Bilaspur chapter-Report of Shakespeare seminar

Shakespeare Alive 2016

National Seminar

On

Reframing Shakespeare in the 21^st Century

13^th August 2016

Report

            The national seminar “Reframing Shakespeare in the 21^st Century”  under the aegis of Shakespeare Alive 2016, organised by ELT@I Bilaspur Chapter and D.L.S.PG. College, Bilaspur was held on 13^th August 2016 at D.L.S. PG. College, Bilaspur.

            The seminar had an impressive inaugural with distinguished guests gracing the occasion. The Chief Guest of the session was Dr. G. D. Sharma, Vice Chancellor, Bilaspur University; Chairperson – Prof. R. V. Shukla, Retd. Professor of Botany;  Keynote Speaker, Dr.AmolPadwad,  J. M. Patel College, Bhandara (M.S.); and Special Guests – Mr.Basant Sharma, Chairman, Governing Body, D.L.S. PG. College, Bilaspur and Mr. Ashok Joshi, Principal, D.L.S. PG. College, Bilaspur. The session commenced by paying homage to Goddess Saraswati and lighting the lamp. The Guests on the dais and off the dais were then presented saplings which were later planted in the college garden. The guests were introduced by Mrs. Rima Dutta, Faculty, D.L.S. PG. College. Dr. G. A. Ghanshyam, National Vice President, ELT@I presented the Convenor’s address. He spoke about the Shakespeare Alive 2016 and the significant role that Shakespeare plays in learning the English language. In his welcome address Mr. Joshi welcomed the guests and the delegates to the seminar and wished them a fruitful day ahead.  Mr.Basant Sharma praised the initiative and efforts of team ELT@I. Prof.Shukla pointed out the eternal charm of Shakespeare and the importance of language. The Chief Guest, Dr. G. D. Sharma revealed his vision of teaching beyond the confines of classrooms and stressed on the need of developing imaginative faculty that is mostly associated with arts and literature among the students. The session came to an end with the vote thanks rendered by Mr.Parth Sharma who thanked the guests, dignitaries, delegates and staff of D.L.S. PG. College.

            The inaugural session was followed by the key note address by Dr. Amol Padwad, entitled “Selfie with Shakespeare”. The session was chaired by Dr. Gulshan  Das, coordinated by Dr.Prasenjit Panda and Dr.Tanjeen A. Khan was the rapporteur. Dr. Padwad discussed the inspiration for his presentation through a discussion of the Michael Pennington’s article and a selfie with Shakespeare taken by college students. Going back to the precursor of the popular selfie, the “Patel Shot”, Dr. Padwad discussed the eternal popularity of Shakespeare and the challenges in teaching his plays to the students.

            The first technical session of the seminar had 09 paper presentations and was chaired by Dr. Amrita Kasture and Mr.Shailesh Mishra was the rapporteur. Topics ranging from a re-reading of the plays of Shakespeare from a post-colonialist stance; unearthing of racism to a discussion of the translation of the plays; defeminizing of Lady Macbeth; contemporariness of female characters to a cinematic adaptation of Hamlet. The session presented an eclectic collection of articles that touched upon the various multitudinous aspects of the playwright’s works.

            The second session of the day, scheduled after lunch also presented many more aspects of the dramatist’s vision and art. The session had 07 paper presentations and was chaired by Dr.Jyoti Patil and Mr.Vidya Bhushan Sharma was the rapporteur. The topics covered by the presentations ranged from Shakespeare’s attitude towards life, to his undying popularity, the presence of wit, poetic beauty and analysis of his women characters.

            A highlight of the technical sessions was participation by research scholars and postgraduate students, whose active participation, interest and insight enlivened the scholarly deliberations. The presentations were judged for two best presentation awards by the jury – Dr. Gulshan Das and Dr. Basumati Nadig.

            The seminar came to its culmination with the Valedictory session in the evening. Mrs. NiharikaBarik, IAS, Divisional Commissioner, Bilaspur, was the Chief Guest and Dr. Sheela Tiwari, Retd. Principal, Govt. Bilasa Girls’ College, Bilaspur was the Chairperson of the session. Mr. Basant Sharma, Chairman, Governing Body, D.L.S. PG. College, Bilaspur and Mr. Surinder Singh Chawla, Director, Career Point World School, Bilaspur were the Special Guests. The session began by presenting the dignitaries on the stage with saplings. Mr.RakeshDighrasker presented the report of the seminar. The prize distribution of the Inter-School Competitions held as a part of commemorating the 400^th Death Anniversary of William Shakespeare – Shakespeare Alive 2016 was carried out next. Mrs. Barik gave away the prizes for Oratory, Drama and Quiz competitions to the winners. The two best paper presentations were also awarded by the Chief Guest. The First Best Paper award with a cash prize of Rs. 1500/- was won by Dr. Prasenjit Panda, Asst. Professor, Guru Ghasidas Vishwavidyalaya, Bilaspur and the Second Best Paper award with a cash prize of Rs. 1000/- by Mr. Vikas Chandani, Research Scholar, Guru GhasidasVishwavidyalaya, Bilaspur. The certificate of the Best Chapter Award won by Bilaspur Chapter for the second time was presented by Mrs.Barik to the members of the chapter.

            In her address Mrs. Barik expressed her pleasure in being part of such an academic event. She was delighted with the response of students and their active participation. Recounting her own days as a student and her reading of Shakespeare she praised the efforts of ELT@I Bilaspur Chapter for organizing the event.  Dr.SheelaTiwari in her address revealed her depth and insight on Shakespearean plays by narrating the dialogues of The Merchant of Venice. Mr.Chawla spoke eloquently on the topic of the seminar and enthralled the audience with his knowledge of Shakespeare. The seminar came to a successful finale with the vote of thanks rendered by Dr. G. A. Ghanshyam, who thanked the guests for their encouraging presence and support that made this event possible. The co-host of the event, D.L.S. PG. College, the chairman Mr. Basant Sharma and the staff, were profoundly thanked for their cooperation and assistance. Dr. Ghanshyam also expressed his gratefulness to       Mr. Surinder Singh Chawla and Career Point World School for their continued support in every endeavour of ELT@I Bilaspur Chapter. Last but not the least he thanked his team of ELT@I Bilaspur Chapter for their dedicated efforts that made Shakespeare Alive 2016 a grand success.

            

Shakespeare Exhibition, 1-2 September 2016-Chennai

SBOA SCHOOL & JUNIOR COLLEGE, CHENNAI

SHAKESPEARE LIVES – 2016

Exhibition on 1^st& 2^nd September 2016

Mrs. Rajeswari Menon

An exuberant exhibition was conducted to honour ‘The Wizard of Words’ – William Shakespeare on his 400^th death centenary year by the SBIOA Educational Trust on 1^st& 2^nd of September 2016 in SBOA School & Junior College.

The inaugural session had a great start with the Presidential address by Mr.R. Balaji , Associate Secretary, SBIOA Educational Trust. Dr. Mangaiyarkarasi, National Co-ordinator – ELTAI highlighted the session – ‘Why we celebrate Shakespere?’ The inaugural address  was by Mr. Neil Sarkar, Head, English Language Centre, British Council, South India. Mr. G. Olivannan, CEO Emerald Publishers, Founder President of Chennai Literary Association & Book Club of India, gave his key note address.

Dr. Archana Saldana – HOD, Dept. of English, Anna Adarsh College for Women and Dr. D. Thomas Franco RajendraDev, Secretary & Correspondent SBIOA Educational Trust enlightened with their special address.

Dr. S. Rajagopalan, Patron – ELTA, Dr. SrimathiKesan, Director, Space Kids India, Mr. Bharathi Krishna Kumar, Writer and Director felicitated the session with their awe-inspiring thoughts.

The exhibits were displayed in 15 rooms. SBOA School & Junior College and Global School focused on the Life history of Shakespeare, Globe Theatre, and Amusement Arcade with enlightening games and puppet shows. The supernatural characters in The Mystique in the Mastermind, Shakespeare’s Garden of Emotions captivated the attention of the audience. Hindi, Tamil and French Dept. also displayed the great works of Shakespeare in a very effective manner through their exhibits, models and acting skills.

SBOA Mat. & Hr. Sec. School Chennai made the birds sing, hearts woo, souls cry and tempers grow through their depiction of Shakespeare’s art in this exhibition. SBIOA Model Mat. & Hr. Sec. School impressed the public with their Shakespeare themed Restaurant with a perspective to cater not to the need of taste buds but to please those with a penchant for literature and gave a panoramic view of Shakespeare which invited the applause of the audience.

Various competitions like Quiz , Mono acting, and Enacting Scenes from Shakespeare’s plays were conducted. Many schools and few colleges took part in the competitions. Medals were awarded to the prize winners and Trophiess to the winning schools.

The enactment of  scenes from The  Merchant of Venice,Julius Ceaser,King Lear ,Two gentlemen of Verona and Othello brought to life the richness of the Bards literary skills.

Putting together an exhibition of this kind was not just a challenge to the organization skills of the students and teachers but also gave the students an insight into the debt we owe the Bard for his contribution to English and that apart from the wealth of plays and poems he wrote , a number of idioms and phrases in common use today, are his gifts to the language.

In an age where Science exhibitions were the norm for schools ,this exhibition came as a breath of fresh air.

We are grateful to Dr.S.Rajagopalan ,Patron of ELTAI for giving us this opportunity to conduct this great event and Dr. Mangai Wilson ,National Co-ordinator ELTAI for her  support .

The exhibition is a  proof that Shakespeare Lives even in 2016 Four hundred years after his death.

Thoothukudi chapter-Shakespeare seminar

Shermila Azariah	17 Sep (1 day ago)
to eltai-literatu., eltaichapters, eltai_india, eltaicomputers.

Dear all,

ELT@I Thoothukudi Chapter has planned to organize a one day National seminar on  Shakespeare and Culture: Politics and Society on 22nd October 2016.  This event is organized in collaboration with the PG & Research Dept. of English of VO Chidambaram College, Thoothukudi.

I personally request you all to be a part of this programme.  Selected papers will be published with ISBN.  ELT@I, Chennai has announced Best Paper awards.  The seminar flyer and registration forms are attached.

Best,

A.Joycilin Shermila

ELT@I Thoothukudi Chapter,

Annammal College of Education,

Thoothukudi - 628003

HP - 9486637714

ELTAI Padlet

https://padlet.com/sadasivraj/oeqlaxm6h0og

The Bard of Avon by Dr. V. Saraswati, Emeritus Professor of English, University of Madras.

A Talk recently given by Dr. V. Saraswati

We have gathered here today for a birthday celebration - not of a political leader, not a superstar from Bollywood or Kolywood, not a sports star advertising Pepsi and Cola but a Writer.  This writer lived four and half centuries ago.  He lived in a far away land which most of us have seen only in our School Atlas.  He hailed from a culture quite alien to ours.  He wrote in a language which often sounds incomprehensible ---- to the native speakers, leave alone non-native Indian speakers of English as a second language.  But still, every Indian seems to cherish the memory of Shakespeare.  How has it been possible?

Considering the global scenario, this seems quite incredible! The million dollar question in the mind of every Shakespeare devotee, is will he or won’t he? “Will he survive the test of time or will he be forgotten like his contemporaries Ben Johnson and Kyd?” if you would like to put it as a Hamletian dilemma.

Different professors give different answers to this question.  According to Professor Douglas Brelis  from the University of Texas at Austin, “Shakespeare will always be with us of course, but eventually, he will be what Geoffrey Chaucer has eventually become - a brilliant author, whose works can be read intelligently in the original, only by few people.”

Alan Craven, Professor Emeritus at UTSA, however, offers a different perspective.  He says, “the enduring popularity of Shakespeare is a testimony to his relevance,” additionally he has made major contribution not only to the English language but to the way in which people think and behave.  Shakespeare has quite literally shaped society in many ways, making Shakespeare relevant in a very real way.

What makes Shakespeare relevant in a real way in India?  Why do we still rush to buy tickets whenever a Shakespeare theatre group visits the country?  Why do we have adaptations even in Tamil, of Shakespeare plays the Romeo and Juliet or King Lear ? the answer is simple.  As Gull Stoker puts it, Shakespeare addresses some of the burning issues today – for example, class division, racism, sexuality, intolerance, the role and status of women, crime, war, death, disease…

Intolerance is the word bandied about, used and abused and misused in the political scenario today.  We are branded as an intolerant nation.  But Hindus throng the Muslim Shrine Nagore Dargha, Muslims supply flowers regularly to Hindu temples.  Many Hindus never miss the annual festival at Velankanni Church.  We celebrate Deepavali or Pongal, Idd or Christmas with equal fervour.  But still we call ourselves intolerant because it pleased the powers that be.  The media blows up trivial incidents out of proportion and creates an illusion.

Shakespeare depicts religious intolerance through many of his characters – Malvolio the Puritan, Shylock the Jew.  In the Merchant of Venice, Antonio and Bassnio are the so called ‘good’ characters and Shylock is the ‘villain’ so to say an epitome of intolerance.  But look at his agonized self defence,

“If you prick us do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh?  If you poison us, do we not die?  And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?

Intolerance in a different form is rampant in our society today.  Sons and daughters cannot tolerate their old parents.  And old parents prefer to settle down in old age homes rather than be tortured by their offspring.  When Cordelia says she has ‘nothing’ to say, King Lear shouts in anger, “Nothing will come of nothing.”  But later when Goneril and Regan, his ‘beloved’ daughters, who praised him to the skies, chase him out mercilessly into the raging storm, Lear realizes his folly and screams.

“How sharper than a Serpant’s tooth, it’s to have a thankless child”.

Our heart goes out in sympathy to the old man.  How we wish there had been old age homes in Shakespeare’s times’!

Yet another form of racism is raising its ugly head in India today.  Our national anthem glorifies Bharat as the union of several states:

“Punjaba sindhu gujarata Maratha Dravida Utkala Va

nga Vindhya Himachala Yamuna Ganga Vuchala Jaladhitanenga.  But today an Assamese cannot tolerate a Behari; a UP wallah tortures a Manipuri.

Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” forewarns us of this sentiment.

Prospero, the celebrated Duke of Milan, the magician par excellence, is the colonizer, usurping the island where Caliban, the colonized reigned supreme.  No wonder he cries in frustration,

                “You taught me to speak

            And I learnt to curse!”            

Scholars still are unable to find an explanation for Iago’s animosity towards Othello, the Moor – what is termed as “motive hunting of motiveless malignity”.  Was it because Othello was a black ---?

In spite of the soul filling song of American Negroes, “we shall overcome, some day, in spite of Obama’s thundering success as American President for two terms, still, negroes suffer in many pockets in the United States of America.

Above all, the ISIS is a classic example of a small group of fanatics, determined to demolish the whole of civilization to set up their own empire of horror – shooting thousands of innocent people in public; bombing crowded places where thousands gather; annihilating without rhyme or reason.  Does this not remind you of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar?  Caesar was stabbed, not once, but several times, not by one, but several of his so called friends and he died moaning,  “ You too Brutus then fall Caeser” when he saw his trusted friend Brutus, stabbing him. Or take the case of Macbeth who went murdering one after another because of his unbridled ambition – people who had never harmed him, people who had never suspected him.”  But just as a Mark Antony emerged to espouse the cause of Caesar, let us hope, a great hero will arise to end this terrorism of all terrorisms!

Feminism has been a dominant issue in the twentieth century in India we are clamouring for  33% reservation for women, a significant place in the Cabinet and Parliament.  We pride ourselves of having had a woman President, a woman Prime Minister, and several women Chief Ministers.  In a society the tables are turned and girls today are more demanding than boys in the matrimonial scenario.  They do not think twice about rejecting proposals from men; nor do they worry about seeking divorce.

I wonder if you would agree with one if I say that Shakespeare’ s heroines also displayed features of feminism though the term ‘feminism’ was not used by him.  Consider Viola in Twelfth Night or Rosalind in As You Like It.  Against all odds, they put on the disguise of a man and woo their lovers and confidently march forward towards happy marriage.  They belong to the category of feminists who live and let live.  Lady Macbeth is a feminist par excellence but she dominated her husband and goads him on to commit murder after murder.  Ultimately she ends up, as a psychiatric wreek, wondering if all the perfumes of Arabic would wash the blood off her hands.

Cleopatra, belongs to a class by herself.

“Age cannot wither, nor custom stale their infinite variety.”

She may be called the tragic flaw in Mark Antony’s life.  Like a sorceress, she entices him back from the call of duty.  And ultimately their love is no poignant, so powerful, that it leads them to their death.  But what a difference between Romeo and Juliet who also die for each other!

Cont..2..

-2-

This brings us to another theme of shakespeare’s , which is as relevant today – the issue of love, there are several kinds of love depicted in Shakespeare, which find their parallels in today’s world.  For instance, love that fails as in the case of Ophelia – She dies because she lacks courage and confidence.  Juliet is forced to die due to the enmity of the Montagues and Capulets.  Cleopatra chooses to die for the sake of love.  We have already seen cases of love leading to happy married life.  Shakespeare also has a ‘dig’ at the difference between love before marriage and love after marriage.  He says “Men are April when they woo,

December when they wed!”

Quite a feminist sarcasm, don’t you think?

Shakespeare, the philosopher, is as relevant today as he was 450 years ago.  Consider Hamlet’s famous soliloquy , “To be, or not to be, that’s the question”.

How often have you and I felt like Hamlet?  How often have we felt that life is too much to bear?

            Or consider the famous lines from “As you like It”

            All the world’s a stage

                And all the men mere players.

            They have their exists

                And their entrances.

            And one man, in his time,

                Plays many parts

            His acts being seven ages.

Contd..3..

-3-

You are a son to your parents, a father to your children; a husband to your wife; a boss to your colleagues; a master to your servants; a citizen in your country; a member of a club and so on.

And in your life, you pass through several stages, from an infant “making and perking in the mother’s arms” to a decrepit old man “sans eyes, sans teeth, sans everything, walking on all fours.

Isn’t this all true of us today as it was of men once in Shakespeare’s times?

Shakespeare will continue to live forever because he is the most quoted of all English writers – in fact of all world writers.  The irony, in fact, is that we keep quoting Shakespeare without knowing that we are quoting Shakespeare! Here are some “quotable quotes” to shock you into awareness.

Polonius in Hamlet advises his son Laertes:

“Neither a borrower, nor a lender be.”

In the Merchant of Venice,

‘All that glitters is not gold’

In Hamlet,

“there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so”.

From Henry IV Part II,

“Uneasy he is the head, that wears the crown”.

In Midsummer Night’s Dream,

Contd..4..

-5-

“The course of true love never did run smooth”.

From As You Like It,

            “Sweet are the uses of adversity,

            Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous,

            Wears yet a precious jewel in the head,

To get back to the question, “Will Shakespeare survive the test of time?”, Is he a man for all seasons?” What is your answer?  I’m sure it is a resounding ”Yes; he will live forever!” We love Shakespeare because we find a “Hamlet” procrastinating in ourselves.  There is a Macbeth with unbridled ambition in each one us.  There is lear in you and me, “more sinned against than seaming”.  We quote repeatedly from Shakespeare because he says things which are perennially true; because he brings before us a panorama of people who are familiar with – Kings and clowns, heroes and villains, philosophers and idiots, criminals and victims – a very colourful but neat, real world; because he deals with themes like love, jealousy, ambition, courage, confidence, impatience…” which will always continue to haunt us as long as human beings live in this world!

Thank you Shakespeare, for being there! We love you, we adore you, we worship you! We need you!

Long live Shakespeare!

Teaching Shakespeare-Chris Lima

Teaching Shakespeare

(Chris Lima)

Shakespeare is a world celebrity. His reputation as a playwright has been growing since the seventeenth century. Generations of theatre-goers, poets, prose writers, artists, journalists and scholars have contributed greatly to increase the admiration for his poetry and the growing popularity of his plays, especially in Europe and in America. However, the expansion of English as a lingua franca also means that nowadays more readers and audiences have access to Shakespeare in English. Besides that, film productions and live cinema performances are now making his plays accessible to larger audiences around the world, also contributing to transform Shakespeare into a household name around the globe.

When we think about Shakespeare, the first natural association is with the theatre. However, Shakespeare has been strongly associated with education. His work is part of the national curriculum not only in England, his home country, but also in other English-speaking and non-English-speaking countries around the world. But in spite of his worldwide influence and popularity in the twenty-first century, the perception that Shakespeare is either ‘too difficult’ or ‘too old’ – or both – to be relevant to contemporary students remains. Historically, there have been two predominant attitudes towards Shakespeare among both teachers and students: a reluctance to engage with his texts because they are seen as boring and outdated, or a reverence that treats them almost like sacred texts that cannot be touched or questioned. Both attitudes are unhealthy and unhelpful. As teachers, we should try to find ways of bringing Shakespeare to our learners that help them engage and enjoy his plays and poetry as much as readers and audiences have been doing for over 400 years.

Here are my first five tips for teaching Shakespeare to both language proficient speakers and language learners alike.

1. Make it relevant.

Start your lessons by contextualizing the main issues that the play you are studying explores. Is the play discussing friendship, jealousy, loyalty, greed, justice, family relationships, love? Connect these topics to real life situations so your students can relate the situations the characters face in the plays to their own personal experiences. One reason Shakespeare’s work has endured the test of time is that we can relate to his characters’ thoughts, feelings and emotions because they speak to what is essentially human in all of us.

2. Don’t be afraid.

Although there are passages in some of the plays that can be difficult to understand and baffle even Shakespearean scholars, most of his texts are accessible to readers and audiences as long as we stop to pay attention and think about the meaning behind the words and sentences. Linguist and Shakespearean scholar Professor David Crystal and actor/producer Ben Crystal mapped all the text of Shakespeare’s complete works and found out that his language is in fact remarkably similar to contemporary English and only 5% of his vocabulary is likely to cause any serious problems to modern readers/audiences. There is a lot of myth about Shakespeare’s language which has grown out of a lack of real contact with the texts. We fear what we don’t know. Don’t be afraid; get editions of the plays with a good introduction to help with the contextualization of the plays and then let the texts talk to you. 

3. Make it memorable.

Select passages that are particularly striking to work with in class. These can be key scenes in the context of the play, such as Shylock’s trial in The Merchant of Venice; the window scene in Romeo and Juliet; the ghost scene in Hamlet. They can also be memorable because of the language in them, especially the soliloquies – those long passages where the character addresses an audience, such as the St Crispin’s Day speech in Henry V; the ‘To Be or Not to Be’ in Hamlet; the ‘sleep’ soliloquy in Macbeth. These are quite famous passages and it is easy to find YouTube videos of them, so students can watch the scenes either before or after reading the text. They are also incredibly powerful both in terms of emotions and language, and students can engage with them both cognitively and emotionally.

4. Remember: these are plays.

Hundreds of years of scholarship and studying the texts may have made us forget that Shakespeare’s plays are not novels – they are plays and were originally written to be watched, not read. Few people in Shakespeare’s time would have read the scripts of the plays. In the twenty-first century we have the privilege of being able to read the texts, but we cannot forget that these texts only really come to life in performance. If you cannot take your students to the theatre, find film adaptations and recorded stage productions of the plays and encourage your students to watch them. You will find trailers and videos of scenes from recent performances at the Royal Shakespeare Company at the RSC YouTube Channel. Select scenes and watch them in class. Put together a classroom performance so your students can become the actors. You will see that the texts do make a lot more sense in performance.

5. Explore the Internet.

There are plenty of good-quality resources on the Internet from where you can collect material to use in class and also direct your students to so they can do some independent learning. Check the box below for some of this incredible online treasure trove.

In the next article, I will be bringing five more tips to help you and your students engage with Shakespeare both inside and outside the classroom. Keep coming to onestopenglish, and don’t forget to share these ideas with your teaching colleagues.

Shakespeare on the Internet

·         The Shakespeare Portal

·         Shakespeare in the Classroom

·         Internet Shakespeare Editions

·         JSTOR Understanding Shakespeare

·         Shakespeare’s Globe

·         Shakespeare’s Globe YouTube Channel

·         Royal Shakespeare Company

·         Finding Shakespeare

·         Shakespeare Lives in 2016 - British Council

Related resources

·         EAP Shakespeare

In this section you will find a series of lesson plans

(Courtesy: one stop english-Number  one for English Language teachers)

The Origin and Growth of ELTAI

INTRODUCTION

Our Association had a humble beginning and has grown into a one of the largest professional associations of teachers in the world just like a tiny seed becoming in course of time a big Banyan tree—started with just six members, all belonging to just one city, Chennai, grown into fairly a big organization with 3864 members and 40 chapters in different parts of our country.  You may wonder how it had happened.  Well, it is quite an interesting saga.

Journal first, Association later!

It is interesting to note that our Journal was started first and  our  Association much later. Why and how did it happen? As early as 1974, The Journal of English Language Teaching (JELT) —the first of its kind in our country— was published, thanks to one of the well-known educationists of that time, the late Padmashree S. Natarajan. He really wanted to start a professional association of teachers of English but he knew that teachers would not join it paying some subscription without  some incentive. So he decided to tell teachers they would get a free copy of the Journal if they joined  the English Language Teachers’ Association once it was started.

The Journal of English Language Teaching was thus first started and it provided an opportunity for the teachers to get themselves acquainted  with recent research findings in the teaching of English and also share their experiences with others. He priced it just a rupee per copy and almost single-handedly promoted its sale. He visited schools and colleges and requested them to subscribe for it. Out of pure regard for him only some subscribed but he didn’t give up. He wrote letters to the heads of a few well-known  educational institutions in the State  requesting them to subscribe for the journal. He did not have a typewriter nor anyone to assist him and he was in fact poor health with failing eyesight but with missionary zeal he wrote letters with his own hand and did thus  the canvassing. Then there was also paucity of articles for publication. He requested his close friends—one or two—to write almost for every issue. The point is the journal saw the light of the day only due to the persistent efforts of this old man. At the beginning only a hundred copies were printed and in fact some remained unsold. But he didn’t give up and soon the circulation went up. But unfortunately it never went beyond 400 copies or so.

ELTAI is born!

Eleven years later—in1985—Mr. Natarajan started the English Language Teachers’ Association of India (ELTAI). A small group of teachers including the writer—just six of us met at his residence. We had a discussion on the importance of professional development of teachers as a key factor in enhancing the standards of education in our country. At that time  there were only trade unions of teachers concerned with working for the improvement of their service conditions.  At our meeting he mooted the idea of starting an Association of teachers concerned with organizing teacher development programmes—seminars and workshops—for them. We all agreed and assured him of our help in his great venture. He said enrolment of members of the new association would be easier if we said all members of the Association would get a free copy of Journal.  Thus our Association came into being and we were able to enrol about 256  members only.

Promoting ELTAI.—New strategies

After passing away of our Founder in 1974, a new team of office-bearers took charge of the Association and decided to carry forward the good work initiated by him adopting certain new strategies.

For enrolling members it was decided to conduct a number of workshops , seminars and refresher courses for teachers of English. Schools and colleges were contacted and they were told no fees would be charged from their teachers attending these staff development  programmes.

 At the programmes we organized teachers were told about the benefits of joining ELTAI –a free copy of our bimonthly, The Journal of English Language Teaching (Impact factor-4.756), opportunities provided for the improvement of their  teaching competence, interacting with ELT professionals and also for getting their papers published in our Journal.  This strategy is working well and we have teachers coming forward to join ELTAI.

Another strategy adopted was to provide cash awards for teachers undertaking action research and also for using ICT tools in teaching English. The allotment of some subsidised memberships offered by IATEFL to our members has also helped to enrol new members, besides familiarizing them with the great work done by IATEFL.

Special Interest Groups. (SIGs)

There are two Special Interest Groups—English Literature SIG and Computer Technology SIG—both quite active. The former has been running an E journal—Journal of Teaching and Research in English Literature for the past five years and the other SIG has been publishing its own E Journal—Journal of Computer Technology for ELT. These two open access journals may easily be accessed on the web by clicking on he direct links given to them on the Home pahe of our website www.eltai.in 

IATEFL and Hornby Trust Projects 

ELTAI was the first recipient of the IATEFL Project grant along with another country in Europe. We received a handsome grant of GPB3000 for our innovative project on Training the Trainers in Virtual Learning. A group of 17 teachers were selected from over the country and were trained in using Web tools in ELT and they were then required to train teachers in their area. Mage 2)

Another project undertaken by our Association with support from the Hornby Trust, UK, was on training teachers in using smart phones for the teaching and learning of English.The project now in progress relates to our ‘Shakespeare lives – 2016’ celebrations undertaken in collaboration with the British Council in six different cities in India. Competitions for students in soliloquy,  quiz and enacting a scene from one of Shakespeare’s plays are being held. Seminars are being organized for teachers for discussing the relevance of  the playwright’s works for all ages and cultures.

Annual conferences. (image 3)

We hold our annual conferences regularly and they are international too. Thet are attended by not less than 600 teachers every year.    

    

ELTAI. An Associate of IATEFL

As an Associate of IATEFL, we are able to provide a fixed number of subsidized memberships of the world organizationto our members. Almost every year a member is sent to attend the IATEFL conference with some financial assistance from us. A few have won IATEFL scholarships too to attend the international event. There have been a few contributions too from our members  during the recent years for publication in ‘Voices’,

We have had a few speakers too at our annual conferences—Peter Grundy when he was the President, Jeremy Halmer, Eric Babar and George Pickering.

Online Discussion Forums.

Opportunities for our  members to interact with one another and also  to give them updates about out association are provided by our Google group discussion Forum, Members of the Computer Technology for ELT SIG too have got a separate online forum.

Collaboration with the British Council.

The British Council has been collaborating with us in a range of our activities for a number of years now, It provides a plenary speaker for our annual conferences. Along with the IATEFL and Hornby Trust it has provided support to us carrying out successfully our projects on Virtual learning and Mobile learning. It has also sponsored an ELTAI member to attend the IATEFL annual conference in some years.  

Looking ahead.

Our target for the current year is to enrol at least another 500 members.

We hope to start a separate website for providing the e version of our Journal. At present members may access it only on our present website.

VThe writer is Dr. S. Rajagopalan

(A former British Council scholar, an alumnus of  the London University Institute of Education and former Professor and Dean, Annamalai University in South India. Founder member and Patron, ELTAI.   He can be reached at <srajagopalan7@gmail.com>)

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 1974.