Imphal, January 11: Despite the craze for English medium schools in the State with parents shelling out their hard earned money just to get a berth for their children in these schools, Manipur teachers who teach English subject to the students are said to be inadequately equipped with the nuances of the language.

Talking to The Sangai Express at her father's Uripok Khaidem Leikai residence here today, Dr Khaidem Ningol Tarun Kumari Bamom, who is a Reader in English literature at Central Institute of English and Foreign Language (CIEFL), Shillong and recipient of this year's prestigious Gillian Porter Ladouse Scholarship Award given by International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL), Liverpool, England informed that most of the teachers from Manipur who come for the English Language Teaching course at the Institute do not know English language properly.

The only daughter of Khaidem Nabakumar who was an Assistant Station Director of AIR, Kolkota and his Khasi wife, Tellis Noriancy Bamom, 48-year old Dr Khaidem Ningol Tarun Kumari Bamon, is a member of the Syllabus Designing Committee of MBOSE for HSSLC and has much to say on the futility of teaching English literature to students coming from a completely different cultural background.

Dr Khaidem Ningol Tarun Kumari Bamon, who has been experimenting and using regional folk literatures in teaching English to the students for the past nine years, contended that relying on western literature for teaching English to the students of the region is not desirable.

To prove her point, she said that to expect students to understand William Wordsworth's famous poem, Daffodil, in a place where Daffodil is not grown and Ode to Autumn to children who just experience three seasons in a year would be rather far fetched.

Moreover, a novel like The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy, where the drunken protagonist sold his wife to a stranger for an ounce of wine is something very alien to the people here.

Instead, a poem on Siroi Lily and text based on local folklores would have far more weightage in evoking the interest of the students in the language, she said, maintaining that such an endeavor would help in making the students understand and appreciate their culture better.

In Meghalaya, teaching English language starts in schools and colleges with the help of elements from Khasi literature, Dr Bamon said, giving indication that Manipuris should also take a cue from Meghalaya.

Taking forward her conviction, Dr Bamon would presenting a paper as a resource person on the need of employing local folklores and fables for better appreciation of English language at International conference of IATEFL scheduled to held at Liverpool, England on April 17.Though born and brought up a greater part of her life outside Manipur, Dr Bamon considers herself to be a true Manipuri, and said that she is always ready and willing to help anybody who comes to training at CIEFL.

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