<HTML>
<HEAD>
<BODY BGCOLOR="ffffff" Text="#000000" link="#0000FF"
alink="#CC3299" vlink="#38B0DE">
<TITLE>English Proficiency Programme: Course Outline</TITLE>

<style type="text/css">
#ToggleTarget {
display: none;
}
</style>

<script type="text/javascript">
function Toggle() {
var el = document.getElementById("ToggleTarget");
if (el.style.display == "block") {
el.style.display = "none";
}
else {
el.style.display = "block";
}
}
</script>

<script>
function Elaborate(Para) { el = document.getElementById(Para);
if(el.style.display == 'none'){ el.style.display = ''; }
else { el.style.display = 'none'; } return false; }
</script>
</HEAD>

<BODY>

<P><H2>English Proficiency Programme: Course Outline</H2></P>

<p> This course outline is primarily meant for teachers. Therefore,
it will not be out of place to summarize a few valuable pedagogical
tips, some of which are universal of any teaching programme and some
specific to the present one. Kindly go through the following points
quickly before you approach the course material indicated below.
</p>


<p onClick="Elaborate('Solidarity');"><b><u>Solidarity....</u></b></p>
<div id="Solidarity" style="display:none"><p>
The course is ideally taught in partnership between
two teachers. While one of the teachers actively engages the class, the
other can grade the C.W./H.W. or organize material for the next activity.
When students are busy with the class-work, both can share in the
grading or interact closely for smooth conduct of the course. If the
class size is large, then a third person - teacher or teaching assistant -
may be needed. Closer the interaction and deeper the understanding among
fellow teachers, more efficiently the programme will run.</p></div>

<p onClick="Elaborate('MoreMerry');"><b><u>More the merrier....</u></b></p>
<div id="MoreMerry" style="display:none"><p>If your team is lucky to
have one or two instructors/tutors/assistants
extra, it is better - do not send them away even if they look redundant.
Beyond the bare minimum necessity, there are a number of vital chores
in the act of pedagogy, particularly for this course, that a lot of
redundancy can be utilized for enhancing the effectiveness of the course.
You will see how, as you go on reading through the issues below.</p>
<p>More the merrier, for display boards/screens as well. If you use
screens (or boards) to display lesson materials given through the links,
you will find that TWO screens/boards rather than just one is convenient
in some of the sessions.</p></div>

<p onClick="Elaborate('Needles');"><b><u>Keep needles separately from the
haystack....</u></b></p> <div id="Needles" style="display:none"><p>
Otherwise, once mixed, finding the valuable 'needles' will be difficult!
Instruct students to maintain a notebook for 'fair notes' in which they
will never do any H.W. or C.W. or write anything else other than what
is appearing as the course material on the sheets and what you specifically
ask them to note down.</p></div>

<p onClick="Elaborate('Snoop');"><b><u>Snoop....</u></b></p>
<div id="Snoop" style="display:none"><p>
One of the teachers should preferably check through the notes in
the student's 'fair notebook' after every instalment of material given.
Not merely to verify that the students have noted it down, but to
ensure that it is correctly written. Anything wrong posted in the
fair notebook may turn out to be counter-productive if the student
bases his learning on that. In case you need to make any changes
in that, you should also show it to the student and explain. In any
case, after you check through some material in a student's notebook,
put your initials below it, as a signal to yourself and your colleagues,
and make a mark in your checklist for your record. This is a laborious
task, but it is useful, and any extra support will be found helpful
in such work.</p></div>

<p onClick="Elaborate('Clean');"><b><u>Demand clean work....</u></b></p>
<div id="Clean" style="display:none"><p>
Demand clean work. In notes, in home-work and also in class-work.
Students with faulty or unclear hand-writing may be given extra
special hand-writing exercise as home-work. Relentless adherence
from your side will have some beneficial effect on the students.</p></div>

<p onClick="Elaborate('Sermon');"><b><u>Spare the stick, but not the
sermon....</u> </b> </p><div id="Sermon" style="display:none"><p>
Assign home-work regularly. Ask defaulters to complete the work
the next day. Do not ignore negligence on home-work. Students
defaulting on home-work may slowly get cut-off from the class
and will also slowly induce other borderline students into lethargy.
Through repeated sermons, try your best to pull these defaulters back to
the mainstream.</p></div>

<p> <br> </p>

<P> <h3>Course Material</h3>
<ul>
<li> <a href="Legend.html">Legend of abbreviations</a>
<li> Module 1: The first quarter, i.e. sessions 1-10, of PELT
<li> Module 2: The second quarter, i.e. sessions 11-20, of PELT
<li> Module 3: The third quarter, i.e. sessions 21-30, of PELT
<li> Module 4: The fourth quarter, i.e. sessions 31-40, of PELT
<li> <a href="TechniqueElements.html">Elements of Teaching Techniques</a>
</ul>

<p>
Issues regarding scheduling of the modules:
<ul>
<li> These four modules roughly encompass the basic practical
English knowledge that a person must have to negotiate his
day-to-day or emergent need of transaction through reading,
writing or speaking in English; beyond which formal grammar,
vocabulary building, composition techniques etc can be taught
to him/her; and after which a motivated learner can learn a
lot even through self-study.
<li>The four modules can be given continuously, with full benefit, only
to experienced teachers or mature and dedicated students, i.e.
for whom the course is meant to be mostly orientation to this scheme of
teaching and English improvement is not the major issue.
<li>For all others, including teachers whose English needs
significant improvement, a time-gap should be given between
modules for assimilation. These time-gaps should be ideally
planned between the instructors and students based on academic needs,
but are quite often dependent on practical and logistic considerations.
<li>During these intervals between modules, it is crucial that the students
stay in regular touch with English through several channels like
reading, listening, speaking, writing and perhaps day-to-day regular
use of English at work.
<li>In particular, reading habit is essential for learning a language
well. This point must be stressed and driven home. <b>Without reading
through hundreds (preferably thousands) of pages of English text as a
matter of habit or pastime, attending classes may not be fruitful.</b>
<li>The reading material, besides newspapers, may be mostly fiction.
Typical kinds of books can be advised by the instructor, keeping in
mind the ability of the student. At a later stage, it will depend on
the student's taste.
<li> It may happen that the students in your class are too young or
otherwise too weak to follow the course at a reasonable pace. In that
case, it may be a good idea to take them through a period of 'priming'
stage (say, Module Zero) in which the entire teaching may consist of
reading of elementary and juvenile (yet grammatically correct) text,
elementary vocabulary building and framing of short simple sentences
- repititively - preponderantly oral exercises.
</ul>
</p>

<p>
From the perspective of a teacher, study the sheets of material
and elements of teaching techniques (Reading, Practice, Exercise,
Interpretation, Expression, etc) carefully.
Chalk out your action plan and make your
notes on how you would
conduct these classes and activities, what points you would emphasise and
what would be the expected benefits.
</p>

<p> <br> </p>

</BODY>

</HTML>

- <A HREF="http://home.iitk.ac.in/~dasgupta/index.html">Bhaskar Dasgupta</A>