Assess Your Students Before Teaching

There are many good teachers who enjoy command over their subject. But before delivery of knowledge it is imperative to thoroughly judge the target pupils to ensure optimum reception.

To have knowledge is one aspect and to make it through the other’s brain is altogether different. Better you are in the art of communication, more effortless the learning experience would be.

Same technique would not work with different groups. Sometimes teachers take pride in possession of knowledge and hold above the average and the slow, just like a mountain peak – beautiful and snow dressed but a lonely desert.

Companies assess the needs and apprehensions of the customer before launching a product. Missile carriers fully assess the position of the target before hitting otherwise they might waste their ex pensive and limited ammunition.

A good teacher is good everywhere. An inspiring teacher is the asset of the nation.

Our Experiments With English

It is true that every language has local overtones. English is an international language. It shows wonderful dynamism by accepting words from everywhere. But we Indians are even ahead. We coin words for the language and easily knock down even accepted spellings and syntax.

For example you will find this use aplenty in school ads ‘for more details contact XXX during school hours’… Actually the word detail already contains the sense of ‘more’. Another school specific usage is ‘ walk in interview between 9:00 am to 1:00 pm. It should rightly be ‘from xx to yy’ or ‘between xx and yy’ but certainly not the hybrid of both.

In social circles I have heard words such as ‘different-different’, ‘red-red’ and ‘jyada better’ and ‘rapo’ which should rightly be called as ‘different’, ‘reddish’, ‘better’ ( enough !, why make it jyada.) and ‘rapport’.

Two most bruised spellings even by the intellectuals are – ‘memento’(smriti chinha) and ‘dais’(manch) – often wrongly spelt as ‘Momento’ and ‘Dias’. Why and how – nobody knows !

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