English as a second language in India

This blog is a part of our ELT-1 class activity,

The reference has been taken from research paper of Kapil Kapoor - “Teaching English as ‘Second Language’ in India.

               

                In India, English language has its position as second language, and as per Kapil Kapoor the aim of learning English would be achieved only if the language will be taught with appropriate methodology and technology. He talked about the place of English language in Indian society and how students are getting knowledge of English, even the role of English teacher is also important.

Kapil Kapoor has given two definitions of ‘second language’

1)    The second language is the language which is taught after one or more regional languages. For example English is second language after one or more Indian languages.

2)    In school education, the second language is what is introduced after the primary stage.

                            

                 As per Kapil Kapoor we study the English language because it is a language of power, and if English has declared as the most important language in India, half of Indians would remain outside from the privileged power structure. He has discussed three parts of this structure,

1)    Modernization: English language is a modern language, it is associated with our ‘tradition’ and made a new culture like ‘Indo-Western’ and Indians are not purely Indians and not even westerns, from their cloths they are western and from their mentality they are Indians, So the half modernization has created conflict.

2)    Mythology: this was a next step to connect English with India with the help of language planning. The concept of ‘Regional language’ has come in existence but English has not suffered as it is declared as ‘pan-Indian’ language.

3)    Language policy: it is a national policy to decide that which language should be in education as an optional language and as L1, L2 or L3. 

                English has got the metaphor of window which connects the world, all Indian languages have considered as walls which give us ‘darkness’ and English language as ‘window’ which gives us ‘light’. Further he talked about the role of teachers, that the teacher should be enough knowledgeable to teach students, India has so many schools with English as first language but it has not enough skilled teachers and this is the reason that the standard of teaching English is short.

                       

 By reading this research paper, we could conclude that the standard of learning and teaching English should be improved, because for years to come English will continue to be necessary in higher education as a library language. Also it should given its importance as a global language rather than second language.

Advantages and disadvantages of English language in India

This blog is a part of our ELT-1 class activity,

Þ  The references has been taken from the research paper of E. Annamalai, “Satan and Saraswati : The double face of English in India.

                  As per this research paper we could get an idea about the role of English in Indian society. If we take the time of independence, all Indians were rejecting English language because it was a colonizer’s language, they were not looking at language which is global but they were looking towards language as it is the language of Satan or of British.

                Jawaharlal Nehru and other leaders who have studied in foreign, they were in support of the language but almost seventy percent India had a great hatred towards English, because they were not aware about the value of learning this language. Slowly and steadily supporters of English language has increased and hundreds of schools have been started in 1980s which had English as first language.

                 There was a time when people had a strong hatred towards English language and now people proudly say that their children is having education in English medium. Indians have a prejudice that learning of English language would destroy the use and value of native and national languages, and it was the reason that they were not allowing their family members to take English language in their study.

                   There are still two different mentalities in India, but now people have became more career oriented and learning of English language is most important for bright opportunities.

Þ  If we take English as Satan and Saraswati, 

English as Satan: 

   If the English language would become the first language in every educational organisation, our all Indian languages will lose its value.

   English is very important language to communicate at international level, but it will make all geniuses to leave India for better career option.

   English is a modern language with English culture in it, and if Indians would start following that culture, we would lose our traditions and cultural values.

English as Saraswati:

   The demand of English language is increasing every day, as far as job is concern, the person should be aware of how to communicate in English.

   English is available at every place, from arts to science and from science to computer science, thus we should be aware about the use of English language.

   English language is an international language, half of world speaks English language and almost all the official paper works have English language as a communicative tool, so the teaching and learning this language is very important.

                 

          Though both the aspects negative as well as positive is right on their place, English has dual face in India, it depends upon the mentality of people that how they take language, as Satan or as Sarawati.

International Yoga Day celebration #Departmentofenglish #MKBU

                      Yoga is having 5000 year old history and its origin in India. It purifies mind and body and gives relaxation. 21^st June is declared as International Yoga day by United Nation General Assembly. The selection of this day has various reasons like, Mr. Narendra Modi has said that “the date is the longest day of the year in Northern Hemisphere and has special significance in whole world. On 21^st June the whole world celebrated this day with various Yoga Asanas , and Yoga practices.

                     Our department has a tradition to celebrate International Yoga day from last two years, on this year also we have celebrated this day. We all gathered at the terrace of our department and started the celebration with prayer from Rigveda,

संगच्छध्वं संवदध्वं
सं वो मनांसि जानताम्
देवा भागं यथा पूर्वे
सञ्जानाना उपासते ||
saṃgacchadhwaṃ saṃvadadhwaṃ
saṃ vo manāṃsi jānatām
devā bhāgaṃ yathā pūrve
sañjānānā upāsate ||
May you move in harmony, speak in one voice; let your minds be in agreement; just as the ancient gods shared their portion of sacrifice.
समानो मन्त्र: समिति: समानी
समानं मन: सहचित्तमेषाम्
समानं मन्त्रमभिमन्त्रये व
 समानेन वो हविषा जुहोमि ||
samāno mantraḥ samitih samānī
samānaṃ manaḥ sahacittameṣām
samānaṃ mantramabhimantraye vaḥ
samānena vo haviṣā juhomi ||
May our purpose be the same; may we all be of one mind. In order for such unity to form I offer a common prayer.
समानी व आकूति: समाना हृदयानि व
समानमस्तु वो मनो यथा व: सुसहासति ||
samanī va ākūtiḥ samānā hrdayāni vaḥ |
samānamastu vo mano yathā vaḥ susahāsati ||
May our intentions and aspirations be alike, so that a common objective unifies us all.

          After having prayer we started warm up exercises, we all have instructed by Vaidehi Hariyani and our professor has given the demonstration of all the Aasanas. 

        After warm up exercises, we have started yoga in standing position and then continued it with sitting and sleeping position and ended with Pranayams. We became aware about various facts of doing Yoga and its benefits. It was wonderful experience of doing yoga in early morning with cloudy atmosphere. All the students have enjoyed the session and we have completed our celebration with Shanti path, which suggests peace of mind, body, soul and whole world.