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little boy has no hands but he's Performing feats By Gamini Mahadura our Galle correspondent Imagine life without your hands. Ever thought of how you would wash, eat, dress, write...? Even the simplest of actions would be well nigh impossible, you would say. K. V. Lalith
Kumara has no hands. But this brave youngster, who lives in Walallawita
in the Kalutara district, faces life with a smile, using his feet
to perform various tasks that most others do with their hands. Born
on January 21, 1989 at Iththapana Government Hospital, Lalith Kumara
has eight siblings.
His
mother Susila Nandani (49) looks after him while his father K. V
Premadasa (56) does odd jobs to support the family. He tries hard
to be self-sufficient. Even though most of the time his parents
help him, he tries to get dressed with the use of his feet. As for
his meals, he uses a spoon with his feet to feed himself.His artistic
talents are such that he was able to win first place at the art
competition organised by the Health Officials Centre, Walallawita. He is also
very good at carpentry. When cutting wood he grips the saw between
his legs and also is able to make the wood smooth with the use of
proper tools. Lalith Kumara has not let his disability prevent him
from having as normal a childhood as possible. Just like any child
he spends his free time playing. He also does gardening without the help of anyone and like any mischievous boy his age, breaks mangoes from the trees by throwing stones at them with his feet. Not
so easy as ABC The English
Unit of the NIE has been guilty of experimentation with English
teaching over the years. The NIE thoughtlessly adopted whatever
the latest fad promoted by foreign specialists, without giving any
consideration to the stark fact that 95% of our children come from
a totally vernacular background and English is only a matter of
40 minutes in their daily school curriculum. The NIE introduced
various methods of teaching English. The teachers were compelled
to rigorously follow those methods. Thus, at the Regional English
Support Centre the teachers were strongly advised to adopt methods
of teaching promoted by British Specialists. First there
was the "Direct Method", this was then followed by "Oral
Structural Situational Approach", then came the "Communicative
Approach". This "Communicative Approach" involved
the exposing of the students to very advanced English, with the
expectation that they would pick up the language as they proceeded
with their lessons. This was a bastardized version of what in Europe
is known as "Full immersion" method. A German student,
for instance, would come to England, reside with an English family,
follow English lessons in the nearby college, and live and experience
a total English way of life. He would use English all the time during
his stay. At the end of his stay in England, he usually picked up
a reasonable working knowledge of English. But such a
method cannot work in our restricted 40 minutes of English class
work. Thus it was a total failure in our schools. Today we have
the "Thematic Approach". That all these methods have been ineffective, has been substantiated by the statistics quoted above by the Minister. Exasperated teachers do try their own methods of teaching English in the classroom with varying success. The Minister's statistics quoted above mask an appalling situation where rural schools are concerned. The Table below gives the English GCE O/L results in the year 2001 for two divisions that can be considered as semi-rural. Source: Negombo
Education Office. This 'massacre
of the innocents' should have triggered inquiries, investigations
and the formulation of action plans to improve on this appalling
exam results. The English
teachers have been blamed for the deterioration of the standard
of English. While it may be true that the "English capability"
of some teachers could be below par, the fact remains, that through
the Senior English Language Project and the Primary English Language
Project, most English teachers have been trained and certified as
capable of teaching English. Therefore they cannot be blamed entirely.
In my book, the culprit for this debacle in the teaching/learning
of English language is the English Unit of the NIE. It should not
be allowed to continue to sow this devastation. Today the NIE
has introduced the theme-based "World Through" series
of English text books for class use. These books have completely
ignored the non-English background of the students. There are too
many lessons in the book. The chapters
in these books contain bombastic words and long sentences that defy
reading and comprehension. They also contain too many errors and
mistakes. Here are some randomly selected examples: "Still
I wondered was there a national case to be made for crankdom?"
(incorrect grammar, and new word [crankdom] not found in the dictionary,
page 105, Grade 8 textbook). "Cope
with", "arrange for", "make up for", "look
into", "wade across", "keep away from",
"look after" etc. (The above are verbs, but in fact they
are listed as prepositional phrases in page 94, Grade 11 textbook). "Then
he took a bell and went around ringing a bell and saying to them"
(page 93, Grade 5 textbook). It should be "he went around ringing
it". "The meeting
was held in a meadow under the shade of a tree". It should
be "in the shade of a tree". Perhaps only the NIE can
possibly sit under the shade! (page 8, Grade 9 textbook). Even the
Teachers' Guides contain errors. So what action
can the Minister take? In the short term, the Minister should rectify
the many errors in the textbooks, or produce a corrigendum for each
book. He should issue sensible Teachers' Guides permitting the judicious
use of the vernacular in teaching English. In the long
term, he should get together a coterie of local English teachers
with proven success records, and rewrite student-centred textbooks,
and incorporate their successful methods of teaching in the Guides
to the Teachers. The books should contain no more than 10 lessons. They should be written in plain, simple, and readable English, and should have built around each chapter, many exercises pertaining to grammar and comprehension. Those exercises should provide for individual and group work while communication exercises should be both oral and written. One lesson per month would get the students involved and interested and provide the teacher an achievable target. |
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