 |
|
| Sunday,
September 21, 2003, Chandigarh, India
|
|
||||
An educative experience for Thai teachers Chandigarh, September 20 In the city for sight-seeing and a visit to the schools, members of this team of 10 teachers, mostly men, are unanimous in their opinion that teachers fluent in English were hard to get back home. “In most Indian schools we have visited, not only the teachers but the students also are very well-versed in English language. In Thailand, we teach our lessons in Thai though English is compulsory. To make up for the shortcomings in the teaching of the English language among Thai teachers, schools usually employ a foreigner along with a native teacher to teach the language,” says Ms. Thidaphom, who teaches English at a school in Thailand. Her colleague, Ms Suwimol, adds, “A lot of electronic gadgets are employed in the classrooms for teaching. We get recorded material for teaching English all the way from Cambridge, use projectors, tape recorders and computers, multimedia capsules extensively to aid teaching and have semester system instead of the annual examination system popular in India.” All praise for the Indian students after their visit to a couple of schools, the teachers claim that the Indian students seemed to be much more aware, interested and participative in comparison with their Thai counterparts. ‘‘The teacher enjoys teaching such a receptive class that is ready to grasp information. The Indian class is completely different from ours. We have students who are not only quiet learners but withdrawn as well. They could easily learn a lesson or two from Indian students,” explains Mr Jaruton, who is also interested in learning Hindi before leaving for his country. The striking difference in the systems being followed in India and Thailand is that while Indian students are promoted to the next class on the basis of their performance in the annual examination, in Thailand, students are given a pre-test even after promotion. “This test enables us to identify where they stand in a class of 50 students. Accordingly, they are given more practice, more homework and more assignment sheets and are brought up to the level of the others,” explains Mr Dan, a teacher at Mont Fort College. While the team has learnt from the Indian classroom experience, they were also impressed by the beauty of Indian women, their dress sense and their culinary skills. All of them are carrying back with them the traditional salwar-kameez in addition to the Indian spices. “We have fallen in love with India and its people, particularly for the respect they show to their elders and tolerance of other religions. The rich cultural heritage, the architecture and the blend of the traditional with the modern make it a unique country. However, it was the glory of the Taj Mahal that beckoned us and we are taking back much more,” says Ms Sakunrat. Having an image of India being the land of snake charmers, the team was pleasantly surprised by the well laid out cities, an educated populace and a developed nation. “Before we left our country for this month-long visit, we were told that we would be greeted by dirt and hunger. Contrary to that picture, India is a beautiful place and a must-see for every tourist. We are taking back fond memories and lots of pictures to show our colleagues and friends and are leaving behind new friends with a promise to meet again,” they all say in unison. |
|
Indian dinosaur discussed in France Chandigarh, September 20 Paleontologists from several countries including, the USA, Brazil, France, Germany, Spain and England, took part in the symposium. He has been into excavation and research on dinosaurs for the past 13 years. He has a collection of over 80 eggs, thousands of eggshell fragments, a hundred coprolites
(fossilised faecal matter) and other skeletal material of dinosaurs including a 75 million-year-old femur (thigh bone), which he discovered during excavation in Madhya Pradesh, Gujrat and
Maharashtra. He has been honoured twice by the Department of Science and Technology, New Delhi. Dr Khosla during his post-doctoral studies in the year 1997-98 at
Montpelliar, had suggested to undertake a comparative study of Indian and European Union
(EU) dinosaur eggs and egg-shells. The conclusion of this study was formulated and discussed at the symposium. The study unveiled many similarities between the Indian and European Union dinosaur eggs and eggshells both on macroscopic and microscopic level, Dr Khosla added. Dr Khosla elaborated that several countries, including France, had protected their dinosaur nesting sites and displayed the collected dinosaurial material at museums in this regard. According to him, India should also provide for the state-of-the-art museums in order to spread awareness among the public. |
|
|
Creating designer watches Chandigarh, September 20 Under the guidance of Vijay Vikram Kant from LVMH group, Sheetal Chauhan from Swatch group and Rajiv Kaul from Kamla Dials and Devices, the participants have blended the designing element with watch technology to create some outstanding designs. For example Gurjot Sham has taken inspiration from Shekhawati painting from Rajasthan to make a classic piece while Sheen Jain has taken motifs from an Indian temples. The workshop was organised by Ethos, a watch store in Sector 8, to expose students to the nuances of international watch industry focussing on major groups and brands, the concept of branding visual merchandising and fast emerging trends in watch designing in terms of design and presentation. In today’s award-giving function, the best three designs, one from each category, were awarded with Best Design Certificate and a watch from Ethos. The best 25 designs are being displayed at the gallery at Ethos. The exhibition, will conclude on September 24. Sheen Jain got the Best Design Certificate in classic category, Amandeep Kaur in sport category and Shivani Dham in fashion category. Swati Mittal’s design won the Best Overall Design certificate. All participants were given participation certificate. |
|
Aid sought for visually
challenged students Chandigarh, September 20 Mr Prem Singh, handed over a comprehensive list of visually handicapped persons, pursuing various courses in the city. “The visually handicapped persons in the city are facing a lot of problems like the non-availability of Braille books, audio system and syllabus recorded in cassettes,” he said. He said some of the visually handicapped students of Government College for Men, were unable to pay their college fees and hostel charges. He appreciated the help extended by Mr K.D. Sharma, a senior Audit Officer, in providing books to some of these visually handicapped students. Mr Prem Singh, said the college authorities should not charge room rent and other charges from the visually handicapped students. Mr Prem Singh, stressed that facilities should be provided to these visually handicapped children the ones who were qualified should be provided jobs, so that they can lead an independent life. Mr Paramdeep Singh, assured Mr Prem Singh, that he would take up the matter with the higher authorities so that maximum possible help can be provided to these visually handicapped students. |
|
Quiz, races held in Ryan school Chandigarh, September 20 Races, including hop race, toffee race and packing the bag race had tiny tots clapping and cheering. A “blue day” was also observed during the week-long celebrations where children sang songs, danced and participated in drawing contests. They were also introduced to a world of nuts on the ‘dry fruit day’. They made cards with the help of paints and dry fruit shells. Teachers transported the children to a world of animals in a story-telling session using toys, while students of Classes I to VII wrote poems and articles on various subjects including “my friend”, “teacher’s day”, “divali” and “environment”. Tiny tots of Ryan International School, Sector 49, present a song in Chandigarh on Saturday. |
|
Workshop on
personality development Chandigarh, September 20 Sharing the secrets of success and happiness in life, Mr Jagnnath Rao, Director, High Performance Personality Development Institute, Pune, stressed the need to unfold subconscious mind. Saying that mind and imagination were the most powerful aspects in one’s body, Mr Rao gave away tips for success in practical life. Earlier, Prof Sahib Singh, NSS Programme Officer, welcomed the speaker and Dr R.K. Dixit, Vice-Principal, proposed a vote of thanks. |
Revealing the real face of life Chandigarh, September 20 Translated from Kannada into Hindi by Dr S. Pattana Shetty, the play weighed heavily upon the mind throughout the duration of its presentation. Set in happy and sad times, it revealed to the audience the real face of life, which stands in stark contrast to the face drawn in scriptures. To bring home the message that life and death are two faces of the same creation, Prasanna uses an archetype which facilitates his quest for constructing a play on Bharatendu, who was the first Bhakti poet to write contemporary prose. The play has several characters who come across as significant sections of a theatre under construction. This theatre is fed by rich ideas of Bharatendu, the mastermind behind the entire sequence of events, as they shape up on stage. Establishing a connection between Bharatendu on the one hand and Swedish playwright Strindberg and early 20th century Kannada playwright Samsa on the other, the writer goes on to unravel the mysteries of life and death, which are most certainly seen in practical settings, and not in the flowery details of books. Bharatendu indulges in the archetype of playing a game of dice with death — something which has always captured his imagination and to understand which he has gone over the verses of Puranas over and over again. Failing in his pursuit to master death, as some of the heroes and heroines of our scriptures have, Bharatendu surrenders to it. He walks away from mortal elements to embrace immortality. The message of the play is encapsulated in Bharatendu's last words: “Savitri ki yam par vijay kewal puranon mein hi sambhav hai. Yathartha mein aisa nahi hota.” The play ends with the eternal truth that death consumes all living entities. But as Tagore rightly wrote: “Life does not leak because death is not a crack.” Today’s production was the last in the series of five plays presented during the National Theatre Festival, organised by the Haryana Cultural Affairs
Department.  |
|
NSD fest to feature the best Chandigarh, September 20 Interestingly, the NSD Repertory also presented famous Kannad playwright’s production “Seema Paar” at Tagore THeatre this evening. Earlier it was assumed that “Seema Paar” would form a part of the National Theatre Festival organised by the Haryana Cultural Affairs Department. The NSD Repertory festival will start on September 21 with the famous Mohan Rakesh play titled “Antaraal”. Directed and conceived by Ranjit Kapoor, the play will be staged at Drama Department, Studio Theatre of Panjab University. On September 22, the repertory will stage another famous play titled “Janeman”. Created by Machindra More and directed by Yaman Kendre, the play will be showcased at Tagore Theatre, Sector 18 at 6.30 pm. “Zille Suhani” will be presented on the third day of the NSD Repertory festival. Based on the famous play of Nand Kishore Acharya, “Zille Suhani” has been directed by famous actor-director Rajendra Gupta, who also featured in film “Lagaan.” This play will be held at Tagore Theatre. The final presentation during the NSD Repertory show will be the celebrated work of Govind Purushottam Deshpande. Titled “Chanakya Vishnugupt”, the play has been directed by Sauti Chakravarty. Except on September 21 when the play will be staged at Punjab University, all other plays during the festival will be presented at Tagore Theatre. All plays are schedule for 6.30 pm. The show will be ticketed and tickets will be available at the venue. |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 123 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
