Stuck in peak hour afternoon traffic in Johannesburg’s Central Business District (CBD), the blaring sound of taxis hooting and the streets crowded by pedestrians are heightening my claustrophobia. I slightly open the window of the Uber I am sharing with four friends and the warm air laced with the odour of garbage and urine smack my face. In desperate need for solace, I look to the dilapidated buildings towering over us. The chipping blue paint on a white building is desperately hanging on to the title “ENGLISH SCHOOL” and I begin to question how a place that is densely populated by black Africans in a nation that prides itself of 11 national languages still finds the need for an English school?
In the bustling multicultural city of Johannesburg, learning to read and speak English is more than a way of assimilating knowledge. It is a key to survival.
Hailing from Kenya, a nation that was once severely colonised by the British, English was etched onto my tongue from birth. The command of the English language is a symbol of success in my country and from pre-school I had aced English spelling tests, I could read English books and not a day went by without me communicating to friends and family in English.
So shortly after we migrated, my parents were naturally confused when I returned home with a note from my South African primary school that informed them that their six-year-old daughter needed speech therapy to perfect her English.
According to my speech therapist, Phillipa Ellis, it was my Kenyan pronunciation of English words that South Africans had difficulty understanding. Even though I was an English genius in comparison to my peers, Kenya needed to be washed away from my accent in order for my English to be palatable to South Africans.
Both the reception and expression of the English language is key when communicating, said Ellis. So that is why even though one may have knowledge of the language, it is the assimilation of how it is spoken in a country that is important in order to open the door that the English language makes accessible.
People in South Africa are realising the benefits of the English language. According to the nation’s census of 2011, there are 51.7 million people living in South Africa. Of the 11 official South African languages only 9.6% or 5-million people speak English as their home language in South Africa. English, alongside Setswana, is ranked fifth as a South African home language.
However, the English language is fast being adopted by many as their first language, specifically in the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.
People in South Africa are embracing the English language. The 2011 census shows that there was an increase of 1-million people in the country speaking English as their first language.
It is no surprise that in the new education curriculum, English is one of the two compulsory languages to learn. Furthermore, the language of teaching and learning in the majority of schools and tertiary education institutions in South Africa is English.
So it is safe to say that in a melting pot of cultures, the one language that is willingly assimilated in South Africa is English.
On the sixth floor of the Klamson Towers, another tall building in Johannesburg’s CBD on Commissioner street, are three tiny rooms that make up Excell Solutions, a place which offers “all”, may it be “adults, youth, business personnel, individuals, small groups and company employees” to take English courses. Excell Solutions offers “basic intermediate and business level English” which entails reading, writing and speaking.
Pinkie Biyela, a Zulu woman, grew up in KwaZulu-Natal and much of her life has unfolded in the province, from her basic education to her first job, from her wedding to the birth of her children.
She was content with her life in KwaZulu-Natal until October 2, 2015, when she decided she was going to pursue her dream of completing university and starting a business in the trade industry.
She resigned from her administrative job in a financial firm and she was comfortably settled into her flat in Johannesburg’s CBD by the beginning of 2016.
Pinkie got a couple of administrative jobs in the CBD to build her fund for English lessons. On August 16, 2016, she began her English lessons on the sixth floor of the Klamson Towers on Commissioner Street. Pinkie blames her “rural school” in KwaZulu-Natal for an inability to speak English.
“In my school we did not speak English, only isiZulu, it has been hard learning English, it is so difficult to speak and write but it is important because I want to communicate with many different people,” said Pinkie.
She began classes at Excell Solutions with the knowledge of only basic English words and now she is on an intermediary level, meaning that Pinkie can “communicate easily on everyday matters” but she has “limited range of expression”.
Ana Jorquati, a 23-year-old medical student from Angola, also found herself on the sixth floor of the Klamson Towers on Commissioner Street.
Ana is in Johannesburg for the duration of her three month holiday with the sole purpose of learning English so that she could better her opportunities in Angola. “In South Africa, I have a chance to speak English so I learn better…I read in English, I listen in English, I watch TV in English, I listen to radio in English and my English has become stronger…so now it will be easy for me to find work,” explained Ana.
“I don’t like speaking English, I do not like this language but it is necessary and I am trying to learn it and it is fine but I do not like it so much,” said Ana.
Her current level of English is elementary, meaning that she has a “basic knowledge of vocabulary and grammar”, she can “understand simple message and instructions”.
However, the sixth floor of the Klamson Towers on Commissioner Street in Johannesburg, which is the home to Excell Solutions, a base for English lessons does not exactly fulfil its promises to the hundreds that go seeking to learn English as a foreign language.
Thandeka, an employee of Excell Solutions wears many hats. She is the secretary, she does all the administration, she books rooms for the English workshops and works terribly hard to make sure that the teachers show up to work and people learn English.
In the beginning of October, Thandeka mentioned how the rent for the spaces in the Klamson Towers was not paid for and she was abruptly greeted by locked rooms and confused students one morning.
Thandeka said that for the past two weeks, the English lessons had to be put on hold because one teacher is on maternity leave and the other teacher and apparent owner of the school is on holiday.
People like Pinkie and Ana are left in limbo because the successful continuation of their lives depends on their assimilation of the English language.
Thandeka has been working hard to ensure that learners are able to continue with their courses by putting them in touch with tutors who would be able to facilitate lessons.
Both Pinkie and Ana were put in touch with Lesh Pillay, a tutor in an English school in Bramley. She is a tutor to foreign nationals and South Africans who want to learn English as a foreign language.
“I see so many students who are without the interest of learning English but they know that they need it,” said Lesh. Her interest in teaching English grew from her love of learning different languages.
“I have always been an avid reader and I have always loved the language and I also want other people to love it too,” said Lesh.
According to feedback from her students, Lesh said it appears that learning English in South Africa seems to be more affordable than it is in other nations. To get an estimate of how much English lessons are, Thandeka explained that they are as follows: R800 for one lesson, R2 750 for six lessons, R2 800 for four consecutive lesson in a week, R3 240 for 16 lessons four days a week and R3 000 for 20 lessons.
Just like Excell Solutions, the school that Lesh tutors at offers certificates in accordance with the level that the student is trying to achieve. The levels for English are Beginner, Elementary, Pre-Intermediate, Intermediate, Upper Intermediate and Advanced.
Each level that is completed deserves a certificate. If the student wants to learn English for academic purposes two international tests are optional, IELTS and PTE.
I attended an Intermediate class for two hours. The class was taught by Lesh and attended by three foreign nationals. The lesson was in preparation for a mid-course test.
The class was an intense grammar session. My presence left the students on edge as I sat in the round table beside theirs. Lesh encouraged the student to comfortably answer questions and speak freely as I was just observing the class. The students had notebooks and textbooks they had to purchase for themselves.
They all wrote with pencils because of the permanent errors a pen would leave behind.
They started off by going through homework, which was in the form of a crossword puzzle. One of the crossword questions were, “bigger than a car and smaller than a lorry?”
The answer was “van” and nobody answered correctly. After Lesh took to the large whiteboard where she went through English articles, such as “a”, “an”, “the” and the use of no articles. The students would ask for the repetition of rules and the spelling and pronunciation of words.
Lesh taught slowly and made sure everyone was comfortable and fully understood what she had just taught. Lesh then asked everyone about the previous day as well as current affairs. Even though they all struggled to articulate what they wanted to say, they managed to respond and engage with Lesh and each other. They even laughed when the student from Ethiopia made a joke.
The classroom’s walls had a “no cell phones, no food and no drink” poster beside the door. Another wall had a map of the world and a clock hung above the whiteboard. There was a fan in one corner of the room as there were no windows for any relief from the summer heat of Johannesburg.
Lesh then taught modal verbs, such as “can” and could”. During the lesson, Lesh would introduce words that the students were unfamiliar with and they would ask for the spelling and meaning. The hesitance of the students was always met with patience from the tutor. The entire learning experience was intimate and conversational.
According to Natalie van de Water, a trainer for teachers from the Wits Language School, tutors that teach English to foreign nationals are mostly taught a communicative approach. The learners are required to be active and the lessons are supposed to be filled with questions and discussions.
“The main purposes for teaching English to foreign nationals is for jobs and generally functioning in society. English is the global language of business and it is necessary especially if someone wants to be integrated into a society”, said Natalie.
It is evident by just observing the current stage of their lives that people like Pinkie and Ana need to assimilate with the English language in order to be able to not only integrate themselves into a city like Johannesburg but the entire business world relies on the English language.
Pinkie’s future endeavours are accessible through her assimilation with English and the success that Ana will be able to attain through her degree will be increased by her assimilation with English.
English then is a survival skill that multitudes on the continent, if not the world, need to attain. It is fascinating that people from different parts of the continent are coming to South Africa, specifically the city’s central business district, to start a relationship with the English language.
After my great difficulty finding an English school, I wonder why many are not jumping at the opportunity of opening such facilities and allowing tutors to share the skill that is fast becoming necessary for survival in global cities.
“I have never met someone who wants to learn English for fun, I have never come across that,” said Lesh. She believes that when someone seeks to learn English it is because it is vital for their livelihood, it is a survival skill.
“English is the international business language so if people do not know English, how do they interact with people from different countries and within South Africa?
“English is not our only language, it is one of many but it is the main form of language, it is the international medium. So to be able to communicate clearly with other people, English is very important.”
So in this culturally diverse hub at the bottom of Africa, the sound of one language rises above all others amidst the bustling streets. English, the language of assimilation, the language of adoption, the language of survival, the language of Johannesburg.
FEATURED IMAGE: Dictionaries at a library. Photo: Hazel Kimani
RELATED ARTICLES:
- Wits Vuvuzela, Library Lawns get redecorated with 3D doodles, April 2022
- Wits Vuvuzela, Engineering and Commerce library reading rooms reopen, June 2021
- Wits Vuvuzela, Wits library pleads: Bring back 35 000 overdue books, May 2021
