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