We shall laugh again

I can laugh. I know you will soon too. By the time I'm done with this, you'll join me to laugh.

Yesterday morning, I heard an advert on the radio that sought to draw attention to the pronunciation of children and was I glad? At least, someone somewhere has also realized the need to have our children pronounce correctly! Then later in the day, a friend told me how he had taken particular attention to correct pronunciation and I felt 'finally, there's hope for the future in the pronunciation of words'. Wasn't I glad? Coincidentally, my final year research project was on the effect of the mother tongue on the pronunciation of English words and the findings were revealing. Most of the respondents thought children between the ages of 1 and 5 are most affected by interference and the next group thought the ages 5 - 10 are most affected. Whatever group you chose to agree with, something struck me from the responses, children between ages 1 - 10 aquire the basics of their language and kinda perfect it at that age. They only build on what they already know as they grow. Now, don't you just want to be a part of the foundation laying and join me in peals of joyful laughter as we watch our children get proficient in their official language but also not lose their mother tongue!