An Open Letter to SMCites (Through the Rev. Principal)

This was published in the SMC Magazine
As a josephite, St. Mary’s has always held a special place in my mind. The memory of those primary school days are vivid when we waited for our trolley-mates outside the school spending the time throwing pebbles at bunches of ‘imli’ on the tamarind trees and also of those adolescent years trying all tricks to win a glance from the navy-blue skirted fairies. What lay behind those high walls was always intriguing! “Calm and free…quiet as a Nun” wrote Wordsworth about “the beauteous evening” but the phrases were perhaps as apt to express our feelings for those in the convent-school. Whenever we were naughty, SMC was invoked before us by our teachers as an example of good manners .I’ll be candid to accept that an SMC girl filled us with a complex with her manners, grace and quiet confidence.
The association with the institution (not mere school!) began anew, about a year back, when my wife joined it as a teacher. But my renewed association felt something amiss. The first time I felt it, was, when at a market place, my wife told me that the group of girls that had passed by was her students. I thought it awkward that not one had stopped to wish her. It has not been a solitary episode. Has the ill of indifference of the students towards their teachers has infected even this institution? Are its students only acquiring knowledge and not imbibing culture? Have the students forgotten that the relation of the teacher and the student is not impersonal like that between a businessman and a customer but, lively and filled with warmth of that between a guardian and a ward?
I only hope that the present generation of students realizes the glory of their institution and retains it, so that ,they too can feel proud many- many years hence that they are SMCites as their predecessors of the last more than 100 years can.All the best and a very happy new year.

book review- A Passage Across Europe by Partha Sarthi Sen Sharma

(published in HT Lucknow 23-3-11)

Partha Sarthi Sen Sharma’s – A Passage Across Europe’(published by Sahitya Bhandar, Allahabad- Year 2010) is no ‘Lonely Planet’ prototype. It does not tell the reader where, when and, how to visit the tourist spots on Europe; it records the experiences and feelings of the writer when he chanced to visit the continent. This subjectivity imparts the literariness to the 160 page book which, in a flowing prose, expresses the writer’s sense of excitement, wonderment and at times disappointment on seeing things he had till then read, heard or, seen only in pictures. He himself tells this in the ‘ Explanation’, that the book is not a product of writings during his stay in Europe but “record(ed) them later, as the intervening months made my thoughts and views clearer and sharper”- a` la Wordsworthian ‘emotions recollected in tranquility’ .
The narrative abounds in poetic prose- “the castle of Ljubljana…appears like a benevolent patriarch, sitting atop the hill, looking after and blessing the lives of the citizens below”; “it all appeared too beautiful to bear”; “views not only of the city but also the views into the city”; “the river banks are overflowing with green weeping willows, drooping on to even greener river below”- (all from chapter 1). But then, such a language is natural to express the “soaking in the atmosphere…a feel of the things” rather than the ‘things’ themselves. This is not to say that the book lacks in describing ‘things’ either. The description, however, is accompanied by the author’s views and digressions that go on to only enrich the narrative. A remembrance of Amrita Shergill on seeing paintings in Hungary, the comments on the colonial past of India ( pg 134) or, the shabby way in which we preserve the places and things associated with our litterateurs(pg 154), are some of the instances. In fact the narrative is rooted in the Indian connection throughout. We learn, for instance, that unlike in India where most of our cities grew on either of the banks of a river, the European cities are sprawled on both sides of rivers with a number of bridges connecting them. Many of these bridges being tourist hot-spots. The noise and crowd at the Budapest station seems similar to any Indian Railway Station.
The writer doesn’t find everything hunky dory in Europe – his wife’s wallet gets pilfered in Italy; he finds the traffic in Rome ‘chaotic’, the Dam at Amsterdam dirty and, the Royal Palace there unkempt. But he refers such incidents jocularly. He for instance, in referring to the Italian waiters, says- “Italian waiters are, as a matter of rule, cheeky to the extent of appearing to be discourteous …but I can’t blame them for discrimination. They are supremely and uniformly irreverent towards everybody and anybody”. Regarding the Trevi Fountain he writes- “…it is so crowded that one feels that one has seen more human heads than the fountain itself”.
The writer, we learn, loves to explore the surroundings on foot and thus gets to see many places which are not in a routine tourist’s itinerary. He sees, observes, describes the sights and, explains the context (historical, scientific- as in the description of the Pantheon, political etc.) in the most simple manner. We also get to know various tid-bits- the ‘French fries’ were invented in Belgium; England, Britain, UK are not one and the same and, so is the case with Netherlands and Holland; Louis XIV built a hotel for invalid soldiers; the gypsies and Slavs also suffered along with the Jews at the hands of the Nazis; so on and so forth.
There are a few spelling mistakes which could have been avoided by a better proof-reading. I, as a reader, would also have liked to know more about the daily lives of the westerners, the lives in the poor quarters (if any) and, details of the local food, clothing and festivities. The readers would also have been richer had the writer been to any of the Scandinavian countries – particularly regarding their reputation in being corruption and pollution free- or perhaps not , because the writer has kept himself away from commenting on the contemporary political, economic and administrative issues related to the countries he travelled. It is a good read for all who love traveling and literature.

Skand Shukla.

Paper presented at Symbiosis Pune, 12th Feb. 2011

Title of the Presentation

Linguistic and Cultural Interference in Language Learning.

Author- Skand Shukla
Principal ELTI, UP, Allahabad.

e-mail- skandshukla@yahoo.com

phone no.- 09415254692

Abstract

It goes without saying that language is embedded in culture. English language is a native of the West which has a culture different in many ways from that of India. Even in India, there are various nuances of that one cultural bed rock which imparts it one hue. One of them is the linguistic variety in this country. Teaching of English therefore involves overcoming these differences of cultures which hamper the acquisition of the second language by a young mind.
India has a different climate, geography and philosophy of looking at things vis-a- vis the West. For instance, it can be difficult for a child to understand as to how can one enjoy outdoors a season like summer, while reading a rhyme (created in the West) celebrating the outdoor frolics during this season. The teachers need to be aware of the cultural differences of our country and that of the West and, also of the extent the cultural background influences learning and teaching.
This paper purports to present some of the differences in the culture of India and the West, the linguistic varieties in our country and, how these differences affect the learning- teaching process. It also purports to explore some approaches in text book writing and employment of teaching methodologies in the classroom conducive to overcoming the hurdles in teaching- learning English in an environment different from where it is native to.

Key Words - cultural and linguistic differences, second language acquisition, implication for the English teacher, classroom methodologies.


Profile of the writer- An officer of the Educational Services of Uttar Pradesh, presently posted as Assistant Dy. Director at the Directorate of Education Allahabad and also holding the charge of Principal ELTI, UP, Allahabad . Articles related to academics have found place in newspapers like The Hindu, The Times of India, Hindustan Times and, The Economic Times.

The Paper

• Linguistic and Cultural Interference in Language Learning
  The evolution of a language is related to its cultural environment. Even in a unilingual country the singular language has multiple nuances depending on the immediate cultural circumstances. Again, the standard forms of a language also change with the change in ambience. The inclusion of newer words in every new edition of the authoritative English Dictionaries is a testimony to this. India not only is a multilingual country, but also, every prominent language has multiple dialects- for example, Hindi language has two prominent dialects- Bhojpuri and Awadhi, quite different in a number of respects from each other. The pronunciation of English by a Bhojpuri speaking person is generally different from an Awadhi speaking one. Besides linguistic, other cultural differences between various regions also exist that influence the teaching and learning of a language. The world – view of the teacher, the taught and the society also have a major role to play in the teaching-learning. This world view and culture not only differ in various parts of the world but also keep on changing in any one part of it.
  This paper purports to examine some such issues that influence the teaching – learning of English in the Hindi regions of India.
  "Culture and communication are inseparable because culture not only dictates who talks to whom, about what, and how the communication proceeds, it also helps to determine how people encode messages, the meanings they have for messages, and the conditions and circumstances under which various messages may or may not be sent, noticed, or interpreted . Culture is the foundation of communication." (Samovar, Porter and Jain, 1981:24) quoted by ZHANG Xue-wei, YAN ying-jun in the article ‘Cultural Influences are English Language Teaching’ (US- CHINA Education Review, ISSN 1548-6613-USA, Aug. 2006, Vol. 3 No. -8)
  Some instances of the cultural and linguistic differences between the west and India -
  - There is a difference between a westerner and an Indian in the way the world is viewed. In The Geography of Thought (Nisbett 2003) has shown that Asians think in terms of ‘relationships' while westerners think in terms of 'objects'. A sense of reverence towards living or even non-living objects permeates the world view of the Indians. A teacher or elder is not addressed by his name/surname. Family friends are identified through some relationship – 'Uncle', 'Aunty', 'Chacha', 'Mama' etc. There are two different ways of addressing an elder and the younger – 'Aap' (for former) and 'Tum' (for younger) in Hindi.
  - The structure of an English sentence is different from that of a Hindi one. In Hindi syntax, the subject is followed by the object and the verb is placed at the end (ex. Mohan ghar gaya). In English, the subject is followed by the verb and the object is placed at the end ( ex.- Mohan went home)
  - There is no concept of ‘Articles’ in Hindi.
  - The seasons in India are different from those in the West. Shakespearean Sonnet, 'Shall I compare thee to a Summers day’ or, Keats’ ‘Ode to Autumn' are a tad difficult to be understood by one who is not familiar with the western summer or autumn.
  The teachers often have difficulty in explaining 'autumn' to an Indian primary student because even they have no idea of such a season.
  - Associative contexts in which a word is used in a place might evoke a different understanding of that word. I remember that the word 'darling' raised shy smiles among us when a teacher addressed a student lovingly by this term. As 10 years old we had heard it being used in the Hindi films in only one connotation.
  - Is there an English equivalent of the word 'Pranam' or even 'Namaste'? Eliot did not attempt to translate ‘Shantih’ in The Wasteland because, as he himself explained, no English word could have conveyed the sense that ‘Shantih’ does. These words are unique to a country’s culture and world-view.
  - The class 6 book of English in the Government schools in U.P. refers to 'Santa Claus' which teachers find difficult to explain and, so does happen in explaining 'basketball' as 'our favorite game’ in the chapter on 'team work' in the book of class 8.
  - The references in our texts to 'fireplace', 'mantelpiece' in the homes and, the hobbies such as 'camping', 'hiking', 'fishing' evoke questioning glances not only by the pupil but also by the teachers.
  - The synonyms such as- great, big, large, huge- confuse the teacher and the taught.
  - The cultural differences are not only between the West and India, but also between the urban and rural settings in the Hindi belt of the country.
  A nursery level student from the urban area is not unfamiliar with certain English words like 'Good morning', 'sit down', 'hospital', vis-à-vis a student in the remote areas of the Hindi belt. Again, references like- 'zebra crossing', 'traffic signals', 'going out for a picnic', taking a flight'- are remote from the experiences of a student belonging to a rural area.
  - The technical revolution has created another divide between the rural and urban settings. American slangs on cable TV, Computer-language and, short messages on cell phones have affected the language of the urban kids. The structured language has gone hay-wire.
  Dealing with the issue:
  Keeping the issue of cultural interference in mind, changes are required at various steps to improve EL acquisition. It is also a moot point that, should English language, with its permeation of all Indian languages during its long (over 2 centuries) stay in our country, be treated as native. Perhaps the British with the coining of words such as 'pathrao', 'lathi charge' had begun this movement towards making it native. The point is pertinent because the teaching – learning of a native language vis-à-vis a foreign language evokes different psychological responses from the teacher, taught and, the society. In any case, some changes are a must for an effective ELT in the areas of test-book writing, teacher training and, teaching practice, particularly at the primary education level.
  Text-Book:
  While developing text-books at the primary and upper primary level those references can be avoided that are outside the cultural orbit of the pupil. This does not mean keeping the young minds away from new knowledge but means that those references can be avoided that may strain their understanding and imagination. It will be better if the references are related to their familiar world and objects.
  Teacher Training:
  The teacher – trainees should be made aware of the cultural – linguistic interference issue. This will make them understand that in a motley class a varied teaching practice would be required. Also, that the old method of teaching English by rote is not proper.
  For instance, a student from the 'Bhojpuri' speaking area in the Hindi belt has problems in distinguishing between 'Sh' and 'S' sounds. A student from the western part of U.P. has problems in speaking words like 'minute' (pronounced by them as 'mint'). Incidentally my name 'Skand' is pronounced as ‘Sikand’ by many from the North-Western part of the country. It was even published as 'Sikand' by such a luminary as Khushwant Singh recently in a column of his. The training courses should emphasize on this aspect so that the teacher can effectively teach English to students from various cultural and linguistic backgrounds.
  Teaching methodology:
  For a student studying English in India, his classroom (and in that too the English period) is the only atmosphere that he gets of the language. In fact this stands true for the teacher also. Some ideas regarding the teaching of English are as follows-
  - The teacher should master the English language as much as possible. Since in most of the schools one teacher teaches all the subjects at the Primary level, the teacher can use some English terms also while teaching other subjects. Thus the span of the atmosphere of the English language can be expanded.
  - References to terms beyond the student’s cultural domain would require explaining the related contexts by the teacher.
  - The teacher should be aware of the concept of interference of the local dialect/language of the pupil so that he may plan his lessons to tackle those points in the teaching of the structure and pronunciation in which he notices an adverse affect of this interference on the learning of English. For this he has to be a patient listener.
  - In large classrooms groups of students can be formed to carry out various exercises like loud-reading and role plays.
  - Graded Reading Materials can be developed to give the students an increased exposure of the language.
  - Films with understandable pronunciation on prescribed texts can be shown to the students.
  Conclusion-
  Rote method cannot be successful in teaching English to the students who have another language as their mother tongue. The teacher-trainers, text-book writers and, the teachers must be made aware of the differences in the culture of our country and that of the native place of English i.e. the West. Only then they can form strategies to overcome the barriers created by the linguistic and cultural interference in the learning of English.
  
  Skand Shukla.
  
  References:-
  1) Wilga M. Rivers- Teaching Foreign Language Skills, The University of Chicago Press (1968)
  2) Allen & Campbell -Teaching English as Second Language, Tata MaGraw Hill (1972)
  3) M L Tickoo- Teaching and Learning English, Orient Longman (2003)
  4) ZHANG Xue-wei, YAN Ying-jun- Culture Influences on English Language Teaching- US- China Review, ISSN 1548-6613,USA, Aug 2006, Vol 3 , No.8
  5) Tod Vercoe – Taking Advantage of Cognitive Difference of Asians and Westerners in the Teaching of English- Asian EFL Journal, Sep. 2006, Vol. 8, Issue 3 Article 14.
  
  

Panch Parmeswar- nautanki adaptation- review

The troupe of Atul Yadav – Swarn Rangmandal, regaled the audience once again at NCZCC, Alalhabad today evening with the staging of the adaptation- in the nautanki form- of the Premchand classic – Panch Parmeshwar. The troupe has had an international experience and has done quite a bit to establish the nautanki form of drama on the international stage.
The nautanki is a north Indian form of the folk theatre genre and is characterized by dialogues in rhymes interspersed with dance and songs, tumbrel being the chief musical instrument. Premchand’s stories never have had a truly psychological critique, as far as I know. This has always intrigued me as to how one of the greatest story tellers has never been tried to be analyzed on the emotional and psychological aspects. Panch Parmeshwar in my view is not a story of mere good/evil, or change of heart of a character. It is the exploration of the psyche of a judge, psyche of any responsible person in the society, the social codes of living and their effect on our decisions and, this is what that makes it a great work of art , one that traverses time and space.
I must say the nautanki style normally is not suited to express the psychological aspect of a story, but then the unique characters in every of Atul’s plays- the sutradhar, the nat & nati- perform this role of commenting on the goings-on just like the chorus in the Shakespearean dramas. The stage-background gave a rural ambience to the drama and, music and light coordinated well with the actions on stage. Kudos to the troupe’s performance.
Skand Shukla

Coaching syndrome

What was once considered a stigma, that is, attending private coaching or tuition classes, is turning into an essential activity for students. A multi-hundred crore business has arisen across the country that includes, besides the coaching institution, boarding, lodging, publishing and advertising business. Many coaching centres for the entrance-tests to engineering/medical colleges help their students get admissions in the formal schools alongside, in which attendance is a mere formality. Thus the schools provide them +2 certificates and the coaching centre imparts learning.
Crass commercialismThe growing attraction for coaching classes reflects the dissatisfaction of parents with the educational outcome of schools. Marks in examinations have become the sole criterion to judge a person’s abilities. While a regular school’s goal is to prepare students for examinations and the life beyond, for coaching centres, examinations are the sole goal.
For the rising middle class, success at the entrance tests of engineering/medical colleges is a gateway to prosperity and a higher social status. This attraction has grown to the extent that a callous attitude towards the formal school system is being bred. Students even attend coaching classes in their school uniforms and follow the lessons being taught in these classes rather than in their schools.
The coaching centres are a huge financial burden to parents. Students in rural areas, small towns and those who cannot afford coaching, are at a disadvantage. The poor kids have no time for outdoor games or extra-curricular activities, and a spoon-fed generation of “fragile learning” is being raised.
Teachers in these centres can be of two kinds — untrained teachers, who might know their subject and problem-solving tricks but have no knowledge of child/adolescent psychology; and trained teachers, who though formally employed in some school, teach at these centres at the cost of their duties in school. Both are jeapordising the students’ future.
With the coaching institutes acquiring the status of a parallel schooling system, the formal school system might get subverted. Various measures are required to counter this decline.
As the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) 2005 recommended, education should be for nurturing multiple intelligence in order to fructify the full potential of each child. This has to be supported by a constructivist approach to learning and a flexible, scientifically designed student assessment system.
Performance should be portrayed in a portfolio revealing his/her total being. This can include domains such as life skills, academic/non-academic and vocational subjects, personal qualities, etc. Schools should conduct target-based teaching after identifying the aptitudes of students.
Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra have put in place regulations for the coaching business, yet they need to be strengthened and complemented with pedagogic and examination reforms. Of these reforms, the foremost should be the one prescribed in the National Policy of Education 1986: “The first task is to make it [educational system] work. All teachers should teach and all students study.”

The Link to the article-
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-openpage/coaching-syndrome/article900412.ece 

Love’s Labour Forever Last

It has been almost sixteen years since I passed out of the University, and eighteen, since I passed out of my teens. It isn’t such a long time- but perhaps it is – looking at the Valentine brouhaha. This day’s fame was still unheard of in my student days in a non-metro city and individual emotions could be privately celebrated without caring a fig about the moral police, if only one could somehow manage to dodge the family members.

The closeness between the two genders in terms of physical space was not much appreciated and girls pillion-riding with a non-relative did raise eye-brows. But falling in (puppy) love, which happened ever so often, was fun. The mere presence of someone from the opposite gender permeated the atmosphere with a certain indescribable excitement. All those formative years spent in a single-gender missionary school made the opposite sex seem a little strange. The identity revealing cell-phones and the caller i.d.’s were still a few years away , and one could have the pleasure of hearing one’s flame’s voice over the basic phone without getting identified. Being identified involved the risk of rejection by one’s secret love, and so, remaining incognito could let one have a ray of hope alive forever. Indelible are the memories of the split second exchange of furtive glances, the stammering first conversation, those unsaid rendezvous of the neighborhood grocery shop, the university library and the lane near her house and; the goose-flesh one had when she got touched accidentally while handing over a book or a pen. Those ingenious tricks to somehow get acquainted to her , the begging help from one’s sister, friend’s sister and class-mates for this favour and; those deliberate checking of the bicycle chains and petrol in the scooter while waiting for her to pass by was permeated with a sensibility and an emotion of which romance is made of. Do today’s valentines riding the fast lane of life , fraught with increasing calls of competition , casual inter-personal relations, decreasing spans of attention and, living in times when genders are not so strangers to each others, possess the same sense of romance as we did, I wonder!

The present generation must be experiencing romance in its own way, I am sure. But, perhaps, the celebrations of love should not be limited to a single day. Instead, the Valentines Day should be an occasional episode in the general drama of love.

A Daughter is a Daughter

“I’m going to the swings”, my four year old son announced as he ran away to play. We were there at his school to attend the parents-teachers meeting. Pretty little girls stood confidently, displaying daughterly love as they held to their parents’ fingers, while most of the boys were all out in the playground. The few that remained seemed uneasy, sullen and shifty eyed. I was suddenly reminded of the old Irish saying- ‘a son is a son until he gets a wife while a daughter is a daughter all her life’. About a year ago I was searching a name for my daughter to be born, in ‘Durga Shaptshati” and other hymns for the Goddess. Our eyes would invariably turn to the girl’s section when rummaging for clothes for our son in the cloth’s shop. It seemed strange that while the dresses for the girls were of so enchantingly varied nuances, those for boys look all alike. Similar would be the feeling in the toys shop. While there were only guns and cars for the boys, the girls had an umpteen choice in dolls of various hues, besides of course other toys. Was this related to the mental makeup of the two genders, I wondered. The reaction of a female is emotional while that of a male is of resentment and irritation to a situation, it is generally believed. While he tends to break away, she clings and supports. The presence of a lady ensures sanity and discipline and makes a house a home. It effervesces grace, cheerfulness and warmth as opposed to either stifling sobriety or uncontrolled boisterousness in a male dominated house. The sister is the best medium of expression of her brother’s feelings as the boys get taciturn when emotions are to be expressed. She is a confidante of both her father and brother. No wonder it is this special relationship with the father that she judges all men by his standard. And, as the bard said through Cordelia in King Lear- “I cannot heave/ My heart into my mouth”, the relationship is inexpressible.
“He or she?” my trance was broken when the class-teacher asked, lovingly pecking on the chubby cheeks of my one year old in its mother’s arms. ‘He’, we sheepishly grinned, and she immediately lost interest in the baby’s charm and started recounting how naughty her pupil has lately been.