CARIMAC Times 2016: The JREAM Edition Journalists Reviving Awareness of what Matters | Page 131

Khi Grant, no relation to Jordon and Oshane
Grant, is a teacher of English at a prominent
all-male institution in St. Andrew. Like Dr.
Cooper, he generally allows for his students,
who are in first form [grade seven] to express
themselves using creole.
He said students at that school, for the most
part, have associated English with being a sissy,
feminine or a homosexual.
That belief, he explained, comes from the
ideologies that are fostered in the communities
they live. The students are predominantly from
lower-income communities.
[Khi] Grant, who also teaches at other institutions
with students from different social backgrounds,
noted that the rejection of English has affected
the way the students express themselves in
writing.
“What you find, though, is the perennial issue
is that they write how they speak. Therefore,
maybe I should abandon that allowance of
using the creole in class. I tend to observe that
in their writing, they forego the observance
or use of punctuation marks. You find a lot of
run-on sentences …”
But efforts are being made to get the students
to communicate using English.
“When it comes on to answering questions, I
require from them to speak or make an effort
to speak in Standard English to answer in
complete sentences …”

it relates to English Language and Jamaican
Creole, there is a recognition, for the most part,
of the limitations of speaking the latter alone.
Professor Kouwenberg told CARIMAC Times
that children have their own agendas for
choosing to speak the language they do. She
explained, however, that they are unaware of
the consequences of only making an effort to
speak one.
Oshane Grant said he believes English is most
beneficial to his development, particularly with
respect to the realisation of a career.
“It’s important for someone like myself who wants
to venture into politics to have not ‘hexellent
English’ … [I need to speak] English that is good
for communicating on a platform that can allow
you to appear serious and [for others] to know
what you are about ….”
But Williams understands things differently.
“Apart from travelling or being interviewed for
a job or talking to some people of a different
social status or of social prestige, then one
might agree that English is not beneficial to
my development or the development of my
country …”
For Jordon Grant, the issue Jamaican people, in
particular men, face is a lack of understanding
of the language and its usefulness.
“ … I rather if people could just understand
English Language and just get on with their lives.”

Despite the dilemma and choices made as

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