REPORT ON INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ‘TEACHING LITERATURES IN ENGLISH FOR CROSS CULTURAL COMMUNICATION’

REPORT ON INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ‘TEACHING LITERATURES IN ENGLISH FOR CROSS CULTURAL COMMUNICATION’

            

             The ELTAI Thoothukudi Chapter at Annammal College of Education for Women organized the international conference on ' Teaching Literatures in English for Cross Cultural Communication ' on 27.07.2018 at Annammal College of Education for Women.  The inauguration of the conference began at 10.15.a.m Dr.A.Joycilin Shermila Principal and Convenor, ELTAI Thoothukudi Chapter welcomed the gathering.  Mr.S.Muralidharan, Secretary of the college delivered the Presidential address.  Mr.S.Muralidharan expressed his happiness over the organisation of the conference and explained how language influences the communication of people belonging to different cultures.  Dr.B.Jeyanthi, Dean University College of Engineering, Anna University Thoothukudi Campus was the Chief Guest of the inauguration.  Dr.Jeyanthi, in her inaugural address, elaborated on the need to develop an understanding and acceptance of other cultures and on how this could be achieved through teaching of English literature.  The 2^nd issue of the sixth volume of our college newsletter ACE Chronicle was released by our college Secretary and the first copy was received by Dr.S.A.Thameemul Ansari, Professor and Chairman, University of Jazan, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.  Dr.A.Nagalakshmi, Director of Physical Education proposed the vote of thanks.

            The first plenary session was on ‘Exploring the concept of 'Identity ' through Language of Variety and Variation'. Dr.S.A.Thameemul Ansari was the resource person for this session.  Dr.Thameemul Ansari began with how the purpose of skill development remains ignored in the context of teaching and learning literature.  He explained the concept of cross-cultural communication as understanding the differences and interpretations of expressions.  Differentiating variety from variation, he explained how language becomes the identity of a person.  Referring to Afro American writers like Tony Morrison, he discussed the features of Afro American English.

         The second plenary session was on, ' Relationship between Literature and Culture' Dr.K.Reshmi, Associate Professor, School of Humanities, Unviersity of Pondicherry was the resource person for this session.  Dr.Reshmi began with how literature is a representation of reality.  Citing examples of cultural misunderstanding, she emphasized the need to understand and respect other cultures.  She elaborated of how literatures in different English speaking countries are perceived.  Describing the differences between British English, American English, Canadian English and Indian English, she explained how there could be no standard English as language is inseparable and interwoven with culture. 

            Parallel paper presentation sessions were organized at six different halls.  49 Papers were presented. 41 college teachers and 80 students and research scholars participated in the conference.  The paper presentation session was followed by feedback from participants. Dr. Joyce Deva Kirubai,  Asst. Prof., Department of English, Thassim Beevi Abdul Khader College for Women, Kilakari and  Mrs. Vadivukarasi, Asst. Professor, Dept. of English, A.P.C. Mahalakshmi College for Women presented their feedback.  The conference ended with the distribution of certificates to the participants.

Newsletter - ELTAI Thoothukudi Chapter

Newsletter - ELTAI Thoothukudi Chapter

National Workshop on Enhancing Professional Communication Skills

Report on Two Days National Workshop on Enhancing Professional Communication Skills

27-28 January 2018

A Two Days National Workshop on Enhancing Professional Communication Skills was conducted by ELT@I Thoothukudi Chapter in association with ELT@I BESIG on 27^th and 28^th January,2018 at Annammal College of Education for Women, Thoothukudi. The workshop was attended by ESL teachers and Research scholars. The inaugural address was given by entrepreneur Rtn.Mr.B.Ponsingh, Mangaing Director of Annai Gas Service.  He emphasised on the multi-faceted business skills needed to excel in the competitive business world. The convener of this workshop Dr.A.Joycilin Shermila introduced the resource persons Mrs. Lalitha Murthy, Consultant – Business English, Bangalore and Brig R S Murthy , Accredited Management Trainer on Soft Skills, Bangalore.

The first day morning session was initiated by Mrs. Lalitha Murthy who spoke on Language skills, Business skills and also about Professional communication skills. The next session was by Brig R S Murthy on “Soft Skills and Business Etiquettes.” The session laid emphasis on the various etiquettes to be followed in business meetings during an introduction, handshake, small talk, telephone and mobile conversations. It was interactive with various role plays and mock meetings.  The second session of the day was by Mrs. Lalitha Murthy on “Business Writing” with special reference to email writing.

On the second day, the workshop began with the session on “Presentation Skills.” The final session was headed by Mrs. Lalitha Murthy on “Designing A Business English Course.” The valedictory function marked the end of the workshop with the valedictory address given by the convener of the workshop Dr.A.JoycilinShermila followed by the feedback from some participants and Vote of Thanks by N.Jothi.

A REPORT OF THE ONE DAY NATIONAL LEVEL WORKSHOP CONDUCTED BY THE DEPT. OF ENGLISH, A.P.C. MAHALAXMI COLLEGE FOR WOMEN, THOOTHUKUDI  : GLOW 2018

in Collaboration with

A.P. C. Mahalaxmi College for Women, Thoothukudi

            The Dept. of English, A.P. C. Mahalaxmi College for Women, Thoothukudi, in collaboration with the ELT@I Thoothukudi Chapter conducted a one day national level workshop on THE GLAMOUR OF WRITING (GLOW) on 5^th January 2018. The Principal, Dr.R.C.Vasuki welcomed the gathering and introduced the resource persons. Dr. A. Joycilin Shermila, Convenor,ELT@I Thoothukudi Chapter, delivered the keynote address. Dr. S. Savithri, Professor of English, PSN College of  Engineering, Tirunelveli, offered a Special Address. Dr.Vinod Balakrishnan Associate Professor, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli was the resource person for  the first session.He enriched the session with his lively presentation on creative writing and academic language. Dr.C. Praveen, Assistant Professor of Education, Government Brennen College of Teacher Education, Thalassery, Kerala, was the resource person for the second session. His session was about how to teach and learn English Grammar easily. The workshop was interactive and effective. The faculty members and students from different arts, science, education, and engineering colleges and school teachers attended the workshop. Dr.Monica Ramraj, the head of the Department of English proposed a vote of thanks.

BEST PRACTICES IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

WORKSHOP REPORT

27/07/2017

ELT@I Thoothukudi chapter in collaboration with RMSA has arranged a special address on Best Practices in English Language Teaching by Dr. S.A Thameemul Ansari, Professor of English, University of Jazan, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.  His lecture was attended by 60 English teachers working in Govt./Govt.aided schools and the prospective teachers of Annammal College of Education.  He spoke on the following topics:

Teacher Clarity

When a teacher begins a new unit of study or project with students, she clarifies the purpose and learning goals, and provides explicit criteria on how students can be successful. It's ideal to also present models or examples to students so they can see what the end product looks like.

 Classroom Discussion

Teachers need to frequently step offstage and facilitate entire class discussion. This allows students to learn from each other. It's also a great opportunity for teachers to formatively assess (through observation) how well students are grasping new content and concepts.

Feedback

Along with individual feedback (written or verbal), teachers need to provide whole-group feedback on patterns they see in the collective class' growth and areas of need. Students also need to be given opportunities to provide feedback to the teacher so that she can adjust the learning process, materials, and instruction accordingly.

Formative Assessments

In order to provide students with effective and accurate feedback, teachers need to assess frequently and routinely where students are in relation to the unit of study's learning goals or end product (summative assessment). Hattie recommends that teachers spend the same amount of time on formative evaluation as they do on summative assessment.

Metacognitive Strategies

Students are given opportunities to plan and organize, monitor their own work, direct their own learning, and to self-reflect along the way. When we provide students with time and space to be aware of their own knowledge and their own thinking, student ownership increases.

Workshop on Communicative Language Teaching

Workshop

on

Communicative Language Teaching

Organized by

ELT@I Thoothukudi Chapter & ELT@I Ramanathapuram Chapter

in association with

British Council, Chennai &Annammal College of Education

Participants    :           30 English Teachers from Government Schools

Venue             :           Annammal College of Education

Date                :           17.07.2017 and 18.7.2017

Time               :           9:30a.m. to 4:30p.m

The two days intensive Training Programme on Communicative Language Teaching was organised at Annammal College of Education for 30 government school English teachers.  This training programme was supported by the British Council, Chennai and organized by ELT@I Thoothukudi chapter. 

Ms.AshaShoba catered exclusively to the needs of theEnglish teaching community with her amazing skill of an efficient trainer.

On the inspiring initial day, 17.7.17, Monday, the campaign was inaugurated with a welcome address by the Principal of Annammal College of Education. It was followed by an introduction to the trainer. Then, the session was handed over to the instructor.The inspiring touch was that the required topics for discussion were elicited from the participants itself. They were ; creating interest, good handwriting, mother tongue influence, grammar, pronunciation, creating an English atmosphere, spelling, games/activities, reading skill, level variations and speaking.

              Each teacher was made to create a self estimate of himself/herself  and share that with each and everyone.Soon, the participants were grouped in fives and a demo lesson with  the theme - `clothing’ was presented vividly.It was demonstrated with a fascinating variety of activities as gossiping on their own dresses,matching pictures with their synonyms,wall crawl for prepositions and so on.In due course of the task,the unfamiliar  vocabulary were discussed by the trainer with the phonetic transcription and pronunciation.A wonderful listening activity for the same lesson added the touch of a cherry on an ice-cream. The stages of teaching a lesson in English were derived as; theme (warm-up), topic, grammar/lexis, analysis, practice, personalisation and follow up.

             The afternoon session was activated with a `back to the board’ game involving the vocabulary of the fore coming reading lesson. The innovative techniques of reading were introduced with a jig saw puzzle task and running dictation. The entire session was illuminated with the smart and busy participation of the teachers. The first day was concluded with a home work to plan for a micro lesson.

             On the stimulating second day, the forenoon session was highlighted with the group tasks for grammar structures and themagic of writing.The stages of writing were illustrated sequentially. A fabulous group writing task was conducted and it was timed too. The afternoon session was focussed on the lesson plan preparation with a jig saw puzzle. It was preceded with the norms, formal utterances and a practice in a group discussion. The participants were made to teach their micro lessons which were guided by the instructor.  It was an optimistic sign of success of the programme that the teachers involved with great enthusiasm in the microteaching.

           At the closure of the training campaign, there was a feedback and vote of thanks session presented by the participants. It concluded with a thanks giving speech by the Principal of Annammal College of Education.  Putting in a nutshell, the British Council Training became an eye opener to all government English Teachers.  It is sure to create a tremendous positive impact in the classrooms.

MoU with Fisheries College and Research Institute