SLAIN THE HIDDEN MONSTER

Are you sure your daughter or, son or, brother went to college or school this morning? Have you ever checked the mobile of your son and daughter? Have you ever visited the college where your son or daughter has been studying and checked progress report? Do you have a friendly chat with them before go to bed? Do you know who are the friends of them and how good mannered are they? Never. Sometimes. Regularly. I don't need instant answer as my students often jump after my routine questions in the classroom. Just think. Rewind the past. Since you cant correct the past, at least, you can remove the weeds and plant some flowers of your choice.
As a regular classroom teacher, I see the changing trends of the students and their concept of education. Theoretically speaking, we can blame teachers, guardians or students for the distraction of today's  students towards education. But, practically speaking, there is a  hidden monster that foils our plan. This morning, I noticed a student sitting on the last bench fidgeting with something putting both hands into his bag. For last four five days i haven't seen him in the class. It was crystal  clear that what might be the object in his bag. I approached  near by him and asked to show the book pretending as if i didn't notice him doing something else. He hesitated to show it. Then  I dragged his bag and opened . There was a copy and a DVD of a film. At edge , i found a mobile set . Its strictly prohibited to carry mobile phone in the classroom and they are  warned time and again  with the charge of hundred rupees. I kept the mobile into my pocket and later  I returned with a warning after the class. He is a representative character of more than 70 percent students in any college.
Its the time of information technology. And I am not a West Running Brook. Students can use mobile to keep in touch with their parents, to check word meaning, to navigate internet for educational information and so on. However, ninety percent students use mobile phone to send unnecessary sms, to store nude pictures and movie clips, and to hang on Facebook at anytime. Although they perform dumb silence in the classroom, they hardly concentrate on the topic. When the teacher gives notes, they rush to copy it without internalizing. As soon as the bell rings, they even lose patience to complete a running sentence. Why? Is our teaching methodology failed? Or, Education system failed? Or, there is something else hidden behind the curtain.
Many students bunk the class and go to the parks or loiter around the market with their girl and boy friends. They don't have rational fear with teachers, parents and the relatives. Every-time they are found either hanging with their I-pod , mobile or, gossiping about girls and boys. I also remember my  school days. I did some wrong deeds. But we were strictly disciplined in the classroom. We used to run away when we happened to see the teachers at distant. We never tease our parents and never returned a word when they scolded for the wrong deeds. But today time has changed all human colors. So called freedom, individualism reached before setting the station for safe landing. Individual freedom has become a social taboo with out knowing what real freedom is. Freedom is to enjoy the personal rights without interfering others rights. But we are violating others rights.
Another factor of neglecting the education is mass unemployment. Schools and colleges have become the largest factories to produce unemployment. Our students have seen their brothers going Arab countries for job, their sisters being raped in Israel. It has created a bad impression on them. So, they think that  the teachers are their enemies to design them for nothing snatching the pleasing  moment at hand. The parents also backbite about teachers in front of their children. What could we desire from such students? So, everyone must change the existing pattern of thinking negligently and must join the hands to reform system of education.
Parents should be careful about the daily activities of their children. Time has not come yet to drop out your clutching hands to the delicate fingers of your children. We have to slain the hidden monster.

we need to change the teaching habits

17th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF NELTA

Nepal English Teachers' Association (NELTA) has recently organized a biggest carnival in Kathmandu. The theme of this international conference was " Beyond Binaries: Sharing ELT Practices and Creating the Future." The venue of the programme was St. Xavier School Lalitpur. The participants of the carnival were mostly the English Teachers specially from education faculty  and  NELTA members. There were more than two thousand teachers from all over the country and abroad. The key speakers of the plenary session were Angi Malderez from the University of Leeds, Fredricka L. Stoller from Northern Arizona University, and Rod Ellis from the university of Auckland.

Fortunately, this grand occasion took place on a Saturday along two public holidays. So, many teachers got a silver opportunity to inculcate the grand narratives of white masters in their virgin head. The first day programme was held on Saturday,  18 th  Feb, one hour later than the scheduled time. The grand festival was opened with  inaugural ceremony burning seventeen candles by the chief guest and the other key speakers and the guests from abroad.The participants were seemed to be stuffed with pride and overjoyed . It reminded me  
the Discourse of Orientalism by  Edward Said and Gramchi's definition of hegemony "  the consent of the ruled to be ruled." The participants were clicking and snapping the photographs of the so called scholars of the west and some of them were occupying  the space of their mobile's memory card recording the video of the session.
After the welcome speeches, the key speakers presented their papers with the help of projector machine. We were waiting for the special guideline which could be really helpful in our teaching profession. Although their presentation was structurally perfect, I think, it could not meet the expectation of many participants. I later realized that it was more beneficial to those who studied teaching methodology in  M. Ed course than to others who studied literature like me. However , I  was happy to learn something new the  methodology in teaching second language in the classroom situation. After a long presentation of cacophonous discourse, we released ourselves from the overcrowded hall and joined the serpentine line for lunch. The time was 2:30. It showed the picture of the great depression of 1939 America where thousands of people stood on line  to receive a loaf of bread. Thanks, food was not horrible. No sooner had the concurrent sessions began than we had our lunch. The English Masters started running up and down in search of better presenter. Most of them were sitting in the white skinned presenters room without knowing the topic of  presentation. There were some senior presenters who were fortunate to have audiences standing at the back showing the whole landscape of the mouth. And  others managed some friends to listen them while presenting their papers. We learned innovative teaching methodology and skills in current situation.
At last, there was an infotainment cultural programme which really made us forget the long stress of the day. We learned about different cultural folk dances and its importance for us as a Nepali citizen sliding towards western culture.