SSC English text blends lessons with life skills
Vinamrata.Borwankar@timesgroup.com
Mumbai:
For SSC students, studying the English language has
largely meant familiarizing themselves with passages and pieces from the
classics — the works of William Shakespeare and George Bernard Shaw are
par for the course. But the new text for Class X has been touted as an
attempt to merge the old school with
innovations that place language in a more contemporary setting. From
life lessons shared by Olympian Mary Kom and physicist Stephen Hawking
to the how-to of filling up an online form or writing a blog, the
content varies.
Members of the state textbook committee said the
idea was to combine academic learning with instilling life skills. “When
we started building the textbook, we had in mind the guidelines of the
National Curriculum Framework which speak about equipping students with
three important life skills —social, thinking and emotional. The
textbook takes a communicative approach and emphasizes on critical
thinking. There is a lot of activity that we have added to the text to
help students learn as they do,” said Akhil Bhosale, member of the
English language study group.
So while the bulk of the Kumarbharti textbook
continues to be rich in prose and text from authors worldwide, it
manages to introduce chapters on more current themes and personalities
that students can relate to, such as former president APJ Abdul Kalam or
the co-founder of Apple, Steve Jobs; a first-person account by Jobs is
among the chapters. A teacher said the idea was to stir the curiosity of
those who lack the reading habit. “The chapters on people they have
already heard about create a sense of interest and betters their
understanding. Those who are interested in a career in English, may make
an effort at extra reading.” The English Coursebook, which is part of
the subject, also introduces students to more activitybased learning
such as writing book reviews, filling up online forms, conducting
interviews or hosting a blog. “These activities are based on the concept
of Live English which aims to equip all students for day-to-day
situations. If they have to call a help centre, they must know how and
what to say to the person or they must be able to send a formal email,”
said Bhosale.
Revisions in the SSC text are aimed at bridging
the gap in learning outcomes between the state board and the rest.
Compared to institutions affiliated to the SSC board, CBSE-affiliated schools use texts created by NCERT, while others such as CISCE and international boards prescribe a curriculum. Schools
are allowed to pick their choice of publishers or use their resources
to teach. “If a teacher feels a particular author’s work can explain a
concept better, they pick that. The teachers also design activities that
suit their class best. We, however, understand that this might not be
possible for schools with a larger number of students,” said Sharonee Mullick, director, Singapore International School.
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