Friday, January 31, 2014

REDEFINING EXPERIENCES


 
REASSURING

Today I was told on phone by an institute that I had to take a class at 2 pm. The call was annoying to me at that moment because it came while I was in the middle of a formal conversation. But now when I look at it from the point of view of the other person at the institute it was REASSURING.




TO BE CONTINUED...

Thursday, January 30, 2014

EC Image Consultants

Name of the role play: Starting an Image Consultancy

First divided the class into seven teams with five members in each team.
The team members then have to find a name for their firm. Next they have to find their first client. The client can be a person, an organization or a state. In case of person, he/she can be a job seeker who needs to attend interviews or also a  celebrity or even a reputed and experienced professional who wants to make a career shift.
You need to tell your clients what steps they should take so that their present image is changed to the desired new image.
During this role play exercise students imagined clients like cricketers, actors, restaurants, political leaders etc.
Mood in the class: Fully engaged in the activity, laughter and fun.
No. of students who participated in the exercise: 37
Qualification: Graduation or above.
Duration: 1 hour

...to be continued

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

GREAT WORDS





My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/j/johnfkenn109213.html#dPaTv6GC5Bem4KI1.Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated. Confucius

"If you bring forth what is within you, what is within you will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what is within you will destroy you!"   
--Bible

Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards. Soren Kierkegaard

Never does the human soul appear so strong as when it forgoes revenge and dares to forgive an injury.   Edwin Chaplin

"The nature of our future depends on the future of our NATURE." Anonymous

Life is an adventure that transcends our ordinary, linear way of thinking. Robert Lanza

“I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." Mark Twain

"Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country."
John F.Kennedy


My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/j/johnfkenn109213.html#dPaTv6GC5Bem4KI1.99
My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/j/johnfkenn109213.html#dPaTv6GC5Bem4KI1.99
 "To be, or not to be, that is the question"
William Shakespeare in Hamlet 
"Arise, awake and stop not till you reach your goal."
Swami Vivekananda
"Find purpose, the means will follow."
Mahatma Gandhi  

"That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."
Neil Armstrong ...on landing on Moon in 1969                     "Generations to come... will scarcely believe that such a man as this...ever in flesh and blood... walked upon this Earth.” Albert Einstein on Mahatma Gandhi 's 70th birthday

There are only two ways to live your life: One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.
Albert Einstein


People who succeed in life are those who have learned how to take any challenge that life gives them and communicate that experience to themselves in a way that causes them to successfully change things.
Antony Robbins

I 'll make my voice heard. I'll go out into the world and work for mankind!

Anne Frank on 11 April 1944

When we quit thinking about ourselves and our own self-preservation, we undergo a truly heroic transformation of consciousness.  ---Joseph Campbell 

If anything is certain, it is that I myself am not a Marxist. ---Karl Marx



Image result for gandhi quotes on GandhismTo be continued...

Friday, January 24, 2014

EC & Advertising

Practising EC by making advertisements - ROLE PLAY METHOD

Source of inspiration for this class: My classes at CREST, Calicut and also ELTIF(Calicut Chapter) meetings.
No of students in the class:30
Age Group: 10-15
Time allotted: 3 hours
Started the class with a prayer for getting inspiration.
Then told about the reason to pray: to feel positive and also be creative.
Talking about the exercise asked the students what is the job of a salesperson; it's to communicate the positive qualities of a product to be sold (COMMUNICATION) and then motivate the people to buy it (MOTIVATION).
So what do you do when you have to sell a product through an advertisement. There are 4 steps involved in making an advertisement in the class:
1.Find a product. 2.Find its positive qualities. 3.Find a punchline to attract the audience.(For eg. Boost is the secret of my energy) 4.Enact a situation where you can use the punchline.
This exercise was done in four rounds. In the first round the groups came and shared the names of their products. In the second round they shared its positive qualities. In the third round they shared the punchline. In the final round they enacted the skit which highlighted  the punchline. All these rounds were fully in English.
Written work: Asked the students to write the script of their role play or skit.
The first part took two hours. After tea break the focus was on VALUES in advertisements.
The students spoke about values like: The importance for time, using the best to get the best results, respecting the elders, importance of friendship, good health,sharing problems with others etc.
The class ended with students doing a vote of thanks in English to thank the trainer.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

SIMPLE WAYS TO PRACTICE AND LEARN EC

There is a very simple way to learn EC and that is to start with questions about ourselves. For eg. you can ask a question to your friend (your English partner) like "What's your name? Where are you from? etc." These questions are also called Bio-data based questions because through them you are trying to find the other person's bio-data based information.
Another method is to ask questions about things around us for eg. When did you buy this table? From where did you buy it etc. This is also an easy way to practice EC and it is very much a useful experience because you are getting real information about a thing or a person.
Next method is to ask questions about something which has happened recently for eg. a family function/ an event in school/college/city etc.   
The fourth method is to ask question about somebody known to both the persons who are conversing. It can also be questions about a celebrity.
You can also interact with people by first listening to a good song, reading a newspaper report, watching a video, a TV program or showing a photo album. This is called interaction based method of practising EC. 
When there are many people in a group they can be asked to come individually to give a speech on a particular topic (or issue or problem). If they are not very confident they can also come in two's or three's or small teams and make the speech together by first discussing their ideas, ordering them and then expressing them in small sentences. Instead of giving a speech people can also debate the pros and cons of a decision/policy/technological device by diviing themeselves into small groups. A group communication can also be used to find a solution(s) to a social problem in a systematic and disciplined manner.
Another method to pratice EC when there are many people is to present role-plays or dramas in groups based on a theme or issue. 
When alone one can practice EC by reading newspapers, especially "Letters to Editor"  where you find the English expressions of common people, not professional writers. You can also send sms to your friends in English and then make a call asking about the sms that you had sent.
When you are with your friend you can tell him/her to ask questions to you imagining that she is talking to a character from a book/play/movie and you can respond from that character's POV(point of view). In fact this exercise can also be done by pretending that you are somebody else from real life who is known to both of you.
Then you can talk to your friend about something in your life which you are very much passionate about, something you find as a burden, some aspect of your life which you would want to change etc.
You can also imagine that your friend is going to write his/her autobiography and and you are asking questions in order to unravel interesting moments from the reader's POV(Point of View)
You can ask your friend questions like:
Whom would like to thank for your good life?
What is the message from your life for the younger generation?
Any one experience which you would want to describe in full detail?
Have you achieved both - success and happiness in life?
Do you think the world is better now or ten/twenty years ago?
Another method is to share five words with your friend and talk to each other using these words so that you practise their usage thoroughly.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Monday, December 9, 2013

EC - It's a Child's Right.


Today we have better schools than we had in the past, good syllabus, large number of dedicated teachers, immensely supportive parents, an English friendly society and a very passionate student community. Still why is it that we don't see good English speakers or communicators emerging in our society? What is the reason for this lack of confidence in English communication among our students ? 
 
One reason for the "POOR ENGLISH COMMUNICATION SKILLS AMONG STUDENTS" could be that we don't teach our students the "Logic of English sentences " ie., just like in Mathematics we have a mathematical logic like 1+2=3, similarly in case of English communication also there are some very basic rules which need to be discussed and learnt. 

A very commonly repeated mistake seen in our classrooms is a sentence like "Are you like music?" instead of the right sentence "Do you like music?". Similarly "Do your friend watch TV?"

This may be mainly because we don't TELL our students in a very clear and focused manner the RULES FOR MAKING SENTENCES IN ENGLISH. Without knowing these rules it is simply not possible to learn the art of English communication. Even a game like football or cricket or chess can be practiced and enjoyed universally only when the players are clear about all the rules. So I think if we start imparting English Communication training to students by starting with the rules of EC we will witness a change in the English Communication Skills of our school and college students which can result in a positive and healthy change in our social, economic, employment and education scenario.

Why don't we think along these lines:
English: It's a language of Power, a Motivational Tool and also a Life Skill.
English Communication: It's a child's right, a mind's delight and also a tool to fight.

 Let the discussion continue..

ENGLISH EDUCATION IN INDIA....an eye-opener

In our educational institutions, are we really teaching and helping students to communicate easily and effectively in English? If the answer is yes, then after completing their education how many of them can:
1. ask questions to their teachers in English on any topic of public/academic/vocational interest?

2. answer questions about their own "self" ie., Personal, Educational, Family and Career aspects?
3. make polite requests to get help from strangers in buses,trains or a foreign place?
4. take part in a group discussion and help in shaping the group opinion/perception on the given issue?
5. disagree with someone in a pleasant, peaceful and positive manner?
6. talk to tourists and guide them to a tourist destination in a warm and hospitable way?
7. make a good speech which is direct, less formal thus inspiring and heartfelt?
A shockingly small number of students who can do all these tasks fairly well would reveal to us that the English teaching and learning scenario in India is not what we can be proud of. It's not bright(or right) at all to any person who is concerned and committed about our students' EC skills.
And what is the reason for such a "not so bright (or right)" scenario?
One of the limitations of our English teaching is: The age old educational practice of upholding the supremacy of traditional grammar and literature in the name of English education in India when the most pressing need of the hour is - imparting "employable, empowering and enlightening" modern English Communication skills ie., Speaking, Writing, Listening and Reading skills in English which form the major testing areas in exams and interviews for educational and career enrichment like CAT, IAS, Banking Exams, IELTS,TOEFL,etc. 
Besides, studying English is not glorifying text books,exams,writers or any type of accent and etiquettes. It is thinking, learning and speaking in English and also listening actively to a lot of English conversations of different types of people. 
And by the way which country in the whole world has the highest number of youngest English Communication aspirants (in the age group 15-30)...........it is Bharath or India.
So we need to think and move fast to cater to the needs of such a huge number of very young English learners who can make a great difference to their lives and society by a life -skill based, emotionally and intellectually engaging English education in India.
The bottom line is to make our "English education" an education in English language skills which can be very much used in the real life for employment,empowerment and enlightenment. There was a time when we worked for the English. Now let the English language work for us, in helping us to lead a better LIFE by Living our dreams, Inking our thoughts, Finding our sky and finally Earthing our pride

 
Jai Hind
Satyamev Jayate 
(The writer is an English Communication trainer. His email is cyberjosh123@yahoo.com)