Bharat Raj Nyaupane
Tuesday, 7 May 2024
Thursday, 29 February 2024
Sandarbha's Bratabandha dated on 2080/10/24 Wed (7Feb,2024) video links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=od6RScrXw4U&t=3121s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JxmV3anBIU
Photos' Link:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/page/edit/868226789569050454/6760371702130766611
Tuesday, 18 April 2023
A Reflective Essay on Retailing my
Academia from Arghakhanchi to Nepal Open University: An Overture
I
am Bharat Raj Nyaupane. I was born and grown up in Simalpani , a rural area of hilly
region, Arghakhanchi district. I completed one year of home schooling informal
education mentored by my mother and elder sister. When I was four, I was directly
enrolled to grade two at a government school named Shree Prabhakar Secondary
School of my village which was nearly 1km away from home. I still have clear
remembrance of my primary school days and friends. English was not taught as a
separate subject in grade two then. We were not taught English in class except
alphabets. Most of my friends used to speak in Nepali language that I was
familiar with. While some of them used to keep communicating in the language
unfamiliar to me. It was very difficult for me to understand them. I tried my
best to understand their talk watching their facial expression and gesture then
knew that they were talking in Magar language, their mother tongue.
Regarding
language, I realise that the first language I was exposed to in addition to
Nepali was Magar language. In the case of English I was unknown till I reached
to class four. We had to study English as a distinct subject from class four
then. We realized English difficult to learn as the words were not familiar to
us and we didn't have exposure too. Teachers used to teach English subject
using English as classroom language but we understood very little what he meant
in class. As the students of community school we realised English the most
difficult subject. This way I passed S.L.C. without having fluency in English.
After
passing SLC, I shifted to Butwal for my higher education as there were no
institutions to run higher education in my village. I enrolled at Butwal
Multiple Campus for PCL level in humanities faculty taking English and Maths as
major subjects. My father wanted me study English but I liked Maths to English.
It was very difficult for me to study English as a major subject. We used to be
more than 135 students in English class then. There was diversity in the
students in the class as from different language, religion, ethnicity and
geography. Some of them, from English medium schools, were good in English. I
asked confusing things with those friends but they turned their deaf ear to me.
I realised myself so weak in English subject because the teacher used to teach
in English medium and I understood very little in classroom teaching. In
English I secured just pass marks in first year's final exam. There were many
friends like me in the class who were from different language background and even
could not communicate in Nepali clearly. Some of the students who spoke Tharu
and Awadhi as their mother tongue were feeling more difficulty than me because
Nepali language itself was difficult for them. We expected our English teacher
teach sometimes using our mother tongue but it was never so. I joined to Global
English language Institute to learn English language during second year study.
After three months course there I learnt many things about English language
fundamentals. The teachers too facilitated English language class using
occasional Nepali language. I along with my friends felt convenient to learn
English with Nepali medium in language class. I secured good marks in language
testing exam and second year's English subjects too.
After
the completion of my PCL education I further continued my study in the same
campus and enrolled Bachelor taking English as a major subject. By then I had
improved my English language communicating skills to some extent. Teachers
facilitated in English medium and my comprehension was better than ever before.
Gradually I did B.A., one year B.Ed. and M.A. in English securing first
division. Our family had migrated to Banganga in Kapilvastu four year before
the completion of my study, M.A. In 2065BS. Some of the founders of
institutional school requested me to return back hometown and offered me to
become principal at Shree Annapurna Vidhya Mandir Sec. School with attractive
facility. I too was in search of a job that suited me that time. I came back to
Kapilvastu and worked as a principal at the same school since 2065 to 2070 BS.
I also taught English subject in grade 9 and 10 for five years. I had very vivid
imagery of learning English in my school education and higher education too. I
began to facilitate the students in the class accordingly as I expected to be
in my learning, occasionally using Nepali to comfort them. As English medium
school most of the students had had perfect English language skills but there
too some of them still had problem in English comprehension. Those who had
fluency in English did not like using other mother tongues in the class but I
convinced and eased in their mother tongue for those who had English learning
difficulty. The guardians considered schools with English environment good that
time but I did not believe on that completely. I think medium of language
specially mother tongue matters much in the pace of learning for those who have
low English language competency.
Since
2071 BS. I have been working as a secondary level English instructor at Shree
Kanakmuni Secondary School, one of the community schools of Kapilvastu
municipality. Most of the students are from Tharu and Madhesi communities,
indigenous of Kapilvastu. There I have to deal with heterogeneous classes. The
students are from different language, culture, religion and ethnicity. They
feel English the most difficult subject because English is third language for
them, who speak Tharu and Awadhi as their mother tongue. To be honest, I have
realised that the influence of mother tongue is crucial for the proficiency of
learning English. Out of my experience, I have realized that younger generation
from few ethnic communities like Madhesi, Tharu and Magar can communicate
fluently in their mother tongue. However, the situation, as I saw and
experienced, is different as these communities are more sincere and motivated
in learning English with the help of their mother tongue. Amid this, I have
constantly been pondering: How does the transfer take place? Are the indigenous
communities shifting to languages spoken by wider community protecting their
organic language, or there have been practices encouraging transfer of language
from older to younger generations as well? How do the younger generations of
indigenous communities experience perception towards their mother tongue, and
English language? After thinking and re-thinking, I realized the need of
conducting academic research that could help me unravel the discourse of mother
tongue influence in learning English among indigenous and other mother tongue communities.
With the same realization, I ended up, deciding to conduct my MPhil research on
the discourse of mother tongue influence in learning English language.
The
End
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A Reflective Essay on Retailing my Academia from Arghakhanchi to Nepal Open University: An Overture I am Bharat Raj Nyaupane. I was born...
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