What is the following picture about?

With the implementation of Right To Education Act on 1st April, 2010, education has become a compulsion for every child in India. This has greatly enhanced the quantitative aspect of education with every child getting free education but when it comes to the qualitative aspect, Indian education still has miles to go.

Why deprive us?

♣ According to the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), 2011 there has been a decline in students’ basic reading levels.

♣ The all India figure for the proportion of children in class V able to read a class II level text has dropped from 53.7% in 2010 to 48.2% in 2011.

The low levels of basic reading ability suggested by ASER points to an urgent need to focus on basic learning outcomes. Each state should make realistic, measurable outcomes in reading and understanding that can be understood by teachers and parents. The RTE states that childrens’ progress has to be communicated to parents. Textbook content needs to be reviewed. – Times of India.

The shocking ASER report makes it obvious that among many other aspects, improving the basics of English language especially among the children is the need of the hour.

What is language?

❝Language is the blood of the soul into which thoughts run and out of which they grow.❞‒Oliver Wendell Holmes

❝Language is the road map of a culture. It tells you where its people come from and where they are going.❞‒Rita Mae Brown

What is the use of language?

As this picture says, Vocabulary is the backbone and thus the very existence of language.

So to build a good base for language , improving vocabulary is something that should be considered seriously.

Improving Vocabulary

What is vocabulary?

According to Wikipedia, “A person's vocabulary is the set of words within a language that are familiar to that person. A vocabulary usually develops with age, and serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and acquiring knowledge”

Vocabulary is commonly defined as "all the words known and used by a particular person"

Why Improve Vocabulary?

What can explain it better than a video?

English is spoken by more than 300 million native speakers, and between 400 and 800 million foreign users. It is the official language of air transport and shipping; the leading language of science, technology, computers, and commerce; and a major medium of education, publishing, and international negotiation.

In the Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) international competition for children’s learning, India came 72nd out of 73 countries.

Educationist Helen Abadzi writes “people must be able to read one word per second, or per 1.5 seconds at the outside, to be functional readers.”

English language is our window to the world. We can learn from others’ experiences. We can check the theories of foreigners against our experience. We can reject the untenable and accept the tenable. We can also propagate our theories among the international audience and readers.

English has thus become an effective means of promoting Indian view of life, and strengthening our cultural identity in the world.

Need for Improving Vocabulary

Improving Job prospects

Reading skills

Country’s global importance

Economic growth and

trade

How to Improve Vocabulary?

Let the teacher begin her

practice at home first

That every student needs to

learn it, is the first step towards

realization

Discussion, analysis, debates are a must-have

to improve vocabulary

A teacher should herself be aware of what she/he is teaching first. Improving her /his language proficiency, having the required qualifications should be made compulsory especially for the teachers teaching languages. Interest in teaching language is another factor that should also be considered. Lack of qualified teachers is a curse.

Employing a variety of teaching-learning techniques to make learning interesting helps a lot.

Games like scrabble, crossword puzzles, pictionaries, etc should be employed while teaching.

♣Writing, reading, debates should be encouraged in the class.

♣ Conduction of literature week comprising of essay writing contests, spelling and pronunciation contests, recitation and reading contests, etc should be encouraged.

♣ Importance on theatre, dramatics, etc should be given.

Usage of dictionary should be made mandatory for the students as well as the teachers. It should not be restricted to the language teachers only.

Active literature clubs, book clubs, reading clubs for teachers as well as students should be initiated.

Watching English movies and World movies, movies having English subtitles help improve vocabulary over a period of time.

Inculcating a reading habit is of immense help in improving vocabulary.

One should develop a habit of glancing through the dictionary every once in a while and every time when one encounters a difficult word while reading . The word should be immediately checked along with the pronunciation.

Inculcate a habit of reading a sentence as a whole rather than word to word. Difficult words should be considered with the whole sentence rather than as a lone word. This helps one to understand the meaning of the word along with the context of the sentence.

Word 1 Meaning Word 2 Meaningaccept to agree to

receive or doexcept not including

adverse unfavourable, harmful

averse strongly disliking; opposed

advice recommendations about what to do

advise to recommend something

affect to change or make a difference to

effect a result; to bring about a result

There are a lot of confusing words in English that look or sound alike but have very different meanings. Teachers should clear these concepts with the students with the help of continuous repetition.

It is said that..

But for that we have to become a tree of knowledge first!

Let’s test your vocabulary with the help of a few fun games now…

How many words can you get out from the word HIPPOPOTAMUS?

It, at, am, us, is, up, as, hi, so, pi, to, hip, pop, pot, pat, pit, hit, hop, hot, hip, his, him, top, tip, hat, sat, mat, pip, map, sit, sip, sap, tap, ham, mop, hut, pus, must, mast, soup, post, past, poop, spot, stop, thus, sham, shut, shot, stamp, stomp, spat, mouth, moth, math, path, soot, atom, mash, host, hips, hippo, atom, suit, pout, moat, most, shout, ship, tips, puma, photo, push, posh, hoist, auto, moist, hump, mouth

Select the correct meaning of the word from the options given

1. Tangent -a. Straight line, b. Sharp smell, c. Tropical fruit, d.

Temptation2. Ascertain -a. To slander, b. Find out, c. Break apart, d. Climb

upwards 3. Contemplate -a. To make impure, b. Disapprove of, c. Compact, d.

Observe thoughtfully4. Prose -a. Dance, b. Song, c. Poem, d. Story5. Omnivore - eater of..a. Just vegetables, b. just meat, c. only raw food, d.

meat and vegetables

Answers :-1.a (Noun - A straight line or plane that touches a

curve or curved surface at a point, but if extended does not cross it at that point.)

2.b [Verb - Find (something) out for certain; make sure of: "ascertain the cause of the accident“.]

3.d (Verb - Look at thoughtfully, think about.)4.d (Noun – Story or any ordinary writing.)5.d (Noun – Eater of meat and vegetables.)

Pronounced or Mispronounced ?

1.Chaos

(Pronounced as KAY - OS)

2. Forte (Pronounced as FOR - TAY)

3. Jewellery(Pronounced as JEWL-RY)

4. Poem(Pronounced as POM or PO – UM)

5. Chameleon (Pronounced as KH-UM-EEL-EEUHN)

R.I.P English – Funny Pictures

Let us now watch a funny video on a funny teacher who was caught red handed while teaching..

Economist TV commercial. Interpret the world - India 2010. Classroom.wmv

Thank You!