Dear students,
Congratulations on joining the English class. It's great that you've decided to take this major stride towards learning better English because poor English shrinks you a lot. Better English means clear English, and correct English. Since language is shared, then your spelling and grammar must follow the accepted standard pattern. Good grammar prevents ambiguity. Make sure you at least know the parts of speech. Know the difference between active voice and passive voice. Also learn the basics of capitalization and punctuation.
You need to learn the grammar by all means because you have to follow the rule. It is said that if you line up all the cars in the world end to end, someone would be stupid enough to try and overtake them. Therefore, honor your grammar more than your constitution. You may say that grammar is not so much necessary to read, it comes automatically. And if I agreed with you we'd both be wrong.
Everything we do, we do in the classroom. Instant messaging! No offline. Because, you know that a bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station. So I never accept your homework at my table. In our class, you will definitely learn. Our slogan is “Keep learning”. Learn more about the bloopers, howlers, and grammar, whatever. Never let the brain idle.' An idle mind is the devil's workshop.' And the devil's name is Alzheimer's.
Some of the things you will learn in our class which you can never learn them elsewhere are:
Santa's helpers are subordinate clauses.
The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter is uncopyrightable.
Facetious and abstemious contain all the vowels in the correct order, as does arsenious, meaning 'containing arsenic.'
There is a seven letter word in the English language that contains ten words without rearranging any of its letters, 'therein' – the, there, he, in, rein, her, here, ere, therein, herein.
The dot over the letter 'i' is called a tittle.
'Underground' is the only word in the English language that begins and ends with the letters 'und.'
The things that come to those who wait maybe the things left by those who got there first. So come first, and enjoy! Don't worry — we won't SPAM you even if you become late! Here we believe that everyone has a photographic memory. Some just don't have film. You're never too old to learn something stupid. And age doesn’t make you forgetful. Having way too many stupid things (like grammar rules) to remember makes you forgetful.
There is no pleasure in having nothing to do; the fun is in having lots to do and not doing any. The only person, who is with us our entire life, is ourselves. Be ALIVE while you are alive. On the keyboard of life, always keep one finger on the Escape key. Remember, no matter where you go, there you are!
Have a great day or pretend to!
Grammatically yours,
Rebat Kumar Dhakal
Saturday, March 19, 2011
A LETTER TO MY STUDENTS
08 February 2011
My dear students,
As a teacher, I cherished the moments with you in your class. Yours was the most wonderful class I have ever had. I found your class wonderful for the reasons I cannot fathom. There are moments in the classroom when I can hardly hold the joy. When my students discover uncharted sphere to explore, when the pathway out of a thicket opens up before us, when our experience is illumined by the lightning-life of the mind – then teaching is the finest work I know. But at other moments, the classroom is so lifeless or confused–and I am so powerless to do anything about it that my claim to be a teacher seems a transparent sham.
Particularly, I loved the way you did your group work, or even creative home assignments. The creative writing classes really flabbergasted me. You showed your utmost creativity while replying a Korean student (Ever cried for your country?) and convincing a difficult friend about study (Helpful Hariet). Yet I have to confess the fact that I could not expose you to creative writing adequately. One thing for sure I will never forget about your class is the activity with ‘The Soundtrack of my Life’. We are enjoying your songs in the staff room even today. Some other teachers are also thankful to you for the job you did.
One thing I can proclaim about your class is that you might not be very good speakers, but are definitely the most patient listeners. One more thing I still don’t know about you: you look so dumb (in the sense, you have a quiet classroom), but talk outside very openly and of course in the facebook very extemporaneously. I wonder whether you are like Rafaella (a character in a novella “Secret Friends” by Elizabeth Laird; if you had been in the optional English class, I would not have to explain) – being in the hard shell at school and a cheerful butterfly at home. But I know you don’t have that terrible reasons as Rafaella had for being different at school. I guess it’s your nature, but it should not be your inhibition. Or was it simply that you acted that way in my class? I was more worried about Karuna and Sirapa whom I rarely found interactive. They were the most patient creatures who probably made the rest so. When I remember my high school days, I wonder how you people have been listening to the teachers for eight periods. I salute your forbearance! I used to feel dead bored. And you rarely showed it to me though it was the last period we had the English class.
Kabindra and Dipanjan were the only two little boys who sometimes had illogical reasons for excuse. And some students like Nabin, Iman, Ravi were clever enough. If they had not completed the homework they would come to the entrance of the staffroom and ask me for allowing the class to visit the library. Just kidding! Actually all of you handed in your tasks in time. I can clearly say that yours was the only class which was allowed to visit the library very often. I don’t know whether that was a plus for you or a minus. Again, it was not that you were privileged to visit the library; actually you deserved that.
As an English teacher, statistics and numerical are not my suit. You did notice that I would miss one or the other number in series while giving out grammar exercises. But I am good at solving Sudoku. I do it simply because one of my math teachers had said that math is like calisthenics for our brain. For me it really doesn't matter if I do them 'right’. What matters is that I TRY to do them.
Let me talk about teachers in general, as Anne Frank said that teachers are the most unpredictable creatures on earth, I think that’s true. You rarely know how much marks you will get out of your intensive preparation and impressive writing. They tend to be quite bitter and cheer themselves up by marking everyone’s papers up with red ink. Remember, this “they” includes me, too! Each time you forget a comma, or write a lower case i, or miss a step without hampering the right solution, they knock off half the score. Like fertilizer, their wisdom is most useful spread thinly, but pretty bad when it’s in a great heap in front of you.
Turning to parents, for the progress of the students, supportive, involved parents are crucial. But some parents are ‘helicopter parents’ – they hover too much. Teaching at times is not joyful, we get jaded too. Disrespectful students and belligerent parents take a toll on us. Thank goodness! I have to face neither of them till date. Still, I have seen parents who are ECOs of their own companies come in and tell teachers how to run their classrooms. I would never think to go to their offices and tell them how to do their jobs.
I do not mean to leave a mark on your hearts, nor am I successful to leave you with a solid knowledge of English. I simply tried to convince you that you can do anything you want if you use your hearts and minds as fuel for your goals in life. I just tried to inculcate in you the passion to discover more on your own. I am not so much a ‘teacher’ but I am a fellow human being who tried to help you learn. Thank you for being my students for 2 years. I took more out of your class than I have ever taken out of any class before. Actually I experimented some language exercises on you, and I am happy that (they might not be very much successful,) they were not failures. I have to apologize if you did not like that but I intentionally made you the guinea pigs. Thank you so much for all that you’ve done this year and the year before. You made English class an entertaining place to be, learn and laugh! Your class presentations (during revision sessions) were very much innovative and resourceful. You had prepared intensively well. If you had begun the session with that, OMG I could have been laid off from the job! I am thankful to you that you helped me survive and be in the school with you.
Let me say ‘Das bidaniya’ as you are passing out. Maybe not ‘Good-bye’.... just ‘See you later’.
Signed with all best regards,
Rebat Kumar Dhakal
Your English teacher
p.s. I hope you are having a nice time after the exams! Wish you all the best for outstanding results! ‘Omigosh! That’s it! Stick a fork in me – I’m done!’ these are some of the things you might say if you get lesser marks than you have expected, but it’s not the end of the world!
My dear students,
As a teacher, I cherished the moments with you in your class. Yours was the most wonderful class I have ever had. I found your class wonderful for the reasons I cannot fathom. There are moments in the classroom when I can hardly hold the joy. When my students discover uncharted sphere to explore, when the pathway out of a thicket opens up before us, when our experience is illumined by the lightning-life of the mind – then teaching is the finest work I know. But at other moments, the classroom is so lifeless or confused–and I am so powerless to do anything about it that my claim to be a teacher seems a transparent sham.
Particularly, I loved the way you did your group work, or even creative home assignments. The creative writing classes really flabbergasted me. You showed your utmost creativity while replying a Korean student (Ever cried for your country?) and convincing a difficult friend about study (Helpful Hariet). Yet I have to confess the fact that I could not expose you to creative writing adequately. One thing for sure I will never forget about your class is the activity with ‘The Soundtrack of my Life’. We are enjoying your songs in the staff room even today. Some other teachers are also thankful to you for the job you did.
One thing I can proclaim about your class is that you might not be very good speakers, but are definitely the most patient listeners. One more thing I still don’t know about you: you look so dumb (in the sense, you have a quiet classroom), but talk outside very openly and of course in the facebook very extemporaneously. I wonder whether you are like Rafaella (a character in a novella “Secret Friends” by Elizabeth Laird; if you had been in the optional English class, I would not have to explain) – being in the hard shell at school and a cheerful butterfly at home. But I know you don’t have that terrible reasons as Rafaella had for being different at school. I guess it’s your nature, but it should not be your inhibition. Or was it simply that you acted that way in my class? I was more worried about Karuna and Sirapa whom I rarely found interactive. They were the most patient creatures who probably made the rest so. When I remember my high school days, I wonder how you people have been listening to the teachers for eight periods. I salute your forbearance! I used to feel dead bored. And you rarely showed it to me though it was the last period we had the English class.
Kabindra and Dipanjan were the only two little boys who sometimes had illogical reasons for excuse. And some students like Nabin, Iman, Ravi were clever enough. If they had not completed the homework they would come to the entrance of the staffroom and ask me for allowing the class to visit the library. Just kidding! Actually all of you handed in your tasks in time. I can clearly say that yours was the only class which was allowed to visit the library very often. I don’t know whether that was a plus for you or a minus. Again, it was not that you were privileged to visit the library; actually you deserved that.
As an English teacher, statistics and numerical are not my suit. You did notice that I would miss one or the other number in series while giving out grammar exercises. But I am good at solving Sudoku. I do it simply because one of my math teachers had said that math is like calisthenics for our brain. For me it really doesn't matter if I do them 'right’. What matters is that I TRY to do them.
Let me talk about teachers in general, as Anne Frank said that teachers are the most unpredictable creatures on earth, I think that’s true. You rarely know how much marks you will get out of your intensive preparation and impressive writing. They tend to be quite bitter and cheer themselves up by marking everyone’s papers up with red ink. Remember, this “they” includes me, too! Each time you forget a comma, or write a lower case i, or miss a step without hampering the right solution, they knock off half the score. Like fertilizer, their wisdom is most useful spread thinly, but pretty bad when it’s in a great heap in front of you.
Turning to parents, for the progress of the students, supportive, involved parents are crucial. But some parents are ‘helicopter parents’ – they hover too much. Teaching at times is not joyful, we get jaded too. Disrespectful students and belligerent parents take a toll on us. Thank goodness! I have to face neither of them till date. Still, I have seen parents who are ECOs of their own companies come in and tell teachers how to run their classrooms. I would never think to go to their offices and tell them how to do their jobs.
I do not mean to leave a mark on your hearts, nor am I successful to leave you with a solid knowledge of English. I simply tried to convince you that you can do anything you want if you use your hearts and minds as fuel for your goals in life. I just tried to inculcate in you the passion to discover more on your own. I am not so much a ‘teacher’ but I am a fellow human being who tried to help you learn. Thank you for being my students for 2 years. I took more out of your class than I have ever taken out of any class before. Actually I experimented some language exercises on you, and I am happy that (they might not be very much successful,) they were not failures. I have to apologize if you did not like that but I intentionally made you the guinea pigs. Thank you so much for all that you’ve done this year and the year before. You made English class an entertaining place to be, learn and laugh! Your class presentations (during revision sessions) were very much innovative and resourceful. You had prepared intensively well. If you had begun the session with that, OMG I could have been laid off from the job! I am thankful to you that you helped me survive and be in the school with you.
Let me say ‘Das bidaniya’ as you are passing out. Maybe not ‘Good-bye’.... just ‘See you later’.
Signed with all best regards,
Rebat Kumar Dhakal
Your English teacher
p.s. I hope you are having a nice time after the exams! Wish you all the best for outstanding results! ‘Omigosh! That’s it! Stick a fork in me – I’m done!’ these are some of the things you might say if you get lesser marks than you have expected, but it’s not the end of the world!
MY DEAR STUDENTS
My dear students,
Hesitation heightens the gravity of things. So please wake up. There is no one who knows everything. Even the god has forgotten so many things to do only because he had a little knowledge. He forgot to make you bright, and me be able to sharpen you. But you must rise and shine because there is no one who understands your ability better than yourself.
I do not see what you mean when you say you get nervous when you start asking a question. I see, you are threatened by the change inherent in learning and by the fear that you will appear foolish. Mind! If you ask a question, you will be a fool for 5 minutes. If you do not, you’ll be a fool forever. It’s up to you to decide what you want to be – a fool for 5 minutes or a fool forever. A problem, as I feel, you commonly wrestle with is the fear of making mistakes and thinking that not trying at all is the best way to avoid mistakes. Not only do you not always recognize your mistakes, but when your attention is drawn to them, you often cannot correct them; you may even commit another error in trying to do so. Please go on making mistakes and learning from your mistakes. Marva Collins has said, ‘If you cannot make a mistake you cannot make anything.’ Yet remember – IF YOU DO NOT LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKE, THERE IS NO SENSE MAKING THEM! Ronald E Osborn has rightly said, “Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you’ll never grow.” Don’t you want to grow? I think making a mistake is a strategy you apply while learning a new thing. We cannot begin to describe something until we are aware of its existence. Therefore we should know that you have made a mistake. From the study of the errors you have made we will be able to infer the nature and level of your knowledge at that point in your learning career and discover what you still have to learn. It is very telling in that the making of errors is a strategy you apply in learning a new thing. If you are made aware of such errors, it serves as a feedback for correction. Your mistakes show us (the teachers) where things are unclear to you and hence we know where to work further.
There are many pitfalls on the way to life’s highway. You may fall lots of times and be tired. Are you already tired? You know, Oliver Goldsmith has said that ‘Success consists of getting up just one time more than you fall.’ Are you ready to get up one time more than you fall? I am quite sure you are. If you were not, you’d be lying somewhere in the sidewalks.
To learn is your personal responsibility. So why do you run away from your responsibility? You can never escape from the things you must do. And when noble things are to be done, the sooner the better. So please form the habit of asking anything to the Mr. Fixit any time you face with a problem. A problem is meant to be solved, nothing is impossible, anything can be done, no matter it takes time. You see what people say ‘Nothing is impossible because the word ‘impossible’ itself says that ‘I (’) m possible’. If you think you cannot do it correctly, the other fellow is busy making mistakes and going ahead. When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate step to correct it. Do not get afraid of being criticized. The poor fellows will criticize only because they cannot do it themselves. Take it to your heart what Oscar Wilde has said, “The critic is one who knows the price of everything but value of nothing.” So why do you trust the poor fellow who knows value of nothing? Is he really wiser than you are? Even if you think you cannot do much better, never quit striving for the best. You may be disappointed if you fail but you’ll be lost if you don’t try. So please follow this dictum—try try until you die. One of my students – Nisha Ghimire (Class VIII, 2009) once had come with a quote - ‘Try, try even if you fail, but don’t fail to try.’ So why should you fail to try? I say there is NO WAY you are going to resign yourself against those failures. You must immediately get back on your feet and be able to fully bet on the entire potential that you have kept intact inside you. Now I am telling you honestly that all the conditions are here for you to join the winners’ side, the side of those who never quit trying.
Please don’t worry that you are lagging behind. It is not the solution any way. Really worry often gives a small thing a big shadow. Do not worry even when your rivals imitate you. As long as they follow you, they cannot pass you. Be proud you are the leader of your own rivals.
Believe in yourself. Think you can do and you really can. Unless you have a little faith in yourself, how can others have a bit of faith in you? Under no circumstances should you underestimate your ability. To underestimate oneself is committing moral suicide. And the greatest of all faults is to imagine you are none. You may not be very good at utilizing your skills and talents but you do deserve to possess them. Never in your life should you think that you are a know-nothing. Who knows everything? It bears repeating here that even god, if he is the maker of us, has forgotten to make us what we are supposed to be at this time. To this standpoint, I clarify you that you must realize the worth of learning, not just the dream of what you will be tomorrow. If you have no realization that you should study hard for you to live the life of today, not just to prepare for tomorrow, your mere wish of doing excellent in whatever you do would take you nowhere. The moment of realization, so to speak, is worth thousands of prayers. I remember one of my student of Grade 5 Swechchha Mahat (2007) bringing out one thought for ‘Thought of the Day’ – “Hands that serve are holier than the lips that pray.” Show by your action rather than telling that you’ll do.
No less challenging than passing an examination is the careful and thorough preparation for it. I see many of my students not being serious in studies even when the exam is at hand. I may be wrong to think that they do not feel exam as a standard setter because they will automatically be promoted to the upper class even if they cannot do well in the exams. Maybe they were well prepared in advance and feel no need of pondering over the note given by the teachers and read in a parrot-fashion. To express my dissatisfaction about the interest of our present generation in study, I feel pity on the way they take study. Maybe the courses are not of their choice, or they do not like the way the teachers teach or so so. In connection with this matter, let me tell you a small incident – when I entered the class (class 6, 24 Aug,2008), I saw only about 50 per cent of students in the class as others had gone for the rest room or to the tap. Again, some students asked me to permit them to go out. When I sat on the chair and started filling up the lesson details in the log book, a boy student came to me and handed me a chit with a thought for ‘Thought of the day’. Meanwhile some other students were also permitted to go out. I was still pondering on the chit with my head down. There was dead silence in the class. I was amazed at this stunned silence. My class could never be such pin-drop silent. I was smiling at this silence and when I raised my head, I saw the most pleasant sight— there were just six students out of forty in the classroom. If I am taking the liberty to tell you all of this, it is because I truly want to make you be able to understand the meaning of being educated. Let me tell you of another anecdote that is going to teach you the value of being educated. On 19 May 2009, I’d assigned the students of class 8 ‘A’ some class work. All students were busy doing their task. Meanwhile I was monitoring the class; I found one girl student Karishma Khadka copying answer from a boy student’s note book. Actually, she was completing her homework of another subject that was to be handed in the following period. When I caught her cheating the answer, she tried to hide the copy into her lap. I asked for the copy to see what she was writing. I found that her last sentence read ‘IT IS EASY TO CHEAT.’ Then I read the sentence aloud to the class, the class had a good giggle. Actually, she was writing the difference between single entry book keeping and double entry book keeping. And that very sentence was placed under the column of single entry book keeping. I do not know whether the point was right. What I suggest you at this point is that if you don’t know the answer, don’t copy it from somebody else without understanding. That never makes you know the answer, instead you can make your own try at doing that once, and if you can get neither head nor tail of the task, leave it. Do not do that work. Unless you have a very basic concept of the task or are given some information, nobody expects anything substantial from you. You can come empty-handed. If you copy from others, how the teachers take – you know it and they do not have to teach you the content again – but the reality is you were in the dark and the consequence is you are in the dark again. So please do not do such home works that are beyond your current level. It does not mean that you should not try at all. You can at least make a rough answer that should not necessarily be correct. The greatest comedy of our life is that every time we want to do the things correctly and to do them follow the wrong way. You may ask why the teachers give such difficult task. Simply because THEY WANT TO LEARN FROM YOU. They give such questions knowing that you cannot do it well, they just want to see your current level of understanding of the topic. This actually makes teaching learning easier and fruitful. The meaning of being educated is not given by completing your task by hook or by crook. Being genuine and trying genuinely is what is sought of you. You are not compelled to finish your task if you genuinely do not get anything of it. If you do otherwise it makes yourself lag behind. Did you get what I mean? I suggest you to take the difficult path that leads to perfection rather than the easier path that leads to destruction. So take the difficult path for learning (i.e. trying yourself) rather than following a readymade way (i.e. getting form your friend or anyone else). That is the true meaning of being educated.
Now let me talk about positive attitude. Unless you think positive of others, they will not think positive of you. All the positive virtues lead you every inch to success. All the negative thoughts are your worst enemies because they choke one after another your every chance of success. Let us remedy right now the negative aspects (but above all reinforce the positive and best aspects) of your present life, since everything can change very soon if we really want! You know the best way to make your dream come true is to wake up. Until you wake up and act out for fulfilling your dream, you end up sleeping and dreaming. Working out from the very onset of life can magically and swiftly change the path you are on, illuminate your future and transform your life in countless powerful and positive, ways, once and for all, now and forever.
Now that I have been working with you for a little while, you know that I am attuned to you in a very real and special sense and am always on the lookout for anything that can make your life meaningful and more fulfilling. That’s why I wanted you to know how important it is for you to develop positive attitude and to take advantage of the fact that the mentorship available to you will be utterly spectacular to your study and all. Additionally, you have many teachers who further stimulate your power and guide you to the right track.
I cannot change your life; no one can do it for you. It is you, and you alone, my students, who must do for it, and prove that indeed you want your life to change. Moreover, you must have strong desire and determination to try to apply these many ideas into your life. This can be your first step on a new path and an altogether different journey, one that taps into your real potential once and for all. This is what I want for you! I would be immensely sorry, if I were not able to have you benefit fully from these wonderful moments that we are spending together. No questions, no argument and no explanation will be necessary. But no matter what, you can still keep these ideas as my free gifts to you.
If by any chance have I hurt your feelings, please accept my sincere apologies for that. If you cannot stay without commenting on it, drop me a line when you have time.
Enjoy the work you do; do the best you can! All the very best wishes!
As always,
Rebat Kumar Dhakal
Hesitation heightens the gravity of things. So please wake up. There is no one who knows everything. Even the god has forgotten so many things to do only because he had a little knowledge. He forgot to make you bright, and me be able to sharpen you. But you must rise and shine because there is no one who understands your ability better than yourself.
I do not see what you mean when you say you get nervous when you start asking a question. I see, you are threatened by the change inherent in learning and by the fear that you will appear foolish. Mind! If you ask a question, you will be a fool for 5 minutes. If you do not, you’ll be a fool forever. It’s up to you to decide what you want to be – a fool for 5 minutes or a fool forever. A problem, as I feel, you commonly wrestle with is the fear of making mistakes and thinking that not trying at all is the best way to avoid mistakes. Not only do you not always recognize your mistakes, but when your attention is drawn to them, you often cannot correct them; you may even commit another error in trying to do so. Please go on making mistakes and learning from your mistakes. Marva Collins has said, ‘If you cannot make a mistake you cannot make anything.’ Yet remember – IF YOU DO NOT LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKE, THERE IS NO SENSE MAKING THEM! Ronald E Osborn has rightly said, “Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you’ll never grow.” Don’t you want to grow? I think making a mistake is a strategy you apply while learning a new thing. We cannot begin to describe something until we are aware of its existence. Therefore we should know that you have made a mistake. From the study of the errors you have made we will be able to infer the nature and level of your knowledge at that point in your learning career and discover what you still have to learn. It is very telling in that the making of errors is a strategy you apply in learning a new thing. If you are made aware of such errors, it serves as a feedback for correction. Your mistakes show us (the teachers) where things are unclear to you and hence we know where to work further.
There are many pitfalls on the way to life’s highway. You may fall lots of times and be tired. Are you already tired? You know, Oliver Goldsmith has said that ‘Success consists of getting up just one time more than you fall.’ Are you ready to get up one time more than you fall? I am quite sure you are. If you were not, you’d be lying somewhere in the sidewalks.
To learn is your personal responsibility. So why do you run away from your responsibility? You can never escape from the things you must do. And when noble things are to be done, the sooner the better. So please form the habit of asking anything to the Mr. Fixit any time you face with a problem. A problem is meant to be solved, nothing is impossible, anything can be done, no matter it takes time. You see what people say ‘Nothing is impossible because the word ‘impossible’ itself says that ‘I (’) m possible’. If you think you cannot do it correctly, the other fellow is busy making mistakes and going ahead. When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate step to correct it. Do not get afraid of being criticized. The poor fellows will criticize only because they cannot do it themselves. Take it to your heart what Oscar Wilde has said, “The critic is one who knows the price of everything but value of nothing.” So why do you trust the poor fellow who knows value of nothing? Is he really wiser than you are? Even if you think you cannot do much better, never quit striving for the best. You may be disappointed if you fail but you’ll be lost if you don’t try. So please follow this dictum—try try until you die. One of my students – Nisha Ghimire (Class VIII, 2009) once had come with a quote - ‘Try, try even if you fail, but don’t fail to try.’ So why should you fail to try? I say there is NO WAY you are going to resign yourself against those failures. You must immediately get back on your feet and be able to fully bet on the entire potential that you have kept intact inside you. Now I am telling you honestly that all the conditions are here for you to join the winners’ side, the side of those who never quit trying.
Please don’t worry that you are lagging behind. It is not the solution any way. Really worry often gives a small thing a big shadow. Do not worry even when your rivals imitate you. As long as they follow you, they cannot pass you. Be proud you are the leader of your own rivals.
Believe in yourself. Think you can do and you really can. Unless you have a little faith in yourself, how can others have a bit of faith in you? Under no circumstances should you underestimate your ability. To underestimate oneself is committing moral suicide. And the greatest of all faults is to imagine you are none. You may not be very good at utilizing your skills and talents but you do deserve to possess them. Never in your life should you think that you are a know-nothing. Who knows everything? It bears repeating here that even god, if he is the maker of us, has forgotten to make us what we are supposed to be at this time. To this standpoint, I clarify you that you must realize the worth of learning, not just the dream of what you will be tomorrow. If you have no realization that you should study hard for you to live the life of today, not just to prepare for tomorrow, your mere wish of doing excellent in whatever you do would take you nowhere. The moment of realization, so to speak, is worth thousands of prayers. I remember one of my student of Grade 5 Swechchha Mahat (2007) bringing out one thought for ‘Thought of the Day’ – “Hands that serve are holier than the lips that pray.” Show by your action rather than telling that you’ll do.
No less challenging than passing an examination is the careful and thorough preparation for it. I see many of my students not being serious in studies even when the exam is at hand. I may be wrong to think that they do not feel exam as a standard setter because they will automatically be promoted to the upper class even if they cannot do well in the exams. Maybe they were well prepared in advance and feel no need of pondering over the note given by the teachers and read in a parrot-fashion. To express my dissatisfaction about the interest of our present generation in study, I feel pity on the way they take study. Maybe the courses are not of their choice, or they do not like the way the teachers teach or so so. In connection with this matter, let me tell you a small incident – when I entered the class (class 6, 24 Aug,2008), I saw only about 50 per cent of students in the class as others had gone for the rest room or to the tap. Again, some students asked me to permit them to go out. When I sat on the chair and started filling up the lesson details in the log book, a boy student came to me and handed me a chit with a thought for ‘Thought of the day’. Meanwhile some other students were also permitted to go out. I was still pondering on the chit with my head down. There was dead silence in the class. I was amazed at this stunned silence. My class could never be such pin-drop silent. I was smiling at this silence and when I raised my head, I saw the most pleasant sight— there were just six students out of forty in the classroom. If I am taking the liberty to tell you all of this, it is because I truly want to make you be able to understand the meaning of being educated. Let me tell you of another anecdote that is going to teach you the value of being educated. On 19 May 2009, I’d assigned the students of class 8 ‘A’ some class work. All students were busy doing their task. Meanwhile I was monitoring the class; I found one girl student Karishma Khadka copying answer from a boy student’s note book. Actually, she was completing her homework of another subject that was to be handed in the following period. When I caught her cheating the answer, she tried to hide the copy into her lap. I asked for the copy to see what she was writing. I found that her last sentence read ‘IT IS EASY TO CHEAT.’ Then I read the sentence aloud to the class, the class had a good giggle. Actually, she was writing the difference between single entry book keeping and double entry book keeping. And that very sentence was placed under the column of single entry book keeping. I do not know whether the point was right. What I suggest you at this point is that if you don’t know the answer, don’t copy it from somebody else without understanding. That never makes you know the answer, instead you can make your own try at doing that once, and if you can get neither head nor tail of the task, leave it. Do not do that work. Unless you have a very basic concept of the task or are given some information, nobody expects anything substantial from you. You can come empty-handed. If you copy from others, how the teachers take – you know it and they do not have to teach you the content again – but the reality is you were in the dark and the consequence is you are in the dark again. So please do not do such home works that are beyond your current level. It does not mean that you should not try at all. You can at least make a rough answer that should not necessarily be correct. The greatest comedy of our life is that every time we want to do the things correctly and to do them follow the wrong way. You may ask why the teachers give such difficult task. Simply because THEY WANT TO LEARN FROM YOU. They give such questions knowing that you cannot do it well, they just want to see your current level of understanding of the topic. This actually makes teaching learning easier and fruitful. The meaning of being educated is not given by completing your task by hook or by crook. Being genuine and trying genuinely is what is sought of you. You are not compelled to finish your task if you genuinely do not get anything of it. If you do otherwise it makes yourself lag behind. Did you get what I mean? I suggest you to take the difficult path that leads to perfection rather than the easier path that leads to destruction. So take the difficult path for learning (i.e. trying yourself) rather than following a readymade way (i.e. getting form your friend or anyone else). That is the true meaning of being educated.
Now let me talk about positive attitude. Unless you think positive of others, they will not think positive of you. All the positive virtues lead you every inch to success. All the negative thoughts are your worst enemies because they choke one after another your every chance of success. Let us remedy right now the negative aspects (but above all reinforce the positive and best aspects) of your present life, since everything can change very soon if we really want! You know the best way to make your dream come true is to wake up. Until you wake up and act out for fulfilling your dream, you end up sleeping and dreaming. Working out from the very onset of life can magically and swiftly change the path you are on, illuminate your future and transform your life in countless powerful and positive, ways, once and for all, now and forever.
Now that I have been working with you for a little while, you know that I am attuned to you in a very real and special sense and am always on the lookout for anything that can make your life meaningful and more fulfilling. That’s why I wanted you to know how important it is for you to develop positive attitude and to take advantage of the fact that the mentorship available to you will be utterly spectacular to your study and all. Additionally, you have many teachers who further stimulate your power and guide you to the right track.
I cannot change your life; no one can do it for you. It is you, and you alone, my students, who must do for it, and prove that indeed you want your life to change. Moreover, you must have strong desire and determination to try to apply these many ideas into your life. This can be your first step on a new path and an altogether different journey, one that taps into your real potential once and for all. This is what I want for you! I would be immensely sorry, if I were not able to have you benefit fully from these wonderful moments that we are spending together. No questions, no argument and no explanation will be necessary. But no matter what, you can still keep these ideas as my free gifts to you.
If by any chance have I hurt your feelings, please accept my sincere apologies for that. If you cannot stay without commenting on it, drop me a line when you have time.
Enjoy the work you do; do the best you can! All the very best wishes!
As always,
Rebat Kumar Dhakal
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
AN INTRODUCTION TO PUBLIC SPEAKING CLUB
BIRENDRA SAINIK AWASIYA MAHAVIDYALAYA
SALLAGHARI, BHAKTAPUR
AN INTRODUCTION
TO
PUBLIC SPEAKING CLUB
Coordinators: Rebat Kumar Dhakal & Rajita Sharma
No of members: 30
Eligibility: For enrollment to the club, those students from class VI to X who are strongly motivated to and interested in public speaking will be eligible candidates. However, those who are already members of other clubs and want special coach for participating in any programs conducted inside or outside the Mahavidyalaya may also get extra support upon request.
Mission:
· The mission of this club is to provide a mutually supportive and positive learning environment in which every member has the equal opportunity to develop better public speaking, communication and leadership skills, which in turn foster self-confidence and personal growth.
· Bringing in guest speakers, organizing functions, and establishing networks between guest speakers and potential student speakers, and help organize mass information campaigns, and social gatherings.
· To provide an opportunity for speakers to improve their speaking abilities and to recognize the best as encouragement to all.
· To provide an opportunity to learn by observing the more proficient speakers who have benefitted from their public speaking training.
Time: Zero Hour on Fridays
Venue: Class VII, Section ‘H’ (or Recreation Hall)
Resources: Teachers, Guest Speakers
Future plan:
§ To increase the number of members in the club.
§ To organize speech competitions among the schools of the valley
§ To make and/or help the members make more presentations for enhancing the effectiveness of the programmes of the club.
SYLLABUS
1. WHAT PUBLIC SPEAKING IS
SALLAGHARI, BHAKTAPUR
AN INTRODUCTION
TO
PUBLIC SPEAKING CLUB
Coordinators: Rebat Kumar Dhakal & Rajita Sharma
No of members: 30
Eligibility: For enrollment to the club, those students from class VI to X who are strongly motivated to and interested in public speaking will be eligible candidates. However, those who are already members of other clubs and want special coach for participating in any programs conducted inside or outside the Mahavidyalaya may also get extra support upon request.
Mission:
· The mission of this club is to provide a mutually supportive and positive learning environment in which every member has the equal opportunity to develop better public speaking, communication and leadership skills, which in turn foster self-confidence and personal growth.
· Bringing in guest speakers, organizing functions, and establishing networks between guest speakers and potential student speakers, and help organize mass information campaigns, and social gatherings.
· To provide an opportunity for speakers to improve their speaking abilities and to recognize the best as encouragement to all.
· To provide an opportunity to learn by observing the more proficient speakers who have benefitted from their public speaking training.
Time: Zero Hour on Fridays
Venue: Class VII, Section ‘H’ (or Recreation Hall)
Resources: Teachers, Guest Speakers
Future plan:
§ To increase the number of members in the club.
§ To organize speech competitions among the schools of the valley
§ To make and/or help the members make more presentations for enhancing the effectiveness of the programmes of the club.
SYLLABUS
1. WHAT PUBLIC SPEAKING IS
2. ELEMENTS OF A SPEECH
i. Body language
ii. Voice
iii. Content
3. STRUCTURE OF A SPEECH
i. Beginning: Telling the audience what you are going to say
ii. Middle: Saying
iii. Ending: Telling them what you have said
[*5 Ws and linking (signaling) devices should also be taken into account]
4. SPEECH OUTLINES AND SAMPLE SPEECHES
i. Body language
ii. Voice
iii. Content
3. STRUCTURE OF A SPEECH
i. Beginning: Telling the audience what you are going to say
ii. Middle: Saying
iii. Ending: Telling them what you have said
[*5 Ws and linking (signaling) devices should also be taken into account]
4. SPEECH OUTLINES AND SAMPLE SPEECHES
5. TYPES OF SPEECHES
a. On the basis of preparation and presentation
i. Impromptu speech
ii. Prepared speech
b. On the basis of purpose
i. Narrative
ii. Demonstrative
iii. Informative
iv. Persuasive
c. On the basis of occasions
i. Introductions
ii. Award presentations
iii. Acceptance speeches
iv. Announcements
v. Bidding farewell to a person who is leaving
vi. Bidding farewell when you are leaving
vii. Eulogies
6. PUBLIC SPEAKING
i. Relaxation technique
ii. Voice technique
iii. Posture and gesture
iv. Audience skills
v. Delivery
vi. The non-verbal impression
vii. Reviewing your performance
7. MANNERISMS
a. On the basis of preparation and presentation
i. Impromptu speech
ii. Prepared speech
b. On the basis of purpose
i. Narrative
ii. Demonstrative
iii. Informative
iv. Persuasive
c. On the basis of occasions
i. Introductions
ii. Award presentations
iii. Acceptance speeches
iv. Announcements
v. Bidding farewell to a person who is leaving
vi. Bidding farewell when you are leaving
vii. Eulogies
6. PUBLIC SPEAKING
i. Relaxation technique
ii. Voice technique
iii. Posture and gesture
iv. Audience skills
v. Delivery
vi. The non-verbal impression
vii. Reviewing your performance
7. MANNERISMS
8. GUIDELINES FOR PUBLIC
9. OVERCOMING SPEECH
10. COMMUNICATION ANXIETY AND STAGE FRIGHT
11. QUALITIES OF GOOD
12. PUBLIC SPEAKING IN THE INFORMATION AGE
Monday, March 29, 2010
Article Review
A Review
of
A Tale of Complexity: The Effects of Organizational Behavior on Project Outcomes
Marie A. George, RN, BSN
Duke University School of Nursing
April 3, 2004
of
A Tale of Complexity: The Effects of Organizational Behavior on Project Outcomes
Marie A. George, RN, BSN
Duke University School of Nursing
April 3, 2004
“A Tale of Complexity: The Effects of Organizational Behavior on Project Outcomes” is a research work carried out by Marie A. George in a small, privately held healthcare software vendor (Phoenix) in New England. The study intends to research the use of different organizational and managerial practices and their perceived challenges that managers are facing and practical insights and prospects that could be applied to achieve success. Therefore, it strives to use principles of complexity theory and complex adaptive systems management to describe what could have been done differently in the past, as well as what can be done in the future.
The researcher has studied the case of a healthcare software company that was brought to the brink of destruction by absentee executive management. Actually the company was sold once and repurchased. The original owner of the software company had a style of management that was informal and unstructured whereas, the new owner was geographically remote and visited the office infrequently. Because he was remote and was under a great deal of pressure from the investor, he had to rely on the Vice President of Technology. Particularly, because of the management style of the Vice President, this changed the structure of the organization form one of informal leadership to one where the structure was Newtonian and mechanistic. According to Wheatley (1999), in the Newtonian view, organizations and projects are broken down into parts and the parts are supposed to make up the whole. Managers manage from the top, down and subordinates have little influence on decisions. While the organization chart showed the hierarchy that mixed ‘legacy’ and ‘new’ employees together, the grapevine of the company’s shadow system exposed an ‘us vs. them’ culture. Upper management did not listen to the shadow system and the organization became polarized. A consultant recommended creating cross-functional teams represented by both legacy and new employees to pool the knowledge and develop creative solutions to difficult tasks and features. This not only gave the legacy employees a feeling of security and belonging, it also served to give new management an appreciation for the value and creativity of the legacy employees, despite the fact that they did not have all the skills to support the new technology.
The study makes some recommendations like the manager of the company should adopt relationship-based leadership fostering open communication(exchange of information) and giving value to the ideas of the diversity, focusing on professional values and expertise (listening to the shadow system to avoid losing more employees until she can restore the pay cuts). Therefore, leaders should pay attention to the management of relationship rather than management roles. Similarly, the company should not fear change, but should embrace it. It is still important for the company to listen to the users and discuss their suggestions and ideas for incorporating into the new product. One way for Phoenix leadership to embrace change is to give up control. Another recommendation was to use minimum specifications since people do not have the time or resource to write extremely detailed specs for the remainder of the project. If the teams continue to meet frequently, and are allowed to communicate freely; minimum specifications will serve as a way to speed up development while fostering creativity and independence. And finally it makes a claim that to work collectively smarter is to remain in touch with those around us, both with their ideas and with their energy. And to work spiritually smarter is to pay more attention to one’s own spiritual qualities, feelings, insights, and yearnings.
By taking advantage of complexity management strategies such as creating relationship-based leadership, embracing change, using minimum specifications and working collectively and spiritually smarter, Phoenix is currently in a position to finish the software project and introduce a comprehensive innovative product into the homecare market. While Phoenix should continue to listen to its users and develop its new product according to the feedback from its beta project, the use of probes is probably not a good idea at this point. Another strategy that should be used with caution at this time is conflict management. Therefore cultivating management roles such as activist, devil’s advocate, and counselor to stimulate and manage conflict would be another alternative which could have been taken.
I liked the researcher’s style of putting the ideas in an interesting narrative way. While reading this article, I felt more like reading a story than perusing a research article that is mostly facts-and-findings loaded. I found the article worth having in my shelf to help me think about what kind of adaptive system management and different complex managerial skills I need to develop in me. I know I am not Wonder Man and I may have similar predicament in my professional career, so I think I have learned something of the management of relationships and management of roles that are worth the price in any organizations even today.
- Rebat Kumar Dhakal
10 March 2010
Organizational Behavior
M. Phil. in Educational Leadership
Kathmandu University
Balkumari, Lalitpur
Nepal
Friday, March 26, 2010
THANKS BUT NO THANKS!
THANKS BUT NO THANKS
Congratulations! I would like to say
You did a great act; I’ve more to pay,
Crossing our hearts and hope to die
God only knows, did you promise why?
A vixen, Whitish, in sheep’s clothing
In my life of you next to nothing.
You played well, Sweetie, you played well
Late chance it is to ring the romance bell.
Whatever you did, Lily, exactly right
I lie awake the whole night.
You’d know, Rosy, if took it to your heart
Love is a thorn that pierces the heart.
Fantastic love castles, all fallen down
None in the world remained one’s own.
I ought to turn over a new leaf
All were in the dark, she could have beef
She lied to her own shadow, did she?
Who is such a stoic, it is me.
No one needs to feel sorry for me,
Not at all, I need your sympathy
Leave me alone, friends, life is so
One is mine, I won’t think so
I know you all being so frank
All of my friends, thanks but no thanks.
- Rebat Dhakal
Who, you in the black hole of CalcuttaTHIRD PERSON I
Wow! My buddy, old pal, I cropped up
Hardly ever cuddled me, a stranded heart
I fable not. One led him down the garden path.
Lying in his forty-winks, throbbing head ever
Simmering blood, not high enough just for fever.
Rat-a-tat-tat! A gal in a Mack
He smiled her smile and I smiled back
Beats me how they could cross their fingers
Had a sight of everything in the garden-rosy, but.
Both all in all themselves, either flour or dust
How could such an affair ever go abreast
One backward, albeit – in the limelight next
White-collar the first, top the riches rest.
When he once was His Majesty’s guest
Paid she a king’s ransom for his quest
What a pontoon bridge-ripped them apart
Who burnt the bridge and wished to back afresh.
His shallow sleep ends, if there be some
All see-through glad-rags, would seep not love.
Anneals himself day by day on his whole part
Allows her still a small corner of his heart.
A by-word pen-man, rues the days with Judas
At times, she pays some flying visits to play him false.
Don’t leak your toothy smile at me ’gain and ’gain
Coz paramour depreciate I do even more
A seeming lovelorn, lackadaisical
All your seemly pretence but implausible
Ultimate ordeal, lovebirds bid each adieu
Walk on air, the green light got, in your own milieu.
Unhanding a small fry, be stunner more
Go off with an Adonis under his very nose.
If your wit be wondering, pester him not
Neither you can warm the cockles of his heart
Just making his toe curl won’t help you, hey!
Handed his mementos, think your natal day
Nor can you make a clean breast of it,
A real tomboy goes astray stealing a kiss.
O for a soft touch of your hand, Not.
Just for the milk of human kindness, But.
Figure out! An interesting condition she is in
Fie! Cuckold, the door creaked, the last heard he.
Wishing best of everything to his bird
Slept he the sleep that breakings knows not.
Bombshell! A pariah fiancée stoned her choice,
Would that he was alive, someone’s voice.
- Rebat Kumar Dhakal
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