Vocab is interesting

Hi,

The million-dollar question emerges: Do we need a glamour quotient to make it more interactive?
According to me the answer is yes and no.
A student is a student at the end of the day looking for fireworks and brainstorming. But then a student also looks for value addition.
Therein lies the challenge, as it becomes a tight ropewalk for the mentor to balance both.
I have tried to come up with a small script. I will be candid enough to confess that the script has become incoherent at places but I am surely expecting that valuable contributions for all sides and incorporating excerpts from all mentors will enable the plan to become more systematic. Here’s my lowdown on it.

We do find the need to make the vocabulary sessions as interesting and interactive as possible. It is a challenge that any mentor has to face as long as he/she is alive. We are in search for the alchemist who will unearth the vocab goldmine and emerge as the ultimate winner. The search has begun and we are positively sure of our success. Needless to say that a goldmine cannot be explored unless and until we have the requisite roadmap in place. To prepare a roadmap we need to take cues from resources in hand and not forgetting that they have to be the means and not the end.
In case of vocabulary we have selected a few important cues that will facilitate us in unearthing the final act.
First things first.
Vocab cannot do away with the traditional pedagogy of “roots and cells” to help decode words. Them again we have the other methods comprising Fill-in-the-Blanks, Definition Match, Synonym & Antonym Encounters, Crosswords, Word Finds, True/False and Word Stories. This can be taught by rote. New Theme related crosswords can be added.
These years we are seeing a shift in the focus of language areas in the CAT. CAT can spring up with surprises that come as a shocker for many and a pleasant surprise for few. We can take an example of the poem in the CAT paper. The words that were used were taken largely from mythologies. Mythology is everywhere! There are literally THOUSANDS of words and expressions that derive from ancient myths. Ever wondered about words like Cyclops, Pegasus, Jason’s fleece, Noah’s ark, Achilles, Trojan horse, Achilles' heel, Stentorian roar, Myrmidons, Scylla and Charybdis , Siren voices , A Cassandra (always wrongly used to mean prophet of doom; never actually used of somebody who is right) , A mentor, An odyssey , epic proportions, working like a Trojan (why?) , Greeks bearing gifts, to hector, lotus eating, a Nestor , a faithful Penelope, to pile Pelion on Ossa, mercurial disposition, saturnine character, titanic strength, hermetic seal, venereal disease, jovial countenance, martial music, Dionysian licence, Apollonian control, Olympian detachment , Junoesque proportions (of a woman = huge), Bacchanalian orgies, panic button, Parnassian figure,stoic endurance, epicurean delights, platonic friendship, cynical indifference, academic pretensions, Socratic argument, peripatetic teachers (never of Aristotle!), Lucullan feast , draconian measures , fabian tactics, ostracism, philippic , crossing the Rubicon,.Caesar's wife, Gordian knot , pyrrhic victory, Augustan elegance, Spartan conditions, rich as Croesus, hoi polloi (normally the hoi polloi, of course!), Sisyphean task, Promethean cunning, Protean versatility, Pandora's Box, Procrustes' bed, tantalizing offer, Morpheus (arms of), Midas touch, a harpy, stygian gloom, Gorgon stare, Hell hath no Fury ..., a Chimaera, halcyon days, Herculean labours, Augean filth, Hydra's heads, a sop to Cerberus, oedipal desires, Cloudcuckooland, Aristophanic humour , Thespian talents , sapphic practices, priapic condition, Delphic obscurity, Sibylline obfuscation, colossal impertinence, calliope etc etc……..
That is indeed interesting. Yesterday I was going through a novel Death of Dr. Faustus by Christopher Marlowe. I was surprised to see characters like Mephistopheles, Faust and Lucifer being mentioned by Marlowe and many other writers. Then it struck me that we must have an extra session based on these characters as over a period of time they have become anthropomorphic in nature and somewhat irresistible per se.

Cheers,
Raktabh

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