Dr.D. Walatara

[Mama Batta]

මට ඉස්සර එළකිරියේ ID එකක් තිබ්බා . දැන් එක මතක නැහැ බන්. ඔන්න මන් කිරියට අලුත් නැහැ ෆෙකුත් නැහැ බන්.

අඩෝ මචන් මම ඊයේ ගෙදර තිබ්බ පරණ පොත් රාක්කයක් සුද්ද කළා. දුහුවිලි පිහදාලා අයෙත් පොත් අඩුක් කළා.

මට ඉස්සර තෑගි හම්බ වෙච්ච ඉංග්‍රීසි පොතක් හම්බ උනා. එක ලියල තියෙන්නේ Dr.D. Walatara . මට එක පාරටම මතක් උනේ අපේ ස්කර්වියව. පස්සේ මම අන්තර් ජංජාලයේ ඔය නම කොටලා බැලුවා. එතකොට වැඩි විස්තර හොයද්දි එන්නේ ඩොක්ටර් ඩග්ලස් වලතර කියලා.

ඇත්තටම බන් මේ අපේ ස්කර්වියගේ තාත්තා ද . ඇයි මු කොයි වෙලාවෙත් ඩග්ලස් අයියා ගැන කියවනවා නේ.

ස්කර්වියගේ තාත්තා නම් පව් බන් අපි හැම රෙද්දටම ඩග්ලස් අයියා කියා කියා නොන්ඩි කරනවා. මම හිතුවේ මූ ආතල් එකට ඩග්ලස් අයියා කියන්නේ ආතල් එකට කියලා. බලන් ගිහාම Dr.D. Walatara කියන්නේ PHD එකක් තියන ගොඩක් උගත් මනුස්සයෙක් නේ. මේ ස්කර්වියගේ තාත්තා නම් මේ මනුස්සයට අපහස නොකර ඉමු අද ඉඳලා.

 

[PoweruseR]

oka kiyanna fake ekak hadan awada? salli kiyak hari ekathu karala hari bank loan ekak dala hari ata 2 kui kondakui ganin ane manda ?

 

[diwarathne]

ඔව් ඇත්ත කතාව

 

[mag123]

http://www.island.lk/2001/10/10/midwee05.html

Midweek Review "A Bilingual English Course" by Dr. D. Walatara — a review English Language teaching in Sri Lanka has been afflicted with a lingering malignancy for the last few decades. Instead of reaching a higher standard of English over the years as India has done, we have increasingly diluted the quality of English language teaching to shocking levels. As a result a student who secures a distinction pass in English at O/L is very often unable to express a few ideas correctly in English. To aggravate this, there is an acute shortage of English teachers, especially competent ones. Quite a number of our English teachers possess poor levels of competence in English. The English Readers used in schools and the methodology employed in teaching English don’t seem to have improved the situation. But the time is here when we have to give our young men and women a firm grounding in English to prepare them for the emerging competitive world.
In such a perspective, ‘A Bilingual English Course’ blows in a breath of fresh air to the English teaching scenario. The material presented in this publication was tried out successfully at a few selected schools in the mid - 60’s and introduced in year 6 classes in all schools in the late 60’s. But the course was withdrawn shortly after without any explanation or notice.
Dr. Walatara advocates the controlled use of Sinhala to teach English. He uses Sinhala sentences to provide the ideas, the thought units or the facts which when translated into English produce English sentences of a particular pattern. In fact, the Sinhala sentences are designed to direct the student towards a controlled structural content. Each lesson commences with a few sentences in Sinhala to be changed into English. Here’s an example:
Students are expected to translate these into English orally. Next they write the English sentences. These sentences are followed by a brief reading passage in English which incorporates the sentences the students have already translated into English. In fact, the reading passage gives further practice in the use of a particular type of English sentence. An important feature of the book is that it provides quite a variety of drills to consolidate the students’ ability to produce particular types of sentences in English. Starting with simple sentences, the book introduces complex and compound sentences in easy steps. Lessons are so designed that each one is a stepping stone to the next. This control of the structural content of the lessons enhances the acquisition of competence in English within a pre-determined framework. It certainly is a result - oriented approach to teaching English.
One aspect that needs to be looked into, however, is the inclusion of reading passages dealing with current topics so that the lessons are of relevance to the world of today.
The course contains twenty nine weeks’ work, i.e. about one year’s work. As stated by the publisher, the material can be used by pupils from year 6 onwards and by adult ‘who wish to consolidate their fragmentary knowledge of English acquired in the course of their exposure to English at school’.
We hope "A Bilingual English Course" would be the first in a series of English Readers that would help our students gain competence in English within a few years. The book comes out at a time when we need fresh perspectives and new approaches to rejuvenate the teaching of English in Sri Lanka.
The author Dr. Douglas Walatara is a former lecturer in English at the Government Specialist Teachers College, Maharagama. He was also Director, Institute of Worker’s Education, Colombo University and subsequently Consultant in English at the Buddhist and Pali University of Sri Lanka.
Upali Pannila
Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka
Belihuloya.

 

[mag123]

http://www.sundaytimes.lk/010311/plus3.html

Ups and downs of a trail blazer in the English language

Book Review
A Bilingual English Course: English Through Controlled Use of Sinhala - by Dr. D. Walatara.
No other English textbook was besieged by such intense controversy and bitter recrimination as Dr. Douglas Walatara's "Reconstruction" text book, which he produced under the auspices of the Secondary Education Division of the Ministry of Education in the late sixties. It broke new ground and was based on years of experimentation when Walatara was lecturer in English at the Government Training College, where he spent decades training and, more importantly, educating teachers of English.
Waltara called his new method of teaching English the "Reconstruction Method", which was a commonsense approach to taking English to rural children whose exposure to English was minimal or totally absent except within the four walls of the English classroom presided over by a teacher who had learnt English as a foreign language, and for whom it was foreign!
Walatara designed his down to earth approach to help the rural learner reach the unknown language (English) through the known languages (Sinhalese and Tamil). "From the known to the unknown" and "from the immediate to the distant" are time honored principles of imparting new knowledge and skills.
Would it be possible to offer rural children an opportunity to acquire an acceptable degree of English proficiency in their rural setting? Walatara's "Reconstruction Approach" was an exciting, trailblazing answer to the problem. Rural English teachers and their pupils lapped it up fervently.
"Reconstruction" is a simple technique. Pupils are presented with a Sinhala/Tamil passage which they are required to "reconstruct" in simple English. This is followed by copious structural drills, at the end of which pupils master a given set of English structures beginning with the simple present tense verb forms.
Most unfortunately, however, when the book was published and ready for distribution among schools, it was disposed of into limbo with scant regard for the time, labour and cost spent on it.
Walatara however did not renounce his faith in the efficacy of his method. He went on to publish his book at his own expense and used it in several institutes where he and some of his former faithful students taught English under his guidance such as at the Sri Lanka Institute of Development Administration, the Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Education, several state corporations, the Department of Wildlife (under the GEF project of the World Bank), the Postgraduate Institute of Management, the Colombo North Medical School, private companies and in the schools where his University of Peradeniya Bachelor of Education students did their teaching practice. The response to his material and method was both favourable and encouraging.
"Reconstruction" was both a success and a failure: a success because it was a single man's effort to deliver a meaningful English teaching programme to students who did not have the privilege of an exposure to English and a failure because it was ruthlessly denied the patronage of the Ministry of Education because of the wicked machinations of mice and men."
And now after several makeshift editions of the book on Walatara's own steam, one of his former GTC teacher trainees A. K. Hewage has published a reorganised version of the book with an attractive cover, under the title of "A Bilingual English Course".
The demerits of the book, nevertheless, need to be mentioned not in a spirit of criticism, but because there is always room for improvement, where 'tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection". One glaring weakness is the plethora of typos that deface what is in many ways a good publication. An errata sheet is not the best thing for students to see at the beginning of a textbook! Neither does it cover the entire rash of errors that sully the book: spelling errors such as grammar and incorrect punctuation and run on words such as "Give the poor man a drink of whisky" a little ladysaid', omission of whole sentences, and even misquotations. The correction sheet does not even give the correct page on which some of these errors occur. For second language learners this is a major worry, annoying and distracting.
Dr. Walatara must not take all the blame for the many errors in his book, but his publisher must. One wishes that before the rural second language learner picked up the errors that abound in the book, they would be corrected - in the interests of professionalism, if of nothing else.
By C.N.S.

 

[Mama Batta]

ඔව් ඇත්ත කතාව

 

[KasunKDP]

oka kiyanna fake ekak hadan awada? salli kiyak hari ekathu karala hari bank loan ekak dala hari ata 2 kui kondakui ganin ane manda ?

 

[Sithira Weerasinghe]

 

[thilina91]

ඩග්ලස් අයියා mathak una

 

[sudathmadusanka]

 

[G.D.1.nirmal]

ඔය වෙන කව්රුහරි වලතර කෙනෙක් වෙන්න ඇති මචන්.උඹ හිතුවද මුලු ලංකාවටම එක වලතර පවුලක් විතරයි කියල ඉන්නෙ.අනික ඔය කියන එකා අපේ වලාගෙ තාත්ත උනානන් ඕක මෙලහකට ඕක අල්ලගෙන පම්පෝරි 1000ක් ගහලා..........

 

[aneasarayana]

මට ඉස්සර එළකිරියේ ID එකක් තිබ්බා . දැන් එක මතක නැහැ බන්. ඔන්න මන් කිරියට අලුත් නැහැ ෆෙකුත් නැහැ බන්.

අඩෝ මචන් මම ඊයේ ගෙදර තිබ්බ පරණ පොත් රාක්කයක් සුද්ද කළා. දුහුවිලි පිහදාලා අයෙත් පොත් අඩුක් කළා.

මට ඉස්සර තෑගි හම්බ වෙච්ච ඉංග්‍රීසි පොතක් හම්බ උනා. එක ලියල තියෙන්නේ Dr.D. Walatara . මට එක පාරටම මතක් උනේ අපේ ස්කර්වියව. පස්සේ මම අන්තර් ජංජාලයේ ඔය නම කොටලා බැලුවා. එතකොට වැඩි විස්තර හොයද්දි එන්නේ ඩොක්ටර් ඩග්ලස් වලතර කියලා.

ඇත්තටම බන් මේ අපේ ස්කර්වියගේ තාත්තා ද . ඇයි මු කොයි වෙලාවෙත් ඩග්ලස් අයියා ගැන කියවනවා නේ.

ස්කර්වියගේ තාත්තා නම් පව් බන් අපි හැම රෙද්දටම ඩග්ලස් අයියා කියා කියා නොන්ඩි කරනවා. මම හිතුවේ මූ ආතල් එකට ඩග්ලස් අයියා කියන්නේ ආතල් එකට කියලා. බලන් ගිහාම Dr.D. Walatara කියන්නේ PHD එකක් තියන ගොඩක් උගත් මනුස්සයෙක් නේ. මේ ස්කර්වියගේ තාත්තා නම් මේ මනුස්සයට අපහස නොකර ඉමු අද ඉඳලා.

මචන් ඕක වෙන්න බෑ .
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Walatara

Dr Douglas Walatara (23 October 1920 - 2 February 2011) was a notable Sri Lankan Lecturer in English. He initially taught at the Sri Lankan Government Training College in Maharagama for over 20 years.[1] Following this, he was a Professor of Education at the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka.[2]

 

[G.D.1.nirmal]

මචන් ඕක වෙන්න බෑ .
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Walatara

Dr Douglas Walatara (23 October 1920 - 2 February 2011) was a notable Sri Lankan Lecturer in English. He initially taught at the Sri Lankan Government Training College in Maharagama for over 20 years.[1] Following this, he was a Professor of Education at the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka.[2]

ඔව් මචන් ඔය කියන විදිහට වලතරයගෙ තාත්තට ඌව හම්බුවෙලා තියෙන්නෙ වයස 56දිනෙ.එහෙම වෙන්න තියෙන ඉඩ ගොඩක් අඩුයි.සමහරක්විට වලතරයගෙ සීය වෙන්න ඉඩ තියෙනව ඔය කියන මනුස්සය........

 

[thilina91]

ඔව් මචන් ඔය කියන විදිහට වලතරයගෙ තාත්තට ඌව හම්බුවෙලා තියෙන්නෙ වයස 56දිනෙ.එහෙම වෙන්න තියෙන ඉඩ ගොඩක් අඩුයි.සමහරක්විට වලතරයගෙ සීය වෙන්න ඉඩ තියෙනව ඔය කියන මනුස්සය........

එතකොට බන් ඩග්ලස් අයියා නෙමේ සීයා වෙනවනෙ.

 

[G.D.1.nirmal]

එතකොට බන් ඩග්ලස් අයියා නෙමේ සීයා වෙනවනෙ.

 

[aneasarayana]

ඔව් මචන් ඔය කියන විදිහට වලතරයගෙ තාත්තට ඌව හම්බුවෙලා තියෙන්නෙ වයස 56දිනෙ.එහෙම වෙන්න තියෙන ඉඩ ගොඩක් අඩුයි.සමහරක්විට වලතරයගෙ සීය වෙන්න ඉඩ තියෙනව ඔය කියන මනුස්සය........

සිරාවට .හැබැයි මේ කිරියේ කවුරුහරි දාලා තිබ්බා වලතරය melbourne වල පවා හිටියා කියලා .උගේ මොලේ අවුල් උන නිසයි ආවේ කියලා .සමහරවිට මූටත් සාමාන්යෙන් ඉගෙන ගන්න පුළුවන් මොළයක් තියෙන්න ඇති පිස්සු හැදෙන්න කලින් .

 

[Sithira Weerasinghe]

සිරාවට .හැබැයි මේ කිරියේ කවුරුහරි දාලා තිබ්බා වලතරය melbourne වල පවා හිටියා කියලා .උගේ මොලේ අවුල් උන නිසයි ආවේ කියලා .සමහරවිට මූටත් සාමාන්යෙන් ඉගෙන ගන්න පුළුවන් මොළයක් තියෙන්න ඇති පිස්සු හැදෙන්න කලින් .

මූට සිරාවටපිස්සු නම් ඔහොම හම්බ කරගෙන ජීවත් වෙන්නෙ කොහොමද බන්

 

[ucakila]

walage thaththa newei eth mokakhari nadakamak thiyenawa. meke kalin discussion ekak giya oka gana

 

[Sithira Weerasinghe]

walage thaththa newei eth mokakhari nadakamak thiyenawa. meke kalin discussion ekak giya oka gana

මහප්පා හරි කවුරු හරි නේ

 

[M a d d i e]

ඔය වෙන කව්රුහරි වලතර කෙනෙක් වෙන්න ඇති මචන්.උඹ හිතුවද මුලු ලංකාවටම එක වලතර පවුලක් විතරයි කියල ඉන්නෙ.අනික ඔය කියන එකා අපේ වලාගෙ තාත්ත උනානන් ඕක මෙලහකට ඕක අල්ලගෙන පම්පෝරි 1000ක් ගහලා..........:yes:

Agreed!​