EC JUVENILES

I once encountered a juvenile/child who told me that ever since he was born, never has there been a single day in his life "of solace, peace and happiness" because of the constant quarrels between his parents. This is like a wake up call to all of us.  Unless there is a healthy, warm relationship between the parents, harmony and peace at home, it is not actually possible to create socially responsible individuals. A "unhealthy home" will never create a healthy mind that thinks good of others. Today we have big, grand houses but very sad homes. There is pain, a lack of purpose, utter meaninglessness in life that plays havoc in the lives of our children making them take recourse to drugs, aggression and sensual pleasures, ruining their lives and making them ticking time bombs for social disorder and tragedies.

So let's spare a few thoughts for the future of our society ie., our children. 

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BEING FEARLESS EXERCISE

Asked the students to make groups, discuss and then make a prresentation on -  "What is the one thing you would do, if you were told that u wud not fail in any way?".

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THE WINNER WITHIN

In this exercise asked the students to share their life lessons as a winner in life. The students were told that "a loser is actually a winner unacknowledged". More than winning, what is important is to have a spirit of being a winner. 

What really moved the audience in this exercise was people expressing their gratitude to their parents for making them what they are now, facing so many ordeals in life and coming up trumps. Some could not hold back their tears and found it hard to control themselves.

What we really understood in this exercise is that when we start believing that we are all winners, our attitude towards life, people in our lives and society changes and we develop an attitude of gratitude bringing peace, harmony and oneness with our world around.

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BREAKING THE COMFORT ZONE

BREAKING THE COMFORT ZONE OF THOUGHTS FOR A BETTER/HEALTHIER(for mind and body)/ECO-FRIENDLY LIFE

We mostly think remaining in our comfort zones. This comfort zone can be imagined to be like a box with five sides which are:

1. Our likes/dislikes which make our attitude

2. Our perceptions regarding pain/pleasure.

3. Our beliefs based on past experiences.

4. Our prejudices about a person/thing.

5. Our assumptions/limitations.

So for a thought/view/attitude/perspective/opinion to enter/entertain our mind box, it has to first confront these five, ever-vigilant security guards which is definitely not an easy job. So what is the way out, how to deal with this big five? 

You can use suspension of disbelief/ methods of make-belief used in movies. You can hire impressive vehicles to popularize your ideas like celebrities/models/people having great voice/people perceived as successful in life/methods and techniques - the science and art of communication(drama, marketing etc.). Slowly and steadily, the great walls develop pores, new ideas seep in especially when we are communicating to educated and open minds and things make way for new thoughts, a complete 360 degree shift(a revolution literally), a paradigm change in the thought process. Now the need is to sustain this fresh wave of thoughts, to keep it stable through habits(actions), object-anchors(possessions), company of like-minded people, books, newspapers, TV shows, movies, etc. And things/thoughts/persons/societies change for better, better for all, for healthy minds, bodies, social well being and for the natural environment where we live, grow and flourish.

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THE DRIVING FORCE

Asked the students to make a presentation on "What is the driving force in your career?/What motivates you in your job-work-profession/What excites you in your workplace-institution-organisation/What life-purpose do you see being fulfilled by being in this position?  

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When to start teaching English Communication in schools?

If a person shuns his mother tongue, then he/she may lose the basic clarity of thought process that is necessary for one's development as an individual. ---MT Vasudevan Nair, Jnanpith Award winning author

During a training session for a batch of XI class students, one of them mentioned that in her previous school where they had to speak only in English or else were made to pay fine if they spoke in their mother tongue and the kind of bitterness she felt towards the school authorities' who imposed such a draconian law that curtailed their right to speak in their natural language of thinking and made them feel frustrated and suffocated creatively and vocally; this made one feel that the right age to learn to "Think and Speak in English" should ideally be after ten and it should happen out of their volition. If you ban the use of mother tongue in institutions especially where the learners are very young in age then it is like killing their ability to think and speak altogether. The students stand a chance to lose the most important God given gift they had been endowed with at the time of birth - the gift of thinking and discovering which is so useful to understand their own minds, their society and the natural environment where they live.

Besides this too much emphasize on speaking without clearly telling the students/learners the basic rules to make a simple English sentence is also a futile exercise in itself. The ideal way is to first let them enjoy and empower their thoughts in their native language and then gradually expose them to a few expressions and a few rules to make sentences in English. Let the students have the best of both worlds. Let them be open, non-judgmental and neutral to all languages. Let them not be swayed by the culture of the native speakers of a particular language. Let them see language only as a vehicle, a tool to carry their thoughts across to an audience and nothing else. The audience matters, not the language. Let the situation, the occasion define the chosen language. And let people be proficient in multiple languages and feel the freshness of their thoughts when dressed in the right robes. 

Who are we, ordinary mortals, to tamper with/cripple their minds by banning their thoughts if expressed in their mother tongue. I am asking this question again, who are we to play with their natural evolution in the way they think, reason, imagine, feel, introspect and reflect. Let there be diversity in the way people think and express their thoughts and in this uniqueness lies the true answer to the well being and happiness of societies.

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STORY NARRATION

Asked the students to narrate a scene/story/script/situation to an actor and then direct the scene with the actor enacting the role.

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