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Customise
teaching of English Preschoolers
tend to perceive overweight peers as ‘mean’ Campus
Notes
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Customise teaching of English ENGLISH language teaching in India is at the crossroads today. Though planners and teachers keep meeting to decide that change is required at all levels, when it comes to changing the curriculum, everyone is happy to maintain the status quo. It is difficult to comment upon the whats and whys of this mindset but the fact is that it refuses to evolve. Every educated person agrees that education in India does not deliver proficiency in English and this is a fact accepted by all. It is difficult to quantify English learning and use but now the English Proficiency Index (EPI) has been created as a standardised measurement of adult English proficiency (www.ef.com/epi), comparable between countries and over time. It is the first index of its kind to give countries a benchmark against which to measure the average English competence of the working population. The index uses a unique set of test data from over two million adults who took free online English tests over a period of three years. Because this group of test takers is so diverse and the entry barrier to taking an online English test is so low, the resulting scores are reasonably representative of the average English level of adults. While there is no guarantee that this particular proficiency score corresponds to the academic and economic goals set by an individual nation, the Education First (EF) EPI does provide a uniquely standardised comparison of English proficiency. This is useful for citizens and governments alike when trying to evaluate the effectiveness of their English language policies as compared to those of their neighbours. India ranks at number 30 within a group of 44 countries. There are five categories of English Proficiency: ‘Very High’, ‘High’, ‘Moderate’, ‘Low’ and ‘Very Low’. India is labeled ‘Low’ in English proficiency along with countries like Italy, Spain, Saudi Arabia and Russia. Norway is ranked number one on this list with the highest score of 69.9, while Kazakhstan is at number 44 with the lowest score of 31.74. India has a score of 47.35. Even within the 13 Asian countries on the EPI list, India is placed at rank eight, after Malaysia, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia and China. Most stakeholders in education feel that there are several reasons for this low ranking. One, the government schools have failed to live up to the high benchmark set at their conception. There are stray exceptions here and there but by and large, these schools do not provide any kind of methodology, role model or impetus for learning English. Two, the private schools, especially the so-called ‘convent’ schools, are fast losing the acquisition-rich environment that fosters the learning of English. Even when they manage to deliver fluency, they lose out on accuracy. Three, taken on the whole, across the country, graduation is no guarantee of English-proficient adults. In that regard, even the technical institutes fail to polish up language skills. Four, there is a whole alternate universe that maintains an industry for the person who wants to learn English and most learners depend more upon the institutes in this universe rather than the colleges they attend. Where most fields of learning recognise specialisation and super-specialisation within their paradigms, in India English and its related experts could never assert the fact that a teacher of English is no longer a ‘French Fry’ that can fit into any kind of meal combination. Just as a neurologist can’t efficiently treat a patient of bronchitis, a teacher who teaches English to postgraduates cannot be very effective in a primary-level classroom. But, apart from the very hegemonistic and elitist distinction between school, college and university teachers, there is no attempt to impart any kind of special training to teachers of English at different levels and geared towards differing purposes. The whole system treats all teachers of English as one huge blob: amorphous and homogenised. Right from designing the ‘minimum professional requirement’ for a teacher to conducting the interview to the subsequent teacher training (if any), at no level is there any input from any activity directed at profiling the learner or conducting a needs analysis to decide what the learner/course requires. This explains why the most brilliant scholars in the field of English may perform dismally in the classroom as teachers. Most engineering colleges have one paper called ‘Communication Skills in English’ as part of their syllabus, but all students need special workshop sessions by outside experts when proficiency in English is required for placement. College graduates study English as a compulsory subject in all three years without learning the use of English in their daily interaction. Most college graduates cannot write a flawless letter in the language or conduct a dialogue with ease in English. But the same student goes to an academy, learns the language for six months and gets a Band 6 (proficient user) in the International English Language Testing System (IELTS.) A school child in a government school cannot respond to simple questions in English but when the same child is taught the language by an NGO, he can answer every question fluently. These are a few sample situations across the board and many more can be witnessed across the country. So, what is the difference between a regular academic course and a short-term burst of English learning? The difference stares us all in the face but we are scared to accept it. At the deepest level, the difference lies in the subconscious mind of all stakeholders involved in ‘education’. Wittingly or unwittingly, a curriculum is designed not around the needs of the learner but around the expertise and reputation of the involved parties. An academic curriculum showcases the organisation without addressing the needs of the learner. Such intensive ‘non-academic’ classes usually don’t have a prescribed textbook; they are conducted in everyday, colloquial English and use interactive methodology. Each classroom for teaching English is a different universe with distinctly individual requirements — a primary school teacher needs psychology along with the technique of teaching very young learners, a secondary school teacher should be adept at holding learners’ attention along with an understanding of the teen psyche, a college teacher will need to be proficient in both literature and language while being capable of evaluating communicative competence and a postgraduate teacher would be from a specialised field within English studies. The teaching of English is not a homogenised compound but a totally heterogeneous set of sub-systems, each with its unique demands and the Indian student will not become proficient in English until all of us face, accept, understand and act according to this reality. The writer is a Professor in the Department of English, Panjab University, Chandigarh |
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Preschoolers tend to perceive overweight peers as ‘mean’ WASHINGTON: Some preschoolers may consider overweight kids to be not as ‘nice’, a new study has revealed. “A child’s perception of body image is influenced by many factors in their environment, yet there hasn’t been much research conducted in this area with young children,” said Wei Su, lead author of the study. Wei Su, in collaboration with Aurelia Di Santo, a Professor in Ryerson’s School of Early Childhood Education, spoke with 41 children (21 boys and 20 girls), ages two and a half to five years, at five early learning and daycare centres in the Greater Toronto Area. Each child listened to four stories—two about boys and two about girls, where one child in each story says or does something ‘nice’ and the other child does or says something ‘mean’. After each story, the child is shown an illustration of two accompanying figures without any facial features: one who isn’t overweight and one who is. The child is then asked to identify which figure is ‘nice’ and which one is ‘mean’. The researchers found that nearly 44 per cent of young children chose the child who was overweight to be the ‘mean’ child in all four stories. When the children were asked to give a reason for their choice, they described the figures looking ‘really, really mean’ or ‘mad’ and that the ‘mean’ child looked ‘fatter’ or ‘bigger’ even though the figures did not have any facial expressions. Slightly more than two per cent of children identified the heavier child as being ‘nice’ in all four stories.
— ANI
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Campus Notes WOMEN must empower themselves economically as well as socially to emerge successful in life, but right work-life balance must also be kept in mind. This mantra emerged as the core focus of a one-day workshop on “Enhancing Success and Flourishing in Women” organised recently by the Women's Studies Centre of the university. Speaking at the workshop, eminent psychologist Prof. Akbar Hussain, AMU, Aligarh, said a person should inculcate spiritual values in life. Virtuous life has its own reward, added Prof. Hussain who opined that the network of social relationships was crucial to flourishing in life. Moreover, one should have the values of ‘forgiveness’ and ‘gratitude’, he said. Professor Anuradha Bhandari said women must develop self-esteem, strengthen self-belief system and focus on self-development to achieve success in life. Apart from material well-being and success, personal satisfaction and contentment is very important, Prof. Bhandari said. Budget estimates approved The university court of MDU has approved the budget estimates of the university for the financial year 2012-2013 along with a slew of other administrative proposals at its 39th meeting held recently. The meeting, which was held under the chairmanship of the Vice-Chancellor, approved the budget estimates (2012-2013) of the University Institute of Law and Management Studies, Gurgaon, Annual Audit Report (2010-2011), and 33rd Annual Report.
Microbial organisms Life without microbes is not possible and in fact, microbial diversity has not been adequately explored. Therefore, scientists must tap the welfare potential of microbial organisms. This was stated by eminent microbiologist R. C. Kuhad, president, Association of Microbiologists of India (AMI), and Professor, University of Delhi, South Campus, at a seminar on “Microbes in Human Welfare” organised by the Department of Microbiology (MDU) and AMI (Rohtak unit) on the university campus recently. Prof. Kuhad focused on “Microbial World and Human Welfare” in his keynote address. He dwelled upon the utility of microbial organisms in sewage treatment, cleaning up of pollutants, insect pest control, purification of polluted water, biomass conversion into useful products, mineral bioleaching, as well as recycling of carbon, nitrogen, sulphur and oxygen, etc. He said majority of the microbes benefit human beings, animals and plants.
Combating diseases An integrated approach to combat diseases, joint studies, research and multi-disciplinary efforts to probe into cause and cure of diseases, and raising health consciousness amongst masses remained the thrust of the a seminar on “Challenges in Combating Diseases: Cause to Cure” organised recently by the Department of Zoology. Dr R. K. Singh, Director, National Research Centre on Equines, Hisar, in his keynote address focused on “Climate Change-Disease Emergence and Food Safety”. He traced the effects of climate change on crop production as well as emergence of new diseases. He said rising global temperature, ozone layer depletion, rise in sea level, glaciers under threat, heat waves, etc., are all manifestations of climate change. He highlighted the effects of climate change on the food web cycle. Delivering a special lecture, Dr Dhruva Chaudhary, Professor and Head, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Pt. B.D.S. University of Health Sciences, Rohtak, focused on an integrated approach, combining research of scientists, zoologists, and clinical efforts of doctors to combat diseases, right from cause to cure. He said efforts must be made to develop new anti-biotics and drugs to combat cancer, age-related diseases, new biological problems, etc. He also advocated educating masses about health issues. “A healthy society is possible only through good health of citizens,” he said. — Contributed by Bijendra Ahlawat
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Deepti
Gupta