Month: June 2012

The dynamics of the learning system

Ninad Jagdish

System Dynamics is a method of study that has been used for over two decades in schools in the US, Germany and other Scandinavian countries. This method can be useful in a country like India where there are several issues around learner-centric education. The current article touches just the surface of what system dynamics is and how it can be used in schools, but it gives a taste of just what might be in store!

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Thinking about language

One of the biggest conundrums facing our education system at all levels, from the pre-kindergarten to the advanced tertiary, is the language question. Teachers struggle with building relationships and understanding with toddlers who come into their classrooms from multiple linguistic backgrounds. Professors at the postgraduate level struggle with the same issue, rendered many times more complex, when having to discuss abstract concepts in an unfamiliar – or at best, poorly understood – language. Even though we may have ostensibly set aside much of our colonial baggage, we continue to have a troubled and uneasy relationship with the language. While present generations may no longer have the luxury of debating the political implications of adopting what was once a “foreign tongue”, we cannot escape or wish away the social, economic and cultural implications of avoiding it. In fact, for most of us, there is no escape from English. There’s a widespread acceptance that if we are to get ahead in this world, we must get comfortable with it, in our daily lives, in the workplace, and most certainly, in our classrooms. This issue of Teacher Plus delves into the intricacies of English language teaching: beginning with a historical perspective, we move on through the politics and the problematic to the practicalities. Our guest editor, Manaswini Sridhar, has helped us put together a diverse array of articles that should stimulate thinking and activity around the important project of language teaching. Some of the pieces relate to how we might re-think our approach to teaching and assessment, while others emphasize the need to think about language use as an important skill that is increasingly indispensible in the employment arena. And yet others pull back and force us to look critically at how what happens in the language classroom shapes attitudes to culture and society. As is the case with any of our special issues, it’s impossible to put a circle around a theme and say we’ve got it covered. The pages of a magazine are simply not enough to explore every aspect of a subject in every possible way. So there are bound to be gaps, unexpressed ideas and whole swathes of information missing. But as with every special issue, we present this to you as just a tiny tip of the proverbial iceberg! “English, English everywhere, Nor a correct word heard or spoken anywhere.” Strangely enough, this seems to be the plight of the English language in contemporary India. Generation X, raring to conquer the latest technology,

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Pull out your ‘magic bag’ of tricks!

Gita Krenek One of the most useful ‘resources’ I have found to help me get children to speak English has been what is called a ‘magic bag’ – in other words, a bag full of all sorts of bits and pieces. These could be things that lie around your house, such as a (small) book, toothbrush, key, candle, matchbox, comb, photo, pen. Or things that other people have no use for any more, such as (baby size) shoes / cap / socks, artificial flower or leaf, plastic fruit, small ball, toy car, plastic or stuffed animals. Once you get enthusiastic, you may like to make some things yourself, like a miniature sweater, house out of a matchbox, tree or snake from salt dough*. Or you might see something at the market that is just the thing (the things that dangle off key rings are often good) – my favourites are a rubber rat, and a miniature bicycle. You can keep adding to and varying the things in the bag, so as to keep the pupils guessing and their interest high. It is helpful to have many duplicates for when you practice plurals. They need not be identical, for example, you could have a little wooden elephant and a larger plastic one. They are still both elephants. It might be more interesting for the children if the bag is special looking, rather than a plastic shopping bag. There are so many things you can use the bag for – here are my experiences, but I’m sure you will come up with lots more ways to use the idea. Vocabulary: Simply say, “What’s in the bag?” Take the objects out of the bag, one at a time, identifying each one. Practise a lot. Always put ‘a’ in front of a noun. Encourage a full sentence: “What is this?” “It is a …” Naming competition: Divide the class into two teams. As you pull an item out, everyone calls out its name as fast as they can. The team that names the object correctly first gets a point. You will be amazed at how suddenly recall improves! The author has taught English to school children in Austria and Ecuador, and to young adults in India. At present she is working as a volunteer in a small NGO-run primary school for rural children in the foothills of the Himalayas. She can be reached at gitakrenek@gmail.com. This is an article for subscribers only. You may request the complete article by

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Words from my world

Sheela Ramakrishnan If a child can apply what he/she has learnt in daily life, then we can claim that teaching or educating has been effective. In that sense we can say that all learning is from life for life. The backbone of all human interaction is language; language is also the link to comprehending and transferring knowledge from the abstract to the concrete. Take away language from our learning process and we are left with a big void. Be it math, science, social studies, physical education, craft, music or any branch of knowledge, the common thread that binds them together is language. To use an easy analogy, if each knowledge discipline is a pearl bead, then the string that keeps it together so that it can become a necklace is language. Without language, the bead cannot completely string itself . No wonder then, that inadequate language development can affect comprehension of a word problem in math, dilute understanding of a scientific concept, and cause serious gaps in the learning of social studies. This may not be because the child is not capable of understanding the concepts, but because the child does not have adequate language skills to comprehend or express ideas. The importance of language learning is therefore not just the responsibility of the language teacher, but of all teachers. Providing adequate opportunities to express ideas and using grade level appropriate vocabulary are vital aspects that are often ignored. The level of language and vocabulary used in the subject course materials are sometimes vastly different and at variance. Textbooks do not take into account this difference in vocabulary. Therefore, the only solution is to build strong language skills in the children. Since learning is from life for life, language learning ought to be natural and related to the child’s environment. The more contextualised the learning is to the child’s surroundings and related to the familiar, the more meaningful it becomes. An educator ideally ought to focus on ways to use the environment effectively as a stimulus for language learning. Given below is a template of a tried out approach, “Language Around Me” using the environment as a stimulus leading to language development. The steps are based on accepted pedagogical rationales as follows: Known to unknown Simple to complex Listening, speaking, reading writing sequence in language learning. Multi sensorial approach Multiple Intelligence theory Varied learning styles of learners The materials needed are simple and easily available: Chart paper sheets or computers, if available Thick marker pens

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Get it from the horse’s mouth

Leena Anil Teaching students to speak in a language which is not their own is a challenge, be it one or fifty students. The analogy that comes to mind is of learning the cuisine of another country. Take for example, French cuisine. If you are adventurous and want to bake your own bread, you might want to try baking a baguette. The battle with the baguette begins with pronouncing the word correctly, collecting the right ingredients and of course painstakingly following each step in bread making, so that the end product has a close resemblance to the French original. Most importantly, one has to repeat the process several times to come close to achieving perfection. Likewise, when teaching students to speak English, one has to follow a very systematic process of understanding how second language learning happens, the problems faced by learners and the solutions that can be worked out so that at the end of a “Course in Spoken English,” one can speak it with near native-speaker competence, though not literally with a native-speaker accent. As with learning any skill, one cannot over emphasise the importance of practice. Like cooking, cycling and swimming, speaking is also a skill, one of the four skills of language, the other three being listening, reading and writing. A skill is learnt through practice, and through application in daily life of what is learnt in the classroom. After you have baked your baguette, the real test will come when you serve it and people start eating it. Likewise, after you have completed your course in spoken English, the real test is when you open your mouth to speak. According to Penny Ur, “Of all the four skills, speaking seems intuitively the most important: people who know a language are referred to as “speakers” of that language.” She goes on to describe the characteristics of a successful speaking activity as one where: learners talk a lot as against teacher talk. participation is even, where classroom discussion is not dominated by talkative students but where all get a chance to speak. motivation is high among learners who are eager to speak because of an interest in the topic and because they have something new to contribute. language is of an acceptable level of accuracy, with learners expressing themselves in relevant and easily comprehensible ways. The author is an English teaching entrepreneur. She can be reached at linaneel@gmail.com. This is an article for subscribers only. You may request the complete article by

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Learning to read: recognizing the challenges

Gurveen Kaur Teaching reading to children from print-rich backgrounds as well as print-deprived backgrounds has made me realise that there are important unnoticed and overlooked gaps that must be filled in for the second set of children. Any child who comes from a family of readers and plenty of books, has a different introduction to books from a child who comes from a print-deprived background. Children from a family of readers see adults absorbed in reading and sense their irritation/impatience at being disturbed whilst reading. They wonder what keeps the adults so engrossed and soon begin to imitate the adults. The children whose parents read to them soon associate books with fascinating stories, wonderful adventures and they are keen to explore the wonderful worlds that books open up for them. They begin to imitate the postures and movements of adults much before they actually read. They soon figure out the right way to hold a book, not just by looking at the pictures! Over a period of time, even before they actually begin to read, these children catch on that we generally read from left to right, begin at the top of the page and read to the bottom of the page. They pick this up sitting in the lap of the adult/parent reading aloud to them. Their early exposure to books is a warm, pleasant experience/memory because of which they want to read. These children are motivated to learn as they see reading as an adult skill that they lack. Children from print-deprived homes lack this initial positive introduction (that children from print-rich families soak in) before they are actually taught to read. The children from print-deprived homes tend to think of books as a purely school-related activity and rarely as a pleasurable activity. When we overlook this fact and rush into teaching reading without spending enough time building a motivation for reading, we lose more time than we gain. We need to build a positive exposure and attitude to reading and books before hurrying into teaching the alphabet. At a minimum, they need access to colourful picture books and adults who will read out fascinating stories to them. The author is with Centre for Learning, Hyderabad. She can be reached at kaur.gurveen@gmail.com. This is an article for subscribers only. You may request the complete article by writing to us at editorial@gamart.in.

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Spinning stories

Chintan Girish Modi When a colleague of mine introduced me to a little story book called Mr Forgetful, I read it with great delight and amusement. It seemed like the perfect thing to share with children, both for its simplicity and its capacity to induce laughter. On my second reading, I was struck by the idea that one story could inspire many different stories. This led to a project for students of Standard VI at Muktangan as part of their continuous and comprehensive evaluation. Here are some pointers to help you try out the same project in your school. Read out the title of the story to your students – Mr Forgetful. Ask them to think about the title and guess what the story might be about. The objective is to get them to reflect on how a title can often throw light on the plot. Elicit answers and put them up on the blackboard in the form of a mind map. If something sounds silly or weird, do not reject it outright. You have offered students an opportunity to use their imagination, and they might want to let it run wild as they predict what lies in store. It is often great fun to hear the amazing range of things students come up with. There is a lot of scope for laughter in the classroom as they share their thoughts. And there’s just so much more material for stories of different kinds to take shape! Having sparked off your students’ curiosity, read out the story slowly and carefully, pausing wherever required, modulating your voice in keeping with the emotions being expressed. This will help them appreciate the nuances of the story, the little details that create impact and hold them captive as listeners. Do not explain anything at this point. As a teacher, this is a difficult urge to resist – the urge to explain, for fear that the student may not understand. And in the bargain, we sometimes over-explain, and foreclose the possibility of any surprise. It’s true that not all students may challenge themselves to listen between the lines, make meaning on their own, and trust their individual interpretations. However, there is no harm in beginning to challenge everyone a little bit so that they are nudged outside their comfort zone to learn. Just read with expression. Questions, if any, can be answered later. Ask them to listen carefully, to not get stuck if they don’t understand the meaning of a particular

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“Songs? No way!”

S Upendran I began using songs in the English language classroom over twenty years ago, and I have found them useful not only in teaching the four skills of language – reading, writing, speaking and listening – but also grammar; a subject that is often loathed by both students and teachers alike! I must confess that the idea of using songs was not something that suddenly dawned on me. Though as a child growing up, I did learn a lot of English by listening to songs, I never considered using them as a tool that could be used in the classroom. My curiosity was aroused when I came across a few articles advocating the use of songs. The articles seemed to suggest that songs were a fun way of learning English, and that students, whether they were adults or children, always welcomed them with a great deal of enthusiasm. The first time I used songs was when the university I was working in ran a proficiency level course for students who had completed their Bachelor’s degree and who desired to hone their communication skills. The 30 or so students who had been admitted to the “Certificate of Proficiency in Oral Communication” course were a mixed lot – some whose medium of instruction in school and college had been English, and others who had been taught through the medium of English only when they had joined the undergraduate programme. Armed with the ideas that I had gathered from the various articles I had read, I selected a song, which I thought the students would like (Air Supply’s “Every Woman in the World”) and stepped into the classroom. The articles that I had read were unanimous in their opinion that students generally welcomed songs with unbridled enthusiasm. What I had failed to take into account was the fact that the authors of these articles were all teaching English in Europe. I hadn’t come across any article written by someone who was teaching in a Third World country. Perhaps if I had, I would have been prepared for the ‘shock and awe’ that the students had in store for me. The author teaches at The English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad. He can be reached at supendran@gmail.com. This is an article for subscribers only. You may request the complete article by writing to us at editorial@gamart.in.

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A need to focus on the basics

Usha Chandrasekaran In one of my postgraduate classes in English I came across Kayalvizhi who was zealous about learning. She displayed a remarkable understanding of English Literature. With all her flair for fresh thinking, Kayalvizhi stammered a lot while speaking; her writing was intermittent and jerky. During one of our ever-lengthening seminar sessions I learnt that Kayalvizhi reproduced facts collected from her classmates as she was not able to read lengthy material independently. Her remarkable grasp of the unknown and the new and her quest for knowledge kept her on par with the benchmarks we set for assessing performance for college classes. When I probed into her learning history she told me that she had come up to this level by listening to what was taught in the class. She must be an aural learner who receives maximum information through listening. I looked at her with reverence. She added saying that even today she cannot read a novel or short story as the print marks on the page are continuous. She is comfortable if written materials are presented with sub-heads or in short graphs or in bullet forms. Though I am an ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher, I did not forget to find out how she reads texts in her mother tongue, Tamil. It was the same story again. She could reproduce facts from a text when I read out the material. It was another story when a team of teachers tried to goad her into reading a page of information written in the novelistic tradition. She is pursuing her M.Phil in English, wherein she has to process a number of texts on her own. She is able to manage because her comprehension is ahead of her text processing skills. What we need to think about in this context is that Kayalvizhi is only one of the unknown and unsung warriors who are fighting their way through the portals of higher education in spite of their learning difficulties related to language processing. What is lamentable about her situation is that she did not have anyone at the high school to tell her that if she had problems with reading continuous narrative discourse, then she could opt for subjects that are taxonomic like botany, or subjects that involve deciphering symbols and equations like chemistry. There are problems in making such decisions also. One had to find out if she had had the aptitude for subjects that involve deciphering symbols. ESL teachers in the high

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Homework that really works

Mini Joseph “I like a teacher who gives you something to take home to think about besides homework.” – Lily Tomlin This is exactly the kind of teacher I would appreciate because he or she would enable the student to think creatively and critically beyond the textbook, in other words ‘beyond chalk and talk.’ It is a fact that homework is a vital link between home and school. Teachers give homework to help children understand and review class work. Parents find out what their child is studying by being involved in homework. However, it is unfortunate that the dividing line between a child’s involvement in the homework and the adult’s involvement in the child’s homework is fast disappearing. Today, as in the last three decades or so, in most cases it is the adult who helps a child out with almost 80 per cent of his/her homework. This is true in developing Asian countries such as in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Thailand, China, Malaysia and others. Homework help comes in many forms. Finding the right kind of help will depend on one’s child’s needs, schedule and the budget . However, in most Asian countries, neither the child nor the parents have the right to choose the homework appropriate for the child. Despite the fact that educationists are leaning towards progressive education, where the child’s needs are the focus, parents, teachers and children are in a dilemma when it comes to choosing the right kind of English homework. Actually, there is no ideal kind of English homework. All written and reference work done at home is absolutely okay if it suits the child’s needs. Nevertheless, I will provide a few suggestions. The author is a teacher of English at St. Xavier’s Collegiate School, Kolkata. She can be reached at minijosep@rediffmail.com. This is an article for subscribers only. You may request the complete article by writing to us at editorial@gamart.in.

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