Topics

76

English / Active Learning and Teaching Tools

« on: October 31, 2013, 11:16:39 AM »

Teachers in the the private universities are always asked to ensure quality education keeping in mind the standrad of our students. Now should we go through the text only?Shouldn't we use multimedia while teaching literature?Does it (using multimedia) mean that we are skipping our duties?What's about literary analysis of a particular text?

Dear Teachers I need your fair opinions.

77

English / As You Like It by Shakespeare and A question

« on: October 07, 2013, 04:21:44 PM »

Last class, a student asked me whether Shakespeare supported Lesbian or not. In the play As You Like It, we see that two cousins are very intimate and then Phoebe falls in love with Ganymede, who is really Rosalind in disguise. I find  Shakespeare's attitude bit ambiguous regarding this issue.Now  he is criticized for hidden lesbians. You can go through the link to know more:

http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2001/sep/02/books.medicalscience

78

English / Three types of people

« on: September 21, 2013, 04:06:37 PM »

A teacher shows three toys to a student and asks the student to find out the differences. All the three toys are seemed to be identical in their shape, size and material. After keen observation, the student observes holes in the toys. 1st toy it has holes in the ears. 2nd toy has holes in ear and mouth. 3rd toy has only one hole in one ear.

Than with the help of needle the student puts the needle in the ear hole of 1st toy. The needle comes out from the other ear. In the 2nd toy, when the needle was put in ear the needle came out of mouth. And in the 3rd toy, when the needle was put in, the needle did not come out.

First toy represent those people around you who gives an impression that they are listening to you, all your things and care for you. But they just pretend to do so. After listening, as the needle comes out from the next ear, the things you said to them by counting on them are gone. So be careful while you are speaking to this type of people around you, who does not care for you.

Second toy represent those people who listens to you all your things and gives an impression that they care for you. But as in the toy, the needle comes out from mouth. These people will use your things and the words you tell them against you by telling it to others and bringing out the confidential issues for their own purpose.

Third toy, the needle does not come out from it. These kinds of people will keep the trust you have in them. They are the ones who you can count on.

Source:www.moralstories.org

79

English / Change your outlook

« on: September 09, 2013, 03:10:37 PM »

Once upon a time, there was a king who ruled a prosperous country. One day, he went for a trip to some distant areas of his country. When he was back to his palace, he complained that his feet were very painful, because it was the first time that he went for such a long trip, and the road that he went through was very rough and stony. He then ordered his people to cover every road of the entire country with leather.

Definitely, this would need thousands of cows’ skin, and would cost a huge amount of money.

Then one of his wise servants dared himself to tell the king, “Why do you have to spend that unnecessary amount of money? Why don’t you just cut a little piece of leather to cover your feet?”

The king was surprised, but he later agreed to his suggestion, to make a “shoe” for himself.

To make this world a happy place to live, you better change yourself - your heart; and not the world. Receive good suggestion from one ignoring his or her social status.

80

English / Seminar at Uttara campus

« on: September 04, 2013, 01:33:53 PM »

Eagerly waiting for the seminar.  It is the most suitable time as we are all bit free now.

81

English / Some rules of spelling: Rule 4

« on: August 02, 2013, 12:06:16 PM »

RULE: 4

The final consonant is preceded by a single vowel: bar → barred. When there is more than one vowel before the final
    consonant, the consonant is not doubled: fail → failed. When the final consonant is preceded by another consonant,
    the consonant is not doubled: bark → barking.
   
   The word has only one syllable or has the stress on the last syllable: fit → fitted, commit → committed, prefer →
    preferred. For words with more than one syllable where the stress does not fall on the last syllable, the final consonant
    is not doubled: benefit → benefited, offer → offered.

    The suffix begins with a vowel: prefer → preferred. But if the syllable stress changes because of the addition of the   
   suffix, then the consonant is not doubled: prefer → preference. Final consonants are also not doubled if the suffix   
   begins with a consonant: prefer → preferment.

    If the word ends in l or p, then the consonant is usually doubled in Canadian spelling:

    travel → travelled; worship → worshipped. Note: American spelling does not follow this rule.

Source: www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/style-and-editing/spelling‎

82

English / Some rules of spelling: Rule 3

« on: August 02, 2013, 12:02:03 PM »

RULE : 3

 When adding suffixes to words ending in y, change the y to an i.

    This rule explains the spelling shift that occurs in the following word pairs:

    happy → happier, plenty → plentiful, body → bodily.

    As English spelling does not generally allow an i to follow another i, the y is retained when the suffix itself begins with an i

      carry → carrying, baby → babyish.

Source: www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/style-and-editing/spelling‎

83

English / Some rules of spelling: Rule 2

« on: August 02, 2013, 11:59:51 AM »

Rule 2:  When adding suffixes that begin with a vowel (-able, -ible, -ous, etc.) to words ending in silent e, drop the final e.

    This rule explains why a word like desire contains an e and a word like desirable does not. Other examples include 

    response → responsible, continue → continuous, argue → arguing.

    We do, however, retain the final e when a word ends in -ce or -ge in order to maintain the distinctive "soft"   
     pronunciation of those consonants:

    notice → noticeable, courage → courageous, advantage → advantageous.

    For reasons of pronunciation, the final e is also retained in words ending in a double e,

    e.g. agree → agreeable, flee → fleeing.


Source:www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/style-and-editing/spelling‎

84

English / Some rules of spelling: Rule 1

« on: August 02, 2013, 11:53:40 AM »

Rule 1:  i before e except after c, or when sounded like /ay/ as in neighbour or weigh.

    This simple rhyme helps explain the difference between the spellings of believe (i before e) and receive (except after
   c). In general, when the long /e/ sound (ee) is spelled with the letters i and e, the order is ie: shield, field, fiend.

    Common exceptions are leisure, seizure, and weird.
   
   When the letters i and e are used in words with a long /a/ sound, they are usually spelled ei: sleigh, feint, heinous.

    When the sound is neither long /e/ nor long /a/, the spelling is usually ei: their, seismic, foreign. Some exceptions to   
    this rule are friend, sieve, and mischief.

Source:www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/style-and-editing/spelling‎

85

English / Some tips to improve your spelling

« on: August 02, 2013, 11:50:13 AM »

Use a good dictionary.
Be consistent about using British or American spellings in your writing.
Always check certain "troublesome" suffixes in your dictionary.
Make  your own "difficult-to-spell" lists.It is really helpful.
Learn the standard pronunciations for frequently misspelled words.
Watch out for homophones, near-homophones, and other easily confusable words.
Use your computer spellchecker, but with caution.
Become familiar with English spelling rules.

Source: www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/style-and-editing/spelling‎

86

English / Spelling : Add 'e'

« on: August 02, 2013, 10:36:11 AM »

Look how we can make different word by adding 'e' at the end of a word.


fin------------------fine
pip....................pipe
bit.....................bite
sit....................site
us....................use
tub.................tube

87

English / Spelling : Adding 'ing'

« on: July 27, 2013, 06:41:29 PM »

To add ‘ing’ to a word, look at the letter before the last letter. Is it a vowel ( a, e, i,o,u) If it isn’t a vowel, add ‘ing’. For example:

Sing                  singing

If it is a vowel, double the last letter, then add ‘ing’. For example:

Hop                     hopping

Be careful! This rule does not work for words ending in w, x or y. For example:

Play                       playing   
draw                      drawing

But, if the letter before it is a vowel, just add ‘ing’. For example:

Read                   reading

88

English / Conducting Class at Permanent Campus

« on: June 24, 2013, 03:52:56 PM »

Ah!

In the centre of a large open field, you have your classe. No sound of vehicles!!No gathering of students in front of the class!! All pretty faces are waiting inside the class for teacher. So good ...so polite students they are!

Sometimes you might bath in sweat when electricity goes off. Sometimes in a rainy day, you might sing,"You feel up my senses .....like a walk in the rain"

What does distance bring???

You are far away from Dhaka. You are far away from modern facilities. You are far away from so many things.

Conducting class at Permanent Campus gives different feelings.
 

89

English / Training on Participatory Engaging Teaching

« on: June 08, 2013, 05:13:09 PM »

The newly joined teachers for Summer 2013 are undertaking a training course to facilitate their teaching-learning technique.  From the first day  we are asked to perform some  activities that we might use in the practical scenario to motivate our students to learn and also make prepare for the competitive job market.


On the first day, we were asked to sort out the nature of our students. Some teachers pointed students’ positive qualities; some teachers mentioned the negative qualities. Though our students are from different social, economical, and cultural background, they are aware of their needs i.e. career-conscious. Now how can we engage our students who have poor knowledge or merit? Keeping this matter into consideration, this training aims to set up a compact teaching method for all disciplines, named Participatory Engaging Teaching.
 
Here we come up with new ideas. The ideas include:
 
   attributes of a Model Teacher
   understanding the background of students
   way of they learning
   class room teaching technique
   engaging students in learning
   making lesson plan etc

In the second class, we were told about Instructional Design. According to Wikipedia, “Instructional Design (also called Instructional Systems Design (ISD)) is the practice of creating instructional experiences which make the acquisition of knowledge and skill more efficient, effective, and appealing. The process consists broadly of determining the current state and needs of the learner, defining the end goal of instruction, and creating some "intervention" to assist in the transition. Ideally the process is informed by pedagogically (process of teaching) and andragogically (adult learning) tested theories of learning and may take place in student-only, teacher-led or community-based settings. The outcome of this instruction may be directly observable and scientifically measured or completely hidden and assumed. There are many instructional design models but many are based on the ADDIE model with the five phases: analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation. As a field, instructional design is historically and traditionally rooted in cognitive and behavioral psychology, though recently Constructivism (learning theory) has influenced thinking in the field.”

We were also informed about Mind-Mapping which is closely related with Instructional Design. Here follows an image of it: 




On 8 June 2013, we attended our third class on “Participatory Engaging Teaching” where at first each group (consisted of 2 members) discussed in pair how to engage learners in learning, and then in the next session each group (consisted 4 members) made a lesson plan for a particular subject.

As a participant of this training program, I do believe if we can implement these activities in the teaching-learning system, our student can show their best performance. But the drawbacks to implement this activity are a very short semester and large class-size.

Some of our colleagues apply this approach to the class. The reaction is mixed. Students are exposed to a new(in our context) learning situation, so it takes time for them to be comfortable. Students have a mind set idea that classes will be conducted in lecture based method. But in some classes, it works like  a magic.

My thanks to Yusuf Sir and other successful teachers who apply PET and come out with positive result.