01 Feb 2018|Noida | Amity campus, Saket
Amity Institute of Education, Delhi organises Brain Storming Session on Capacity Building in English - Focus on enhancing Listening and Speaking Skills
Amity Institute of Education, New Delhi (AIE) organised a Brain Storming Session on the theme “Capacity Building in English - Focus on enhancing Listening and Speaking Skills” on 01st Feb 2018(Thursday). This is the first session in the series of four subject based sessions, which would be organised subsequently on 02nd, 05thand 06th Feb 2018.
The event was chaired by Dr. Ranjana Bhatia,Principal cum Director, AIE Saket and Ms. Shalini Khanna, Vice Principal, Amity International School, Pushp Vihar. In the presence of connoisseurs of English language,invited from various reputed schools in Delhi, Mrs. Puneet Rahi, Asst.Prof. ,AIE, Saket presented the significance and need of the theme of this session.The event became a colossal process of exchange of views and generation of ideas. A total of twenty English teachers presented their views and strategies in this brainstorming session.
Honouring the tradition of the Institute, thesession commenced by the invocation of Goddess of Wisdom, and lamp-lightingceremony initiated by the chairpersons of the event.
Ms. Shalini Khanna, Vice Principal, Amity International School, Pushp Vihar, acting as the moderator, set up an encouraging platform for discussion of ways in which teachers help their students enhance listening and speaking skills in English. Sharing an interesting anecdote, Ms. Khanna brainstormed the session by presenting the idea of TEA- Thoughts, Emotions, Actions;Just as one’s personal choice of tea may inform us of one’s individual tastes and preferences, one’s actions reflect the thoughts generated in the mind which eventually get communicated to the listeners.
Drawing on significant statistics, Ms. Khanna pointed out how one spends 45% of one’s time using listening skills, and speaking skills take up 30% of one’s time in communication. The discussion was soon joined in by the experienced teachers, each contributing to the array of ideas and strategies explored and discussed. Everyone present agreed upon the fact that listening skills are often taken for granted, especially in the days when technology works not just as an aid but also as a strong distraction for the new generation that is undeniably living an unhealthy lifestyle which has reduced its attention-span, sleeping hours, and active classroom-participation.
Cognizant of the challenges this new-age has placed before the educators, multiple classroom-strategies as adopted by the teachers were shared and mulled over for possibilities of future improvement and modifications. These strategies aimed at making teaching-learning experience most interesting as well as cognitive; these included- Use of real-life examples for open-discussion, use of technology to make the lessons come to life, popcorn methodology for cooperative learning, introduction of adult-literacy, extensive use of newspaper clippings to encourage learning-beyond-books,mastering the art of skimming and scanning while listening, cyclical revision of basic grammar, encouraging character-playing over role-playing.
The point that was foregrounded throughout the session was in favour of making English language and literature relatable and enjoyable to an extent that would allow the students to appreciate the value of what they study, and freely grow in their capacity to use listening and speaking skills in English. As a part of the audience, the B.Ed. final semester students of AIE, Saket also shared their classroom experiences during their training-period, which reinforced the thoughts shared by the experts during the session.
The session successfully concluded with the closing remarks from the moderator Mrs. Shalini Khanna. Dr. Ranjana Bhatia in the end thanked all the teachers and read Founder President’s message. She expressed her gratitude to all the members who contributed to the edifying experience that the event proved to be.