At ENGLISH WITHOUT TEACHER Launch: SANWO-OLU PLEDGES PRACTICAL APPROACH TO TEACHING "ENGLISH" IN LAGOS SCHOOLS.

 A more pragmatic apporach to ensure that majority of Students in Lagos State pass English Language at Credit Level, has been taken with the introduction of “English Without Teacher” by Dr. Biodun Adeneye-Marcus.

The book, launched on Thursday November 28, 2019 at the Lagos Chambers of Commerce and Industry, was proclaimed as “a ready instrument to propel students from doldrums and perennial and recurrent failure trends in schools”. This according to the Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu represented by Mr. Olaleye Bolaji, stated, “has thrown spanners into the wheels of students in their quests to securing admissions into tertiary institutions, leading most of our children to become road roamers, thereby being led into contracting nefarious infections and character damage”. English Without Teacher therefore, came as a bed mate to students studying for greater heights in their career and also a succour to parents, whose search for qualitative instrument of self-drive for their children know no bounds”. 

Though, government is aware of the listing in the curriculum of Lagos State in year 2000 and that government did a workshop on the use of the book by our students and teachers, “the author is therefore advised to return to the Ministry of Education to process its re-inclusion in the Curriculum of Lagos State”.

According to the Commissioner for Education Lagos State, Mrs. Folashade Adefisayo who was represented by Mrs. M. I. Oyetunde, said, “For some years now, students have been performing very poor in the English Language and this has become a source of worry to Parents, Guardians and Teachers”.

She further stated, “Some students in the Secondary School find it very difficult to speak in English Language”.

She reiterated, “The importance of learning the English Language cannot be over emphasized, as it is the official language of 53 Countries and most widely spoken Language in the world. Unfortunately its learning has become a great bother to our students, even as the government has been doing all within its power to continuously provide a conductive learning environment with qualified licensed teachers as well as improve instructional materials in addition to training and retraining of the teaching workforce”.

“It is very alarming” that, “the provisional results of candidates who wrote West African Senior School Certificate Examinations [WASSCE] in 2019 that was just released showed that the most failures were recorded in the English Language with the following brake down 167,733 [48.96%] obtained A1 – C6; 100,781 [29.42%] obtained D7 – E8 while 74,038 [21.61%] had F9.

Technically speaking, about 174,819 [51.03%] candidates failed the English language, as no one can get into any high institution without at least a credit pass in the subject”.

However, Mrs. Adefisayo, informed, “the Public Relations Officer of the West African Examination Council in Ghana, Agnes, Teye Cudjoe said the 2018 Chief Examiners report shows that the students failed the subject because they used shorthand and Pidging English in their examinations. Lack of vocabulary is also identified as one of the reasons the Secondary School Students fail the subject”.

Quoting Cudjoe, she said, “You would agree with me that these days, our candidates hardly read, everybody is busy doing WhatsApp and all that. If students spend more time reading very good books, textbooks, Literature and English books, they will improve and have good command of the English Language”.

Therefore, “This book, English without Teacher is coming at the right time, as it will be of immense benefit to all stakeholders in Education – like the Ministry of Education, Educational Planners, Parents and it will be a source of guide and enlightenment to students, teachers, institution and society at large”.

According to the Author, Dr. Biodun Adeneye-Marcus, “English Without Teacher was written specifically for all levels of the Nigerian education beginning with the junior and senior secondary school Examination. It is self-teaching, home-study menu for the students. The book is a product of a Comprehensive and Concerted Research into why most Nigerian students perform poorly in sentence construction, comprehension and summary”.

 

Commending the singular efforts of Dr. Biodun Adeneye-Marcus, Wife of The Governor of Lagos State, Her Excellency, Dr. (Mrs.) Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu, represented by Dr. (Mrs.) Grace Igbokwe, “Writing a book is no mean task and it is not for the faint-hearted. You need to have the strength and patience to sit for long hours putting down your thoughts in a sequential manner; choosing the right words, making some sacrifices and perhaps having sleepless nights in order to come out with something meaningful”. She further stated, “I believe that the book will enrich our knowledge and enhance our understanding of English Language”.

Before the big Review, three students whose reviews carried great applause were Egomson Glory, Owoyemi Dominion and Oluwagunna Eniola from Peakan International School, Ikenne, Ogun State and Elias International School, Lagos respectively.

On his part, the Guest of Honour/Book Reviewer, Hon. Olajide Jimoh, Member, Federal House of Representatives, said, “The book titled” English Without Teacher” Vol. 1 is written by Dr. Biodun Adeneye-Marcus for use by:

-           Parents whose desire is to see their children excel in both the written and expressive English Language.

-           Students who want to develop their skills in the writing or discussion of any creative, descriptive and career essays or topics with ease and have confidence in themselves.

            This book teaches the student on how to creatively perceive, feel, view, focus and logically describe each essay or topic, whether it is imagined or real, in clear sentences.

Each essay or topic is also graphically, grammatically and pictorially illustrated for the fuller development of their imaginative instinct and creativity.

The career essays seeds of the book will help the students to critically view what each of the careers discussed in details and thereby help them choose their desired careers or vocations early in life.

-           Teachers cannot but find it a useful handbook for the education of their students or wards with the innovative method of continuous writing, expanded vocabulary and words for dictation.

            The book is a fundamental instrument and a good tool for group assignments or assessments, debates and spelling competitions”.

            The book is divided into Three (3) Seeds:

            SEED 1- is made up of twenty (20) units which focused on Creative Essays, Spanning eighty four (84) pages. These covered such topics as – Name; my Grandmother,” My Pet; Pepper; The Sun; Plastics; The Moon; The Market; The Walkie-Talkie, The School; The Glass Bottle; The Analogue Telephone; The Dog; The Book; The Aeroplane; My Duty to my Parents; A Party I Attended; My Best Friend; A Strange Object on the Pulpit and Walking.

            SEED 2 – Is made up of Twenty Five (25) Units which focused on Descriptive Essays spanning One Hundred And Thirty Three (133) pages. These covered such topics as – A Dream I Had; How I Spent My Last Holiday; Crossing of the Express Road; How i Will Spend My Coming Holiday; An Excursion I Took Part In; Life In The Village; Travelling Abroad; The Day A Friend Disappeared; The Day a Neighbour’s House Caught Fire; And The Girl Died; The Story Of Olu; The Bus Conductor; What To Do With Your Body; The Story Of A Proud Pupil; Observing The Prep Time; A Riotous Scene I Witnessed ; A Day I Will Never Forget; Tap Water And You; Ways To Eradicate Poverty, A Day In The Hospital; My Wedding Story; In Search Of Joy; If I Had A Motor Car; A Scene Of Public Execution; The control of Accidents on Our Road; and Agriculture and National Economy.

            SEED 3 – is made up of Twenty Three (23) Units which focused on Different Career Essays spanning One Hundred And Seventeen (117) Pages.

            These covered such topics as – Print Journalism; Public Relations; Advertising; Banking; Insurance, Nursing; Music; Pharmacy; Aviation; Graphics Artist; Engineering (civil); Accountancy; Law; Soldering; Science; Printing; Teaching; Management; Driving; Catering & Hotel Management; Medicine, Architecture; and the Military/ Police Force of our Dream;

            Each essay is firstly discussed in details, some of the words arising in the discussion are explained under vocabulary to highlight their meanings and they are often then used to form sentences. Secondly a graphical presentation is shown of each essay for ease of understanding and the points to note are highlighted.

            Finally, a revision exercise assignment or homework is given as questions for the students to complete, after which they are able to assess how much the topic/essay is understood by them.

            This Do It Yourself (DIY) Approach of teaching adopted will help the intuitive ability of Students to approach any Essay in future.

            There is an appendix to the book on pages 335 – 340 in which the author expatiated on the genesis/beginning of WORD, “as Language could be regarded as the matching of words to form sentences, as illustrated in the word of God almighty to describe the divine creation of Man, Animals plus other things on earth, and how they were each given names.

            It explained how through the mysterious inbuilt mechanism of God, the child divinely learns words, characteristics and languages from its environment after he/she is born.

            Characteristics of human existence and how the genesis of English Language evolved was further explained.

            It is worthy to note that in the Common Wealth of Nations i.e Countries that were colonized by the British and other nations of the world that speak languages other than English, Scholars and leaders of these  countries have found solace in letting/allowing those words that were common for their trade, politics, economics, social, culture, science, information, spiritual and technology enter into the dictionary of words and English Language; and all over the world have these found their ways into the English Language Parlance.”

            He ended his Genesis of the WORD with the following paragraph:

            “Professor Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe et al, though not English men have been regarded as the wordsmiths of English Language of our time. Most of the cultural Language of the environment of birth of these people have found romance with the dictionary of English Language.

            CONCLUSION

            Even though English is the language used for teaching in all institutions of learning in our country Nigeria students fail it more than other subjects because of the scarcity of professional and qualified teachers of the language.

It is therefore helpful to know that this book will help students to build-up themselves, without the assistance of a teacher and through its self-teaching approach they will master the language right from their tender ages.

The book therefore is highly recommended for use by all students, their parents and teachers not excluding anybody that desires to brush-up himself/herself, to speak fluently or discuss in English Language

The back of the cover book is colourful but the pictorial illustrations are not so attractive. I therefore recommend that future editions should be much more attractive.

Finally, the book is comprehensively comprehended; however those of you who are grandparents should ensure you have a copy for your grandchildren, Hon. Olajide Jimoh, concluded.

On hand to grace the occasion physically were Senator Anthony Adefuye who was represented by Hon. Bayo Adefuye as the Chairman of the occasion, Hon. Adeniyi Saliu, Chairman Eredo Local Government, Epe, Lagos State, Doctor Remi Folorunsho, Doctor Fassy Yussuf, Mrs M. Fashola, Prophet Juwon Adeniyi, Prophet Bembe Jesu, Prophet Obanijesu Jolayemi, Iyaloja-General of Somolu, Chief (Mrs) Modupe Olufojude and others.