As a practitioner of English Language Teaching in the Language classroom, I've often felt bugged by the stale and stereotyped methods of language teaching. Five pieces of poetry from Coleridge to Anne Sexton, five prose pieces from Bacon to Cheserton, and a play by T.S.Eliot or Shaw or Shakespeare, does it really serve the purpose in a language class, where your student doesnt even know to write a meaningful sentence in English. Hence, at the end of a two year course in Basic English Practice, the student scores a mere ZERO in his language abilities. Especially in a situation like in India, where English is considered to be a 'sour grape' by most of the populace, i dont think a Anne Sexton, or a Bacon or a Chaucer can work magic in the language capabilities of the student who doesnt even know the basic nuances, the A...B...C.. of it. The need of the hour is not, an overdose of icons, but a good feeding of the basics that goes into language teaching. And mind you, the whole framework of the existing syllabi of the English Language Syllabus is a farce, giving an escape route to the so-called senior teachers, who seem well-set to follow the beaten track,with the Frostian maxim "good fences make good neighbours" to their rescue. What we need is vigour in the syllabus, strength in the mind, and a keenness to impart the best of the basics to the Language student. The age-old maxim, 'Known devils are better than unknown angels' can never hold sway with the masses in a globalised world, where the demand is farrr greater than the supply. This i blogged after having a futile time teaching Bacon to a class without the Basics...

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