My reflection over Forum:My English Upper intermediate course 2

Hello dear friends! This is Ashok Chavan. I live in Nashik, Maharashtra (India). I work as a SARP (State Academic Resource Person) in DIECPD (District Institute of Educational Continuous Professional development) Nashik since 2016. I got rigorous training from British Council as a part of TEJAS program. It has strengthened me a lot to support and mentor teachers and tag co-ordinators. 

Initially, I had been appointed as a primary teacher in 2005. I love teaching very much. Most importantly, I like teaching English. As a teacher I would encourage students to speak English, help them to read with comprehension and engaged them in pairs and in groups. I noticed that students take interest in TPR (Total physical response) activities. So I used to conduct activities like 'Fire on the mountain', 'Simon says', etc. 

 I want to stay updated with new ideas, activities and what's going in ELT. I also want to learn new words. So joining this upper intermediate English course will help me to fulfill my goal of enhancing my knowledge and skills about ELT.

 I'm planning to conduct online quiz test for teachers to create interest and positive atmosphere about English language and I'm pretty much sure that this course will help me to achieve this target.

I'd like to thank British Council for providing me this knowledgeable opportunity.

Thanks once again!

2nd post forum

I live in India and in this country everyone is equal in front of the law. We've to follow laws and orders in society. Nobody receives special treatment. You are not allowed to discriminate people who belong to lower castes, or different religions or maybe poor or rich. All the people are socially equal. The justice is same for everyone. One cannot deny opportunities for getting bread and butter. 

 You ought to respect your elders in society as well as in every family. Everyone obeys ones grandparents and follow their rituals.  Despite having high education, boys and girls are not allowed to select their brides and grooms. They've to listen to their parents and grandparents while getting married. 

 You don't need to worry whether you've worn helmets or haven't! Though wearing helmet is a strict rule while driving a bike, a note of hundred can save your head. It means 'giving bribe' is a moral duty of each person who disobeys laws and rules on the road. Fortunately, nowadays 'Modi government' has made rules strictly and people are also following them due to harsh rules and regulations taken by Police. After all, "Modi Hain to mumkin Hain!" 

Actually police department have been given orders to take quick action against the people who break the laws and orders. They warn people not to break rules. People should wear helmets, they should tie belts while driving cars. They shouldn't talk over mobiles during driving. It is strictly prohibited to drink wine and drive. If anyone breaks the rules, he is penalised severely.

  One more thing I want to share that ATM machines are also well protected by CCTV cameras and security guards. You are not allowed to enter ATM centers with helmets in your heads. You have to remove scarfs, because secret cameras can't identify your face.  In spite of all the rules, ATM machines and banks are robbed and lacks of rupees have been stolen several times in a year.

 I hope that one day my country will see no crime! Soon the day will rise when none has to offer bribes! None has to go jail for their criminal activities! 

Absolutely this will happen one day when the sun will stop to rise and set!

Forum discussion

Week 2

Staying healthy

In my opinion staying healthy and happy is a very nice thought for everyone in modern days to refrain from many diseases. Nowadays, people are worried about their health problems. If we go in a  hospital, we come across hundreds of patients. The hospitals are filled with patients and doctors often give you advice about doing some exercises for staying fit and healthy. 

 As I wake up early in the morning and go walking in a nearby garden, I notice many people walking around it, some people run slowly, some do yoga practice, some younger boys play cricket, a group of aged women stand in a circle and do some exercises. This is a really wonderful experience and it encourages me to do exercise.

 I'm not sure for being fit which to prefer- sports or exercise.  But I strongly believe sports and exercises can strengthen your muscles and body. Both give us pleasure and refresh us. 

I'm very glad to say that I'm a great fan of walking and climbing mountains. Though I like to go walking, I don't get time to go walking regularly. However, I go walking in the garden, which is very close to my house twice a week. While walking around the trees, I love to observe birds and listen to their sounds.

Although I prefer walking rather than to climb mountains, sometimes I take time to climb hillocks, forts, mountains once in a month. It gives me immense pleasure. I used to climb a mountain which was near my village in the month of Shravan along with my friends. 

In this Diwali vacation I took my son with me and climbed the mountain which is known as Ajmer Fort near Ajmer Saundane. I became nostalgic after reaching on top of the mountain and taking darshan of Shivling. I shared childhood memories with my son. 

 I always encourage my son and daughter to play some sports, do some exercises and go for walks and climb hills. 

 Nowadays I don't play any sport. But I used to play cricket, gulli danda and marbles. Now I prefer indoor games. Sometimes I play carrom and chess with my son. 

I always try to convince my friend's, relatives and people around me to play some sports, do exercise to stay healthy and happy. I believe that if wealth is lost, something is lost,  if health is lost , everything is lost. So stay healthy and fit to live longer! 

Reply to Arun Sangolkar sir

Great to know that you do yoga daily. And I'm very happy to read that your family also takes part in this activity. 

 It's absolutely true, "A sound mind always dwells in a sound body!"

One little suggestion: I used to play volleyball, when I was a lecturer in Rayat shikshan sanstha.

Glad to read your posts. Thanks and keep it up.

Week 3 forum

Expressing regret:

I should've/ shouldn't have

I ought to

Today I travelled a lot and reached at my house. As I entered the house, my daughter Tanishka seemed to be unhappy. I couldn't find the reason. However, I tried a lot, but I couldn't change her mood.

Eventually I came to know the cause of her unhappiness. There was a parents' meeting in her school a day before yesterday and I was not able to attend the meeting because I was in Aurangabad. If only I had attended the meeting, she wouldn't have been unhappy.

 I promised her, "I'll come to school tomorrow & meet your teacher." Then she said, "You ought to come to my school and talk to my teacher about my progress report."  I nodded and she smiled beautifully.

I should've attended the meeting to see my daughter delightful! Henceforth I've decided, "I ought not to miss any school event of my daughter."

Language problems

I feel I'm ok when I speak with teachers or present in front of teachers. But I want to improve my pronunciation. Whenever I listen to some audio clips of native speakers of English language, I found it challenging to understand. However, I firmly believe that if I keep listening to such audio clips or watching the news, it'll certainly help me to improve my pronunciation. Secondly, using the Cambridge dictionary for correct pronunciation and phonetic transcription helps me a lot.

 While reading I see many words which are new to me and I want to keep them in my memory. I search their meaning & how they are pronounced. Unfortunately I can't remember the words. I am especially confused about phrasal verbs and their usage. So I thought to read a word, make few sentences using the word or phrasal verbs and try to use it while interacting with people. I'm sure this will work.

Can you please tell us something about your previous job?

Do I know why you left your job?

I wonder if you can tell us about your experience as a teacher educator?

Would you mind if I ask you about your age?

Would you mind telling us about your areas of improvement?

Tell me something if you are interested in this job.

I just want to know if it is possible to you to work with females because here most of the employees are females.

Interesting job:

Right from my childhood I wanted to become a teacher and I tried a lot to be a teacher. Ultimately, my dream of becoming a teacher got fulfilled. If you're interested in a particular job, it makes you more efficient and effective. Because you like the job and you work keenly. As I work with children and make them happy, it gives me a sense of job satisfaction. Therefore, interest in the job is the first priority for me.

Secondly, training and professional development is an area of my interest. Working as a teacher provides me a lot of opportunities for training which helps me to improve my professional experiences. If the job fulfills such needs, it boosts my confidence and enhance ability to improve quality teaching.

Of course, lots of vacation is my third preference to choose a job. I need peaceful life and lots of holidays avail me luxurious life. 

Forum in the next ten years

It's a great opportunity to think about how will be our future in the distant future. Actually, we can't predict, but we can guess how our life will be in upcoming years. 

I see the future something hopeful and glorious. In the next ten years people will be more comfortable with technology. They must be using 6G or 7G. Technology will play a crucial role. But I hope everyone will keep good relationship with each other in a family. 

By the end of the decade, people will have understood the importance of environmental responsibility and they will protect the nature as well as decrease the use of vehicles that vomit Carbon dioxide. 

I'm very much sure that in the near future I'll prefer riding a bicycle to a bike. This will help me to keep fresh and strong. I wonder why people use bikes or cars in a town to go to markets or visit nearest places. I hope people will start using cycles in a greater number. And by the time, they will be sensitised to keep our society free from pollution.

I see the future as a wonderful phenomenon which will change the world enormously. Technology will replace human resources. Everywhere robots will be seen doing jobs effectively without any errors. By the end of ten years, surgeries will be done by robots. Mother's working in the kitchen will be seen in front of TV sets and robots will serve them all the time.

 Although this is possible, human touch, love, sacrifice, good rapport, healthy friendship, rare birds, lovely trees, jungles, and so on will be the greatest attraction for all. After all nothing is permanent except nature, rivers, valleys, mountains, trees, sunrise, sunset, birds' chirping etc. Within the next ten years, I'll never forget real happiness which is not involved in playing with mobile, but keeping in touch with nature!

My adventure forum

Dear Yogesh,

 I'm very excited to write about my adventurous trip to Ramshej fort where I went last month with my son and daughter. Ramshej fort is well-known in Maratha empire. Mughal emperor Aurangzeb tried a lot for several years to win this fort. He was only successful after paying bribe to killedar. It is believed that Prabhu Ramchandra stayed here to take a rest and that's why it is called as Ram Shej (Bed). 

  You  know very well about this fort. It's really challenging to climb this mountain, isn't it? My family members go walking every morning, so we don't find it hard to go climbing hills or mountains. We are accustomed to trekking. 

 It was a Sunday morning. It was quite warm and sunny. The fort is 10km away from Nashik. I set off at 9 a.m. with Piyush and Tanishka. They were eager to have a go to the fort. Since last week I was working on various tasks. So I decided to go climbing to unwind. I asked my family about my plan. My wife was busy with her household work, so she denied. Then we three set out on my bike. We reached the bottom of the fort within half an hour. 

 Yogesh, you know what happened when we reached? It was already a little bit windy. It made all of us excited. My daughter got frightened and she questioned us how we could go up in this cold weather. Nevertheless we made up our mind and began to climb. We had a sack which included  two water bottles, a lunch box, a rope and first aid box. At first we can go climbing easily for 100-200 meters. We had worn sports dresses and sports shoes. Hence we all were very happy to go up. Soon we felt exhausted and decided to take a rest. We had some snacks and drinks. We sat on a flat rock and enjoyed some food. It was an exciting moment to look around, shout and listen to our echoes. 

 As soon as we finished our snacks, we began our journey again. Now it was quite steep. We need to walk very carefully. Tanishka was frightened because of steep and narrow path. Everywhere were thorny bushes. Piyush and I could have made a way easily, but it was difficult for little Tanishka to get to the destination. So I picked up her and helped her from time to time. When we reached the middle of the fort, it was very cold and windy. We could see clouds around the mountain. As if it would start raining. Some people were going down and some were going up. Fortunately it was day time, but it was looking dark everywhere. We couldn't see the sun. Somehow we continued climbing. 

 Eventually we reached on the fort. It took 2 hours to reach the fort.Piyush and Tanishka clapped and jumped to show their happiness. Our clothes became wet. The sky was still cloudy. Fortunately there was no sign of rain. We went to see the temple of Rama, Sita and Laxmana where we took darshan of God Rama and took some snaps. Then we moved around the fort and saw the birdview of the village Ramshej. Standing close to the cliffs and looking down was thrilling. 

  After spending 2 hours and having lunch, we set out on our return journey. Going down was not so difficult and hard as climbing the fort. Within 1 hour we closed climbed down safe and sound.

 Bro! It was really a great experience for us! I'd suggest you to come and visit this place.

Ashok

  

Future plan:-

I'm a lifelong learner and want to keep updated forever. For me learning new and innovative things in English language is my passion and I will love to do this continuously for my own improvement. 

 I need to be fluent and proficient in English. So I've decided to listen to native speakers of English language on YouTube or watch movies or listen to the news daily. This will certainly benefit me. I also make up my mind to read articles, search new things on Twitter.  I'll follow Twitter accounts which spread ELT practices.

Wherever I'll have opportunities to speak English, I'll prepare and present confidently. It will help me to enrich my ability to communicate. And it will also boost my confidence.

 Various websites of British Council are available and I'll explore a lot through reading blogs. If I want to be a good writer in English, I must read a lot and write a lot. Thinking in English, listening and speaking English and writing in the same language will certainly support me to achieve my goal to be a good blogger.

If I were to start this course, I would advise myself in following ways.

I should speak a lot with moderator and with my co-learners.

I shouldn't have missed any online class and any activity to be incomplete.

I should read every resource which was given before and after completing week course.

In future this will certainly help me to plan and complete a course successfully in time.