Course Outline
The Course aims to improve the language skills of the learner in order to equip them with better communicative, creative, analytical and critical abilities. It also aims to enable them to appreciate different forms and genres of literature. These aims are to be achieved keeping in mind the following grand challenges facing the nation today:
- Economic Development, its discontent.
- Urbanization, Increasing Rural and Urban gap
- Crisis of essential resources like Energy, Water
- Infrastructure, Transport, Sanitation
- Environment & Public Health
- Food security, Agriculture
- Education, Literacy
- Ethics, Society & Justice
In accordance with the principles/features laid down for all foundation courses, this course will:
1. Attempt to be trans-disciplinary and multidisciplinary in content and design.
2. Have an equal emphasis on Classroom / blackboard work and Project work in student groups of five.
3. Allow sufficient freedom to the mentor (teacher) and student to create appropriate project work and to assess the work of the projects.
4. Integrate course work with the project work to introduce the student to the fundamental issues of the course appropriately balanced with hands on applications through the projects.
5. Avoid over-burdening the student with excessive study material.
Aims and objectives
To look beyond existing boundaries of discipline, i.e. to inculcate knowledge of various other disciplines in Bengali.
To enable the students to face the challenges of everyday life and to create a general awareness towards society and environment, with focused attention to gender issue, caste problem, responsibility towards elder generation, dowry system, illiteracy, child labour etc.
Students would also be introduced to different genres of literature with short examples.
At the end of the course
The students will be able to use and communicate in the language,
Speak about themselves/their feelings/any other social issues in Bengali. Read and understand a particular text in Bengali.
Express their feelings in writing (passage or other forms). Will be able to improve their listening/reading skills.
Will be able to appreciate different forms of literature and start to express their feelings in different genres.
Target Students
The course will be open to Bengali and Non-Bengali students
Every semester, teaching will be spread over 16 weeks including two weeks for review.
Medium of Writing Examination
Medium of writing examination would be Bengali/English/Hindi
METHODOLOGY
FOR THE TEACHERS
I. At least 3 workshops will be held to enable the teachers to cope with the New approaches towards class-teaching
II. Printed and detailed study-materials would be given to equip the teachers
III. They will be guided how to cater the heterogeneous group of students according their proficiency-level
IV. How to introduce different modes, especially electronic/online materials in class and talk on them through interaction
V. How to encourage, develop and test different students with separate skills in a common class
VI. Besides these, teachers will be free to choose and consult other sources, weather it is a book/e-sources/audio cassettes/movies
FOR THE STUDENTS
VII. The students would be provided with detailed study-material prepared by teachers in workshops
VIII. They will be encouraged to consult and discuss related books/movies/e-sources other than the reading list/materials provided to them and talk/discuss about them in Bengali in class
CLASSROOM TEACHING WILL AIM AT
- Making the students aware of the special features of the language
- Aware and respond to the challenges in society
- Developing Language-skills: basic interpersonal communication skills(BICS)
- Encouraging them to take a solving approach towards these challenges
- Nurturing the creativity skill of the students
Learning Material
The learning materials will be selected from literary pieces, newspaper articles, audio-visual sources etc.
Language would be used as a tool to break the boundaries; in this process we would utilize other media: i.e. painting, drama, music, movies etc.
EXAMPLE
To discuss about environmental crisis, we would use materials available online, like Youtube shots of the dramas like Raktakarabi/Muktodhara.
Students then will be asked to interact among themselves about the film. Thus, They will learn the language. Express and exchange their views and experiences about the particular issue.
As a project they will be asked to search for one same-issue related text in Bengali.
Suggestive list of Reading Sources
1. Upendrakishore Rachanavali Upendrakishore Ray
2. Sukumar Samagra Sukumar Ray
3. Patar Banshi Shyama Prasad Sarkar (ed)
4. Writings from Leela Majumdar
5. Sandesh/Alor Fulki/Kishore Bharati
These will be used as the common source from which excerpts will be selected through workshops following the needs of a specific Unit and the stage of language ability of the student.
Chart of Task-Skill-Time-Material Composition of a Single Unit-I
Task : 1. Oral Comprehension of a listening text
Skill focus: Listening
Approx. time required: 20 minutes
Materials: Listening text/ recorded speech
Task : 2. Discussion based on a written text
Skill focus: . Speaking
Approx. time required: 30 minutes
Materials: Written Text
Chart of Task-Skill-Time-Material Composition of a Single Unit- II
Task : 3. Responding to a written text
Skill focus: Preliminary writing Approx. time required: 35-40 minutes Materials: Written Text
Task : 4. Discussion/ group work/ making a pamphlet/re-creating in a new genre
Skill focus: Comprehension and Critical and Creative Writing
Approx. time required: 45 minutes
Materials: Written Text/ News Item/ Picture/Audio-visual item
Organization of Teaching
There are six units in the course speread over 14 weeks. There would be 56 teaching periods and
14 periods for students presentation in a semester and the total number of period will be 70 (56+14). The details of the Units / themes and their distribution of periods are given below. In addition two weeks for field work/ project work / trip related activity as required by the course curriculum will be given.
UNITWISE DISTRIBUTION OF THEME & CLASSES
UNIT-I Basic values of life (10 periods)
UNIT-2 Caste problem as we see (10 periods)
UNIT-3 Gender issues (10 periods)
UNIT-4 The evil of Dowry (10 periods)
UNIT-5 Responsibilities toward older generation (08 periods)
UNIT-6 Response towards other societies around us (08 periods)
UNITWISE LIST OF ESSENTIAL READING
UNIT-I Basic values of life:
Literary Text: Bharatbarsha: Sayeed Mujtaba Siraj (Kathajatra: Bangla Galpo Sankalan. Ed. Ramkumar Mukhopadhyay, NBT, 2008, Pp 295-299)
Audio-Visual Text: Ganashatru, Satyajit Ray, 1990
UNIT-2 Caste problem as we see
Literary Text: Abhageer Swarga: Sharatchandra Chattopadhyay (Bangla Galpo Sankalan Voll 2, Sahitya Akademi, 1996)
Audio-Visual Text: Shilpi, Agragami, 1956
UNIT-3 Gender issues
Literary Text: Neemgach: Banaphul (Kathajatra, Bangla Galpo Sankalan, Ed. Ramkumar Mukhopadhyay. NBT, 2008, Pp 80)
Audio-Visual Text: Debipakkha, Raja Sen, 2001
UNIT-4 The evil of Dowry
Literary Text: Dena Paona: Rabindranath Thakur (Galpaguccha, Vishwabharati, 1401 Bangabda, Pp 11-15)
Audio-Visual Text: Dena Paona, Premankur Atarthi, 1931
UNIT-5 Responsibilities toward older generation
Literary Text: Pishima: Bani Basu (Galpasamagra Vol 2: Bani Basu) Audio-Visual Text: : Atmiyosvajan
UNIT-6 Response towards other societies around us
Literary Text: Kabuliwala: Rabindranath Thakur (Galpaguccha, Vishwabharatai, 1401 Bangabda, Pp 110-115)
Audio-Visual Text: Saptapadee, Ajay Kar, 1961
ASSESSMENT
Maximum Marks: 75 Marks
End-Semester Written Examination: 40 Marks
The written examination will test both the communicative ability of the student in its various forms like writing and comprehending. The objective is to assess their ability to comprehend a theme, vocabulary acquisition, sentence construction, basic grammar and writing.
Projects: 35 Marks
35 Marks for continuous evaluation of project work.
Students will visit and talk to people on various issues and create a reportage/short story/dialogue/one act play/a short poem base on the data collected/observations .
SUGGESTIVE TOPICS ON WHICH STUDENTS MAY WORK:
- Women and illiteracy
- Abandoned women
- Domestic violence
- Dowry
- Child marriage
- Women at working places
- Social inequality
- Technology and changing life
- Migrating people
- Environmental hazards
- Child labour
- Problems in a slum
- Life in an old age home
- Visit to a museum
- Visit to an exhibition
List of Readings: A Bibliography1.
Banaphul , Neemgach: (Mukhopadhyay,. Ramkumar,2008, Kathajatra, Bangla Galpo Sankalan. Delhi, NBT, , Pp 80)
Basu ,Bani, 2000,Pishima: (Galpasamagra Vol 2: Bani Basu), Kolkata;
Chattopadhyay , Sharatchandra ,1926,Abhageer Swarga(sarat Rachanavali), Kolkata, M.C.Sarkar&sons Pvt. Ltd;
Ray, Sukumar,,Sukumar Samagra ,Kolkata Ray, Upendrakishore ,1984, Upendrakishore Rachanavali,Kolkata;
Sarkar , Shyama Prasad(ed)2008 , Patar Banshi ,Kolkata;
Siraj , Sayeed Mujtaba, , Bharatbarsha:, (Mukhopadhyay , . Ramkumar(ed), Kathajatra: Bangla Galpo Sankalan, 2008, Pp 295-299,Delhi,NBT);
Thakur , Rabindranath, Dena Paona: (Galpaguccha, Vishwabharati, 1401 Bangabda, Pp 11-15);
Thakur,Rabindranath, Kabuliwala (Galpaguccha,, Vishwabharati, 1401 Bangabda, Pp 110-115);
Audio-visual sources:
Atmiyosvajan,Raja Sen 1998
Dena Paona, Premankur Atarthi, 1931; Debipakkha, Raja Sen, 2001
Ganashatru, Satyajit Ray, 1990
Saptapadee, Ajay Kar, 1961
