Teaching English

Reading the excellent article on the teaching of Englj^hf.spelling, I pill fear that, if an English teacher is no t both skilled and careful, then a lot of class time spent in this way may not only be ineffective but horribly boring for most pupils. It is a job to be done but, surely, please, 'on the backburner'.

Besides, there is evidence that Wil-Uam Shakespeare himself spelt his own name 16 different ways! (But don't say that too loudly in front of thochildrcn!)

Angela MVRobinson (Rev Mrs) Principal of The British School in Dhaka, Lalmatia

Teaching grammar My thanks to Khan Md. Iqbal Hossain, English teacher, Bangladesh Rifles College, Dhaka, for initiating a lively academic debate on "teaching grammar" at the earlier stages of the academic life of students. What is the purpose of language? Is it for itself or for communicating with others? Whether Ian, ’uage firstorgrammar first? It isa question. Our main purpose is to learn a language, formal or corpus ■nformal) language, not grammar, ormal language should be accurate writing and speaking. However, corpus language sometimes needs accuracy but not always. It needs fl j y. looking at whether the purpose Is served or not. The point I menrinned in my comments on . .. j5 was that how teaching of grammar could be taught. It could be taug’ i consciously or subconscious!).

Consciously learning a language whether it is LI or 12 has practically no difference at all. Conscious learning retards acquisition of learning. Learning subconsciously is spontaneous and natural. Effective learning occurs when students enjoy complete safety and independence. Students will correct themselves by the discovery way of learning. Imitation is one of the important waysoflearning. We can't ignore iL We can allow students to talk and exchange their views and ideas in classrooms, transmitting information among themselves even with the teachers forgetting any mistakes made by them. If any mistakes are found, direct correction should not be done. Because they may feel embarrassed. Opportunity should be given to the learners to be corrected by themselves. The sense of grammar (structure of language) will automatically grow up through practice.

Language is for communication. If one can communicate with others, the purpose of language is served. In general we need to speak English fluently, because it is important in our socio-economic culture. ’

I am not opposing teaching grammar; I am stressing teaching grammar inductively. Nothing can be shortcut. Learning needs perseverance and determination. BijdyMohan Gosswami Instructor CoMllaPT.I

BTTB mobile service

• ft:is'learnt • tlr.it Ihe^BiirigladeSh Telephone tk Telegraph Board (BTTB) is going to launch mobile phone service in February 2005. Our people have been looking forward to it for a long time to have relief from exploitation by various mobile phone companies. Regrettably, our expectations have been belied by BTTB as it has set a very high price for sim cards and relatively higher call rates than the neighbouring countries. I don't think BTTB would ever enjoy profit from its mobile phone service.

I have the following proposals to make the BTTB mobile phone lucrative, popular and acceptable to the people in general. Sim cards should be provided with a nominal price of Tk 200 only. Call rate should be Tk 2 per minute.

There should not be any pulse. Call charge should be deducted automatically on the basts of actual talk time and'thelisf caHTfufatioritihcl cost would be shown on the Yncibile screen after each call & SMS. There should not be any roaming nationally and the call rate would be the same across the country. A charge could be imposed for international roaming facilities. SMS charge should be Tk 1 for national and Tk 2 for- international destinations. Necessary arrangements should be made as early as possible so dial SMS could be sent and received from abroad. There should be same charge for calling local, NWD and ISD and in addition the actual talk time charge could be added for using mobile. There should be some off peak hours like the BTTB land line. All types of incoming calls should be free. An additional 30% charge could be added in case of

calling from BT1'B land phone to BTTB mobile phone. All mobile connections should be pre paid at 'Ethe moment as BTTB would be free front the hazards of issuing and collecting bills, connecting and disconnecting lines etc. In course of time, post paid mobile can be made available if found feasible.

There should be only Tk 300 pre paid cards available and the validity period of the card should be 30 days. The validity time of the next card(s) should automatically be added with die previous card(s). The total validity period would be the sum total of the validity time of the number of cards recharged multiplied by 30 days with effect from the day of installation.

I have made these proposals considering the demand of subscribers and to make BTTB mobile phone convenient to the users. I also request the existing private mobile

companies to take into account my proposals for providing better serviceatacheaperrate, , .. Dr. Rezaul Kareem, M.D., , । Associate Professor, Pediatrics Rangpur Medical College.

"Keeping off from extremists"

As I read Mr. Kazi Anwarul Masud's article, "Keeping off from extremists," (The Daily Star, January 30), I was surprised by his full endorsement of the views expressed by Eliza Griswold, in her anti-Bangladeshi article, "The Next Islamist Revolution," published in The New York Times Magazine. Like Ms. Griswold, Mr. Masud only criticises Bangladesh; he has nothing good to say about Bangladesh in his entire article. Mr. Masud quotes the notorious anti-Muslim Zionist, Bernard Lewis, and pro-Israeli Jewish American scholar Stephen Cohen to strengthen his anti-Bangladesh case. Two months ago, in a letter to The Daily Star, 1 took excepdon to the dde and content of Mr. Masud's anti-Iran article, "Can Iran be lamed?"

Earlier this month, after USA Today divulged his dark secret, African American conservative columnist Armstrong Williams admitted to receivingS240,000 from the Department of Education to promote President Bush's "No Child Left Behind" programme on his talk showandTVappearances.

So can we rely on those foreign columnists?

Rashed Firoz

230Amsterdam Avenue, New York, NY10740

BanglaBhai,no minor threat

Ms. Griswold was simply trying to portray the current picture of Bangladesh where certain Islamic groups are being patronised by government to intimidate progressive forces. These are well known facts that have been raised by many local newspapers but ignored by the authorides until they appeared on NYT. What a surprise! Its a shame that things need to be pointed outby Westerners! It hurts but there is nobody to blame except us! If Mr. Khan (Brisbane) thinks that the fundamentalist activities are nothing but dome simple nuisance and shouldLbe tolerated as a legitimate response to western hegemony, I think he got it wrong.

And, if he thinks that the ruling coalition got nothing to do with Bangla Bhai's aedvides, I say hogwash! Bring law and order in your own house before you blame Westerners and their defence industries! Let’s be responsible and take charge of our own house and look for no excuses. Western critics are not without merits! Griswold has done a great service by putting the Bangladesh government on spot! And, if the government chooses not to do anything about it, that would be entirely the internal matter of Ban-giadesh. But it would be Bangladeshis who will be paying the

ultimateprice.

Thugs wearing religious mantles should not have any sanctuary no matterwhatreligiontheybelongto! Dev

Boston University

Law minister's comments

I am dismayed by the reaction and the comments of the law minister, Mr. Moudud Ahmed, in the aftermath of the killing of former finance minister SAMS Kibria in yet another grenade attack. With reference to the report of the Justice Joynul Commission on the August21 grenade attack on the Awami League rally, Mr. Ahmed is quoted as saying, "I believe that whenever an inquiry commission is formed, its report should be made public". Yet when pressed on whether that report would be made public, he replied, "It depends on the government". Am I the only fool who finds such musing of a veteran politician, a former prime minister himself, and an incumbent senior cabinet member of the present government, at best devoid of sincerity if not completely ridiculous?

While refuting the allegation that a faction within the ruling alliance was involved in the most recent grenade attacks, the law minister pointed out that successive Bangladesh governments including the previous one led by the Awami League, have been "clueless” and have failed to unearth the conspiracy of "those trying to undermine the nation as a fundamentalist and

failed state". Isn't it ironic that in this instance, his own clueless and inconsistent remarks do very little to project an image of a "responsible government"? Furthermore, isn't this also the government that has failed to take any remedial or preventive measures against the same failures of the previous regime?

While commenting on the investigative efforts behind the killing of SAMS Kibria, Mr. Morshed Khan, the foreign minister, quite rightly expressed the sentiments of the nation by saying, "We make this commitment out of our obligation to the electorate, and the actions of the government of a sovereign state are based on this principle, not on statements made by foreign diplomats." Rather than pointing fingers at anybody and everybody (minus alas any specifics!) regarding an incident which falls under the jurisdiction of someone else’s (home) ministry, Mr. Ahmed could instead focus himself on reminding the electorate what exactly the law ministry is doing about separating the judiciary.

If I am not mistaken, the government has asked for no fewer than 19 extensions from the Supreme Court regarding this matter, and its resolution in the near future remains uncertain. In order for a country to prosper, its citizens must feel that the state is there to lend them the full supportofastronglegalsystem thus guaranteeing them natural rights in all spheres of life, be that politics, business, academia or otherwise. If public perception of

the judiciary is low, the nation will be naturally undermined without the need for a mythical "conspiracy"- and sadly that Is the stark reality intoday's Bangladesh.

This trend can only be reversed by working towards a law enforcement that upholds justice and a judiciary that is concerned only with implementing the law rather than policy dictated to it. And for that to happen, the judiciary must be independent from the executive and legislative branches of government Separation of the judiciary is not only a major election pledge of the BNP but is also mandated by the Constitution of Bangladesh: Part II, "Fundamental Principles of State Policy", Article 22 quite unambiguously proclaims, "The State shall ensure the separation of the judiciary from the executive organs of the Statu". However, I wish - given that the law minister Is also a legal and constitutional expert - that he would concentrate more on strengthening the legal fabric of the country which is badly needed now more than ever, instead of bringing his own credibility into question. ShabbirA. Bashar, PhD.

San Francisco Bay Area, California, USA