EXTREMES OF WRITING SKILL IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA

Papua New Guinea is a land of surprises. There are extremes in writing skill.

As a long term English teacher in this country, I have come to expect that the task in any grade is to teach writing skill starting from the very basics.

So many students can not put a sentence together. They write what I call baby talk. Most PNG teachers have no idea or plan to change this.

Many students write rubbish sentences with mindless repetition of words. Even writers of high class works have to check to ensure that words are not unnecessarily repeated.

The writing below is standard primary school English. It has been written by students for whom Tok Pisin is their primary language. This is not to decry the beauty and elegance of this language.

I go to town. I want to buy a hat. It is a hat for school. I go to school next week and I need a new hat. I go into a shop. This shop sold hats. I buy a hat.

I have worked with every grade for which I was responsible to pattern students into writing elegant sentences in which words were not mindlessly repeated. The first report below is the key. Please click:

SUPPORT TO TEACHERS ON MASTERY LEARNING

MASTERY LEARNING BY PARALLEL STRUCTURES

MASTERY LEARNING ON PREPOSITIONS

WRITING SKILLS FOR HIGHER GRADES

ESSAY WRITING CAN BE MASTERY LEARNING

There is another extreme in this country of high class PNG writers whose work is elegant, artistic and intellectual.

We read the work of  quality journalists in the PNG media.  The editorials of Frank Senge Kolma have always been poetry in motion. He is a senior journalist of the old school.

At one time, I used to think that many junior journalists probably wrote rubbish English that was then polished by a sub-editor. Now I am not so sure as there seems to be a rising generation of skilled writers.

A further temptation is to assume that these writers went to school in Australia or were at least taught by expatriate English teachers.

The journalism department of the Divine Word University has to take some credit.

The blog PNG Attitude has brought out the PNG writers whose standard of writing is at a high level. This is the beginning of a literary tradition in this country.

Two new and amazing writers are Martyn Namarong and Emma Wakpi. The recent report posted by Emma is of world standard. Please click:

What my fathers taught me: a tribute