An International Seminar on Innovative English Language Teaching was  organized by the Centre for English Language Teaching, University of Kerala and the Government College For Women, Trivandrum on 26th  July 2010.
This was one of those seminars which was planned, and  amazingly organized with in a short span of two days. Those who made it happen includes  a few dedicated faculty of the Govt. College For Women, the Head of the Centre For English Language Teaching, Dr. Jamuna and a rather unassuming and soft spoken scholar from the United Kingdom,  Dr. Elizabeth Holt of Christ Church University, Canterbury who  gave her assent to be the main  invited foreign speaker-cum-delegate.
As Dr. Jamuna had personally contacted and invited a few teachers and research scholars, they too had come to attend the seminar and some even had papers on their field of specialization ready  to be presented.
Though the state of Kerala had been experiencing a heavy downpour for the past few days, on the day of the seminar, Monday, 26th July 2010, the sky was clear and sunny. The venue was the Seminar Hall adjacent to the Department of Music from where emanates the blessed tunes dedicated to the Hindu Goddess of Learning, Saraswati. Those who arrived early had registered their names and the session began around a half past ten.
The gathering was welcomed by Dr. Jamuna, the Head of the Centre for English Language Teaching, University of Kerala. The following are extracts from her speech:
From the Presidential Address by Mr. P. Vijayakumar, Head of the Department of English, Govt. College for Women, Trivandrum:
From the Presidential Address by Dr. Sajeev Rose, faculty of  the host college:
Dr. Anitha Dayamanthi, another faculty of the host college who offered the vote of thanks, said the stage has been set by the speakers and the time is now fit to discuss ways of changing English language teaching in India.
Dr. Elizabeth Hoult, Director of Knowledge Transfer of Canterbury Christ Church University UK, made a presentation which she titled ‘Reading Bourdieu and Cixous to recognize and escape the sham of Academic Writing'. She illustrated her points making use of visuals and quotes from both her study and authoritative texts, in her PowerPoint presentation.[ Please view http://www.articlesbase.com/college-and-university-articles/resilient-adult-learners-and-the-sham-of-academic-writing-2920318.html]
The participants took a short tea break and the next session on Paper Presentations started. It was chaired by Dr. Sajeev Rose. The first paper was on ICT for ELT by a former faculty of University College, Trivandrum, Mr. Gopalakrishnan. The speaker  made use of a flash presentation with online access to  display different sites to illustrate how the Internet could be exploited for using  :
* Dictionary  * Translation * Online newspaper * Editing * Library * Foreign Phrases
* Mythology * Literary Theory * Conjugation etc
The next paper presentation was by Mr. C.Praveen, a teacher educator from Govt. College of Teacher Education, Trivandrum on the use of animated gifs for animating language use. The innovative presentation was a demonstration of the use of animated gifs downloaded from the Internet for performing tasks in  grammar, writing and for developing thinking skills.
The third session after lunch break  was chaired by Dr. Elma John, faculty of the host college. The first paper  presenter of the session, was  Ms. Saritha. G an alumni of the host college. Her topic was the use of Comics and Music for teaching.
The next paper was an appraisal of different methods of language teaching and it was based on data collected by the presenter of the paper Ms. Vani, a faculty of Govt. College, Kanjiramkulam.
 The next paper  by Ms. Vishu was on the Use of Rhymes For Ecological Awareness. Her paper was based on the data she collected as part of her Project Work for her MA Degree course of the University of Kerala.Â
The last paper  presenter of the session was Ms. Meera Baby, a faculty of Govt. College, Kanjiramkulam.. The title of her paper was Texting and Fossilization.Â
As the next session was behind the original schedule, tea was served  in the hall and the fourth session commenced. Dr. Elizabeth Hoult chaired the session. The first person to present the paper was Dr. Lal of Christian College, Kattakada. The paper was titled ‘Content Based Instruction : Towards Academic Language Proficiency'. The presenter gave an  introduction  to ways of focusing on content . The paper concluded with the statement that we need to adapt Content based ESL Instruction and Curriculum (CBEIC), but there are plenty of challenges.
The next paper was presented by Ms. Anitha Isaac, a faculty of the host college. The paper was an elaboration  of the branch of study in ELT titled, English For Specific Purposes (ESP).
The last person to address was Dr. Cherian George, of Mar Ivanios College, Nalanchira. Though the title of the paper was not mentioned, the speaker's focus was on collocations in English. He dealt at large with the humour which English collocations evoke and claimed that it would be interesting to study the   notion of correctness with regard to collocations which reveal cultural attitudes.
The seminar ended with a brief Valedictory session.
Note: Please view the following link for notes prepared during Paper Presentation
http://eltnotes.wordpress.com/author/cpraveenpublications/
This was one of those seminars which was planned, and  amazingly organized with in a short span of two days. Those who made it happen includes  a few dedicated faculty of the Govt. College For Women, the Head of the Centre For English Language Teaching, Dr. Jamuna and a rather unassuming and soft spoken scholar from the United Kingdom,  Dr. Elizabeth Holt of Christ Church University, Canterbury who  gave her assent to be the main  invited foreign speaker-cum-delegate.
As Dr. Jamuna had personally contacted and invited a few teachers and research scholars, they too had come to attend the seminar and some even had papers on their field of specialization ready  to be presented.
Though the state of Kerala had been experiencing a heavy downpour for the past few days, on the day of the seminar, Monday, 26th July 2010, the sky was clear and sunny. The venue was the Seminar Hall adjacent to the Department of Music from where emanates the blessed tunes dedicated to the Hindu Goddess of Learning, Saraswati. Those who arrived early had registered their names and the session began around a half past ten.
The gathering was welcomed by Dr. Jamuna, the Head of the Centre for English Language Teaching, University of Kerala. The following are extracts from her speech:
- We keep saying ELT but seldom discuss it. As teachers of Literature we take it for granted that we have the necessary proficiency. Only after years of teaching do we realize that we have to understand a lot about ELT.
- When the British came,  we wanted to drive them away and we did succeed. They left, leaving behind two things- The English Language and Cricket… and we have fervently clung on to them.
- We should realize that we in India have had very good English teachers. Recently a few Professors who came from South Africa admitted that they had their best education from teachers who originally belonged to Kerala.
- We have somehow taken for granted that the  correct English is invariably the British variety and we are lucky to have a Professor from Britain as the key speaker.
From the Presidential Address by Mr. P. Vijayakumar, Head of the Department of English, Govt. College for Women, Trivandrum:
- As teachers of English we tend to lose our focus.
- It is a pity that students with a first class MA Â degree in English Literature are unable to take a Precis writing test on a topic related to Banking when they applied for a job in the Techno Park at Trivandrum.
- In Kerala we had instances where the English used by scholars in English was incomprehensible to students. So seminars of this kind will hopefully make a ‘difference'.
- In the last century, Parsis and Brahmins used English to achieve power and hold over ‘Knowledge'. So in a state like Kerala,  if taught properly by teachers of English, there is every scope for the English language to become an agent of empowerment for the underprivileged namely  the lower classes.
- Let us not forget that our primary job is to teach and not to pretend to be another set of Brahminical Priests who chant the mantra of Literary Theory!
- It is depressing to note that most teachers taking the cue from the UGC are being pushed into Seminar Halls when they actually were expected to spare their time to help their students to become truly empowered through a proper teaching of the English language. Â
From the Presidential Address by Dr. Sajeev Rose, faculty of  the host college:
- The Govt. College for Women is a pioneer institution that started transacting English language in India. The British have given us a valid currency for use of English. We in India are intellectually efficient to handle and transact it. Yet as the previous speaker said, we have deprived millions from getting empowered through the use of English language in India.
- It is a fact that the earlier generation of teachers in India could  communicate properly and even transact the subtle nuances of the language to the students. But today we need to teach Communicative English separately!
- It is a fact that while teaching English today, we need to draw on the sociological, Â psychological and technological aspects.
- If we teach this language of empowerment to more women, it will be a promise for the future, for it will definitely be transferred to the family through women.
- We are eager to listen to our key speaker and I believe what she is going to say is something every researcher and research supervisor should listen to:..The time has come for the research supervisor to shun the academic hegemony he/she assumes and stop believing that what he/ she has to say is the last word! We live in Post modern times and need to draw on multi-inter-disciplinary studies. We ought to be open to new things While assessing assignments and dissertations let us try to accommodate the freshness in the minds of youngsters!
Dr. Anitha Dayamanthi, another faculty of the host college who offered the vote of thanks, said the stage has been set by the speakers and the time is now fit to discuss ways of changing English language teaching in India.
Dr. Elizabeth Hoult, Director of Knowledge Transfer of Canterbury Christ Church University UK, made a presentation which she titled ‘Reading Bourdieu and Cixous to recognize and escape the sham of Academic Writing'. She illustrated her points making use of visuals and quotes from both her study and authoritative texts, in her PowerPoint presentation.[ Please view http://www.articlesbase.com/college-and-university-articles/resilient-adult-learners-and-the-sham-of-academic-writing-2920318.html]
The participants took a short tea break and the next session on Paper Presentations started. It was chaired by Dr. Sajeev Rose. The first paper was on ICT for ELT by a former faculty of University College, Trivandrum, Mr. Gopalakrishnan. The speaker  made use of a flash presentation with online access to  display different sites to illustrate how the Internet could be exploited for using  :
* Dictionary  * Translation * Online newspaper * Editing * Library * Foreign Phrases
* Mythology * Literary Theory * Conjugation etc
The next paper presentation was by Mr. C.Praveen, a teacher educator from Govt. College of Teacher Education, Trivandrum on the use of animated gifs for animating language use. The innovative presentation was a demonstration of the use of animated gifs downloaded from the Internet for performing tasks in  grammar, writing and for developing thinking skills.
The third session after lunch break  was chaired by Dr. Elma John, faculty of the host college. The first paper  presenter of the session, was  Ms. Saritha. G an alumni of the host college. Her topic was the use of Comics and Music for teaching.
The next paper was an appraisal of different methods of language teaching and it was based on data collected by the presenter of the paper Ms. Vani, a faculty of Govt. College, Kanjiramkulam.
 The next paper  by Ms. Vishu was on the Use of Rhymes For Ecological Awareness. Her paper was based on the data she collected as part of her Project Work for her MA Degree course of the University of Kerala.Â
The last paper  presenter of the session was Ms. Meera Baby, a faculty of Govt. College, Kanjiramkulam.. The title of her paper was Texting and Fossilization.Â
As the next session was behind the original schedule, tea was served  in the hall and the fourth session commenced. Dr. Elizabeth Hoult chaired the session. The first person to present the paper was Dr. Lal of Christian College, Kattakada. The paper was titled ‘Content Based Instruction : Towards Academic Language Proficiency'. The presenter gave an  introduction  to ways of focusing on content . The paper concluded with the statement that we need to adapt Content based ESL Instruction and Curriculum (CBEIC), but there are plenty of challenges.
The next paper was presented by Ms. Anitha Isaac, a faculty of the host college. The paper was an elaboration  of the branch of study in ELT titled, English For Specific Purposes (ESP).
The last person to address was Dr. Cherian George, of Mar Ivanios College, Nalanchira. Though the title of the paper was not mentioned, the speaker's focus was on collocations in English. He dealt at large with the humour which English collocations evoke and claimed that it would be interesting to study the   notion of correctness with regard to collocations which reveal cultural attitudes.
The seminar ended with a brief Valedictory session.
Note: Please view the following link for notes prepared during Paper Presentation
http://eltnotes.wordpress.com/author/cpraveenpublications/
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