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?

45.Use and misuse of PowerPoint

PowerPoint  is   a craze among  presenters.   A couple of months ago, during an academic  exercise which  I  attended,   a speaker  prepared  slides  similar to  the ones below:

During the presentation,  someone in the audience  quipped .....don’t make us asses!!!

This  incidentally, is a cause for concern for  both teachers and students. Many  of us are unaware of  things that should be avoided while preparing   PowerPoint slides.

The  following link will lead  you to an article  entitled  ‘Disappearing Notes’ which appeared   in ‘The Hindu’, Education Plus in January 2013,   and is worth reading. It can be accessed at the following link

 http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-educationplus/disappearing-notes/article4305637.ece

For  those of you who prefer watching videos, do  view  Don McMillan’s  presentation entitled  ‘Life After Death by PowerPoint’. It can be accessed at the following link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbSPPFYxx3o

So...what is the message?....   Avoid  over use of  PowerPoint  or  avoid   misuse of PowerPoint  or  both?

44.When quality matters...

A recent news item expressing concern about ‘quality  issues’.... 

The objectives of Higher education may be different from  school education. But quality issues cannot be ignored. A sign of  quality of products of educational institutions is  the acceptability in the employment market. Are our  Graduates  employable?   Are we  really addressing  issues related to  quality in  Higher Education?

Any  Comments?

43. Remembering a Teacher-Poet

My   friend and Librarian of the college  where I teach, Mr. Sudheendran  went on Emergency Leave on the afternoon of 11 February 2012.  By morning the following day this  news  appeared in the Malayalam Daily,  Mathrubhoomi.

It was only when Sudhi, who is himself  a  writer of  essays and  fiction  returned after  the funeral and  Condolence Meeting  held in  the late Poet’s  home town, did  he  confide in  me the special  relation he had with the Teacher–Poet,  Sri. Vinayachandran.

It led me to recall the 1980’s  when I was a student of H.H.The Maharajah’s University College, Thiruvanthapuram.  Then, the Second Language  which I  had chosen for my Under Graduate Course was Malayalam and twice  every week Sri. Vinayachandran, would  engage Poetry class quoting avidly from classic literary pieces. 

As  a student of Literature,  I found every class which  he engaged, a  literary treat. He had the  unique ability to communicate  something of the  spirit of  the literary work  which he was assigned to teach. And the kind of adoration, the students  displayed for the  Teacher-Poet’s literary acumen could  have easily drawn  the  envy of  lesser teachers!

Last year,  on 24 August 2012,  Sri. Vinayachandran,  was the Chief Guest for the Onam Celebration in my college.  When  he  spoke, I could perceive  a  sense of  gloom. As he spoke about the celebration of Onam in  God’s Own  Country in yesteryears and  the normal   practice in which he rounds off his  speech with  a   rendering of his own composition, there was a perceivable  absence of the magnetism  which  he  is capable of generating through  his voice. I doubted it to  be  ill health... now  I  realize,  it was the commencement of his swan song...  

The following are notes which I made during the talk on 24 August 2012:

Perhaps  the earliest reference to Onam is available in Sangham Literature (AD 825). It is a pity  that   today,  how  Onam is to be celebrated is dictated by the Visual Media and  large companies!

In a book written by a British writer, one hundred years ago,  it is mentioned  that almost every house in Thiruvananthapuram city had in their front yard,  scores of coconut trees, banana  plants, mango trees and  Jack fruit trees.

Years ago,  men with good physique,   wearing  the  mask  of   a tiger would  emulate the  moves of a wild tiger  in ‘Pulikali’. Today, in its place we perceive the shaking of pot bellies creating  more of a comic effect!  

His advice to the trainees  of the college: “Only a love of the mother tongue can help you grasp the essence of  Malayalee culture... We have had great scientists who were lovers of music and  language...”

A poem  of his which he recited from memory at the end of his  talk, had for its theme  thoughts of a girl when  she returns home, and  what her mother thinks  about her.  The imagery  was one of  a baby  in  the innermost circle surrounded by its mother, father and grandparents in the outer circle and the society  in the outermost circle...  

Today,  I wonder whether the  imagery of  the ‘baby’- an  uncommon theme  in  poems which  I have  heard him recite,  was  anticipating the return of the Poet’s soul to his Creator...

May his memory ever remain with us... filled with a charm a  baby is capable of evoking...

Posted by Dr. C. Praveen