Thursday 6 September 2018

Teachers Day 2018

Teacher's Day 2018

On 5th September, 2018, Home School / Ghar Shala Sanstha organised an evening talk  with the teachers of the group of schools. In this speech the speaker talks about the difference between academic guru and spiritual guru; Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, the scholar teacher and plagiarism & Knighthood controversies; and role and significance of teachers in the era of Google Guru and Artificial Intelligence.



The Letter
 
The School Management offered this meaningful thanks-giving letter to all the teachers of the school:

Thank You Teachers..
Since Its inception in 1939,the Gharshala Sanstha has been nurturing students in its uniquely “GHAR” like environment. It happens only because this school gets teachers the way teachers should be.
Today happens to be “Teachers' Day”. Dr. Radhakrishan, the first vice presedent of India and the second president of India, happned to be a school teacher and his birthday is celebrated as  “Teacher’s Day”. It’s wonderful compliment to the teachers of the nation that our president was actually a school teacher.
In the Indian culture, we have always recognized a teacher as a very important part of one’s life to the extent we said: “ Acharya Devo Bhava” which means a teacher is like god.
In the making of an individual human being, or in the making of a society, or a nation or even in  the making of a world at large, a teacher has a significant role. In the process of enhancing abilities and developing interest in a particular subject-definitely a teacher has a big role. For many children, which teacher is teaching what subject determines whether they love that subject or hate it. The subject gets identified with that person. If the teacher is inspiring enough then the subject suddenly becomes interesting.
In current times  people tend to think that the significance of a teacher has come down, because everything that a teacher can say, the internet can say too. No, the significance of a teacher has gone up manifold. Now that the burden of delivering information is taken away, a teacher’s  job becomes mainly to inspire and enhance a student as a human being- which has always been the main task.
 
When you work with children who are that part of humanity which is still in the making, what you make of them is in your hands. It is one of the greatest  responsibilities and privileges that a human being can have: to actually shape another life is a tremendous privilege. So, when such a privilege is being vested in somebody’s hands, it’s very important that the highest calibre of minds, the highest integrity and inspiration goes into that.
Seeking  learning with love is the most innate longing with every student.
And Teacher has the ability to respond to this innate urge.
Happy Teaching.
Happy Teacher’s Day.
Thank You.

Photos of the Day:




Saturday 25 August 2018

Talks by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie born on 15 September 1977) is a Nigerian novelist, writer of short stories, and nonfiction.[3] She has written the novels Purple Hibiscus (2003), Half of a Yellow Sun (2006), and Americanah (2013), the short story collection The Thing Around Your Neck (2009), and the book-length essay We Should All Be Feminists (2014).
In 2008, Adichie was awarded a MacArthur Genius Grant. She was described in The Times Literary Supplement as "the most prominent" of a "procession of critically acclaimed young anglophone authors [who] is succeeding in attracting a new generation of readers to African literature".[4] Her most recent book, Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions, was published in March 2017.[5] (Wikipedia).
Read more about the author in Encyclopedia Britannica
Official Website of Chimamanda.
She is an excellent speaker.
Listening her is an amazing experience.

1) Talk on importance of Story / Literature

In this talk - Novelist Chimamanda Adichie tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice -- and warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding.



2) We Should All Be Feminist



3) Talk on importance of Truth in Post-Truth Era



Wednesday 15 August 2018

Train in Train to Pakistan

When we look symbolically at 'train in India, Indian literature & films', we find train as a microcosm of Indian society. The class division in railway system is symbolic of caste division; the luxury salon / AC coaches and general / non AC coaches is symbolic of rich-poor divide; and the two parallel rail-roads on which the train moves on, and are never going to meet, is symbolic of fractures and fissures of Indian dividedness.
Train is Khushwant Singh's 'Train to Pakistan' can be read with deeper implications.
Click here to listen a brief talk on 'Train in 'Train to Pakistan''. (38 Minutes)



Friday 3 August 2018

Mobile Learning - Improve English Language Skills

Mobile Learning

There is no need to define Mobile Learning. Even the kids in every nook and corner of the world know it very well. If you still have a question, What is Mobile Learning?

Mobile phones are so smartly designed and in the continuous process of improving its smartness that it can be a very easy and handy device to learn anything, anytime, anywhere. In a real sense, smart mobile phones are breaking the barriers of 'time and space'. Such devices make us realise the truth of Thomas Friedman's The World is Flat. Mobile Learning is one of the world flatteners .

Mobile Learning - English Language Skills

With the fourth generation advancements in technology enabled language laboratories, it is no longer a secret that all skills (Listening, Speaking, Writing and Reading) can easily be mastered through mobile devices like Phones or Laptops or Tablets or Phablets. With the advancement is Artificial Intelligence and inventions of VCD (Voice Command Devices), it is increasingly becoming easy to learn and master language skills with the help of smart mobile devices. Amazon Dot and Google Home are amazing Voice Command Devices which can be useful in an unbelievable way to improve language skills like Speaking and Listening.
All the mobile applications meant of communication are useful for improvement of all four basic language skills.

Best Mobile Apps for English Language Learning

Even though all communication apps can be used by teachers to teach language skills, there is always a need for self-learning mobile applications. In a way, there is nothing wrong in such demands. Technology and its artificial intelligence has to work on its own to make learners independent from the teacher.
Here are a few links which may help learners to make their own choices for the mobile app which may best suite their need:

Sunday 29 July 2018

William Shakespeare: Cracking the Code

The quality and quantity of William Shakespeare's plays and sonnets keep on surprising n shocking people. All readers of literature are awestruck at the literary creation by the one who knew nothing about Greek and Latin, and was by and large uneducated.

The skepticism gives birth to alternative theories n histories.

Emmerich's Earl - Edward de Vere - and William Shakespeare

Roland Emmerich's Anonymous (movie) imagines that it was Edward de Vere , Earl of Oxford who wrote the plays.
Watch this video to see on why Roland Emmerich believed that the identity of Will Shakespeare is a fraud:




Cracking The Shakespeare Code

Here is yet another thought provoking documentary  by Petter Amundsen and historian Dr. Robert Crumpton which tries to prove that Francis Bacon was the original writer.
The 'process' of their research is very interesting. Don't just look at the 'product' (end result). Carefully observe the 'process'. Even if we do not agree with the conclusion, the process of research is noteworthy.

Part 1:




Part 2



Part 3




Did Shakespeare write his plays?

Like Emmerich and Petter, many people question whether Shakespeare really wrote the works that bear his name – or whether he even existed at all. Could it be true that the greatest writer in the English language was as fictional as his plays? Natalya St. Clair and Aaron Williams show how a linguistic tool called stylometry might shed light on the answer. Lesson by Natalya St. Clair and Aaron Williams, animation by Pink Kong Studios.