Spinning stories

Chintan Girish Modi When a colleague of mine introduced me to a little story book called Mr Forgetful, I read it with great delight and amusement. It seemed like the perfect thing to share with children, both for its simplicity Read More …

“Songs? No way!”

S Upendran I began using songs in the English language classroom over twenty years ago, and I have found them useful not only in teaching the four skills of language – reading, writing, speaking and listening – but also grammar; Read More …

A need to focus on the basics

Usha Chandrasekaran In one of my postgraduate classes in English I came across Kayalvizhi who was zealous about learning. She displayed a remarkable understanding of English Literature. With all her flair for fresh thinking, Kayalvizhi stammered a lot while speaking; Read More …

Homework that really works

Mini Joseph “I like a teacher who gives you something to take home to think about besides homework.” – Lily Tomlin This is exactly the kind of teacher I would appreciate because he or she would enable the student to Read More …

The argumentative student

Kamakshi Balasubramanian What is an argument? When we hear the word ‘argument’, we think of heated debates, courtroom battles between highly articulate and clever lawyers, and just plain noisy disagreements between people who hold different opinions and viewpoints. There’s more Read More …

The innovative instructor

Ratna Rao The teaching and learning process needs at least three domains – the teacher, the learner and the curriculum. This process can either be teacher-centred or learner-centred. Child-centred learning is not as easy as it is made out to Read More …

Keep it simple, silly!

Usha Raman This headline is a corrupted version of the popular rule – Keep it simple, stupid*. It is changed here because I did not want to run the risk of offending readers right from the first line! This is Read More …

Upholding – standards!

Dharani Kothandapani English is not foreign to most Indians. It is so common to hear English words interspersed with the local tongue so much so, that they do not seem like English words any more. They have become part of Read More …

Memories of my English Classes

Rajib Chandra Kotal I am a student of class X. I feel that we have not been taught English properly. Our English classes started from Class III. Our teacher used to write on the board and we used to read Read More …