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ByEdMo posted on01 Jul, 12  2082 Views  0 Comments Regular Feature Add to favorite |
 Some may blame the syllabi prescribed by the university.
What about the autonomous colleges? Is there any methodology
thrust on them?
Once I met a salesman who spoke
fairly good English. He came to sell computers and as a good
salesman he became quite friendly and started personal level
conversation. He had to somehow tell me that he studied in
one of the renowned colleges and he was branded a trouble
maker by his English teacher and was asked not to attend the
classes of the English teacher.
“Then, how
did you learn to speak good English?” I was curious to
know.
 “There was a tuition centre just
outside the college. During the English class hours I went
to the tuition home. The master there taught me the tenses
in the English language and that did the miracle for
me!” he was quite happy and proud to confess.
The students who go to college with very little knowledge
of English even after learning English for more than ten
years in school, have a problem in learning English. The
problem mostly is a psychological one and it should be
addressed at that level to start with. Extraordinary
scholarship is not needed in teachers. They should be able
to understand the learning needs of the students and should
be able to motivate and give confidence to them, above
all.
The best teacher of English in the Indian
context should have the knack to teach English to Indian
students who have an Indian Mother tongue. No imports,
please!
Let the English teacher take the blame
and do something about it.
|
| Students Clarify | | Posted by :EdMo | Examinations – A Necessary Evil? There has been so much of talk on the evils
of examinations and what a nightmare experience they give to many a student. Isn’t there any
way of abolishing examinations at all? -Meena Kumari, Chennai Dera Meena
Kumari,  In the field of
education there are certain things that have not yet found alternatives to replace them though many
attempts have been made to find alternatives. Examination is one of them. Educationists will even
call examinations necessary evils.
One could say examination is the easiest method of
assessing students. Results are there to see. Even in such recorded evaluation there is so much that
could be improved to achieve impeccable results.
The present Minister in charge of the
Education Portfolio in the Central Government has been trying his best to make examinations tension
free and enjoyable. However, without the proactive functioning of the practitioners in the field,
teachers, nothing could be done.
We can do away with the examination system as it is.
Will the students apply seriously if the examinations are done away with? Will the teachers take
extra care to motivate the students and make education enjoyable for the students?
Let
Your Parents Understand Your Point of View
I find that my parents are obsessed with
sending me to a medical college though I do not want to become a medical doctor. I find that I have
a talent for writing and would like to take up a profession which allows me to write – a
journalist, perhaps. What shall I do?
-Ashish, Bangalore
Dear Ashish,
 You are one among
many who are caught up in the dictates of parents who have well defined dreams for their children.
Setting high goals for the children is good. But setting it without the consent of children is in a
way criminal.
Becoming a writer that you aspire to be is a good option. You can play a
very important role like a doctor by informing, educating and entertaining people.
If
you sincerely think that being a writer is your call, make sure to convince your parents. If you
choose a profession that you don’t like at all, you may find it miserable to practise it later
on. Your parents also might realise their fault at that point of time.
Convince your
parents calmly and in the way they can understand your point of view.
Welfare of the students is more important I am sad to tell you that some of my teachers
do not know the information that are common knowledge to students. This makes us students lose
respect for our teachers. They look outmoded and show no interest in learning things that they do
not know. They are real stumbling blocks in our growth. -Manohar, Secunderabad
Dear Manohar,  I
understand your problem very well. It is very difficult to have respect for a teacher who, you
think, is not good enough to be a teacher.
At the same time you should check whether
your teacher is competent enough to teach the subject entrusted to him. If he is competent enough we
don’t have much reason to blame him. Of course, we cannot take him as an ideal teacher.
But if he is lacking in the subject he is supposed to each, it is better you make him aware
of it an if he does not make amends, you could inform the school authorities so that he is replaced
immediately. The welfare of the students is more important than the livelihood of an irresponsible
teacher. He can switch his profession and leave the students under the care of better teachers.
Making English classes More Useful
Recently I read an article in a newspaper in
which the writer, most probably an English teacher, pleads the reader to spare the English teacher.
I was a student of a renowned college too. In spite of teachers’ so called methodologies I
couldn’t make much out of what they were doing and, to tell you the truth, did not improve my
English at all though I had a decent score in English in the mark sheet. Knowing my weakness in
English my father sent me to one of his friends who is a Science teacher in a school. Within a month
he made me speak and write acceptably correct English. Why can’t the college teachers learn
from such good teachers and make the hours the students spend in the English classes more useful?
-Arun Kumar, Chennai
Dear Arun Kumar,
If only you appear in front of the writer
of the article you mentioned, I have no doubt, you will incur his wrath. Yet I cannot but appreciate
your capability to pick up English within a record time when you had the opportunity to come across
a good teacher.
The problem is that an English teacher in a college would expect his
students to have at least some skills of speaking and writing simple English. When he finds students
without those skills he has enough reason to complain.
 It is an
accepted fact that many of the students who go to college straight from schools do not have enough
English knowledge. So it becomes the responsibility of the college teachers to teach the
preliminaries of the English language to those students.
Many college teachers who would
like to take care of the students poor in English start with a lot of enthusiasm. But in course of
time they lose interest and the classes become mere rituals.
Even those who specialise
in the art of teaching weaker students get their models imported from some foreign expert. They are
carried away by terms and labels like productive skills, receptive skills, comprehensive input
theory, comprehensible output theory, drip-feed approach, immersion model, micro and macro
strategies, meaning-making, meaning-conveying, problem-solving method and what not! These jargons
might satisfy the scholarly egos of the teachers but they hardly benefit the student who craves to
imbibe some language skills. Some may blame the syllabi prescribed
by the university. What about the autonomous colleges? Is there any methodology thrust on them? Once I met a salesman who spoke fairly good English. He came to sell computers and as a
good salesman he became quite friendly and started personal level conversation. He had to somehow
tell me that he studied in one of the renowned colleges and he was branded a trouble maker by his
English teacher and was asked not to attend the classes of the English teacher.
“Then, how did you learn to speak good English?” I was curious to know.
“There was a tuition centre just outside the college. During the English
class hours I went to the tuition home. The master there taught me the tenses in the English
language and that did the miracle for me!” he was quite happy and proud to confess.
The students who go to college with very little knowledge of English even after learning English
for more than ten years in school, have a problem in learning English. The problem mostly is a
psychological one and it should be addressed at that level to start with. Extraordinary scholarship
is not needed in teachers. They should be able to understand the learning needs of the students and
should be able to motivate and give confidence to them, above all.
The best teacher of
English in the Indian context should have the knack to teach English to Indian students who have an
Indian Mother tongue. No imports, please!
Let the English teacher take the blame and do
something about it. |
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