1) Mr. Rajesh Patil, Saraswati Junior college Paras, (Amravati Division).
English – Yuvakbharati (Std . XII)
A Challenging & Attractive Mixbag
Hello !
Greetings of the day !
The most awaited Grade XII English Textbook is available in digital form and the 'Lock-down' period provided an opportunity to look over the contents. Here I would like to share personal inferences and views. Please go through and save some spare time to reply. Your views, comments and suggestions are valuable for me.
So without wasting space on technical details like sections, numbers and objectives, I would prefer to discuss the contents directly.
A Journey
The whole book looks like a journey, that too, in a chronological order, starting with a lesson belonging to pre-independence era and ending with a techno savvy writer's success story. The balance tilted a bit towards Indian authors ensuring a huge relief for students regarding comprehension. But Siddharth Iyer's, 'Why we Travel' is an exception. He focuses on the philosophical side of travel. This lesson may prove a hard nut to crack, even for teachers.
But Gardiner's deep insight in mannerism, O' Henry's heart touching familiar story of Soapy and Kiran Purandare's 'Into the Wild' will certainly take learners to different levels. 'Big Data - Big Insights appears to be view section while the excercises focus on counter-view.
But the lesson 'Voyaging Towards Excellence' by Achyut Godbole is no doubt the cherry on top. The author highlights a perennial problem of lacking the speaking skills in English and the subsequent inferiority complex borne out among Marathi students. Through personal example, he explained how the study of phonetics is important to develop fluency. The lesson may prove an eye opener to people who blindly join any 'Speaking Class' and for those who advocate rot memorization and arid learning of grammatical rules.
The Anthology
Poetry section presents a galaxy of poems representing different forms. Walt Whitman's 'Song of the Open Road' symbolises freedom while, 'Indian Weavers' cover the three stages of life allegorically. Edger Guest stresses on the need to do something good everyday to earn your tomorrow while Southey's 'Inchcape Rock' sings about the eternal principle of do the wrong and face the punishment.
But the gem among these pearls of wisdom is no doubt, 'Father Returning Home', a poem composed on the backdrop of sixties, but still apt in modern times. The hollowness in the lonely life of an old person becomes stark courtesy to family members.
The third section I keep for separate consideration.
The last section has been devoted to 'Novel'. Opening with the 'History of Novel' well complemented by three lessons representing selected pieces from three different novels. It's a perfect harmony. The Sign of Four, a detective story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle deals with the opening chapters arousing curiosity among readers. 'To Sir, with Love' takes readers midway by presenting Chapter Seventeen while an exciting, thrilling and nail biting climax has been described presented in the last four chapters of 'Around the World in Eighty Days' by Jules Verne.
Challenges
The layout, inclusion of pictures, multi colour printing, fonts, proper use of Italics, abundance of language activities all contributed in making the book a kaleidoscope.
But the real challenge of execution lies ahead.
It all depends on efforts on the part of teachers to impart and make students comprehend the book.
There is a wide scope for hands on activities and creative learning sources.
I call it 'Connectors'.
For example in 'Astrologer's Day', there is a reference of anna and pie, the currency used in pre-independence period.
The present generation is mostly blank about it. I have the complete range of annas and pies along with rupees. In a village like Paras, these authentic proofs could serve as an authentic resource and it's handling can create interest among learners. One could create one's own connectors almost for every lesson and poem depending on creativity.
The book clearly indicated changes in activity sheet pattern next year. At the end of lessons, activity A7 and A5 (poetic appreciation) in the excercises related with poems speak volumes.
But.........
Another side of the Coin
As usual this book too, is not devoid of typos and discripancies. Here are some examples which may disturb a watchful reader.
Characters in the Novels
Characters in novels play a vital role. The moment one utters the title, the very next thing comes to mind is the main character. Traditionally when a selected 'piece' from a novel appears in form of a lesson in a textbook, it usually begins with an introduction of characters. The present book is no exception. These pieces arouse curiosity and it is expected that students should read the complete novel. But reality tells a different story. So at least to comprehend the lesson, students need to be familiar with characters.
The Mess
All the lessons in novel section introduced characters after the introduction of the novelist. They are divided in two groups of Major and Minor characters. Each novel has a number of characters but the selected chapters may have only some of them. So it's necessary at least to introduce those characters clearly. Presenting names of all characters may add to the confusion on the part of students. For they don't find these figures at all in the text. Let's consider each lesson separately.
4.2 ) To Sir , with Love
The lesson introduces six (06) major and twenty (20) minor characters out of which fourteen (14) has an appearance while twelve (12) remain complete strangers. Interestingly, there is no mention of Miss Dodd in the list, who presents report on History in the lesson. Another character Mr. Weston is also missing from the list. Adding to the woes, a character named Theo Watson is in the list but missing from the novel.
A well prepared student can easily trap an ill prepared teacher about such alien entries.
Ricky Braithwaite made it compulsory for the class to use 'Miss' for the girls. Readers come across Miss Joseph and Miss Phillips but in the introduction, the names appear as Moira Joseph and Euphema Phillips.
Again in the text the name appears as Miss Euphemia Phillips on page 184. On the same page names of judges and escorts got mixed.
One can also imagine how the name 'Joseph' will be pronounced in classes all over Maharashtra.
4.3 ) Around the World in Eighty Days
The lesson introduction consists of four (04) major and ten (10) minor characters out of which only the four major characters appear on the scene. Some minor characters like Thomas Flanagan, Samuel Fallentin and John Sullivan are termed as The Reform Club members in the list.while there is no mention of James Strand, Andrew Stuart, Gauthier Ralph, Lord Albemarle and Reverand Samuel Wilson.
Interestingly names mentioned in the list like Sir Francis Cromarty, John Bunsby, The Parsee Guide, Colonel Stamp Proctor, Mr. Camerfield, Mr. Mandiboy, Elder William Hitch, Mudge and Captain Speedy are completely alien to the text. Not even mentioned in the synopsis.
4.4 ) The Sign of Four
It's a detective story with less number of characters. There appears names of four (04) characters in the major and three (03) in the minor section of the list. The name of Miss Cecil Forrester appears in the text which is missing from the list.
The title is an indication of four people Jonathan Small, Mahomet Singh, Abdullah Khan and Dost Akbar with Jonathan being the Kingpin. They are mentioned only in the synopsis. At least name of the main villain could have been added in the character list along with Tonga.
The text carries many typos.
The word 'attack' written instead of 'attic' in the outline of the novel. Letters 'e' and 's' has been combined with previous words resulting in 'Greeke' and 'finals', bearing no meaning at all. 'Weaker bank account' has been written as 'Weaker banking account', Upper Norwood became 'Upper Norword', name of the newspaper 'The Times' has been mentioned as the Times, that too, twice ! 'Khidmutgar' became 'khitmutgar' and words
' reached a questionable' are written without spacing making it obscure to read.
Something to check
Considering the painstaking efforts, attractive design, variety of materials and abundance of exercises, the book raised expectations. But a cross check of the matter results in disappointment. There are certain words pointing towards negligence in proof reading. Look at some of the examples; the word 'rythmic' instead of 'rhythmic', name of the poet written as Robert South, all the letters of Edger Guest in bold type except the last one, 'Childe Herald's pilgrimage', 'celebratin' without 'g' or the apostrophe, 'a acarpenter's rule opens' etc.
Dictionary meanings given in brackets of certain words are confusing. Here are some examples;
1. cowrie - the given meaning is 'a sea animal'.
But one can't find the meaning either in Oxford or Webster's lexicon.
2. halcyon - Kingfisher, a bird which has bright colourful plumes.
The word 'plumes' is used for big feathers like that of peacock.
3. limbo - a border place between heaven and hell.
The dictionary meaning is a place of confinement (Webster's) and 'a situation in which you are not certain what to do (Oxford).
Some of the exercises do not have proper instructions and thus a challenge to your comprehension. Look at the following examples.
1. Page 75
A4 (i) The word in bold type show to+verb form
No such words follow .
2. Page 113
A3 (i) Pick out the describing words from the poem and add a noun of your own.
A table with two columns given, each one having the same title ( Toiling ) time.
The expected answers are not clear.
3. Page 217
A3 (vi) Complete
Which places/cities in India & England are mentioned/have appeared in the extract?
Also write about their importance.
There are four columns and the words are India, Importance, London, Importance.
There should have been England instead of London.
Thanks for the patient reading.
Waiting for your reply.
2) Mr. Tushar Chavan, Rashtriya Jr. College, Chalisgaon Dist. Jalgaon
New text book of Std. XII is really nice. Instead of drama, novel is introduced. It’s good move. Students will learn all types of literature. There are eight prose and eight poetry topics. All are interesting as well as challenging. Few text topics are lengthy and have hard language. Various new words are there. The prose topic like ‘Why We Travel’ is not easy to understand. The poems are very good. But to comprehend them is a test for us. We need a detailed study of these poems. We have to go line by line to understand it. We have to work hard for it. See the poem ‘She Walks in Beauty’ – by Lord Byron. Its paraphrase and appreciation both are challenging.
In the writing skill section, three new topics are included viz. Statement of Purpose, Drafting a Virtual Message and Group discussion. These will need special format and creativity. Summary writing, Note Making and Mind Mapping are included in the text book. It is good. These topics will get proper justice now.
Novel as a genre is introduced. All three novels are good to read. Sherlock Holmes is my favourite. I have read most of his stories. From childhood, I like to read detective books. ‘Around the world in 80 days’ is also one of the best adventure novels. I think Hruthik Roshan’s film ‘ Super 30’ may resemble ‘To Sir, With Love’. I didn’t read this novel.
Over all it is one of the best text books. Ice breaker and brain storming activities make it a resource book. It will help us in our class room teaching.
To set activities on the text book content is challenging. It is not an easy task. But we have to face such challenges. So be ready for it.
I appreciate the work of all the board of studies and all the concern persons who involved in this process. They did a herculean task. The selection of the literary content is really praiseworthy. This book is a blend of literature and functional English. It is a book showing modern approach. I like it very much.
Mrs. Vaishali Jane, Ajabrao Wankhede Jr. College, Kohali Tal. Kalmeshwar. Dist. Nagpur
On overlooking the text, I found some merits and some demerits of this next book .
Merits
1)Cover page is attractive because of colourful and four skills' relevant pictures along with showing the importance of ICT. It gives us rough guidelines of inner contents.
2) Introduction of authors and poets along with their photographs help us to know more about them which is really essential.
3)It is good to be given the texts of English authors as well as Indian authors.
4)Ice breakers and brainstorming activities are really nice included no.of catchy and attractive tables and web diagrams .
5)Font size is alright. Use of different colours, colourful pictures and colourful diagrams add the beauty of the book.
6) ‘Statement of purpose, virtual message writing and Flyers’ are introduced newly but it is today's need.
7) Exercise based on ‘change the voice’ and ‘use of modal auxiliary’ are asked in a different way.
8) Difficult words are given in the dark print and the vocabulary is given in the coloured margin of both sides of the text so that the readers should focus on it .
9) Poetry section is nice and some poems are challenging to learn and to teach too. ‘Father Returns Home’ this title of the poem reminds me the poem in the old course ‘Basketful of Moonlight.’
10) Summary writing, note making are remained as usual. Though group discussion is a part of practical work, it is given in the text book that is helpful for the preparation of group discussion.
Really , nicely designed the book.
Demerits
1)Though number of units are reduced, the number of contents are the same only distributed into four sections that make the text book bulky.
It is difficult to complete the syllabus within the limited time.
2) ‘She Walks In Beauty’, this poem is now in the syllabus of B.A 2nd year which is given for the students of +2. It means the selection of some poems is somewhat not considering the level of students.
3) Genre (Drama) is given but here is no drama, novel is given. May be misprinted.
But the introduction of novel is also without considering the level of students. Though the purpose of introducing the novel to the students is good, it is a part of literature and not of compulsory English.
4) Some prose and poetry are really tough to understand.
5) There is no need of eight poems. Only one poem is to be asked in the exam. Four might be sufficient.
6) Book is too vast to complete (with our and students' satisfaction ) it within the very short period.
7) Some same contents of 11th class must be there but not given.
8) The book is not prepared by considering the weak students for whom English is the most difficult subject especially for the Arts,MCMC and some rural students.
9) It is really challenging for the teachers like me who have less technological knowledge but it is the golden opportunity for us to be grabbed and acquire more knowledge.
10) This text book is good for learning varied things but somewhat difficult in the point of view for the preparation of exam.
Conclusion -Anyway, nicely designed to attract the readers but at the higher level not at the level of +2 students. It needs strong vocabulary but unfortunately students are not good at it.
Thanks.
