DEH Seminar on “Teaching English at the Tertiary Levels”. Department of English & Humanities (DEH) at the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh arranged a seminar on 29th October 2009 on “Teaching English at the Tertiary Levels.” Young lecturers from United International University, Presidency University and University of Liberal Arts gathered at ULAB auditorium to share their English language teaching experiences with teachers and students of ULAB.

Ms Anjuman Ara from UIU talked about “Students’ performance gap in affective and cognitive factors: some problems and suggestions.” She explained that students may have poor performance, especially in productive skills, because they are psychologically affected by the social environment of the classroom. As solutions to reduce those problems, she pointed out that (a) materials & activities should be related to students’ personal experience (cognition) to arouse positive intention (affective concerns), (b) Grammar and vocabulary, in speaking & writing need to be interesting and based on learners’ needs in order to avoid boredom and, finally, (c) challenges of collaborative learning should be met so that overall performance and development is not affected.

The second speaker, Mr. Jamal Hossain was from Presidency University and his topic for presentation was entitled “To Do or Not To Do: The Dilemma of Code Mixing in the EFL/ESL Classroom.” He addressed a very theoretical question on the role of native language in an EFL/ESL classroom. In his research on this issue he found that a language teacher sometimes needs to use L1 in classroom activities since his/her aim is to teach students in an easy and interesting way and make them understand clearly.

Mr. Zafor Mohammad Mahmud, lecturer at ULAB talked about the effective teaching of reading skills from his paper on “Teaching English through Reading Skills.” Among many other aspects, he discussed several reasons for difficulty in reading which can be reduced by Schema theory of reading. It consists of background knowledge of formal schemata (knowledge about the structure of a text), content schemata (knowledge about the subject matter of a text or background or world knowledge) and linguistic schemata (one’s knowledge of lexicon, syntax and semantics). Activating one’s schemata can best be done at three stages which are pre-reading, during reading and post reading. Following certain principles at each stage, one can find effective benefits from reading.

The last speaker of the seminar was Mr. S. M. Ariful Islam from ULAB who talked about certain measures for changing learners’ phobia into passion. In his presentation on “Turning Phobia into Passion: Attitudinal Factors in Transformational English Language Learning,” he emphasized that a teacher may conduct pair work in classroom activities in a friendly environment where the teacher’s role would be a democratic facilitator’s. A teacher may continuously try various other techniques through ‘Action Research’ to ensure successful English language learning by turning learners’ negative attitude to English into positive.

Released by Office of HoD, DEH, ULAB

The second session of Shakespeare Study Circle, Bangladesh (a literary organization of Department of English and Humanities), ULAB was held on Thursday October 29th 2009 in the University Board Room with Professor Mohit Ul Alam, Head of DEH, presiding. 

The topic of discussion was “The Imperial Design and Shakespeare,” presented very illuminatingly by Prof Alam, in which, drawing on very latest information in the field, he showed Shakespeare to have been working in a Eurocentric paradigm of empire that started, as Giambattista Vico, an eighteenth-century philosopher, claimed, with the ‘poetic geography’ formed by the ancient Greece and came down to the British through the Roman imperial poetics. He also showed how Shakespeare was used as an imperial agency both to propagate imperialism and to contain resistance during the colonial expansion, particularly when the British were seeking to enforce a secular pedagogy in the British India. He also said that in that cultural performance, however, Shakespeare had also been largely appropriated by the colonized to form their own response of resistance to the imperialistic hegemony. 

Mr. Kazi Nabil Ahmed, Member, BoG, ULAB, commented that in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar there is a noticeable toning down of Caesar’s character which might be a proof that Shakespeare probably had played the role of a saboteur so far as the idea of the empire was concerned. He also sarcastically remarked that Macaulay’s ghost was to be found still present in our society.

Professor Nurul Karim Nasim, Chairman, Department of English, Atish Dipankar University, said the postcolonial studies paradoxically had essentialized Shakespeare in its bid to decanonize him.  

Mr. M. Shafiqul Islam, an additional secretary of the government, and a Shakespeare buff, quoting some lines from Julius Caesar, opined that though Shakespeare mightn’t have anticipated a British India, but it’s the empire of Shakespeare that persists.

Mr Zakir Hossain Mazumder, an assistant professor of DEH, commented that Prof Alam’s talk had adopted the mode of ‘thick description’ recently in vogue in literary criticism, while Mr Asif Iqbal, Lecturer in English, Stamford University, remarked that in Shakespearean movies the imperialistic message is always ironically twisted. 

The second part of the programme consisted of an introduction of nine new books on Shakespeare that have recently been acquired by SSC,B. Nasrin Islam, Lecturer, DEH, introduced four of them while Musarrat Shameem, another Lecturer of DEH introduced the remaining five. 

The books introduced were: 

1. David Crystal, ‘Think on my Words’: Exploring Shakespeare’s Language (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008);
2. Stephen Greenblatt, Shakespearean Negotiations (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988);
3. Lemuel A. Johnson, Shakespeare in Africa (And other venues): Import and the Appropriation of Culture (Trenton, NJ and Asmara, Eritrea: Africa World Press, Inc., 1998);
4. Dick Riley, Shakespeare’s Consuls, Cardinals, and Kings: The Real History behind the Plays (New York and London: Continuum, 2008);
5. Germaine Greer, Shakespeare’s Wife (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 2007);
6. Bhim S. Dahiya, ed., Postmodern Essays on Love, Sex, and Marriage in Shakespeare (New Delhi: Viva Books, 2008);
7. Courtney Lehmann, Shakespeare Remains: Theatre to Film, Early Modern to Postmodern (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 2002);
8. Stephen Greenblatt, Renaissance Self-Fashioning: From More to Shakespeare (Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 1980, 2005); and
9. Emma Smith, The Cambridge Introduction to Shakespeare (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007).

Fnally, the session ended with the reading of the Funeral Scene from Julius Caesar by Mr Abdullah Al Mamun (Brutus) and Mr S. M. Ariful Islam (Antony), both lecturers of DEH.

It may be mentioned here that Shakespeare Study Circle, Bangladesh was founded in April 2009, was enlisted by the Shakespeare Institute Library, Stratford-upon-Avon, and its first session was held on 25th April 2009.

Released by Office of HoD, DEH, ULAB

The Communications Department of the University of Liberal Arts is pleased to announce the ULAB Photo Contest 2009, themed "The Spirit of Life". An exhibition of the photos will be held from November 8-12 in the ULAB lobby and is open to the public. Awards for the best photographs will be awarded on November 12. Internationally renowned Bangladeshi photojounralis and Vice Principal of Pathshala Mr. Abir Abdullah will be the special judge.

The 12 best photographs will also be published in the ULAB 2010 Calendar, along with the photographer's image, name, and department. This will encourage students to build up their professional portfolios and take pride in their finished work.

The exhibition is open to the public from 10:00am-5:00pm, Sunday-Thursday, November 8-12, 2009.

 The awards ceremony will be held on Thursday, November 12, at 11:00am in the ULAB Auditorium. Chief Guest of the awards ceremony will be the renowned Bangladeshi journalist Mr. Abed Khan.

Media Studies and Journalism (MSJ) Department students will help the international non-government organization Save the Children Australia formulate its communication campaign plan on child rights. 

The 14 students enrolled in the course “Development Communication and Advocacy” – facilitated by ULAB Faculty Marium Akther – are required to generate a public awareness plan (to include communication objectives, evaluation measurements, sender, message, channel and environmental strategies) together with prototypes of communication materials (such as posters, brochures, pamphlets, etc.).  Save the Children will use the student works as inputs for their communication campaign plan aimed at increasing awareness among children in the country’s six divisions regarding the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child.  The campaign will start in early 2010.

To initiate the activity, Save the Children Team Leader G. Nayeem Wahra will deliver a talk on child rights in general and on the UN charter in particular on October 28, 1:10 to 2:30 at the Seminar Room, Campus B.  In mid-November, the students will have an exposure trip to witness firsthand the activities of the NGO around Dhaka City.  On December 17, students will present their communication campaign plan to NGO representatives and to MSJ Head Jude Genilo.  The said campaign plan and the prototypes of communication materials will be included in the department’s curriculum integration exhibit entitled “Dialogues Amidst Contradictions: Dialectics of Family Relations in Contemporary Bangladesh” on December 21.  To show their appreciation, the NGO will give a certificate to students who have demonstrated outstanding work.

            Save the Children is committed to child protection.  Its vision is of a world which respects and values each child, listens to children and learns, and where all children have hope and opportunity.  Its mission is to fight for children’s rights and to deliver immediate and lasting improvements to children’s lives worldwide.  ULAB’s MSJ course Development Communication “introduces students to the definition, theories and approaches of development communication.  It also looks at the types and techniques of development support communication, diffusion of innovation, and the role of communication in agriculture, health, environment and community development.  It places emphasis on public awareness campaign planning, which will be the final requirement of the course.”