TEACHING CONVERSATIONAL ENGLISH : Melvyn Brown the Teacher
Word had got out. The Storyteller would make a good English teacher. My mentor at St. Xavier’s College in the late 1980’s was a Jesuit priest, Fr. Terence Lewis. He had the contact: One of his former students had opened a centre for Spoken English at Chowringhee road, Calcutta. The priest gave me a letter of introduction stating that I was the instructor for his English-speaking course, adding, he is an Anglo-Indian and his mother-tongue is English. He knows the correct forms for pronunciation. It would be the appropriate job for me, I mused. After all, I knew all about inflexion of voice, tone of voice and the proper use of English terms and expressions.
On arriving at the Calcutta Institute, I discovered half –a-dozen gentlemen who had come for the position. Among them were two Anglo-Indians, would my position be precarious? I produced my letter and went through the ritual of “presenting performance”. An hour later Mr. Sharma stepped out of his office and thanked those present for coming. I suddenly realized that I might have been chosen. I was.The Institute had started an adult education course and I would be the first teacher to flag the new seminar. I would have to teach them to speak well, to understand the basics of the English language, to pronounce words as correctly as possible ; and to coach them in the art of human relations. After all, the students were men and women from different professions: doctors , lawyers and salesmen. The women were into teaching, nursing and front-office jobs .
“You have one week to prepare for a four month certificate session, “ said Mr. Sharma , adding “ and remember each class will be conducted for one hour only”’. I needed more time. So, I spoke up: “ Sir, I require two weeks to complete writing the lessons. “ The Director looked at me, smiled and said, “done”.
Two weeks of hurricane planning, timing each lesson and completing the whole course in record time was accomplished. I was determined to keep my students satisfied. That was my aim. The spoken English course had deep designs in the art of public relations, code of conduct and life values to consider. In the long run of a year I was assigned to begin three sessions in the evening: 5pm to 6 p.m.; 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. and 8pm to 9p.m. I had to perform at break-neck speed. I worked with a passion which even amazed me. My small family was now doing a little better in living. I still hung on to my regular job at St. Xavier’s college, where I worked till 4.p.m as a Librarian. By now the courses were working independently with no outside guide books, and every student powered the lessons with their own will and determination. Much had been done and I decided to step down.
Spoken-English schools were rising like a swarm of bees. Across the country the competition grew fast. They were advertising shorter courses of study, less amount of fees and dared to give diplomas. Hook, line and sinker was the new way of thinking. I published my story in The Statesman newspaper, a leading Calcutta daily. Many of my students wanted private coaching in conversational English. Many of them still keep in touch with me. It was an extremely sweet example of a small success to wrap in my repertoire. I now decided to move on with my career; to be the founder of a lay Catholic movement, The Ambassadors for Jesus, after receiving the Blessings of Pope John Paul II .Now, that is another success story, which I will get back to you later about….
