3. Innovative Application of Internet in Enhancing the Appreciation of English Poetry

English Poetry, with the objective of developing the emotional quotient and creativity of the learner is the part and parcel of the UGC model curriculum for English literature. The learner pursues it as a minor form at the entry level and major form in the subsequent stages. The comprehension of the study is tested in the form of critical appreciation. Digests, bazaar notes and the antique notes with the teachers have already damaged the pleasurable learning of English poetry and now the Easy web material a click away for both the teachers and learners is further killing the creative learning. Taking into consideration the both positive and negative sides of the web the researcher has used the wired world source creatively to enhance the appreciation of the English poems and study them in depth. The objective of this paper is to share his innovative application of the ICTs with the creative souls.

Present pedagogy practiced

An enthusiastic teacher, (forgetting the statement, he is the best teacher who teaches less!) of English literature overenthusiastically provides literally everything: summary in mother tongue, readymade answers, possible questions etc, killing the curiosity and the creativity of the learners. As a result, the discipline is losing its charm without the involvement of the learners. Hence, BBC Teaching English of the British Council inviting and publishing the blogs on the topic: Have BA and MA literature courses lost their charm in India? is an acknowledgement to the stagnated situation.

The teaching process of English at the Indian English literature classes fully colonial in its approach is still carried out by the teachers who are mostly untrained, following the pedagogy of their teachers. They display their scholarship of information regarding the personal and literary career of the poet and the summary of the poem. Then they go for the readymade answers to match the model questions making everything easy for the learners. They do a lot of harm instead of creating the pleasurable experience. Instead of appreciation they go for the analysis, the post mortem of the poem with the very old and worn-out techniques. The bazaar notes are literally the Bibles for the learners. The subject which should be the part of the learner’s life is forgotten the moment the written exams are over. Of course there are some committed and creative faculties struggling to make the learning process interesting.

Challenges in teaching poetry in Indian classes

The faculties are fully qualified which necessarily doesn’t mean that they have passion for the subject. It is their source of livelihood so most of the lethargic faculties are busy in covering the syllabus and creating the degree holders of English literatures sans passion for the subject. The pedagogy mentioned above is commonly practiced and examination preparation is done neglecting the very objectives. The study of poetry stagnates at remembering the contents of the poem. Reciting the poem in its expected style, interpreting the meaning of the poem and the poets philosophy, understanding the creative language of the poet and motivating the learners feel like composing their own lines is a challenge for the faculty.

Resourceful Internet

In the information and technologically revolutionized world the net has made the learning easy and effective (If used judiciously and innovatively). The texts their paraphrase, summary, the recitation, critical interpretations and activity based learning, essays, and papers, different evaluation techniques , and the power point presentations are available to strengthen the study.