Rosalind Wilson, and this English teacher is very particular about the pronounciation of her name which is "Ros-a-lind and not Roslin", has been teaching English for nearly forty years, twenty-seven of them at St Joseph's Convent, Port of Spain, until early retirement in 1990, and now as a private tutor. A woman who calls a spade a spade in no uncertain terms, Rosie explained her dislike of retirees limping away from the job "it's better to step off with people still wanting you there rather than them asking why doesn't she leave."
A past pupil of the Convent, Rosie was sent to Ireland by her mother "in great style, first class on board the Athenic", to study Spanish and English at the University College of Dublin, because "not only are the Irish very, very good at languages, but my mother thought it a nice place for me to go and study. At that time I was probably the most travelled person in my class because I went to Tobago twice per year" says the well-spoken lady with a wry sense of humour. "My sister packed the three suitcases with an inventory and I travelled in a single cabin on this round the world cruiser."
On completion of her degree, Rosie received a job offer from her alma mater. "I never applied for a job in my life, St Joseph's Convent wrote and offered me a job." Sister Francis Theresa, the nun who was murdered in the St Lucia Cathedral massacre was then principal. "We nicknamed her Pip as she used to teach Great Expectations and used to say 'poor pip.' She was a lovely person."
And although the main purpose of this interview was to find out the underlying causes for the deterioration in English Language as a subject in Trinidad and Tobago and what can be done to raise standards, we touched on a recent episode of a junior school principal suggesting to a parent that her child was not Convent material when the choice of secondary schools was being made, which has left a very aggravated Rosie angrily asking "what is Convent material. I have taught children who may not be very bright so you motivate them with other things and they become first class human beings."
Rosie feels that the deterioration in English as a subject has come about through the problem with dialect and standard English. "When I was young dialect was straight bad English. We have come to realise it is not bad English, it is a language in itself. Rich and beautiful derived from our multilingual ancestry. For instance 'it making hot' comes directly from Spanish 'hace calor."
"The problem is that young people, and people generally, cannot separate dialect from standard English. The educated person should be able to move from one register to the next with ease, for example if I am relating about a cricket match I am going to talk to you in dialect. But standard English is a necessity as If you go for an interview you cannot answer in dialect, you are not getting the job if you say :I come to get a wuk."
Since young people feel that if you speak properly you are not cool. While some teachers teach only in dialect because they say the children do not understand if you speak to them in standard English, but says Rosie "you are not supposed to go down to the level of children you are supposed to bring them up to yours. But you have to have a level first. Standard English is not hoity toity, it is just speaking in a way you can be understood no matter what part of the world you may go."
On the other side of the coin, the actual teaching of grammar has fallen by the wayside, and one wonders if teachers see it as tedious or boring. "I have to tutor children from every school in grammar, spelling, comprehension, everything. In the past, extra lessons used to be fine tuning, now it is teaching them all the skills. The whole system of teaching English needs to be revised. Also exam orientation is destroying us as that is all the children are thinking of from the time they open their eyes."
The very experienced teacher says that oral English, debating and discussion must play a part in teaching English. And suggests that teachers dramatise things to show children the differences, and also teach them how to be creative. Writing English requires practice which is not happening in some schools, and writing must be on an ongoing basis.
And to the parents, she stresses that reading is a must. "Reading books is vital not only to read the spoken word but to create imagination which is very, very important. You cannot write a story if it is not nurtured from the imagination. Children now do not use their imagination, everything is laid out on the television, press a button and they are seeing everything. But they must read to develop that facility."
It has to all start in the homes and from early in the schools persuading parents to encourage children to read and speak well. This has to start from way down because people will go abroad and will not be understood when they speak.
The situation, says Rosalind Wilson, is crucial. "English is a living language, people will tell you English is evolving as many things we were taught, such as, not ending a sentence with a preposition, are now allowed. What would have been very grammatical errors are now accepted in this living language so that what was wrong before, the authorities now say leave it. May be it will all evolve."