Students in Southern Kurdistan

The students who walk into my office the first time are optimistic and full of expectations. They’re hopeful and believe that they will be fluent in English by the end of this course. “Will I be able to speak fluently to foreigners after this course?” is the most common question asked at the first session. Obviously, I wouldn’t teach if I hadn’t thought that others would benefit from the lessons I give. But it’s really hard for me to give a good answer to that question. I honestly don’t believe they will be fluent in English after only four months unless they move to a place like Great Britain or the United States of America of course.

Most of us can speak our native language without any trouble. If the language people use on street, work or anywhere else is not the same as our native language we can, most of the time, easily adopt it. But what happens if you’re not certain which language is your native language? Some linguists argue that someone without a native language will not be able to learn another language properly and will even face difficulties in his or her native language too. This is because they don’t have a language to fall back on. It somehow makes some sense to me.

Southern Kurdistan has tried so hard to abandon the Arabic language as its native language which has caused enormous trouble for Kurdish adults and adolescents. Most of them were in the stage where when they were starting school the lessons were taught in Arabic but then it changed to Kurdish suddenly. They were confused and sometimes still are. Wars and oppression have made it hard for them to learn in a safe environment and some are still paying for it.  Does this mean that they fall under the category of “No language to fall back on?” I think it's better if we say that they haven't had the chance to learn their native language properly and that's why most of them still use Arabic words in Kurdish sentences.

When I explain my grammar lessons to my students they can give me the answers before I have even asked them. Yesterday I had a student who said she wanted the structure otherwise she wouldn’t understand. “SOV (Subject + Object + Verb) please, I don’t follow what you’re saying. I have to memorize the structure before I utter a word.” I was shocked. This is going to be a harder task than I had imagined. I tried to let her know that knowledge of a language is not the same as proficiency in a language.

Will the students who didn't have a chance to learn their native language be able to learn a foreign language? Will they learn a foreign language using a different technique than what they’re used to? Will I be able to help them along the way? Another challenge and I love it.