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The National, Friday 14th June 2013
THE Jayapura city administration is working in conjunction with the Indonesian Consulate in Vanimo, to hold the Pinang Festival at the Skouw marketing point tomorrow under the theme, “Tradition Unites Friendship”. It is aimed at promoting the tradition of eating pinang (areca or betel nut) among communities in Indonesia, especially Papuans. Those in Vanimo should make time to attend the festival
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THE tradition of chewing betel nut is also common in PNG, which holds similar values to Papua such as strengthening family ties, solidarity and brotherhood. The tradition of chewing betel nut is an everyday activity and maintained as part of the social fabric. However, people must be aware of the need to maintain cleanliness by not spitting and arbitrarily disposing of betel nut husks so as to keep the city clean and beautiful.
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ENGLISH is rapidly becoming the lingua franca (working language) in international commerce and trade, education, science, international relations and tourism. It is the fastest growing language in the world, with more people speaking English than ever before.
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SCHOOL children in India and China are learning English at a staggering rate as their governments emphasise the importance of the language as a ticket to participating in the global economy.
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VERNACULAR instruction at elementary schools and bilingual instruction at lower primary has been a contentious issue since their introduction here. Some argue that this approach has contributed to the drop in quality education and weak mastery of English literacy skills. These arguments influenced the Education Department to reintroduce English as the language of instruction at elementary and lower primary. English will be taught as a subject beginning at elementary level in 2013. What do you say?
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PRONUNCIATION refers to the ability to use the correct stress, rhythm, and intonation of a word in spoken language.
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RADIO and television presenters should make every effort to get their pronunciation right before going on air. Remember you have very young listeners and viewers who are learning and love to imitate what they hear or see.
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IT seems most road accidents in PNG today are caused by drivers who do not know the road code and not so much by drunk driving.
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DRIVERS may have the skills but knowing the rules is a different thing. Most seem to be getting licences through the wantok system and compromise the safety of the travelling public when they fail to adhere to simple traffic rules.