52.Time to fill up a lacuna in ASAP training

It is almost  three years since the Additional Skill Acquisition Programme (ASAP) was launched. 

[For details please view  http://asapkerala.gov.in/index.php/about-asap]

As I teach in a teacher training college, I was particularly interested in  finding out whether skill acquisition, especially Communication Skills in English is really taking place during ASAP  training.  I have often  wondered, how it is possible for mere graduates without a thorough knowledge of the  teaching-learning process which is usually given prime focus in the course content of a BEd. Programme, serve as  effective Skill Development Executives (SDE) for the ASAP   programme…   

In regular  lecture sessions in my college, I make use of multimedia materials   which I have developed following  technological principles. During the last week of the previous academic year (2013-14)  three students  of mine, approached me and requested to share  the digital materials including PowerPoint presentations which I  make use of  in my training programme. When I inquired  the necessity, they  said that they need it for  the sessions of their ASAP programme  in which they are currently serving as  SDE!

This academic year (2014-15),  I came across a  trainee who  attends college every day, after engaging  a session  in a  local school  as part of the ASAP  programme.  Out of curiosity,  I made inquiries to find out what aspects of teaching and learning they were taught  for teaching Communication Skills in English. I was told that  no  real training in language teaching methodology was  given to  SDE’s!

So when Mr. Shihabudheen, coordinator for the ASAP programmes of Amal College of Advanced Studies, Nilambur, Kerala- a  training partner institution of ASAP, invited me  last weekend to engage a session in  language teaching methodology for a 21-day residential training programme for SDE’s I was  rather amazed.  From Mr. Shihabudheen, I gathered  that in the regular   ASAP programme, there is no insistence on  familiarizing participants with language teaching methodology. He also pointed out that this  has unfortunately resulted  in  the Communication Skills in English sessions of the ASAP programmes in colleges, reducing itself to  the conduct of  ‘management type games’! 

Field studies of the performance of SDE’s which Mr.Shihabudheen, conducted made him realize that participants  need to be given  some input on methodology of language teaching. Here,  it is worth noting that it is probably the inclusion of such innovative sessions in the training programme of  ASAP offered by Amal College of Advanced Studies,  which helped them secure a five star rating  for  the  training programmes previously offered!  Kudos to  Mr. Shihabudeen.

I found the participants of the   residential programme   for whom I engaged a session in language teaching methodology, quite   enthusiastic and active.  The feedback which they gave  also confirmed  that  training in methodology of language teaching   for SDE’s  is  essential.

Perhaps if  those  at the helm of affairs of  ASAP, taking  the cue from Amal  College,  incorporate  language teaching methodology as an essential component of the ASAP training  programmes for SDE’s, the  student population undergoing  the ASAP training would begin to find  the  Communication Skills in English sessions more meaningful and effective…

Those who have undergone the ASAP  training  please offer your  valuable comments…

51.Thoughtful New Year Messages

This year  a  young gentleman faculty who held charge of  Principal  commenced his new year speech by praising his stars for the rare opportunity he received in wishing the students of the college on the very first day of the year! But as it is customary in a Teacher Training college to remind trainees of their special role, the in-charge gentleman referred in his speech to many epoch-making and earth-shattering events…from Ebola to Malala, from 3G to Global warming, from Chandrayaan to discoveries in mutation and from the Air Asia crash to the Peshawar massacre!

Another gentleman, who was invited to  speak,  in his speech elaborated on the  significance of  2015 which is intended to be celebrated as International Year of Soils!

Both speakers had consumed  over a quarter of an hour and by the  time, I was invited to speak,  the aroma of plum cake  being served to  the audience  hit the dias and the first thoughts that assailed my mind when I got up to speak had the  flavour of   plum cake, which made me say:

To speak …one needs energy…

For energy… one needs food…

One has to take food to live….

So to feed many mouths…countries have to give priority to agriculture…

Thoughts of  both the Sherwama disaster and the recent bird flu crossed my mind…and  I continued…:

But these are days  when  some…Live to Eat!

Eat to Live…. &… Live to Eat are two different philosophies…

By now I could see a hundred eyebrows raised… each with the potential query….What’s that  got to do with a  New year message?... So I immediately shifted gear…and said:

All of you will soon be addressing students in schools as teacher trainees and of course you will try to drive home the message:

Live to Learn

Then applying the same linguistic strategy I had  applied earlier, I re-phrased and said:

I think the time has come for  you to

Learn to Live...

Yes you should  Learn to Live       

That’s  what the previous speakers referred to …

Everything that they said involves an individual’s effort to learn to adjust with his/her constantly changing  world …be it ICT-related or environment-related….

That is my message… LEARN   TO   LIVE …

I  don’t know  how that idea flashed my mind… but it definitely appeared a master stroke…. With that message I wished all present a prosperous new year and the courtesy applause  followed…

Late that night I tried to reflect on the day’s speeches…

The young-in-charge had obviously brushed up his General Knowledge  before coming to college. The second speaker must have read the day’s newspaper which made him refer to the significance of the year 2015.

BUT… where did I get my idea from?.. It obviously was not prompted by a stroke of genius…I ruminated… I skimmed through my Scrap Pad where I note down ideas which I come across…and I found the following:

There are three constants in life…change, choice and principles   - Stephen Covey

Do not follow where the path may lead…

Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail  -Ralph Waldo Emerson

I had jotted down the ‘wise thoughts’ only the previous week from a string of stickers with quotations  pasted on the walls of the compartment of the Super Fast  day train - Janashadabdhi shuttling between Trivandrum and Kannur. 

The ‘punctuality quotient’ of this train in recent weeks hit rock bottom owing to delays caused by track maintenance.

I  then  realized that the genesis of my New year message came from  the thoughtful gesture of an official of the South Indian Railways who took  the wise decision to paste stickers with quotations on train compartments….

This makes our life’s journey less tiring…

Thanks to  the Indian Railways…

Thanks to those wise thoughts….       

                                  

C.P.

50. Why should children attend school?

Someone once asked me... Why should children attend school?

What is that children best  like about  coming to school?...

Now... don’t be naive  and affirm  “To study”!!

Well, almost every  child likes coming to school because   one can meet friends and  of course, PLAY !

BUT...that happens only if the school authorities allow children to play!

When  I was in my primary class in a leading school in Trivandrum in the 1970’s  when  the bell for the one hour lunch- break  rings,  and when the moment the teacher leaves the classroom, some of us dash to the playground to reserve  the space for  our teams’, cricket pitch for the afternoon.  For, if one is late by  even 05  minutes  atleast  six other teams would have  already  placed their wickets. And during lunch break,  we play  a cricket  match of  30  to 45 minute duration sometimes carried over to the following day as in Test Matches.

Today,  children in most schools are given  a lunch break for  30 minutes and  they are strictly forbidden to play! Well...  it is not always that all play makes  jack a dull boy as the saying goes.... In a game like cricket, you learn to play like a gentleman, acknowledging  the skills of  a superior bowler, wilfully accepting  an LBW decision,  learn to play as a team etc.

Most  teaching  in schools  these days,   I  think is  not very inspiring. [Incidentally, as a teacher educator, I often visit schools and observe classes and meet children and teachers].

Now...,how often have we seen children  given to day dreaming.... some  who pretend to be listening to the teacher but whose minds  we know are  hundreds of kilometres away or may be  in a world of their own making.... Should we not encourage it!...Well that may be debatable....

Recently, I had been to a school where on the walls of a classroom was displayed  a poster  from a newspaper describing the days that should be celebrated in  schools each year. (A total of 70 days was mentioned)

When schools compulsorily  celebrate those days  and if  the programme for the day is thoughtfully and imaginatively planned won’t this create some impact on those children who are playful  and imaginative by nature??

So... never complain (as some Supervising  teachers whom I met during Practice Teaching,   in a few Government-run schools  [where students from poor socio-economic backgrounds   usually study] said.. “There is no use  teaching them!... They do not even know how to spell  simple words and are incapable of writing a grammatically correct sentence... Even if we do not teach them, the faulty examination system  will ensure that they pass!”

Now... don’t you think that the celebration of days of the kind mentioned above might help  the ‘useless’ children to become useful citizens in future!  Don’t  you think that there is  a ‘reason’ for students to  attend school..

 Plz do offer your comments...

49.In your happiness lies mine

A  programme telecast  in the morning on Lok Sabha TV  [10 February 2014], while surfing for channels, arrested my attention. The programme appeared like a Documentary on lives of slum dwellers in India’s capital.  The  following remarks  which the dwellers made  when questioned  by the  presenter, stole my peace of mind for  a couple of days.

* How can they call us ‘dirty’ when our women enter their kitchen and wash the plates for them...? Won’t that plates be dirty too?

*Why do they come  seeking the help  of our sorcerers and astrologers...Why do they live in fear?

*They drove  us out of places we were living and built parks for children.  Now their children play in the park and our children  are not allowed...  because they are dirty!

*If  one  boy  from this colony is  caught for involvement in a crime, the  Police raid his house and  ransack  it without a warrant...Even the women are not spared. They say we are nurturing criminals. Now...don’t the children of the rich commit crime too?

*They have taken away everything we had. And in winter we don’t have  blankets to keep us warm.... We will have to use plastic sheets...

* They say begging  is a crime... How can that be?... We beg because we have nothing... How can begging be a crime...??

I  couldn’t  continue  any longer and I switched off the TV...feeling guilty at  the  cushy  life I am leading...

I  asked myself ...do we ever care to  teach our children  that  real  happiness comes  when  we  serve and help  the needy....

Didn’t  this  country  give  the  world  the  message....

lOka samasta sukhinO bhavantu

May all beings, everywhere, be happy and free.

Well... how many  Indian teachers  try to  make their students   imbibe  the spirit of  such message  which brings  peace on earth...?

Do  post your valuable comments....

48.Whither Catharsis?

The  entry  on Audition (Odishon) Japan, South Korea, 1999,  in the Handbook of the 18^th International Film Festival  of Kerala 2013, reads:

Takashi Mike provides the viewers a paradoxical movie experience that leaves one  grasping for superlatives while simultaneously grasping for  breath...The film portrays the changing role of women in a society that remains gender- regressive and packed with male protagonist.

Unlike in previous years, this year,  twice  I failed to find  a seat in unexpectedly over crowded theatres. So I was forced to choose  the late 8.45 PM show on a Sunday. Half way through the film, Audition, when the gory scenes of mutilation flashed on the screen,  couples in their late fifties started leaving the theatre. I stayed   on  abstaining  from  looking at the screen for minutes together even as the groaning pain of the tortured victim reverberated in the theatre. Then  in a  horrendous scene, the ‘heroine’ a  retired young ballet  artist, paralyses the person who has expressed his affection for her and  mounts his body. Next,  she begins   piercing his face and body with needles  each time with   the sound a love bird makes ‘ku,ku,ku,ku,ku.’ To my utter shock, the  vast majority of male audience,  mimicked the ‘ku,ku,ku,ku,ku’ sound, relishing  the performance even as she  dismembers the feet of the  victim  using a  metal string!

In  the dark,  I managed to jot down in a piece of paper, the words of the  ‘heroine’ :

Prior to the mutilation, she tells the person who is all  adoration for her “...When I dance, it purifies...” and when the mutilation commences “...words create lies, pain can be trusted...”

The film over, I left the theatre asking myself “Whither Catharsis?”

Won’t  you dear reader, enlighten me....

47. Models and its uses

Sometimes  serving as  examiners  for  the  Practical  Examination    of the BEd. degree course  can be  an enriching experience.   Many trainees  submit  painstakingly prepared  aids.  Most aids usually  serve a pedagogic purpose.  The  following  is   a  model of  the  Trivandrum Central Railway  Station made  by  a trainee this  year.

A mere look at the  model may not suggest any pedagogic purpose.  But real  learning  happens when  one  teaches  vocabulary related to   a Railway  station/ journey using a toy train which runs over the rails one sees in the model.

Well... some of you may still be sceptical... What follows is the theory related to  the use of models and  the  activity of making models:

“Language is a code restricted to those that are familiar with it. To non-users, it is mysterious and complex. For good understanding therefore, teachers must be aware that learners are abstracting. Meaning does not exist in isolation or in the words but in the context which the words are used. L₂ users/learners must be well exposed to usages of words through teaching aids as guides to learning grammar, concepts, spellings and even pronunciation.”

[Asokhia MO (2005). What is a language. In: MO Omo- Ojugo, BN Egede (Eds.): Basic English Language Course for Tertiary Institutions. Ibadan Nigeria: Satmos Publishers, pp. 143-160.]

Rays and Thomas (1973) recommended manipulative materials as teaching aids. Manipulative materials here mean objects or things the children are “able to feel, touch, handle, and move.”

[Rays R, Thomas R 1973. Consideration for teachers using manipulative materials. In the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Laboratory. Inc. Virginia, pp. 101-108.]

According to Anyakoha (1992) the involvement of teachers and learners in improvising materials gives students and teachers the opportunity to concretize their creativity, resourcefulness and imaginative skills.

[Anyakoha EU 1992. Development and Utilization of Facilities for Home Economics Programmes in Nigeria Schools and Colleges for Manpower Development. Vocational/Technical Education and Manpower Development. Nsukka: NVA Publications.]

*There appears to be a relationship between  preparation of teaching models and  the trainee’s  own  pedagogical  acumen.    The model can  become a tapestry of the  trainee’s grasp of a particular pedagogic strategy.  In preparing a model, a trainee is putting an idea related to pedagogy to a new meaningful context... something visual and tangible to solidify the  pedagogic strategy in ones own mind.  Further,  in preparing  models, trainees are polishing  their fine motor skills- using  a pair of scissors, cutting  and folding  paper, learning  the abstemious use of glue etc. Sometimes   colouring and  painting  become essential which provides  an invaluable opportunity to  stimulate creativity. In fact, creating concrete or visual representations of information  provides scope for  developing  Visual-spatial intelligence.

Well...  are you  convinced of  the usefulness  of making models and using models for teaching?...

Please feel free to offer your comments...

46.Weddings and Education

From  A news  feature entitled  Lights,  Camera...I Do   which appeared in the Sunday Times of India   on  09 June  2013

From  a news item in the Sunday Times of India 22 September  2013

  

Is this the  ‘Unity in Diversity’ we should  crave for?.....

Would  the  conduct of weddings   become  a  cause for concern for educationists?

Any  Comments?