Tuesday, July 24, 2007

The Alphabet

Some acknowledgments before I start:
The subject I am addressing today is an idea got from a phone conversation I had with a friend of mine some time back. So thank you friend of mine.
I have used material from different sources on the net (but of course!!). So thank you different sources on the net.
Apart from those mentioned, I don't have any one else to thank. So no thanks to any one else. And here goes.

First they start with the nursery rhyme. This is something thats taught in nursery (duh!! really??!) and 'Tis called the Alphabet Song!! Next, they have word associations. It goes something like this. A for Apple. B for Ball. C for Cat. D for Dog. And so on and so forth.

Accepted that all these are kindergarten stuff. But at that level why are those kg kids not told that a couple of decades down the line they will need to do the same thing again albeit in a slightly different manner? Who will tell them that a couple of decades down the line they will be playing the same word association games, but this time without following any alphabetical order? Is there any plan to bring about a change in the curriculum for these tiny tots so that they are made future ready? Or do they need to grow up and re-learn how to walk again!?

Confused? Or just plain bored to death? Or some parts of both? Well read on. I think I tried to explain myself below.

Ok today the kids are in kg. Whooooooosh!! Time flies, its two decades down the line and the kg kids are all grown up and all. And two decades from kg will find them just out of college (more or less. It doesn't work for those that are too brilliant or too stupid for their own good!!). And just out of college grads usually find themselves in one of the air-conditioned sweat-shops that are peppered around our country(side). And in here, they usually find themselves on the phone trying to get their point across to the other person. Who usually happens to be born, brought up and belonging to the U.S of A. Or U.K. Or Canada. Or...guess you got the point. Since our more-than-two-decades-old kg kids aren't native english speakers (I know we are fast becoming that but as it stands today we aren't that yet), and since the person on the other end might have problems with the non-native-english-speaker accent, they find themselves going back to spellings and that same old 'A for Apple, B for Ball' kind of word association games. Trouble is, they think they will come across as being childish and immature if they repeat their kg-learnt words. So they go in for new age words. Now it becomes A for Alpha, B for Beta, C for Charlie and so on and so forth. So CAT is no longer 'C-A-T' but 'Charlie-Alpha-Tango'!!!

So, in the interest of all the kg kids(ex and current!) who are reading this, this is the complete list of the alphabet and associated words. Have 'Fox-Uniform-November' - Alpha Bravo Charlie Delta Echo Foxtrot Golf Hotel India Juliet Kilo Lima Mike November Oscar Papa Quebec Romeo Sierra Tango Uniform Victor Whiskey XRay Yankee Zulu

Statutory Warning: Reading this can be injurious to your mental health. Now don't tell me I didn't warn you!!!

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