A day to remember

 Today is an important day for me as I am entering into 5th year of teaching profession and also I complete one year at Kameshwar International School (or I can say my second family). I am glad to celebrate 1 year work anniversary. I learnt many valuable life lessons like trust, perfection and unity. I made many mistakes but learnt something new every time. There were times when people have treated me and my dreams like trash, who tried to stop me from doing something good, but, I have people like my parents and some colleagues who have encouraged me to ignore negativity and walk ahead in the path of life. With their support, I never gave up and tried harder next time till  I was able to reach somewhere with my dream. There were times when I thought that it was impossible, where there were many ups and downs but I never backed down. I am really grateful to all those who have supported me every time I needed.

I have learnt many new things from my colleagues and students. I ended up being open and vulnerable which allowed me to grow, adopt and think on my feet! Having these experiences is the true life of a teacher. I got several opportunities to attend trainings, webinars, seminars, and national and international conferences which helped me grow in my field. I got opportunities to host events and it has been a great experience for me as I got more courage to wipe away the fear of standing in front of hundreds and thousands of people.

I spent a lot of time preparing for each lecture to be delivered, many activities that my students would enjoy and made sure that I had all of the materials but sometimes things wouldn't go as planned. Sometimes, technology would fail, or students would require more time to complete a task than expected. At that point of time, I realized that I need to prepare as much as possible but more than that, I needed to prepare to be flexible as we never know what will come up next. The questions asked by the students during discussions and inquiry made me think how a child could think differently. Their thinking makes me an inquirer.

My colleagues have taught me many things. They gave me suggestions, tips and ideas. Not only making friends was helpful but it also made my days joyful. If some day I was upset, some of them would understand my silence and would cheer me up. They have treated me like their own little sister. In short I can say is I ended up making friends for life.

"But I have promises to keep.

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep."

These line have been my favorite since my childhood. These lines have given me motivation to work with utmost dedication to achieve the things I desire for. When it comes to teaching, I have always motivated my students to work continuously as they have many things to achieve. I have loved getting to know each of my students' likes, dislikes, strengths and weaknesses. I believe this helped me teach them in a better way and hence made my classroom the happiest place to learn. I learned the importance of having an open mind as every class has different environment, different personalities, different curriculum and needs. Sometimes, students drive us crazy but it is inevitable that there will be relationships formed and connections made that leave lasting impressions.

My primary reason to pursue teaching as a career was my passion and the strong desire to positively influence and educate. Teaching gives me a sense of satisfaction. This year, I learned to become more independent, self-sufficient and a hard and smart working individual. My experiences have taught me to use a great deal of discipline and time management which are essential in the teaching profession. Balancing numerous activities with my school life, family and social life has provided me with a lot of experience with prioritization and has made me more efficient. I have tried and have come so far. The sense of happiness and satisfaction has reached my heart. I couldn't be more thankful to those who helped me discover myself. Being a lifelong learner has made me a positive person. It has also transformed my fixed mindset to a growth mindset. I am thankful to all (my parents in the first place and then all the institutions) who have given me a chance to work and utilize my skills. 

TWILIGHT MOVIE REVIEW

 

The story is set in a high school where a teenage girl of 17, Bella Swan  who falls for Edward Cullen. He is the most handsome as well as the weirdest boy in school who is different from others. His eyes color changes, his hands are cold. She is attracted towards him despite the fact that he is a vampire. Further, we come to know about his vegetarian vampire family who live in an isolated mansion where they stay away from school on sunny days as their skin glows like a diamond and they try to keep their secrets from others and the other vampires who are not good. This movie shows high school romance. Though Edward is dangerous, still Bella chooses to be with him. Edward is attracted towards her because of her fragrance, but he also doesn't want to kill her. He keeps on saying that they should stay far, far apart because he craves her so much. It's a story of a girl who wants to go all the way with him and doesn't care what might happen. She is ready to do anything for him.

          Twilight is a supernatural fantasy tale which mirrors the head over heels feeling that can cause us extreme joy, incredible pain, great happiness and grueling despair.

Research paper on "The use, advantages and disadvantages of multimedia technology in English Language Teaching"

 

THE USE, ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF MULTIMEDIA TECHNOLOGY IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

PRESENTED BY- URVI DAVE

dave.urvi71@gmail.com

SUBMITTED TO-

INTERNATIONAL WEBINAR

ELT & TECHNOLOGY

ORGANISED BY-

SMT. S B GARDI DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH

MKBU, GUJARAT (INDIA)

ABSTRACT

This paper aims to analyze the use of technology in English Language Teaching, problems faced by teachers and students/learners. As the technology is developing rapidly, better tools are being offered to experiment and explore with the new teaching methods. It also aims to make non-native speakers of English as language teachers conscious of the strategies to use it in an efficacious manner.

Key words - English Language Teaching, multimedia technology, interaction, culture etc.

INTRODUCTION

With the spread and development of English around the world, it has become an important means of communication among the people of different cultures and languages. English language is used as a second or third language by Indians and it holds a higher status than ever. It is used as curriculum in all the institutions. With the growing number of English learners, various teaching methods are tested to check the efficacy of English Language Teaching. Technology has been used from a long time in the form of movies, TV, tape recorder, computer etc.

"Technology has turned into one essential aspect of society that helps students to understand the bigger picture of the world and not just stay confined to what schools and teachers teach them within their classrooms."

                                     - Prajesh SJB Rana

Of course, the technology has proved to be successful in replacing the traditional language teaching. The modern language teachers have new challenges and duties given by the new era. Multimedia technology has now replaced traditional teaching way of English language. Language learners are being attracted towards technology as it makes teaching and learning engrossing as well as fruitful.

"Technology lies at the heart of globalisation process; affecting educational work and culture."

                                 - David Graddol

With the expanding popularity of English language, there is arising a need of change in the methods of teaching. To gain confidence and keep pace with English Language Teaching (ELT), they have to make headway into the world of multimedia technology. The term multimedia technology refers to computes based interactive applications that use both the hardware and software, allowing people to share their ideas and information. It is a combination of text, graphics, animation, video and sound. There are more native speakers and there is diversity in terms of learner's age, nationality and learning background which has become the chief feature of ELT. Growth of English language has been facilitated by the growth of interest. As the ELT models change rapidly, there has been a significant growth of literature regarding the use of literature in ELT. These literatures unequivocally accept technology as the most essential/crucial part in teaching. Technology dominates teachers as if they ignore technological developments, they would never be able to catch up with the new trend. The idea of teaching should be to acknowledge new technologies with limiting the functions of traditional teaching and the role of teachers.

ADVANTAGES

1) Students become passive learners which hampers the achievement of the goal (in traditional teaching method). It also hampers student's capability to acknowledge the structure, meaning and function of the language. For example, the use of PPTs make students think and comprehend the language easily. It creates a positive environment for the classroom activities such as group discussions, debates, quizzes etc and also develop communicative competence among students and between students and teachers.

2) The learners not only improve their listening ability but also learn about the culture of the target language. Technology helps them to share information and also helps them to actively participate where students learn the language more quickly and effectively.

3) "We also need to take into account that as human beings, we are very visual beings, that what we see tends to affect our judgment more and technology helps in bringing that visual aspect to education. Who here would prefer a lecture over a presentation?"

Technology helps in accessing information regarding the culture of the target language and also motivates students to learn language more effectively. While teaching English language, the sounds and pictures can be set together that enhance the active participation of students as well as teachers.

"Bad teaching will not disappear with the addition of even the most advanced technology; good teaching will benefit from appropriate use of technology to help learners achieve their goals."

4) Technology breaks the teacher-centered traditional teaching method and improves teacher's teaching performance as well as teaching contents. It goes beyond time and space and creates more real-life environment for English teaching.

5)  Student's problems have been addressed in the classroom only but now with the use of technology, their problems or doubts can be solved outside the class via emails and conferencing systems. Students can contact their teachers any time through internet and get their problems solved.

DISADVANTAGES

1) Teaching a language needs discussion, formed through questions and answers between teacher and students. Brainstorming sessions take place along with lots and lots of questions, students are guided to build up their capacity to answer. Real- life teaching vanishes with the use of technology as students get pre-arranged content and with this, they are unable to give feedback, which ignores the spontaneity in the students' mind that includes thinking and building up their learning capacity and problem solving.

2) Overhead projectors have been supplemented with blackboards in many institutions. Teachers can turn into slaves if they are totally dependent on it as they may be active in using technology but not competent enough to handle it properly. If the teacher uses computer for teaching all the time, they can't have direct eye contact with the students. Teachers should also use blackboards/whiteboards to write some questions or a few words while teaching.

3) The language learning programmes start with the expenses that are related to implementation of new technologies in education. The expenses include hardware, software and training of staff for at least one networked computer laboratory where everyone including teachers and students can use it. This problem occurs in language classes who do not get enough funds. The hardware itself comes in through a one-time grant and almost very little funding is left for training and software maintenance.

4) Technology helps a lot in understanding the content easily but obstruct their logical and abstract thinking as textual words are replaced by sound and image and handwriting by keyboard. Technology should never replace the role of a teacher rather it should be as an assisting tool only.

SUGGESTIONS

1) Teachers should play the leading role in teaching and also give opportunity to students to think, speak and listen. Technology should just be an assisting tool for them and not more than that.

2) Teachers have to encourage the students to think critically (brainstorming) which helps in becoming active learners rather than passive listeners.

3) Traditional forms have their own advantage. Tape recorders still play an important role in playing the listening materials. Teachers should not be totally dependent on technology and should integrate technology with the traditional teaching tools.

"In the absence of teachers trained to use technological tools in the classrooms, students will be unable to learn English as fast and effectively as they could with technology or as fast and effectively as their fellow students across the globe."

                            - England,399

4) Language teachers should introduce both traditional teaching method and technology so that the students can have the overall training on their LSRW skills as students feel some interest in learning through technology but in real life can feel inactive due to continuous using/looking at the screen. This can ignore their other skills of language learning.

 

CONCLUSION

To promote student's motivation and interest in language learning is the main objective of multimedia technology. A favorable environment should be created in order to achieve this goal which should also be based on the availability of teaching materials as well as information. Students should be motivated to use English language in order to communicate with anyone. Teachers should focus on maintaining the students' communicative competence.

Student's thinking and practical language skills can be improved with appropriate use of technology which can ensure and fulfil the result of English Language Teaching. In spite of some disadvantages, technology can be used effectively in English language teaching classrooms.

Overall, the non-native speakers of English as language teachers can teach English more effectively if they teach with the help of technology.

 

'Dil Bechara' Movie Review

The movie 'Dil Bechara' is adapted from the book 'The Fault in Our Stars' written by John Green. The director of the movie is Mukesh Chhabra. The novel's name comes from the famous quote, "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, for we are underlings" (Julius Caesar). It conveys the message that despite the imperfections of our destiny, we can thrive and lead a happy and fulfilling life. It teaches us the value of life, the time we spend with our loved ones, and the value of our feelings.

It is a love story of two lovers who are brought together by a tragic twist. Sushant Singh Rajput acts as Manny who suffered from osteosarcoma and Sanjana Sanghi as Kizie who is suffering from thyroid cancer and has numbered days left to live. Manny enters her life with the image of an irritating person but ultimately with his charms, he makes her fall in love with him. Now she starts to lead a normal life and fulfils her small dreams. What makes the movie memorable is how they both fight for life and take on death as if they were ever prepared. One of her dreams is to meet Abhimanyu Veer- her favorite writer. Manny helps her to fulfil it and they visit Paris to meet him. In the end, Manny dies leaving a heartbroken Kizie who realizes that though they had a limited time with each other, he gave her a forever within the numbered days.

'OMKARA' Movie Review

Othello is a tragic love story written by William Shakespeare and Omkara is the film adaptation of this story directed by Vishal Bhardwaj. The movie is based upon the theme of deep love and the deep belief of loyalty amongst the lovers. We can see the dark side of love in this movie. This movie is set in the backdrop of Uttar Pradesh. Ajay Devgan plays the role of Omkara or Omi (Othello in Shakespeare's 'Othello') who believes that his ladylove Kareena Kapoor as Dolly (Desdemona) is betraying him and so he grows suspicious though she was innocent.

If someone puts a doubt in our mind and we believe them more than our eyes, that tiny piece of doubt cab damage everything. Omkara is the leader of a band of outlaws who work for an MP. His friend and his right hand is Langda Tyagi (Iago). Omkara is chosen to be fielded for an assembly seat and Kesu is chosen as his successor in place of Langda Tyagi. Tyagi gets deeply hurt by this and plans to frame Kesu. He plans a conspiracy. Be fills poison in Omkara's mind that Dolly is having an affair with Kesu. Out of rage, he kills his beloved without clarifying anything. Later, Langda's wife, Indu reveals everything that this all was a plan to defame Kesu and Dolly was innocent but it was too late now. Omkara kills himself out of guilt. The movie is filled with emotions like love, jealousy, possessiveness, betrayal and destruction.

'AISHA' Movie Review

 Directed by Rajshree Ojha, Aisha is a movie based on the book 'Emma' written by Jane Austen. The sub-title is Don't be Cupid! Sonam Kapoor plays the role of Aisha, a young, rich and pretty girl from Delhi. She is unsteady in nature and so her interests keep changing everyday. Her current passion is match making and she starts working on her friend Randhir and a small town girl Shefali. Aisha totally changes Shefali's look and tries to bring them together but love doesn't generally follow the rules and designs. Abhay Deol plays the role of Arjun who is her neighbor, friend as well as his enemy (as he never minds chiding about her faults). She herself is attracted towards Dhruv and in the middle part of the movie, she hurts Arjun, Shefali and Pinky with her silly nature, ego and her attempts to get her own way. But in the end, she realizes her fault and declares her love for Arjun and finally everyone lives happily.

In the movie, we can witness no major hurdles to cross, no parental objections, no major conflicts to solve as it generally happens in most of the love stories. The director has remained faithful to the novel. In today's time, most of the relationships are so complicated but here, the plot is simple and so is the story.

"Kai Po Che" Movie Review

 

"Kai Po Che" is directed by Abhishek Kapoor. It is based on Chetan Bhagat's book titled as "The 3 mistakes of my life." It explores one of the most cherished human relationships i.e. friendship. This social drama explores the life in Gujarat which includes the 2001 devastating earthquake, 2002 Godhra riots between Hindus and Muslims and India- Australia test-series.

It is a story about the lives of three friends who open a cricket shop and training center together. Ram Kumar Yadav as Govind is a thoughtful and a serious person and is business minded who helps in maintaining the accounts. He becomes a maths tutor for Ishaan's sister and later falls in love with her. Sushant Singh Rajput as Ishaan is a short tempered and a gifted cricketer who commits himself to coach young persons. Amit Sadh as Omi is a good natured person whose maternal uncle is a local politician and helps him to set up the shop. They open a sports goods store and a cricket training center in Ahmedabad (their hometown). It is an incredible piece of historical fiction. We can witness the devastation caused in 2001 Gujarat earthquake. They are left without food or shelter. Their shop gets destroyed and they are left in heavy debt. When he is unable to pay the damages and heavy loan, Omi gets involved in his Uncle's party and gets into politics completely. His parents get executed in the communal riots and this is the point where their friendship is tested again. Ishaan discovers a child's talent of cricket and he tries to convince the boy's father to get him trained at the cricket center and nurture his talent.

The end is also tragic where we can see the Godhra riots between Hindus and Muslims where thousands died and it also impacted the life of three friends. This movie covers multiple topics like violence, revenge, forgiveness and politics.

'2 States' movie review

 

It's great to be back after a long time. It's time for a movie review!!

The movie is a bollywood release titled as '2 states' which shows two different cultures of India collaborating to Unity in diversity. This movie is based on Chetan Bhagat's book with the same title. If we talk about the performance of the actors, it was great as they put real efforts to bring the best shots and recorded a real story from a printed book.  The story is told from the male protagonist's point of view. Krish is a boy who is knowledgeable, aware of reality and his ambition and hopes to be a writer someday. He is raised by an overbearing Punjabi mother and an alcoholic father. Ananya is a middle class Tamil Brahmin girl from Chennai who is full of ambition and energy. Arjun Kapoor as Krish and Alia Bhatt as Ananya play as a couple whose romantic story revolves around them smoothly until their parents are introduced to each other.

They decided that they won't get married till they get their parent's consent. They face a tough time in battling with their parents as both are from different cultures and so their thinking doesn't match. Ronit Roy makes a special appearance as Krish's father and makes the climax interesting. There are many sad moments one of which is when they both breakup and stop contacting each other but also can't live without each other. This moment is shot with the song 'Chandaniya'. There are some funny moments too when Ananya attends a wedding and teaches the groom a lesson as the groom and his family demand for dowry. We can also see a blend of two different cultures (Punjabi and South Indian).

The scene I liked the most is when Krish proposes marriage to Ananya and her family with four gold rings saying, "mai ap sab se shadi karna chahta hu" (I want to get married to all of you) and this is the  moment when her family accepts him. In the end, both of them get married and this scene is followed by a song "man mast magan." The shehnai adds the freshness to the song and we can't resist listening to it. The message is clear in the movie that true love knows no boundaries, states, communities and cultures and it has a sole intention that is to bring people together to a time called forever.

THE CLASS OF 83 MOVIE REVIEW

 

The Class of 83: The Punishers of Mumbai Police is directed by Anurag Kashyap adapted from S Hussain Zaidi's book on Mumbai crime and Underworld. This book is a critique on the encounter specialists of the Mumbai Police Force.

Vijay Singh, an honest police officer is the Dean of the Officer's Training School in Nashik. He has been given punishment posting there. He is haunted by a failed operation against a gangster Kalsekar and secondly by the death of his wife, Sudha. Both these events have scared him emotionally. He chooses five underperforming students for this operation who are well known for their friendship, truth and loyalty namely Pramod Shukla, Vishnu Varde, Aslam Khan, Lakshman Jadhav and Janardan Surve. Along with them, the training inspector Mangesh Dixit and DCP Raghav Desai are aware of this plan. Raghav Desai helps him to form an off-the-records team specializing in encounter killings. Some time later, rivalry over encounter credits and lure for money tears the team apart.

This movie gives a feel of 1980s Mumbai as we can see cars like Fiat and Ambassador, BEST buses, mills, newspaper office and printing area. Vijay Singh is shown using a machine gun to kill the gangster. Vijay Singh is shown as a brooding mentor who is constantly battling his inner demons. He does not speak much but his eyes convey every dialogue. In the end, the gangster is killed and the four officers are held guilty in the court and get sentenced for a few years.

'A SUITABLE BOY' Movie Review

 

'A Suitable Boy' book was published in 1993 by Vikram Seth. It's setup is of 1950s when India got free from British rule recently. It showed how people were trying to adjust in the new environment. The people were stuck between twin forces i.e. tradition and modernity which were opposite to each other. This showed a world full of people looking inward and outward, having one foot in the past and one in the present.

Andrew Davies has done the screenplay adaptation of A Suitable Boy. He previously has done many adaptations including Leo Tolstoy's 'War and Peace' (2016) and Victor Hugo's 'Les Miserables' (2017). These adaptations have been done for BBC so the characters are shown speaking English.

The story revolves around Lata, a college student. Her mother wishes her to marry a suitable boy. She also has three suitors namely Amit, Haresh Khanna, and Kabir Durrani. The other side of the story revolves around her brother-in-law, Maan, who has an affair with an older Muslim woman Saeeda. We can see caste and religion based politics, capitalism, socialism, industrialization, fall of grace of the landed gentry, and other sundry concerns of young India. This series doesn't show India directly as a land of heat, dust, strange odors and snake charmers but gives a hint about all these indirectly. When we watch the series, we can relate it to Jane Austen's heroines as Lata shuttles between her suitors. Whereas Maan is stuck between love and infatuation. Lata is at first shown averse to the idea of marriage but then grows to consider it after feeling the need of a companion.

(THE WORD SUITABLE IN BLUE CONTAINS LINK OF THE TRAILER. YOU CAN CLICK ON THE LIN TO WATCH THE TRAILER)

MOVIE REVIEW OF 'CHHALAANG'

 

The movie Chhalaang is produced by Luv Ranjan starring Nushrat Bharucha and Rajkumar Rao. Neelima (Neelu), a computer teacher is shown striking a blow for women rights, gender equality and sports in this movie. The film is set in a small town of Haryana. Mahendra's (Montu) father is a respected lawyer in this town who uses his influence to get a job for his son. Initially, he is shown as a slacker who eats samosas and drinks tea in the PT period rather than doing his actual job. He became a PT teacher because he couldn't become anything else in his life. (Personally, I also have heard this thing especially for teachers that "when you are not able to do any other job or you are bored at home, you become a teacher." I don't think this is the reality as when I was a child, I always dreamt of becoming a teacher and I finally I fulfilled my dream. So, people should stop thinking this as not anyone becomes a teacher easily. We face many hurdles.) Montu likes to spend the day in the company of his Guru, Professor Shukla who teaches Hindi. They both keep eating samosa and drink tea. In the evening, Montu accompanies his childhood friend Dimpy and both of them keep consuming alcohol in large amounts.

             Montu's life takes a turn when Neelu joins school as a computer teacher. At the same time, Inder Mohan Singh, another sports teacher gets appointed as Montu's senior. Inder and Neelu both know each other from the past and Montu has a crush on Neelu. Montu gets hurt when he comes to know that they both knew each other. He feels jealous and claims that he is a better sports teacher than Inder and challenges him for a competition. The winner would stay while the loser will resign. Now when the selection begins, Montu's younger brother is chosen in Inder's team. Montu is forced to choose the studious students including the girls. Neelu forces him to select girls as well. In the end, Montu's team wins despite the heavy odds.

         Inder is shown as a highly disciplined and motivated sports teacher who takes his job seriously. He is arrogant but later accepts defeat with grace. The message is conveyed in a playful, non-preachy manner that sports are as much important for the growth of children as studies and this should be inculcated right from the initial years.

(To watch the trailer of this movie, click on the word Chhalaang written in blue in the first line)

MOVIE REVIEW OF 'THE WHITE TIGER'

 

The White Tiger is an adaptation of Aravind Adiga's novel 'The White Tiger' published in 2008. In this movie, we can see caste politics and the rich poor divide which is still prevailing in India from a long time. This movie shows that after all these years of independence, the mighty one's are still ruling. The movie shows that only way for the poor to survive is through crime and politics. Abject poverty and high society lifestyle, both can be seen here. There is a division between haves and have- not's.

              The character Balram Halwai studied a little during his childhood. He knew how to speak Hindi and his dream is to become the driver of Ashok. Ashok is the younger son of Zamindar who studied in America and has just returned. He is married to Pinky, an Indian girl, born and bought up in America. The elder son of Zamindar treats Balram like an animal (as he was of lower caste) but Ashok and Pinky treat him kindly. Once, Pinky was drunk and was driving when she ran the car over a child on road. But the blame had to be taken by Balram forcefully. Balram's inability to say NO further propels him to break the invisible chains around him. Ashok is shown doing too many deals against his wishes.

            We can see in the movie that Ashok's father and brother travel in the sleeper compartment on a train which no rich people will ever do so. The common man, the drivers, the relatives are shown speaking in English among themselves ( In practical world, the villagers are not able to speak Hindi properly due to their mother tongue influence then how can they speak in English?)

       Pinky, a modern girl, is not used to the patriarchal ways of her in-laws and rebels against them openly without any hesitation. This is when Ashok and Pinky decide to leave village and live in Delhi. Ashok is also caught between the two extremes and is unable to decide where he belongs. His character is shown helpless. At last, Balram murders Ashok and starts his own company (as he always dreamt of becoming an entrepreneur). This movie is made keeping in mind the Western audience which reinforces the stereotype of India being a poor, third world country and a land of snake charmers.

(TO WATCH THE TRAILER, CLICK ON THE LINK GIVEN IN THE FIRST LINE IN THE WORDS WHITE TIGER WRITTEN IN BLUE)

NAVODAYA BY GOPAL KHETANI

For the first time, I was interested in reading a Gujarati book titled NAVODAYA by Gopal Khetani. This book was launched a few days ago. I was one of the attendees where the author introduced his book and one of his former professor launched it. From that day, I was eager to read it so I ordered it on the same day. This book is published by Nexus Stories Publication, Surat, Gujarat. This novella is based on 'Vidur Niti' further explained "Dharma nu acharan kari niti purvak kamani karvi ea pan paramsiddhi che."

The story takes place in a village called Ranpur. The story is divided in 14 chapters. The protagonist is Arjan. Whole novella revolves around how he deals with the difficulties and successfully completes his doctorate studies and becomes a famous and successful doctor. Then something happens which changes his life and thought and he starts to think about serving in his village. His friends Jeetu and Dipak help him throughout his struggle. Other people of the village also help him selflessly and slowly and steadily he gets successful in opening a hospital in his village with all the amenities and facilities. This novella shows the struggle of parents who want their child to study further and become a doctor, struggle of a person who studies hard and works part time at a shop to manage his finances and finally becoming a successful doctor helping people of his village. We get to know about his childhood and young days, friendship, love and business. In the last chapter, Arjan gives a speech on his entire journey which we can imagine how difficult it was. He thanks everyone who were present there during his entire struggle.

Taare Zameen Par with connection to Dyslexia

"A child is a gift of God, a blessing from above, a picture of purity and innocence."

While attending today's online conference on Covid-19: Opportunity to learn, explore and experiment organised by ELTA Telangana, I came across a presentation on Dyslexia and I suddenly remembered about the movie Taare Zameen Par which also talks about the issue of Dyslexia. I got to know many new things which I thought should connect with the movie.

 Firstly we shall discuss about what is dyslexia. The disorder with specific difficulties in reading was identified by Oswald Berkhan in 1881 and the term 'dyslexia' was coined in 1887 by Rudolf Berlin, a German Ophthalmologist practising in Stuttgart, Germany. He used the term to refer to a case of a young boy who had a severe impairment in learning to read and write in spite of showing normal intellectual and physical abilities in all other aspects. Brain takes longer to make some connections and does it in more steps. It especially has trouble matching the letters you see on the page with the sounds those letters and combinations of letters make. (b-d) (top-pot) (mirror image of words) (animal- animl, anml, enaml).

There are 5 types of Dyslexia- Trauma dyslexia, Primary dyslexia, Developmental dyslexia, Visual dyslexia and Phonological dyslexia. There is no cure for it but students can succeed in school or later in life with the assistance of teachers, school accommodations and modifications, support of family and appropriate intervention and instruction.

Children with this kind of learning disabilities are not accepted by the society. They are left behind in academics, they cannot participate in school activities and they also don't have friends or may have 1 or 2 friends only. Dyslexia is a neurological disorder as the brain is not able to process the visual matter effectively. So the child experiences problems to interpret letters, shapes, numbers or any other visual material. Such children maybe intelligent also but cannot express their intelligence in tests. Many people in today's time are not able to understand or accept or maybe do not have knowledge about this problem. If their child does not perform well, they scold them and label the as 'useless', 'dull', 'duffer' and what not. Everyone wants their child to become successful. Some children who are gifted (we do not use the word disabled) face too much pressure from their parents, peers, school that they get emotionally detached from them. Parents should understand that their child is gifted who has a special ability to study and interpret images. They may not be genius in academics but can master other skills like Ishaan in Taare Zameen Par.

Taare Zameen Par is a 2007 released bollywood movie directed and produced by Aamir Khan. The film revolves around the life of a 8 year old boy Ishaan Awasthi (starring Darsheel Safary) who is suffering from Dyslexia. This movie has a wonderful tagline- 'Every child is special.' This indicates that every parent has to understand then only they can discover the uniqueness of their own child. Ishaan, a boy who finds it difficult to match his world of colours, kites and animals to that of the other of his age group who are more into studies and homework. He does not perform well in school and when complaints start coming in large numbers, he is sent to boarding school. There is no difference in his regular school and the boarding school. He is constantly insulted and beaten by his teachers and becomes a laughing stock of the class. He feels lonely and inferior. He finds it difficult to overcome his problem. After some time, Mr. Nikumbh (arts teacher) arrives who realises that he is suffering from dyslexia and tries to help him in every way possible. He makes everyone understand his problem and request them to behave normally with him. He makes everyone realise that he is a special child with unique talent. With time, patience love and care from Nikumbh, Ishaan succeeds in overcoming his inability and gain confidence.

" Every child comes with a message that God is not discouraged of man. Every child is a star on Earth, is special who cleanses the soul, an empty canvas, waiting to be painted with love."

                                     - Rabindranath Tagore

1) Ishaan is a skilful, adventurous, artistic, lovely, sensitive, nature lover and lives in the world of fantasies. He can solve puzzles easily, can paint, can understand poetry (he tells the meaning of a stanza from Hindi poem during class). His problem is he cannot read, write, calculate (surprise maths test), is not able to memorise or answer, cannot follow instructions fastly (when he is instructed to open a particular page number and read a particular paragraph and line). When he fails to do something or he is scolded by someone for something, he feels angry, lonely, abandoned and frustrated at times which can be seen when he kicks the flower pots. He lacks motor skills as he cannot know his tie or tie his shoelaces properly. 

                                                       Ishaan's Painting

2) One of the scene shows large insects moving out of Ishaan's bag to reveal that books and studies seem to be scary to him. 

3) Dyslexics have poor time management, get easily distracted and might lose their sense of time. This thing is shown in the movie when Ishaan forgets to board his school bus and the conductor gets him to the bus. At that time Ishaan is fascinated by the fishes in the school pond.

                         

4) According to Sally S. (2013), Dyslexics have 'vivid imaginations'. They are disoriented in time and space. They are known to be "right brain dominant." This can be seen when Ishaan and his classmates are given a surprise maths test where he does not know what to do. He stares at one question and then goes away in his imagination. While be comes back to reality, he is able to solve only one question which is also incorrect (3×9= 3).  ( VIDEO LINK IN THE BRACKET)

5) BDA (2007) "With proper teaching methods, dyslexics could cope with daily life and in school. However, dyslexia is permanent and cannot be outgrown." This is shown when Ishaan is sent to boarding school where he meets his arts teacher Mr. Nikumbh who helps him in every way possible and uses specialised teaching methods to help him learn better and in the end, he shows tremendous improvement and scores higher grades in all the subjects.

6) Mr. Nikumbh is also shown to be working with children with special needs in another school where he interacts with them on a very simple level ( with love and care). Those students perform in a function which is a very heart touching emotional moment. This shows that children (facing these types of problems)  can overcome these struggles if they are treated in the right way.

7) When Ishaan's parents come to know about his condition, his father comes to meet Mr. Nikumbh and says that they do care for him as his mother has been doing online research on dyslexia. But here, Mr. Nikumbh very gently makes him understand what caring actually is ("khayal karna is ko kehte hai na? Muje ye sun kar khushi hui ki aapko lagta hai ki aap khayal karte hai.") He says that parents' responsibilities don't end with providing the best educational options or materialistic comforts or a luxurious lifestyle. Taking care of your child means to comfort him, be with him when he needs you the most, motivate him when he is dejected, just a hug or kiss is enough to show that you really care.

8) Another thing Nikumbh tells him of Solomon Islands where people don't cut off an unwanted tree but gather around cursing it and indirectly it dies after some time. The same is with a person. Words can make or break a person. A slap will never have the same effect that harsh words have.

9) Some famous dyslexic people are Albert Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, Agatha Christie, Walt Disney.

International Webinar on ELT & Technology

I got a chance to attend the second webinar organised by Department of English (my favourite place where I earned my Post graduation degree) MKBU, Bhavnagar, Gujarat on 2^nd and 3^rd June 2020 on the topic ELT & Technology. This time I presented a paper and my topic was "The use, advantages and disadvantages of Multimedia technology in English Language Teaching."

Abstract- The paper aims to analyse the use of technology to ELT in the non-native speaking countries and to bring out the problems faced by both teachers and learners of English. The rapid development of science and technology such as multimedia technology has offered a better tool to explore the new teaching methods. It has played an important role in ELT, especially, in the non-native speaking of English situations. It also aims to make non-native speakers of English as language teachers aware of the strategies to use it in an effective manner.

Earlier it was a one day webinar but there were around 90 paper presenters so Dilip Sir decided to extend the event to 2 days. But there were some problems with the weather conditions. A cyclone (Nisarg) was predicted at the seashore so it may disrupt the event but sir is always ready with Plan B. Fortunately everything went on smoothly both the days. As it is said- 'Where there is a will, there is a way'. Sir's dedication towards work has always been appreciable and beneficial not only for him but for others too.

This was my second experience of participating and presenting in an International event. The paper presenters were from different states and countries. All the paper presenters presented their papers very well. Their topics were very different where I came to know about many new concepts and tools used in language teaching like Flip grid and Mentimeter. Plenary sessions were also very interesting as the speakers talked about their real life experiences and the teaching methods were also discussed. The plenary speakers were-

1) Vance Stevens (Malaysia) who talked on "From thinking SMALL on social media assisted language learning to TALIN: Teaching and Learning in IsolatioN."  He showed one image from the past and one of present. Then a comparison was done. In the nearer beginning, there were computers and there was language learning and the two began to converge in the 1970s. Then be showed some images of earlier computers, a spirit copier and typical output. A discussion was also done on Krashen's book "Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition" (1981). He then talked about Siemens on the necessity of chaos in learning, learning language by making sense of chaos. A talk was also held on Levy and Hubbard's (2005) Why call CALL 'CALL'? (this term has been in use for 2 decades at the time the article was written). SMALL (social media assisted language learning) was also discussed along with TALIN (Teaching and Learning in IsolatioN). Overall, it was an interesting topic and we got to know many new things.

2) Dr. Ania Lian (Australia) spoke on "Remote teaching and learning of English Language in higher education contexts: Experiences and research from a country where distance learning is be norm, not a calamity." She discussed on what makes leaning in higher education different today where Top 10 skills required in 2020 were told i.e. Complex problem solving, Critical thinking, Creativity, People management, coordinating with others, Emotional intelligence, Judgement and Cognitive flexibility. The first point was the expectations of technology which are HOTS (Higher Order Thinking Skills), Learning by immersion and Self- directed learning. Second point was what is available were it was told about the activities that extend the students' capacity to act in a broad range of contexts, expand their intercultural understandings and values and develop critical thinking. The third point was limitations of what is currently available online and they are Preparation, Scope of activities and Technology Tools.  The fourth point was what can we do today. This too was an interesting session as we got to know about the latest skills which are required and the different activities which take place in different countries (which we can also experiment on our students).

3) Heike Philp (Belgium) interacted on "Is teaching live online the new normal?" An online poll was taken on some questions like How do you feel about teaching remotely, Name the tool/app/platform which can be used in remote teaching for development of 'Writing skills', What other hurdles in using technologies in your local environment are there and how are teachers' ready to use technology. This vote was taken on mentimeter where the speaker can control the questions on the screen. This session was very interactive as after the live poll, every question was discussed in detail and the poll results were also shown where the speaker discussed about her own experiences too.

After the webinar was over, we had to give an online test and then give feedback. In the online test, I scored 30/30 and I got a Certificate of Participation and a Certificate of Paper Presentation. These two days were very fruitful for me and helped me expanding the horizons. All thanks to the organising team and Dilip Sir who never misses a chance to motivate us with his tireless interest and efforts.