Brainfeed magazine august 2016 by Brainfeed Magazine

RNI No: APENG/2013/49994

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Posted at PC Secunderabad on August 7-8, 2016 Date of Publication: August 6, 2016

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August 2016 Volume IV Issue 5

A MONTHLY EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVE

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INSTITUTIONAL PROFILE Lakshmipat Singhania Academy, Kolkata

MENTORING Principal As Leader Dr. Ashok Pandey

WRITING SKILLS Learn To Write Effectively

SAFETY The Child Safety Platform

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SUBSCRIBE an educational initiative

Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Monthly Magazines

Note: Heads of Schools may encourage children to subscribe for the magazines. For Subscriptions Contact:

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AUGUST 2016

C O N TE NT S

volume IV issue 5

Ms. Meena Kak Principal, Lakshmipat Singhania Academy Alipore, Kolkata

COVER STORY

DOES THE NEW NEP-2016 USHER IN QUALITY EDUCATION?

Mr. Ujjwal Singh

Yasmin Khan

Vice President Product-K12 Pearson India Bengaluru

Principal The Paras World School Gurgaon

Ms. AnjaliRazdan

Sanjay Kumar Mishra

Principal P.Obul Reddy Public School Hyderabad

Principal Army Public School Dagshai

Institutional ProďŹ le

32 Dr. Ashok Kumar Pandey Principal, Ahlcon International School

Mentoring

36 Mr. Bobbie H. Kalra Co-Founder & CEO Magnasoft

Ms. Meena Kak

Dr. Dheeraj Mehrotra

Principal Lakshmipat Singania Academy Kolkata

Safety

Vice President (Academics) Next Education India Hyderabad

50 Ms. Farah Khan Ali CEO, Farah Khan Fine Jewellery Pvt Ltd, Mumbai

Career

52 42

Is Social Media A Boon or Curse for Students?

How To Check Corporal Punishment In Schools?

Technology Augmented Reality

Conversations with Children

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06 ............. Readers Column 07 .......... Editorial 08 .......... News 14 ............. Parenting 16 ............. Upcoming Event 28 ............. Pedagogy 35 ............. Special feature 38 ............. Values 40 ............. Writing Skills 54 ............. Parenting 55 ............. British Council 56 ............. Language Study 58 ........... Mind Mine

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READERS’ COLUMN Parenting The regular series of articles by Ms Shayama Chona related to parenting is really interesting. Some parents are too liberal with their kids and some are too strict with them. Children are supposed to enjoy their childhood as it is a memorable time for them as well as the parents. The role of the parent is very clearly mentioned in the article.

NEW CONCEPT

Ms. M. Pushpanjali, Kerala

Congratulations Brainfeed! WATCH

LISTEN

Now you can read as well as listen to your favourite article and also watch videos on education, career, sports, skill building, entertainment and a lot more. Brainfeed magazine started presenting a new concept – that is you can listen to your favourite article being read by experts while you go through the article. And also watch videos of your interest from the list of videos given in the magazine. This is how it works • A QR code sign will be given along with the article or the video. • All you need is a QR code scanner or QR code reader app on your Smartphone. • Download the app from Google play store or Apple app store. • Open the application, focus and hold the camera on the QR code of the article or the video you want to listen to or watch. • Then the QR code will lead you to the audio ﬁle of an educational expert, read the article for you or to the video that you wanted to watch. Don’t you think this is cool – so go on, read like an expert reader by just listening to an expert reader, read an article for you or watch a video to learn about an issue or topic or to learn a new skill.

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Since its inception Brainfeed has worked very hard to meet the needs of the children and educators. My heartfelt congratulation to Brainfeed as it has launched four different magazines according to the age group of the children. The magazines are exclusively for the beneﬁt of students at different levels. Keep it up Brainfeed Group! Mr. K. V. Pradeep, Actor, Motivational Speaker, Hyderabad

Good Work – Brainfeed Team I have gone through the magazine. First off, the aesthetics is brilliantly done and all pages feel very soothing and engrossing to the eye. I also liked how a variety of academic issues have been covered- from university admissions, to new learning techniques, discourses at the politics-education interface to child psychology, and it certainly did to a great extent bring me to the forefront of the current happenings in the Indian academic sector. In addition, it would be inspiring to include one interview in each month’s publication of an academic from a major Indian university/ organization (such as ISRO) who could talk to children about his or her journey to becoming a top academic, their view on how to take the nation forward in the wider world etc. Mr. Peeyush Khare, PhD Student, Yale University

Fee Hike in Private Schools Parents always prefer to send their children to the school having good infrastructure and academic qualities. The mind set of people differ from one another. Few people are against the fee hike and few support it. As the cost of living is increasing, according to my knowledge, I feel that the school’s should be able to justify, if they have increased their fee structure annually. If the schools are able to justify, parents will also support them. Ms. Ashwini Mehrotra Chandigarh

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EDITORIAL

august 2016

volume IV

issue 5

Chief Editor Brahmam K V Editor Seshubabu P V Executive Editor Bhageeradha G +91 91775 13996 Sub Editor Vanalatha Reddy T Art & Design Lakshmi D Rakesh N Director-Sales SreeNivas R B +91 85018 26497 Circulation Hemachandra Rao S +91 91777 74851 +91 85018 26317 Printed, Published and Owned by Kakani Veera Brahmam

Printed at Kala Jyothi Process Pvt. Ltd. 1-1-60/5, RTC X Roads Hyderabad-500 020, Telangana, India

Published from 8-3-191/565/K, Vengal Rao Nagar SR Nagar Post, Hyderabad-500 038 Telangana, India Contact No. : 040- 6551 5151 +91 94944 39444 Email: info@brainfeedmagazine.com brainfeedmagazine@gmail.com

he eighth month of the year in the Gregorian calendar originally named Sextilis in Latin was later changed to August in commemoration of the ﬁrst emperor of Rome, Augustus Caesar. ‘News’ highlights the events of the month with a focus on latest trends in educational development.

Dr. Shayama Chona drives home the point that children can be helped by infusing confidence to speak up in the event of any kind of untoward thing happening in the article ‘ Is Your Child Being Bullied in School?’ BRAINFEED group invites nominations from teachers, Principals and Edupreneurs for ‘Acharya Devo Bhava – 2016’ Awards scheduled to be held in September. The ‘Cover Story’ ‘Does the new NEP- 2016 usher in Quality Education?’ discusses in detail about new NEP-2016 and the Government’s concern to fix the maladies of present education system. ‘Special Feature’ has brought out ‘Implementation of R4 in the classroom’ by Ms. Revathi Balakrishnan. ‘How do students learn to write effectively?’ analyses writing problems of students and suggests remedial measures. Dr. A. K. Pandey gives his expert answers to the questions on effective Principals in ‘Mentoring’. ‘Institutional Profile’ highlights how at Lakshmipat Singhania Academy education and entertainment are blended into ‘edutainment’. Scan for more Info ‘Pedagogy’ suggests the ways and means of CHECK OUT OUR making students attentive in the class. ‘Is WEBSITE & E-MAG Social Media a Boon or a Curse?’ shows how brainfeedmagazine.com social media creates behavioural problems in AND FOLLOW US ON children. The centre spread adorns colourful facebook.com/ EURO-2016! ‘How to check corporal punishment brainfeededumag in schools?’ explains how children get affected twitter.com/ by the physical punishment. Augmented Reality brainfeedmagzn focuses how ‘Pokemon Go’ app can be useful for educational purposes. Ms. Anne Sivanathan educates how ‘conversations with children’ can boost their confidence. ’Career’ deals with ‘Jewellery Designing – From Ideas to Reality’. ‘Why do students show suicidal tendencies?’ analyses the pathetic condition of coaching shops and ways and means of tackling them. Happy Reading!

www.brainfeedmagazine.com facebook.com/brainfeededumag RNI No. APENG/2013/49994

Brahmam K V Chief Editor august 16

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NEWS Applications for Bravery Awards 2016 Invited ited

he Indian Council for Child Welfare (ICCW) has invited applications for national awards to children for bravery for the year 2016 and the last date of submission of application is September 30, 2016. The criterion for the selection is that the child should be between 6 to 18 years of age on the date of incident. Incidents should have occurred between July 1, 2015 and June 30, 2016 with a relaxation of three months if it so deems ﬁt. Interested children can apply in the format available at the subdivisional magistrate’s ofﬁce. The nominations would be received in the prescribed application form accompanied by a write-up of 250 words giving the details of the deed performed by the applicant, proof of date of birth, news clippings or the FIR or police diary

filed with the police station. The main criteria for the selection of candidates would be performance of a distinct and visible act of bravery in the face of an impending threat of injury or danger to life or an act of courage and daring against a social evil or crime. The awardees would receive a medal, a certificate and cash. The awardees would also receive various gifts from philanthropic organisations. The awardees are granted assistance until they complete their schooling. ICCW would provide financial assistance under its scholarship scheme to those undertaking professional courses such as engineering and medicine and to others till they complete their graduation.

New Union HRD Minister

n July 5, 2016, Prakash Javadekar was named the new HRD Minister replacing Smriti Irani. He said education is not a subject for ‘party politics’ and he was open to suggestions from everyone. Asserting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a vision to improve the quality of education and make it more meaningful, Javadekar said education should be seen as an “emancipator” and “agent of change” and he would come out with a roadmap after consultations with the Prime Minister and others including Smriti Irani.

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Chaturvedi: New CBSE Chairperson

BSE has been without Mr. Chaturvedi chairperson since December assumed 2014. The Appointments charge as the Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), Chairman of headed by Prime Minister CBSE on July Narendra Modi, appointed Rajesh 26, 2016. Kumar Chaturvedi as the CBSE Chairperson. Chaturvedi is an IAS officer of 1987 batch of the Madhya Pradesh cadre. He will play a key role in India’s skill development mission, given the government’s plan to assimilate vocational training with school education. Chaturvedi, who will be supervising 10 regional offices of the CBSE, will also have to deal with criticism that a lenient assessment system adopted by the central board are forcing state-level school boards to inflate the marks of their own students, making life difficult for students in finding admission to universities.

Indian Boy Wins Google Community Impact Award

eating thousands of entries from over 107 countries, 14 year old Advay Ramesh bagged the prestigious Google Community Impact Award. Advay presented his project on creating ‘FishErmen Lifeline Terminal’ (FELT) to enhance the ﬁshermen safety and productivity using Global Positioning Services (GPS). He won 10,000 dollars in funding and a yearlong mentorship from Scientiﬁc American to

further develop his winning project. Advay who is currently studying in class X in National Public School, Chennai, has also been chosen among the top 20 ﬁnalists shortlisted to compete for a Grand Prize worth 50,000 dollars in scholarship. Excited Advay said, “Winning the Google Community Impact Award means a lot to me, it would help me learn more and develop my idea further.”

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Notiﬁcation for EAMCET-III

n a major investigation, the officials of Telangana Crime Investigation Department declared that EAMCET– II question paper was leaked and at least 29 students got undue benefit for accessing question paper prior to the examination. The CID has arrested 4 persons involved in the scam. The officials found that the question paper was leaked from a printing press in New Delhi. Meanwhile, hundreds of students and parents protested at various

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places demanding the Telangana Government to cancel the EAMCET-II and punish the students who bought the leaked question papers. The Telangana government decided to scrap EAMCET-II and a fresh notiﬁcation for EAMCETIII was issued and more than 50,000 students will reappear for the exam. EAMCET – III will be held on September 11, 2016 between 10 am to 1 pm. Though a retest is held, students need not apply again, as the old application and hall ticket numbers will be valid now also.

Maharashtra Schools to appoint Ofﬁcers to Redress Parent’s Grievances

he Government and private schools in Maharashtra will soon have grievance redressal officers to deal with complaints at the institute-level. Rajesh Hiwale, spokesperson of the state-level association of primary teachers said that this move would be beneficial and the grievance redressal officer will also link the school with higher authorities and share crucial information. There was a strict instruction to all the schools that the officers should be appointed by August 10 and schools

should display a board on their premises with names of the redressal ofﬁcer with their mobile and landline numbers. Hiwale said that the institutions failing to make the appointments will face penal action. The parents suggested that the education department should review the complaints disposed of by grievance redressal ofﬁcers to ensure accountability.

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NEWS Indian scientiﬁc institutions will be at top Position

peaking at the Rashtrapati Bhavan after receiving a report on ‘State of Indian Universities in the Global Academic Rankings’ from O P Jindal Global University and Indian Centre for Academic Rankings and Excellence, President Pranab Mukherjee has exuded confidence that any Indian institution engaged in scientific research and development will be able to reach top position in the world. He, however, said the importance given to research in the universities is still inadequate and recalled that while assuming office of President, he had described education as the alchemy that can bring India its next golden age. “The physical infrastructure for higher education in India has increased considerably. However, the importance given to research in our universities is still inadequate,” he said. Mukherjee said many universities were earlier doing well but not enough data was being provided to the ranking agencies. He expressed happiness over the work being done to raise the standards of Indian varsities. According to the report, India has five institutions in the top 50 and nine in the top 100 in the University Rankings Asia, 2016 and figures among the top 10 research producing nations globally.

Focus on Innovation: Prakash Javadekar

RD minister Prakash Javadekar termed IITs, NITs and IIScs as temples of modern India and asked IITians to focus on innovation so that the country can reach higher levels of prosperity as he expressed concern over the overall quality of research. The HRD minister said the government is taking up new programmes to position IITs in the global best institutions “because currently we are nowhere in the top 200”. “Improving quality of research, building up labs, increasing proportion of foreign students and faculties is required,” he said. Referring to HRD ministry’s initiatives, he said `1,000 crore will be put in IITs under IMPRINT programme while also mentioning schemes to encourage startups.

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Six New Cities to get IITs

nder the Institutes of Technology (Amendment) Bill 2016, which was approved by the Rajya Sabha by voice vote, IITs will also be started in 1. Palakkad - Kerala 2. Goa 3. Dharwad - Karnataka 4. Bhilai - Chhattisgarh 5. Jammu 6. Tirupati - Andhra Pradesh HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar said the IITs are the centre of excellence and they will continue to remain like that. “We will not allow anything that will lower their standards. Actually we all should try to improve them further and make them really world class institutes. Therefore quality is absolutely important,” he said.

No-detention policy should end: Arvind Kejriwal

unning through the initiates taken by the AAP government during a live interactive session, Kejriwal called for repealing the “no-detention policy” under which every student is promoted till Class IX. He said if this system continues then the future may be in peril, unemployment will be widespread. He warned the Centre for “reducing” the Central education budget which he said would “ruin” the country. “It is found that in Class IX students suffer from depression and even commit suicide as they can’t read and write. This nodetention policy should end, this is ruining the country. I appeal to the Centre to clear the bill we have passed in this regard,” he said.

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3 states oppose census-based study of learning outcome

aryana, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have expressed serious reservations to the Prime Minister’s Office’s idea that a census-based assessment of learning outcomes be done at the school level. In the recently concluded Joint Review Mission (JRM) of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Haryana and Tamil Nadu made a strong pitch for sample-based assessment and showed from their experience how it has worked and helped improve the system. Many states have pointed out that the idea of census-based assessment has come from a big NGO working in the field of education and has found takers in the PMO and multilateral agencies. A senior Tamil Nadu official argued that census-based assessment would not

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give the kind of data that is expected. The official said sample-based assessment of Class III, V and VIII students in Tamil, English and Mathematics that Tamil Nadu started in 2012-13 was not only easy to administer but also helped draw conclusions easily . “It will become an administrative and financial challenge. Unlike sample-based survey where we assign separate investigators and pay attention to specific child’s response, in census-based it will not be possible. Eventually, quality of data will suffer. It will not help us diagnose the problem,” the official said. In fact, he pointed out that TN’s sample-based assessment had become a role model for many states.

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NEWS Empresario 2017

Parliament approves admission to Medical, Dental Courses under NEET

rom next year, admission to medical and dental courses across the country will be done through a single common entrance test. The Parliament has approved the bill. The Government said the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) is designed to curb corruption by bringing in transparency, checking multiplicity of exams and to stop exploitation of students in counselling.

“Under the new system, exams to Private Colleges will also be conducted under NEET,” Health Minister JP Nadda informed. The Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Bill 2016 and the Dentists (Amendment) Bill 2016 were passed by the Rajya Sabha through voice vote.

By conducting Empresario, India’s only global business model competition, the cell aims to foster the spirit of entrepreneurship among college students in India and to develop upcoming start-ups into successful companies. Each of the entries will get equal opportunity to win the prize and incubation money to the tune of `2.5 crore.

Most of the parties supported the government move to have NEET. Mr. Nadda said, “NEET is intended to check multiplicity of examinations to bring transparency to curb corruption and to stop the exploitation of students during counselling.” The State quota will not be disturbed. The State Governments will decide and give extra marks for admission to reserved categories. The examination will be held on the basis of NCERT syllabus and the under-graduate examination will be taken up by CBSE and post-graduation by the National Board of Examination. Tests will also be conducted in regional languages.

Magsaysay Awards 2016 Winners

renowned campaigner against manual scavenging, Bezwada Wilson and Carnatic singer Thodur Madabusi Krishna, are named for the prestigious Magsaysay Award on July 27, 2016. Wilson is named for “asserting the inalienable right to a life of human dignity” and under the category ‘Emergent Leadership’, Krishna is chosen for bringing “social inclusiveness in culture”. Wilson wants to eliminate scavenging

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and sanitation work and abolish the caste system that prevails in the country. Krishna is recognized for his commitment as artist and advocate to art’s power to heal India’s deep social divisions, breaking barriers of caste and class to unleash what music has to offer not just for some but for all.

IT Kharagpur and International Business Model Competition (IBMC) are all set to host Empresario 2017, an initiative by the Entrepreneurship Cell of the college.

The shortlisted entries will be provided help in terms of mentoring and the winners will also get a much sought after chance to pitch their ideas in front of some of India’s biggest VCs and investors. The best entries in all categories will get an opportunity to participate directly in the semi-ﬁnal rounds of IBMC 2017, which will be conducted abroad followed by the grand ﬁnale at Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES), 2017, the largest collegiate entrepreneurial summit held in January in India every year.

VIDEOS TO WATCH

http://www. brainfeedmagazine.com/ video-august-1 How to ﬁx a broken education system without any more money Seema Bansal (TedX)

http://www. brainfeedmagazine.com/ video-august-2 British Council Teaching Speaking Techniques (John Kay)

http://www. brainfeedmagazine.com/ video-august-3 Tip on how to motivate your students - Ghazala Siddiqi

http://www. brainfeedmagazine.com/ video-august-4 You Can Win - Shiv Khera

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PARENTING

Dr. Shayama Chona President, Tamana LISTEN

e are all deeply concerned as parents, teachers and school administrators about the increasing incidence of bullying in schools, parks and playgrounds. Although bullying may never be totally eradicated, there is much parents can do to help their children become bullyaware and bully-resistant. In my experience, most victims of bullying are sensitive, intelligent, gentle children. They don’t come from homes full of conﬂict and shouting, so when a bully comes at them they don’t know quite what to do.

Bullying can be physical or psychological. Professional deﬁnitions vary, but children themselves consider bullying to incorporate everything from serious physical harm to teasing,

including acts as name-calling, spreading malicious gossip, destroying property, humiliation, rejection and exclusion. Evidence is growing that psychological bullying can cause the greatest long-term damage to children’s perception of themselves and their world. It can also be the ﬁrst step on a downward spiral of intimidation that ends in physical attack. Children are not always playing when they tease or name call. The typical excuse is `I was playing;` but we now know children use this as a smoke screen, and they are motivated by the desire to cause distress to their playmates in the park or class fellow in the school. Any form of bullying, however mild, should not be ignored. If left unchecked, bullying can result in depression and

Is Your Child Being

BULLIED in School? You can help by talking to your child about it and giving him the Conﬁdence to speak up when the going gets really tough 14

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other mental health problems, low self-esteem, shyness, poor academic achievement. It can also damage those who are doing the bullying, who learn that aggressive threatening behavior gets them what they want, which in turn increases their chance of violent behavior and relationship problems in adulthood. You, as parents, can help your children to avoid bullies. Much research has shown that being unaggressive and having good social and communication skills and self-esteem diminishes the likelihood of being bullied, therefore, invest in your child’s resilience. Talk about bullying to your children. Discuss the issues with your child what bullying is; where it might happen; how to minimize opportunities for bullying (not carrying valuables, staying in groups, walking on if confronted, and so on). Include the vital message that being bullied is not a child’s fault. Sometimes a child is picked because of differences of economic or social background class, accent, appearance, disability, academic ability and height. Sometimes there seems no discernable reason at all. Tell your child that she must speak up. She must tell as soon as the situation feels difﬁcult. Be explicit about this, so that your child does not exaggerate. Around 50 per cent of the children who are bullied at school do not report their experiences, often because they are afraid of further intimidation from their tormentors. So reassure your child that telling makes matters better, not worse, and as parents do all within your power to ensure this.

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presents

acharya devo bhava

2016

Honouring Teachers, Principals & Edupreneurs

“Those who educate children well are more to be honoured than parents, for these only gave life, those the art of living well.” - Aristotle

On the occasion of Teachers’ Day, Brainfeed magazine will be honouring teachers, principals & edupreneurs, who have excelled in their profession and have made a diﬀerence in their student’s lives. The schools can send in the nominations of teachers, principals & edupreneurs with their complete details of commendable achievements for the cause of education recommending for the Acharya Devo Bhava Award 2016.

Felicitations of Acharya Devo Bhava 2014 and 2015.

Send your nominations with the credentials to: info@brainfeedmagazine.com brainfeedmagazine@gmail.com on or before

August 25, 2016

Download the nomination form from our website www.brainfeedmagazine.com/downloads 8-3-191/565/K, Vengal Rao Nagar, SR Nagar Post, Hyderabad-500 038 Contact No. : 040- 6551 5151 +91 94944 39444

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UPCOMING EVENT

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+91 9248257435 Globalsmartolypiad.com Annual Awards Presentation Ceremony @ Ravindra Bharathi

Dr. Chukka Ramaiah Garu Presenting Lenovo Tabs to 4th Smart Olympiad Toppers

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Sri PVRK Murthy Garu PresentingTabs/Smart Phones to 5th Olympiad Toppers

05/08/2016 11:15:53 AM

COVER STORY

P. V. Seshubabu

DOES THE NEW NEP-2016 USHER IN QUALITY EDUCATION? An evaluation of teachers revealed that many of them lack even the basic knowledge of the subjects they teach! Similar revelation among students is ample proof of the ‘grim condition of education in India. The Ministry of Human Resources Department (MHRD) while acknowledging the mess pointed out the various challenges faced by the country in education. The New National Education Policy-2016 explains the dire need to ﬁx these problems. large number of children still do not attend school and many of them drop out at some stage! Though the percentage of children out of school has considerably dropped, the number is still high in India. The enrollment is still very low!

India has the second-largest higher education system in the world. Although there has been considerable massiﬁcation of education in India, the gross enrollment ratio in higher education remains low at 23.6%. The country is home to the highest number of illiterates as on 2011 census.

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Poor Quality The quality of education in India has long been criticized. Not only is it based on rote learning, but there is hardly any practical knowledge gained by students. A study conducted by the agencies found that many students cannot even do basic arithmetic even in higher classes. Skill Deﬁciency With its economy growing at 7.6%, India aims to be the next economic superpower. Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi himself has been dreaming to lead our country to be

a manufacturing powerhouse with the new Start Ups. Nevertheless, there is acute skill-deﬁciency in the country hampering the progress. The utility of higher education in assuring employment remains questionable. There is a huge talent gap. Outdated Curriculum One reason for both poor learning outcomes and lack of skills is the curriculum at Indian schools. The report says there’s a “serious disconnect” today between what is taught and what is needed in a “rapidly changing world”. The existing curriculum does not foster creativity and innovation nor does it enable critical thinking or independent problem-solving. Even the assessment processes and practices in schools are unsatisfactory. Teachers Teachers simply aren’t wellequipped. Even their training programmes aren’t effective in a changing social, economic, cultural and technological environment. There have been few initiatives to upgrade their skills or build synergies between teaching and research. Besides, there is also chronic shortage of skilful teachers. Inclusive Education and Poor Governance The critical aspect of education is that it does not reach everyone. The disadvantaged sections still cannot access it. Though there has been a rise in demand for secondary education, the disparities continue and the access to quality education depends on the socio-economic background of students. Moreover, schools aren’t governed efﬁciently; the funds crunch also haunts

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development of schools; the administration is ill-equipped and implementation of policies is the key issue. India boasts of producing some of the world’s best engineers and scientists but the educational institutions are not exactly a breeding ground for scientists! The New National Educational Policy The National Education Policy was ﬁrst formulated in 1986 and was modiﬁed in 1992. The New National Educational Policy-2016 intends to bring out certain changes in order to meet the changing dynamics of people’s requirement with regard to quality education making India a knowledge super power by equipping students with necessary skills and knowledge and eliminate the shortage of manpower in science and technology, academics and industry. The salient features of the NEP 2016 are •

Make education affordable for all , especially, educating girls

•

Flexible education which serves students need

•

Develop world class skilled work force and strengthen higher education-industry partnerships

•

Holistic education needed which ensures literary, lifeskills and employability

From ancient times Indian thinkers and society have recognized the value of education. The Guru-Sishya Parampara exempliﬁes the knowledge sharing between teacher and the student. The focus of the NEP is on improving the quality of education and restoring the credibility of

the education system. Teacher absenteeism, estimated at over 25% every day, has been identified as one of the reasons for the poor quality of student learning outcomes. Every teacher is to be prepared to internalize that apart from his professional readiness and responsibility, he is a role model, inculcator of values and is expected to lead a value-based life. Poor learning outcomes is the biggest challenge facing Indian education. Poor quality of learning at the primary school stage naturally spills over to the secondary stage, where the gaps get wider. National Educational Policy stresses on the need for a radical reconstruction of the Education System to improve quality at all stages – development of science and technology, cultivating moral and social values and a closer relation between education and life. The fast pace of generation and application of new knowledge especially in the field of science and technology and its impact on the daily life became focal point of importance for the rapidlychanging world of knowledge. The need for the development of human skills, including life-skills that meet the demands of the emerging knowledge, economy and society – highlights the significant change. The changing social context of education and the national concern for achieving the goals of equity and inclusion demands a changed approach to education for enhancing opportunities for all learners to become successful. Thus, the NEP-2016 envisions a credible and highperforming education system capable of ensuring inclusive quality education and life-long learning opportunities for all and

producing students equipped with knowledge, skills, attitudes and values that are required to lead a productive life, participate in the country’s development process, respond to the requirements of the fast-changing, ever-globalizing, knowledge-based economy and society. Education should foster peace, tolerance, secularism and national integration. Towards promoting greater understanding of diversity in India as well as social cohesion, education should inculcate awareness of India’s rich heritage, glorious past, great traditions and heterogeneous culture. Education must enhance and sustain the cultural capital in the country, a powerful input for national development. Education must be seen as development and not a means of development; it should ﬁnd a prominent place in the national development agenda. . New technologies have transformed the way in which we live, work, and communicate; the corpus of knowledge has vastly expanded and become multidisciplinary; and research has become far more collaborative. What are the basic objectives which we seek to achieve through the new NEP? What knowledge, skills and other qualities do we seek to instill through education? What kind of citizen should emerge as an end product of the education system? What attributes should an educated citizen possess in order to be able to function as an informed and enlightened member of society? BRAINFEED interacted with a cross-section of educationists to ﬁnd out their responses about the New National Educational Policy – 2016. Here we present a few responses . . . august 16

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COVER STORY

The focus of new NEP-2016 is to ‘make education affordable for all, especially, to make education free for girls.’ – Your comments, please.

The NEP-2016 should be more ﬂexible as per the requirements of students’ – Do you think it will be feasible?

3 Holistic education ensures literacy, life skills and employability. Do you think the NEP-2016 will take care of these?

4 According to NEP – 2016, India is in the cusp of a major change. Every village is expected to be digitally connected. What is your opinion on this?

Mr. Ujjwal Singh Vice President Product-K12, Pearson India Bengaluru

It is great if the new policy focuses on bridging gender disparity in education. Education is a fundamental requirement in building a sound nation and making education affordable for all is a great step towards achieving 100% literacy in our country.

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Students should be given the convenience of choice. Personalization is a must in Education, what works for one set of people may not work best with the other. The success of the NEP depends on how well it can be put into practice, the more ﬂexible it is, there are higher chances of it meeting the requirements of different set of students.

Pearson Voice of Teacher Survey, an annual survey by Pearson, in its 2015 edition voiced critical recommendations for the formulation of New Education Policy. According to ﬁndings from the survey, 57% of teachers believed that students are not adequately prepared for employment. Taking this ﬁnding forward, the

Article 21-A of 1986 Policy, universal primary education was made mandatory and under RTE Act 2009, elementary education became fundamental right for every child. What do you think would the new NEP-2016 need to do?

policy envisages broadening the scope of education to facilitate various pathways to learning, depending on learners’ choices and potential and in relation with skills required. While the objective of NEP is to ensure equitable, inclusive and quality education for all students, it also promotes acquisition of relevant skills; including technical and vocational skills that will help students in problem solving and critical thinking and in turn help them hone their skills and becoming well-rounded individuals.

Digitization is taking the world by a storm and it is safe to say that education is at the forefront of this revolution. PearsonVoice

of Teacher Survey, 2015 also indicated that high costs, lack of infrastructure and maintenance are the foremost challenges for technology adoption. With the draft encouraging open schooling facilities to enable dropouts and workingchildren to pursue education without attending full time formal schools, a digitally sound environment is a pre-requisite for it be a success. This will promote innovation from remote corners of our country where there is abundant talent, but limited means to tap it.

The focus of NEP should be to eradicate gender disparity and make quality education affordable to all. Now that elementary education has gained importance, we should aim at

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‘The changing social contexts of education demand a changed approach to education’ – How do you assess the NEP2016 in this context?

making it easily accessible to everyone without any discrimination based on gender or social/economic background.

Over the years, focus of education has seen a paradigm shift; innovation has taken a prime spot in the education agenda. To accommodate these changes, there was a need to re-look at the earlier policy. NEP2016 addresses the need of an

Now that the draft NEP2016 has been announced and the committee’s recommendations have been put up inviting suggestions, as a corporate what would you like to suggest for improvement, if any?

environment that is conducive to innovation as it envisions a credible and high-performing education system capable of ensuring inclusive quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for all. NEP should aptly aim to instill students with values that are required to lead a productive life and participate in the country’s development process.

The National Education Policy, 2016 provides a framework for the development of education in India over the coming few years. It seeks to address both the unﬁnished agenda relating to the goals and targets set in the previous national policies on education and the current and emerging national development and education sector-related challenges.

Do you feel the NEP-2016 would be able to bring about the desired changes in the education system?

An increased focus on all round development of children (physical, socio-emotional along with cognitive), focus on assessment of all aspects equallyincluding the academic achievement. Holistic development of children is equally important. In today’s day and age, being wellinformed is as important as being well-educated.

The NEP looks promising in bringing about a positive change towards building a sound education infrastructure in India. With a broader goal to foster quality and relevance of education as well as raise the credibility of India’s education system, it is deﬁnitely a step forward in ensuring superior

The utility of higher education in assuring employment opportunities is still a wild goose chase. Your opinion, please.

quality education at all levels.

There is no doubt in the fact that higher education plays a big role in assuring employment opportunities, having said that, it cannot work in isolation. As Pearson Voice of Teacher Survey 2015 cited Teachers recommend greater industryacademia collaboration for restructuring courses, followed by merit-based internships for all courses and industrial training for teachers.

Keeping the changing landscape in mind, the NEP-2016 has been framed to facilitate pathbreaking advances in the education sector. The policy envisages broadening the scope of education to facilitate

various pathways to learning while keeping innovation at the forefront of it all. The National Education Policy, 2016 provides a framework for the development of education in India over the coming few years. It seeks to address both the unﬁnished agenda relating to the goals and targets set in the previous national policies on education and the current and emerging national development and education sectorrelated challenges. Recognizing the importance of quality education in national development, the NEP 2016 places an unprecedented focus on signiﬁcantly improving the quality of education at all levels and on ensuring that educational opportunities are available to all segments of the society.

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Do you think NEP-2016 has been envisioned for future?

05/08/2016 11:15:53 AM

COVER STORY

The focus of new NEP-2016 is to ‘make education affordable for all, especially, to make education free for girls.’ – Your comments, please.

The NEP-2016 should be more ﬂexible as per the requirements of students’ – Do you think it will be feasible?

Holistic education ensures literacy, life skills and employability. Do you think the NEP-2016 will take care of these?

According to NEP – 2016, India is in the cusp of a major change. Every village is expected to be digitally connected. What is your opinion on this?

Undoubtedly , Life Skills are all encompassing and forms the basis of employability. If done in the recommended form, it should produce optimal results.

4 Ms. AnjaliRazdan Principal P.Obul Reddy Public School Hyderabad

It already is. I think only gaps have to be ﬁlled up. India has taken a huge leaf in Technology over the last few years.

I personally feel it should

5 Article 21-A of 1986 Policy, universal primary education was made mandatory and under RTE Act 2009, elementary education became fundamental right for every child. What do you think would the new NEP-2016 need to do?

make /add more accountability in the areas already introduced.

the Teachers, Principals and Students.

8 9

As the famous quote” the oldorder changeth .. giving place to new.” Change is the only constant thing in today’s scenario. Education must be made contemporary and relevant.

Empowerment of all stakeholders – particularly

Yes, I am an optimist.

Not as bad as it sounds. In fact technical education and specialization is the need of the day – if implemented in the intended areas.

Yes, I have reasons to believe so. We wish it all success!

A very good initiative , should have been implemented long ago, better late than never!

Too much of ﬂexibility dilutes the purpose, may be moderately ﬂexible to accommodate the deserving.

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august 16

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‘The changing social contexts of education demand a changed approach to education’ – How do you assess the NEP2016 in this context?

Now that the draft NEP2016 has been announced and the committee’s recommendations have been put up inviting suggestions, as a corporate what would you like to suggest for improvement, if any?

Do you feel the NEP-2016 would be able to bring about the desired changes in the education system?

Scholarships, compulsory vocational training can make these girls self-reliant and they can live in the society with dignity and pride. But only for low income group section it should be made affordable by giving scholarships and waivers.

Ms. Meena Kak Principal Lakshmipat Singania Academy Kolkata

It’s a good move by the policy makers. There are signiﬁcant number of girls who are not able to complete even secondary education due to various constraints and barrier. Many who complete secondary education are not able to pursue higher education, primarily due to monetary constraint.

Besides the societal barriers that are there in girls’ must also be looked into. There has to be sustained campaigns in remotest of villages to teach the girl child. “Betibachao betipadao” has to be taken up in a big way to make any dent in the spread of education.

NEP 2016 should aim at producing teachers with sound knowledge. Some boards like CBSE has given a lot of ﬂexibility in the curriculum.

The utility of higher education in assuring employment opportunities is still a wild goose chase. Your opinion, please.

Science student can also study Political science and History. Similarly Arts students can study Mathematics or Business Studies. This ﬂexibility should be brought by other boards as well. A student who has a passion for both Music and Science should be able to pursue both. Basic life skills, values and ethics, love for their own country should be a part of the curriculum from the lower classes and must extend up to the higher secondary level.

Holistic education also ensure right ethics apart from literacy, life skills and employability. I’m sure of literacy and life skills to a certain extent but not the employability. For employability,

Do you think NEP-2016 has been envisioned for future?

the policy maker should study the areas of demands in the societal and the National fabric and also internationally. Study should be done viz a viz other countries knowing well the economic scenario of its own country. Demands of job should be directly linked with the curriculum at all stages in school. Vocational education should be the by-word in order to make meaningful. That will increase employability. And it should be done within the school system and not separate vocational education. That will ensure that the students do not feel alienated just because they have taken up vocational courses.

Let us provide basic

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COVER STORY

The focus of new NEP-2016 is to ‘make education affordable for all, especially, to make education free for girls.’ – Your comments, please.

The NEP-2016 should be more ﬂexible as per the requirements of students’ – Do you think it will be feasible?

necessities of life to the people of remote areas before thinking about digitalization.

Positive enticements should be strengthened. Besides the mid-day meal scheme, things like stationery, books, uniform etc should be given too to the children. That will ensure enrolment goes up. Novel initiatives should be taken up to ensure that dropout rates go down. The Kolkata Police’s Naba Disha programme is a case in point where in the police stations indigent children are brought in so that they can get help beyond school.

Digitalization should take into account the availability of bandwidth. If it is just in name then purpose will be defeated. Free net facilities have to be ensured to all the villages.

Primary education might be the fundamental right of the child but the family that can’t afford even two square meals for their children wouldn’t be interested in their child’s education. Villages and the people of various tribes of India should be ﬁrst made aware of importance of educating children. Change of mindset should be the ﬁrst step towards progress.

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Employability should be stressed. It is then alone the parents will be convinced to send the children to school.

Flexible approach should be there as far as teaching the ﬁrst generation learners. Getting

3 Holistic education ensures literacy, life skills and employability. Do you think the NEP-2016 will take care of these?

According to NEP – 2016, India is in the cusp of a major change. Every village is expected to be digitally connected. What is your opinion on this?

the work done should be emphasized rather than why the work has not been done. Punishment should not be meted out as it contributes to the dropout rate. First generation learners need after school hours attention. For that many volunteers need to be involved. Innovative methods should be also be devised.

We don’t have to compete with our own existing system but should be able to foresee the demands of employability internationally. I would suggest: • One board, one curriculum • Stress on moral values and love for country’s culture, heritage • Along with IQ, EQ should also be mastered

• Finance programme, value for money to be taught to students from a young age • Each one teach one should be the basis of the policy • Integration of the emerging technology

Yes, if the intentions are right.There are multiple stakeholders involved in education sector and each has a signiﬁcant contribution that can help to achieve the laudable goals of enhancing access, ensuring equity, improving quality of education at all levels and empowering our students to become truly global citizens and equip them with the appropriate knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to meet

the challenges of a dynamic knowledge society

I feel that it is no longer a wild goose chase for all the students in India, as Boards like CBSE have become very flexible and are offering courses like Legal Studies, Commercial Art, Theatre Studies, Fashion Studiesetc which are benefitting the students in their careers. Students of other boards will benefit if these kind of changes are brought about. Moreover not all students need higher education. If vocational education is stressed then it will increase employability. That alone will make sending a child to school a viable option to the parents who want them to work from an early age.

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05/08/2016 11:15:54 AM

‘The changing social contexts of education demand a changed approach to education’ – How do you assess the NEP2016 in this context?

Now that the draft NEP2016 has been announced and the committee’s recommendations have been put up inviting suggestions, as a corporate what would you like to suggest for improvement, if any?

Do you feel the NEP-2016 would be able to bring about the desired changes in the education system?

The utility of higher education in assuring employment opportunities is still a wild goose chase. Your opinion, please.

but has to have a certain structure to be effective . The nep must keep in mind the logistics of delivering education before formulating a policy to make it inclusive in all regions of this country

NEP-2016 has been designed keeping in mind the future needs of the nation. It promises to take steps to promote generation of new knowledge and their applications and introduction of these new domains into the curricula of higher education to consolidate and strengthen India’s position as a soft power. Research minded students and faculty prefer to go abroad as they do not ﬁnd the research climate in our institutions conducive. NEP promises to provide favourable conditions in the country to promote high quality research. In the context of India’s emergence as a soft power, there is a need to promote generation of new domains of learning required for a knowledge society.

3 Yasmin Khan Principal The Paras World School Gurgaon

Quality education is a right and privilege of every child in the country regardless of gender or socioeconomic status and we support any organization / institution that drives it.

Education needs to based on the needs of students’

Major educational changes cannot be expected to happen overnight by just framing policies. Our hope is that small steps will be taken in the right direction.

The central government has in the past two years focussed on providing internet access to even remote villages . Over a period of time it will make progress in that area. A country of 1.2 Billion people does have it’s challenges and we need to collectively take a lead in our own areas

The next important step is to integrate students from diverse backgrounds both socially and academically. The focus needs to be on implementation.

A new kind of school needs a new kind of teacher who evolves beyond set patterns of the past. Including mandatory teacher training into every school calendar is a step in the right direction. One trained teacher creates a 1000 successful students, at least !

A new kind of school needs a new kind of teacher who evolves beyond set patterns of the past.

Much of this has already been answered in the previous

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Do you think NEP-2016 has been envisioned for future?

05/08/2016 11:15:54 AM

COVER STORY

The focus of new NEP-2016 is to ‘make education affordable for all, especially, to make education free for girls.’ – Your comments, please.

The NEP-2016 should be more ﬂexible as per the requirements of students’ – Do you think it will be feasible?

Holistic education ensures literacy, life skills and employability. Do you think the NEP-2016 will take care of these?

According to NEP – 2016, India is in the cusp of a major change. Every village is expected to be digitally connected. What is your opinion on this?

questions. In principle the policy is well thought through. The challenge is in implementing it effectively onground . It is a hopeful start and as educators it will be our sincere desire to see it start a ripple of change

Sanjay Kumar Mishra

To some extent , yes. Still a very long way to go

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Employment opportunities are not just linked to educational structures but also to economic and other development of any country. Putting the entire burden of this ‘wild goose chase’ on academic institutions would be a bit unfair. The understanding of employability skills is already being reﬂected in current curriculums being used in india

Principal Army Public School Dagshai, Himachal Pradesh

Yes, it is very important to make education affordable for all, especially education fee for girls due to following reason: 7 million of Indian children are unenrolled in school and out of which major chunk are girls. Even if they are enrolled in school, learning is not taking place

due to various social issues. Not only making education free for girls, even stationary, dress, meal and health care should be provided free, which will decrease the drop out of girl child.

Yes

According to NEP-2016, integration of ICT in Education system will be great boon to remote villages. It will really enhance teaching learning process, teacher training, monitoring of teacher and student, teacher attendance. Performance analysis of both student and teacher can be assured and many more.

Universal Primary education which was made mandatory under RTE Act 2009 was rather misused. Real beneﬁciary were denied. Under New NEP-2016, a committee of Sr Principals should be formed at every District or block level to ensure, truthful implementation of RTE with spirit.

NEP-2016 has incorporated Life Skill, value based education and skills in education and employability, which rightly match with changing social context of education.

As a Principal, I would suggest, more vocational courses should be available at Senior Secondary level and be made mandatory for every school to run such courses. More emphasis should be given to life skill and value based education.

8 9

Yes

Yes, until or unless vocational courses are not given importance.

Yes.

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‘The changing social contexts of education demand a changed approach to education’ – How do you assess the NEP2016 in this context?

Now that the draft NEP2016 has been announced and the committee’s recommendations have been put up inviting suggestions, as a corporate what would you like to suggest for improvement, if any?

plan of action. The ctet drama has to initiate quality participation in view to expand in horizon to promote quality literacy for all.

Dr. Dheeraj Mehrotra Vice President (Academics) Next Education India Hyderabad

uality as an arm chair for any school to ﬂourish, the priority on cards must be to dwell the conception of satisfaction from the point of the teaching and learning in totality. It is hence expected to deliver mastering of quality policy with governance to functionality in view of teachers being empowered as any other stakeholders. It is expected to deliver ict practices and live case studies for each teacher as a yearly

With the investment in education and progressive nature of learning scenario going in majority to the private schools, the public schools must be declared as model schools with some ratio to govern quality benchmark as a mandatory stuff. To promote quality literacy for all, the schools vis-à-vis need to come to at least a normal level of existence. There are schools where there are no teachers and there are schools where there are no students. The conditional scenario lames to excuses by the government machinery

Do you feel the NEP-2016 would be able to bring about the desired changes in the education system?

to promote attendance by luring them with books, uniforms and above all two time meal but in reality, the results appear to be grim and unsatisfactory. As a matter of fact, the policies and procedures are the strategic link between the organization’s vision and its day to day operations and must therefore favour the nation’s expectations too. The priority must be on cards to care for children and love to be with them, understand the children within social, cultural and political contents, develop sensitivity to their needs and problems and above all treat all the children equally. The education scenario must act with the critical examination of the curriculum and textbooks contextualize curriculum to

The utility of higher education in assuring employment opportunities is still a wild goose chase. Your opinion, please.

suit local needs. There has to be an integration of academic learning with social and personal realities of the learners of all walks of life independent of the level of standards and must respond to diversities in the classrooms.

in encapsulate the power of harnessing learning for all with quality of thought (qot), quality of action (qoa) and quality of doing (qod) with appreciation, motivation and inspiration to all. The quality

The education scenario must act with the critical examination of the curriculum and textbooks contextualize curriculum to suit local needs. The policies must ﬁgure out in addition to the promotion of peace and unity with social and personal level and global talks too. The educationists need to engage the stakeholders via capacity building for self-analysis, self-evaluation, adaptability, ﬂexibility, creativity and innovation. What is required is a total quality education (tqe)

journey can never sustain in schools unless there is a plan for policies in direction to vision and mission and objectives to be met on a yearly basis by the schools. The sorry state of delivery of results particularly by state government schools clear our doses of improvement of quality initiatives as a priority.

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Do you think NEP-2016 has been envisioned for future?

05/08/2016 11:15:54 AM

PEDAGOGY

Vanalatha

How to Make Students Attentive in the Class Room?

teacher discusses the disturbing class X in the staff room. She calls it the most notorious class in the school. She complains that it is a difﬁcult job to control the class. Only a few pay attention. Many teachers join the discussion and everyone has same complaint about the class.

Yes, this may be experienced almost in majority of schools. The task of keeping students alert and engaged is not always easy. Despite all your planning, hard work and excellent teaching skills, learning will not be effective if students are not attentive. Now how to manage this situation? Some simple techniques given below will involve and motivate your students to be attentive and participate actively. 1. Exercise before starting your lesson, make students relax by doing some stretches, twists, or some kind of light physical activity or make them solve some puzzles for 2-3 minutes. Studies show that exercise can boost brain function, improve

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mood and increase learning. Students will be refreshed, rebooted and ready for learning. 2. Story Telling is a powerful weapon to use in the class for any age group. Children love listening to stories. Spend some time every day sharing a story. Relate the story to the topic you are going to teach. Stories link memories, emotions and viewpoints to your lesson objectives that make the students to understand easily and remember the lesson better.

during a 45 minutes class. Incorporating active learning technique once or twice will encourage student’s engagement.

Educational author, Dr. Michael Schmoker, in his book ‘Results Now’, shares that a study found that out of 1,500 classrooms visited, 85 percent of them has engaged less than 50 percent of the students. Only 15 percent of the class rooms had more than half of the class paying attention to the lesson. How to know if a student is engaged? You will see students… • Pay attention (alert, tracking with their eyes) • Take notes (particularly Cornell) • Listen carefully • Ask questions related to the content • Respond to the questions asked

3. Gestures play an important role while teaching. Study the best use of gestures so as to know when and how to use hand movement and eye contact. Students generally respond to teacher’s gesture. 4. Active learning helps students engage in activities like reading, writing or solving problems that promote analysis, synthesis and evaluation of class content. Encourage students to participate in class, as opposed to sitting and listening quietly. Research suggests that students start to drift every 10-20 minutes

If a teacher wants to increase student engagement, then the teacher needs to increase student activity, ask the students to do something with the knowledge and skills they have learned. Break up the teaching with learning activities. This, in turn will reward a teacher with genuine results that can be measured in a marked improvement in student achievement and in an improved attitude towards learning. Brainfeed interacted with some educators to know about their experiences in the classrooms. Read on….

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Ms. Uma Sharma Teacher, Brahmam Talent High School, Hyderabad

Ms. Sheeja Sasikumar Educator, CBSEi Birla Public School, Doha, Qatar

Ms. Vandana Kalyankar Deshpande Student Counsellor, Hyderabad

he one profession where we can be assured of getting in touch with people regularly is teaching. It’s indeed the noblest, most sensitive and most vulnerable profession. I call it as vulnerable for teachers it is bafﬂing and perplexing not knowing how to hold the attention of the students while navigating through the lesson and ensuring that the lesson objectives are fulﬁlled. My experience as a teacher be it primary, secondary, pre university or university has taught me the crème de la crème techniques of holding the students’ attention. • Story telling keeps the learners active, attentive and curious. There is a shift of attention even in the most begrudging student. • Recitation creates a vibrant and energetic atmosphere in the class. I found students even in the pre university level actively participating in recitation. • Regular question - answer session or a discussion sends a signal to the students that they should be attentive during the lesson. • Appreciation and rewarding goes a long way in boosting the student’s morale. This acts as a catalyst and minimises the issues of diverted attentions.

etting student’s attention and focus is one of the important aspects of classroom management and a challenging one too. In a traditional Indian classroom set up with a standard timetable and varied subjects, students often find it difficult to shift focus and pay attention to the sea of information delivered. For a better classroom transaction and collaboration, I divide my class into ability groups. I involve them in warm up activities before getting them ready for the task, which are adequately challenging • Get Set Go- As a teacher of mathematics, I usually give time bound assignments with a stop watch on the interactive board. This keeps them focused on the task. • Noise patrol-Group activities are bound to be noisy. The noise patrols raise cards to ensure the acceptable ambience of the class- namely, level 1- no noise (thinking time), level 2-whisper (discussion time), level 3moderate noise( reflection time). • Humour serves as a good ice breaker in a monotonous classroom set up. Also, voice modulation combined with surprises makes my students keen and focused. • Thumbs- up rule, count down and clap back are other strategies that I use in my classroom to control the noise level and get attention.

hildren are daydreamers by nature. It is normal to find a child staring out of window and lost in thoughts. At times, the entire class is also disturbed. Students are physically present in the class but emotionally and mentally unavailable. So what may be the cause of this inattentiveness? • Lack of physical activity • Addiction to various electronic gadgets • Too much indulgence in virtual reality • Inadequate sleep • Improper dietary habits As solution to this challenge, schools can schedule the games or physical education class in the first session of the working hours. During class, activities like jumping on the place or clapping may prove to be helpful. Schools may assign activities in which students are required to interact with real persons like their classmates, parents or neighbours rather than referring to the internet and make power point presentations. If one could successfully divert children from the electronic gadgets and media, they will automatically eat and sleep better leading to better health and ability to concentrate. Making children attentive is a great challenge. Teachers need to be very creative and flexible about using study techniques. august 16

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EURO 2016 Euro 2016 was the 15th UEFA European Championship held in France from June 10 to July 10, 2016. The matches were played in ten stadiums in ten cities. Portugal won the tournament for the first time, following a 1-0 victory over France. The official mascot of the tournament, Super Victor, is a child superhero in the kit of the France national football team, with a red cape at the back, to echo the colours of the flag of France.

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INSTITUTIONAL PROFILE

P. V. Seshubabu

Moulding Minds Established in 1996 under the ﬂagship of the J K Singhania Group, Lakshmipat Singhania Academy, Alipore, Kolkata, has been a forerunner among the schools in Kolkata. An ISO 9001:2008 school from Kindergarten to +2 it offers Science, Humanities and Commerce with Multimedia & Web Technology, Legal Studies, Sociology, Fashion Studies, Gender Studies, Theatre Studies, Mass Media and Graphic Design.

Lakshmipat Singhania Academy strives to inculcate in our students, concern for social and environmental issues and act in order to mitigate the miseries of the weak and the marginalized through different programmes at school. Meena Kak Principal

The Way Forward The school constantly strives to raise awareness among students on social and environmental issues at global level through sensitizing programmes, upgrading infrastructural facilities and regular audits. Carefully planned morning assemblies incorporate‘mantra chanting’, yoga, exercises, debates / presentations on burning social issues.

“Learning How to learn” being the Motto of the school at Lakshmipat Singhania Academy, education and entertainment are blended into ‘Edutainment’. ith the concept that a school is a home away from home, students feel comfortable and secured in the school’s ethos which is conducive to learning. Students share a strong bond with their teachers as there is a low student – teacher ratio of 16: 1

Teachers and students work in tandem to make education focused, futuristic and fun-ﬁlled.

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Teachers dare to experiment with the curriculum and the innovations, usher in changes and propel toward dynamism. Children are given the freedom to express their creativity and imagination in various activities that stimulate their thought process. It is a school that looks beyond the distant future while working in the present scenario. Teachers devote some hours every week to develop resources to enhance learning.

Innovative use of varied teaching methodologies to enhance learning experience LSA is apioneer in introducing Math Activity Centre (MAC), Science Activity Centre (SAC), Language Activity Centre (LAC) and Technology Aided Learning (TAL). Flipped Classroom provides students scope for academic research followed by discussions. Quality Circle Time introduces an inclusive and democratic forum for students to share their thoughts and emotions sans inhibition. Students build empathy, conﬁdence and camaraderie and develop communication skills. Smart Boards breathe ‘life’ into the classrooms. Analytical

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learning in different ways such as Individualized Learning, Technology-based Learning, Co-operative and Collaborative Learning and Practical Learning. The teachers facilitate the students to discover the joy of learning

• Word of the Day (WOD) • Talk Shows, Interviews • Book Reviews, Extempore, Quixotic (Quiz) and • Drop Everything and Read (DEAR) Programme. Unique Activities

Language learning is enhanced through • We Argue for a Reason (WAR) • Fun With English (FWE) • We Enjoy English (WEE) • Intensive Reading (IR)

Students’ Council election conducted in a democratic way, followed by e-voting, with the software designed by the students. Annual features of the school Indradhanush (Classes III – V), exe. BIT – a unique IT Meet

and concept building skills in particular, besides a host of other 21st century skills are honed through posing High Order Thinking questions from primary to senior secondary level. 361 degrees ‘Beyond the Obvious’, the school magazine, provides scope for students for creative expressions. Lessons Plans adhere to the highest levels of academic enterprise Lessons are carefully planned enabling students to explore

Students Celebrating Children’s Day at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.

(Classes III – XII), Abhilasha(Classes VI – VIII), Lakshya (Classes IX – XII), Model United Nations (IX – XII) are good platforms for other city school students to meet, interact and chisel their skills through healthy competition. LSA Times, an in-house radio station was launched to hone students broadcasting abilities. Visit to old age homes / story telling sessions for the children of the jail inmates are a regular feature. august 16

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INSTITUTIONAL PROFILE The school equips students to excel in the competitive world Students are encouraged to participate in various subject Olympiads so that they get sufﬁcient exposure in the external examinations and puts them in competitive mode. The CBSE results of the Academy are one of the best in West Bengal in the last 3 years. Robotics, pottery, archery apart from a variety of co-curricular activities are conducted for the students.

As part of having a seamless world, exchange programmes are a part of the curriculum, reinforcing “Vausudhaivkutumbukam”, a Sanskrit phrase which means “the World is one family”. The school has had exchange programmes with USA, Germany, Sri Lanka, South Africa, United Kingdom, Bangladesh, Ireland, Pakistan and others. Lakshmipat Singhania Academy has been a part of the International Space Settlement Design Competition, organized by

Mr. A. K. Chauhan receiving the School Excellence Award from Brainfeed.

NASA, USA, for the last four years. The students have competed at an International Level and have won the International round thrice. This helps students gain conﬁdence and enhances their analytical skills. A few feathers in the LSA cap • 1st position in Academic reputation by Education World 2015 ranking at the National level. • International School Award for the 3rd consecutive time for the period 2015 -18 from British Council. • Green School Champions of Kolkata by SHARP, NGO for the 2nd consecutive time in 2015. • 2nd Runners Up at the National CBSE Chess Championship 2015 • Athletes played at the National level after winning the State competition. The active involvement of parents complements the efforts of the teachers in the school. . . . LSA desires to excel because the excellence is the only vision before it. In the vast ﬁrmament of the city’s academic milieu, LSA has carved a niche right at the zenith. It is only because the zenith seems like the only visible destination and there is no compromising with that.

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SPECIAL FEATURE

Revathi Balakrishnan Talented and Gifted Specialist, Patsy Sommer Elementary, Austin, TX

LISTEN

Sid and Andy debate about the merits of different number systems from Babylonian to binary. Their assignment is to create their own base-four number system. CJ and Alexi have collected data about product sizes and prices from the grocery store, using their parents’ smartphones. They have to calculate the price per unit based on their data and advise their parents on which products are a better buy. Across the room, things are not going too well. Cameron and Maya are frustrated that their Rube Goldberg machine is not as stable as it should be. But, in the process of building the machine, they understand that it is their effort and problem-solving that matter.

RELEVANCE

RESILIENCE

RIGOR

RELATIONSHIPS

Implement in your classroom Classrooms like mine provide a safe haven for students where my only expectation is that they put forth their best effort and bounce back from their failures.

This is a typical day in my classroom, where I implement R4 - Rigor, Relevance Resilience and Relationships without fail.

them debate such statements excitedly with evidence from texts or the real world is the ultimate reward.

I ask high level questions and my students arrive at high level answers through Socratic questioning. Sometimes my students ask the rigorous questions themselves such as, “Is it all right to abandon certain beliefs if it is a matter of survival?” or “What is true friendship and why is it important?” To watch

Learning happens best when it is relevant and applicable to the real world. I use magazines to teach global themes such as immigration, poverty, perseverance and elections. In 2011, when a huge Tsunami devastated Japan and the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant, my class extended their

current reading on the testing of the atomic bomb in Los Alamos to include research on nuclear energy. We paired up with Students Rebuild to make paper cranes and raise money for a humanitarian cause. Students learn resilience when the classroom environment welcomes mistakes as part of the learning process. Classrooms like mine provide a safe haven for students where my only expectation is that they put forth their best effort and bounce back from their failures. Finally, I create a classroom community to develop positive relationships. In my class, ﬁfth grade students mentorstudents in grades 1-4 and help 3rd graders to improve their writing. So, try R4 . You will be providing the best education for your students. august 16

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05/08/2016 11:15:59 AM

MENTORING

P. V. Seshubabu

PRINCIPAL AS LEADER 1

Mr. Abid Ali Principal, New Era School, Khammam

2 Mr. N.K.S.R.C. Murthy Director, Pratibha Public School, Rajahmundry

3 Mr. Rajesh Krishnan Principal, Kannadi Vappa International School Ramanathapuram, TN

4 Dr. Rashmi Principal, Steward Public School, Bhubaneswar

5 Mr. M. Anil Kumar Director, The Sun School, Vizianagaram

6 Ms. Vani Principal, Abhyasa School, Noida

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What advice would you give to a veteran teacher in need of improvement? Anyone claiming to be a veteran in her ﬁeld should have demonstrable evidence of some aspects of her domain expertise. Only the number of years accumulated do not make one a veteran. For a veteran teacher, experience and expertise mean that you have reached a leadership position in your subject area. That means, your teaching, your interaction with the students, your ideas about maximising learning has reached a level that can be followed by others. In that sense,anyone aspiring to be a veteran has to work towards these goals of making a difference in the chosen area, creating value and setting anexample.

BRAINFEED brings out the third in the series of responses of eminent educationist Dr Ashok Kumar Pandey, Principal, Ahlcon International School, Mayur Vihar, New Delhi to the questions of Six Principals about effective qualities of ‘Principal as Leader’.

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Would Principal’s classroom observation improve quality teaching in teachers?

Very much, but classroom observation is not an event. It is an integral process of school’s functioning and improvement. There is a whole lot of research available on classroom - observation. Both the observer and the teacher must know the purpose of this exercise. Teacher improvement is at the centre of observation, not a fault-ﬁnding. I, personally propose a three-stage preparation for the classroom observation to be meaningful. Pre-observation session, observation and post-observation conference. Observer’s attitude towards the teacher and the teacher’s attitude towards her own learning are keys to the success of classroom observation as a tool for school improvement.

What are the areas of teaching – learning that a Principal can lead?

What steps would the Principal need to follow to make a new programme successful?

The principal should be hands- on.The job of the leader is not an inspection but value addition. It is the principal who should initiate changes in pedagogy by bringing in new ideas, innovations, researches and best practices. The teacher must have the necessary resources in place. Leadership must ensure that teachers do not waste their time in logistics and administration. A principal as an instructional leader and as a leader in residence is always available for sharing, co-creating values, expanding ideas and setting direction collaboratively.

This clearly is a part of change management. The ﬁrst step, therefore, is to communicate well, the very purpose of that change and new programme. Second, we have to encourage the early adopters. The success lies in ensuring the stakeholders that the new programme is in the interest of all and aligned with the overall vision of the school. A good implementation strategy with welldeﬁned timelines must be in place. People responsible for executing the new programme may have training needs and additional resources may be required too.

What advice would you give teachers to become part of the process of making their schools better places for learning? Teachers’ vision must align with that of the school. The reason for a school is the students. To ensure joyful, relevant, value based learning experience for each student must be the mandate for each teacher. Teachers must keep reﬂecting on their own work. The purpose of schooling for the kids must resonate with the purpose of teaching. Children come to school to acquire knowledge, explore and experiment, learn the art of living and prepare for life. Our curriculum, pedagogy, and school experiences must respond to that.

6 Nothing in the Principal’s role is more important for ensuring successful student learning than effective instructional leadership. The principal should nurture the leadership capabilities of their teachers.– Please comment Absolutely, most organizations, especially schools falter in their purpose due to leadership gaps. Each school must develop a leadership development design clearly identifying the role, skills and personal traits associated with each level of leadership. Identify the gaps and put in place right solutions!

‘Principal as Leader’ will be a regular feature published every month. Principals may send their queries and Dr. Ashok Pandey will answer. The queries may be sent to editor@brainfeedmagazine.com on or before 15th of every month.

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05/08/2016 11:16:00 AM

VALUES

Karuna Raj

“Education

WITHOUT VALUES, as

useful as it is, seems rather to make man a

CLEVER DEVIL”

Teaching values

– C.S. Lewis British novelist

in schools eaching values in schools has always been a most debatable topic. Should schools teach values or is that the responsibility of the parents alone? It is believed that moulding the child with values begins at home and continues to be developed by teachers in the schools.Teaching values in school along with teaching the subjects is necessary to help children understand the rules which society has developed. School is extremely important for moral-cognitive development. As a democratic society demands that along with all other skills an individual should have the skill to deal with conﬂicting values and be able to take independent decisions. Children learn to become ethical decision makers when, teachers in the schools and parents at home focus on values and not just rules. Young pupil ﬁnd themselves confronted with the fact that they are members of both a larger society and of mankind. As the young children are the stakeholders of India

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some principles and ideals in life and lead a successful, happy and content life.

Universal Values

Justice

Co-existence

Service

4 Wisdom

Devotion

5 Integrity

Contentment 10

1 Love 2 Peace 3 Truth

tomorrow, teachers with the support of parents should imbibe values in them. Values are most precious gifts people can have which guide and give directions to the people. young children should know the universal attitudes and valuues, consistent with rights and responsibilities, self discipline, adherence to rules, open mindedness, common goals, above all personal interest. Values enables an individual to develop

It is produced with one’s own behaviour and opinions. It is a lifelong process and should be supported in the classrooms. Teacher should never try to impose values of his own or inﬂuence the pupils concept of values. It is an educator’s duty to guide and show directions to the pupil to develop their own values. Values can be taught to children in the classroom citing and creating situations related to the subject, during the subject teaching sessions itself. Students can be asked to prepare posters on values to be placed in the classroom. Seeing the poster daily they will imbibe the values. Present trend of nuclear families, absence of grandparents who are actually the trendsetters and promoters of values in the children and grand children, working parents, lack of time, materialistic pursues and comforts are some of

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TRUTH the reasons for lack of values in youngsters. Theodore Roosevelt once said, “To educate a person in mind and not in values or morals is to educate a menace to society.” How true it is - lack of values is driving the youngsters into anti-social activities, violent activities, breaking rules, lack of sense of responsibility. True education is not just intelligence but intelligence plus character. Research shows that emotional intelligence is more important than IQ in predicting success. School is considered to be the main vehicle for teaching young pupil how to behave and acquire the qualities shown in the ﬁgure below.

LOVE

Honesty, Accuracy, Courage, Discernment, Integrity, Reason, Fairness, Curiosity, Self-Awareness, Trust, Justice

Empathy, Kindness, Sharing, Friendship, Generosity, Patriotism, Acceptance, Consideration, Care, Compassion, Humaneess

Non-Violence Harmelssness, Equality, Citizenship, Care of the environment, Appreciation of other culture & religion, Universal compassion.

RIGHT CONDUCT Good diet, Tidy appearance, Hygiene, Responsibility, Duty, Self-reliance, Punctuality, good behavior, Cooperation

PEACE Being Calm, Attention, Contentment, Patience, Discipline, Happiness, Self-esteem, Surrender

Practical idealism in To get children relationship between classroom behaviour consciously principles, actions and management should engaged in values outcomes in real life be given priority. is by providing situations. Values encompass them with more than just ethical situations where Activities must focus on behaviour as they they need to make reasoning, sensitivity are inherent part of decisions, not just and concern for others. what makes us. To get decisions but they Teachers need to learn children consciously choose to do what to accept multiple responses, even if some engaged in values is they do. do not go down well with by providing them with them, as the idea is to identify situations where they need to why the children respond the way make decisions, not just decisions they do and engage with their line but they choose to do what they of thinking. Let them have active do. Situate the discussions around conversation with their classmates values in the context of some from different backgrounds, with narratives and provide children their internal conﬂ icts, immediate with an opportunity to see the neighbourhood issues and problems faced by world at large. This will open up children’s mind Let them have active conversation with their to values embedded in everyday classmates from different backgrounds, with This will pave way for their internal conﬂicts, immediate neighbourhood contexts. them to value ideas, like critical issues and problems faced by world at large. This thinking, service-orientation and will open up children’s mind to values embedded openness to multiple perspectives in everyday contexts. rather than personal ambition and individual successes.

Open-ended questions based activities and exercises can be given to the students, which will reﬂect their attitudes, beliefs, activities and values. Teachers should try to take up values and try to realise them in education and teaching. This should be done in the process of building relationship with students and a culture of learning in the school but not as a separate “add on”, and certainly not as a special course or programme in the school. As the process of value education is self exploration. Value cantered lessons promote personal and moral integrity.

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05/08/2016 11:16:01 AM

WRITING SKILLS

P. V. Seshubabu

eachers usually come across many non-ﬁction texts that need to be dealt with for teaching or for corrections to make them more effective for reading for understanding! The idea of encouraging students to write for a particular purpose, for a known audience and in a speciﬁc form has always been in the classroom situations.

How Do Students

LEARN TO WRITE EFFECTIVELY?

The language is developed when the communicative needs of the audience are satisﬁed. Events in the school/society provide ample situations and these experiences should be converted to opportunities to hone both written and spoken communications. When these experiences recur, certain type of texts is created over and over repeatedly. These texts are recognized in the school/ society and in due course they become set into conventions, i.e. become distinct genres (e.g. instructions, invitations). The six main types of texts in the classroom are: Recounting Reporting Procedure (writing)

society. Therefore, competence to write for day-to-day requirements is very crucial. Some of the problems faced by students in writing

Explaining Arguing

Lack of exposure to a range of writing

Discussing Students usually spend more time ‘Recounting’ their experiences to others.

Teacher’s demonstrative (model) writing

Persuasion

Independent writing activity

Explanation

In a large classroom it will be difﬁcult to go for demonstrative mode as a guide to practical teaching. Students normally go into independent writing mode before actually ‘knowing’ what to write or how to write. Teachers hardly ﬁnd time to spend with students in individual support.

Reporting Discussion are powerful forms to get things done. They are ‘power of language’. Students who are unable to speak and write in these genres find it difficult to fit in the

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Collaborative writing activity

What is actually needed is the joint activity phase of writing. This would make students understand clearly as what to write and the errors they commit. Teaching writing Teachers may start with 1) Model writing and discuss with students language in use, style of expression and sequential order of presenting their ideas. This is followed by 2) Collaborative writing when students together ‘brain storm’ and make a collective presentation of their cooperative efforts. Next, 3) Scaffold writing: Here, the students get solid support from teacher in terms of ideas (content), language assistance

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(correct usage), vocabulary and overall presentation and, finally 4) Independent writing when students start writing on their own confidently. This scaffolding strategy can be explored through writing frames. A writing frame consists of a skeleton outline to provide a framework to students for necessary support to develop writing. It consists of different key words or phrases as per the genre. The template with starters and connectives give students a structure within which they can concentrate on communicating what they want to say. BEWARE OF GRAMMAR! Students should be kept aware of knowledge and content of the topic, basic language usage, especially, grammar and vocabulary. One may know the rule about the subject-verb agreement but makes frequent mistakes in speech and writing. This conscious knowledge through formal classroom instruction may not be helpful. This is only explicit knowledge. In contrast, implicit knowledge is unconscious and natural and is internalized language used in spontaneous speech or writing. For instance, a student uses the language perfectly but hardly has any idea whatsoever about the rules of subject-verb agreement, and so on. If learners pay attention to the form and meaning of certain language structure in a text, then the learner will be in a position to internalize the usage naturally without going by the rule book! How can teachers help students? Give instructions explaining and drawing attention to a specific sentence structure

Highlight/Draw attention to recurrence of sentence form/ structure in the text Construct a task requiring learners to complete it Five teaching activities to develop students’ grammatical knowledge of a difficult structure: Students listen to comprehend a text that has examples of the target form Listen to be aware: students listen to the same text again. They are given a gap-filling exercise. The students simply fill it in exactly as

they listen to help them notice the form Understanding the grammar point: With the help from the teacher, the students analyze the ‘data and ‘discover’ the rule Checking: Students are given a written text containing errors and are asked to correct them Students apply their knowledge practically by doing a task This helps students develop awareness of grammar which may eventually help them acquire language skills.

VOCABULARY 1. What it means?: It is essential to get across the meaning of the item clearly and to ensure that it is understood correctly with checking questions 2. The form: One needs to know the word form; if it is a verb/ a noun/ an adjective and so on. . . to be able to use it effectively 3. Pronunciation: The difficulty is because of the unphonetic nature of English – the dichotomy between the written word and the pronunciation 4. Spelling: The difficulty is same as above. The pronunciation is given first then the written form

9. Collocation or the way that words occur together 10. The Afﬁxes may indicate about the meaning, e.g. sub- standard (Preﬁx sub – means under) How do teachers present vocabulary to students? 1. Illustrative method: Concrete words can be presented through illustrations ( e.g. rain, tall) 2. Mime: Action verbs can be expressed by this method. It can be fun and memorable 3. Synonyms/Antonyms: Words students already know can be effective for getting meaning across

5. Grammar pattern: unpredictable. For e.g. man - men , information (uncountable) and the use of preposition, e.g. depend on

4. Deﬁnition: Make sure that the meaning is clear; ask questions to check if students have understood

6. The connotations of the word meaning positive or negative

5. Translation: Students may be given equivalent in L1. This make learning fast and efﬁcient

7. The formal situation of use of a word 8. The relationship of a word, e.g. synonyms, antonyms, lexical sets

6. Context: Think of the context of the word used and either describe it to the students or give example through a sentence for clariﬁcation august 16

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05/08/2016 11:16:02 AM

SOCIAL MEDIA

Praveen Alugubelly

IS SOCIAL MEDIA A

BOON OR

CURSE FOR STUDENTS? Communication is essential to human existence. The evolution of communication over the years – be it personal, social or professional – has reshaped heralding in a phase of unsolicited, unbound and unmindful manner. he upsurge of social media has provided a platform to people to voice their opinion, share with their near and dear and at times vent their inner feelings in the public domain. Impact of social media on academic performance has been one of the hotly debated topics among parents, teachers and students.

SNS are like a double-edged sword and have both pros and cons. SNS are beneﬁcial if they are used as a tool of knowledge creation and dissemination. If

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not used properly, negative implications of social media far outweigh its positive aspects. Studies conducted by American Psychological Association and Chicago State University revealed that overuse of Facebook makes students prone to aggressive and anti-social behaviour. The use of social networking websites like Facebook, twitter, WhatsApp etc is increasing with each passing day. The social media fever is alarmingly the worst among the young. Legally, an individual

cannot have a Facebook account below a speciﬁc age limit. Young children very often with the support of their tech-savvy parents are handling Facebook and WhatsApp accounts without any difﬁculty. A young mind is vulnerable to distractions and loss of concentration if there is a continuous shift in its thought process. Children who use Facebook regularly are likely to face behavioural problems and their concentration lapses due to the need to check Facebook page for updates. Children under 13 years, who overuse social media daily, are likely to face anxiety, depression, sleeping problems and stomach aches. Another important thing is that students multitask between homework and social networking sites. This will result in poor academic performance in students as they distract from learning process. Multitasking results in decline of concentration and creativity.

In India, 257 million people use internet and among them 143 million use Social Networking Sites (SNS). Of the total 143 million SNSs users in the country, 45 % are school and college students. Surprisingly, individuals are getting lonelier and the cases of depression related problems are on the rise.

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and time, grammar and spellings are not given priority. Living in virtual world: More the time students spend on social media, the less they interact with fellow beings. They fail to gauze the mood, tone and emotion of people while interacting with others.

Children who use Facebook regularly are likely to face behavioural problems and their concentration lapses due to the need to check Facebook page for updates. Usage of SMSs (Short Messaging Services) and abbreviations result in poor command over the language and writing skills. Students who spend considerable time on Facebook are losing the ability to interact with others. Those having unsatisfactory communication skills find it difficult to survive in job market. Social media has impacted imagination, creativity, activity and impaired the ability to process oral instructions. The concept of social media interaction is a comparatively new phenomenon and there is a growing need to balance the two worlds of existence. The positive and negative effects of SNS can be summed up as follows: Merits Collaborative learning: Students can interact with each other and share their knowledge and ideas with others through social media. SNS will keep students abreast of latest technologies and enhance their skills. Ease of Communication: SNSs allow students to freely communicate with friends and share pictures and content. There is a possibility to get immediate feedback, refine artistic skills and to improve creativity.

Employment Opportunities: SNS like Linkedin will help us to explore new job avenues and to secure employment. Students can prepare and post their resumes on these websites to find jobs best suited to them. Some companies also conduct interview through SNSs. Demerits Everything is public: Information posted on SNS is accessible to many. Fraudsters can access personal photos, morph them and may create problems. At times cyber criminals can blackmail and abuse children by collecting personal information. Multitasking/Lack of Concentration: Doing two or more things at a time is known as multitasking. Checking social media sites in classroom and while doing home assignments will reduce academic performance. Time Consuming: Students are often misled by some advertisements and spend lot of time of SNS. Grammar and Spelling errors: Students are finding it difficult to write without relying on spellcheck feature in computer. Due to the speed in disseminating information and paucity of space

Accessibility of Information: Now-a-days students often use internet and SNS to get answers. This results in reduced focus on learning and retention. Keeping children safe online Sound educational ethics: Imparting moral education will help children develop ethics and discipline. These virtues will give clarity on their goals and priorities. Parental Controls: Computers and other gadgets have parental control software. Parents must enable these features to prevent the child from accessing inappropriate content. Parents can even set time limit for usage of internet and other programmes. Keep the computer in an open area: The computer should be kept in living room or at a place at which family members can monitor the online activities of the kids. Explain the dangers of internet: Discuss online safety with children and explain them various kinds of cyber frauds. Teach them how to use internet safely and methods to keep secure the information in their accounts. The concept of social media interaction is a comparatively new phenomenon and there is a growing need to balance the two worlds of existence. Source: www.livemint.com

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05/08/2016 11:16:03 AM

BEHAVIOUR

HOW TO CHECK CORPORAL PUNISHMENT IN SCHOOLS? In India punishing children is considered a normal correctional practice and accepted both at homes and schools. Corporal punishment is believed to tone down indiscipline and develop good conduct. Schools still practice corporal punishment and advocate that it provides immediate effect in the behavior of children. Nevertheless, psychologists ďŹ nd that corporal punishment adversely affects the morale of the children, results in their poor academic performance, triggers anti-social behavior and develops deep mental anguish in children. orporal punishment may lead to serious physical injury on the child; develop aggressive and destructive behavior, instructional disruption, etc. Children may develop school phobia, inferiority complex, low self-esteem and depression. Children may rebel and retaliate

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LISTEN

against teachers. Indiscipline problems can be resolved through positive approach. Undisciplined students, when they do something well, appreciate their talk to them personally and counseling may help change their behavior. Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and State Governments issued orders forbidding the use of corporal punishment in schools. The Right to

Education Act (RTE) of 2010 also prohibits physical punishment and mental harassment in schools. Yet, reports of corporal punishment appear in newspapers across the country. Some teachers and parents still believe that corporal punishment is essential to enforce discipline. According to UNICEF, any punishment in which physical force is used and intended to cause some degree of pain and

discomfort is known as corporal punishment. Belittling, humiliation, threatening, scaring, denigrating and ridiculing the child and others forms of abuse are also regarded as corporal punishment.

A study by the Government of India reveals that every two out of three school going children in India is physically abused. The malady persists in In the year 2000, Supreme all the districts of the country. Psychologists Court of India banned corporal feel that corporal punishment adversely punishment in affects emotional behavior, all its forms in academic performance, schools.

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National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India, found that

69%

47.09% girls

self-esteem and dignity of children. Punishment in any kind or form at school or at home comes in the way of development of full potential of the children. Corporal punishment is not an acceptable means of dealing with conďŹ&#x201A;ict. The more the children are physically hit, the more likely their children would be hit when they grow and become parents. Corporal punishment results increased aggressive and destructive/disruptive behavior in the classroom, vandalism, poor school achievement, poor attention span, increased drop-out rate, school avoidance and school phobia, low selfesteem, anxiety, somatic complaints, depression, suicide and retaliation against teachers - all these leave emotional scars in children for life. Curriculum reforms should be more appealing to the students. Teachers should be given special training to address behavioural problems in children.

69% of children reported having been physically abused. Of these 54.68% were boys.

52.91% boys

Instructions given by the teachers should be stimulating and appropriate to student abilities. To encourage the students for self governance parents can also be involved along with students in decision making and goal setting.

Incidents of having been abused in their family environment have been reported by 52.91% of boys and 47.09% of girls.

Over-crowded classrooms, ďŹ rst generation learners and lack of infrastructure and differences in learning abilities also cause burden on teachers. Teachers alone are not solely responsible for the academic performance of students; parents also play a key role in improving the academic achievement of children. Challenges of indiscipline may be tackled through positive approach. Appreciate students for their good work done, discuss with them situations or incidents calling for certain values that build character. Involve students in activities with greater responsibilities helping them develop leadership qualities. Teachers should develop effective communication system with students and parents may be taken into conďŹ dence in certain goal setting decisions by students in self-governance. Inputs from Praveen Alugubelly, Karuna Raj and P V Seshubabu

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05/08/2016 11:16:06 AM

TECHNOLOGY

Karuna Raj

The new technology of ‘AUGMENTED REALITY’ i.e. a live direct or indirect view of a physical real world environment through a camera whose elements are enhanced by computer generated graphics of GPS data is at boom especially with the huge popularity of ‘Pokémon Go’, the gaming app.

his technology provides multiple real world applications so the scientists and experts are toying with the idea of using it in various ﬁelds like

AUGMENTED

REALITY Pokémon craze is really the ﬁrst cut to appeal the mass.

• Training tools for military training • Mineﬁeld • Advertisers • Companies • Hospitals and • Everyday customers • Education tool in the schools.

AR Technology for Class Room Applications: Mr. Craig Smith has found this app to be unique both in and out of classroom; it gives the kids the conﬁdence to step outside their social boundaries. It has improved social skill in the pupils and has been conﬁrmed by parents. He said as the students are familiar with it and interested too, it can be used as a window into their world to bridge into further educational opportunities. This game can also be introduced in mainstream schools by incorporating games into everyday learning, like ‘walking journals’, ‘story’ or map with the game, this

Autism Research Australian autism expert, academic specialist in Autism research & Deputy Principal at the Aspect Hunter School for children with autism in New Castle in south Wales Mr. Craig Smith has devised a way of incorporating the hit gaming app – ’Pokémon Go’ into lessons to encourage autistic students, as they can be especially reactive to visual stimuli which can develop their social skills. The architecture of brain of an autistic is visually geared, what autistic children learn in the class is through what they see, they cannot pick up by lots of talking in the classroom. Students are encouraged to use the ‘Pokémon Go ‘ in the classroom; it helps to remove the hindrance in their studies and learning.

John Rogers, a chief executive ofﬁcer of RL Leaders company California that connects national security with technology from entertainment industrysaid this technology can save lives, have intelligence to ﬁnd out where the enemy has moved to, information about threats to the soldiers, can be used for military training, is the third new medium

can develop imagination and presentation skills, improve math skills. Week end homework can be set to explore the town and submit the screenshots. Learning can be done when they have time and where they want. Students love trying new things. This app will encourage them to be active, encouraging, have fun, exploring, team building, critical learning, and listening and language development.

of 21st century, will be widespread by 2019. Pokémon craze is really the ﬁrst cut to appeal the mass. This technology will also beneﬁt the doctors in the hospitals, they may get an outlay of patient’s without a single cut and also have access to medical information of the patient through a pair of glasses or a headset. Curtesy: eschoolnews.com

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SPECIAL FEATURE

Ms. Anne Sivanathan Educationist, Malaysia

Conversations with children

In less than a minute the teacher learns that Rohan is going to have a birthday party soon and he knows exactly what he wants. Through this short conversation Rohan is learning to listen, these are skills that all children will build on as they learn to read and write. A conversation with children helps the teacher understand how they think, feel and process information. Both parties will get to know one another; this creates strong trusting connections between teacher and student that help promote learning.

Some suggested tips for having good conversations with young children

must have a turn 1Both Conversations need not be long but it must involve taking turns as in talking and listening.

See how much happens in this short conversation Rohan

: Are you coming to my birthday party?

Teacher : When is your party? Rohan

: Tomorrow, I will be three years old.

Teacher : You are a big boy! Are you going to have a cake? Rohan

2Facial expressions This is important as they show one is listening and interested in the childâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ideas and comments.

: Yes, it is a motorbike cake.

Teacher : What colour is your cake going to be? Rohan

: Orange.

Teacher : What present would you like? Rohan

BFM AUG 16 FINAL_Kala.indd 48

: I want a motorbike.

august 16

05/08/2016 11:16:06 AM

open-ended questions 8Ask Children will come up with a variety of answers. For example ask ‘What are some things that you noticed about the puzzle map? Avoid questions with one word answers “ What colour is that?

pause after you say something 3Always

usage of storybooks 6The

This enables children to think and form on their ideas.

After story time it is always good to ask them “ What did you like about the story?

about what children are doing 4Talk Children often talk as they draw, it is good to point at the picture and build questions, ‘What did you draw’? , What is that animal eating?

Children as storytellers

When children come back into the classroom after playtime the teacher can ask “ Who did you play with at the playground and let the story be build upon by the child... This is a good way to encourage public speaking.

Questions like this will shorten or even stop the conversation.

self-expression 9Encourage

Which character did you like? Why did you like that character?

Children who don’t express their opinions freely need to be encouraged to express their views

The answers given by children will help the teacher to understand them better.

“What do you think about this piece of art?’

as teachers 7Children Children love to take lead roles and as they do, conversations must be around that leadership role

“What colour do you think will look nice on this wall?”

Conversations must be 10 connected to the child

‘Tell me what are you going to do today’ What are you cooking?’

This can be referred to a child’s life in daycare or even at his or her grandparent’s home

I see that you have drawn a circle on the board, is it a tyre?

Teacher can ask, “What did your grandma cook yesterday?” “Did your grandpa take you to the park?” Challenge yourself to have a conversation with each child in your classroom at least once a day. This will not only build trust but will also create a better relationship with the teacher and students. ‘Meaningful conversations matter’. august 16

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05/08/2016 11:16:07 AM

SAFETY

Vanalatha

It is time to leave the worry and be tension free in this hectic schedule. Northstar, the ﬁrst product from Magnasoft is the brainchild of entrepreneurs Bobbie H. Kalra and Shyam Ramamurthy who aspired to build a worldclass product using their core strength i.e. GIS technology.

THE CHILD Safety Platform T

he child’s wellbeing and safety is the utmost importance to parents. If the child is a school goer, the responsibility and the safety of the child lie with both the school and the parents. There are many students who use school transport as it is undoubtedly the most convenient means of student transportation.

BFM AUG 16 FINAL_Kala.indd 50

Pick and drop of the child is a major task for the parents. Parents and students should be always alert as they shouldn’t miss their bus in the morning. What about evenings??? The wait at the bus stop to receive the child can seem endless when the bus is even a few minutes late.

Shyam and Bobbie kick started their journey with Northstar in the year 2011. After three years of researching and scouting of avenues, the duo decided on Child Safety, as it was the biggest cause for concern in India. Northstar’s school bus monitoring system provides realtime tracking of the school’s buses. School administrators have access to a web-based dashboard to track the buses, receive caution alerts, view driver safety ratings and more. It also comes with a student attendance management system which tracks each child’s presence and location within the school. This system extends to school buses to ensure that children board their respective buses and are never accidentally left behind.

In case of unscheduled stops, route deviation or over-speeding, an INSTANT ALERT is sent to the school administration. In case there is a trafﬁc jam, natural calamity or any other problem, an SMS is immediately dispatched to the parent informing the reason for delay. School management will have access to detailed reports such as distance moved by each vehicle, time of arrival at each stop etc. The transport manager can review routes to ensure that the drivers are sticking to planned routes and aren’t missing any stops. Parents have access to a Mobile App to track the location of the school bus, receive notiﬁcations on bus arrival times before it reaches the stop before/after school, child location and more. Parents without smart phones can use the ‘know your bus’ feature to receive a text message which informs them of the current whereabouts of their child’s bus.

august 16

05/08/2016 11:16:07 AM

Bobbie H Kalra, Co-Founder &CEO, Magnasoft, responded to the questionnaire sent by Brainfeed.

North Star? Q ofPlease explain.

implemented the best out of Q get Q have this system until it?

Essentially, Northstar is a comprehensive and integrated school bus tracking and monitoring system that ensures children’s safety while they travel to school and back. Our in-transit safety platform leverages cutting edge Internet of Things (IOT) technology to provide an end-to-end school bus tracking and child monitoring solution for parents as well as schools.

Northstar has a dedicated school bus monitoring system that provides realtime tracking of the school’s buses. School administrators have access to a futuristic web-based Dashboard to track the buses, receive caution alerts, view driver safety ratings and more.

What is the concept

How did you develop this mapping - based solution? We did thorough research and found out that there were plenty of track and trace companies but nothing much had been done with regards to child safety, which is one of the biggest cause for concern in India. Our core idea was to leverage IOT technology. Northstar integrates various sensors such as GPS, RFID and AudioVideo with our platform that runs on the Amazon cloud

How many schools

How can schools

Parents have access to a Mobile App to track the location of the school bus, receive notiﬁcations on bus arrival times, child location and more. It also comes with a fully integrated digital video recording and mobile surveillance system, with tamper-proof devices to ensure always functional cameras. The Attendance Management system present in the app helps track each child’s presence and location within the school. This system extends to school buses to ensure that children board their respective buses and are never accidentally left behind.

now? Currently, over 300 schools across India that avail our service and we have a rapidly growing customer base of close to half a million parents worldwide.

How is the response from the schools and the parents?

We have received tremendous response from schools and parents. With ever-increasing trafﬁc and accidents taking place, parents and schools ﬁnd it extremely important to administer necessary precautions. Parents are able to track their children while they are in transit which helps them be vigilant at all times.

Are the students happy with this system?

So far students seem to be happy as there is no delay in reaching school. Since parents can track the bus, they have their wards ready in time to board the school bus; also they mentioned that they do not miss their school bus anymore.

august 16

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05/08/2016 11:16:08 AM

CAREER

Vanalatha

JEWELLERY

DESIGNING From Ideas to Reality

ewellery holds a very special significance especially in India since the beginning of the civilization. Women have always had an affinity towards jewellery and Indian women have adorned herself with precious jewellery, to enhance her feminine beauty. Jewellery these days is exclusive and contemporary. People not only want jewellery as a representation of financial security but to make a fashion statement and also as trends wear that suits different occasions. India is the biggest consumer of gold with 20% of world gold consumption and this industry gives employment to millions of people. How to enter the field? To join the Diploma course, the students need to have a pass in class XII from any discipline. Numerous short term courses are offered to students after they complete their class X. Prior to joining this course, a student has to pass an aptitude test followed by an interview. Career Prospects The students after completing the course can find excellent career options in jewellery designing house, export house, fashion house, freelance designing or at the same time opening their own production house.

Job Responsibilities To prepare sketches of the design by hand or on the computer. Holding consultations with commissioning clients Promoting or developing the business. Review and correct products for technical accuracy Some of the Prominent Institutes IIGJ - Indian Institute of Gems and Jewellery Andheri East, Mumbai Maharashtra

GIA - Gemological Institute of America

International Jewellery Design Research Centre

Mumbai, Maharashtra

Thane, Maharashtra

Kolkata School of Jewellery Art and Design Kolkata, West Bengal

Creations-The School of Design and Technology Pune, Maharashtra

Pearl Academy of Fashion Jaipur, Rajasthan

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DNADS Bangalore, Karnataka

National Institute of Fashion Technology Gandhinagar, Gujarat

august 16

05/08/2016 11:16:10 AM

Farah Khan Ali, CEO, Farah Khan Fine Jewellery Pvt Ltd, Mumbai, responded to the questionnaire sent by Brainfeed. What is jewellery designing all about? Please highlight about this course?

3D and graphic software is a very good platform to allow you to execute your design but before that, it is extremely important to know how to draw and sketch. It is also important to know how to visualize in 3D before using the software’s to create them. The graphic software allows you to gage actual diamond and gold weight thereby helping costing a particular product. 3D software also makes it easier to incorporate any changes at all stages and is deﬁnitely a boon in the industry.

Jewellery design is a course that involves putting together precious gemstones with precious metal and to design a piece that is not only beautiful, but outlives its wearer and goes down generations in time. There is a lot of hard work involved in this course with creativity, skill, dedication, focus and above all great passion. The current boom experienced by this industry has commercialized this art and opened new boundaries for job seekers. What lucrative career does it open to? To most outsiders Jewellery design seems very glamorous because it involves beautiful gemstones that dazzle and shine, but the fact is very different and this course requires great knowledge of gemstones coupled with manufacturing skills as well as distinguish between synthetics and simulants in the trade that are rampant these days. Besides that one needs to interpret the paper design into a three-dimensional life form because everyone’s interpretation of the same design can be very different. In the sense a designer may be seeing a certain form with a certain curvature, height and thickness, but the craftsmen see it differently. It is then the duty of the designer to sit with the craftsmen and explain what he or she sees. Also this line involves a lot of technicality, because great design is not about how it looks, but how it feels,

so manufacturing and ﬁnishing become a very important part of this profession.

The trend of the people is changing every day. How can the jewellery designer identify the consumer needs?

Trends are born through consumer needs. It is important to listen to your client and observe This course of study requires what people are wearing around a particular skill. What you. A good jewellery designer skills are required can transform a simple for the student piece of traditional pursuing jewellery A good jewellery into a designing? jewellery fashionable trend. designer can So as a designer it It is an allis very important transform a encompassing to pay attention to simple piece trade that involves your surroundings great skill, of traditional ranging from fashion knowledge and jewellery into a to technology to art, dedication especially fashionable culture and so on. if you are to brand

trend. it with your name. It What advice would you is very important for like to give to the students a designer to push the who choose Jewellery designing boundaries, explore and come up as a subject for their career? with fabulous forms and ideas if they truly want to stand out in the Only pursue jewellery design if crowd. you have passion for it and are willing to work very hard, for this A jewellery designer these is a competitive line that requires days is a tech-savvy one, more than that meets the eye. And working with 3D and graphic if you love it, there is a wonderful software. How is this type of creative world out that is magical learning beneﬁcial for the if you make it one. students? august 16

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05/08/2016 11:16:12 AM

PARENTING What could be the cause of such extreme step taken by young students?

Failure in the examinations or fear of competition could be the main reason for students taking such extreme step. According to National Crime Records Bureau, on an average, about 2,000 youth take their lives every year. Of the 2,403 students who had committed suicide 1,121 fall in the agegroup of 14 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 18 years.

WHY DO STUDENTS SHOW SUICIDAL TENDENCIES?

There has been a spurt of suicidal deaths among students who join coaching institutes in Hyderabad and in Kota, Rajasthan, aspiring to crack JEE to join premier institutes of higher learning like IITs and EAMCET for Andhra and Telangana Engineering and Medical Colleges. The newspapers carry such agonizing reports almost day in and day out.

BFM AUG 16 FINAL_Kala.indd 54

Majority of them had enrolled in IIT, Medical and other competitive examinations coaching centres. There is no let up in the suicides of IIT aspirants despite the measures implemented by the Government. Cut throat competition to get into IITs and other premier institutions has resulted in the mushrooming of coaching centres across the country. These coaching centres give scanty regard for the aptitude and interest of students and admit all who pay the prescribed fees. Interest, aptitude and ability to cope with the pressure of competition of students are the pre-requisites

for cracking IIT entrance examinations. A section of parents, without considering the interests of their wards, enroll them in IIT coaching centres. Payment of exhorbitant fees, lack of

situation. Several measures are being implemented by the government and other NGOs to check this pathetic condition. Special helpline centres

Kota in Rajasthan besides Hyderabad in Telangana and many such institutes in Andhra Pradesh are famous for IIT and Medical entrance coaching institutes. More than two lakh candidates from all over the country join these coaching institutes.

In the last ďŹ ve years, about 57 IIT aspirants committed suicide. during examinations to counsel and guide students, reforms in testing and evaluation process to prevent rote learning, malpractices and to reduce stress are some of the initiatives taken to mitigate this Unable to live up to the expectations of parents unhealthy trend. Parents and teachers, lack of must be counseled proper guidance and for not creating undue counseling compel pressure on their wards. the students to resort Interest of their wards in to such extreme step. pursuit of their academic Many a time, the parental career must be realized pressure, peer pressure, by parents. social pressure and Parents rigid rules and long must not Academicians working schedule of force their and eminent the institutes against dreams and educationists their interest, drive ambitions opine that diluting the students to on their the standard of commit suicide. Lack wards. selection resulted of career guidance in sub-par students and hectic competition seeking admission to in admission to premier premier institutions. institutions, priority to Further, students from academic instruction rural areas who have and labyrinthine test poor language skills schedule at the expense ďŹ nd hindrance to their of recreation and academic progress. entertainment and lack of quality instruction are Inputs from Praveen Alugubelly further aggravating the & P V Seshubabu interest and motivation, absence of recreation, time-bound and long hours of study, home sickness, etc. create tremendous pressure on students.

august 16

05/08/2016 11:16:12 AM

TeachingEnglish

BRITISH COUNCIL

Lesson planning This series of articles from the British Council aims to help you think about your teaching and bring new ideas and activities into your classroom. The series covers topics including homework, working with large classes and ﬁnding resources. Today we look at lesson planning. Look at these sentences from teachers. Do you agree with them? ‘If we don’t have a plan we won’t be ready for teaching.’

‘Without a lesson plan, I shouldn’t be entering the class.’

Nasreen, Bangladesh

What do you think? Saba from Indonesia writes: ‘I write out my lesson plan like this & it really helps me make sure all my students are involved…’ Time (minutes) Stage

Activity

Interaction

Warmer

Review vocabulary from last lesson Play backs to the board game.

T S

5 – 10

Introducing topic

Students work in groups to answer questions 1–5 on page 56

Group work

25 – 30

Reading tasks

Ss read article on page 57–58

Students work individually

Jotra, India

Is the textbook a lesson plan? Everybody’s situation is different but usually we are given a syllabus and often a set textbook to follow. The textbook gives us a framework and tells us what language we need to cover, but it doesn’t always let us practise all 4 skills: reading, writing, speaking and listening. Writing a lesson plan helps us make sure that our students get the practice they need to develop their communicative skills. What goes in the lesson plan? Different teachers write their plans in different ways but here are some things to think about when you write your plan: Aims: We need to know what we want our

whole class S S

A classroom activity - backs to the board A warmer at the start of the lesson is a good way to get students in the right mood and focused. Here’s a simple activity you can use to get students warmed up and review vocabulary from an earlier lesson. Students work in two or three groups. One volunteer from each group stands or sits with their back to the board.

students to do by the end of the lesson. In our plan we might write: By the end of the lesson students will be able to …. use three ways to ask permission: Can I ..? Could I ..? May I ..? Resources: We have the textbook but what other resources can I use that my students will be interested in? Remember that ‘resources’ can be many things – you, your students and their world, your story-telling or diagrams and pictures on the board – anything! Stages: How can you help your students practise all 4 skills in your lesson? Think about a warmer, teaching new language, time for students to practise, time for revision,and homework. Interaction: A balance between you at the front working with the whole class as well as pair work and group work in other parts of the lesson. How can we deal with more advanced students and help the weaker ones?

The teacher writes a word on the board and the group members explain the word to the volunteer until he or she guess the word and that team wins a point.

Most important is to think about what our students are learning, and try to keep them interested.

You can have a noisy game where students shout out their clues or a quieter, more controlled game where they take turns to speak.

Change volunteers and repeat for 6 or 7 words.

Glossary Communicative skill is using language to interact and exchange information, for example asking and answering questions about your family. In group work, the class is divided into smaller groups to work together on an activity, for example, a discussion on favourite sports. In pair work, two students work together, for example, answering questions in pairs after reading a text. A syllabus is a list of language items in the order that they will be taught on a course. A warmer is a short, lively activity at the start of the lesson to get students’ attention. A warmer can revise language from a previous class.

Think about: Write down your lesson plan, and decide what you are going to teach, to practise, and to revise as well as what homework to set. Remember to include some communicative activities – learning a language is about communication! Why not share your lesson planning ideas with your colleagues and discuss the best way to design a plan for your teaching situation?

Want to ﬁnd more teaching tips? Visit www.teachingenglish.org.uk

august 16

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Language Study ENGLISH

LISTEN

Ich

ish

You

dhu

err

She

sie

zee

First Person

mir

mere

Second Person

You

dir

dear

Him

ihm

eem

Her

ihr

ihm

mich

mish

Your

dich

dish

His

ihn

een

Third Person

Her

sie

Its

First Person

wir

wier

Second Person

You

ihr

ear

Third Person

They

sie

zee

First Person

uns

vuns

Second Person

You

euch

aayish

Third Person

Them

ihnen

eenen

First Person

Our

uns

Second Person

Your

euch

Third Person

Their

sie

Second Person

Third Person

DEUTSCH

for BEGINNERS

SINGULAR

We can use Personal Pronouns in their declined forms to replace a Noun. The Table below shows at a glance Personal Pronouns in Deutsch and their English equivalent (in brackets).

BOOK

Review

Author: Bruce Coville Publication date 1994 Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks Pages: 159

BFM AUG 16 FINAL_Kala.indd 56

Third Person

First Person Second Person

PLURAL

Here is some everyday vocabulary in DEUTSCH (German) language. Listen to the Audio for correct pronunciation.

PRONUNCIATION

First Person

VOCABULARY

DEUTSCH

Into the Land of the Unicorns As each chime sounds, Cara climbs faster up the steep bell tower. Eleven! She must be on the roof when the next bell tolls. Twelve! With a deep breath, and only half believing she will survive, Cara jumps off the church roof and into Luster, land of the unicorns. In Luster, Cara meets many wonderful creatures, but the most magniﬁcent of all is Lightfoot, a rebellious young unicorn. Cara’s band of friends comes to include a hairy creature named the Dimblethum and the monekey-like Squijim. Together, they set out to reach the Unicorn Queen before the mysterious man who is following them does - to prevent the destruction of all unicorns forever.

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05/08/2016 11:16:12 AM

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MIND

MINE

CRISS CROSS PUZZLE 02 ADJECTIVES

A criss cross is a fun puzzle in which you are presented with an empty grid and a list of words underneath. Each word must be placed into the grid in either an across or down direction in order to ďŹ ll the grid.

4 letters Cold Dark Deep Flat Late Long Near Warm

Quick Quiet Short Small Whole 6 letters Bright Clever Cloudy Hungry Narrow

5 letters Early Heavy Large Lucky Noisy

PUZZLES 02

SUDOKU 38

What number should replace the question mark?

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BFM AUG 16 FINAL_Kala.indd 58

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34 2

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7 letters Careful Thirsty

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5 8 9

1 5 4 8

9 7 9 3 1 5

4 2

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INSTITUTIONAL PROFILE Lakshmipat Singhania Academy, Kolkata

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