Friday, December 30, 2011

48. Dharana and Dhyana for 2012


[Kerala University English Teacher Educator’s Forum - KUETEF]

{The viewership of this Blog crossed 2000 in December 2011}




 
NEW YEAR is a wonderful  Day
‘2 Pray’  ‘2 Love’
‘2 Care’  ‘2 Smile’
‘2 Relax  & 2 thank GOD’
HAPPY NEW  YEAR


A beautiful year is waiting  4 you
Walk  vth  Aims
Run    vth Confidence
Happy New Year 2012


...I wish u and ur family the very best of health, happiness and prosperity in the coming years...


Three  New  Year  Wishes  for  the  KUETEF  fraternity...

Well..., I received those messages by SMS while spending a couple of days in this  beautiful place in Sasthamkotah, Kollam... 
















I  wondered.... what kind of life style is worth pursuing.... Around that  time I was also preparing for a talk on yogic practices in pedagogy and  came  across ‘Dharana and Dhyana’:

It is said that ‘Dharana and Dhyana’ helps focus our mind on ideals and pursue our goals in a spirit of  ‘Nishkama Karma’ (selfless action) and ‘Karmasu  Kaushalam’ (skilful actions). Development of clarity of thought appears when we are a ‘Stita  Prajna’ (person of mental balance) and have ‘Sama Bhavd’ (equal reaction to opposites).

Shall we strive to live up to these ideals...

Let 2012 be that year of change... 

With warm regards

Secretary, KUETEF

Saturday, December 10, 2011

47. Is a study of Linguistics relevant?


[Kerala University English Teacher Educator’s Forum - KUETEF]

If you scan  the  list of topics mentioned under Paper V and Paper IX, you will not find any  mention of  the  teaching of Linguistics.

Now, ask yourself ... will a sound knowledge of Syntax, Semantics, Sociolinguistics and  Discourse Analysis yield a linguistically aware individual  better equipped to teach English ?  Would our trainees be capable of  making any connection with the  academic subject of study at University called ‘Linguistics’ and the school curriculum subject called ‘English’?

As  part  of  course work on  Sociolinguistics  for  the  MA TEFL programme, participants  are  usually  taught about  language variation.  Edwards and Owen (2005)  conducted  a  study  with  the trainee teachers  who enrolled for one such  course  and sought to find out whether the trainee teachers considered that their  instruction in language variation had ‘usefully impinged on their professional  practice’. Edwards and Owen also  surveyed the course participants  on  a  large number of issues. On the issue of whether students were able to  make connections between the content taught and pedagogical considerations, it  was found that while some were able to articulate how particular  aspects  of  the  topic of  language  variation  illuminated their English teaching, a  few trainee  teachers  had  no  idea about what to do with the content information they learned.

Edwards, C. & C. Owen. 2005. ‘The impact on teachers of language variation as a course component’. In N. Bartels (ed.) Applied Linguistics and Language Teacher Education (pp.43–58). New York: Springer.

Well friends, what  is your opinion in this regard?

Dr. C. Praveen
Secretary, KUETEF

46. Teaching Reported speech in a Constructivist Class room


[Kerala University English Teacher Educator’s Forum - KUETEF]

A question asked for the First Semester Examination,  April  2011 ( Q # 12 Paper  V : Principles of Pedagogic  Analysis: English) was rarely attempted by students.

A specimen answer is  given below. I hope you will find it useful.

Q. How will you teach ‘reported speech’ through  Constructivist Approach ?

Ans. While teaching, the teacher follows the following  six phases :Situation, Grouping, Bridging, Question, Exhibit and Reflection.


Situation
The teacher  writes the  following sentences on the Blackboard:
A.   Raju said “I am going to my house”.
B.   She  says her brother  met with an accident.
C.   Father said “I have finished the work”
D.   Raju  said that he was going to his house.
E.    She said, “My sister left for Delhi”.
F.    Father said that he had finished  the work.

Grouping
The teacher directs the students to group the six sentences
Pupils accordingly group sentences A,C and E in one group and the rest in another group.

Bridging
The teacher now attempts to bridge the new  knowledge the students have to learn with  the knowledge they already have. The teacher asks the students: “Why did you classify the three sentences  under one category”?
S: They are similar in pattern
T: Is there any similarity between sentence A and C?
S : In those sentences the people directly says it.
T: What about the rest?
S: They are reported by someone else.
Now, the teacher explains that sentences are of two types: direct and indirect speech
 
Questions
The teacher presents some more questions and asks the students to use the indirect form.

Exhibition
Students write the answers and presents them in the class.

Reflection
Here the teacher and the students work collaboratively and discuss about Direct and Indirect speech. Then, the teacher presents some rules governing change in reporting:
Simple present changes to  Simple past
Present continuous changes into past continuous
Will/shall changes into would and should etc.
1

The session ends with the teacher  giving  an  assignment to enable the students to master the change from direct to indirect speech.

Dr. C. Praveen
Secretary, KUETEF



Monday, December 5, 2011

45. Platitudinous praise in place of paranoia


[Kerala University English Teacher Educator’s Forum - KUETEF]

The current BEd Practical Examination Sep-Oct 2011,  conducted by the University of Kerala is likely to go down in history as the one which has caused the least  anxiety for Internal Examiners.

Thanks to the decision taken by the ‘Board  2010-11’,  the  External Examiners have been directed to award marks  based entirely on the observation of classes and  verification of Practical Records submitted by the candidate. This is similar to the system followed in the  University of Calicut. There, the Chairman of the Practical Board would hand over the Internal Marks awarded by  a college to a member of the Practical Board, only after the examiner conducts an objective assessment based on class observation and verification of Practical Records.

One obvious outcome of the decision by the new Board is that it has put an end to the practice in some colleges where External Examiners  used to be invited to offer comments  regarding  performance of the trainees. 

What is your opinion in this regard?

Personally I would say that inviting comments from the External Examiner  is good  if it is taken in the right spirit. It is also important that the External Examiner should have sufficient experience and a mature frame of mind. But during the Practical Examination 2009-10,  an unfortunate incident was reported from a reputed college:

An External Examiner,  after the Practical Examination, was asked to comment on the performance of the trainees. The inexperienced Examiner, flashing the Lesson Plan written by an average trainee,  screamed that not a single trainee taught by the Internal Examiner  knows how to write a Lesson Plan! When the trainees of the college learned about this ‘irrational behaviour’,   it led to a  protest. The trainees demanded the immediate removal of the Examiner from the Board. Only after it was confirmed that the  External Examiner had a  history of  psychosis, did the trainees drop their demand!
As an External Examiner during 2009-10, I too  was placed in a ‘nasty’ situation  when asked to comment on the performance of the trainees of the college after the Practical Examination. I shall narrate the incident briefly:

Last year, I was the member of  Board of External Examiners in an unaided college. When the marks awarded by the college was handed over to me, the Chairman of my Board insisted that she  should be intimated when the trainee who  has been  awarded the highest marks  for English,  engages class for the Practical Examination. So when the trainee commenced teaching,   both  the Chairman and myself, observed the class meticulously to verify that the trainee deserves the marks awarded by the Internal Examiner, which was above eighty percent.  But when the class was over, like my Chairman,  I too felt  that  the trainee in no way deserves a distinction.  But giving the  Internal Examiner  the benefit of doubt,  during the face to face interview, I  thoroughly scrutinized the Records submitted by the trainee. I was shocked to find that the Internal Examiner  had entered in the Diary of  the candidate :  “Communication skill need to be improved”.  This  made sense for my poor rating and so I pointed it out to Chairman. As this was a serious flaw, the Chairman demanded that I bring it to the notice of  the  Internal Examiner.   But,  believe it or not,  the Internal  Examiner was all sound and fury and  attempted to justify the marks awarded! Now, such paranoiac defence is understandable because Internal Examiners in unaided colleges are usually under tremendous pressure from the management to boost the marks of the students to ensure that all  of them pass with high marks. A high pass percentage is essential for such colleges as they are  now experiencing  a huge fall in the number of students who join for the BEd  course. 

So two cheers for the decision of the ‘Board’!! 

Another outcome of the decision  is that, this year in many colleges, after the Practical Examination,  the management and the staff of colleges,   showered platitudinous praise on the External Examiner for visiting the college. The ‘praise’ obviously was tongue in cheek,  for they knew for certain that  however hard the External Examiner tries,  the result of the college would never be affected. Thanks to the new assessment practice which has given the freedom to Internal Examiners to award marks between 85 and 95 percent for all the students of the  college. 

And so,  today we have platitudinous praise in place of paranoia!!

Any comments??

Dr. C. Praveen
Secretary, KUETEF