Activism, drama and Environment

The Third World Conference and XI All India English Teachers' Annual Conference jointly organised by WASLE, IASCL and Department of English, MCC, got underway today. The third session was on Activism, Drama and Environment: Ongoing Struggles for Environmental Justice of Asian Immigrants in America, delivered by Kaori Mori, Shibaura Institute of Technology, Japan.

Excerpts from her Lecture:

"Environmental Justice" is relatively a new notion, first recognised officially by the United Nations' Environmental Summit in 1992. This notion seeks for environmental justice for all the people whose residential areas are environmentally unhealthy and dangerous. In an American context, those who need environmental justice are, for example, Native Americans whose residential areas are near nuclear waste processing facilities. African and Hispanic Americans also pursue environmental justice because some of their residential areas are notorious for crimes. We could see that environmental justice is intertwined with racism. However, is environmental racism a recent phenomenon?

If we read American minority literatures carefully, we can see how American minorities have lived in environmentally disadvantageous areas throughout history. Monica Sone, a second generation Japanese American writer, depicts how her family had undergone environmental racism in 1930's in Seattle, in her Nisei Daughter. Her family lived in Skidrow, "with shoddy stores, decayed buildings, and shriveled men" (8). When they looked for a better house in a white people's residential area, because of their race, they were told, ""I am sorry, but we don't want Japs around here" (114) by a white woman. Thus, American minorities had to live in environmentally problematic areas, and they had struggled for better living environment.

As a strategy to overcome environmental racism, Asian immigrants had tried to have better education. Harry Kitano and Roger Daniels report that Asian Americans "choose the so-called safer professions, where visibility is not as important as the quality of their education and credentials" (82).

DO-2

I HR: I BSc Pbt/Zoo: Taught the importance of stress and intonation in class.

Absentees

Pbt: Anitha Sh, Radhika, T, Shalini, S, Sheeba RD, Clynes Paul, Janardhanan, Kripan, Nithaniyel Sadanand, Sai Santhosh, Santharaj

Zoo: (R): Adline Jennefer, Anitha, P, Kalaivanai, N, Devasitham, Junior Chacko, V, Madhanraj, K, Shan, Sundaram, T, Shanmugarajan, Sheen, Sri Gowthaman, Thiyagaraja, K

Zoo (V): Srimathy, S, Himmat, Pravin,N, Ramasamy, N, Santhosh, C

The Doyen of English - David Crystal - Live in Chennai @ British Council, Chennai

The Three Revolutions in English 

Insights from the Legendary Prof. David Crystal in Chennai

A Report

12 October 2004

It's not always that one gets to sit face to face with the modern day Professor Higgins, the doyen of contemporary English language, a paradigm of excellence, a scholar beyond compare - David Crystal! and how! with two impactful and enlightening lectures with the legend - as we both were in rapt attention (buddy Prem and I, call us LASER babus if you may!) both at the British Council Premises, Chennai and at Anna University Auditorium, Chennai respectively. 

Well, again, we both, like many other curious bees on the audience, were able to raise a couple of pertinent questions on language, to appreciative and brilliant replies from this wizard of sorts!

 

David Crystal in Chennai: The Three Revolutions of English and the Art of Language Play

“English has become a tool to get a job done, and a standard that ensures mutual intelligibility.”

With these words, the legendary linguist David Crystal addressed a rapt audience of scholars and educators from across Chennai’s teaching community. His lecture offered a profound look at the evolving landscape of global linguistics, balancing sobering statistics with his trademark wit and deep appreciation for language play.

Crystal framed our current linguistic era around three major revolutions that have reshaped the English language over the last decade:

The Emergence of a Global Language: English has transcended its origins, diversifying into as many distinct forms and dialects as there are countries that speak it.

The Global Language Crisis: In a sobering reality check, Crystal lamented that half of the world’s 6,000 languages are critically endangered and likely to vanish this century. To put this into perspective, one language dies every two weeks. Authenticating this crisis, he noted that 96 percent of the world’s languages are spoken by a mere 4 percent of the global population.

The Advent of Electronic Communication: The digital revolution has fundamentally altered language dominance. Crystal pointed out that in 1997, English comprised 80 percent of all web content. By 2000, it had dropped to 70 percent, and in 2004, it fell below the 50 percent mark for the first time, reflecting a more multilingual internet.

Moving from macro-linguistics to the mechanics of the craft, Crystal offered fascinating insights for language enthusiasts and educators alike.

He championed the concept of “language play,” citing extreme constraints like Ernest Vincent Wright’s novel written entirely without the letter ‘e’, or the formidable challenge of crafting sentences where every word shares the same vowel. Much to the delight of the audience, Crystal even read the first chapter of Genesis using words that started exclusively with the letter ‘a’.

This playfulness, he argued, is not just for novelists. “You are paid for playing with language,” he noted, pointing out that modern advertising slogans are today’s punchiest linguistic expressions. Yet, true comprehension requires cultural immersion. Citing a sports column headline - ”Pain stops Play” - he explained that without cultural context, the layered meaning is lost.

Ultimately, he elevated the role of the writer: “Literature is the most sophisticated use of language that we have.” Any function of literature, he argued, can be beautifully conveyed through the intentional manipulation of language.

For those of us in the classroom, Crystal’s message was particularly resonant: Language teaching should be a humanising experience; if it isn’t, it is a waste. He illustrated how the closeness of language to literature can be bridged through interactive games, such as holding a conversation entirely in questions, or experimenting with structural markers like fortunately, although, sadly, and frankly to break the monotony of the over-used ‘and’.

He also touched upon cultural specificity in language acquisition, noting how a reluctance to express feelings publicly in cultures like Japan impacts the L2 learning context.

The lecture was not without its moments of brilliant levity. Discussing phonetics, Crystal noted that we round our lips on only three occasions: for baby talk (which he playfully mimicked), for animals, and for our most intimate associates—an enunciation that had the entire hall in splits.

The ethos of any classroom, Crystal concluded, must be a playful one.

He left the audience with a powerful prediction regarding our own linguistic trajectory: “The future of Indian English is the future of Indian power. After the US, India is the only country that can command the field of Information Technology. That will come from their power over Indian English.” According to Crystal, the signs of this shift are already all around us.

It is a remark that augurs incredibly well for the future of Indian English and the students we guide every day.

P.S. Featured below is a scanned image of a cherished keepsake - an autographed note from the great David Crystal himself. A truly memorable lecture, capped off by an unforgettable autograph!

Part II English Classes - News Bulletin:

The following students presented the News from today's Newspaper in the following order:

City News - Roy John
State News - Karthik
National News - Arun Stephen
International News - Prashanth
Sports News - Parthiban
Business News - Franco
Educational News & Weather - Prabhakaran

Part II English - I BSc Phy/Chem - Web log:

VI DO - Dictionary Day - Quick Word Reading - Competition - how to use a dictionary etc.
Calligraphy - the art of writing
chirography - the study of handwriting forms and styles
elision - omission of sounds and syllables or words in connected speech cup o' tea.
serif/ligature etc.

An Appreciation of Simone De Beauvoir's "The Second Sex"

An Introduction: 

The twentieth century has been particularly rich in writings which have disseminated ideas, both old and new, with far-reaching consequences. The century has also witnessed the emergence of many movements which have championed the emancipation of the under-privileged, subjugated classes. One such movement is Feminism which, in spite of its branching off into sub-ideological splinter groups, inspired several women writers who are pioneers in their own right. One of these is Simone de Beauvoir, the woman from France, who created quite a stir with her seminal book, The Second Sex, from which this piece is excerpted.

She belonged to the first generation of European women who received formal education on par with men. In 1929, while studying at the Sorbonne, she became the ninth woman in France to pass the prestigious “aggregation” examination in philosophy, coming second only to Jean-Paul Sartre, one of the greatest philosophers of the present century and the exponent of Existentialism. For Beauvoir critical encounter with Sartre, whose proposal for marriage she refused but whom she visited daily until his death in 1980, was a rewarding experience and she adored him. She said of him: “It was the first time in my life that I felt intellectually inferior to anyone else”.

The book, The Second Sex, deals with the oppression of women who live under patriarchal power structure. A woman is not born but is made by society whose institutions are patriarchal in character. The woman is made to realize that she is the “other” in relation to man. Through prolonged indoctrination, the woman from childhood onwards is made to identify herself with the patriarchal image imposed upon her. No wonder the book disturbed male psyche. It was greeted with outrage when first published in France in 1949. The Vatican proscribed the book and Albert Camus was angry with Beauvoir for making the French male look absolutely ridiculous. However that may be, it is arguably one of the overwhelmingly great books of our times.

Besides political and philosophical works, Beauvoir also wrote novels and edited a journal (Modern Times) with Sartre. Her four volumes of autobiography, which she wrote between 1958 and 1972, throw additional light on her personality. She died in 1986 at the age of 78.

An Appreciation:

Beauvoir contends that women, throughout history, have been marginalized. She is of the firm view that if one needs to change the world one has to be firmly anchored in it. But unfortunately even those women who seem to be firmly rooted in society are not free from subjugation. Besides, an extraordinary woman is held to be a monster. Only accidentally have a few women been able to prove themselves as capable as men and this is evidenced by the lives  of such personalities as Rosa Luxemburg or Marie Curie. Beauvoir argues that it is not that the women are inferior as such but they have been treated so all through history and this explains the reason why women, in history, have been represented as insignificant creatures.

Beauvoir cites the example from the realm of culture to establish her argument. In the fields of arts and letters, which lie at the root of culture, woman has been glorified. From the Middle Ages to the eighteenth century, one sees the spectacle of woman being praised. She inspired poets, artists and others, who drew sustenance from a feminine referential frame which stimulated their inspiration and sharpened their ethical sensibilities. Woman became the centre of man’s world and this led her to achieve education which Beauvoir regards as “feminine conquest”. However, though a few women may have won certain privileges for themselves, the lot of the average woman has been a tale of suppression. This is because women did not actively engage themselves in various walks of life though they may have been glorified in art and literature. Paradoxically, art and literature, Beauvoir argues, are rooted in action. If women are always found to be on the margin of history, “how can they create anything new?” asks Simone de Beauvoir. When women are collectively suppressed, it is impossible for them to rise individually. Beauvoir reiterates that it is necessary for women to be rooted in history. Drawing a parallel between woman’s growth and genius, Beauvoir says that just as genius is achieved so is her freedom attained. But, unfortunately, the condition in which she finds herself is such that she is not able to achieve freedom.

The anti-feminists interpreting history, argue that though women had opportunities to develop their personalities they had not created anything extraordinary. Beauvoir refutes this argument. A few examples of successful women cannot be cited for all the women to prove that they are not suppressed. In her defence, she cites the names of such authors as Mill, Stendhal and a few more who maintained that women had not been given a chance to prove themselves. It is because of this that women demand that they be given a new status which recognizes that they too are human beings.

The situation today seems to be favourable, says Beauvoir. However, one can’t deny the fact that the world and its institutions are still in the hands of men. Women are still denied many rights. For example (at the time of her writing), women were not allowed to vote in Switzerland (the right was granted in 1971). In France, the law of 1942 (subsequently revised in 1965) favoured husbands. True equality between men and women does not exist today, according to Beauvoir.

This is mainly due to the pressures of marriage.  A woman bears the main burden of marriage and its attendant problems, though the laws are a little easy on birth control and abortion. Women have to look after the household, bring up children, and, in France particularly, it is deemed beneath the dignity of men to help women in these chores.

Being a worker is not the easiest thing for any one and least of all for a woman, especially if work is so burdensome that it is no more than servitude. Work becomes a thankless drudgery as it brings to women no social dignity, freedom of behavior, or even economic independence. When right to work becomes a burdensome obligation, marriage seems to be the only way out. But with increasing self-awareness and the knowledge that the job could free her from marriage, a woman is no longer willing to submit herself to domestic drudgery. Ideally a woman would prefer a reconciliation between her job and her family life that is not too demanding for her. To be able to achieve this calls for a great moral effort on the part of woman as there is always a temptation to submit to a convenient solution – “to sell herself to one of these privileged men.” The temptation is a dangerous obstacle because marriage is a kind of lottery where there will be only one winner out of thousands.

- Notes by Dr.V.Rajagopalan, MCC

I BA English - Grammar Class - log:

Seminar Topics:
Shannon - Tense, subject/predicate
Bijoy - Nouns
Judith - Figures of Speech
Bernadette Florence - Active and Passive
Sajeev - Adjectives and Adverbs
Tinku - Verbs

General Course - Updates:

II Hr:
Each group has been asked to choose a topic for seminar. Other groups will ask questions based on the theme chosen.
Taught the analysis of a text with the help of rhetorical devices.
LABELS, HEADINGS and MESSAGES - the difference.
Label - word/word cluster indicating the nature of the thing to which it is attached.
Heading - what the header material is about. (Letter Writing, English Architecture etc)
Messages - Containst two items et al.
Vocab: disheveled - untidy
a baffling problem - puzzling
lenient - not strict
repulsive - disgusting
audacious attempt - bold
parry a blow - ward off
incredible story - unbelievable
indefatigable worker - tireless
clandestine meeting - secret

Part II English - I BSc Phy/Chem - Web log:

I Hr:
Discussed 'Daffodils' in class.
Gave the important figures of speech needed to analyse a text -
Style/Symbol/Pun/Paradox/Antithesis/Sign/Metaphor/Simile/Language et al.
Content:
Who is addressed?
What kind of time and place is the poem set in?
What's the message of the poem?
What's the tone of the poem? is it serious/reflective/ironic/satirical?
What type of peom is it - lyrical/pastoral/epic/narrative/descriptive etc?
Form: Any set pattern or layout - like Ballad, sonnet etc.
Metre: Stress, Pattern, rhyme scheme, rhythm, alliteration, assonace, end rhyme etc.

III BA English - Introduction to R.K.Narayan's THE GUIDE

II Hr
The Guide -

Ideal vs Real in 'The Guide': Looking at the various points of entry within the novel, as they tell us quite a lot about the whole novel they come from. Insight into People/Places/Moods.

Synopsis: The novel begins with Raju sitting beside the temple and meeting the villager named Velan, who mistakes him for a holy man. The novel then alternates between an account of Raju’s career as a holy man, which is told in the third-person, and Raju’s account to Velan of his previous career as a tour guide and lover, which is told in the first-person. This dualism reflects the dualism in Raju’s character. He is transformed from a sinner to a saint, though he is never truly a sinner, and never truly a saint. Because of his capacity for empathy, Raju is a sympathetic character throughout the novel. http://www.angelfire.com/md2/timewarp/theguide.html

Part II English Classes - Updates:

A streaming test will be conducted for the I BA Political Science and I BA History classes on 24 June 2004 [IV hr]

A streaming test will be conducted for the I BSc Physics/ Chemistry classes on 25 June 2004 [IV hr]

III BA English - Appreciation of a Text: Short Story

III Hr: Appreciation of a Text:

A story has a beginning, a middle, and an end - but (as they say) not necessarily in that order! But what is a story?
The simplest form of story has:

1. a premise
2. development
3. complication
4. denouement (conclusion; often the twist in the tale).

Taught the aspects of Appreciation of a text - looking into/looking at/looking beyond a Text, with reference to an excerpt from a short story by R.K.Narayan

Expectations: Predictable, or are there unexpected elements?

Traditional: What is traditional, what is not?

Tone: Is it serious or not? (How can you tell?) (And where can you tell?)

Moral/characters/language/symbols/Function etc.

Function - is the author using the fable form to tell a different kind of a story? What is it really about, in your opinion? [to be contd in the next class...]

Welcome to the NEW ACADEMIC YEAR:

Dear Students,
Welcome to the new academic year. Let the new year bring in dynamism and dedication and success in all your endeavours.
Regards and all best wishes,
Rufus

I BSc Chemistry - Internal Mark Statement

No.	Name	C.A-1
1.	Anita, M	33
2.	Archana, M	37
3.	Evanjalin Jaya Ranjani, J	35
5.	Kalpana, D	37
6.	Kethseeyal Usha, J	39
7.	Mary Saranya	37
8.	Nirmala, M	35
9.	Praveena Mary, S	35
10.	Vidhya, S	40
11.	Vidhyarani, R	32
12.	Anandan, D	34
13.	Arun, K.J	33
14.	Ashokan, J	36
15.	Bathrinarayanan, A	38
16.	Bhuvanesh, N	37
17.	Christopher, R	41
18.	Daniel, D	31
19.	Daniel Enoch, L	26
20.	David, J.	36
21.	David, S.	41
22.	Felicks, N.	25
23.	Franco, F	30
24.	Gnanadeva Oli, D	36
26.	Jacob George	43
27.	Janakiraman, R	37
28.	Joel Prasanna , S	33
29.	Jonas Moses Inbaraj	33
30.	Mohammed Thameem, U	32
31.	Mohandass, G.K.	37
32.	Prakash, R.	40
33.	Prakash, V.	39
34.	Prince Shadrack	40
35.	Samuel George Mathew	41
36.	Santhosh Kumar, A	33
37.	Satadru Chaterjee	42
39.	Sriram, S.	41
40.	Thangadurai, P.	34
41.	Vijay selva Kumar	31
42.	Vinoth Kumar, M	Ab.