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© Copyright 2013 - 2025
Varsha Seshan

International Mother Language Day

February 21, 2020 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

All kinds of thoughts come to my mind as I think of the term mother language. I love the fact that so many languages exist. I love the celebration of language as both art and skill. Yet, working as I do with children and adults in diverse environments, I can’t help seeing other implications.On the […]

Filed Under: Language Tagged With: English, International Mother Language Day, mother tongue, Tamil

Examinations again

December 10, 2013 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

It’s time for some more of those gems – … he just wants to say that they are too nervous to make good but is describing by writing so many words for it. The poem has very shocking connotative and also short story plot used. The priest was just chilling out. (Commentary on The Eve […]

Filed Under: Language Tagged With: school

After the Story Games

October 16, 2013 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

With the One-Word-Story-Game and the One-Phrase-Story-Game, my purpose was to point out how powerless we feel when we can’t control language. I spoke about different aspects of language as power and why we feel more in control when we have a whole phrase to ourselves, rather than a single word. Then, I moved to the […]

Filed Under: Language Tagged With: school

Language

October 14, 2013 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

Teaching Language as a Way of Knowing, I wanted to introduce to my students what a powerful tool language is. In keeping with that, I also wanted to bring out how powerless you feel when you don’t have control over a language. So I played some stuff that I learned at the Storytelling workshop I attended recently. […]

Filed Under: Children, Language Tagged With: school

Storytelling Workshop

October 2, 2013 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

Time flew. I simply could not hold on to it. When I thought about an 11-3 workshop, I confess I did think, “Hmm. There’ll definitely be parts where I’m bored.” I was wrong. Travelling from my school in Loni to British Library on Fergusson College Road, I realised for the first time why all the […]

Filed Under: Books, Language Tagged With: story

The Peculiar English Language

August 2, 2013 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

Of course we know that language is peculiar. And English? Any new speaker finds it ridiculously bewildering. I’m reading a book by Rachel Anderson called Asylum.  More about that will come in a book-review soon, but it brought me to laugh aloud at the ridiculous English language. We learned similes in school. As fresh as […]

Filed Under: Books, Children, Language Tagged With: English

Getting a Promotion

June 21, 2013 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

In the Air Force, it is compulsory to speak Hindi to get a promotion. Commands must be given in Hindi. So my grandfather, a recipient of the AVSM (Ati Vishisht Seva Medal) had to prove he could speak at least a little Hindi in order to be promoted. The problem was that he could not […]

Filed Under: Language, Random Tagged With: grandfather

Exam Gems III

April 24, 2013 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

Asked to ‘write a commentary’ on a poem, students write:’…one thing where I felt that it is wrong is that he did not divide the last line properly, the last line’s word is going in the next paragraph.’ ‘The name given to the poem is very good’ ‘The poem does not start with a boy […]

Filed Under: Language Tagged With: exam, school

Exam Gems II

April 23, 2013 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

Attempting to create pathos and anger: ‘Reaching hospital it was looking like messy type’ ‘I got him into the last point of insultation’ Attempting – um – I don’t know what: ‘And if the film is ya some actors take more many if they don’t hard work’ (Mm? Can you say that again?) Imaginative writing: […]

Filed Under: Language Tagged With: exam, school

Exam Gems

April 22, 2013 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

Correcting papers is a crazy experience. There are some things each teacher in the staff room feels compelled to share with the others. Commenting on a poem’s language and style, students write… ‘This heart-touching poem…’, or better still – ‘This tear-dropping poem…’ Commenting on the expected audience, a student has a bewildering response – ‘The […]

Filed Under: Language Tagged With: exam, school

The Table Family

April 20, 2013 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

Have you been introduced to the Table family? When I was in school, we were kept forcibly away from the family. The Table family was a strict no-no for us. Pronounce correctly. Stay away from the awful Table family. Trends are changing, though. Many children have found their comfort zone with this delightfully extended family. […]

Filed Under: Children, Language Tagged With: English, school