! Read the following ‘story’ carefully. We did not get to this point during our cluster orientation mini-‘workshop.’In the absence of a good teacher, textbooks, desk computers, laptops and googling alone cannot produce good results. Objects and gadgets are not teachers. In his or her absence too, e-learning cannot produce good results. The same with beautiful school buildings and exotic surroundings! They are all facilitators of learning, for environment matters. But the teacher can never be replaced. There is no substitute for good teachers. But, please note, bad ones do more harm than good on learners.
The late Tanzanian President said: “Any nation is as great, as good as its citizens make it…and it is teachers more than any other single group of people who determine attitude, and who shape the ideas and aspirations of the nation,” The Power of Teachers-1966.
WERE YOU ABLE TO READ AND UNDERSTAND THE ABOVE? THANK A TEACHER!
In the teaching of English Language a good teacher is not good enough. I am tired of saying this statement. You need one who is creative, passionate and above all, competent. Teaching is a skill and therefore an art. It is this art that takes over when students desperately need to acquire outstanding writing and speech skills. It is the same art that draws a line between excellence and mediocrity.
DEMONSTRATION:
The following is a simple skills development drill that can be taught to children at any level and make it stick for the rest of their lives.
The objective of the exercise is constructing expressions with photographic detail. This means enabling children to construct in speech or writing, sentences that have vivid descriptive detail as opposed to ‘sick’ unimpressive statements…sentences with a languid drawl.
Say you want to describe a leader or commander.
1. He was a leader/commander.
2. He was a peaceful leader/commander.
3. He was a peaceful and soft-spoken leader/commander.
Do you see how in each sentence the detail is amplified and the total impression of the statement more photographic/vivid to the imagination?
The writer is using two parallel adjectives to achieve more vivid descriptive detail. They are two adjectives complementing each other, ‘peaceful and soft-spoken’.
You can use two adjectives that conflict (antithesis if you like).
Eg. The soft-spoken but violent commander.
In this sentence because you want to express a trait inconsistent with being soft-spoken you use but to complete the unusual sense. Notice that the unusualness of the statement makes it more interesting. You can easily make it a three-adjective description.
Eg. The learned, soft-spoken and popular commander.(good, good, good)
Compare it with, The learned, soft-spoken but hard-hearted commander.(good, good, bad)
STUDY THE FOLLOWING EXAMPLES:
1. She was a lady.
2. She was a tall lady.
3. She was a tall and beautiful lady.
4. She was a tall, beautiful but heavy-handed lady.
Do the same with the following:
1. Man (young, clever, tired-looking)
2. Girl (village, light-skinned, ugly).
3. Man (tight-fisted, mean, gentle.)
4. Speaker (eloquent, stupid).
5. Friend/accomplice (cheerful, simple-minded).
6. Man (rude, tolerant).
7. Leader (honest, violent).
8. Lady (sickly, beautiful).
9. Commander (simple, peace-loving)
10. Teacher (quiet, reserved, competent)
Like a driver engaging gears when he is driving (1,2, 3, 4 sometimes reverse), ask your students to do the same.
If you say, “I want ONE GEAR, your children give you ONE adjective. When you call for TWO GEARS, they give you two, three and so forth.
When you ask for 1,2 and reverse, they give you two complementing each other and then one depicting a reversal of values(e.g good, good, bad OR bad, bad, good) BE CAREFUL NOT TO OVER LOAD YOUR SENTENCE. It becomes overdone and clumsy.
Two, three are sufficient. A gifted student will be able to handle much more . . . a whole chain of adjectives skilfully without sounding ridiculous.
Indeed like driving a vehicle, sentence construction calls for engagement of appropriate descriptive details (GEARS) to bring about a vivid picture of who is who , what is what or what is happening. English teaching and learning can be a lot of fun and the skills acquired remain with you for the rest of your life.
This important skill can be easily taught and enjoyed at Form One or Four, even primary school level.
What is important is to keep on practicing it until it becomes a habit. The problem is, most students were never taught, drilled, coached in special craftsmanship to be able to express themselves in vivid descriptive or photographic detail.
Those who were find it easy to write essays of all types skilfully or speak interestingly and impressively.
The teacher matters most in all this and there is no substitute for a competent teacher. And competence comes with experience.
