Prakruti Bhatt's Assignments

Published in 1980, J.M Coetzee's Waiting for the Barbarians, can be considered a relevant text in our times because of its portrayal and discussions on how power relations work in a culture, nation or human society at large. The novel follows the experiences of an unnamed magistrate who works for an unnamed Empire. Through the magistrate's experiences Coetzee presents the horrifying realities of colonial life; of the violent tortures exacted upon the supposed 'Barbarians'. The novel is a good example of the postcolonial discussion on how the 'Other' is constructed and narrated as well as looked at by the one in power. The most intriguing part of the novel was the Magistrate's experience with the Barbarian girl. After being exploited and physically tortured by Colonel Joll, the girl is looked at with pity by the Magistrate when he finds her begging in the streets. He takes her to his room and treats her wounds. The Magistrate's feelings towards the...

The three day expert lectures with Prof. Attanu Bhattacharya were truly informative as well as inspiring. Not only did the students learn a lot about ELT but also about the current trends in the field of research in language and literature. Attanu sir's interactive teaching technique made the entire class attentive and curious to know more about the subject. Following are some of the points that were discussed: ELT- Historical Perspective: Attanu sir discussed how language learning was an important aspect of education even in the ancient times; and also how it formed an essential part of education even before the rise of traditional educational system. He also discussed how the classical languages like Greek, Latin, Sanskrit, German were taught and why were they important to teach. He also discussed how logic, philosophy, rhetoric, grammar, etc. were  also incorporated in the early language classroom to understand how they affected language learning. Literature for Language T...

Hello Readers! We all know, how, with the arrival of the internet as well as rapid technological advances, language learning has become easier than ever. We no longer need well built and equipped classrooms to learn language. Neither do we need a set time to do so. There are numerous web tools available today which make language learning, a fun and learn activity. This post is dedicated to the discussion of such web tools. Following are the web tools (some old, some new) and the description of the language element they focus on: 1) Duolingo : This tool helps with learning a foreign language. This tool allows users to use their home language/mother tongue, and learn a foreign language. It focuses mostly on listening and speaking skills. The tool is available in, both, website as well as mobile application format. It also includes gamification element and allows the learner to set day to day learning goals. 2) Penzu: This tool focuses on the reading and writi...

This post is in response to the questions asked here Click here to have a brief overview of the novel 2) Adrian's definition of history can be agreed with to a great extent. Even though this definition isn't really his (he quotes Patrick Lagrange, a French historian), the definition can be agreed with to a great extent. If we were ever asked to prove whatever we consider as history, we would realize how the half of it would be nearly impossible to prove. The reason being the 'inadequacies of documentation' as the definition mentions. Another important aspect is that of memory. One can never be sure of one's memory. Because a memory can be looked at differently by different people. In fact half of what we consider our memory are things told to us by others; and not what we have actually witnessed. Therefore it can be said that memory is bound to be imperfect. It is seldom reliable. But then the question remains: Why then is history, a certainty? Well one answer ...