N Sreekumar, Hyderabad.

Useful resource

Introducing worksheets along with the magazine is a great idea. I must say I welcomed it. The first one on birds will be a useful resource when we take students to bird sanctuaries as well as during our classroom teaching.

Also, we really liked the article by Cheryl Rao on the A to Zee of a class magazine. Normally, students do not get to read this magazine but such articles are handy for teachers as they can be used as a sample to be shown to students.

Anita Choudhary, Delhi.

A good break

I really enjoyed the section titled ‘Tea break’ in your March 2008 issue. Finding mistakes in the ads was fun. In fact, this section helped spark off an idea. I have asked my students to collect clippings or take photos of ads that have mistakes in them and make a scrap book. At the end of the year we will have a large collection of funny ads. This will be both a learning and enjoyable experience. Thank you, Teacher Plus.

Sangeetha Ghosh, Jabalpur.

Chintan Girish Modi
Mumbai

Helping teachers grow
The article ‘Get ahead with the news’ in the April 2010 issue throws light on the multi dimensional activities that can be carried out by any teacher irrespective of the curriculum. These activities will help students learn any difficult subject with ease and joy. Apart from academics, articles like ‘Classroom language’ (Ask and Answer, April 2010) will help the teacher inculcate soft skills in students. No doubt reading Teacher Plus will help teachers grow internally and also professionally.

Jayalekshmi Rajasekaran
Tirunelveli

An asset to teachers
It’s my immense pleasure to share my feelings about Teacher Plus, a complete magazine for a valuable profession like teaching. I don’t miss out on any section of the magazine and read with interest ideas and experiments to liven up a classroom that other teachers share through this innovative magazine. The quality of the magazine both in terms of looks and content has made it an asset not only to teachers but also to parents and students.

Harekrushna Behera
Unchahar

A good resource
The May-June biology special issue from Teacher Plus was a treat to both the eye and the mind. The layout of the magazine was very appealing and attractive as usual. The content didn’t let us down either. There are articles from which teachers can pick ideas and take straight to the classroom and also articles that ask the teacher to think. There is a bit of fun to have had too with the crossword, the quiz and the shells! I also liked the idea of the images pages. We are probably seeing these trees, lizards and butterflies everyday but don’t know what they are called. Now we have names to match them with. The biology issue is truly a wonderful resource that every biology teacher will benefit from.

Shamili
Hyderabad

Two, the article “I plagiarise, therefore I am’ seemed redundant because the editorial also spoke about the same issue. And I felt the tone of the article (‘the know-all writers/editors’) would only discourage people from writing for Teacher Plus… which is not in the best interest of the magazine.

Sadhana Ramchander, Hyderabad.

Too harsh on teachers
I went through your January issue and I think just too much is being made of plagiarism. I agree it is an important and crucial issue but the Last Word by Pawan Singh is uncalled for. The article is too harsh on teachers and is written without giving a thought to whether we need to criticise teachers or educate them on plagiarism. Let’s not forget that schools and teachers in India are still on a learning curve. I have been associated with Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Education for over 6 years now and have clearly realised that teachers and schools need to be educated about technology.

As a magazine for teachers, your role should be to educate, educate and educate. Maybe all these instances were not intentional. Let’s treat teachers as learners only. Maybe a better approach could have been adopted in the article.

I am hurt because I have great regard for the teacher community and I work very closely with them.

Narinder Bhatia, Gurgaon.

Those days, we did not have Google to help strip plagiarists of their pretensions. Today, wannabe writers need to be far more skilful in their borrowings.

Sarika J Antony, Hyderabad.

More of pupils’ views
The December issue of Teacher Plus was a bit of a pleasant surprise in that one did not expect a short story special in a magazine dedicated to education. It certainly had a soothing effect though. The short story titled ‘Choices’ was by far the best, in language, style and for the shock element. The article on ‘Solving word problems’ reminded me of my school days and how I struggled to learn Arithmetic. It was an eye-opener and I hope teachers who read it will make note of it in their classroom teaching.

All in all, a readable issue, but I do wish we could have some articles on what children think of modern-day teaching, their own understanding of the enormous learning material at their disposal. It will at least start a debate among teachers and perhaps force them to think more about their wards and what they are learning.

Ashima Trikha, New Delhi.

Inspiring read
The write up under the head “Just Books” in the recent issue (December 2007) is really interesting. In fact I am preparing a list of books with “teaching” and “teacher” as theme. I would like to add two wonderful books I read and also a movie to the list for the time being: “Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window” by Tetsuko Kuroyanagi and also “Teacher” by Sylvia Ashton-Warner, and the movie “Finding Forrester”, which deals with a different aspect of teaching.

I am really glad to be a reader of Teacher Plus, which inspired me to write this letter.

Thanks for an informative magazine.

G Aruna Kumar, Chirec Public School, Hyderabad.

Participation matters
I liked your editorial ‘In the spirit of things’ in the November issue. I agree that children should be exposed to inter-school competitions. This will encourage the competitive attitude in them; yet at the same time, it is important that children should be taught that everyone can’t win – it’s the participation that counts.

As for festivals – it is imperative that children are exposed to them. In our times schools just gave us holidays on festival days, but schools today ensure that children are exposed to all the different festivals celebrated in India.

I also think it is very important that children are exposed to extra-curricular activities like sport, dance and music. These encourage all-round development of the child. However, there still are many teachers and parents who feel that academics alone is important. Reading, writing, and ‘rithmetic are fine and extremely necessary, but does the meaning of school just end there?

Manju Roy Choudary, Threshold School, Hyderabad.

The article ‘Come into my parlour’ was simply superb and informative.

Do keep up the good work.

Tapan Das & Nagarajan, Hyderabad

Appeal to parents

I have been a regular reader and promoter of your wonderful magazine for the past many years.

I would like to share with your worthy readers a poem, which is meant for those parents, who insist their kids study what they do not want to and because of the pressure, the children end up being frustrated and depressed. It is a plea to parents to allow their children to be free and let them run their own show. The only thing parents can do is to monitor their children, counsel them and motivate them and see the positive results.

Dad! For God’s sake
Don’t ask for Math.
The more I practice
The more I slip
in my calculations
And counting.

My teacher comes
Sounding like Copernicus
To our class.
Takes his board
And starts teaching
like Pythagoras
To such disciples
Who do know the names
Of superstars of Maths –
Arya Bhatt, Ramanujam,
Pythagoras and Copernicus.

Oh Dad, you say
For making a career
Physics is important
And Maths is a must
But for both
My heart says No! No!
Dad let me try my hand
At painting ‘Monalisa’ and
Monarchs, the butterflies
And also let me
Try to paint such landscapes,
which have never been painted by any artists
Of the past or present.
Please, Dad, cooperate
Let my wish
Be fulfilled.
Oh no, dear child, you say
Do what you wish
But give my aspirations
And expectations some heed

My dear child,
Your days
Are crucial ones –
Calculated and stipulated.
Make every move
With prudence.
Besides, follow the motto
‘Honesty is the best policy’.
Dear child! never submit
Till you win your war.

S. I. M. Jafri, Librarian, The Aditya Birla Public School (Formerly DPS)
Adityapuram, Chittorgarh, Rajasthan

More Creative Strategies
Innovative ideas in any field are always appreciated. I am always trying and working on new ideas and methods of teaching and learning mathematics. It’s a pleasure to share with you that in the July issue of Teacher Plus, I came across a very interesting article “Eventful learning” by Dr. Lalit Kishore. I found the author’s suggestion of integrating daily life events with the learning of the subject unique. In mathematics, the students are not able to visualise the three dimensional mathematics. In this article, a net for making a truncated icosahedron is given which may be used for making a 3 dimensional football.

I really appreciate this idea.

I have a suggestion for Teacher Plus. It will be nice if there is a section for sharing creative strategies for learning mathematics. Through this platform, teachers may share their mathematics activities and projects.

Rashmi Kathuria
PGT (Mathematics)
Kulachi Hansraj Model School
Ashok Vihar, New Delhi.

Spoken English
A kid returning from his school said, “Mom, I will not go to school tomorrow.”
“But why my son?” asked the mother.
“Teacher asked me to stand up on the bench for the present. But she did not give me one and asked me to go home.”
The phrase ‘for the present’ denotes time, i.e., a short while, but the kid having limited vocabulary and understanding interpreted the word ‘present’ as a gift.
Let us look at another example. An illiterate lady enquires about re-charge coupons for her cell phone, “Kya mere phone mein balance dal denge?”
She perhaps heard someone at home saying that there was no balance left so he/she couldn’t make a call. With little understanding of the language, she mistook ‘balance’ as a device to help her operate her phone.
One more example – everyone in India, no matter what their caste, colour, level of education and knowledge, asks for a hot cup of tea and not a cup of hot tea.
Herein lies the need for teachers too to improve not only their spoken English skills but also their written English.

Mohan Lal Mago
Member (Working Group)
Central Institute for Vocational Educator (NCERT)
132-A, Pocket-I
Mayur Vihar-I, Delhi 110091

It would be good if we could succeed in mobilizing teachers to voice their concerns about the difficulties they face and have a kind of an expert panel to address their issues, maybe even mobilise opinion for bringing about change.

Zenobia Rustomfram, Hyderabad.

Happy beginnings
Congratulations! it is really great that Teacher Plus will now be a monthly. I appreciate your great publication and its quality content. I wish you all success in your new venture.

Dheeraj Mehrotra, Lucknow.

Very refreshing
I am not a teacher but I have been reading Teacher Plus for the past six years. It has helped me as a parent. Here was something that gave me the collective wisdom of a community that was passionate about education. I have looked forward to every issue of the magazine and I was able to salvage my son’s childhood before it was hijacked by the system.

I preserve all the copies of the magazine and share them with other parents whose children are indifferent students or are victims of an ailing system. Teacher Plus has a great future and I am happy it is going monthly. May its circulation figures grow by leaps and bounds!

C. Sujata, Hyderabad.

Fascinating product
It is great to hear that Teacher Plus will now be available monthly. I think yours is a fascinating product. Wish more teachers would get a chance to read it!

Frederick Noronha, Goa.

A comprehensive education
I have known Teacher Plus for about seven years now, and have often contributed to it. This is a magazine that upholds the values of comprehensive education (not merely academic) and views the needs of students with reverence. But I had underestimated its reach until recently, when I got a mail from one of the readers (a teacher in Good Shepherd’s School, Nandyal, Kurnool, A.P.), asking me to conduct a workshop in their school. I felt truly humbled by the fact that my article was read, and that teachers had tried to implement its contents. Thank you, Teacher Plus.

Seetha Anand Vaidyam, Hyderabad.

Prof. Louis Vernal, Goa

Thank you
I am happy to share that my article ‘To know is to be’ in the February 2010 issue of Teacher Plus got me some highly complimentary responses from past students as well as colleagues in the Theory of Knowledge group. I am delighted to have a chance to focus and get ideas down on paper at this stage of my life.

Kamakshi Balasubramaniam, Mysore

Inspiring new experiences
The article ‘Online teaching: the inside story’ which appeared in the December 2009 issue of Teacher Plus was a very interesting article. The article, in fact, has created an urge in me to try my hand at online teaching. However, with articles like this it will be good if you can also provide additional information which will help readers like me to experience something new. In this case, I would have liked more information about online teaching programmes, how one can begin teaching online, whether one has to register somewhere, etc.

Jaishankar Ojha, Mumbai

I read with great interest the cover story “Mother tongue to many tongues” which appeared in your January 2010 issue. I did my high school (what was then called SSLC) in the year 1954. We had three languages to study and they were all compulsory – Telugu, Telugu Special (we could take any foreign language or Sanskrit in lieu), English and Hindi. After having studied in the Telugu medium, when I joined college in Bangalore I did not find it difficult to cope with the English medium. But then we did not have distractions like cinema, TV or the magazine culture that exists now.

Captain HK Rajagopal.

Schools and bandhs

I would like to compliment “Teacher Plus” for taking up the important issue of how educational institutions have become the prime target whenever there is a disruption or the so called bandh. It’s an important national issue and ideally should have been highlighted by both the national print and electronic media. Unfortunately, this aspect of educational development does not find space or time in the mass media. On the one hand, we consider children as the future citizens of India, but when there is unrest in the society, educational institutions are forced to close down for the safety of its children. Why don’t we demand the inclusion of educational institutes under the Essential Services Act and allow them to function normally like the other essential services. What is the use of Right to Education when educational institutions have to close under threat or otherwise. If we can spend crores of rupees to provide security to sundry politicians who are behind such disruptions, why can’t money also be spent on safety of our future citizens?

N Nagarajan, Hyderabad.

Teaching and learning languages

Your January 2010 cover story was interesting to read. However I don’t agree with the author when he says children in India have to learn “too many languages too soon” for if the delivery and assessment are age appropriate and pedagogically sound there is no question of ‘too many languages too soon’.

A child is born with a hundred expressive and communicative languages (Loris Malaguzzi), learning a few more is not an issue… it is the teaching that needs to be tackled before the learning can happen.

Payal (via email)