I have started online classes on etymology — study of the meaning of words — something I was introduced to as a secondary school student at St. Xavier’s in Nepal.
It started in ninth grade, in 1985. By that time, I was already a voracious reader — having discovered my love of reading in fifth grade. Also by that year, we had already had four amazing North-American English teachers starting in also the fifth grade — Fr. Downing. In sixth, seventh and eighth, we had had Fr. Donnelly, Bro. Joe, and Bro. Harris respectively. In eighth grade, we also had a North-American math teacher: Fr. Coyne, our Principal.
The last three years — ninth, tenth and eleventh grades — the teaching assignments improved greatly! A number of North-American teachers taught us every year and inspired us greatly…well, they inspired me anyway!
In ninth grade, four of them taught us! Mr. Beeston, a Canadian from Winnipeg, taught us English. Bro. Paul taught us Biology and Chemistry. Fr. Bailey taught us Religious Studies (The Bhagavadgita). Fr. Robins taught us Physics and Bijuli Fitting (Electricity). In tenth and eleventh grades, Mr. Horas and Fr. Watrin respectively taught us English. Fr. Law replaced Fr. Robins in Physics in eleventh grade. Fr. Bailey taught us The Upanishads in tenth grade.
I remember Bro. Paul and Fr. Bailey, in particular, going into etymology of words to describe and explain the meanings of difficult words and terms we would come across. I was hooked and developed a love for words. Another reason for that was two close friends also getting into it.
By also ninth grade, I had already been very keen on constantly improving my English language skills and growing my vocabulary. From that year, I started investing even more on books on the subject, such as Norman Lewis’ Word Power Made Easy. I had invested in a small pocket thesaurus in seventh grade. In ninth grade, I augmented that with an investment in a massive Webster’s dictionary (see below).
I also kept — and worked on — a reference booklet of prefixes, suffixes, root words, and their meanings. The booklet came from a SAT practice book (see below).
Not content with all that, late at night, in addition to staying up late reading for leisure, I would also tune in to the Voice of America (VOA) — to listen to episodes about words, idiomatic expressions, and their origins, among other things.
When it came to idioms, Bro. Harris had already introduced us to them in eighth grade. When doing so, one of the tasks he set for us had been to illustrate one. I still remember the one I illustrated: an eye for an eye. (My illustration included two alien-looking creatures!)
Of course, the VOA radio programs were amazing and I’m sure I learned a great deal from them. Two idiomatic expressions I learned the meaning of that I remember even to this day from those late night sessions glued to the short-wave radio are “bury the tomahawk” and “kick the bucket.”
My last two years at St. Xavier’s — tenth and eleventh grades — I went back to writing. I wrote poems, I wrote short stories, I wrote articles for The Godavarian, the school magazine. In tenth grade I served as the Co-Editor of the magazine. So, naturally, I published a few of my poems and stories as well. The Moderator of the magazine, incidentally, was also a North-American teacher: Bro. Harris.
My love of words was partly responsible for my selection, along with four other classmates, to the school spelling team. The team competed in the annual valley-wide inter-school spelling contest organized by the alumni association of St. Xavier’s School.
Preparing for the preliminary rounds of the contest involved learning the spelling of about five hundred words including their meanings. We had to learn the spelling of a whole different set of at least a few hundred words for the semi-finals and the finals. Preparation for the finals also included learning the tie-breaker round words.
And of course, one of the North-American teachers, Fr. Baily, was our coach. While I don’t have any distinct or representative memories of what he did with us or what he made us do, I am sure it involved him teaching — and us learning — the meanings of the words (and their spelling) by delving into their etymology, among other things.
That year, we avenged our predecessor’s loss to the St. Mary’s team, our nemesis, our arch rival! But it wasn’t easy however. It took a tie-breaker round to trounce them bringing the shield back to our school and wining Gold Medals for ourselves (see image below)! They misspelled a word. The word they misspelled was nouveau riche, a French word. I remember that even to this day for the simple and obvious reason — I was the one who corrected the mistake! By the end, we had a perfect 100 while our rival had 99!
To conclude, one of the many important things we need to focus on in our education system in Nepal is to do away with Nepanglish and teach well English English. English literacy should be not ONLY the focus of the English language teachers but also of all other teachers who teach their subjects in English, just as it had been for us at St. Xavier’s in the 1980’s. That, incidentally, has been one of the things I have stressed in my teacher education program, having done that all the time as a science teacher myself. In other words, teaching terms and concepts in Science, I would expose my students to their etymology.
Additionally, there must be a lot of focus on building vocabulary! The bigger the passive vocabulary, the bigger the active vocabulary. It doesn’t take a genius to know that the bigger the active vocabulary, the better and more effective at communication — both oral and written.
Without a very good command of English, obviously students won’t perform well in any subject taught in the language. Consequently, they’ll struggle to do well in life. I have lost count of the number of times I have discovered Nepalis — including adult professionals, many of them teachers — not understanding simple science questions formulated in English. In the highly inter-connected world we live in this century, poor masterly of English will hold individuals back, severely. It’s already holding many many Nepalis back.
To that end, one of the most important things we MUST do is to create a reading-culture and instill a reading habit in children. We must prioritize building libraries over view towers, temples, and malls, for instance. To promote reading, schools must institute reading programs, like DEAR — Drop Everything And Read. Teachers and parents must also read to children.
Also to that end, I have been running FREE introductory classes on words and their meanings. I call it “For the Love of Words.” My hope is that I’ll be able to induce in others the love I have for words and their meanings. If you are interested, let me know by completing this online form. Be sure to pick “For the Love of Words” for the class.
What do you think?
March 8, 2022 UPDATE
Until further notice, I am NO longer offering free online classes.
Thank you!
