Teaching English to my mom!

I really think I teach very well. One of my future plans is to become visiting faculty(definitely not full time) in some amazing university like IIT Madras :P. I could teach in some lower grade universities like IIT bombay or IIT Kgp or other IITs but I prefer IIT Madras :). I am serious though. I used to teach swimming to people when I used go for swimming in college. I actually took 12 people along with me to the deep pool(from shallow pool) and that was their first time. The funny thing is 8 of them are better swimmers than I am! They swim faster and longer than I can. This is only one incident.



My mother is an enthusiastic learner. She actually picks up things faster than most people. She does not believe even though I tell her this.  Like all IITians I left my old computer at home and set up a broadband connection. My dad does not use computer at all and has no interest in learning. The only thing he likes is to listen songs in the computer. My mom was interested so I told her a few things and left. A couple of months ago she re-installed windows on her own- she occasionally called me up if she had doubts in the process. I tell her that its a big deal for anyone who sat before computer for the first time in their life 6 months ago. She does not believe it - well not enough.


Recently, she got comfortable using computer and now she wants to learn English. One of her biggest fears in her life apart from public speaking is learning English. Looks like she had a dreadful line of English teachers through out her education. All her batch mates believed a rumor that when NTR becomes chief minister of AP he is going to ban English from teaching. Their fear was dreadful enough to make them believe that! Now I know that I am dealing with things beyond my control :P.



Did you ever come across this book called "Indlish" by Jyothi Sanyal? It is an amazing book. I should have read it completely. He talks about the reasons why Indians screw up English. A lot of us (including me and you to some extent) speak our native language by translating the words to English. Those better speaking mortals change the structure but most of us dont do it well. They guys who does this change of structure are usually the better guys at English. If you are from Chennai and you find it in some book store please buy it. I will take it from you. I did not finish reading it.



The following is one thing which pisses me off big time. Do you know how correct English is agreed upon? There is a sect of people among the English using population and whatever this elite group uses seems to be the correct english. source: Word power made easy.  Its not like science where you make an experiment and decide who ever is right. Its an unfair game I decide the rules and I also participate in the fight of what is right - I always win!.



The following is what I told my mom. Go to the BBC website where they teach English. They have these audio files and the content of the audio files is written on the page. I asked her to read it first and listen to it later and see if she understood it what they are speaking. The second and more funnier thing which I asked her to do was to write an article a day and send it to me for corrections. I asked her to write about cooking so that she can probably start a blog like this. I am sure my US friend would love it. She is an amazing cook. This is not my testimony. It is a testimony of her competitors- I mean my aunts. I am sure this should work out with your moms if they are not already good at English.





By the way the BBC learning guide of English can be found at http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/



If you dont want to buy a book but if you still want to read it. Here is a way if you are either in Chennai or Hyderabad. My friend Amrutash has this company http://www.iloveread.in . If you subscribe to it they deliver any book you want like pizzas to your home and you get to keep them as long as you want- no deadlines. If they dont have it they are going to buy one for you. He says - Once you are subscribed to them you wont need to buy a book ever as long as it is non-academic. If you are not from one of these cities ask him to start one in your city.