Shehzad Roy and little Khadija explain why people fail CSS?

WEB DESK: Sitting in a green space of the KPS Government School by Zindagi Trust, Shehzad Roy is chatting up his little friend Khadija. She asks him if he has seen the Netflix shows “Adolescence” and “Wednesday”. She pronounces them as “Ai-do-lessons” and “We-d-nesday”. He tries to corrects her pronunciation. She retorts, “What did you think I said? Sa-T-urday?” He does it again. “You mean sarrurrday?”

That’s when she launches into the cutest monologue.

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In a refined Punjabi accent, she asks him what is he on about. “We speak Punjabi at home. I learned Urdu in school, and English is my third language.”

Khadija asks Roy what language does he dream in, since she herself dreams in Punjabi. He admits to dreaming in Urdu. She then briefly explains to him the concept of “World Englishes”. Here too, Roy blinks, amused and surprised. “Englishes?”

For the uninitiated, World Englishes concept refers to the diverse, non-native varieties of English that have developed around the globe, influenced by local languages and cultures. These local forms differ from native English varieties in their pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary, but they are still effective forms of communication, challenging the idea of a single ‘standard’ English.”

Khadija really drives the point home that the focus needs to be on communication and not pronunciation.

Lowering her voice a bit, she says, “Sir, you know the CSS exam?” she asked, referring to Pakistan’s prestigious civil service test. “Most people fail the English essay. *Tussi jande o? Kehnde ne bureaucracy society da cream aandi ae. Par saari nai aandi, addi baar reh jaandi ae” (Do you know? They say bureaucracy gets the cream of society? But half the cream doesn’t make it!)

She said that she is more interested in learning languages and communication, pauses, and then says “Ich gehe jetzt.”

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Shehzad Roy, taken aback, says “Why are you being disrespectful?” She says, “I am not. I am speaking in German, and it means I’m gonna go now!”

Here it is captured on video: