Day 96- Reading and writing

In one of the training programmes conducted by (who I consider) a very able trainer and leader, the participants were asked to choose a role model for themselves. In the pursuit to impress and come across as unique, each of us participants came up with fancy names…some usually cliché’d and repeated ones being Gandhi, Mandela and Mother Teresa. We were all expected to be asked why they were our role models and so, quickly in our minds, we were ready with an impressive answer. She then asked the question “Who taught them to read and write” …bam….

She was able to easily drive home the message that the teacher who taught the very young children was the reason for why all of us, no matter how accomplished or not we are, can read and write so easily.

I realize the importance and the difficulty of the task of teaching language , especially since I am with children in a “non English speaking country”. Simple ideas of reading three letter words using phonetics, using words in a statement and being able to communicate in a way that the other person can understand requires years of thoughtful, structured and relentless work.

I remember once, someone remarking..”ohh you teach young children. So just a..b..c..d…how simple!”. I would like to invite that person to the class to be able to teach children this simple task. It is by no means simple…and if I may say…it truly is “rocket science” for that young child who is not much exposed to a foreign language(language that isn’t his/her mother tongue).

With a  salute to my kindergarten teachers today , I set out to defragment one of the most complex languages of the world..”English”….

May the universe give me and my children the perseverance and interest to succeed in this otherwise “tough” endeavor.