Delusion-Elle

There is something very wrong with how people learn English nowadays.

To offer some background information, I am tutoring two high school students in Math and English. My students are a boy in grade 10, and his sister, a girl in grade 8. Their parents were Chinese immigrants who have since become Canadian citizens, and my students themselves were born here in Vancouver. This is my first time formally tutoring anyone, particularly in English and Math, as I have taught piano and flute to children in the past. These kids are also my neighbours, so I'm aware of the state of the neighbourhood and the schools in the area. I began tutoring these kids a few months ago, back in March, and though I've realized for some time now the inadequacy of our school system, I wasn't able to formulate my thoughts about it without completely flying off the handle until recently.

When I started getting to know these kids, I had high hopes. What I had been told about them previously was that the boy, hereafter known as J1, was doing well in school, and that he merely needed someone to be there so that he would feel some pressure to actually do homework as their parents work long hours at the store they own. In other words, J1 needed a babysitter. The girl, who I will refer to as J2, actually needed a tutor. I knew some classmates in high school and other people around my age from other school who "needed" tutors to get their marks up from B's to A's. I figured that tutoring J2 would be much like that as well. If her brother was doing more than okay, what were the chances that she was doing much less than okay?

A few weeks passed and I got to know J1 & J2. I got writing samples from them, as well. What I found astonished and disheartened me. These kids could not write; they could not write worth a darn! And their reading? Almost passable, if you consider skipping over words, rearranging words, and the inability to even sound out words to be reading. In terms of Math, J1 is able to do it mostly without many difficulties (except for geometry), but J2 needs to be walked through every word problem. Around this time, I also heard from the kids that their parents expect them to go to university to become doctors/lawyers/engineers. The way I saw it at this point was that drastic changes were needed. But what?

The thing is that J1 & J2 speak relatively decent English, that has little to no hint of an accent. Sure, they do have quite a few grammar errors, and the manners in which they speak are not very eloquent, but I expect colloquialisms and slang and slip-ups in spoken English; the mouth often moves faster than the brain. This is to be expected, I suppose. The written side of language is radically different from the spoken aspect, and although English is a somewhat phonetic language, often times the rules for pronunciation are frustrating... But does this really make not being able to read okay? No, it does not.

This does make me wonder, though. Are all my students' cohorts and classmates and friends unable to read? Has this always been the case? I try to think back to my high school days (which were not too long ago), and I am not sure. I do not remember anyone aside from recent immigrants having much trouble reading aloud in class, but then I was in the enriched program in high school. Undoubtedly, my high school experience was not "normal" so I honestly cannot say. As a third-year university student, I can say that I am familiar with the requirements for university. The level at which J1 & J2 read and write is not good enough to get into or excel in university.

It is apparent that there is a problem. I'm not saying that everyone should get into university, no, definitely not. However, for kids who have been immersed in English all of their lives, their English is surprisingly ... bad. An excerpt:

Martial Arts is a way to realive stress, have fun and help become more
athletic. I train in two different Martail Arts I do Taekwondo, wing chun.
I like both of them a lot I can give three reasons why I like this sport. The
technique of the certain type of Martial Arts are interesting. The
accessories that indicates the skill levels. Also fun is the main reason I
play this sport.

This was written as the opening paragraph to the essay I assigned to J1 on martial arts, a subject near and dear to him, about which he can talk for hours. This boy is 15. This was written with a word processor on his fancy Macbook (which for some reason does not do spellcheck). However, spelling is not the biggest problem here. It's in the sentence structure itself. The content is fine, but the word choice and grammar just make this paragraph sub-par. At this point, I am not sure if I believe J1's reassurances that he is doing "fine" in school and that his teacher "is an idiot". Granted, I know his teacher and I know for a fact that his teacher is not "an idiot". This teacher actually really knows his stuff in terms of English literature. His downfall, however, is that he cannot teach the subject. Come to think of it, though, there is not much to "teach" concerning English at this point other than how to analyze literary works, and goodness knows that that is not necessarily something that can be taught -- how do you teach understanding and inference? Practice, I suppose. But I digress, the groundwork for language acquisition should have been laid long ago. And herein lies the problem.

My parents were very involved in my elementary school. They went to the PAC meetings, they visited my teachers, and they got as involved as parentally possible in the office. I remember them coming back from one such PAC meeting where a teacher had led a discussion about reading, English, and how the grade 1-3 teachers are pivotal in establishing those basic English skills vital to language acquisition. "How are grade 1-3 teachers supposed to teach these basic English skills to young children?" you may be wondering. Well, the answer lies in one word, just one word that opens up billions of other words: reading. Are elementary school teachers reading to their students? Are they requiring that their students read books? Are they instilling in them a love for stories and books?

While somewhat still on the topic of parents, maybe some blame lies on them as well. Now, I cannot completely put the blame on them, though. They're doing what they can, working to pay for any extra-curriculars and possibly the hope of their kids going to university in the future. I understand that that requires putting  in a lot of hours at the store. But also from my understanding is that language acquisition is difficult to achieve unless the person is absolutely immersed in the language. They have to hear it constantly and their brain has to be working at trying to figure it out, not just because the person wants to -- oh no, when you leave boring things like that to "want" and "desire", they never get done -- but because the person has to in order to survive. Granted, it is likely difficult for immigrant parents to speak English to their children all the time, especially when they themselves do not know the language very well, but then it could become a learning experience for the whole family. In Canada, English is still one of the official languages. It is the one bridging language between ethnic groups in every province and territory but Québec. And likely, it is the bridging language in Québec, as well. Just don't quote me on it. Again, I digress. Yes, parents are a factor, but the issue goes beyond them.

Returning to the topic of schools, I think that there is not enough reading done in school, particularly in the oh-so important lower grades. Somehow kids are not getting enough exposure to good quality English at that stage. They are talked at all day by a teacher, yes, but again, that's spoken English -- radically different from written English. I remember one of my high school PE teachers. She was about my mum's age, and she was quite strict. People didn't really like her, but I thought that she was fair. I recall her telling some girls off for speaking some non-English language in the hallways. And as much as I'd like to think that maybe this was rather cruel and unnecessary of her, I think that she may have had a point. Our culture here has become very embracing of other cultures, and understandably so. However, I fear that by embracing all of these other cultures and by saying "okay, feel free to speak your home language at school!", we are losing ourselves and our identity. I'm not saying that people should not be allowed to retain their mother tongue. No, definitely not. Sometimes I wish that my parents had retained enough of theirs to make me retain it. Of course, people should be free to speak whatever they wish at home -- home is where they are free to relax and converse with family. It's just that if the kids are not being exposed to enough English outside of the home, there is no way for them to master English. In all honesty, I don't see a problem with people speaking whatever language they wish whenever (except for when people resort to their mother tongue in order to be secretive in a public space -- an inevitability, but somewhat disconcerting all the same), but when the parents of these children expect their kids to have kept their mother tongue AND to have mastered English, then I see a problem.

So where does that leave me and my students? Is it possible for me to get their reading and writing up to snuff? I cannot say. It would be a great task to undertake, but I am limited by time -- these kids are still in school and are still being bombarded by homework. I maintain that my #1 priority with them is to help them with their homework, but I cannot help but be bothered by the larger, underlying problem.

My mum says that the only thing that can help their English is to read to and with them. However, I am open to other suggestions. Leave them in the comments, s'il vous plaît!