Do not Teach Tamil in Tamil school

Me:	Do not teach Tamil in Tamil school.
You:	என்ன சொன்னீங்க? மறுபடியும் சொல்லுங்க.
Me:	Do not teach Tamil in Tamil school.
You:	என்னது …… !!!
Me:	Yes, you heard me. If you want our next generation to master Tamil, do not teach Tamil.
You:	Are you sure you are alright?
Me:	Yes, I got your attention then. Let us chat further?
You:	சரி, பேசலாம்.
Me:	Sure, we all want the next generation in the diaspora to "learn" Tamil. I will get to the term "learn" little later. For the sake of simplicity let us use the word "learn" for now.
You:	Tell me what you mean by Do not teach Tamil in Tamil school.
Me:	I am getting there. But, note that I did not say Do not teach "Tamil". Please read this as Do not "teach" Tamil.
You:	Ok, I feel I am getting something, but I am not really getting it. Make it explicit.
Me:	See, we want these kids to get Tamil, use them in communication context freely, read good number of books in Tamil, and appreciate Tamil. We also want them to take Tamil to their next generation and we want every generation to repeat this forever. So, we want to prepare them for this; that is, use Tamil in real life. We all know that the kids coming to Tamil school starting at the age of 5 are not that keen in learning Tamil, taking to next generation, or even taking to themselves. Hence they do not care about learning the mechanics of the language. What do they want at that age? They all want to have fun. Dr. Ray says All kids virtually learn language in context. So, instead of teaching the language, let us create context so they can pickup Tamil from there. Let us look at an interesting quote. We cannot really teach a language; we can only create conditions under which it will develop in the mind in it's own way -- Von Humboldt in 1836.
You:	What does this really mean?
Me:	It means it is not possible to teach a language. We can only create learning opportunities from which the learners acquire as much language as they can.

Summary

Do not just “teach” Tamil; use it to teach other interesting, compelling, relevant, and useful content. The content that will enhance knowledge or skill in a topic other than Tamil. So, I am saying use Tamil as the language of instruction to teach something else.

Why? Because there are some fundamental problems in teaching a language. They are:

• language learning is dry
• kids are not that motivated to learn a second language; they are just interested in having fun.
• Learning a language does not help them to retain it for long term.

Let us also understand the kids attitude towards learning such as:

• grown up kids enjoy gaining new knowledge or skill that are useful in life.
• interesting content attracts and motivates learners
• they find it easy to learn something new

Some beliefs on language acquisition:

• the language acquisition takes place slowly, gradually, and naturally
• language retention should be higher
• assign the responsibility to learn to the learners; because they need to enjoy the class and they have no choice than learning.

Techniques

You:	Okay, I got it. So, how do I help them “learn” Tamil then?
Me:	Let me explain this with some examples.

Example 1, Teach how to do Thoppukkaranam to the beginners.

It is proven that doing thoppukkaranam activates brain cells and that helps the kids to perform better.

This may not be that fun, but it does have cognitive and physical value and it also involves the kids in an activity. This helps with muscle learning as Dr. Asher says. The most important thing is to do the whole class in Tamil; do not use English at all.

Refer to Dr. Asher’s TPR (Total Physical Response). Source: Teaching Language through Actions.

Example 2: Tell a story.

Ask kids whether they will prefer to do language drills or listen to a fun story. I am sure 90+% of the kids will prefer stories. So tell them a story in Tamil that they will understand and enjoy.

Godzilla story.

Refer to TPRS. Source: Teaching proficiency through reading and storytelling.

Example 3: Teach an interesting content

The high school kids may find learning some math tricks interesting and useful. Teach them the math tricks in Tamil. Again the most important thing is to teach the whole content in Tamil; do not use English at all.

Refer to CBI (Content Based Instruction) or TBLT (Task Based Language Teaching).

What is learning?

It is about knowing. Learning in language concept is to know [about] the language. What is the purpose of learning? To score high marks or use in real life?

Thanks

Logu