Friday, September 27, 2024
Friday, September 27, 2024
The Department offers courses with specialization in Linguistics, ELT, American Literature, Commonwealth Literature, Stylistics, Indian Writing in English, Literary Criticism, Women’s Studies, Classics in Translation, Literature and Films, Post-Colonial and Afro-American Literature among the electives. It provides a fairly good audio-visual back-up to teaching with the help of software from its own collection as well as from the social media. Audio and video sessions are regularly conducted synchronizing with the topics covered in the regular classes.
Most of the students who completed their studies successfully in the Department got placed as teachers of English in schools, junior and degree colleges. Some of them are pursuing research programmes at other universities and doing Bachelor of Education in different colleges and Post-Graduate Diploma in Teaching of English at the English and Foreign Languages University.
The Central Library of Satavahana University has a good collection of textbooks and reference books. The staff and the students make use of them regularly. The Department conducts library visits guided by teachers once in a week. The schedule of the supervised Library Visits is as follows: Monday by Dr PV Laxmiprasad. Tuesday by Dr V. Pradeep Raju. Wednesday by Prof G. Damodar. Thursday by Mr D. Vijay Prakash. Friday by Dr Ch. Joseleena. Saturday by Mr G. Harikrishna.
In the last week of April every year, Seven-Day Shakespeare Festival is conducted by screening seven full length Shakespeare movies for seven days (open to all) in the afternoon, by recitation of celebrated lines from Shakespearean works by students of M.A. English and by conducting a quiz and a written GK Test. In April 2018, Shakespeare books were donated by Dr E. Rajkumar of Andhra University on the eve of 400th anniversary of Shakespeare. In April 2019, books were donated by Prof G. Damodar of SU. For teaching English literature at postgraduate level, the Department has devised a novel technique of ‘Literature through Language’ imparting language and literary competencies simultaneously to the first-generation postgraduate students of English. Dr P. Dinakar of Govt Degree College, Huzurabad, introduced a new technique, “Selfie with the Textbook and the Teacher,” to motivate the students to buy the textbooks. Dr E. Srinivas Rao takes photos of the students every day with the textbooks and without textbooks to motivate all the students in the college to buy the textbooks. He encourages students to give seminars and do the tasks based on the instructions given in the textbooks. As a last resort a photo copy of the textbook is also made available in xerox centres to enable some poor students to buy it at the end. These photocopying notes of the textbook are made available one month before the semester-end examinations. Spelling Bee, Vocabulary Tests and Students Study Projects are conducted with incentives under the supervision of teachers. State level winners and supervisors are given cash prizes of Rs 5,000 by the Commissioner of Collegiate Education.
It is a proven fact that major nerves of the brain are left inactive for want of sharpening activities for students. Francis Bacon says, ‘Reading makes a full man, conference a ready man and writing an exact man.’ The dormant talent of the students goes unexplored unless it is ignited at an opportune moment. There are various instances of some people choosing writing as hobby despite being busy with their jobs. Passion for writing drives them towards it. The maiden issue of Manair Musings showcases the write-ups of students of M.A. (English). It aims at nurturing and promoting their dormant and hidden creative talent. Who knows, some of them may take up writing as their career and become popular writers too. Poetry, story writing, funny definitions and the like are encouraged to promote and nurture creativity of the students through this Students Magazine.
The birth and death anniversaries of famous writers and people are observed. A Day with RK Narayan, Raja Rao, Mulk Raj Anand, Ravindranath Tagore, Sarojini Naidu, Sri Aurobindo, Nissim Ezekiel, etc is conducted with some focus on those writers and students are encouraged to prepare wall posters on them. These posters are finally displayed in the classroom and the department library. Clipping Book with photos and information of the events, seminars and awardees of Booker Prize, Pulitzer Prize, Nobel Prize for Literature, Janapith Award, etc is also made available in the Department Library.
On the Teachers Day students are given the roles of the head and the faculty. Classroom Seminars on topics related to the texts are conducted every Monday. Mock Interviews with demos and Brain Storming Sessions are conducted to improve employability skills of the students. JAM and Tongue Twisters are given for practice to improve their fluency. Pangrams, Palindromes, Word Hubs, Words within Words, Description of Picture (DOP), Chain Word Building (CWB) like anthyakshari, Personality Development and Communication Activities are conducted periodically to improve the life skills of students. Story Weaving Session (SWS) is conducted for strange and unexpected turns with some ending or without any ending. Word of the Day, Thought for the Day and Newspaper Reading encourage the students to improve their GK and language efficiency. Handouts of all these activities are made available in a folder. The Department took active part in The Hindu Literary Fest held in Karimnagar in October 2018. Dr PV Laxmi Prasad, Dr V. Pradeep Raju, Dr Ch. Joseleena acted as super judges. Students of Previous and Final year courses acted as judges for eight events of Story Telling, Fairy Tales, Creative Writing (Fiction, Drama and Comedy), Creative Narration, Describing Mythological Characters, and Dramatized Book Reading. 1,064 students from 29 educational institutions participated in the events.
In July 2018, the University College established Centre for English Language Training (CELT) with 40 multimedia PCs in Room No 116. The CELT offers courses in Spoken English and Soft Skills to not only UG & PG students but also the employees, housewives and others. It organizes short term programmes in Spoken English and Communication skills in collaboration with Telangana Academy of Skills and Knowledge (TASK). A batch for English for Competitive Examination is in progress. The Centre has plans to start remedial courses for the disadvantaged sections of the society with the funds from the UGC in future. Audio-Visual Sessions are conducted frequently in conjunction with classroom teaching. The Department has a good collection of audios and videos on the following topics: English, Debates, Health, Personality Development, Communication Skills, Speech Practice, etc.
From time to time, the Department has also been offering courses and programs to serve the needs of select sections of students and scholars. Some of them include: a) English for the Socially Disadvantaged b) Remedial Teaching c) Workshop on Situational English for the outgoing undergraduate students, d) Guidance for NET, e) Workshop on Creative Writing and Translation for the gifted students and seminars on different themes.
Apart from regular teaching and research, the Faculty of the Department has been active in the areas of translation and editing journals and anthologies. Prof G. Damodar has published poetical and fictional Telugu works in English translation. He translated Shakespeare’s The Two Gentlemen of Verona and “Burnt Norton” into Telugu and a few Telugu poems into English. He has recently translated two booklets on Lord Rama and Andalu for Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam, Tirupati. He established the thought process of Dr T. Srirangaswamy, Kaloji and Prof K. Veera Reddy’s poems at international level by translating their poems into English. Dr P. V. Laxmi Prasad has so far edited seventeen books on popular writers and themes published by leading publishers.
The faculty members are actively involved in several extension activities. Prof G. Damodar has so far conducted fifty-three national workshops and seminars and two international conferences on English Studies and Life Skills in Warangal, Nellore, Borsad, Gujarat and other places. The proceedings of the seminars are being published as books and special issues of journals. He extends his services to the society at large in his second innings through his NGO, BIE Charitable Trust. He has been a resource person at various teacher training and orientation programs. He conducts sessions on creatietc.ve writing, social media awareness and workshops on life skills. He maintains three What’sApp Groups for exchange of good practices and teaching materials. He has been on various selection committees of several universities such as Andhra University, Acharya Nagarjuna University, PS Telugu University, Osmania University, KL University, Berhampur University, University of Hyderabad, JNTU, Hyderabad, University of Rajasthan, Manomanian Sundaranar University, Thirunelveli, TN, Shivaji University, Kolhapur, Dr HS Central University, Sagar, Mandhya Pradesh, etc. He has taken up about thirty-seven timely assignments of APPSC, APSCHE, UPSC, UGC, Punjab, Rajasthan, Telangana Public Service Commissions, other organizations and universities. He is on the Boards of Studies in English at Osmania University, Andhra University, PS Telugu University, Chaitanya Autonomous College, Hanamkonda, Palamur University, Sathavahana University and Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies, AP. He was a Resource Person at UGC Refresher Courses in English at Osmania University, CIEFL (now EFLU), Hyderabad, Sri Venkateshwara University, Tirupathi, SDLCE, Kakatiya University, RIE of EFLU, Lucknow; at the Workshop on “Situational English” at University PG College, LB College, Masterji College, New Science College, Bharghavi Degree College, Engineering Colleges at BITS, Maheswaram, SR College, Ellapur, Christu Jyothi College, Jangaon, KITS, Warangal, Kothagudem Women’s College, Devanga Arts College, Aruppukottai, Near Madhurai, TN, Training Program on ELT at NIT, Warangal and Vikrama Simhapuri University, Nellore, AP. D. Vijay Prakash is the NSS Programme Officer of the University College of Arts and Social Sciences. Dr V. Pradeep Raj conducts extension services through his NGO, Signet Charitable Society.