Objective
The prime objective of this presentation is to suggest suitable and feasible solutions to break the psychological barriers of EFL learners (stage fright, laliophobia, inferiority complex, etc.) in Andhra Pradesh, India, through theatre techniques apart from letting them know the ways and means of improving the diction and body language while communicating.
Introduction
Albert Einstein once said, “I never teach pupils; I only create conditions in which they can learn themselves.” We ought to follow him even now in teaching English.
The ultimate goal of any teaching is to make learners learn things on their own. Our special contribution lies in creating a conducive learning environment at BIE and Medha Language Theatres.
The period of attaining expertise over a second language primarily depends on the immediate goals of the learners. Since English happens to be a language of golden opportunities in commonwealth countries, it has become a must for those who have aspirations. Short-term goals coupled with long-term ones have become impetus for learning English. However, the process of reaching the goal is hindered by several factors for which this presentation offers some workable solutions.
Background
My three decades of research, teaching, publications and training the heterogeneous groups in acquiring language skills in English have been the strong motivation for conceiving this idea. My constant experiments with diverse language activities have introduced me new ways of teaching English to non-native speakers.
Scope
The paper deals with practical experiments conducted in the language theatres the presenters have in Warangal (BIE) and Vishakapatnam (MIE) and shows how these dramatic techniques are used regularly as effective materials and strategies to train the second language learners with a good percentage of success and making them free from laliophobia, a dread of talking caused by fear and anxiety that will make one falter, hesitate, stammer, stumble and stutter.
The most important experiments include:
1. Multi-skill oriented sessions
2. Diary-writing
3. Get-togethers
4. Vinyl Flex posters
5. Incentives
6. Team tasks
7. Informal Teaching
8. Compeering
9. Audio lessons
10. Profile-presentations
11. Life Skills
12. Documentary Filmmaking in the Classroom
Learners generally find multi-skilled approach and theatre activities lively, friendly and fruitful. Cooperative learning and collaboration with peer groups in the learning process inside and outside have been meaningful and successful experiments for us. All the above items are used as a means to tide over learners’ inhibitions initially and instill confidence in them for permanent learning.
1. Multi-skill Oriented Sessions
Our typical session begins with a prayer by Rudyard Kipling or Rabindranath Tagore, Nobel Laureate of India: Tagore’s prayer begins with “Where the mind is without fear….”
The prayer is read out by students by turns in front of a public address system so that the late comers can hear from a distance to rush in. It is the first task for them in loud reading. It is followed by individual resolutions read out from a booklet. This second task is meant for reading comprehension as well as holistic personality training and development. Later, the co-ordinator explains the importance of the day. There is a GK calendar exclusively designed for this purpose. Some students prepare in advance to explain the significance of the day. The co-ordinator invites the speakers of the day. Most of these speeches are based on the previous tasks.
Look at the following schedule to have an idea of the session for one and a half hours:
Schedule from February 2 to 6, 2009:
6.00 A Prayer and Resolutions
6.01 Importance of the day
6.05 English News
6.10 Profiles / Speeches / GD Report
6.20 Home Work
6.40 New Unit
7.10 Speeches / My latest book
7.25 Diary Reading / Checking
7.30 – 8.15 GD in open air in a circle on the following topics:
Monday, February 2, 2009
36. You have received a cash gift. The money is enough to buy either a two-
wheeler or a laptop. Which one would you buy and why?
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
37. You must select a person to guide others to do a job. Which one of the following
is most important for you to consider in making your selection?
(a) person’s education (b) work experience (c) quality of previous work
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
38. Organizations should hire employees for their entire lives. Do you agree or
disagree?
Thursday, February 5, 2009
39. Countries, organizations and campuses are three areas that need good leaders.
Choose one of these areas and describe the most important qualities of a leader
in the area of your choice.
Friday, February 6, 2009
40. Choose one of the following transportation vehicles and explain why you think
it has changed the people’s lives: (a) Bicycles (b) Automobiles (c) Aeroplanes
When the live news is broadcast at 6.05 a.m. from All India Radio, it is listened to and the important new items are noted down by students. Later, the facilitator asks everyone what they have covered to test their listening, speaking and writing skills. He also takes down the news items to guide them in case they miss some of the news items.
2. Diary-writing
When students are asked to do the tasks of paragraph-writing, essay-writing, letter-writing, dialogue-writing, report writing, they postpone them. Some of them cannot do them. But all of them find it easy to record their daily events and activities. First, some two hundred readymade sentences are supplied. Secondly, they are given a diary with a box at the beginning of the page to cover a thought for the day. They begin with the explanation of the thought or with their routine activities such as
“I woke up at 5 a.m., but got up at 5.30 a.m. After daily chores, I sat down and prepared the notes for DSC examination. Read the newspaper for ten minutes.(a) India celebrates 60th Republic Day today. (b) Khazakisthan President is the Guest of Honour. (c) ……….
Had brunch at 10.30 and went to college by bike. Attended all the classes. Came back home at 4.30 p.m., and had a glass of milk. Went out and played cricket with friends at Arts College playground. Came back home at 7 p.m. Had a bath / shower. ……..
After supper / dinner, I watched TV news for some time. When I became sleepy, I went to bed at 11 p.m.”
3. Get-togethers
They are organized once in a fortnight for leadership qualities, group dynamics and cooperative learning. Hidden and innate talents of the students come out in open air. Once they know one another and become intimate, they shun their inhibition; come out of their shells with the encouragement by peers and eventually they become good friends and companions. Later, they feel free to take an active part in learning process in the classroom. Moreover, get-togethers reduce absenteeism and promote long lasting friendship and unstinted fellowship.
4. Vinyl Flex Posters
In the past we depended on the transparencies to be used with the overhead projectors. The OHPs require power for operation and frequent adjustments of scrolling up and down with adjustments of focus in a dark or semi-dark classroom causing inconvenience for taking down notes. Now vinyl flex posters are really attractive and convenient in multi-colors and designs with photos in big size and they can be handled by anyone including students. There is a scope for uniform learning and teaching. Students of different abilities can find them convenient to copy the matter without spelling mistakes. Teachers of different caliber can follow uniform teaching.
5. Incentives
Prizes as incentives promote competitive spirit among students. There are several language games to be played in the classroom and outings with prizes. There are two booklets of language games devised for such competitions.
Games are generally a part and parcel of the lives of learners. They tend to see life in terms of games and anything else is seen as something they are forced to do rather than willing to do. If playing and learning are integrated, English will become an important part of the learner's daily reality. This is what language games set out to achieve. The aim of all language games ultimately is for students to "Know English".
“Knowing English” means knowing how to communicate in English. This involves the productive skills (speaking and writing) and the receptive skills (listening and reading). It is the integration and development of the four basic language skills. It involves not only producing language correctly, but also using language for a particular purpose.
When learners are able to perform the communicative functions that they need, they achieve "communicative competence" in the language. Language games are indispensable to achieve this communicative competence.
English has a rich vocabulary and its vocabulary is a complicated mixture of words borrowed liberally from different languages. We need to have a reasonable command of the words to master the language.
Vocabulary learning is a life-long experience. One of the problems of learning a foreign language is to master the structures or patterns of the language. When we talk about the structure of language, we are talking about the kinds of materials that go to make up a language and the way the materials are put together, arranged and used to build up sentences. Therefore, we can say that one of the major aims of teaching English is to enable the students to express themselves correctly in writing on everyday matters of life, and this requires proficiency in structural skills.
There are many kinds of games like picture games, card and board games, sound games, true/false games, back chaining drill games, one-minute games and so many other games. There are games to cater to different age groups. The educational value of games is high, as it involves active participation. The learner discovers new things from commonly known concepts of games. Games enable learners to learn with ease and fun.
Oral and writing skills refer to the productive skills. In speech, it involves learning the sound system, stress and intonation patterns. And in writing, this involves learning features of the writing system such as spelling structure, grammar and vocabulary and punctuation. Since we do not speak or write in isolated sentences, the students will also need to learn ways of joining sentences together in connected speech or writing. Games are thus a natural self-expression for both the young and the old. It has the advantage of attention focusing, providing a self-motivating environment for the learners with their active participation.
Games introduce an element of competition into the learning process. This provides a valuable impetus to a purposeful use of language. In language games, the learners see the consequences of action at the same moment of winning or losing a point. They also accept that games have to be played according to certain rules. Thus a link is established between the classroom and the learner's own environment.
A lot of research has been done on language games and the effectiveness in teaching language items. Modern tendency is to concentrate on games that are played with the help of the computer. Geoffrey Barnard (1959) in his exciting book, Better Spoken English, provides a lot of language games. Agility and flexibility are greatly stressed and the material he has provided help towards achieving this end. Barnard concentrates on rhythm drill consisting of tongue twisters and nonsensical sentences. Donn Byrne (1976) is one of the noted writers who emphasized the importance of language games. In his practical handbook on the teaching of the skills needed for oral communication entitled, Teaching Oral English brought out by Longman in the series called, Longman Handbooks for Language Teachers, Byrne devotes a special chapter for games. He argues that games provide not only "a welcome break in the lesson routine," but also "form an integral part at both practice and production stages of learning.”
Jane Ellis (1984) in her book, Teaching English through English: A Course in Classroom Language and Teachings, feels that "games should provide some light-hearted fun and entertainment." Adrian Doff (1988) in his trainer's handbook entitled Teach English: A Training Course for Teachers, emphasizes the importance of games in English Language Teaching. Doff gives special emphasis to role-play, improvised dialogues and interviews as an art of teaching oral English. Crosswords and puzzles have been the staple diets of many language lovers. Many an avid reader has increased his word power by religiously solving the crossword games published in the newspapers. The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), New Delhi, has brought out English textbooks titled Inter-act for classes VI onwards. These textbooks with their emphasis on communicative English cover quite a number of pages for language games. The British Council helps English teachers by providing books and materials on language games to those interested. They also conduct workshops on language games frequently for teachers at different levels. The NCERT offers valuable training to teachers in the different methodologies of teaching English. The New Millennium Graded English Course, with its 5 Readers, 5 Workbooks and a Teacher’s Manual with an audio CD, published by Arkbird Publications, is designed to provide a strong foundation for the Indian students of English. Workshops have been conducted by the publishers at different places to train the teachers and use the course as per the objectives.
Medha series titled after five element of the universe – air, earth, fire, sky and water – will assist the learners and lovers of English to march on the right path of learning.
The book, Air, deals with ‘Phrasal Verbs’ which are perturbing to the learners with their multiple meanings. The Earth book encompasses classified vocabulary of vegetables, fruits, creatures, flowers, animals, birds, trees, relationships, tools, ornaments, garments, and words for description and modification, professions, words of law, journalistic words, words ending in –phobia, --mania, --ology, --cide, --ation, --ous, etc. The Fire book ignites the young minds to master auxiliaries and verb forms, which are basic in the language system. Uses of ‘be’ forms, modal auxiliaries, are explained with the help of sketches of celluloid / cinema actors, which are appealing to lovers of them.
The Sky book makes the learners fly with simple, compound, phrase and participle prepositions which are hard nuts to crack for many learners, nevertheless, the proper use of prepositions is a test to one’s mastery of a language. The Water book makes one sail through the structure of language based on twelve forms of tense. The character-sketch of Ajay is presented to teach a moral: once a person is work-oriented and successful, everything goes with him.
All the books have attractive and creative illustrations to make a lasting impression on the readers.
Language games have been researched more abroad than in India. The selection criteria for language games should be as follows:
· Games must motivate and interest the students and should focus on relevant content related to the curriculum.
· They must be graded and must appeal to different learning styles.
· They must be related to current events or concerns.
· They must foster authentic language use that integrates listening, speaking, reading and writing skills.
· They must draw upon students' prior knowledge and lead to more and newer information.
· The size of the class must also be taken into consideration.
· The games have to be prepared carefully in advance. The purpose and rules of the game have to be explained to the students and the mother tongue can be used to do this if necessary.
· The students should be given one or more "trial runs" before the game is played.
· As many students as possible should be involved in the games, by dividing the class into teams or groups.
· If games are played on a team basis, points can be awarded for each correct answer and the scores can be written on the blackboard. For grammatical errors, marks might be deducted.
· Finally, writing skill, especially, the mechanical and grammatical aspects should be stressed upon, apart from certain elements of grammar, vocabulary, and a few structures.
Thus language games can help in improving the communication competence of the students to a great extent. Both oral and writing skills can be successfully imparted. Language games also have great attention focusing quality. They inculcate interest in learning, create healthy competition, provide recreation, help in acquiring correct spelling and enhance one’s vocabulary. They add a great deal of interest to the routine classroom teaching. Eventually, they enliven the teaching of English in the classroom. Some of the games include:
1) Words within Words, also known as Kangaroo Words.
Students frame as many words as they can using the letters of the word only. For example, from REHABILITATION, a student has coined about 400 words.
2) Minimal Pairs, Words that differ in one sound. For example, ice-eyes; rest-rust; raise-rose; praise-prize, etc.
3) Homophones, Words which are similar in sound but different in spelling. For example, right, write, rite; son, sun; no, know; meet, meat; week, weak; here, hear, etc.
4) Word Endings: Suggesting the words ending in
i)--ar, ii) ---er, iii)---or, iv)---son, v)---sion, vi)---tion,
vii)---ment, viii)---ful ix)---ish, x)---ly, xi)---ous, etc..
5) Rearrangement of Letters in Words, also known as Anagrams. For example, EUISNTITT, ODNFNOTUIA, LRTMAIAE, etc.
6) Rearrangement of Words in a sentence. For example, is success secret of hard work the, has a my friend brother, etc.
7) Completion of Incomplete Sentences. The objective of this exercise is two-fold. It tests one's thinking and also command of language. For example, If I were the principal………
8) Sentence Shuffling: To arrange the sentences in a coherent and logical manner. For example, ten sentences of a story can be given in an irregular order for proper arrangement.
9) Words with All Vowels: For example, authorize, education, automobile, behaviour, communicate, etc
10) Pangrams: Sentences with all the letters of alphabet. For example, pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs.
11) Palindromes: Words or sentences which can be read either way. For example, noon, nun, dad, mum, madam, redivider, etc. Live not on evil. Sex at noon taxes. Madam I am Adam, etc.
12) Supply the Missing Letters: Advis--r, Conven--r, etc..
Anthakshari or Tail Words: Apple---eat--ten---no, etc
Colleges for knowledge;
Knowledge for life;
Life is for a wife;
A wife cuts your life;
Never choose a wife in college life.
13) Dumb Charades: Guessing the right words by observing gestures. Tests one's synonyms.
14) Classified Vocabulary Tasks: Words related to Agriculture, Education, Animal Kingdom, Religion, Phobias, etc.
15) Word Families: Words in different parts of speech. For example, collect, collector, collectorate, collective, collective, collectively, etc.
16) Words Beginning with Prefixes: Disagree, disappear, discontinue, illegible, illogical, illegal, unable, undo, untie, etc.
17) Words Ending in Suffixes: Biology, Psychology, Sociology, Capitalism, Communism, Socialism, etc.
18) Word Building with the help of Flash cards, Photos, pictures, etc.
19) Slip Tests for Dictation. On words like accommodation, beginning, committee, dining hall, ecstasy, February, grateful, honourable, interesting, January, kerosene, language, miscellaneous, nuisance, omelet, psychology, quiet, restaurant, siblings, tomorrow, unique, vasectomy, writing, xerox, yielding, zealous, etc.
20) Collocations: Matching with the natural word order as under:
A B
1) Make somebody
2) Pay exact fare
3) Commit some tea
4) Take attention
5) Tender presence
6) Grace mistakes
7) Engage enough water
8) Solicit crimes
9) Sip classes
10) Drink the occasion
21) Substitution Tables: Framing sentences with the words from the tables as below:
Fixed Variable Variable Variable
bad/good/cold/hot/kind/ you is!
cruel/ugly/beautiful/ he was!
How handsome/rough/boring/ she are!
interesting/helpful/ it were!
friendly/nice/pretty they looks!
22) Combining Words: Combining two nouns, classroom, handbook, (noun+noun),
wool-gathering, sooth-saying, (noun+gerund),
dressing-room, laughing-stock (gerund+noun),
cut-throat, breakfast, (verb+noun),
free-thinker, short-hand (adj+noun), etc.
23) One-word Substitutes: Using one word instead of several words such as
" ambiguous" for capable of being interpreted in two words;
" extempore " for speaking without previous preparation, etc.
24) Crossword puzzles that appear in newspapers.
25) Consonant Clusters like plate, price, black, brave, true, twist, dream, duty, dwell, class, crush, cube, glory, great, flat, free, fuel, view, speak, stamp, scold, human, music, new, shrink, splendid, scream, texts, attempts, etc.
26) Pronunciation tests on common words like all, above, account, adjacent, alarm, asked, barrage, bathe, budget, career, cassette, charisma, clothes, cure, dais, debitor, develop, educate, food, girl, garage, gigantic, hotel, interested, leisure, listen, mustn't, niece, tenant, of, off, omelet, person, poor, restaurant, receipt, species, souvenir, student, thumbs, Wednesday, Xerox, year, zealous, etc..
27) Rhymes and Limericks:
Solomon Grundy born on Monday .
Christened on Tuesday.
Married on Wednesday.
Ill on Thursday, worse on Friday.
Dead on Saturday, buried on Sunday.
That’s the end of Solomon Grundy. So, don't be a Solomon Grundy.
Parody: Somnath Pandey, born on Monday .
Studied on Tuesday.
Passed on Wednesday.
Employed on Thursday.
Retired on Friday, dead on Saturday, buried on Sunday.
That’s the end of Somnath Pandey. So, don't be a Somnath Pandey.
28) Find the odd word out. Student, Teacher, School, Hospital ,etc..
30) Tongue Twisters to train the organs of speech.
Betty Botter bought some butter, but the butter was bitter. So, she bought some more better butter to make the bitter butter better. Fashia fried five floundering fish for Fazil's father. A big black bug bit a big black bear and made it bleed blood. A cockroach approaches another cockroach when a human-cockroach reproaches, but staggers round the moment he encroaches. A problem becomes a problem when we consider it a problem. So, forget all our problems and let's try to be happy and healthy. A sentence does not end with because, because because is a conjunction. A toy is a sign of joy that a boy enjoys a toy as a toy for joy. Amidst the mists and coldest frosts with barest wrists and stoutest boasts, he thrusts his fists against the posts and still insists that he sees the ghosts. Don't trouble the trouble until the trouble troubles you. If the trouble troubles you, trouble the trouble until the trouble is troubled. Facts are facts. The fact is that the facts are not false. I saw a sawyer sawing with a sharp saw in a saw mill at Somidi on Sunday. Once Somebody's house was on fire; everybody thought somebody had called the Fire Department; somebody thought everybody had done it. Eventually, it turned out that nobody informed the Fire Department. One who understands anything of everything can understand everything of anything. Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers and a pack of pickled peppers. Did Peter Piper pick them up? If Peter Piper picked a pack of picked peppers where is the peck of pickled peppers that Peter Piper picked up? Pink pills for pale people for fast freeing of the past. Serious Sheela ceases to be serious and speaks sweetly on Saturdays. The sun shines on the shop signs on a sunny day. She sells sea shells on the sea shore on a sunny day with a smile. She stood on the balcony inexplicably mimicking him, hiccupping and amicably welcoming him in. Susan supposes her toes are roses, but she supposes erroneously for her husband knows her toes aren't roses/ as Susan supposes her toes to be. Three gray geese in the green grazing: gray were the geese and green was great and grand. Tom ties twine to three twigs in a tactful way. Two tall trees tied with two twisted strings to two tiny tortoises.
31) Kim's Observation Game: Testing one's keen observation and memory power by showing objects for a few seconds, covering with a piece of cloth and asking them to list out.
32) Riddles: Explaining a few facts about a thing or a person to see whether the group can guess the right one.
33) Role Play : Encouraging the learners to enact the roles of eight parts of speech
( cf. watch the videos of BIE and MIE)
34) Sorting Games: Sorting the words of things under different headings for Classified Vocabulary.
35) Chit Games : Performing the things asked for on the chits with dialogues for speech practice e.g. Beg for some money, request for a help, etc.
36) Code System: Numbering the letters or missing letters at regular intervals to convey something in a code language. e.g. My love for India is 100%
37) TAT (Thematic Appreciation Tasks): Describing the pictures seen. Also tests one's thinking.
38) Dialogue Presentation: Conversation between two people at different imagined places for different styles.
39) Open-ended Letters: Defining the roles of teachers and students beginning with the first letter.
Trained, Talented, Tenacious, Tender
Eager, Enterprising,
Affectionate, Audible,
Cheerful, Compassionate,
Honest, Hardworking,
Elegant, Enthusiastic
Resourceful, Rigorous, Reliable
Sensible, Serious, Studious
T-----------
U-----------
Diligent, Decent,
Energetic, Enthusiastic,
Noble, ----------
T-----------
40) Serpentine Sentences: Prolonging the sentence by a group of students in a meaningful way.
41) Question-Framing: Framing questions on people, poems and passages.
42) Passivization: Explaining the processes or recipes for the passive voice.
43) What Next? Narrate a Story. Stop at a strategic point and ask the students to guess.
44) SLAM RECORDS: Collection of Bio-data with incomplete sentences such as
Friends call me------- I love--------
I hate---- I cherish------------
45) Degrees of Comparison: Comparing and contrasting persons and things
e.g. Ravi is taller than Srinu.
No other day is as lucky as today, etc.
46) JAM: Just a minute speed for fast reading covering 300 words a minute. For example, the tongue twisters can be given for fast reading.
47) SMS: Funny, creative messages can be encouraged. For example, ‘beautiful things happen to beautiful people with beautiful hearts in beautiful places. I pray this day adds more beauty to your beautiful life.
6. Team Tasks
Some of the above games and activities are assigned to two students to do as pair-work or more than two students to do as group-work for fear-free learning.
7. Informal Teaching
The entire teaching process is in friendly atmosphere for free peer learning and teaching. Students generally feel at home when teaching is done in a very informal way.
8. Compeering
Every student gets a chance to act as a coordinator for at least three days for improving his anchoring skills. They will be good at different ways of inviting the speakers, giving their comments and compliments and proposing a vote of thanks in tune with the name of the speaker as under:
I convey my affectionate thanks to Anuska or Anderson.
I convey my bountiful thanks to Bhadri or Bush.
I convey my commendable thanks to Kavitha or Chrstopher.
I cordially convey my delightful thanks to Divya or David.
9. Audio lessons
We have devised more than a hundred audio lessons in bilingual method – English and Telugu -- against soothing music for meditative learning. We advise the students to listen to them by shutting their eyes and concentrating only on the content of the audio lesson. Meanwhile, the facilitator types or notes down the important words and sentences for oral practice. Once the students shut their eyes and sit in meditative posture for fifteen minutes, they feel relaxed and absorb things taught them later in a better way.
10. Profile-presentations
In all present interviews, candidates are asked initially to introduce themselves. Some readymade sentences in foundation course and a sheet with 75 open ended questions are given to the students to come prepared for presentations the next day. This is followed by questions posed by all listeners based on the sentences used by the speaker. This mock-interview makes him more confident to face future interviews in a formal way. Listeners also learn the technique of posing questions properly and grammatically correct.
11. Life Skills
Learning sessions become monotonous if grammar is taught every day and confine ourselves to one particular area. The twenty first century students need good academic as well as functional or survival skills. We conduct several career and counseling programs in English in collaboration with NGOs such as Lions Club, KGA, etc. We have so far conducted 88 programs on yoga, meditation, health, physical education, computer science, self-employment schemes, AIDS awareness, success stories of eminent people, etc.
12. Documentary Filmmaking in the Classroom
We can make our students into documentary filmmakers. One cell ad in India shows how to take our own movies. IT savvy facilitators have discovered a new way to bring excitement into their classrooms and help students make meaningful connections to their higher studies. By introducing documentary filmmaking into their curriculum, we can create an environment where all students are successful and motivated to do their best work.
Apple’s Classroom Documentary Filmmaking solution makes it easy to get started. The solution includes all of the needed equipment as well as materials written by expert teachers. Whatever the curriculum area, students can become experts on a topic, creatively demonstrate their knowledge, and easily share that knowledge with others.
Documentaries give students the opportunity to express themselves using the tools of their generation. At the same time, they master basic skills — such as researching, reading, writing, and speaking. For editing, facilitators can choose from iMovie (part of the iLife ’08 digital authoring suite) for simple movie creation, Final Cut Express for more advanced editing, or Final Cut Pro, the same tool that professionals use. Then they can choose from a variety of cameras, scanners, storage devices, and other accessories to complete their solution. To make it easy for facilitators to get started, there’s also the Documentary Resource Kit, which includes the National History Day DVD “Using iMovie to Create a Documentary,” “Stories Worth Telling: A Guide to Creating Student-Led Documentaries,” and a Documentary Resource CD. Eventually, students can build critical 21st century skills including problem solving, collaboration, and gathering and analyzing data.
Conclusion
It is observed that direct participation in language theatre has helped the students in many ways. The shy students have improved not only their communication skills, but also functional skills to become dynamic and responsible citizens of society. When the stage is made as a bilingual site in the initial proceedings, the students are able to shift comfortably to English by the end of the training. In today's business world, English is no longer viewed as a foreign language -- it is the global language of communication wherever a deal is being conducted internationally. Officially, English now has a special status in more than 75 countries, with a total population of over two billion speakers! A good command of the English language is therefore a primary survival skill.
If path is beautiful, ask where it leads to, but if the destination is beautiful; do not ask how the path is. Keep the learners walking and learning English and the world will be theirs. Be hopeful like Abraham Lincoln who says, “I will prepare and someday my chance will come.” As Confucius said, “When I hear, I forget; when I see, I remember, but when I do, I understand.” We do believe in doing in our language theatres.
References:
Adrian Doff (1988) Teach English: A Training Course for Teachers, (Cambridge University Press)
Ananda Lal, The Oxford Companion to Indian Theatre (New Delhi: National School of Drama)
Chris Johnston, House of Games: Making Theatre From Everyday Life.
Davidson, G. New Methods of Teaching English (Delhi: IVY Publishing House, 2004)
Donn Byrne (1976) Teaching Oral English. (London: Longman) in the series called, Longman Handbooks for Language Teachers,
Geoffrey Barnard (1959) Better Spoken English. Illustrated (Broche, Anglais)
----- Inter-act (for classes VI onwards). New Delhi: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).
Jane Ellis (1984) Teaching English through English: A Course in Classroom Language and Teachings, (Penguin Books)
Krishnaswamy, N and Lalitha. Methods of Teaching English (New Delhi: Macmillan, 2006)
Llewellyn-Jones, Spectacle, Silence and Subversion: Women's Performance Language and Strategies (Contemporary Theatre Review)
The Business English Test on ALISON measures whether your command of English will support interaction on an international scale! The test consists of three parts: fluency, vocabulary and spelling: Fluency - a sentence is presented that has to be completed with the correct word or part of a sentence. Vocabulary - a definition is presented for which the correct word must be chosen. Spelling - two spellings of the ‘same’ word which from which the correct spelling has to be chosen. This test is carefully designed to establish your level, area of strength and areas of weakness in Business English.
Presentation Supporting Material: Prayers by Rudyard Kipling & Rabindranath Tagore; Resolutions in a booklet; An audio lesson on Diary-writing; GK Calendar (in PDF also); Audio lessons on Inviting the Guests and Vote of Thanks (Anchoring Skills); 365 topics for discussion; AIR news for 5 mts (sample); a copy of diary; 200 readymade sentences meant for diary-writing; Get-togethers at Vanavigyan; Vinyl flex poster of profile meant for AC; Language Games I & II; Tongue twisters and nonsensical sentences; Role plays; Mock-interviews; New Millennium English Course in 5 Readers and Workbooks with a Teacher’s Manual (ACD); Medha’s five elements books; Minimal pairs book; Classified vocabulary book; Flash cards; One-word substitutes book; Riddles; Role-play of Parts of Speech; Career guidance program circulars.
