Learning to say what we mean, mean what we say

WHEN we write about strategies for improved literacy, it may seem that we are touting English as first language. This would be the same as saying all classical music should be written for the oboe and in F major. The truth is, English is the medium for this newspaper, just as Afrikaans, Xhosa or Arabic is for others. It’s a choice.

Literacy means fluency in any language. Language is, by its very nature, culturally biased.

But our causerie always treats language as a subject, a skill, not a purveyor of division or exclusivity. It means that we learn to say what we mean and mean what we say.

The teacher should be sympathetic and encouraging when teaching oral, reading or writing skills. Model answers should be provided for emulation. This includes correct pronunciation.

The focus should be on engagement and fun. To be wrong is just another place from which to move forward.

One of the finest strategies for teaching is good questioning. Ask the learner to name objects in the room that start with a specific letter of the alphabet.

Move to plurals, rhymes or counting games. Subject specificity comes from location. In the home, the kitchen is where we make tea.

Describing the process teaches sequence. The child learns measurement and the history and rituals of tea-drinking. Move on to the dangers of electricity, hot water. In fact, the range of learning is only as wide or as narrow as the teacher’s imagination.

We then move outside and the wide world becomes a place of learning. Kurt Vonnegut jr said (and I paraphrase) that the child folds up the universe like a ball of tin foil and plays with it.

Spontaneous play moves to controlled play like games. Storytelling moves to the library. All children should join a library as soon as the parents can ensure responsible use.

Library membership should be a prerequisite for citizenship. All parents, peers, priests and persons are teachers. We all use language. We learn its power.

We can all develop the habit of writing letters to the editor. It’s not an exclusive club. You learnt to vote.

Now learn to write. There are facilities for restitution in the newspaper in the form of advice and guidance regarding purchases, false promises in advertising, debt management.

The newspaper is an underrated, yet powerful, platform in our democracy. You have the right to be heard.

The suggestions above require engagement that is informal yet consistent from parent, peer and pal. Children should be taught fluency in speech.

They should be encouraged (cajoled, if necessary) into reading and writing habits. We should all drive a national imperative for linguistic improvement. Many social evils can be neutralised if we re-establish contact through language. Loved ones become literally yours.