Teaching

[Nimana]

Vaheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Vaheguru Ji Ki Fateh!

I hope someone can help me.

My Wife is a UK citizen, has an MA in Punjabi from Punjab University and can speak English more or less fluently.

She would like to enter teaching, and preferably teach Punjabi. Can anyone recommend teaching courses in the Hounslow area?

Vaheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Vaheguru Ji Ki Fateh!

[dalsingh101]

First you have to identify a need for Panjabi teaching. In the areas around Hounslow there are lots of Sikhs and I think they may well have the subject as an option in schools at GCSE level? But be warned that there may be little need for it outside of Sikh areas. My own experience has been that Sikhs parents are frequently apathetic about ensuring their kids learn Panjabi.

Teaching usually involves doing a year long PGCE at university. I would suggest your wife go to the local Gurdwara and volunteer teaching there in the meanwhile for some experience. She should also be made aware of the big difference in attitude and behaviour by kids in the west to those back home - lest she has a heart attack at the former...lol

Hope this helps.

Edited November 25, 2010 by dalsingh101

[Nipuna]

'English more or less fluently' won't be good enough to get on a PGCE. Also an MA in your own first language from a uni ranked 875 in the world isn't that impressive. Just saying.

Edited November 26, 2010 by Nipuna

[Laadli Fauj]

UK schools don't have punjabi as secondary language courses? over here (California, USA) we're required to take a year or 2 in high school, and quite a few schools have punjabi as an option

[dalsingh101]

UK schools don't have punjabi as secondary language courses? over here (California, USA) we're required to take a year or 2 in high school, and quite a few schools have punjabi as an option

That's good to hear. When I was teaching here in colleges, I was really disappointed to find that the vast majority of Sikh kids couldn't speak Panjabi very well. Some refused to, like they were ashamed of it. In contrast, all of the Pakistani Panjabis knew how to speak it well.

Oh well.

A lot of Sikh parents seem to view learning Panjabi as unimportant these days. They'll push their kids into education but neglect their religio-cultural education.

Edited November 26, 2010 by dalsingh101

[Nimana]

'English more or less fluently' won't be good enough to get on a PGCE. Also an MA in your own first language from a uni ranked 875 in the world isn't that impressive. Just saying.

Thanks for the reply. She is thinking of enrolling in a teaching assistant course to begin with and will volunteer to teach Punjabi in our local Gurdwara Sahib. It's a start I suppose.

As for the ranking, I dont think it means much as from what I gather gaining a decent MA in Punjabi from Punjab University is very difficult and rare.

[dalsingh101]

Thanks for the reply. She is thinking of enrolling in a teaching assistant course to begin with and will volunteer to teach Punjabi in our local Gurdwara Sahib. It's a start I suppose.

It's not just a start, it's a very solid way of getting into the field. As I said before, do some research on whether schools actually have official GCSE classes for Panjabi that are well attended, so that you know there is a demand.

I remember my own classes which ran for only 1 year and had a grand total of 3 students (me included) in them.... (They were closed due to 'lack of demand'.)

Hopefully the situation should be better in west London.

Edited November 28, 2010 by dalsingh101