Language Lab Manual

Interactive English (Language Lab Manual)

Day	30 minutes	30 minutes	30 minutes	30 minutes
1	News Reading/Reading texts (English)	Activity	Activity/Discussion(English)	Activity
2	Brainstorming	Dialogue writing	Conversations	GDs
3	Creative Writing- stories/verse/dialogue	Note-taking	Interviewing/Declamation	Pronunciation and Accent Correction(English)
4	Paragraph Writing	Interpreting Visuals(coins/paintings/pictures)	PPTs/Debates Or work with language lab software	PPTs/Debates Or work with language lab software
5	Anchoring/Moderating (English)in GDs	Moderating Discussions	Drawing/Sketching/Visual representation of Development Stories.	Drawing/Sketching of Imaginative stories
Note: Repeat the Exercises in tandem with Phonetic Lab exposure

Salient Points:

1. Any text may be used for Pronunciation sessions from fiction to news stories.
2. Any person of any class/age/gender/background may be interviewed for the session considering the decorum and sanctity of the institution.
3. Declamation topics will be given (two to three days) in advance.
4. Debate topics may be given (six to seven days) in advance.
5. Discussion topics can be given two to three days in advance or for instant treatment depending on the complexity of the issue.
6. After installation of language lab software, Desktops/PCs will be available for browsing and accent improvement.

7.       Newspapers may be made available in English.

8. Power point Presentations will be held in later phase with active presenter from beginning to end.
9. As alternative, movies may be screened on any other day followed by discussion and review.

Suggested Exercises:

1. Make a chart of any favourite popular illustration of a scientific concept already published and point out the traits that make it popular.
2. Take any one difficult concept of science and illustrate it through a creative example or visual to make it easy to grasp.
3. Compose or Craft an issue based comic strip dealing with environment /health/sanitation.Understand the importance of correct body language (Guessing idioms through dumb charades).
4. Vote appeal/ Students will be able to set agenda for a hypothetical electoral campaign.
5. Coin activity: empathizing and willing suspension of disbelief(getting over anthropocentric viewpoint)
6. Grapevine/Chinese whisper- effect of noise on channel.
7. Teach how to make effective presentations.
8. Discuss some popular comic strips and work of some poplar cartoonists. Understand how caricature and humour can help political commentary.
9. Basic phonetics and Transcription.
10. Interviewing
11. SWOC
12. Moderating discussions/anchoring
13. Declamations/Debates

Suggested Topics:

1. Interviewing:

Fictional- here the interviewee will be a fictional person/character/historical figure/animation hero of interviewer’s choice- the conversation will be imaginative and the dialogue will be written beforehand.

Real-the interview may be spontaneous or worked-out depending on assignment. The interviewee will be a real person and tape of the interview may be furnished, if it is not held in the class.

2. Declamation

GST, Diplomatic ties with Israel; Rift with China; Social Security in India; Problems riddling Indian agriculture and solutions; Role of IMF, Role of WTO and GATT in the world; BREXIT/Bitcoins/End of EU/Syrian crisis/ Globalization; any other.

3. Debate

Any social/economic/political/legal topic may be chosen: Right to property/Fundamental Rights/ Reforms in education system/RTI s and transparency/ PILs/Betting in cricket/New formats in sports/ violence for entertainment/womens’liberation/emancipation /reservation policy.

4. Discussion /Moderating/Talkshow

Any current topic of national/international importance-

General Note: Students will be encouraged to think on local/regional/national and global levels adopting STEP approach, that is, issues and solutions both are social, technical, economic and political. Everything is interconnected.

_________________________________________EOM___________________________________________

Personality Development :Suggested Questions covering the syllabus

Personality Development & Soft Skills: Assignment/Suggested topics

First Sessional

Q1. Write short notes on:

1.       Hypothesis

2.       Goal-setting

3.       Ad hominem

4.       False dichotomy

5.       Red-herring

6.       Latent thinking

7.       Abstraction

8.       False analogy

9.       GROW

10.   USP

What is Scientific Temper? Can a lay person have a scientific aptitude? What are the methods of science that we can use in our routine lives to understand the issues, problems, events and phenomena around us?

11.   Conduct a SWOC analysis on yourself. List out the findings. How does the STEP/PEST/PETS framework help you in perceiving your actual concerns/challenges and Opportunities? What concerns and opportunities do you identify for yourself?

12.   List out any ten Logical Fallacies with examples to illustrate.

13.   What kind of logical fallacies can media use? Discuss some examples and counterarguments you may give to dispel those fallacies.

14.   Enumerate any three Problem Solving strategies and some problems

 that can be solved using those strategies.

15.   Is it possible to argue politely? Give one example with the kind of words/phrases that may be used to foster reason in a debate.

16.   What are the seven Cs of effective communication?

17.   Assuming that O, B, X and Z are four friends, write out a group discussion on the topic:

a)      Frontiers/border areas of Science

b)      Science  versus Superstitions

c)       State-of-the-art Technologies

d)      Paradoxes in life

e)      Paradoxes in science

18.   Enumerate the barriers to effective communication. Discuss some ways to overcome those barriers.

19.   Write a paragraph on(120 words):

a)      Circles b) Speed c) Bitcoins 4)Higgs-Bosons 5) Gravitational Waves 6) Anti-matter 7) polymers 8)windows 9)Doors

20.   Compose a poem on: 

a)Neutrons b) Your favourite element c)Your favourite chemical reaction d) Your favourite theorem e) Your favourite equation f)Your favourite domain in mathematics g) Science laboratory

21.   Use the given line to build a story:

a) One evening as I was transported to the Physics/ Chemistry lab……

b)      I was invited by Einstein to dinner but I reached late….

c)       I tried to control it but my time-machine crash-landed into the world of 1940s….

23.Write an essay following international structure: hook-hypothesis/ theis statement/ key ideas/ Argument/Evidence/Explanation/Example/Restatement of thesis/ call to action  and Signal to the end.

Second Sessional

Q1. Write short notes on:

1.       Bargaining

2.       Collaboration

3.       Compromise

4.       Conflict

5.       Win-win situations

6.       Worse-case scenarios

7.       Devil’s advocate

8.       Group think

9.       Grapevines

10.   Patents

Q2. Write long answers on:

1.       What is leadership? How is it different from management? Discuss a few leadership skills.

2.       Can a bad manager be a good leader and vice versa?

3.       Can leadership be learnt? Can we train ourselves to be leaders?

4.       What is crisis handling? Can we train ourselves to handle crisis?

5.       Why does conflict emerge? Can we resolve conflicts through negotiations? What is the value of compromise? Discuss a few Conflict negotiation techniques.

6.       Create a dialogue between Yajna, the manager and Gargi, the employee who wants a salary hike during a periodic appraisal during times of inflation.

7.       Give the format of a long report.

8.       Draft a memo report checking inventory updates of chemical  laboratory on a certain day.

9.       Draft a memo asking students to handle lab chemicals with care.

10.   Draft a memo asking students to handle equipment in lab with caution.

Q3. Draft an ideal resume for you chosen job profile in the company of your dreams. Accompany it with a covering letter.

Q4. Draft a realistic resume outlining your skills and accomplishments so far. Attach it to a covering letter.

Q5. Write an essay (300 words) with the following hook statement:

a)      I never let my schooling interfere with my education.

b)      If facts don’t fit the theory, change the facts.

Q6. Write an essay on:

1.       Scientific Temper

2.       Intellectual Property Rights

3.       Corporate Social Responsibility

4.       India must capitalize on its indigenous strengths through IPR in the era of knowledge economy.

5.       IMF and conditions it levies on debtor nations

6.       WTO and its favoritism towards developed nations.

Q7. Discuss the use of visuals vis-avis texts in Presentations.

Q8. How can information overload and text density affect your presentation?

Q9. How much is audience/ reader important for writer/speaker? Discuss with reference to expertise and age.

And

For internal evaluation:

Presentation: Eight slides discussing at least 3 key ideas under chosen topic.

SWOC for Self: Summary: Lesson Plan

SWOC Analysis for Self

SWOC is an assessment tool emerging in corporate that can be adapted to individual use. The acronym can be expanded to strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and concerns. A student can benefit from this activity as it aids self-assessment, goal-setting and strategizing for better future performance. The student becomes aware of his/her strengths, identifies his/her weaknesses so that these can be overcome and realizes the opportunities and concerns that propel or constraint the particular individual.

To aid the analysis, following activities were undertaken:

1.      Students exposed to conventional interview questions and asked to respond in limited time.

2.      Students asked unconventional and unexpected interview questions and asked to respond.

3.      Student asked to define their role models in form of one-liners.

4.      Students asked to understand the importance of USPs and unique qualities.

5.      Students asked to read out skill sets desirable in  their discipline/branch from a slip drawn from a jar marked “SKILLS”.

6.      Students asked to read out coloured slips from a jar marked “GOALS”. Actually, these Goals would be skills that should be acquired by the time the students pass out of the university so that they are industry –ready professionals/engineers.

7.      Students are asked to draw a graphic image of their future five years from the present time.

8.      The students are asked to identify ny ‘obstacle’ and find a way to GROW where G is goal, R is current  reality, O is obstacle as well as option that helps you overcome it and W is the Way forward.

The SWOC analysis designed here is not completely original but makes innovative use of corporate exercises and ideal CV scripts/ interview scenarios to motivate the students to introspect for understanding their own capabilities.

The students responded with zest.

Designed by

Divyajyoti Singh

Asst. Professor, English

Modern Science Writing

Modern Science Writing & Journalism

Objective:

1.Students must be familiarized with  the area of modern science writing.

2.To hold discussions with students on great entrepreneurial and engineering ventures that have used science.

3.To explore frontier areas in science and technology and to evoke unresolved problems in these areas.

4.Students are taught to write interesting science features of their won.

L    T          P                                                                      I.A./Practical: 25 Marks

3    0          0                                                                      Theory: 75 Marks

Time Allowed: 3 Hours                                                     Max. Marks: 100

Unit-1: Science Journalism: Introduction; aim and objective of science journalism; ethics of science journalism;  popularizing science and technology, inculcating scientific temper: truth, relativity, end of grand narratives, encouraging scientific outlook; Philosophical background: positivism, rationalism, binary opposition, scientific method and approach, impact on literature and literary criticism of Darwin’s theory of evolution and Einsteins’s theory of relativity; public awareness campaigns.

Unit-2:Modern Science writing & Popular science :science fiction versus futurism; Gedanken experiments/thought-experiments; value of uncertainty and paradox; Use of analogies and parallels;structure of a scientific essay; hypothesis-evidence-thesis; from essay to feature; learning discussing state-of-the-art; fantasy; Biographies of eminent scientists.

Unit-3: Frontiers of Science: science in news; ideas adopted for practical use; entrepreneurial skills with scientific ideas; Entrepreneur’s stories that made use of science; World War I and II and development of science &technology;Frontiers of Science; Breakthrough technologies; great debates raging in science.

Unit 4: Neologisms and Advanced vocabulary-builder: Neologisms; Popular science; Jargon and avoiding jargon; Blackholes, Higgs-Boson; Quarks; Anti-matter, Quasars, DNA; Mutations, Hybrids, BT seeds, cyborgs, cybernetics; humanoids;  Bitcoins, Reverse Engineering,  Robotics &AI; IPR& Patents.

Outcome:

1. Students understand objective and aim of science journalism

2. Students are conversant with great entrepreneurial ventures that have used science.

3.The students are conversant with lives and ground-breaking works of eminent scientists .

4.Students are able to write science features of their own.   

References:

Angler, Martin W. Science Journalism: An Introduction. Routledge 2017

Hayden,Thomas.The Science Writers' Handbook: Everything You Need to Know to Pitch, Publish, and Prosper in the Digital Age Paperback

Blum, Deborah (Editor), Mary Knudson (Editor), Robin Marantz Henig (Editor) A Field Guide for Science Writers: The Official Guide of the National Association of Science Writers 2nd Edition. 

Skloot Rebecca (Editor) andTim Folger (Editor).The Best American Science and Nature Writing2015  ed. Edition

Carol L. Rogers, Sharon M. Friedman(1999). Communicating Uncertainty: Media Coverage of New and Controversial Science

Martin W. Bauer and MassimianoBucchi .Journalism, Science and Society Science Communication between News and Public Relations . Routledge: NY and London

Sharon Dunwoody, Carol L. Rogers, Sharon M. Friedman Scientists and Journalists: Reporting Science as News : American Association for the Advancement of Science.(December 1988)

Richard Dawkins . The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing (Oxford Landmark Science) Paperback – 21 Oct 2009. Oxford; Reprint edition (21 October 2009)

Dorothy Nelkin .Selling Science: How the Press Covers Science and Technology (Revised) Revised Edition. Publisher: W.H. Freeman & Company; Revised edition (February 1995)

Michael Alley  (Author)The Craft of Scientific Presentations: Critical Steps to Succeed and Critical Errors to Avoid Paperback – 30 Apr 2013

Carl Sagan Cosmos: The Story of Cosmic Evolution, Science and Civilisation11 August 1983. Little, Brown Book Group; Latest Edition edition (11 August 1983)

Recommended:

Carl Sagan.TheDragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence Mass Market Paperback – 12 Dec 1986RHUS; Reprint edition (12 December 1986) ISBN-10: 0345346297

Stephen Hawking.A Brief History of Time: From Big Bang to Black Holes. Bantam; Latest Edition edition (1 April 1995)

Richard Dawkins: River Out of Eden (Science Masters) Paperback. Orion Publishing Group (29 April 2015)

Richard Dawkins .An Appetite for Wonder: The Making of a Scientist Paperback. Bantam Press (7 October 2013)

Richard Dawkins. The Magic of Reality: How We Know What's Really True.  RHUK

, ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ (text of 1834) –Part-I and Part-II by Samuel Coleridge

BY SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE

Argument

How a Ship having passed the Line was driven by storms to the cold Country towards the South Pole; and how from thence she made her course to the tropical Latitude of the Great Pacific Ocean; and of the strange things that befell; and in what manner the Ancyent Marinere came back to his own Country.

PART I 

It is an ancient Mariner, 

And he stoppeth one of three. 

'By thy long grey beard and glittering eye, 

Now wherefore stopp'st thou me? 

The Bridegroom's doors are opened wide, 

And I am next of kin; 

The guests are met, the feast is set: 

May'st hear the merry din.' 

He holds him with his skinny hand, 

'There was a ship,' quoth he. 

'Hold off! unhand me, grey-beard loon!' 

Eftsoons his hand dropt he. 

He holds him with his glittering eye— 

The Wedding-Guest stood still, 

And listens like a three years' child: 

The Mariner hath his will. 

The Wedding-Guest sat on a stone: 

He cannot choose but hear; 

And thus spake on that ancient man, 

The bright-eyed Mariner. 

'The ship was cheered, the harbour cleared, 

Merrily did we drop 

Below the kirk, below the hill, 

Below the lighthouse top. 

The Sun came up upon the left, 

Out of the sea came he! 

And he shone bright, and on the right 

Went down into the sea. 

Higher and higher every day, 

Till over the mast at noon—' 

The Wedding-Guest here beat his breast, 

For he heard the loud bassoon. 

The bride hath paced into the hall, 

Red as a rose is she; 

Nodding their heads before her goes 

The merry minstrelsy. 

The Wedding-Guest he beat his breast, 

Yet he cannot choose but hear; 

And thus spake on that ancient man, 

The bright-eyed Mariner. 

And now the STORM-BLAST came, and he 

Was tyrannous and strong: 

He struck with his o'ertaking wings, 

And chased us south along. 

With sloping masts and dipping prow, 

As who pursued with yell and blow 

Still treads the shadow of his foe, 

And forward bends his head, 

The ship drove fast, loud roared the blast, 

And southward aye we fled. 

And now there came both mist and snow, 

And it grew wondrous cold: 

And ice, mast-high, came floating by, 

As green as emerald. 

And through the drifts the snowy clifts 

Did send a dismal sheen: 

Nor shapes of men nor beasts we ken— 

The ice was all between. 

The ice was here, the ice was there, 

The ice was all around: 

It cracked and growled, and roared and howled, 

Like noises in a swound! 

At length did cross an Albatross, 

Thorough the fog it came; 

As if it had been a Christian soul, 

We hailed it in God's name. 

It ate the food it ne'er had eat, 

And round and round it flew. 

The ice did split with a thunder-fit; 

The helmsman steered us through! 

And a good south wind sprung up behind; 

The Albatross did follow, 

And every day, for food or play, 

Came to the mariner's hollo! 

In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud, 

It perched for vespers nine; 

Whiles all the night, through fog-smoke white, 

Glimmered the white Moon-shine.' 

'God save thee, ancient Mariner! 

From the fiends, that plague thee thus!— 

Why look'st thou so?'—With my cross-bow 

I shot the ALBATROSS. 

PART II 

The Sun now rose upon the right: 

Out of the sea came he, 

Still hid in mist, and on the left 

Went down into the sea. 

And the good south wind still blew behind, 

But no sweet bird did follow, 

Nor any day for food or play 

Came to the mariner's hollo! 

And I had done a hellish thing, 

And it would work 'em woe: 

For all averred, I had killed the bird 

That made the breeze to blow. 

Ah wretch! said they, the bird to slay, 

That made the breeze to blow! 

Nor dim nor red, like God's own head, 

The glorious Sun uprist: 

Then all averred, I had killed the bird 

That brought the fog and mist. 

'Twas right, said they, such birds to slay, 

That bring the fog and mist. 

The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew, 

The furrow followed free; 

We were the first that ever burst 

Into that silent sea. 

Down dropt the breeze, the sails dropt down, 

'Twas sad as sad could be; 

And we did speak only to break 

The silence of the sea! 

All in a hot and copper sky, 

The bloody Sun, at noon, 

Right up above the mast did stand, 

No bigger than the Moon. 

Day after day, day after day, 

We stuck, nor breath nor motion; 

As idle as a painted ship 

Upon a painted ocean. 

Water, water, every where, 

And all the boards did shrink; 

Water, water, every where, 

Nor any drop to drink. 

The very deep did rot: O Christ! 

That ever this should be! 

Yea, slimy things did crawl with legs 

Upon the slimy sea. 

About, about, in reel and rout 

The death-fires danced at night; 

The water, like a witch's oils, 

Burnt green, and blue and white. 

And some in dreams assurèd were 

Of the Spirit that plagued us so; 

Nine fathom deep he had followed us 

From the land of mist and snow. 

And every tongue, through utter drought, 

Was withered at the root; 

We could not speak, no more than if 

We had been choked with soot. 

Ah! well a-day! what evil looks 

Had I from old and young! 

Instead of the cross, the Albatross 

About my neck was hung. 

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43997/the-rime-of-the-ancient-mariner-text-of-1834