We all understand the challenges of teaching poetry in ELT classrooms, a point that Kent Grosh addresses from a broader perspective about education in this issue. But if we are able teach well, poetry can add an important aspects to our students’ language skills, including understanding metaphors, connotations, symbolic meanings, and so on. In this entry, Mabindra Regmi shares a lesson plan for teaching a particular poem. – Ed.

–          Mabindra Regmi

A Girl
by Ezra Pound

The tree has entered my hands,
The sap has ascended my arms,
The tree has grown in my breast-
Downward,
The branches grow out of me, like arms.
Tree you are,
Moss you are,
You are violets with wind above them.
A child – so high – you are,
And all this is folly to the world.

Challenges for a teacher

A Girl by Ezra Pound is a product of what is called imagist movement in modern poetry. The preference is given to the picture that the poem portrays rather than the meaning. There could be many challenges that the teacher can face while teaching this type of poem.

1.      Structure

One of the complications that the teacher might face while teaching the poem “A Girl” by Ezra Pound will be the structure of the poem itself for it does not follow standard metric stanzas. The lack of stanzas is perhaps deliberate as the whole poem centered to the page looks like a picture of a tree. This is one of the qualities that a imagist poet aspires for- to give the poem form of the topic under discussion.

2.      Meaning

Since the poem is created in order to paint a picture of the poet’s expression, it will be very difficult for the teacher to come to a singular conclusion as to what the poem might mean. Nonetheless, it does not affect the beauty and the creativity of the text and the profound impact that it will inevitably have on the reader. The teacher has to be careful not to ladle preconceived meaning for this poem, but encourage the students to come up with their own interpretations. It is also advisable not to consider any of the interpretations as totally wrong.

3.      Criticism

Literary criticism permeates any literary text. Many a times, it is the text itself that draws onto one or the other type of literary criticism. Even if the theories are not explicitly discussed in a secondary school literature classroom, certain inferences are unavoidable. Because “A Girl” is a poem of post modern times, it can be safely assumed to be critically appreciated through the lens of post-modernism in literature. But again, post-modernism is not a clear cut literary theory and the resulting explanation will retain some of the ambiguities and the surrealisms that post-modernism theoretical explanations propagate.

A Lesson plan for teaching the poem  

Exercise 1

Draw a picture of a tree and a picture of a girl side by side on a blank piece of paper.

Exercise 2

Read the poem “A Girl” by Ezra Pound. Look at the drawings that you have made. Now consider the questions below.

1. Does the poem evoke a sense of comparison between a girl and a tree?
2. How is the tree compared to a girl?

Exercise 3

Make two columns and list down the words related to a tree and those related to a girl.

Exercise 4

A Poem can be interpreted in many different ways. Read the poem once again. What do you think is the poet trying to say in this poem?

Exercise 5

There are many metaphors used in this poem. Can you make a list of them?

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Lesson Plan: Teacher’s Copy

“A Girl” by Ezra pound

Task A

Set Scene

Talk about pictures and paintings and how they might be similar to poems.

Ask the students to draw a picture of a tree and a picture of a girl and ask them to compare and see if there are any similarities.

Task B

Preteach vocabulary/prediction

Discuss and preteach the following vocabulary:

sap                                           moss                                        violet

Exercise 1

Exercise 2

Exercise 3

Exercise 4

Task C

Metaphors

Metaphors are devices used in writing poems or any other form of literature where comparison is made between two things which have some similarities but are essentially different. There is no use of comparing words like “like” or “as”.

He is a dog.

In the sentence above, (he) is compared with a (dog).

Exercise 5

Task D

Follow up

Ask the students to create metaphors for another object or person. Since a girl was used as the subject of the topic, you can use a boy instead to create some metaphors.

Suggested activities in the lesson plan

Few activities have been suggested in the lesson plan for teaching the poem “A Girl” by Ezra pound.

Pre-teaching Activities

Activity 1: Scene setting

Setting the scene for the matter to be taught will enable the students to activate the schema and in turn, it will make the comprehension of the subject matter easier to comprehend. Here, as a scene setting activity, the teacher is suggested to talk about how there are similarities between text of poems and pictures. Moreover, words can also be an effective means to express picture-like representations. As an imagist poem, “A Girl” also paints a picture of a comparison between a girl and a tree.

The teacher can further ask the students to draw a picture of a tree and a picture of a girl and try to see if there are any similarities that exist between them. The students can work individually, in pairs or in groups and give a short presentation on what kind of similarities that they have found.

Activity 2: Preteach vocabulary items

Although the vocabulary items presented in the selected poem are reasonably simple and most of the words can be understood by the students of secondary level, it is a good idea to discuss some of the items so that the students will have a complete comprehension of the poem that they are reading. Here, three words sap, moss and violet are referred for consideration for discussion. Of course the list can be contracted or extended based upon the cognitive knowledge of the students regarding vocabulary.

It is suggested that the vocabulary items are discussed in contextual and context free manner regarding the poem. The words might have been used in a different way in the poem as it so often happens while studying poetry. The students should have a clear concept of what the words mean in the poem before they start reading.

While-teaching Activities

Activity 3: Reading and comprehension

Ask the students to read the text of the poem, preferably aloud. Ask them to answer the comprehension check questions given at the end. This will enable the students to get a basic gist of the poem and what it is trying to say.

Activity 4: Vocabulary used for comparison in the poem

            There are different words used to describe the tree and to describe the girl. Ask the students to make a list of these words so that they can get an idea how these two unlikely items are compared using more or less equal number of words.

Activity 5: Finding the metaphors

One of the figurative devices used in this poem is metaphors. After explaining what metaphors are, the students can be assigned to make a list of all the metaphors used to compare the girl with a tree.

Post-teaching Activities

Activity 6: Creating Metaphors

After the students are familiar with the concept of metaphors, they can be asked to create some metaphors of their own. Here, the students are asked to create metaphors for a boy since the poem deals with metaphors dealing with a girl.

Welcome to the June 2011 issue of Nelta Choutari.

Contents:

“How to Enhance Collaborative Learning Environment” by Shyam Sharma

“Teacher’s Travelogue: A Journey to Bangladesh” by Kashiraj Pandey

“T.S. Eliot’s The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrok”  by Motikala Subba Dewan

Motikala Subba Dewan 

Associate Professor

Abstract-This piece of writing is for the bachelor level students of English in Nepal.  It tries to give brief glimpse about T.S. Eliot and his poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, which is one of the prescribed poems in Major English BA course.  This is only a commentary on the poem and does not cover each and every detail about T. S. Eliot’s works and life.  It is purely academic research based on works citation from the websites and books.  It will be useful for the students or any individual to gain basic knowledge on elements of poetry and its figure of speeches.  And it is also very helpful for the English teachers to get the idea about the poem for classroom teaching.  “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” often called “the first Modernist poem.  The poem centers on the feelings and thoughts of the persona.  The poem is composed of Prufrock’s own neurotic and lyrical associations.  Indeed, over the course of the poem, he sets up analogies between himself and various familiar cultural figures, among them Hamlet.  This establishes a connection with Hamlet’s famous soliloquy (“To be or not to be?—That is the question”).  Prufrock’s doubt that he deserves the answer he desires from the woman transforms the poem into a kind of interior monologue or soliloquy in which “To be or not to be?” is for Prufrock “To be what?” and “What or who am I to ask this woman to marry me?”

Poem’s Synopsis

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock is commonly known as Prufrock.  The poem is described as a “drama of literary anguish,” presents a stream of consciousness in the form of a dramatic interior monologue.  With its weariness, regret, embarrassment, longing, emasculation, sexual frustration, sense of decay, and awareness of mortality, Prufrock has become one of the most recognized voices in modern literature.  This poem is inner monologue, which means that everything in the poem is spoken from inside of Prufrock’s mind.  It presents a moment in which a narrator/speaker discusses a topic and, in so doing, reveals his personal feelings to a listener.  Only the narrator talks and intentionally and unintentionally reveals information about him.  The speaker expresses his thoughts about the dull, uneventful, mediocre life he leads as a result of his feelings of inadequacy and his fear of making decisions.  Unable to seize opportunities or take risks (especially with women), he lives in a world that is the same today as it was yesterday and will be the same tomorrow as it is today.  He does try to make progress, but his timidity and fear of failure inhibit him from taking action.

Setting

The setting of the poem is in the evening in a bleak section of a smoky city.  This city is probably St. Louis, where Eliot grew up or also could be London, to which Eliot moved in 1914.  However, Eliot probably intended the setting to be any city anywhere.

Characters

J. Alfred Prufrock: The speaker/narrator, a timid, overcautious middle-aged man who escorts his silent listener through streets in a shabby part of a city, past cheap hotels and restaurants, to a social gathering where women he would like to meet are conversing.  However, he is hesitant to take part in the activity for fear of making a fool of himself.

The Listener: An unidentified companion of Prufrock, could also be Prufrock’s inner self, one that prods him but fails to move him to action.

The Women: Women at a social gathering whom Prufrock would like to meet one of them but worries that she will look down on him.

The Lonely Men in Shirtsleeves: Leaning out of their windows, they smoke pipes.  They are like Prufrock in that they look upon a scene but do not become part of it.  The smoke from their pipes helps form the haze over the city, the haze that serves as a metaphor for a timid cat, which is Prufrock.

Themes

Loneliness and alienation (Prufrock is a pathetic man whose anxieties and obsessions have isolated him),

Indecision (Prufrock resists making decisions for fear that their outcomes will turn out wrong), Inadequacy (Prufrock continually worries that he will make a fool of himself and that people will ridicule him for his clothes, his bald spot, and his overall physical appearance) and

Pessimism (Prufrock sees only the negative side of his own life and the lives of others).   

Figurative Speeches

It presents a bizarre personification/simile with end rhyme (lines 2 and 3), comparing the evening to an anesthetized hospital patient.  There are odd simile of lines 1-2: Let us go then you and I,/When the evening is spread out against the sky/Like a patient etherised upon a table.  How can the dusk look like a patient on a surgeon’s table about ready for the scalpel?  In lines (8-9), streets become persons because they follow an argument becomes a person because it has insidious intent (personification) and use of like to compare streets to an argument (simile). Lines 11-12 suggest Pruforck’s destination, his intent in the poem, Oh, do not ask, ‘What is it?’ / Let us go and make our visit.  In the context of the poem, where is Prufrock walking? Where may he be going?  Like the first three lines, lines 13 -14 always throw students In the room the women come and go / Talking of Michelangelo.  Why are these two lines here, in the middle, suddenly?  What do they have to do with Prufrock’s thoughts?  It might be easier to consider oppositions.  How do the two lines suggest a very different environment from the preceding lines?

In lines (15-23), yellow fog and yellow smoke are both compared to a timid cat, which represents the timidity of Prufrock (metaphor).  This passage is an example of imagism, when a poet uses “pictures,” visual “images” of usually natural aspects of the world to convey mood, impressions, meaning. Eliot was very influenced by “imagist’ poetry at the time, poets who would write very short poems that often would focus on just one image.  In many ways, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock is a long series of imagist poems, linked together like a collage, in this case a sort of imagist-tapestry of Prufrock’s thoughts.  Why fog is yellow?  What does the yellow fog resemble in Eliot’s description?  When it rubs its muzzle and licked its tongue and Curled once about the house and fell asleep.  Why does Eliot compare the yellow fog to such resemblance?  In lines 24- 34, Prufrock repeats There will be time, six times. What type of mentality does Prufrock exhibit by repeating this line?  What kind of anxiety is he expressing? Why might he be expressing this particular type of anxiety?  When does a person, prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet?  What does he mean by, time yet for a hundred indecisions /And for a hundred visions and revisions? In lines 37-49, Prufrock offers the first real details about the place /event he is possibly walking to. As he imagines what might happen if he goes. What is Prufrock self-conscious of?  even paranoid about? What does his anxiety say about his supposed “crisis”?

In line (51), life is compared to coffee (metaphor).  Most of the lines in the poem have followed alliteration such as in lines (20-21), Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap, And seeing that it was soft October night, in line (34), Before the taking of a toast and tea, in line (56) fix you in a formulated phrase, in line (58), When I am pinned and wriggling on the wall.  In this line, Prufrock compares himself to an insect preserved for display in a collection (metaphor).  In line (75), And the afternoon, the evening, sleeps so peacefully!  here, the evening is a sleeping person ( personification) and the evening is compared to a person (metaphor).  In lines (91-94), poet has used anaphora; To have bitten off the matter with a smile,  To have squeezed the universe into a ball  To roll it toward some overwhelming question,  To say: “I am Lazarus, come from the dead.  There are use of hyperbole and metaphor in lines (92-93); To have squeezed the universe into a ball, To roll it toward some overwhelming question, these lines show the universe becomes a ball that is rolled.

Up until lines 110, what type of scenario does he imagine as possibly might have happened in the future? What situation does he imagine could have happened?  What does it say about Prufrock’s anxiety?  What clue does it give us as to why Prufrock is old and alone?  Lines 111-119 are famous, beginning with No! I am not Prince Hamlet and the Fool.  Notice the movement–from Hamlet to the Fool.  This is a kind of movement that happens a lot in the poem.  Notice the shift in mood, tone and rhythm in the final stanzas of the poem, lines 120 – 131. How does the mood, tone and rhythm of the poem change?  How might it reflect a change in Prufrock’s frame of mind?  How does the setting of seashore contribute to the change in tone?  Why does Prufrock bring up mermaids? What do mermaids symbolize (they have to be symbols, since mermaids don’t exist)?  Why does he shift from mermaids in the very end to “sea-girls”?  The last two stanzas of this poem are the most beautiful in any poetry.  When Eliot says, We have lingered in the chambers of the sea, and Till human voices wake us, and we drown?  Why do we linger Why do we drown?  Why is it human voices?  What other kinds of voices can there be?

Eliot repeats certain words and phrases several times, apparently to suggest the repetition and monotony in Prufrock’s life.  For example, how often he begins a line with And-20 times.  He also repeats other words as well as phrases and clauses-Let us go, In the room the women come and go talking of Michelangelo, There will be time, Do I dare, Should I presume, I have known, would it have been worth it.

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock is a modernistic poem that expresses the thoughts of the title character via the following:

1. Conversational Language Combined With the Stylized Language of Poetry:  For example, the poem opens straightforwardly with Let us go then, you and I.
2. Variations in Line Length and Meter:  Some lines contain only three words.  Others contain as many as fourteen.  The meter also varies.
3. Shifts in the Train of Thought: The train of thought sometimes shifts abruptly, without transition, apparently in imitation of the way the human mind works when it dreams or day dreams or reacts to an external stimulus.
4. Shifts in Topics Under Discussion: The subject under discussion sometimes shifts abruptly, from trifling matters one moment.  For example, one time Prufrock talks about the bald spot or the length of his trousers another time he talks about the time and universe.
5. Shifts From Abstract to Concrete (and Universal to Particular): The poem frequently toggles between (1) the abstract or universal and (2) the concrete or specific.  Examples of abstract language are muttering retreats (line 5) and tedious argument of insidious intent (lines 8-9).  Examples of phrases or clauses with universal nouns are the muttering retreats and the women come and go.  Examples of concrete language are oyster-shells (line 7) and soot (line 19).  Examples of particular (specific) language are Michelangelo (line 14) and October (line 21).
6. Shifts From Obvious Allusions or References to Oblique Allusions or References: Prufrock quotes, paraphrases, or cites historical or fictional persons, places, things, or ideas.  Some of his references are easy to fathom.  For example, everyone with a modicum of education knows who Michelangelo was (line 14).  Other references are difficult to fathom.  In his use of allusions, Eliot apparently wanted to show that Prufrock was well read and retained bits and pieces of what he read in his memory, like all of us.

Therefore, try to understand the poem as an assembly or collage of images that all somehow reflect Prufrock’s state of mind.  By the end of the poem, he is on the seashore, admitting his failure to reach his destination.  Seen as simply the romantic agonizing of a young man (Eliot was eighteen when he began the poem) over a woman he loves, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock would have a distinctly limited appeal.  However, the poem moves from this specific situation to explore the peculiarly modernist alienation of the individual in society to a point where internal emotional alienation occurs in loneliness.

Works Cited

Bush, Ronald. T. S. Eliot: A Study in Character and Style. 1984.

Datta, DA. Teaching The Waste Land.  Hyderabad: Sravya Grafics, 2001.

 Scholes, Robert et.al. Elements of Literature. 4^th Edition. Oxford UP, 1991.

Forster, E. M. Essay on T. S. Eliot, in Life and Letters. 1929.

Ackroyd, Peter. T. S. Eliot: A Life. 1984.

< www.enotes.com >› Literature.  15 June 2011.

<http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/Guides3/Prufrock.html> 10 May 2011

< http://masterworksbritlit.wordpress.com/2010/04/26/t-s-eliot-and-prufrock> 17 May 2011

-Mabindra Regmi

The Relation between Language and Culture
The structuralists portrayed language as an entity that could be segmented and through learning these segments, the totality would also be learnt. This method has been tested, challenged and in many cases discarded in the world of linguistics. The conception, propagation and inevitable discontinuation of ever new methods has prompted Sowden to express “there has indeed been methodological fatigue, leading many to the pragmatic conclusion that informed eclecticism offers the best approach for the future.” (Sowden, 2007, p. 304). Perhaps, eclecticism is the right trend while implementing ELT methods. One of the factors that should be considered, however, is that there seems to be a deep connection between language and culture unlike the belief of the structuralists.
The concept of language teaching now is that of concentration in what the learners learn or want to learn rather that what is to be taught. As the classrooms get more learner-centered, it can be assumed that the attitude and the initiatives from the learners’ side will be more prominent. Since a person is shaped by ones culture and local setting, we can assume that the importance of cultural context in language teaching will grow as learning becomes more learner centered.
It is in conjunction with this shift of emphasis away from teaching and towards learning, that there has appeared a growing awareness of the role played by culture in the classroom.
(Sowden C, 2007, p. 304)
It is not only the learners that come with their own culture in the classroom, the teachers also bring their own culture. This is particularly true if the language teacher is not from the locality. Sowden warns the teacher “to be aware not only of the cultures of their students and their environment, but also of the cultures that they themselves bring to the classroom” (Sowden, 2007, p.305).
Thus, it can be seen, however inconclusive, that culture of both the teacher and learner plays an important role in the language learning environment and they have to be addressed for effective learning to take place. This intricate mutual relationship between language and culture may be the key to unlock the language teaching methodologies of the future.
Whenever we talk about language and its use, it is important to figure out the relation between language and culture. There are few things we need to ask ourselves in this regard.
Can language exist independent of culture?
Is learning a new language (English) definitive of learning the culture of native speakers of English?
Who are the native speakers of English?
Will the culture of the native speakers be appropriate in the setting of the language learner?
Can language exist independent of culture?
A language cannot exist in vacuum. It has to express some objective function when utterances are made or some text is written. When we do make use of language, the production made is generally about what we know or what we have experienced. What we know and experience mostly confines within the local setting that we have grown up and where we are residing. Thus, local context becomes inseparable from the use of language.
Is learning a new language (English) definitive of learning the culture of native speakers of English?
When we learn a new language, we need to adopt the culture of the target language to a certain extent because the cultural aspect comes amalgamated with the target language. But what about the learners? The learners have their own set of cultural experiences and objectives of using a language. They have their own cultural amalgamation which has to be addressed during target language learning process to make it meaningful and relevant to the learners. We can assume that integration of local culture and context is inevitable while learning a target language.
Who are the native speakers of English?
The distinction that makes a native speaker is generally very vague and often misleading. It might be important to look into the terminology if we are to explain what English is. A dictionary definition might say that native is belonging to a certain geographic location. In the case of English we must consider the fact that it is spoken in many parts of the world and more and more people are adopting it as the first language of communication. In this setting we must consider the appropriateness of calling certain speakers native and others not. Furthermore, even within the native speakers we find many varieties as in the British English, American English, Australian English, or South African English. If the English language is to be made a truly global one, one must leave the notion of ‘native speakers’ behind.
Will the culture of the native speakers be appropriate in the setting of the language learner?
The culture and context of the learner and the native user of English may differ very contrastively. The traditional native speakers of English have their own cultural and contextual setting and it creeps into the language that they use. It should not be surprising thus, that the English used in non-native setting has the purpose of academia without much cultural interference. But can English have the same purpose if it were to only transfer the cultural and contextual nature of the target language? In order to make English learning a holistic experience, it is important that culture and local context are integrated so the learner has a more comprehensive grasp of the language.
Different Views Regarding the Role of Culture in Language Class
Different people have expressed their opinions regarding the role of culture in language class. Phyak, P has collected four such opinions from various personnel in his article integrating local culture in the EFL context of Nepal: An ignored agenda?
The first view expressed by Byram and Flemming (Byram, 1997; Byram and Fleming, 1998) states that the target language culture should be taught in ELT in order to help learners to acculturate into the culture of English countries. The second view expressed by Karchu, Nelson and Canagaraja (Kachru, 1986; Kachru and Nelson, 1996; Canagarajah, 1999) opines that there is no need of teaching target culture especially in the contexts where different institutionalised varieties of English are in practice. Similarly, the third view by Kramsch and Sullivan (Kramsch and Sullivan, 1996) states plainly that ‘local culture’ in TEFL should be taught. Finally, the fourth view by Alptekin, Jenkins and Seidlhofer (Alptekin, 2005; Jenkins, 2005; Seidlhofer, 2001) says that since English is a lingua franca, it should be taught in a culture-free context. In the same article Phyak gives a fifth opinion regarding the use of culture in language class by assimilating the highlights of the above opinions where he advises the teachers to use both target and native cultures with priority to local culture (Phyak, P).
Whatever the views of applied linguists all over the world, we cannot disregard two core realities. The first is that while learning a second language, the influence of the culture of that language is inevitable. The second fact is that the learner of second language comes equipped with the culture of the first language. If no association is made between the culture of the first language and the learning of the second one, the learning will not be as effective. Therefore, inclusion of local culture and context should be more prominent in the initial phases and gradually gear more towards the target culture so that the integration is seamless in the end and language skill transition is more comprehensive.
English as an International Language
Hegemony of English language is a global phenomenon and the onset of modern technology, the computer; and as the choice language of the academia will further strengthen it. Eventually, the spread of English will probably be the root cause for disappearance of majority of world languages. Having said that, one must accommodate the fact that the use of English in international communication is increasing, and thus, it is gaining momentum as being an international language.
The rise of English as an international language has created many concerns among the laymen, experts, anglophiles and chauvinists alike. The concerns can be divided into two factions. The first leads us towards convergence of all world languages into one giant English language. Because of the advent of printing, and more recently, media; languages, specifically English; are being standardized so that there is uniformity in the manner we write and speak. Many believe this to be a positive step towards world unification. There may be advantages to uniformity, but the question is; does it outweigh the disadvantages that it might bring in the form of ‘language death’ as expressed by David Crystal or loss of identity? The other faction is made up of personnel who are asking this very question. The prominence of English might be an indicator of decline of other languages. When a language is lost, it is not only the means of communication that is lost with it. There are contextual and cultural associations with languages, and in addition; it also forms the corpora of accumulated knowledge of a community. All this will also be lost with the dying language. Moreover, there is a strong affinity of the language with the identity of a person or a community. Although English may provide with alternate identity, as shall be discussed later in this paper, the primary form of identity shall be lost, especially if the learning of English is subtractive in terms of the first language.
Discrepancies aside, internationalization of English is inevitable. The question now remains is how we are going to bring about policies for other languages that are in existence. In order to understand why English is fast becoming a global language, we must try and analyze why is it important for us to learn English.
There are many reasons why an individual would want to learn English.
i. English may be a factor for obtaining better employment opportunities.
ii. English is the medium of communication for business, recreation and competitive tournaments.
iii. English is almost mandatory for learners pursuing higher academic achievements and publishing of one’s findings.
iv. The knowledge of English may provide higher social standing or identity in many cases.
We can see that English language empowers a person both in terms of social and material power. Thus we can see the attraction towards learning English. The choices that the language communities have is either to have subtractive learning of English and forget one’s own linguistic heritage, as is happening mostly in developing countries like Nepal; or to make the learning process additive by retaining one’s own language intact. It can be assumed that the later alternative is more acceptable.
The reason for the long windedness of the explanation above brings us back to the core discussion of this paper: local context and culture in teaching or learning English. Now as we have made a huge circle from the inevitable internationalization of English to the better alternate of additive learning of English; it is time to ponder over how we are going to teach English language.
English Language, Local Culture and Social Identity
If we want to have mastery over English language, then I believe we must find a way to make the language practical to its learners. Just reading the literature of the language or using the language in stereotype British or American cultural setting will not hold much significance to the learner of English as a foreign language. What needs to be done is to bring about association between the language being learnt and the experience of the learners. This will provide platform for practicality of the language being learnt. In order to understand why local context and local culture must be integrated into teaching of English language, we must also be familiar with how culture and local context plays a role in language learning.
Culture and Language Reflect each other
The common notion regarding the purpose of language learning has been related to communication. Because of the researches done in sociolinguistics and discourse, we should consider the fact that language is not only ‘understanding’ what the other person is expressing but it is also necessary that we understand the text at a discourse level where cultural and individual background conveys deeper meaning to the language items used. Language is not only communicating with words but we have deep rooted cultural and contextual schemata and frames which are reflected in the language that we use. Thus it is important to analyze the meaning of discourse at cultural and contextual level.
The reason that we should consider the Frame and Schema theories of discourse analysis when talking about the language is that if we are not able to express or comprehend the schema created through cultural setting, only understanding the text in communication will not be able to justify the meaning that should have been understood. Only through associating and integrating the language that we are trying to learn (English) into social and cultural setting shall we be able to exploit the nuances of the expression made in a language. Englebert believes that there is a cultural variation between the learner and the language and that the “teacher hosting foreign students must come to terms with the fact that those students are immersed in a culture with which they are not familiar, and that they bring with them not only their limited knowledge of the language, but a myriad of assumptions based on generations of cultural indoctrination”. (Englebert, 2004). These assumptions based on “cultural indoctrination” are at the core of schema of the learner.
Not only the culture of the target language but even the prescribed packaged methodology might create confusion in teaching English as a foreign language. In her study among the Asian students studying in New Zealand, Li found that “the interactive teaching methods adopted by New Zealand teachers are culturally incompatible with Asian students’ learning conceptualizations. The findings suggest that some teachers’ adoption of the communicative or interactive teaching approach led to Asian students’ negative learning experience in New Zealand” (Li, 2004). This shows that the cultural background and the mindset of the learner should be considered while teaching English. Subsequently, it also indicates the integration of local context and culture of the learner for smoother and more effective teaching learning experience.
If the learner of English is only familiar with her own experience based on her own cultural and local setting, trying to incorporate a different language with a different setting will make it literally ‘foreign’. The ‘foreignness’ can be significantly eliminated if local context and culture of the learner is being used in the target language. Thus integrating the cultural and contextual setting in language learning will be important.
English Language and Social Identity
Bonny Norton has explained that in the current social situation, English language helps create a more powerful identity for the individuals because of the advantages associated with the proficiency of English Language (Norton, 2007). She further explains that construction of identity through learning English are complex and dynamic. The five examples that she has taken in her article all give different perspectives people have for English language based on their cultural and contextual backgrounds.
If individuals from different social and ethnical backgrounds have different concepts about how English should be taught and learnt, then we can assume that it is the experience of the learner that is influencing such perspectives. An individual is the product of the local culture and context, so we cannot ignore the importance of inclusion of local context and culture in English pedagogy. Norton recommends that we should not overlook the focus on individual account while teaching English. She further explains that the researches on language teaching and identity is fragmented and it has to be made more organized, and if English belongs to the people who speak it, expansion of English in this Global era is better (Norton, 2007).
Inclusion of Local Context and Culture in ELT in Nepal
Along with the gathering momentum of inclusion of local culture and context in language teaching across the world, an initiative has been started in Nepal where linguists and social activists are advocating for inclusion of local context and culture, namely, ethnic languages in mainstream education. Alongside with this initiative there are many linguists and teachers of English language who are advocating for inclusion of local context and culture in English Language Teaching.
The problem that the Nepali society is facing is how to bring about the implementation of such content and context in English language. Looking at the coursebooks and educational materials, it is evident that the English teaching is heavily influenced by the culture of target language users. Although some content and stories seem that they have local context, but the exercises that follow again reflect to the target language culture. On the other hand, the teachers are also imparted trainings and education aligning with the target language culture. In this ambience, it will be difficult to implement inclusive local content and culture while teaching of English. In order to overcome this impasse, some measures can be taken so that there is a momentum towards progressive implementation of the discussed issue.
First, the language policy makers and the educators of the country need to come together to make a master plan on how to develop materials, train teachers and set objectives on inclusion of local culture and context in ELT. Only when a concrete set of objectives and a clear vision of the implementational procedures have been codified, the initiative can move forward.
Second, there has to be a mass drive for collection of local content in the form of stories, poems, articles and the like which also reflects local culture. The content corpus has to be exhaustive so that all the major aspects that need to be covered are covered. Agencies like Nepal English Language Teachers’ Association, NELTA, can be instrumental in taking the necessary initiatives. It is wise to include people from different academic, professional, age group, ethnic, gender, and geographical backgrounds to make the corpus comprehensive and complete.
Third, the gathered content has to be carefully cataloged, edited and selected for practical use. There may be many ways by which the content can be used. The content can be an integrated one where a little of everything is included, or it might also be ethnic or locality specific where different communities make use of different relevant parts of the corpus.
The fourth, which might also be the most important, is to enable the teacher of English to believe that local content and context is not only necessary but is the most effective way of teaching or learning a language. The teacher should also have autonomy to develop content from her own locality adjusting to the need of the learners there. Perhaps the most difficult part of this endeavor will be to discard the prevalent target culture based content in favor of local culture based one. But once the importance is felt and the initiative commenced, language learning process will take a meaningful and applicable turn. The learners then will not be learning English in vacuum but they can associate their own life experiences to the language being learnt.
Finally, a monitoring and evaluation mechanism should be developed in order to judge how successful the implementation of the initiative has been. The monitoring and evaluating body can also make necessary changes in the whole process as the problems arise.
Association and Comprehension through Local Context in ELT
If there is association between the local context and culture, and English Language teaching; the learners might benefit in many different ways. As Lengkanawati states “we can conclude that the choice and the intensity of using language learning strategies is influenced by many factors, one of which is the students’ cultural background” (Lengkanawati, 2004), the association of local culture and English language teaching might help the learner build better learning strategies. It will lead the learner to grasp deeper meaning of the target language and use it efficiently and productively. Moreover, the differences that lie within the variations of English will make the learner appreciate that context and culture are essential for language learning. All this will lead to a global culture where one retains her native culture while learning that of the target language and thus of the whole world.
We have discussed previously about the nature of association between language and culture. In addition, we also discussed about the emergence of English as an international language and the advantages of learning it. Then we went on to how local context and culture can be integrated into teaching English in Nepal. Now, we shall focus on advantages there might be in integrating local context and culture while teaching English in three different stages.

The association of local context and culture can be done in three levels: using local context and culture while learning English, Using the context and culture of the target language, and integrating the two cultures to create multicultural or global comprehension.
1. Using the local cultural and contextual setting while learning English.
Using local context and culture will enable the learners to grasp the deeper meaning of English because they can associate the cultural and contextual meaning that they are familiar with. In Barfield and Uzarski’s findings, “the classroom observation showed that students in pair and group works were more interactive when they had to discuss on their local cultures than when they had to discuss on different stories or texts which they were not familiar with.” Contextualization will further enable the learner to be proficient in the language at a faster pace. The learner will understand how a different language is not very different from one’s own. This methodology needs to be applied on the learners at least at the beginning. The learners must be given ample opportunities to interact in the target language. This is only possible if the content that is being used is related to local context or culture. If target language culture is given as a topic of interaction, the learners may have nothing to contribute and will be less willing to proceed further.
2. Using the culture and context of the target language
The users of the target language are varied. There is no single context or culture that defines a language like English. Therefore, it will be difficult to identify the target culture when we talk of English. This also indicates that even within the same language there is influence of local context and culture. This will make the learner understand that the language is not entirely free from the culture and context of a community. For example, we can take metro English that the Londoners’ use. It is very different from the traditional Standard or BBC English that we learn in Nepal or the other parts of the world. Sometimes there is a discrepancy in lexical meanings and pronunciation too. A pavement for the British might be sidewalk for the Americans. A mate is a friend in Australia and spouse in England. The fact that even among the native speakers of English in different countries the linguistic items have different meanings will enable the learners to realize that culture or local context is the key factor in using and understanding a language. It will also give an insight that language is culture and context specific and not medium specific. To clarify this statement we can safely assume that the people coming from same cultural and contextual setting will share more meanings than people from cross-culture sharing the same language.
This demarcation will be of vital importance because the learner will be able to comprehend that to understand a person is not only understanding the language but understanding the local context and culture as well. It will further inspire the learners of English to be familiar with different cultural settings of the people that use the language.
This kind of interpretation of language should be carried out at intermediate and advanced levels where the learners have been made familiar of the inclusion of their own cultural and local contexts while learning English.
3. The emergence of a Global culture
When more and more people start becoming familiar with the local culture and context of more and more places, then a common, integrated culture will emerge. This is the Global phenomenon that has been extensively discussed in every sphere of modern human civilization.
This global concept of the language and cross-cultural integration should be the ultimate outcome of language learning. When we are able to identify issues of global importance and contribute to it in a local way, then we will be adherent to the
post-modernist maxim of “think globally, act locally”.
This is a concept that might be difficult to understand for many learners. There is also a paradox of going local to harbor a global outlook. This in turn complicates the nature of language that we use in the modern world. The learners of languages, and specifically of dominant language like English, should consider the integration of local context and language. Considering the complexity of the process and inputs, learners of the tertiary level of English should be taught at this comprehensive level.
Assimilation of Various Cultures for Global Interpretation
Barfield and Uzarski have a very interesting notion regarding language integration when they opine that even if an indigenous language is lost, which is happening at an alarming rate all over the world, through integration it can be preserved within another language like English.
Interestingly, despite the loss or future loss of an indigenous language, the “roots” of that indigenous culture can be preserved through the learning of another language, such as English.
(Barfield and Uzarski, 2009)
This is one notion that can be construed as positive aspect of assimilation of local culture into a Global one. Even though we might have strong opinions regarding local languages and cultures that we have inherited, and feel strongly towards dominance and ultimate displacement that a language like English will do to other local languages, the only way to actually save a part of the culture and local form of language might be through English. In order to achieve this, it would be important to integrate local context and culture in teaching languages like English.
On the other hand, because English is fast becoming the lingua franca of the world, there should also be a global ownership of the language. If we consider only one of the cultures of the native speakers then the globalization of the language will not be possible. In order to truly make a language like English a global one, and for all the cultures to feel that they are also a part of this global phenomenon, integration of local culture and context is important. So, at the end, every individual language community can feel the ownership of global English through integration and assimilation.
Contrastively, the cultural and local contexts of societies that use English language are varied and it would be impossible to integrate everything about all the cultures. To make it comprehensible in the global arena, we should find out commonalities that exist in all the cultures and localities across the world and try to establish a common contextual and cultural condition for the language to evolve into a Global Language. Such understanding and cohesion will provide “the abilities to perform effectively and appropriately with members of another language-culture background on their terms” (Barfield and Uzarski, 2009).
Conclusion
This article has assumed certain developments in English language based on current global trends. It has assumed that English is fast becoming a global language and it will become more so in the future. It has also assumed that the local languages will decline and decay in the face of English as their adversary. Considering these base assumptions, the article has provided insight into understanding the importance of English language and equal importance of using local context and culture while teaching English. In conclusion, we can reaffirm the essence of the whole discussion in the following manner: first, we need to understand that we use English as a method of communication and this language is fast becoming a global language. Because we use it in our communication, the language cannot be excluded from the local context and culture because they are what we are likely to be communicating about. There may be differences in opinions regarding how or if local context and culture should be used in teaching English, but it is essential that we integrate local context and culture. Second, use of local context and culture in teaching English will depend on the nature of the local setting. Same system may not be applicable in all communities. Therefore, how the integration is to be done should be tailored to suit the needs of a particular community or a country. In case of Nepal, this can initiate with development of content corpus based on multilingual communities existing in the country and making a broad plan on what and how to integrate the content thus collected and selected. Third, the use of local context and culture can be done following a procedural format where local context and culture can be given more priority in the earlier stages of learning English language. Slowly, learning of the culture and context of the target language is to be achieved for more comprehensive understanding. When integration is done among various communities and language groups, then English will emerge as a true global language with global ownership. Finally, we should also consider the possibility that many present languages of the world might one day die. And the only possibility of its context and culture to be passed on may be through integration into a dominant language like English. All these expositions make the use of local context and culture in English Language Teaching a necessity.

References
Barfield, S. C., and Uzarski, J. (2009). Integrating Indigenous Cultures into English Language. Englsih Teaching Forum, 2009, Number 1
Englebert, M. (2004). Character or Culture? Implications for the Culturally Diverse Classroom. Asian EFL Journal March, 2004
Lengkanawati, N S. (2004). How Learners from Different Cultural Backgrounds Learn a Foreign Language. Asian EFL Journal, March 2004
Li, M. (2004). Culture and Classroom Communication: A Case Study of Asian Students in New Zealand Language Schools. Asian EFL Journal, March 2004
Norton, B. (1997). Language, Identity, and the Ownership of English. University of British Columbia Tesol Quarterly Vol. 31, No. 3, Autumn 1997
Phyak, P. Integrating local culture in the EFL context of Nepal: An ignored agenda? Education Quarterly, Vol. 1 No. 1 Dean’s Office, Faculty of Education, TU
Sowden, C. (2007). Culture and the ‘good teacher’ in the English Language classroom. ELT Journal Volume 61/4. Oxford University Press

Prepared by Hemanta Raj Dahal, President NELTA

The 16^th international conference of Nepal English Language Teachers’ Association (NELTA) was held on 18-20 February 2011 with the theme  ” English in Multilingual and Cross-cultural Contexts: Exploring Opportunities and Meeting Challenges” at DAV Sushil Kedia Vishwa Bharati Higher Secondary School, Jawalakhel, Lalitpur for three days.

Session I-Inauguration

Conference started with registration along with tea and snacks at 9 am. Master of the Ceremony (MC) Mr. Hemanta Raj Dahal, General Secretary, NELTA opened the session welcoming all the distinguished guests, media people and the participants from different NELTA branch of Nepal.

Mr. Dahal invited Mr. Laxman Gnawali, Acting President, NELTA, Mr. Anil Kedia, Chairman, DAV Sushil Kedia Vishwa Bharati Higher Secondary School, Honorable Prof. Dr. Tirth Raj Khaniya, Member of National Planning Commission, Founding President of NELTA, Prof. Dr. Jai Raj Awasthi, Chair of Subject Committee, Faculty of Education , Department of English Education, TU, Past President and Advisor of NELTA Journal, Prof. Dr. Abhi Subedi, Prof. Dr. John F Fanselow, Columbia University, USA, Key Speaker for NELTA conference,  Prof. Dr. Adrian Holliday, Canterbury Christ Church University, UK, Amanda Jacobsen, Cultural Affairs Officer, US Embassy, Mr. Fife Macduff, Regional English Language Fellow (RELO), US Embassy, Kathmandu, Dr. Robert Monro, Director, British Council, Kathmandu, Ms. Joelle Uzarski, RELO, New Delhi, Ms. Maya Rai, Deputy Director, NCED and Ewan Davis, Examination Center Manager, British Council on dais.

Welcome Speech: Mr Anil Kedia, Chairman, DAV Sushil Kedia Vishwa Bharati Higher Secondary School

Mr Kedia welcomed all the distinguished guests and the participants. He thanked NELTA from his core of heart for providing them opportunity to offer venue for the conference. He said that without the pressure from NELTA, they would not able to complete the conference hall on time.  He pointed out that the students of new generation feel hidden values of English language with western mind.  The theme of the conference ‘multilingual’ is really challenging.  He added DAV  school is also on that line, it does not only teach English language but also teach German,  Hindi, Sanskrit, Nepali, etc at their school. These all are different facets of language.

He praised NELTA for its development of 17 consecutive years with 30 branches where professionals are working voluntarily and he said it is a coincidence that DAV School has also the same experiences of years.  They all are the real champion of the whole years of hardworking not only of the work of one day.  In Nepal also English language has become essential as lingua-franca to explore outside world.  Therefore, based on need of new generation, NELTA has been working.  Mr. Kedia hoped that NELTA will provide all of them a professional platform to build their career and future. By saying this, he concluded his speech.

Presenting Bouquet an Conference Kits: Ms. Bhuwaneshwori Rao, Principal, DAV Sushil Kedia Vishwa Bharati Higher Secondary School presented bouquet and conference kits to all distinguished guests.

Conference Inauguration: Following dignitaries inaugurated the 16^th international by lighting 16 candles to mark the 16^th international conference

Prof. Dr. Tirth Raj Khaniya, Member of National Planning Commission, Founding President of NELTA, Prof. Dr. Jai Raj Awasthi, Chair of Subject Committee, Faculty of Education , Department of English Education, TU, Past President and Advisor of NELTA Journal, Mr. Anil Kedia, Chairman, DAV Sushil Kedia Vishwa Bharati Higher Secondary School, Honorable Prof. Dr. Abhi Subedi, Prof. Dr. John F Fanselow, Columbia University, USA, Key Speaker for NELTA conference,  Prof. Dr. Adrian Holliday, Canterbury Christ Church University, UK, Amanda Jacobsen, Cultural Affairs Officer, US Embassy, Mr. Fife Macduff, Regional English Language Fellow (RELO), US Embassy, Kathmandu, Dr. Robert Monro, Director, British Council, Kathmandu, Ms. Joelle Uzarski, RELO, New Delhi, Ms. Maya Rai, Deputy Director, NCED and Ewan Davis, Examination Center Manager, British Council and Mr. Laxman Gnawali, Acting President, NELTA.

Presidential Address by Mr Laxman Gnawali, Acting President of NELTA

Honourable Member of National Planning Commission and Founding President of NELTA Prof. Tirth Raj Khaniya, Past President, Current Advisor and Chief Editor of NELTA Journal Prof. Jai Raj Awasthi, Prof. Abhi Subedi sir, British Council Country Director Robert Monroe, and British Council Country Exams Manager Ewan Davies, RELO Kathmandu Fife McDuff, RELO New Delhi Joelle Uzarski, Colleagues from the US Embassy, Mr. Anil Kedia, Chairman, DAV Sushil Kedia Vishwa Bharati Higher Secondary School,

Distinguished Guests on the dais,

Key speakers, participants from home and abroad, publishers, NELTA colleagues, media persons, ladies and gentlemen,

I feel truly delighted and honoured and privileged to welcome you here to this 16^th conference of NELTA. Your gracious presence in this august gathering has added to our belief that networking works in teacher professional development.

At this moment, I would like to begin with my sincere appreciation to those who initiated NELTA and also those who nurtured it. NELTA that now operates through its over 30 branches spread all over the country, has over 1700 life members and several hundred general members and a sizable number of institutional members.  NELTA that encompasses teachers, learners and enthusiasts of English of every kind, from schools to universities, public and private, from every walk of like. NELTA that is looked up to by ELT colleagues and other professionals of home and abroad. NELTA that does not market for membership but its size grows every year.  NELTA where we learn and let learn.

This is not just eulogizing. This phenomenon has a theory behind it.

In Sanskrit, there is a saying ‘Sanghe shaktih kalau yuge‘ which means organization holds the key to strength in modern times. Here the word organisation means association and network. Being on a network makes a crucial difference in one’s career and professional attitude. With the help of network, one not only develops and rises, but also snowballs strength to help others to move on. The members help the network to grow. This is true to NELTA. At NELTA, there has been a literal give and take. NELTA is what Emilie Durkheim calls organic bonding which acts as a tool to help the individuals grow in the profession, self-actualise and be recognized in a broader circle. It helps them realise their full potentials. NELTA provides its members with opportunities to realise their potentials and with those realised potentials, the members explore newer avenues for NELTA to grow into a bigger platform. Mike Solly rightly put at the end of his presentation in an ELTeCS meeting in Srilanka a few years ago:

Tell me and I will… Forget

Show me and I will. …Remember

Involve me and I will…Understand

Network me and I will. …Grow (and help others to grow)

This is not just a theory now. It is a reality.

How is this possible? This is possible because NELTA’s foundation is built on three ships S-H-I-P-S: membership, partnership and relationship.

First the membership: Our strength is our members who bring with them ideas and aspirations, hopes and dedications, they give and they take as I said earlier. They put pressure on the leadership and bear the pressure of the tasks assigned to them. They are the backbone.

Second this partnership, without partners we would not be where we are today. Together with the partners, we run the conferences, training programmes, English language courses, radio programmes, surveys and other research studies, disseminate the ideas, make interventions into where English is important. Together with the partners, we think and act.

Third is the relationship. We build relationship with the individuals and organizations home and abroad. We share our experiences, best practices, learn and let learn. We network with other networks.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Now I would like to highlight some of the recent achievements which are also listed in the programme that you in you in hand.

We have made progress in the ELT survey in which NELTA works with the National Planning Commission, Ministry of Education, British Council and the US Embassy.  Our survey design including the tools is almost ready to be implemented.  Now time to put together funds.

NELTA and the US Embassy have just started a two year Access Micro-scholarship program in which we teach English to the non-elite youths in Kathmandu , Gorkha and Bhairahawa.

NELTA has collaborated with Radio Sagarmatha in the English by Radio program supported by the US Embassy and it is very popular. Also, the US embassy has been very kind to supply the ELT Forum magazine to all the life members of all the NELTA branches.

Another support from the US is that we now have Senior English Language Fellow Dr. Barbara Law, who is travelling with NELTA trainers to different branches and reaching the unreached.

NELTA now manages the six ETAs in Lalitpur under the Fulbright Commission ETA program and we have planned to have six ETAs to work with NELTA next year.

We partnered with British Council to implement the English for Teaching and Teaching for English (ETTE) project at the branch level.  A cadre of NELTA trainers have received training from the British Council. They will cascade it in different parts of the country. The NELTA participants of the British Council’s Learning Centre training now receive joint certificates signed by the NELTA and the British Council. The British Council and NELTA are now working out how we can collaborate in teacher and learner support activities such as the Global products.

Capacity building of the NELTA leaders and members is our priority. With the support from the British Council and the US embassy, NELTA members have participated in different international courses and events, TESOL USA and IATEFL, UK. With their kind support eight NELTA speakers represented the ELT of Nepal in the first teacher educators’ conference in Hyderabad India recently. We are very pleased to share with you that the selection for the Hornby Scholarship to do a Master course in the UK is underway. This has been possible with the fresh initiatives taken by the British Council Nepal and the Uzbekistan office. The announcements will be made soon for the Bell Centre the UK’s scholarship to attend trainer’s development course in the UK. This is special arrangement between NELTA, Bell Centre and the British Council. Altogether six trainers completed a trainers’ course from EFLU India in the last three years, RELO India and the US Embassy collaborated with the EFLU on this. The TEFL International provides scholarships for the NELTA recommended individuals  to do Certificate and diploma courses.

As a decentralisation process, we have started organizing a regional chapter of the NELTA conference. Last year was in Birgunj and this year we are travelling to Pokhara.  This also shows that the branches have built up their capacity to organize the events of this level.  NELTA Dhangadhi branch has acquired land and funds are being sought for the constructing the office building

The NELTA journal is peer reviewed and has the ISSN number. The credit for this goes to the highly dedicated editorial team led by Prof. Awasthi.  NELTAchautari is a different versions of NELTA forum; Prem Phyak, Ghanshyam Sharma, Bal Krishna Sharma, Sajan Karna, Kamal Poudel and Hem Raj Kafle work to make it resourceful and user-friendly coordinating from places of varying clock times.   The yahoogroup have been excellent forums for our members to connect themselves with the global ELT. Please log on to these sites and enrich yourself through mutual sharing.

Though achievements have been made, there are opportunities and challenges ahead.  NELTA should continue the projects that it has initiated and we need to create more space for collaboration with the key ELT stakeholders. Consolidation and capacity building of the branches should remain the top priority and the implementation of the ELT survey project should be our main target for next year. In order to accomplish these ambitious targets, we need your active participation and cooperation from all the sectors including the government. I am sure if we are together we can achieve what we aim.

This conference marks the historic one with more than 150 speakers from more than 17 countries. I would like to welcome the two key speakers Prof. Adrian Holliday and Prof. John Fanselow, plenary Brian Tomlinson, Sheilagh Nelson speakers and the presenters including the representatives of our neighbouring ELT organisations like SPELT, BELTA, SLELTA, ELTAI and all the participants from home and abroad. On behalf of NELTA, I would like to express my gratitude to you all for accepting our invitation. I wish all the participants and experts to have fruitful deliberations. I also wish the foreign and out of valley participants a pleasant stay in Kathmandu. Please bear with us for any discomforts you may suffer.

Finally, in order to make this conference happen, DAV Sushil Kedia Vishwa Bharati Higher Secondary School has given us a great support without which we would not have been able to carry it out so smoothly. Thank you DAV team. Similarly, for the last few months, NELTA colleagues have worked day and night. I sincerely acknowledge their voluntary contributions and I truly feel that they deserve the credit of the success of this conference.

Thank you very much indeed.

Honorable Prof. Dr. Tirth Raj Khaniya, Member of National Planning Commission, Founding President of NELTA

Dr. Khaniya welcomed all the participants and said he thinks he did a good job in the past when he recalls about NELTA’s work.  However, comparing of today they still have to do more in the field of English language teaching.  He became nostalgic and said he always feels proud every time when he comes to the inaugural session of the conference. He said NELTA has developed a certain kind of status, which is really praise worthy.  Then he urged NELTA people to come with a good proposal to work with National Planning Commission.  It has been more than a decade NELTA has been working in the field of English language for its betterment.  Then he thanked Mr. Kedia and showed his appreciation for providing venue to NELTA also thanked Little Angles’ School for providing venue last year.  He reminded them if the new committee formed, they would have to give first priority to the government and the partners to work in future.  In the last, he wished grand success of the conference and betterment of the institution.

Prof. Dr. Jai Raj Awasthi, Chair of Subject Committee, Faculty of Education, Department of English Education, TU, Past President and Advisor of NELTA Journal

.

Prof. Dr. Jai Raj Awasthi welcomed all and expressed his emotional attachment with NELTA.  He recalled David Poteinger who was together with him to begin the journey of NELTA.  At that time members had faced many difficulties at the initial phase.  Today looking at the big mass of 30 branches of NELTA all over Nepal, he feels proud.  Therefore, they have to be serious to face all the challenges and have to take care of NELTA.

Prof. reminded what he had said in the last conference, he was young when he started but now he has become old, now young generation has to lead NELTA.  He stated that country is going to adopt federal system in future, so, NELTA has to think about opening the regional branches considering this in future.  He suggested having regional offices in different parts of Nepal.  He acknowledged the assistance given by the BC, the US Embassy and thanked the Cambridge University Press, Routledge for providing books in cheaper prices and accessible. He did not forget to mention the book written by Adrian Holliday and informed them if they want they can get the book from the stall down in the book exhibition, which is another milestone of his publication in ELT.

Prof. became nostalgic and shared with them about his meeting with Adrian 15 years ago.  He requested them whoever think to join NELTA committee, they have to think about their dedication and work and what they can contribute to  NELTA but who comes only to occupy post it will not work. He emphasized on NELTA must work institutionally and he wished great success of the conference.

Prof. Dr. Abhi Subedi

Prof. Dr. Abhi Subedi welcomed all and compared NELTA conference with the Constituent Assembly.  He said though the country is facing many problems; political social and economic, NELTA is going on.  It is an area or domain for the teachers to work.  Talking positively about NELTA he said if people are willing to work with emotion of power they are associated with NELTA. He said as an English teacher, he has remained same whereas NELTA has grown up and has become stronger.

When they see NELTA how it is evolved, out of the dedication of the people, it is a historical process developing continuously.  If they look at the society and other field in Nepal today, they will find English is growing, not the native English speakers but Nepali speakers they find everywhere speaking English.  NELTA has created those types of people who are very powerful.  Language is a means; if they do not follow the proper pronunciation, other will not perceive them properly.  NELTA is responsible for creating those people capable of speaking English language as native speakers.

Dr. Robert Monro, Country Director, British Council, Kathmandu

Dr. Robert Monro welcomed all and mentioned about Sheela Nelson who came to Nepal in 1992 to work in the field of teaching, especially in the area of ELT. Dr. Robert acknowledged that he is not an ELT expert but he knew the value of ELT.  He congratulated NELTA for working on this filed all the time conducting workshops, conference and trainings. He was glad that the British Council people have been involved in this field from the beginning. He assured them they are not promoting or only talking about English, he is talking about the interest and need of the people today.  He said that English language do not bond person to person but it bonds all the language teachers in one. They have to recognize English language as the global, internet- language that opens global opportunity for all.  If the young people of Nepal do not speak English, they will be deprived from opportunities.  He mentioned that BC has developed digital English language programme and is interested to launch it through NELTA .  He liked the idea about NELTA with three ‘ships’ and like to add one  ‘ ship’ that is leadership.  The future generation will bring this into practice through the means of English language.

Mr. Fife MacDuff, Regional English Language Fellow (RELO), US Embassy, Kathmandu

Mr. MacDuff thanked DAV school for providing the venue and all the co-sponsors.  He also thanked all the participants from home and abroad who came to participate in the 16^th international conference.  He stressed on “global-English.” He said English language is no more common English, it has become a globe English. Practice of English has no longer remained as spoken English that speaks in Britain and America; it has evolved as the global English.

He mentioned the importance of English for the development of people, which gives an access and opens the door of opportunity.  He mentioned about the Access Programme for less-privileged children, English Teaching Programmes, English Language Fellow are there to provide an opportunity to people here to learn English language.  NELTA has a great purpose to improve English and to improve ability of the teachers.  

Ms. Maya Rai, Deputy Director, NCED

Ms. Maya Rai welcomed all and thanked for being invited. She said teachers have grown old, above old they have become very wise.  Though 3000 plus members are there but all did not come to participate here. NELTA has reached at the stage where it cannot afford to make mistakes. They will share their success stories not to make mistakes, NELTA is not political institution, politics is a dirty game. She talked about partners and about ‘attic programme’. which is going to be held in future.  She thanked all for being here.

Release of the Publications from the Branches:

Mr. Dahal thanked Prof. Fanselaw and invited representatives from different branches to release their NELTA journals, publication through the distinguished guests and thanked all the guests and participants for their support to make this inaugural session a huge success.  Mr. Dahal declared closing of inaugural session.

Key Speech: Prof. Dr. Adrian Holliday, Canterbury Christ Church University, UK

Prof. Dr. Adrian Holliday supervises doctoral research in the critical sociology of language education and inter cultural communication. He is also the head of the Graduate School and Research Office ,an author of Appropriate Methodology and Social Context ,Intercultural Communication and Ideology,  Doing and Writing Qualitative Research , The Struggle To Teach English as International Language and the  co-author of Intercultural Communication. He was also involved in national university curriculum project in Egypt.

His key note address was based on theme of 16th international conference “English Multilingual and Cross-cultural context :Exploring opportunities and Meeting challenges”. He began the speech with  exploration of relationship between culture and language ,with particular reference to the ability ,English as a world language to embrace diverse cultural realities .Mainly he spoke on four topics –native speaker’s fallacies , issues for the classroom , communicative approach of English ,teacher’s and students’ lessons .

According o his experience in Iran, many words are borrowed from Farsi to English.  Sometimes new expressions are used in language, which is completely alien to native speakers.  He also expressed that there are varieties of English for example Indian English , Canadian English, Australian English ,Nigerian English and others, so English has no boundaries. He also talked about code–switching in conversation between Arabic and English, which is full of local cultures. According to him, there is a massive literature growth in English.  He mentioned that English language is transforming into less complex making it much easier and often adopted as a brand.  He also focused on issues of English teaching in classroom;  the rules for correctness, and how to capitalize, how to manage multicultural and multilingual experiences of the students in the classroom.  Another area he focused on was how to educate students about the nature of English and of language and society.

Key Speech: Prof. Dr. John F Fanselow, Columbia University, USA

Prof. Dr. Fanselow is the president of the International Pacific College and international residential degree granting institution of Palmerston North, New Zealand . He holds a PhD  from teacher’s college ,Columbia University where he is a Professor  Emeritus.

His presentation was based on range of activities , he asked each person to write beliefs about learning  each activity illustrates ,their reactions to the activities and the consequences of each experience .  He believes on doing more in teacher participation programmes.

He told them with the help of simple sketches, he made the participants to write simple sentences.  He also gave abstract words to guess the meaning and to write the actual words through sketches.

He commented on the  relevance of the line “read quickly and answer the question “ of a Nepali text book and got different reactions from the participants. According to him, if students read fast they would not be able to memorize the words and pronounce them correctly, that will be simply reading.  He also gave an example of teachers who make students to underline difficult words.  Prof. said it is better not to teach the words than to underline and explain them instead he suggests making students draw the pictures of these words on their own and understand them.  He is completely against teaching grammar, explaining vocabulary and making lesson plans. He said it would be better to ask students what they want to learn before teachers start to teach in the classroom.

Concluding Remarks by Mr Hemanta Raj Dahal

Newly Elected President

Pokhara

23 February 2011

Mr Chairman

Chief Guest – Professor Jai Raj Awasthi

Ladies and gentlemen

First of all, let me allow to congratulate you for your contribution. NELTA is extremely grateful to Gandaki Higher Secondary Boarding School (GBS) Pokhara for allowing us to use the space and the facilities to convene the 16^th international conference of NELTA in Pokhara. I would like to thank all presenters and participants without whom this conference would not have been a success. We are indebted to the American Embassy and British Council for sponsoring the key speakers Professor Dr John Fanselow and Professor Dr Adrian Holliday respectively and to Ministry of Education for its moral support. The RELO office in the US Embassy deserves our special thanks for bringing English Language Fellows from the region and Fulbright Commission for bringing more than 30 English Language Teaching Assistants (ETAS) for the conferences. The publishing houses Cambridge University Press for sponsoring two plenary speakers – one in Kathmandu and another in Pokhara and the conference bags and stationery items, Oxford University Press for printing the NELTA Journal and Routledge for printing the proceedings of 15^th international conference deserve our special thanks. Thanks are also due to local publishing houses, media, Nepal Tourism Board, local bodies and other institutions and individuals who showed their generosity to contribute towards this conference.

This conference has aroused many curiosities among the English language-teaching professionals on numerous issues. First, Professor John Fanselow’s presentations have been so much striking in the sense if we should teach the learners of English or enable the learners to use  English.

Professor Adriann Holliday’s presentations reveal the mind of many people from multilingual and cross-cultural horizons of expectations, which are instrumental for us to explore opportunities and meeting challenges. He also focused on new grammar of culture with an emphasis on global positioning and cultural politics. This will have implications on ranges of the current trends in ELT from curriculum development, to textbooks writing to classroom practices.

Professor Brian Tomlinson’s notion of seeing images in the minds of the readers and how the readers experience while reading a text, has become insightful. He reiterated the contrast between the use of visualisation and the inner voice when using the first language with how typically becoming fail for making use of them as learners of the second language. He stressed on the need for our students to become more effective and users of English by encouraging their use of visualisation and the inner voices.

Professor Jai Raj Awasthi revealed true absence of mono-lingualism but dominance of multi-lingualism. He emphasised on the people’s perception of the spread of English to threaten the indigenous languages spoken in the developing countries. However, despite such status, English has been spreading globally. This has given insight to explore how multi-linguialism could better integrate in English language development.

The issue of becoming creative and even more creative by Prem Phyak has now given a counter to the so-called pedagogical principles and practices because the presentation has encroached the boundary of other disciplines such as sociology, democracy, human rights, psychology, philosophy, cultural studies, etc.

The title ‘How Can I Write a Poem?’ by Motikala Subba Dewan, revealed the psychological motif regarding human desires and relationships such as:

Hello holiday

Goodbye school

Hello girlfriend

Goodbye wife

Hello football

Goodbye volleyball.

These papers have seriously raised the scope of content based syllabus.

Dr  Laxmi Bahadur Maharjan referred back how his students would mispronounce the words  the words such as important, pronunciation, bury, plan,  January, February, etc. He also referred what Sajan Karn proposed the need of authentic teachers. Who to blame?  He emphasized on the need of intelligibility with regard to the English language pronunciation.

Professor Rajeevan Karal has rightly raised the issue if it would be justice for the learners to introduce to learn English within standardized curriculum, linearity (pizza model) and standardized test. It means why should all the learners be based on generic syllabus despite their diverse identity, aptitude and motivation.

Professor Karal emphasised on the needs to link learning of English with their desire to pursue a career and the opportunities available to them. Moreover, the teachers of English have been struggling to satisfy themselves for choosing the variety of English – British or American. However, he shaped the way for learning of English that is intelligible globally. Learning materials and learning opportunities are being scaled up day by day. This is the time to use such learning opportunities. Professor Karal encouraged us to find simpler ways for teaching English.

Therefore, now is the time to justify the heuristic implications of what we have begun to advocate in the different ELT forums. Does our vocation have matches between what we preach and what we practice? The presentations in the 16^th international conference of NELTA in Kathmandu and Pokhara both have handed us over a great responsibility for shaping the way we practice English inside the classroom and beyond.

I am sure, while doing so, not only every teacher of English will have increased responsibility to enhance quality of English through the classroom pedagogy but the syllabus designers, textbooks and materials writers and even the parents and students.

We have had enormous discourse in 5 days in Kathmandu and Pokhara between 18^th and 23^rd February 2011. So, what…? Thanks God – Dr Maharjan has given tips: don’t rush – remain slow and clear than be quick. The linguistic diversity and diverse features of such diversity are inevitable resulting in varieties of English and its implications on materials and methods.

We perfectly understand what a classroom teacher can do what s/he cannot do? This is the time to practice what we have learnt.

I  believe, the 16^th international conference has become insightful to us for doing justice to our learners.

-Ushakiran Wagle

In the 16^th international conference held on 18^th, 19^th and 20^th February 2011 at DAV sushil Kediya Vishwa Bharati higher secondary school Jawalakhel Lalitpur, I was assigned as a rapporteur in room number ‘G’. from the very first day of conference. The first presenter in room number “G” was Nirmala Gupta from India and was going to present on the topic “including 21^st century skills in teaching English in primary class but she was not in contact with us so the room was empty.

Presenter Sajan Kumar Karn was ready to present his paper about deconstructivism. He started his presentation with the introduction of old mantra OM BHURBHUWASWAHA. He mainly focused on the old traditions that are still being used in Nepal and to change those tradition he introduced the ideas of deconstructionism. The view of the participants toward the word deconstructionism was similar to the destruction, so he provided the meaning of deconstructionism and destruction and he proved that both of these terms are different.  The main theme of his presentation was related to three pedagogies: Pedagogy of particularity, pedagogy of practicality and pedagogy of possibility. He focused on the point that pedagogy includes curricular objectives, classroom strategies, instructional materials, and evaluation measures but also wide range of sociopolitical, historical cultural experiences that directly or indirectly influences second language learning.  He dealt about all those three pedagogies. The part where he dealt about pedagogy was the important issue of his presentation.  As I studied in the course applied linguistics these three pedagogies are introduced by Kumaravadevelu.  While our class was running at our university several times we discussed them and we came to the conclusion that these procedures are good. What I understood according to pedagogy of particularity the pedagogy must be sensitive to particular group of teachers teaching particular group of learners with a particular set of goals in particular setting. In the similar way the pedagogy of practicality includes the relation between theory and practice.  The teachers and theorist should practice what is theorized and should theorize what is being practiced. Not only the teacher we students as well should be aware of the reality that the theory which has never been practice should not be emphasized, if we really want to use and emphasize those things then it is necessary to practice. The final pedagogy introduced by Kumaravadevelu is pedagogy of  possibility and it  empowers participants and points the need to develop theories from knowledge and social practices that work with experiences  that people bring to the pedagogical setting. When he finished dealing with that pedagogy he introduced banking model. The term was quite new for me and I was quite excited to learn what it is about. To explain the definition of that term he cited the definition given by Paulo Frieri (1921-1997) and the definition was something like this : In banking  model, knowledge is a gift bestowed by those who consider themselves knowledgeable upon those whom they consider to know nothing. Then he introduced the banking model of Nepalese ELT. He focused on the exam centered system of Nepal. There are different activities which directly address the examination. According to him teaching learning in Nepal is happening without the proper management and students are being oppressed. There are no such ways where students are being motivated and are being evaluated by the teachers. What I understood by his presentation was that ELT should not be banking. The banking is similar to the evil activities.  Though his topic sounds something different the main theme of his presentation was related to nativizing ELT. He finished his presentation with slogan: If not you then who? If not now then when?

The third presenters in room ‘G’ were Harimaya Sharma and Kamal Raj Devkota. They presented collaboratively and that was collaborative. They conducted the workshop and that was related to creative writing.  The topic was “Creative writing: Burden or fun?” Normally teachers are blaming their students that they are not interested in creative writing, so they catch that particular issues and conducted the workshop to prove whether the creative writing is fun or  burden for the teachers as well as students.  That workshop was really helpful for those who never conduct the creative things in classroom because of their thinking of not having proper and enough time. They started and introduced their session from the introduction of the participants by adding adjective before their name. Participants were interested and they actively participated. They were adding the different adjectives and Kamal Raj Devkota was busy on copying the adjectives on the blackboard. When introductory part finished, they asked the participants to prepare the poem by using those adjectives written on the blackboard. When they asked participants to write the poem they explained the reason of using those activity, and the reason was the students will be introduced with two things with the help of one activity. They will be able to write a poem and they will be introduced with the adjectives. In the similar way the way of thinking also will be changed.  According to them we can ask our students to change the topic and create a number of poems in the similar pattern.  The final saying of their workshop or  the result of their workshop was we can make our student creative and we ourselves can be creative with the help of simple activity without any burden.

In the second day 19^th February the first presenter was P. Nagraj and he was from India and his topic for presentation was Reciprocal teaching technique in enhancing the reading skills of engineering students in English in India. But he  told that he already  presented in a first day and he wanted to exchange the presentation with her. Instead of him Pranaya Pradip presented and her topic was  Evaluation of language learning in India. She briefly discussed the reality of Indian education from Gurukul system and she moved. She talk about the learners autonomy in India. According to her survey learners study English for four different reason like: learning for the sake of learning, learning for the sake of freedom, learning for the sake of application and learning because of fear and reverence. Most of the Indian student learns English because of fear that without English whether they will be able to compete with the world or not. As she described the all learners’ type, she immediately examined the consequences why those things are happening. The things she introduced were language acquisition becomes stagnant , in the similar way the examination system is so competitive and there are prescribed texts  to bound the students. Though the learners study by following very hard and fast rules at last the result is same and that is unemployability.  According to her research Indian students never learn to study for pleasure with inner desire; instead they learn forcefully and the result is also not satisfactory.

The second presenter of the second day was Christine Stone and she conducted the workshop.  Her workshop helped us to learn the way of teaching writing with the help of imagination. At first she asked to imagine what happen or what will the participator do if the big monster comes in front of them.  I found that was something for brain storming, but later on I came to know that, the thing that she asked to do was the main thing that she was going to introduce with us. She showed different pictures and ask the participants to describe those picture. Then she asked then to write a story. When she was conducting those activities all the participants were happy and active. In the similar way with the help of simple words written in a SVO pattern she taught to write a poem which contain beautiful rhyming pattern. She told us that the imaginative power of the small learners can be better and active than that of the elder learners. In each activity she asked the participants to discuss and work hard for a 5- 15 minute according to the nature of activities, so there was more productive work rather than the monotonous speech of the presenter.

The second last presenter of second day was Somnath Jagtap from India and his topic was analysis of primary curriculum of Maharastra. He explained about the new curriculum of Maharastra which is being introduced in public primary schools. According to him normally public schools are situated at rural area of Maharastra and there only few parents are literate and rests of others are illiterate. To maintain the balance there the curriculum introduced the local stories and poems by translating in English and with the help of illustrative pictures. He explained parents can recognize and understand the story or poem by seeing the pictures and they can explain it in local language and that will help their children to understand the things properly. The use of minimal pairs of disyllabic word is another thing which they introduced in their curriculum. According to him the curriculum should be user friendly.

The last presenter were Manbahadur khatri and Ramesh Ghimire from Nepal, they presented collaboratively and there topic was risk taking in ELT. They took the case of one girl who was known as bad girl in a class. they rose the issue that, the girl named Sapana never like that school because nobody speaks in her own language there. For her the English language was very hard and she was not able to use that language properly. According to the presenters they engaged her in many activities and made her speaking in a class without editing her. After few days they saw progress within her that she started speaking but her speaking was

A friend: “By! Today, my homework is not finish.”

Next friend: “I ta doing. I go to home yesterday and doing first miss homework.”
Sapana: “I also adda doing. I ta don’t know also.”

First friend: “Miss will bit yes?”

Sapana: “Why bitting ra? Don’t know ta we can ask hainara?”

Second friend: “Sometimes ta this miss bit so badly.”

Sapana: “bite bitun. Answer not coming ta what to do ra?”

At the same time, the girls saw me and again Sapana said with a shying laugh: “abue! Sir is looking here and suning all !heeeeeeeee!!!!!! heeeeeeeeee!.  At first the conversation produced by that girl and her friend was something which looks completely erroneous. Presenters focused on the same point. According to them, after 2- 3 years she was able to use English properly and now she can take part in any kind of speaking competition. When they knew the result of that erroneous speaking practice, they named them as risk takers of ELT. Especially sapana was risk taker for them. Because, at first she was afraid of English language, gradually she took risk and used the ‘broken’ English without taking care of the audience and at last, she was able to use English properly without any mistake. The result revealed that the risk takers; whonever take care of the errors can learn English with in very short span of time.

The last day of the conference 20^th February, the first presenter of the room “g” was Paige Jackins and she was from Sri Lanka and her topic for presentation was Place based learning as an effective tool in the EFL classroom. She started her presentation with the introduction of place based learning. As a warm up activity she asked the participants to say what actually they understand when they heard the word place based. The participants provided their opinion toward the place based learning and gradually she added her ideas over there.   Actually the place based education Immerses students in local heritage, cultures, landscapes, opportunities and experiences; Uses these as a foundation for the study of language arts, mathematics, social studies, science and other subjects across the curriculum; and Emphasizes learning through participation in service projects for the local school and/or community.  This is somehow related to post modern thinking of learning. Students can gain knowledge through the help of the place and environment that is situated in front of them. To make a proper use of place based learning she gave the need assessment chart and asked the participants to fill up that form. Students can learn through the help of making picture of their favorite and special place in a town and then the students can connect that town to their local culture.  her presentation make us clear that students can learn while cleaning the certain place, while dancing and while planting the trees, there are the place where they might be engaged and there is the knowledge situated within that particular place. Her presentation reveled that if we make use of place based learning strategies in EFL classroom then it will be the better and easy way of teaching.

The second presenter was Nivedita Vijay Bedadur and topic of her presentation was Innovative Ideas at work:  M learning for adult learners. She started her presentation with the problems like single teacher school,lack of sources, lesser capacity to teach English and so on. According to her normally teachers are not confident enough to teach English. She talked about the use of mobiles in English language teaching. She introduced different practical consideration of SMS. The SMS is cost effective, user friendly and can be accessed at any time and anybody can use it properly. If we use the mobile it will be helpful for the learners and teachers as well, but the problem is that the learners sometime might not use mobile in proper place which can create more problem.

The second last presenter was sagun shrestha and he introduced the new way of teaching the character of fiction. At first he introduced what fiction poem is and what are the characteristics of persona poems. As a second activity he asked the participants to write a persona poem which meets the characteristics that he introduced. He showed the different activities that were done by his own students. When the participants finished writing the persona poem he again provided them one story related to the appraisal of the King and he asked to read the story properly. When they finished reading the poem the participants were able to write the persona poem by using the certain words from the story. That was the innovative style of introducing the fictional characters.

`           The last presenter of the NELTA conference was Siddhartha Dhungana and he presented on the topic process reading and product reading.  He introduced different tips for developing the reading habit. Though we read continuously there is the bitter reality of not having proper ability to write. Whatever we should be able to write those things but actually we are not able to do so and one and only reason for that is we are not habituated to think pair and share was the main idea of his presentation. Though we are introduced about the pre reading, while reading and after reading terms, we are not aware that what should be put where? Before reading if we think for a while and if we became able to map the mind what we are going to do that will help us to read properly. After reading something if we put those things within us, the knowledge will not get opportunity to spread, so we should share the things that we learn. He demonstrated different pictures and let the participants discussed about those pictures. Those pictures contained the different reading style. The important tips that he provided was write one thing that  we learn after reading, and then discuss how the lesson that we learned or read is related to contemporary real world. In the similar way he talked about the questioning , for example if we didn’t understand anything after reading certain lesson then question yourself why you didn’t understand the things? And write one question we have about that days’ lesson and emphasize in the process of learning. With which particular process you involved in reading and why you didn’t understand that. When he finished his presentation I come to know that if we keep in a mind that we are going to read something and there is the link between the thing that I’m reading and the real world than it will be easy to comprehend the text.

For the very first time I attended the NELTA conference and I got many more thing from that. The presentation and workshop conducted by different presenters was really helpful to handle my day to day life and for my further study as well. Thank you NELTA for giving me as a Rapporteur in this Conference.

Andrew Wright

Why is creativity important?
Creativity is a fundamental means of survival as well as a bringer of joy.
Some teachers and students can only really harness all their brain power if they are invited to be creative.

My definition of creativity
Making something new or a new version of something. ‘Something’ might be how you respond to a situation in class or how you manage to do many things at the same time or when you see the funny side of something and tell someone else. Of course, it is also when you devise activities and make materials. Everybody is creative but the concept is often used to divide people into those that are creative and those that are not. This is plain wrong. Education must cultivate not stifle the creativity which lies within all of us.

Aim of this article
In this short article, I will concentrate on what I find helps me to be more creative and will hope that it might be of some interest and even of use to other colleagues. Inspiration will not figure in any of the ideas below. I can’t, sensibly, tell myself , Be inspired! There are more practical ideas available.

Making new connections
I suppose, making new connections is what creativity is!
Wandering and wondering without clear goals is more important than linear thinking if you want to make new connections and to discover new things.
There are times when I do not want to be clear about what I want except to be open to experiencing something that I have not experienced before.
Sometimes right/wrong assumptions and ‘proper’ ways of doing things prevent you from seeing things freshly.

Activities in the classroom

1. Brainstorm associations as an individual or as a class and do not introduce the idea of right and wrong as you do so. You can always put things through the right wrong sieve later.
2. Imaginative descriptions based on finding a large variety of connections between two pictures chosen at random.
3. Chain association in which one student says a word and the next student says a word which he or she associates with the first word.
4. Opposites and reversals. Describe many aspects of an everyday object eg a book. Then agree on the opposite of each aspect (it has pages/it has no pages) Then conceive of a new object inspired by these reversals.

Being silly

‘Don’t be silly!’ is a phrase normally used by people in authority who are irritated by behaviour which is inconvenient to them. However, a willingness to ‘be silly’ is a key characteristic of creative people. What is silly for one generation is often normal in the next.
I find so many things in my daily life which require me to be sensible and to do the expected thing but actually I would benefit by being silly much more often.

Activities in the classroom

1. Instead of teaching and practicing prepositions related to ‘book on the table’ choose silly examples, ‘cow on the table’, etc. Either by imagination or represented by sketches…done by the students not by you.
2. Take a traditional sentence pattern table and make as many silly combinations as you can.
3. Retelling a story with silly changes…Little Red Riding Hood who is so greedy that she ate the cakes intended for Grandma before she ever arrived.
4. Comparing and contrasting things, for example, a pencil and an elephant
5. Why have you got a monkey in your bag? An opportunity for silly answers.
6. Questions about a statement. The moon is made of green cheese. Does it smell? What sort of green? etc. (Five Minute Activities page 65)

Redefining

Cezanne said, ‘Go back to nature.’ Constable said, ‘I try to forget that I have even seen a picture before.’
Push assumptions to one side. Take a fresh look. Carefully examine the situation. A fresh description might lead to a fresh answer.

Activities related to ideas and materials development

1. Example from thinking about teaching
Thinking about ‘learning’ instead of thinking about ‘teaching’. ‘Classroom’ can be ‘room’. ‘Teacher’ can be ‘helper’. ‘Student’ can be ‘person’. ‘Teacher training’ can be ‘teacher development’. What effect do these changes have on the way we perceive our work?
2. Example from my writing books:
Spell binders with OUP: I first of all thought of how useful it would be if my little story books could be easily dramatised and what do the children need in order to dramatise the story well. Having defined the needs in detail it seemed obvious how to design the pages. For example, knowing that children often do not put enough expression into the drama I have used faces with expressions on them instead of the names of the speakers. (Spellbinders, Oxford University Press) In this way the children are guided how to say their lines with feeling.
3. Example from Dictation
My favourite example of the potential of redefining a concept is manifested in the book, Dictation by Paul Davis and Mario Rinvolucri and published by Cambridge University Press. The authors defined dictation as students receiving a text and writing it down. They then challenged the assumptions about what that means in practice:
Who chooses the text? Could be the teacher or the student.
The text? Could be single words or discreet sentences or longer texts.
Who communicates the text: the teacher or another student?
How is the text communicated: spoken or written, spoken and written, in short sections or as a continuously spoken text, loudly or muttered?
How do the students write it down: as it is delivered or do they place it in a different sequence or location? Do they write all of it or a selection?
Based on this redefining of the traditional activity of dictation they came up with 120 communicative activities for their brilliant book.

Particularising

One of the hallmarks of creative work is the feeling that it is both universal and highly particular at the same time. It is a little bit like the previous idea but not quite.

Activities in the classroom

From the early stages encourage the students to create characters, places and situations in stories which are highly specific.
For beginners: Is the frog, little, very little or very, very little?
For more advanced students: Is she slim or thin? How does she sit when she is in the café with her friends?

Not getting too precious

When I was at art school I wanted to do my best and felt that each picture I was working on was going to be special. And I felt I had no excuse for not making it into a masterpiece. This made me feel so nervous and so self-critical that I could hardly get myself to paint at all in case I didn’t produce a masterpiece.
Activities in the classroom
Instead of writing a complete short story the students can write 3 alternative first paragraphs and ask 10 other students to read all 3 and put them in order of interest.

Responding positively to a restricted context

The notion that artists must be free is a relativity new idea. Artists from the beginning of time have been employed by other people and have been asked to work within narrow restrictions of form, content, style, location, etc. Piero della Francesca was told which blue to use in his pictures and Mozart was told to have a new and amusing composition ready by Sunday. Furthermore, any medium you use has its restrictions. (If you have a black pencil then you can’t show colour)
Restrictions of content, medium, time, length, etc. can often give a creative stimulus to the students (and indeed their teachers)
I have always felt stimulated and even liberated by restrictions.

Activities in the classroom

1 Expanding texts starting with a single word: Go. Go to bed. Go to bed….
2 Show 3 pictures, each for only a few seconds and ask the students to write for exactly 4 minutes about each to make a story.

Working in an ambiance of creativity

‘Flowers are red, young man,
Green leaves are green,
There’s no need to see flowers any other way
Than the way they’ve always been seen.’
Verse from a poem posted by Malgosia on the YL SIG discussion list from a poem entitled, What colour are flowers? (Writer’s name not given)
It is a big help if you can work with people who think and feel that making new things is important. They respond to your ideas and feelings much more strongly than to the accuracy or conventionality of the forms you have used.

Activities in the classroom

1 You are a key person in creating a creative ambiance. Make it clear that there are times when you love the students to take risks and to be as creative as possible and that this is far more important than accuracy at those times.
2 Share creative works…see Publish and Perform

Using art makes little big

We learn and use our mother tongue in conjunction with so many other media and yet we learn and use a foreign language in isolation in the classroom to a much greater extent.
Use all the arts. This principle can be applied from the first day of language learning and most of the examples below are given for beginner/elementary students. Obviously, for more advanced students the full richness of orchestration can take place.

Activities in the classroom

Vocal arts:
1. Say a phrase or word in different ways. ‘I love you’. ‘Hello’. ‘Goodbye’.
2. Tell a story only with the word ‘seven’.
2. Musical arts:
1. Singing a song or reciting a rhyme or poem.
2. Play with the sound of words together, for example, words for food and building up a communal chant poem. Bread and cheese. Bread and cheese. Soup!
3. Visual arts:
1. Draw a picture and adding a title. For example, My grandma’s dog.
2. Make a book.
4. Dramatic arts:
A puppet or mask play with minimum phrases.
5. Body arts
Mime
6. Poetic arts:
A poem of five lines each with the same sentence beginning. I like…I don’t like…I used to like…but now I like…
7. Three dimensional arts:
1. Matchbox with word cards in it.
2. Fold paper, for example, A fortune teller.

Knowing when right and wrong are relevant

We must have clearly signalled times when right and wrong have little or no place in an activity if we are to encourage students and ourselves to be creative.
My publishers never comment on my spelling, punctuation, syntax and grammar in my first draft! Furthermore, they never publish a text just because it is perfect in these respects. At the same time they do not want any errors to be found in the text. There is a time and a place for right and wrong in ‘real’ writing contexts but often not in school contexts. Worrying about right and wrong or conventional acceptability can kill creativity.
My son told me, at the age of eleven, ‘There is something you learn at school, the less you do the less mistakes you can make.’

Activities in the classroom

1 Consider setting two homeworks for writing a story. You respond to the first homework in terms of your ability to understand it and whether it is well told and has a fresh quality. You ask the students to spend a second homework improving the text according to your suggestions and then going over one part of it (or the whole lot) and trying to make the text formally accurate.

Seeing your cup as half full

Is your cup half full or half empty?
Responding positively to life around you is a great encouragement to creativity. It is deflating and/or irritating to be faced with negativity all the time, however reasonable.

Activities in the classroom

1 Rejoice in achievement and welcome ‘failure’ as a useful stimulus and guide.
2 Rejoice in the advantages of a large class rather than a small class (more interesting dramatized choral work, more examples of individual responses, more experiences to draw on). If you have a class of children who are not great achievers you can rejoice more justifiably in small steps made.

Further reading

1. I am publishing a fuller version of this article on creativity in HLT, Humanising Language Teaching. If you want to see this fuller article please see http://www.hltmag.com.uk . Alternatively, see my own website: www.teachertraining.hu for this longer article and for other related articles.
2. For a range of short activities see: Ur P. & Wright A. (1992) Five Minute Activities Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
3. For ideas for the use of stories see: Wright A. (1995) Storytelling with Children Oxford: Oxford University Press and Wright A. (1997) Creating Stories with Children Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. For the wonderful example of creative activities arrived at by creativity see: Davis P. & Rinvolucri M. (1990) Dictation Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Andrew Wright is an author, illustrator, storyteller and teacher trainer. He has published ‘Creating Stories with Children’ with Oxford University Press, ‘1000 Pictures for Teachers to Copy’ with Longman and his most recent publication is the third edition of ‘Games for Language Learning’ published by Cambridge University Press.

Mabindra Regmi

Introduction
One of the ways to really familiarize learners of  English (or any second or foreign language) is by describing what our senses perceive. Instead of mixing perceptions of all senses, each sensory perception can be divided into different exercise or activity so that the concentration is given to one of them at one time. Sight is the primary sense and easiest to describe, therefore the exercise should start here. Then the teacher can deal with the sound, smell, taste and touch. When the students have a relative comprehension and command over all the sensory perceptions, then exercises to integrate more or all of them can be carried out.

The Inspiration
My personal experience on teaching sensory perception by indulging students in one sense organ at a time dates back to my teaching days in Rato Bangla School. It was there that I found students writing about the smell of food being cooked at home during the festival season and how it made their mouth water. It was just a small assignment given by another teacher, but it opened up a whole vista of dedicating creative writing to describing sensory perception. As Macpherson, A and Stevens, A have compiled in their article, there are multiple intelligences and learning can be more effective if all these intelligences are integrated through various activities (Macpherson and Stevens. 2009). Senses definitely resulted in use of intelligences like visual, spatial, aural, etc. This inspiration led to an experimentation with interesting results.
The Experiment
In the winter months of 1995, when all schools were closed I decided to do some experimentations on describing senses. I had a few students living near to the place where I stayed who attended the school where I used to teach. They were from second, fifth and eighth standards.
I called these students everyday for about two weeks and we discussed about things that we see, hear, smell, taste and touch. In Copeland’s words “students learn to communicate and describe things through the five senses” (Copeland 2007) and I made it a point to have the students communicating within the peripherals of what our senses perceived. We discussed about various words that might be related while talking about such senses. We made a list of words as per the standard of the students and set about describing sensory perceptions.
I began with the sense of sight because I felt that would be the easiest one to describe. It was a simple task all they had to do was to describe what they saw. I asked them to use shapes and colours while describing.
Then we went onwards to the sense of hearing. I asked them to close their eyes and concentrate only on the sounds they could hear. It could be anything: a dog barking, the sound of the electric saw or even the wind whistling past. I asked them to write paragraphs where they could only make use of ‘sound’ words.
Then we went on to the sense of smell. For this I told them to describe the aroma that they could smell in their kitchen while their mother cooked the meal. It was done as a home work and I got fascinating results in the morning. Some descriptions were apt, but some were wildly imaginative. Nonetheless, I had made the students think on that line.
Now it was the sense of taste. Surprisingly I found it difficult to find many words to describe taste. And the students could fare no better. But still we trudged on. I had asked them to describe the taste of one thing that they liked best and one thing that they likes the least. In order to make the writing more comprehensive, I also asked them to integrate their feeling associated with the food items that they liked or disliked.
After that we went along similarly with the sense of touch. We began by simple sentences describing how objects around them felt. Then we went on to write paragraphs on describing the sense of touch.
The last component that I did with these students was to integrate all senses while describing people. It was an amusing and interesting exercise. They came up with all those funny adjectives for describing the smell and taste of people. When I look back now, I think that was a little too ridiculous thing to do: describing how people taste. I wonder how those children came up with the idea in the first place. They were logically supposed to omit that part and concentrate on sight, sound and smell. But I was inexperienced and they were young without any explicit directions.
The Outcome
The students started using more of other sensory perceptions apart from the sense of sight while describing from that moment onwards. Effective descriptive writing works well when it refers to things that relate to the senses such as sounds and sights (from Englishbiz).
I was impressed with the change in their writing and thought that this exercise may be an important aspect to be taught to the children.
The textbooks that we had did not integrate this aspect of describing sensory perception, so I made my own exercises and started carrying them out in the classrooms too. The changes that it brought about may not have been a significant one, but I feel that the children were aware of more than just sight when they were describing or answering about descriptions. I feel that my effort and inputs have been justified.

The Implications
I was away from teaching for many years after that and could not implement further exercises. And when I did start teaching, it was to the A level students and they were too advanced to discuss in detail about the sensory perceptions.
But nonetheless, I got an opportunity to co-compile a series of textbook for schoolchildren in Nepal. When I was writing the Step by Step series for Pragya Publication and Distributor, I included the exercises on sensory perception in the grade 5 coursebook.
Please refer to Annex 1 for the text included in the book.

The Activity
Both the teachers and learners can have effective activities that will have a positive impact in learning as well as provide the learners with more skilled aptitude for writing creatively.
An example of activity that can be followed is given in Annex 2.

Conclusion
There are some advantages of familiarizing students with reading and writing on sensory perception. First, they will isolate perception made by each sense and be able to distinguish between the descriptions on perception of each sense organ. Second, this exercise will form an interesting base for the students and will be able to describe perceptions made by each sense organ more comprehensibly. Third, The overall writing of students will be more comprehensive as they will start to integrate multiple perceptions in their descriptions. And finally, the students will familiarize themselves with vocabulary items associated with each sensory perception.

Annex 1
Sensory perception: Sight
When we talk about the things we see, we talk about the size, shape and colour of the object.
To describe the size we use words like big, small, tiny, huge fat, thin, and so on.
To describe the shape we use words like round, square, surly, straight, curved, and so on.
Of course you know about colours.
Let us describe this glass.
The glass I see is a small one. It is transparent. It is cylindrical in shape and it is hollow inside. The Bottom part is sealed and the top part is open. It looks a little greenish. It can be used to keep some liquid. it is generally used to serve tea.
Sensory perception: Sound
We hear many sounds all around us all the time. Some sounds are loud, some are soft. Some are sounds we like and some are sounds we don’t like. Here are some words that we can use to describe sounds.

loud, growl, rumble, roar, screech, squeak, soft, soothing, melodious, thud, bang, purr

Write a sentence for each of the word above to clarify who or what makes these kinds of sounds.
Read this small paragraph and circle all the words that describe sound.
As I am going to school from home, I can hear the murmur of people talking. Motorcycles pass me by roaring in the street. There is the soft tinkle of bells near the temple. The dogs are usually growling and barking at each other. When the wind blows, the trees are swooshing along with the wind. When the cars honk their horns, I hate that. I do love the soft music being played in people’s homes.
Write down ten sentences describing many sounds that you can hear when you go to the market. Use as many sounds words as possible.
Here are some sounds and what they made them. Can you match them?

moan, band, crash, patter, tinkle, thunder, drum, bell, rain, wind, dry, leaf

It is very noisy in the farm. Write down sound that each animal makes.

cow, chicken, cat, pig, donkey, dog

Sensory perception: Smell
We smell many things all around us. Some smells are pleasant while others are revolting. Let us look at these words which are related to smell.

pleasant, flowery, revolting, pungent, sweet, scent, aroma, stink, rotten, sniff, foul, perfume, whiff, odour

We can separate most of the words given above into good smell and bad smell. Make a table and separate the good and the bad smell. Are there some words remaining? What do you think they mean?
Read the text below and see how it talks about smell.
I like going to the kitchen. There is always a lingering smell of the good food my mum cooks for the whole family. There is mouth watering smell of fish being fried, especially when she cooks my favorite curry- cauliflower. The sweet perfume of freshly baked buns and the whiff of pulau when my mum takes off the lid simply drive me crazy.
Can you write a similar paragraph using words which indicate bad smell?
Sensory perception: Taste
We can mainly taste four different tastes.

sweet, sour, salty, bitter

But every food that we have has a mixture of different tastes that makes it unique. Even the thought of food that we like makes our mouth water.
Here are some words that can be used when we are talking about taste.

spicy, hot, tangy, sharp, bland, plain, weak, tasteless, tart, sugary, syrupy

Timur Golbhedako Achar
I love the taste of spicy pickle made from tomatoes and timur. The green chilies give it a hot taste and adding a pinch of salt will work wonder for my taste buds. The ‘timur’ makes the whole thing a little tangy and it excites by tongue and whole body. But the pickle has to be ground on a ‘silauto’ or a stone grind otherwise it won’t taste as good. Now, have a spoonful of this mixture with rice, daal and curry…yummy!
Write a similar piece on one food item that you really, really like.
Did you know…. .
that cats can not taste sweet things.
that flies taste with their paws.
that snakes smell with their tongue.
Sensory perception: Touch
Look at these words. They tell us about touch or about what we feel when we touch.

smooth, silky, rough, grainy, coarse, fine, metallic, glassy, leathery, furry, warm, cool, cold, hot, icy

Let’s divide the words into different boxes. In one box write down all the soft and comfortable touch words and in the other one put all the hard and uncomfortable touch words.
I got a teddy bear for my birthday. It is soft and cuddly. It has soft brown fur and it feels warm when I carry it. The eyes are also soft brown and glassy to touch. It has beads inside and I can feel the hard round objects from outside. I t also has a collar which is very silky and smooth. I love my teddy bear very much.
Write a paragraph describing an imaginary or real event when you first touched water under a fall. Describe how you felt using touch words.

Annex 2
Teaching Sensory perception: Taste

Student’s Copy
Exercise 1
Read the passage below carefully. Make a list of words that are related to taste. Match with the list of taste words that you have written. Do they match?
Timur Golbhedako Achar
I love the taste of spicy pickle made from tomatoes and timur. The green chilies give it a hot taste and adding a pinch of salt will work wonder for my taste buds. The ‘timur’ makes the whole thing a little tangy and it excites by tongue and whole body. But the pickle has to be ground on a ‘silauto’ or a stone grind otherwise it won’t taste as good. Now, have a spoonful of this mixture with rice, daal and curry…yummy!
Exercise 2
Here are some words that can be used when we are talking about taste.

spicy, hot, tangy, sharp, bland, plain, weak, tasteless, tart, sugary, syrupy

Divide the words into groups “I like” and “I don’t like”
Did you know…. .
that cats can not taste sweet things.
that flies taste with their paws.
that snakes smell with their tongue.

Teacher’s Copy

Sensory perception: Taste
Task A
Set Scene
Taste:
Talk about how you had a wonderful or a horrible meal recently
Use words related to taste and write few of them on the board
Ask the students to recall something really tasty that they had eaten
Ask them to prepare a list of taste words related to the food that they ate

Task B
Preteach vocabulary/prediction
Discuss and preteach the following vocabulary:
spicy tangy yummy
hot taste pinch of salt
Exercise 1
Exercise 2

Task C
Follow up
The students are to explain about a memorable eating experience that they really enjoyed. It can be in a restaurant, a relative’s house or at a party. They should include answers to the following questions.
What did they eat?
How did they like it?
What words can you use to describe the incredible taste?
The students can share with each other a memorable eating experience that they have had.

Task D
Homework idea
Write a similar piece on one food item that you really, really like.

References
Copeland, L. (2007). Creative Writing: Painting Pictures with Words. Journal of NELTA Vol. 1 2 No. 1 & 2 December 2007
Macpherson, A and Stevens, A. (2009) Multiple Ways to Motivate & Support Activity and Learning: An Introduction to the Imaginative use of Multiple Intelligences. Kwantlen Polytechnic University
Regmi, M and Sajnani M. (2009). Step By Step: Grade 5. Kathmandu, Nepal: Pragya Publication and Distributor.
Unknown Author. Englishbiz – Descriptive Writing

Suresh Shrestha
sureshkrshrestha@gmail.com

Introduction

It is generally felt and agreed that a humour tickles away tensions and  is just like a panacea to the most frequent ailments caused by nonstop brain-racking jobs in today’s complex world. In Grenville Kleiser’s words, “a good humor is a tonic for mind and body. It is the best antidote for anxiety and depression. It is a business asset. It attracts and keeps friends. It lightens human burdens. It is the direct route to serenity and contentment.” Furthermore, when HUMOUR is defined with a CREATIVE flavour, it gives rise to the idea of something in some shape that we can see and share constructively to make our mental burden less severe, after all it is CREATIVE! Creative humours may appear in diverse faces simply aiming at how to drive away mental tiredness and launch a hilariously rejuvenating environment for better performance ahead, no matter what we are at. And, of course, teaching learning process cannot remain as an exception.

Laughter to Learning: MR or RM?

What has been mentioned above as a sub-topic is pseudo, yet it would signify what is being presented here, giving some jerk to our thought setting it in a motion. This is supposed to be an unfeigned intention, just to let our curiosity germinate and then to grow it up to a blooming creativity. As declared by Einstein “Creativity is contagious, pass it on”, it is being passed on here under the guise of MR versus RM.

To our simple understanding, MR is seemingly in sharp contrast to RM. To our curiosity, MR may stand for Medical Representative or Medical Research or something else we may feel comfortable with, and RM for Resource Management or Resource Manager or something different. Anyway, it is quite natural to seek the full forms of any abbreviated words – the preliminary step to creativity in or out of the classroom! To our amusing surprise, what about daring relate how at some angle of our perception the two short forms (MR and RM) could be justified similar or almost identical? It is interestingly puzzling, isn’t it? It is all right! Let us pick out the sense this way. There may be no doubt that a child is a true speaker. He or she tells the truth without corrupting it because a child’s mind is not impure with cunningness. And, he or she speaks out his or her mind straight. So, if a child from the community of the Arabic language, and just learning to recognize the English alphabets, is asked to read the combination M-R will certainly read it out as R-M, for the innocent child is accustomed to the right-to-left reading style in the Arabic language against the left-to-right reading style in English. That is why it would be justifiable to claim that MR is of course similar to RM, wouldn’t it?

Secondly, no matter what the phrases MR and RM may refer to, an attempt could be made to explain their full forms on the common ground so as to make them sound similar. And, they are: MR stands for Motivational Recharge and RM for Recharging Motivation. Yes, it is about time we felt the necessity to modify motivation in some interestingly creative way that is how it would be worth making a simple effort to demonstrate how a language teacher could spell the magic of Learn with Fun among  learners. This indicates that the abbreviated forms may be used as to strengthen vocabulary of learner.

Etymologically, creativity appears with different meanings such as ‘having the ability or power to create’, ‘productive’, ‘imaginative’, ‘designed to or tending to stimulate the imagination’, etc and, humour refers to ‘the quality of being funny’, ‘sense of humour the ability to appreciate or express that which is humorous’, ‘situations, speech, or writings that are thought to be humorous’ and so on. We cannot easily guess how broad the scope of CREATIVE HUMOUR is until and unless we are dehumanized. To be straight, it prevails in each and every field and is a must to get ourselves refreshed with or even to get our memory revitalized. In this regard, Grace McGartland, the founder and president of Thunderbolt Thinking, Inc. and the author of thinking management book, Thunderbolt Thinking: Electrifying Ideas for Building an Innovative Workplace ,has highlighted laughter as a creative tool at the meeting with humour. Since it occurs in almost all the fields, it may not only be hilarious but also offensive. It may sail from sex to soul. We cannot exactly say its types and number, yet what is obvious is that it appears with fun in the centre with thoughts and imaginations rippling away. Anyway, we could manage to present some types or categories of it, such as

• Slapstick: It is a type of humour in which the actors behave in a silly way just by throwing things at each other or falling over each other aiming to amuse the viewers.
• Sarcastic: A sarcastic humour is connected with sarcasm, i.e. what remarks the actors make mean the opposite of what they say and such remarks are made in order to hurt someone’s feelings or to criticize someone’s action in a very amusing style. Such humours appear as GAI JATRA in our country yearly as a satirical celebration.
• Witty: A witty humour contains words in a funny or clever way. Let me serve one witty humour that could be supposed to occur in HINDI among Indians. It goes this way:

A humorous husband  receives his wife;s phone call while he was going on a long drive. And, the talk goes this way:

Hubby: Hi sweetheart! So happy now. Enjoying a lot for over an hour.
Wife: Wow! What is going on? Where are you now?
Hubby: Well, well….. (He could not say that he was driving alone
because she had warned him not to)
Wife: what is the matter? Hiding something from me? Are you alone?
Hubby: (Thinking that he had been caught red-handed) No, no, dear! I
am here with one special…
Wife: One special? What do you mean? Is it he or she? (The question
came out of her mouth abruptly casting a doubt)
Hubby: (Answering abruptly) It is she. (In fact, car, i.e. GADI, in Hindi, is supposed to be feminine in gender)
Wife: What? You cheat! Come back soon. I will see at the court!

• Biting: A biting humour is made with critical words in a clever but unkind way. A strict teacher may make such a humour- a combination of pain and pleasure. For example:

A teacher who wants strictly disciplined students is teaching on and on causing students bored, then one of the students couldn’t stop saying-
“Sir, it’s getting too long. Let’s leave drop it here.” The angry old man replied- “Keep holding lest I should drop you to the junior class.”

• Tongue-in-cheek: Tongue-in-cheek homours are amusing and may appear in some kind of advertisement.
• Obnoxious: An obnoxious humour is very unpleasant or rude. College ragging would be its good example. It may please the sufferer when he or she becomes a senior student and talks to other friends about it.
• Off-colour: Off-colour humours are linked with sex and they are slightly shocking.

Humours are sweet and also sour. But it is up to us how we make a right choice in the right situation and how we can change their offensiveness and indecency into softness and decency respectively. However, they are invaluably crucial to keep the audience upbeat  that removes boredom even after a long session. That is the real art that each and every speaker yearns to possess as their best asset. As a sorrowful matter, it does not seem to be so common in our educational contexts, except in certain conferences. But it is so popular and has established itself in the era of internet. We can use humours  to boost up our talent with better thinking and better speaking as it was it done in Creative Humour Writing Contest under HUMOR POWER conducted by John Kinde, a professional speaker and humour specialist from Las Vegas NV. There is no end of such a topic to write or speak about. But no doubt it is about time we made the most of it in the field of teaching and learning. We must have something special to share with each other to take our pedagogical campaign ahead to a majestic attainment, but we should not forget that we should share the ideas and techniques available and we must be serious about creating our own materials as creative humours. There are countless events and evidences scattered around us; we simply need to understand them, collect them systematically and relay them to others.  I am just placing something I have come across as a learning with creative humour as a technique to motivate learners to better vocabulary command. It is all about our self-made abbreviated forms that could be used to help learners to do some brainstorming. It is as follows:

Create your Combinations!

Give your own full forms (phrases and / or sentences) to
the following short forms made with the initials:

AB; ABC; ABCD; PQ; PQR.

(The possible answers would be: AB=Angry Boys; ABC= A Bad Carpenter; ABCD= Angelina’s Babies Coo Daily; PQ= Private Quarter; PQR=Poor Queens’ Regrets)

Conclusion

To laugh is an art and to make people laugh is a bigger art. Humour is naturally a well-perceived social phenomenon that may prove to be an infallible weapon to combat negative emotions, and a good dose to make the listeners or audience feel relaxed keeping depression at bay. Humour is our inborn quality. Whenever it is creative, it adds an additional flavour to something which is already tasty. Moreover, when it comes to language teaching and learning, it becomes a valuable  tool so as to establish a natural and joyful classroom environment for a meaningful learning. This, of course,  maximizes educational activities as a bridge between positive emotions and learning. It will no doubt open all our feelings to strengthen our socio-cultural understandings and ties in the classroom. Sometimes to some students, humours may turn to be dreadful because of lack of self-confidence, difficulty in perceiving the materials in a proper way or previous negative experience in the certain contexts. Yet, a  well-chosen humour in the classroom at the right time could foster mutual openness,  and respect and make a considerable contribution to the effectiveness of overall teaching of English. And, humours are made with the help of actions and/ or words. If we take a solid action in a body, and make our words bold for its pedagogical implementation, maybe as a part of course, language and literature will no longer have to remain confined to a subject just to pass an  exam or secure higher marks, and will turn to be a lively support to our everyday living. So, it would not go in vain if there is a hearty request to share creative humours for our healthy and happy society governed by heart-to-heart communication. We, teachers of English, can initiate first?

References:

Eckert, Bob. Creative Growth through Innovation. Available online at http://www.creativity-portal.com/articles/bob-eckert/
Mcgartland, Grace. Meeting with Humor: Laughter is a creative tool. Aiabale online at http://www.thunderboltthinking.com/humor.htm
Some use links

www.humorpower.com
www.quotationpage.com
www.uncommon-knowledge.co.uk

–Mukunda Kumar Giri
SOS Hermann Gmeiner School Surkhet

According to Piagetian theory, humans cannot be ‘given’ information which they immediately understand and use; they must ‘construct’ their own knowledge through experience. To this end, they need to have interactions with other people and social factors. In the Vedic teaching method, teachers deliver lectures on a topic standing at the front where students are considered as passive listeners. But as the time passed, people developed different concepts regarding teaching learning theories. Now it is believed, “there is no lesson [which] can be done without an interaction in the classroom.” An old Chinese proverb resonates the importance of interaction: if you listen you forget; if you see, you remember; and if you do, you learn. Hence the modern academic world has introduced constructivism – inquiry based learning – which believes in the learner-centeredness in education. With the assumption, students or learners have become a prime focus of all the teaching learning activities in the classroom.

Now learners play the role of active participant in the teaching learning process and teachers  conduct classes based on experiment and practice using simulation, role-play, dramatization, strip story, group work, pair work, elicitation and project work, instead of simply giving speeches (Subedi, 2005). Therefore, teachers are more popularly known as facilitators, managers, and inspirers rather than a mere classroom teacher.

Teaching and learning in the old paradigm was considered as a task in which instructors were assumes as an expert and they were supposed to transfer knowledge to students. But at present, it is considered differently; teaching/learning is a complex job (Cooper, 1994). Now a teacher is not a source of knowledge, but a facilitator. These days, an instructor is also considered as an inspirer who is supposed to inspire learners by creating a favorable environment. Now as it is believed that knowledge is constructed by learners from experience, the instructor needs to “be a guide on the side, rather than a sage on the stage.” If teaching is a professional job, facilitating is the role of the teacher.

According to constructivists, who believe in the Vygotsky’s Social Development Theory, learners play an active role in learning. It indicates that now the focus of teaching has been shifted from a teacher-centered environment of “transmitting” to a more collaborative student-centered learning environment where discovery and inquiry are key strategies for learning. Teachers’ role is to help students to construct meaning rather than provide the meaning they know or familiar with. As there are students having mixed ability in a single classroom, interaction is essential, especially in EFL classroom, where one can help others learn. For this purpose, cooperative learning, constructivism, collaborative learning and learning community are some essential theories proved to be applicable.

In cooperative learning (CL) students work together in small groups to achieve a common goal of learning. It has become increasingly popular as a feature of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) due to its focus on cooperative tasks, critical thinking ability, and providing opportunity to practice both the productive and receptive skills in a natural context. The studies have shown that the benefits of CL extends beyond increased language learning to increased self-esteem and tolerance of diverse points of view (Johnson and Johnson 1989; Kagan 1995; McCafferty, Jacobs, and Iddings 2006; Slavin 1995). Although CL has numerous variations, Johnson and Johnson (1999) provide five features fpr successful CL activity: (1) Students learn that their success depends upon working together interdependently; (2) students are individually accountable while achieving group goals; (3) students support and assist one another’s success through face-to-face interaction; (4) students develop social skills by cooperative and working together effectively; and (5) students as a group have the opportunity to reflect on the effectiveness of working together.

Moreover, in CL, cooperative groups work face-to-face and learn to work as a team; they are individually accountable for their work, and the work of the group as a whole is also assessed. Mickel (1993) says that “Each group operates as a team and the teammates are responsible for their own learning as well as that of their teammates…. Everyone has a task and is actively involved…. students must feel that they need each other in order to carry out the group’s task” (p. 659). On the other hand, CL is also a method of teaching and learning in which students learn together by exploring a significant questions or creating a meaningful project. These two theories are widely implied in EFL classroom as teaching English is more concerned with t application and use rather than knowledge of content unlike other subjects. It clearly indicates that the more students interact, the better they learn the English language through a dynamic process of discovery, inquiry, investigation, discussion, and reflection. On the contrary, the more teachers talk, the less will the students be given the opportunity of expressing themselves.  Hence, teachers should, ideally, be stimulator who gets their students to talk. They need to  provide learners with opportunities for a naturalistic second language acquisition through the use of interactive pair and group activities. The  goal  of teaching English, in this sense, is to enable focused attention to particular lexical items, language structures, and communicative function through use of interactive tasks which enhance learner motivation and reduce stress and create a positive classroom climate. (Richards and Rodgers 1986:193)

In this regards, both theories have great implications as these take interactions as the best technique for language learning. According to these theories, interaction is the authentic communication because “the language used in the classroom when giving instructions is very similar to real life, basic everyday English”(Willis, 1981, p. 30). It gives students the opportunity to “notice the gap” between their comprehension of input and their ability to produce comprehensible output. This helps students be familiarize with using English and helps them feel comfortable interacting in English. It also motivates them to learn English to communicate more effectively and builds students’ confidence in using English in everyday communication. Cooperative efforts result in participants striving for mutual benefit so that all group members learn from each other’s efforts, recognize that all group members share a common fate, know that one’s performance is mutually caused by oneself and one’s team members, and jointly celebrate when a group members are recognized for their achievement. This theory follows some Classroom Interaction Techniques, for example KWL, JIGSAW, TPS, TPR, PD/Debate and Four Corners. KWL provides a defined structure for recalling and stating; what the students know regarding a concept or a topic; what the student wants to know, and finally lists what has been learned and what is yet to be learned. In JIGSAW, everyone becomes an “expert” about a topic or sub-topic, and shares his or her learning within a group setting so that eventually all members learn the content. TPS helps students develop their own ideas as well as build on ideas that originated from co-learners. After reflecting on a topic, students form pairs and discuss, review, and revise their ideas, and eventually share them with the class. In TPR, teachers interact with students by delivering commands, and students demonstrate comprehension through physical response. Four Corners is also a cooperative learning strategy, designed to optimize the learning of the assigned task, and sharing that learning with other students. The teacher needs to assign small groups of students to different corners of the classroom. They discuss various solutions, perspectives and points of view concerning a pre-selected issue, and decide on a presentation format. Finally, small groups present to the class.

In a constructivist classroom, Students’ autonomy and initiative are accepted and encouraged. By respecting students’ ideas and encouraging independent thinking, teachers help students attain their own intellectual identity. The teacher asks open-ended questions and allows wait time for responses. This encourages higher-level thinking. The constructivist teacher challenges students to reach beyond the simple factual response. He encourages students to connect and summarize concepts by analyzing, predicting, justifying, and defending their ideas. For this, students are engaged in dialogue with the teacher and with each other. Social discourse helps students change or reinforce their ideas. Moreover, students are engaged in sharing experiences that challenge hypotheses and encourage discussions. The constructivist teacher provides ample opportunities for students to test their hypotheses, especially through group discussions by using raw data, primary sources, manipulatives, physical, and interactive materials. The constructivist approach involves students in real-world possibilities, and then helps them generate the abstractions that bind phenomena together. (Alexandria,  1993)

In such a class, do you think a teacher simply imparts knowledge? No, certainly not. He rather provides authentic language situations and materials; he creates a non-threatening environment; he makes sure each student has the opportunity to interact during class; he “pushes” students into producing output that is concise, coherent and appropriate; and he provides students with feedback on their output. On the other hand, students also participate and cooperate with others in classroom activities; interact in each class. They risk making mistakes; try out experiment, and create with the language. They learn to use language learning strategies that enable them to continue learning English outside of the classroom. They ask for help and correction and they also provide feedback to teacher about progress.

Therefore, it is true that if teaching is meant for imparting knowledge or skill to learners through instruction or to provide  content of  a subject, learning or to learn is meant for acquiring knowledge. In this sense, teachers and facilitators are different concepts. Teachers  impart knowledge or skill through instruction while facilitators create an environment where students acquire knowledge by doing activities themselves.

References:

Haycraft, John (1997). Some Basic Principles in An Introduction to English Language Teaching. (Revised Impression): Longman

Johnson, D. W., and R. T. Johnson. 1989. Cooperation and competition: Theory and research. Edina, MN: Interaction Book Co.
Kagan, S. (1995).We can talk: Cooperative learning in the elementary ESL Classroom. Washington, DC: ERIC Clearinghouse on Languages and Linguistics. ERIC Digest ED 382035.
McCafferty, S.G., G. M. Jacobs, and A. C. D. Iddings, eds. (2006). Cooperative learning and second language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Richards, J. Rodgers, T.S. (1986). Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching: Cambridge University Press.
Salivin, R. E. (1995). Cooperative learning: Theory, research, and practice. 2nd ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Subedi Hira Lal (2005). English Language Teaching Method: Pradhan Book House

Lekhnath S Pathak is an Assistant Professor in the Central Department of Linguistics, Tribhuvan University and Secretary, QUEST-Nepal. A former Central Executive Member of NELTA, Membership Secretary and Editor of Journal of NELTA and NELTA Newsletter, he has in recent years been active in training and promoting Quality Circles in Nepal and beyond. For his contribution in the organization of 13th International Convention of Students’ Quality Circles in 2010 and promoting SQC in Nepal, he was awarded with “Quality Leader Award” by World Council for Total Quality and Excellence in Education. He was a Visiting Fellow (Overseas Teaching Fellow) to Kingston University, London, UK in 2011. This essay is a condensed version of a paper presented at the 16th International Conference on Quality organized by Asia Pacific Quality Organization (APQO) combined with 1st Conference on Quality organized by Network for Quality, Productivity and Competitiveness, Nepal (NQPCN) at Kathmandu University, Dhulikhel in September 2010.

Ganga Gautam, President, NELTA
31 December 2010

Dear valued NELTA members and colleagues,

If you have wondered how our NELTA colleagues involved with Nelta Choutari collaborate from across the world or would like to know about their vision for the promotion of professional communication in NELTA, let me share about a close view of their collaboration and inside discussion that I recently had. I have been greatly appreciative of the work done by this brilliant group of NELTA scholars, so I would like to share about a particular in-depth discussion of their mission in order to inspire other colleagues.

About a month prior to the meeting on December 13, 2010, I was invited to join a Skype-based international conference with the Nelta Choutari team*. For about two weeks before the meeting, a long list of possible agenda started to be discussed in a private Facebook Group discussion forum, and Mr. Kamal Poudel prepared and shared priority based list of agenda based on that discussion. Taking up the agenda one by one, the team deeply reflected on the mission of the Nelta Networking initiative where Nelta Choutari is a key component. We started by reflecting on the journey of the Choutari in the last two years. I do not have the space to describe the technical difficulties that came up during this international virtual conference, but let me tell you how the team was ready to overcome any challenges. For example, Shyam Sharma was recording the conference on his computer with an audio recording program, which he would share with everyone afterwards if necessary; he also took extensive notes, while also helping to technically coordinate the conference, which he uploaded to the team’s Web Document archive. When the call failed for individual members, another member dialed his phone to let the member who lost internet connection continue to listen. When a member’s sound input was not going through, we asked him to type responses in the chat area, including letting us know that he was listening to others. At times, almost everybody lost connection and we redialed the group and summarized the discussion on the preceding agenda, before moving to the next, set agenda. The group had asked me to keep the meeting focused on the predetermined agenda. As the notes below indicate, the meeting was amazingly effective in spite of the tremendous technical difficulties.

The meeting began with the sharing of our experiences on how this forum has contributed to the professional development of the NELTA members and the ELT community in Nepal and abroad. We looked at the facts and figures and the content of the discussion generated through the past issues of the Nelta Choutari. Shyamji has shed light on this aspect in his posting and I would like to focus on the specific agenda items that we discussed in the Skype meeting.

One of the issues that came in the discussion was that of time that members contribute to NELTA. NELTA as a voluntary organization, runs through the voluntary contributions of its members. In this context, allocation of specific time for NELTA activities remains a big challenge due to our insurmountable professional, social, personal and other commitments. Despite this fact, NELTA members have tried their best to find time to work for NELTA because they think that professional organization greatly contributes to their own professional development. So we agreed to continue Nelta Choutari initiative with new zeal and enthusiasm involving as many members as possible in professional conversations. Let me outline some of the points about how the team plans to achieve its key goal of promoting professional conversation among NELTA members.

1. Coordination and Roles of the Members:

Nelta Choutari team is a non-hierarchical professional team. We work on the specific tasks and members are engaged according to their professional interests and expertise. We want to keep this like this and members are responsible for the specific role they voluntarily choose. For now the division of the role among the members is like this:

As a Secretary of NELTA, Kamalji works as a liaise between the team and NELTA Executive Committee and he will be mainly responsible to circulate the information of Nelta Choutari to the NELTA network and vice versa. He along with other two members Prem and Sajan, will promote contributions and participation by members from the NELTA branches on the blog. Also, these three members will run workshops in the regional and branch level and encourage the NELTA members to participate in the blog discussion.   There will be a Nelta Choutari presentation in the forthcoming International conference in Kathmandu and Pokhara. Similarly, Hemji will contact some of the experienced English teachers, the gurus and guruamas, interview them and post their experiences in the form of podcasts. This “oral history” project has the potential of archiving extremely useful scholarly material for future generations, especially considering that scholarship and research is gradually accepting multiple media. By doing this, our English teachers will be exposed to the world professional community and we will also learn from their experiences.

Shyamji is extremely good in the technical aspect of the blog and he will manage the overall blog in coordination with the other members. He will manage the resource pools and will also contribute to the blog by writing issue based posts. Balji will make online resources available for NELTA colleagues and students; he will also make thesis abstracts from universities abroad available to our blog readers through hyperlinks. Premji and Sajanji will write the issue-based materials and coordinate with Kamalji to post the branch activities on the blog.

2. Dissemination and Promotion of Nelta Choutari

The more members read the blog, the more meaningful it becomes. There is a great deal of resources available on the blog and online which otherwise are not easily accessible to many of our members. We need to make this forum as widely accessible as possible for the greater ELT community in Nepal. Thus, we decided to hold series of workshops in Kathmandu and NELTA branches so that our members are aware of the availability of these wonderful resources. The workshop organized on the 25^th of December 2010 of December in the NELTA office coordinated by Kashi-ji is the first event of this series. Nelta Choutari team will organize many such events in NELTA branches during their future visits. In these workshops, we not only talk about what Nelta Choutari is and what it offers but also engage the participants in the use of the blog for sharing their knowledge, ELT best practices and grassroots level classroom experiences.

3. Sharing our local knowledge to the wider ELT Community

Teaching is full of innovations and excitement. Our members have rich and diverse experiences and they have a lot to offer to the global ELT community. In order to bring those innovations to the broader forum, we need to develop a simple mechanism to have access to the blog and post their materials.  Nelta Choutari can offer an excellent platform for this. Let the NELTA members and English teachers know that just by clicking an email they can connect themselves to the global ELT community. Please do encourage teachers to write their experiences and send them to nelta choutari@gmail.com. Once the mail comes to this address, the material will be posted on the blog and anyone from anywhere in the world can read it and respond to it. Shyamji will manage the posting.

4. Make the Nelta Choutari resources available to the existing ELT network in Nepal

We have some established ELT networks in Nepal. To name the key ones, Tribhuvan University (TU), Kathmandu University (KU) and NELTA are the major places where a lot of ELT activities take place and we have thousands of ELT practitioners associated with them. The thesis abstracts from TU and KU are the excellent at hand resources for literature review for our Masters students. The research students can be asked to read some articles and include them in the literature review while they submit the research proposals. Faculty members can also encourage the students to submit their thesis abstracts to the Nelta Choutari mail as soon as the thesis is approved by their respective departments. Premji, Kamalji and Sajanji will take the lead in this regard and they will coordinate with the respective chairs of the Subject Committee. I, on behalf of NELTA, have already written official letters of request to the Department Heads of TU campus and Mahendra Ratna Campus and similar request will be sent to the other campuses in the near future. I will also coordinate with the senior teachers of the universities to request them to share with us their valuable experiences.

Also, we have good professional network with the regional and global ELT network and our blog can be interesting for the members of those network. So Shyamji will set up some tools such as pingback, google search and blogrolls so that other educational bloggers can read and respond. I will use my current network to disseminate this in the international arena.

5. Publication of Nelta Choutari materials

In the context of Nepal, we still have problems of the power cut and access to the internet  is still a big issue. In order to make the Nelta Choutari materials easily accessible, NELTA can publish these materials in the regular newsletters and branch newsletters. Also, a separate publication of the selected articles and posting will not only promote the blog but also contribute to validate the knowledge in the form of publication. NELTA Central Committee and the Branches could choose this option based on the resources available at hand.

6. Subscribing to auto-alert on Nelta Choutari

There is a very easy option available on Nelta Choutari home page which will automatically send the Nelta Choutari to the individual emails. Kamalji will coordinate with the NELTA office staff and branch colleagues to facilitate this process and encourage the NELTA members and training participants to subscribe the blog.

7. Nelta Choutari as classroom resource

We all need to encourage our students to read the blog for various ELT materials and we can do so by sharing what we have read and posted. We can also share the anecdotes with reference to the blog materials and ask the student to share theirs in the similar manner. Similarly, we can share part of the materials from the blog and encourage the students to read the details on the blog.

8. Review Meetings

We also agreed to hold similar skype (online) meeting among the team members on regular basis in every three months.

With these discussion points we committed ourselves to give Nelta Choutari a new dimension from the first issue of year three and we firmly believe that this can only be materialized if we all work together for our professional development. Let’s contribute to this blog either by posting or responding to the posts and learn from one another.

Thank you very much. I wish you all a very happy new year – 2011.

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**Members of the Nelta Choutari team joined the meeting from separate places: Shyam Sharma from Louisville in Kentucky, USA; Bal Krishna Sharma from Hawaii, USA; Prem Phyak from Kathmandu; Kamal Poudel from a separate place in Kathmandu; Hem Kafle also from a separate place in Kathmandu; and Sajan Karn spoke from Birgunj.

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