When P. Bharathi from Besant Nagar would drop her son at pre-school, she would notice the other parents speaking fluent, flawless English. Unable to fully join in their conversation, she decided to enroll in an English class.
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“I realised the importance of studying English, not only to speak, but also to read, write and comprehend and enrolled in a general English class,” Bharathi said. Like her, many adults are moving away from merely picking up tips on spoken English to learning the language as a whole, experts say.
According to Vijaya Srinivasa, senior assessment services manager, South Asia, Cambridge English Language Assessment, people are slowly realising there is no place where only spoken English can be used. “Every opportunity to speak English needs you to listen, understand, and possibly even send emails. Just learning a few ‘important’ phrases in English is not enough,” she said.
Even institutes that used to offer spoken English classes seem to have changed their focus, and are offering English as a language. “Over the past five or six years, there has been a shift in how English is being taught. People are realising that learning a language takes substantial effort, and it is important to have a good assessment model to see what people have learnt, and where they need to improve,” she added.
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According to Judy Selvam, senior Manager, Operations & Marketing, Teaching Centre at British Council, who has been running their adult English courses for the past six years, there has been a significant increase in the number of adults opting to learn English. “While a majority of our learners are engineering students, we also get a significant number of housewives, business people and people in mid-career,” she said.
Each one comes to learn English for a different reason. “While homemakers want to be able to teach their children, people who have successful businesses come in so they can expand their knowledge, and we get many people who come in for the sheer joy of learning,” she said.
The British Council offers five levels of English, based on an initial assessment that they conduct of the students. They also offer students the option of General English, Spoken English, Business English, IELTS preparation, teacher training and short workshops. “We ensure that along with speaking, all our students learn the basics of functional grammar, and how to communicate in different scenarios,” she said.
For more details on British Council’s course, visitwww.britishcouncil.in.
Residents are moving from picking up tips on speaking
to learning the language as a whole