Teaching English To Buddhist Priests

Good morning to you, sirs.

 

First things first. And that is, I feel privileged to have a chance to teach non other than Buddhist Priests themselves, albeit English language. 

My name is Upul Peiris. You can call me Upul. Ideally, we must speak only in English in this class. But then again we will speaking in Sinhala on & off. After all, our mother tongue here & there makes matters easier while learning English. That is a bone of contention. Some says we mustn’t speak in Sinhalese in English classes.

Now, when we speak in English I am supposed to address you Sirs. Reason is obvious, of course. You are above me. Of course, there is one above all of us. So we have a reversal of mode of addressing in this class. You may of course, simply call me Upul.  

 

Now let me give you the good news. There is only one rule of grammar in English Language.

That is subject must agree with predicate. Subject must be in concordance with Predicate.

As in Sinhala Ukthaya must agree with Akhatataya.

So some of you are having a smile & others are having a hearty laugh.

And some others are muttering “what nonsense?”

 What about all the rules we have learnt all these years?

Now, all other rules you have heard or you have learnt are not really rules. Those are conventions of the language.  Sampradaya  See we used Sinhala & you got it on the double.

It is said Shakespeare broke the conventions here & there. But then that was Shakespeare. As the saying goes, Shakespeare invented English language. So he is entitled to do things we aren’t. We cannot break the conventions.

 

OK, let me give you bad news, now.

And there are numerous conventions. Many conventions. And you have to learn all the conventions of the English language.  You may learn all & adhere to all.

 

OK, I’ll give you good news again.

Don’t worry once you learn the tenses of the language, remainder is easier. Easy piecy

 

Then again how many tenses do we have in English language?

Ok, how many tenses do we have in Sinhala language?  Three

Now, we have twelve tenses in English language.

Remember that as A NEAT DOZEN.  So you don’t forget how many. OK?

A dozen is a lovely number. Everybody loves a dozen. No. there isn’t a dirty dozen

So first of all, we go about learning the tenses. We can make it, mostly interactive so that you it would be easier for you to remember.

Now again, since you are Buddhist monks your level of concentration is superior to the average students of English. So you begin with an edge over others. It cannot get any better.

New Approach

We will be experimenting with the Modern Lexical Approach to English language too.

 

So, with your training steeped in Buddhism, with your discipline anchored in Buddhism, you have a definite advantage over others to learn English quicker.

I am of the opinion the present generation of young Buddhist monks in Sri Lanka must achieve proficiency in English.  So the next generation of monks would become much more proficient in English. We need you, Sirs, to guard our nation in the future too as you have been doing throughout our unbroken recorded history. In this modern world you need proficiency in English language. Our enemies are sophisticated; we need to keep abreast with them.

 

No matter, you are of superior powers of concentration. You must revise the lesson within 24 hours. After 24 hours your memory begins to fade. So to renew your memory of the lesson, to retain the substance of the lesson, please go through it within 24 hours following each lesson of ours. You can make it quick, short, but you have to do it.

There are a couple of herbs recognized as having the quality of enhancing human memory. One is Gingko Bilabo of Malaysia. The other one is our own Gotukola. We have the right stuff. To prepare Gotukola Sambola you need to get it washed with soap, yes soap & water & then with salt water & water to get off the parasites.

Porridge is fine since boiled food is free of parasites. Too bad, now I am talking about killing with Buddhist Bhikshus.

 

You need to set your heart & mind to our joint effort. Manadil Urdi Vendum.  Moral courage is necessary. Yes, that is Tamil. But fanaticism has nothing to do with courage.

Together we can do this. You will learn & you will learn fast.

I had a couple of chances to have chats with young Buddhist monks at Ali Denna Pansala & Godigamuwa pansla. Having listened them I thought how useful if they were proficient in English language too. They could compose enlightening articles to foreign newspapers. Sri Lanka needs all the publicity on our heritage. Buddhist monks must lead the campaign. We will follow.

 

I have set an objective. That is to raise your level of English language to a certain level. Once I take you up to this level, you become hungry of English language & get used to reading.

Then onwards the path is easier to achieve a superior command of English language.

 

Now don’t think you can master English language.

At which level of proficiency would you say that you have mastered English language? Because, as you know, when it comes to learning, there is no end. Mastery never comes or you never reach mastery.

But you can achieve a superior command of language.

 

If you would like call somebody a master of English language, there is only one choice. And he is dead. His name is William Shakespeare.

All other writers, Conrad, Dickens, Hardy  etc., turned out tremendous volume of works with their superior command of the English language. Much superior than any living writer.

To Buddhist there is only one master. His name is Gauthama.

So master & mastery are sacred words too. We need not use such words in vain. Once, exhausted, Tony Greg told his fellow Indian commentator to spare the words. Indians, you know, like all the big words in the world. Just call the spade, a spade. Don’t call it land excavating tool. If you do, by god, I would call the grave digger, a subterranean excavating engineer.

 

Now, how strong is your English vocabulary? How many words are you familiar with?

Now, listen to this.

To speak English language fluently you must have a vocabulary of at least 7000 words. As they say, to roll in English language you must have a vocabulary of 7000 words.

Shakespeare is known to have made use of 30,000 words in his works.  Can you imagine? Dickens 20,000. Most of other prominent writers around 15,000.

 

English language has 600,000 plus words. Yes, that’s an enormous number of words. British ruled half the world, remember? So they have numerous foreign words too. For eg. Disease Beriberi is derived from Sinhalese bary bary. Catamaran is derived from Tamil words Kattu maram meaning two logs.  What is our target?

 

By the end of our study course you must feel like having a vocabulary of minimum of 8000 words. You must feel you speak better than an average speaker of English language.

By the end of our study course you must be conversant with grammar.

By the end of study course you must feel hungry, very hungry to read & read.

Once you have read tons, you will write with a superior command of English.

Speaking is easier. You watch TV, you read newspapers, you speak in English in our class

You will be picking up English all the time. You will be speaking fluently within a couple of years.