How Can the Parents Who Speak Broken English Teach English to Their Children - Essay Example

No: “Mother Tongue” How can the parents who speak ‘Broken English’ teach English to their children? “Mother Tongue” is written by Amy Tan and she uses her own experience to tell us how she met with “Broken English”. Amy’s mother speaks “Broken English”, which is difficult to understand by any of the English speakers. And, Amy had not realized that she had never used flawless Standard English with her mother until she delivered a lengthy speech. Amy recollected all of the obvious facts that show how “Broken English” was related to her life. She started to think as to why she can speak differently as compared to her mother, and how this kind of English influenced her life. When Amy put forward a lengthy speech about her book, The Joy Luck Club, her mother listened to her in the room. Amy realized that she used the language differently as her mother was unable to communicate in such a manner as she did. She felt confused about all this because she never thought what her mother would think about this situation that occurred in reality. Sometimes, some things are so familiar to us and so avoidable that they make us forget about their importance. For example, when I came to America, I was unable to notice that my parents play a significant role in my life but later on, I realized. According to my perception, it is the sense of familiarity that always makes us miss something. Amy also met with this problem as she considered that such a situation could never occur in which, she would become confused before her mother on the usage of English language. “Just last week, I was walking down the street with my mother, and I again found myself conscious of the English I was using, the English I do use with her. We were talking about the price of new and used furniture and I heard myself saying this: "Not waste money that way." My husband was with us as well, and he didnt notice any switch in my English. And then I realized why. Its because over the twenty years weve been together Ive often used that same kind of English with him, and sometimes he even uses it with me. It has become our language of intimacy, a different sort of English that relates to family talk, the language I grew up with.” (Writing As Revision, p. 58) “Broken English” stayed with Amy for 20 years and it looked like a part of her life. She could understand the meaning about what her mother asked for. There are a number of stories about Amy and her problems, but two above facts are more important and obvious. From my point of view “Mother tongue” is really a wonderful article. “Mother tongue” as an article gets started from the ending and then moves to the beginning. “Mother tongue” gives us the conclusion of the article first and then, Amy thinks back for other stories and analysis. As per my view, this kind of article giving conclusion first is more inspirational and makes us to want to read more. Furthermore, full and splendid structure, strong thesis, and elaborative examples make this article vital and make the audiences want to think more deeply about the content. Amy used her big-league skill to tell us how mother tongue influenced her life. “Asian students, as a whole, always do significantly better on math achievement tests than in English. And this makes me think that there are other Asian-American students whose English spoken in the home might also be described as "broken" or "limited: And perhaps they also have teachers who are steering them away from writing and into math and science, which is what happened to me. Fortunately, I happen to be rebellious in nature and enjoy the challenge of disproving assumptions made about me” (p. 61). Amy thinks she is fortunate to study English due to which, she is enabled to get rid of “Broken English to a large extent and she as a character is greatly helped. She also thinks about a fact that Asian students are better in math and science. Their better performance in math and science do not prove that they don’t have enough English learning skill. From my point of view, Asian students are good at calculating and analysis and this is because of their culture and environment. Like my parents told me,” if you have a skill to produce rocket, everyone will need you. Large numbers of workers we have are managers but we need real technicians.” Hence, most Asian students love to study math and science as they are encouraged to be technicians. After reading the whole article, we came to know that to study English as a second language is the source of all problems. The most easily affected people are the children, like Amy. Both her parents were born in China, but she was born and grown up in America, so her mother, a Chinese national by birth taught little Amy all the English words, their pronunciation and grammar as per her understanding, and there must be many mistakes in her teaching. But, Amy has to accept her mother’s language and reuse it because it is her mother tongue. To encounter this problem, different methods need to be thought by Amy. Even if that ‘English’ spoken by her mother is “Broken English”, it still is the most amiable ‘English’ to her. Mother tongue is the most important thing for every person and whatever is in your heart or mind, it is in the mother tongue because after being born, what you hear first is your mother tongue. Amy uses different English language with her mother and different with others. She knows how to move and meet the challenge that she has. People like Amy face issues because they come to America with their parents and their parents are not native speakers. Their environment is changed as compared to native speakers and they learn English not at home but at their educational institutions. Asian students are shy to depict their culture and they do not like their English classmates to speak a lot. They are afraid to say something wrong in front of all the other students. Children are not like adults who know what and where to speak. Children cannot control their talking. When they want to say something, they say it directly. However, this intentional talking will affect those kids negatively who are the new there. For example, when I was in primary school, I laughed at a student who came from another country on the basis of his incapability to answer the teacher’s question in Standard Chinese. He was powerless to answer anything again because of my laughter but I was unable to notice or feel grievous about that. Later on, that boy left the school and returned to his village. Along with other issues, because of migrating to a new land, children have to face change in everything, their environment, their schooling, their friends and so on. They are too young to settle in a new environment. “When I was fifteen, she used to have me call people on the phone to pretend I was she. In this guise, I was forced to ask for information or even to complain and yell at people who had been rude to her. One time it was a call to her stockbroker in New York. She had cashed out her small portfolio and it just so happened we were going to go to New York the next week, our very first trip outside California. I had to get on the phone and say in an adolescent voice that was not very convincing, "This is Mrs. Tan." And my mother was standing in the back whispering loudly, "Why he doesn’t send me check, already two weeks late. So mad he lies to me, losing me money." And then I said in perfect English, "Yes, Im getting rather concerned. You had agreed to send the check two weeks ago, but it hasnt arrived." Then she began to talk more loudly. "What he want, I come to New York tell him front of his boss, you cheating me?" And I was trying to calm her down, make her be quiet, while telling the stockbroker, "I cant tolerate any more excuses. If I dont receive the check immediately, I am going to have to speak to your manager when Im in New York next week." And sure enough, the following week there we were in front of this astonished stockbroker, and I was sitting there red-faced and quiet, and my mother, the real Mrs. Tan, was shouting at his boss in her impeccable broken English.” (p. 60). From the narrated passage, it is quite clear that Amy did not like to do such kind of things. She was annoyed when she attended her mother’s call in her place. In addition, may be this was the reason as to why she was able to use two kinds of English. Everyone cannot be lucky as Amy to learn to use English differently at different places. People moving to America from other lands are not native speakers and they use “Broken English”. People have to communicate with their parents in “Broken English” and because of this communication, they are not able to use English as correctly as the native speakers. At school, speaking incorrect English can prove to be a problem for the children because they can become a laughing stock for the English speakers. This fact restricts them to make friends and take part in social activities. They must be provided with friendly and flexible environment. Mother tongue is really a perfect article to read and I wish that every child gets a chance to have a happy life. Read More