Because learning is more than simple test scores
Have you ever felt the fear of speaking incorrect English in front of your friends, teachers or boyfriend/girlfriend? Have you been checked by your teacher in third grade at using wrong tenses? Do you get tired of teaching the same old comprehension exercises while the students passively sulk in their chairs? Do you feel that you are unable to convey meanings to students via books? Sure all of the above happens but all this can change. Constantly being taught the pattern of rote learning, children of government schools and schools in underprivileged areas fail to get hold of what is being taught. Probably because there are too many flies to swap when the electricity goes out for eight hours in a stretch.
Therefore, the teacher has to be vigilant enough to plan an activity oriented lesson to engage his/her students in learning what is being taught. Well, as there are consequences even to a happily married life, such is the way with English education in underprivileged areas. The more you try to make your student understand a bookish phrase, the more he/ she will stare at you with blank eyes. On the contrary, if the teacher deviates from the normal teaching pattern, things can change and students will learn happily. But, let’s not forget, the same English education cycle had been there since the teacher’s time in junior school through middle school all the way to the highest degree he/she was educated in: the traditional rote learning-blackboard writing method which he/she now transfers to his/her students.
Considered usually as ‘the passport to success and upward social mobility’, many policies have been made focusing on the ratification of English teaching methodology inculcated in the learning experience of Pakistani schools that form a solid English groundwork at the tender ages of 4-11. The English language renders international value and is termed as the lingua franca of the world. In Pakistan, it is considered as a ‘second language’ of communication after the national language ‘Urdu’. The need to pace up with the international community has increased the importance of learning English language which is used as a benchmark in many career opportunities within Pakistan and abroad.
Pakistan is an underdeveloped country where many socio-economic problems have yet to be resolved by proper governance, management and planning keeping in accordance with the norms of the areas under study. The traditional English learning process in underprivileged areas of Pakistan shows lack of proper communication in English language leading to misconceptions of pronunciation and meaning. Since the teacher also belongs to the same environment and schooling, he/she is taught the same traditional pattern of English language learning which he/she transfers to his/her students. Therefore, to eliminate this educational drawback, it will be advisable to unlearn what is wrong and relearn what is right through communicative activities and discussions. Hence, providing a need for introduction of ‘Communicative Language Teaching’ in English learning methodology in unprivileged schools of Pakistan.
Emphasis of government policies lies mainly in curriculum planning that can produce results only at the surface level of rote learning to achieve test scores rather than development of critical thinking and analytical skills in students and teachers alike. Therefore, it is important to devise strategies for the mutual development of both at the primary level of schooling that will act as foundations of English learning at written and speech level.
Keeping the above considerations in view Learn Pakistan campaign has been devised to give an international direction to the curriculum of schools in underprivileged areas by providing them teaching toolkits to inculcate in their teaching methodology for future teaching purposes e.g., dialogues, discussions, information gap activities and debates etc so that they enjoy studying English apart from the boring routine of essay writing etc. Therefore, this makes the teaching methodology more effective by taking students out of their redundant lifestyle and involving them in output-oriented work. This will be a breakthrough for the teachers as well as they could teach in a fun way to increase student learning as well.
Happy Learning Workshop designed under Learn Pakistan campaign aims to present creative activities for teachers to use in their teaching curriculums like icebreaker activities to overcome shyness, happy talking and happy writing activities to hone oral and verbal communication and drawing activities to trigger imagination. The objective of this campaign is to enhance the teacher-student communication process and build confidence of discourse amongst them through interactive workshops and discussions. It will thus increase the effectiveness of learning English by promoting student-teacher interaction and upgrade the quality of communication by inculcating activity oriented work.
We must understand the difference between being taught factual knowledge as compared to learning through experience and interaction. Learning is important, you learn, to be; you learn, to compete; you learn because you are worth it.