Wednesday, May 7, 2008

HOW DO WE READ?

Reading comprehension pieces in the examinations always seem to scare people.

Strange!!!!

Reading is supposed to give us pure enjoyment and undiluted ecstasy. After all we are going through the wonderful thought processes of people who are sensitive and emotional.Come to think of it, why do people write?

Writing is a wonderful way to respond to stimulus.
An artist paints, a singer sings and a writer writes. The stimulus to write could either be internal or external. I see a beautiful flower, a radiant sunset, the snowy peaks of the Himalayas, I am moved and so I write.
It could be internal. I am happy or sad, I maybe moved by strange stirrings of the heart and the soul, and so I write.
I write a sentence. It's an opinion, a view, a thought or a simple description.
I needn't write more because what I have written is the abstraction of what I see or what I feel. Then I realise that others might be reading my line. As they cannot see my stimulus there would be a lot of grey areas in their minds. So, I start a dialogue with an imaginary reader. I describe the stimulus or I support my view point with examples. I write logical coherent sentences and soon I have a paragraph.


So, my dear students...put yourself in the shoes of the "imaginary" reader and walk down the passage with the author.
You are going to enjoy and comprehend the "stimulus" the writer had.

What are the hurdles?

WORDS obviously, COLLOCATIONS, phrases, idioms and so on.
So, we are back to the roots of words.
Thus, my dear students, don't bother about answering questions when you are reading a comprehension piece. If you can comprehend well, you will easily be able to answer the questions and pick out the answer option easily.

Remember, reading fast is really not the issue; if you read too fast, you'll miss the sensuous pleasure of the stimulus and there will be a thought disconnect...which means you have to re-read.

You'll misunderstand the authors stimulus, you'll get irritated and you will want to escape.
enough for today...tomorrow I will bring to you some short writing pieces and tell you how to read them.
"Remember, reading maketh a man."
I would like to talk to you about a word called gambit.
It originates from the Spanish word "gambetto". This means an act of tripping someone in a wrestling bout so that one can get an advantage over someone. Now, in chess, the gambit means "tripping" the opponent by sacrificing a pawn. Thus, it means a smart and well calculated move, so, we can say, the decision to lower taxes before the panchayat elections was a masterly gambit.
It could also mean the opening line of a conversation which could give one an advantage aver the other. The same root also gives rise to another word called 'gambol', which is a kind of dancing or prancing movement.
I am going to reply to the queries tomorrow.
Till then,
Good night and keep dreaming.

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

I TAKE MY FIRST STEP!

It's impossible to meet all my students physically. I kept thinking how could I reach out to all my students whenever I wanted to share a thought or I could give a hint about words, their usage, grammar pitfalls and so on. So, I thought why not start a blog. It's a blog, my dear students for you, by you and of you, but, through me. I want to bring to you nice things to read, in fact I want to teach you how to read...in short, I want to educate you.

The word educate comes from the Latin root 'educere' which means to draw out.
I want to draw out from within you the wonderful talent of thinking.
I don't want to spoon feed you.
You're not a spastic or a mentally disabled student.
You can think!

The great philosopher Descartes rightly said CogitoEergo Sum ,"I think therefore I am".
I believe that whether you are from an English medium or any other vernacular medium, you can think and you need not have any inferiority complex.
I am going to help you and through this blog I am going to send threads out to you.
Pick them up and sew them into a successful fabric.
I would like you to post your views on my blog and as I look into the heavens I am sure that somewhere down the line history is being created.
Am I being too ambitious or too optimistic?
It's for you to decide.

So lets start talking about words..Words definitely cannot be memorised..they have to be understood by their collocation.

Now what is collocation?

It is the pairing of words. Now lets look at the common collocations: adjective-nouns, adverb-verb, verb-preposition and so on.

So, whenever you come across a new word check out it's roots and also it's part of speech then create a collocation.

The word is yours for LIFE!

Let us take a word called 'foible'. It's a noun. It comes from the Latin root 'flebilis'. Now, link this word to 'feeble'. Now you realise why foible means a minor weakness or failing in character.

The root means the weaker part of the sword between the middle and the pointed end..that's where the sword might break!So, we say these are my follies and foibles. Foible has a very interesting synonym...eccentricity. Now, where is the link?

If you are eccentric you are not concentric. You do not obey what society wants you to and you break away from the fix circle. Thus, you are a fault for society.Got the link???

I'd like you look at the words this way.

So, good night my dearest students and I'll return with many more words and their collocations.