A Way out of Trouble with Grammar(First published in The Island/24th September 2010)Probably, it isn’t much of a problem to use classical grammatical labels to identify words in English sentences. But it’s a different matter when, even today, some grammarians claim, as those of the eighteenth century did, that the English sentence structure should faithfully follow the Classical Latin sentence ...
Talking about Grammar without Grumbling (First published in The Island/17th September 2010)A fairly widely held belief among learners of English as a second language is that the study of grammar is a major stumbling block to their making any headway. They seem to view grammar as esoteric and abstruse; their attitude is: ‘Why should we bother about something which only ...
Cultivation of Critical Thinking(First published in The Island/20th August 2010) Education is good just so far as it produces well-developed critical faculty . . . A teacher of any subject, who insists on accuracy and a rational control of all processes and methods, and who holds everything open to unlimited verification and revision, is cultivating that method as a habit ...
Looking forward to a Future of Prosperity(Previously published in The Island/13th August 2010)Beginning with the 1948 Independence we have had five watersheds that determined in turn the orientation of the Sri Lankan national polity over the past sixty-two years, the other four being 1956 (political empowerment of the common people), 1972 (the reinforcement of political independence through a republican constitution), ...
Where there’s oil – There’s turmoil(First published in The Island/30th July 2010)We are almost certainly on the threshold of a new era of economic development and international diplomacy ushered in by the imminent discovery of oil. Drilling is due to start in the Mannar Basin next January. This opens before us exciting prospects of economic prosperity as well as daunting ...
Parents can help children to learn English(First published in The Island/Friday 6th August 2010)Living in a welfare state we enjoy, among other things, free healthcare and free education. However, there is much that we as citizens are obliged to do to complement or supplement these services. Unless we thus collaborate with the state the whole community will be negatively affected. ...
Why the Maligawa Road Should Not Be Reopened(First published in The Island/23rd July 2010 with some parts deleted to shorten the article)The current proposal to reopen the road stretch adjacent to the Sri Dalada Maligawa in Kandy is being met with a show of approval as well as opposition, though on the whole the response on the part of the ...
What Is Happiness?(First published in The Island on Friday 16th July 2010)Happiness is commonly defined as a state of mind marked by such pleasant feelings as satisfaction, contentment, freedom from anxiety, mental tranquillity, and other similar positive moods. The Chambers Thesaurus (Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd., 2004) lists twenty-four synonyms for the word “happiness” including joy, gladness, cheerfulness, contentment, pleasure, delight, ...
Much Ado about Nothing?ByRohana R. Wasala(First published in The Island in two parts on 2nd & 3rd July 2010)As an ordinary citizen and an English language teaching (ELT) professional with some experience, I have no quarrel with the notion of Sri Lankan English/es or the idea of a standard form of it being advocated for teaching in our country, provided ...
Sri Lankan English and English Language TeachingbyRohana R.Wasala(This present article appeared in the Midweek Review of The Island newspaper on 23rd June 2010) A truncated version of this article first appeared in The Ceylon Daily News of Wednesday April 24, 2002 under the title “Sri Lankan English? The question of an acceptable model”. The same article in its complete original ...
Buddhism is introduced to the little island kingdom(First published in the Sunday Times/ 15th June 2003)The colonization of the island by a North Indian tribe and the subsequent introduction of Buddhism can be described as the two most significant events in the early history of Sri Lanka. The Buddhist monks who committed them to recorded history, about seven hundred years ...
Korean Jobs for Our English Teachers: A Way to Eat the Cake and Have It Too(This first appeared in the Midweek Review of the Island on Wednesday 9th June, 2010)“Is the new Minister of Education getting off on the wrong foot?” I wondered when I first heard the news a few days ago that he had agreed to send some ...
THE VESAK FESTIVAL (The following is an updated version of an article of mine first published in The Island newspaper on 17th May (the Vesak day) 2000) The Vesak Full Moon Poya Day falls on the 27th of this month. Buddhists ...
The Aluth Avurudda – A Celebration of Life(This article was first published in The Island of 13th April 2001; it has later appeared in a number of international online publications at various times over the last decade. I notice that the published .
Literacy or Transliteracy?(This first appeared in The Island on Wednesday 3rd March 2010)Literacy in the new media age involves much more than what its conventional definition says. Traditionally it is defined as the ability to read and write. A person is said to be literate if they can read and write in their first language at a basic level. Here ...
Learner Autonomy in Perspective(First published in The Island on Wednesday 30th December 2009)Although the statement that effective learning occurs only when the learner assumes responsibility for his/her own learning may seem a truism today, it is worth a serious re-appraisal as it has crucial implications for the success of the national English language teaching drive now underway. It may be ...
