Class Discussion on Writing Mechanics

This was truly an exciting class for me. For the first time I had the opportunity to discuss and develop writing submissions. Most of the students have have just two or three areas where they need development.  I will update your writing materials tomorrow evening. In the meantime - please keep reading all the BLOG materials.

And thanks a lot for taking this class seriously. 

Till this Morning, ZOHO received 24 E-mails from 20 Students so Far! Excellent Job Everyone!

How to Write a Simple Proposal

৫০১ বাক্যের মধ্য দিয়ে ৫০১ শব্দ

কি অদ্ভ ুত! কি সহজ! এই যে - লিঙ্ক

এটা ব্যবহার করে আমরা প্রতিদিন ১ ঘন্টায় প্রায় ২৫ টা শব্দ শিখতে পারবো। আর এই শব্দ-গুলোর মধ্যে যদি প্রতিদিন ৫-টাও ব্যবহার করি তাহলে লেখার কোয়ালিটি বেড়ে যাবেই।

Beautiful MINI Stories for Oral Presentation. Stories for Short Presentation
সবশেষে ৭টি ছোটগল্প - যা কিনা লেখকদের জন্য অসাধারণ উদাহরন।

গতকাল যা যা করা হল

আমরা মূলত আলোচনা করলাম ২ টা রেফারেন্স। প্রথমটি হচ্ছে সোফি’স ওয়র্ল্ড - আমরা বইটির সূচিপত্র পড়লাম এবং কিছু রেফারেন্স আলোচনা করলাম। এর মধ্যে সবচে’ গুরুত্বপূর্ণ হচ্ছে ৩০০০ বছর আগের গ্রীক নাটক Oedipus বা ইডিপাস । এই নাটকে ইডিপাসকে দেখানো হয়েছে - নিয়তির হাতে বন্দী একজন মানুষ হিসাবে। আমরা আরো গভীর মনোযোগ দিয়ে পড়লাম গ্যয়টে-র উক্তি - "He who cannot draw on three thousand years is living from hand to mouth." তিন হাজার বছরের ইতিহাস যিনি ধারন করেন না - তার বেঁচে থাকা হত-দরিদ্র মানুষের মতই।

আমাদের দ্বিতীয় রেফারেন্স হচ্ছে Jonathan Swift -এর ‍বিষাক্ত কথা ভরা প্রবন্ধ - A Modest Proposal. এছাড়াও, আমরা স্যাটয়ার আলোচনার প্রয়োজনে পড়লাম বাংলা ক্ষুদ্র-প্রবন্ধ “মাছি মারা কেরানি”। এটা পড়ার পর সবাই হাততালি দিয়ে লেখককে অভিনন্দিত করেছিলাম।

ক্লাসের একজন ভলান্টিয়ার নীচে নেমে বিভিন্ন সাইজের গাছের পাত নিয়ে এসেছিল। এই বিষয়টি নিয়ে একটা লেখা তৈরী করলে আমরা সবাই বুঝবো যে, লেখালেখি কত আনন্দদায়ক হতে পারে। আমার ভলান্টিয়ার দরকার। কেউ এগিয়ে আসবেন কি? 

Zoho - তে কোন মেইল পেলাম না

Zoho-তে এখনো কোন মেইল পেলাম না।

আমি Sad...but, I am still expecting a barrage of emails with ভাল প্রোপোজাল so that I can respond to. Someone even told me that she is going to post me a writing on "Impact of Academic and Societal Pressure on Young Mind" and I am also very eagerly waiting for the writing.

ভাল প্রোপোজাল লিখতে হলে যা যা দরকার:

1. চিনি-কম ব্ল্যাক-টি এবং বিস্কিট
2. কলম - আমার পছন্দ পেন্সিল - কারন আঁকা-আঁকিও করা যায় দরকারমত
3. কাগজ
4. আইডিয়া - অবজারভেশন পাওয়ার
5. কোলাহল-মুক্ত পরিবেশ
6. সকাল ৬.০০-৭.৩০ (কাজ করার শ্রেষ্ঠ সময়)
7. লেখার জন্য একটা মোটামুটি মানের ল্যাপটপ হলে তো কথাই নেই।

যা যা দরকার নাই:

1. ইন্টারনেট
2. সিগারেট (মস্তিস্কের জন্য অত্যন্ত ক্ষতিকর)
3. কোল্ড ড্রিঙ্ক (কিডনীর জন্য ভাল নয়)

Group Works and Assignments

General Assignment: Everyone will send me an Email on the following theme:

Write a 1-page proposal for starting a Morning Walk Group. 

• Length can be anywhere between 200-600 words.  
• There should be an attractive heading.
• There should be 3 to 4 subheadings to make it look nice.
• If you are unsure - then just follow this pattern.
• Introduction
• Goal
• Benefits
• Probable ways of Support

I am very happy to acknowledge that today's class seemed more tightly listening. I have already made 4 groups based on the roll numbers. 

Group No [The following Students will Report respective Group's English Reading/Writing practice]

A - Ahnaf Raidah - This Group will make 3-min Presentation on Simile & Metaphor

B - Tofayel Ahmed - This Group shall make 3-min Presentation on Satire

C - Yalid Aman - This Group shall make 3-min Presentation on Unknown Citizen

D - Saimum Sairas - This Group shall make 3-min Presentation on Allegory

Here is a list of Students who are eager to improve their Analytical Ability with Poetry Reading

Shuvo Dev | Shahab Uddin = Both read a poem in 3 Min and explain the lines. 

Ahnaf Raidah | Arman Majumder Fahad = Chose a poem and explain it.

Shaonty Dev |  Saikat Dev Nath = Choose a poem by Keats

Kazi Faisal Arefin |Marwa Kazi Mohammed = Choose a poem by Byron

Sajrin Sultana = Read Rabindranath's poem বিদায় অভিশাপ - 5 minutes. 

I am also waiting for the names of Volunteers who will be in charge of improving their assigned Group's VOCABULARY performance. I have already met 5 persons today and there should be another 3 persons. The 8 persons are supposed to email on the class email address. 

First Step into Intellectual Living

The first titles should be very attractive to those who are HIGHLY ambitious. These are for those who have leadership qualities, which they want to use for making changes in areas they find erroneous. Here is a book that you start with in Bengali and then go an English Language Book on the same subject.

সেইসব দার্শনিক
Sophie's World (সোফির জগৎ)

Now, we shall look at a special genre - Satire (বিদ্রুপ). Satire is quite popular with great writers. But, if your pen has too much venom, you may look a quite pessimistic (দুঃখবাদী). We shall compare two texts and see similarity and dissimilarity.

1. মাছি মারা কেরানি
2. A Modest Proposal (একটি ভদ্রগোছের প্রস্তাবনা)

In the end, I want you to look at this letter from a person whose brother appeared in BCS exam as many as 8 times and the consequences of these on his life.

Join in 50 Min Morning Walk Around BEST Greenary in DU Campus

Here is a chance for you to work on this project. Please send your proposals through email -

osl.leaders@zoho.com

From now on this will be class E-mail Address. 

5 Min Reading for Rockstar Readers

Here are some EASY & SHORT articles which will tell you how you express your everyday thoughts in simple and attractive language. We shall make our own articles.

Learn Leadership Skills for FREE

5 Key Leadership Lessons

Finding Part-time Jobs

Skills to Learn in Graduation Year

University Bucket List

How to Get Good Grammar

Mistakes Interns Make

Graduate Dilemma

Introverts in a Corporate World?

Beginners Guide to BCS

Professionalism for Freelancers

Should I really Study This?

3 Career Picks for Finance Graduates

5 Jobs to Die by 2025

Learn Sentence Structure from 3 HBR Articles

Here are three HBR articles. They all have excellent language.

1. First one deals with Leaders in Corporate World [Link Here]
2. Second one talks about what Makes a Leader. [Link Here]
3. Third one tells you "What Leaders Really DO" [Link Here].

If you come across difficult sentences - please raise your hand in the class and ASK YOUR QUESTION. 

Talk about your Color

Here is a great opportunity to talk about your personal color. You can write about your own character, and NOT your just your personal likes and dislikes. If necessary, give one or two anecdotes to enliven your description. You can agree with the suggestions - but you can also disagree as well. It's just a matter of perception.

You need not be TOO truthful. Imagine the character you want to be. 

What we DID in Class Yesterday - Auden's "Unknown Citizen"

Many of you have been telling me of your fear of being looked on in public eyes. To ward off this fear, I invited one of you to read out a notice for a Theatre Performance evening. He did the job with excellent voice control. I hope to address this issue in each of my class.

But, more importantly we did a little Theatrical Act - when I asked someone to act out the part when Willy Loman, the tragic common man in the play "Death of a Salesman", gets into the car and starts the ignition key. This started the engine, filled up the chamber with Carbon Monoxide gas. Willy dies at his own "will", so that his family could claim the Life Insurance amount to pay off the mortgage on their home. Willy Loman is an example of how Consumer Economy destroys many lives who firmly believe in the forces in the Market.

Auden's poem "The Unknown Citizen" is an excellent example of how a Modern Woman is forced to live a life APPROVED by the Political and Economic powers. If they do not conform to these 'approved' ways, the citizen are simply ignored/destroyed/forgotten.

We can find a good example of this in the two other GREAT novellas of 20th Century - The Stranger and Metamorphosis. In both novels we see how two male protagonists are destroyed because they would NOT conform to the social rules. This experience is not so unknown to women - especially in the 19th Century. In that century, women started coming out of their domestic life and participated in larger social and economic activities. But, 19th C. was still a period dominated by male-centered values and chauvinism and that is why we see Women were repressed and ostracized for being brave and freedom-loving. Some of the best examples of how women were suppressed and how they took their own lives can be found in three novels - these have women as CENTRAL characters.

1. The Awakening
2. Anna Karenina
3. Madame Bovary 

To Network OR Not to Network

Here is a link to the indoor stories of the top innovators. Lets see how they train their children.
Why are Silicon Valley execs

An Invitation to Theatre Evening

All students are cordially invited to the Theatre Evening at বাংলাদেশ শিল্পকলা একাডেমী। It may be mentioned that the play is based on one of our greatest novelist আখতারুজ্জামান ইলিয়াস -'s most important novel that came out in the context of Social and Political changes in the early 20th Century. The program will be attended by noted littérateur and novelist Khaliquzzaman Ilias.

Students are advised to attend the play and WRITE a full review of the play. The BEST Review will receive a grand prize. Everyone should participate and as participant shall receive Detailed Comment on her/his Report.

Here is some music for us
L'Indifference - Cafe Accordion
Italian Instrumentals
Opa Tsupa
Tres Lagrimas [this is perfect Writer's Melody]
and finally, a Sarod Recital
Debasmita's Sarod

What we did Yesterday - What we do Tomorrow

Our yesterday's class was a mixture of 4 things.

1. We talked about a few books - Lord of the Flies, Catcher in the Rye, and HBR publication On Leadership.
2. We also briefly discussed a few sentence structures. You must remember that these will be included in your coming tests. 
3. Finally, we discussed a few Figures of Speech - Simile, Metaphor, Allegory, Symbol, Buildungsroman.
4. I also hurriedly gave you names of three poems, which I believe will improve your understanding of Language. These poems are - (a) There is No Frigate Like a Book, (b) Because I could Not Stop for Death, (c) Darkness by Byron.
5. I have been trying to make you work hard in just ONE area - READING. It must be understood that if you do NOT read every day for at least 40 min, all our effort will be lost. 

Tomorrow (Wednesday) we shall mainly work on two things.

1. I shall give a Questionnaire on your self-assessment of your English
2. We shall Read-Understand-Use 50 English words that are used in advanced level writings. 
3.  I will also check - how many of you have got this Writer's Notebook.
4. I will also briefly discuss a new poem titled The Unknown Citizen by my favourite poet W. H. Auden.

Let's go Positive | No, Normative!

There are two types of statements that you need to be careful about. You have to be a master of both when you are writing your Reports and Argumentative Essays.

The next image shows a few statements that you can easily identify as positive or normative.

When you are writing an (1) Argumentative Essay, (2) Persuasive Essay, (3) Company Report, (4) A Performance Analysis - you will surely need to be aware of this difference.

1000 Worlds

So, here you are finally. You have the Magic 1000 that will make you as fast as a lightning. What is the best way to 'Remember' all the words you see here?

Rule 1 : Don't Memorize! Don't !!!
Rule 2 : Attach an event with each word
Rule 3 : Read 20 Words Every Morning
Rule 4 : Use 5 Words in your daily Writing

There are some among you who would love to have a 2-page Word-list and HERE it is!

We should be able to FINISH this 2-page list by today. But, if you are really motivated, you will do it for the Next 3 Days. But, don't worry - here's 300 More. If you are cooperative, I can make you learn these words in just 1 day! Yes!

After you are done with all these total 20 + 2 + 13 = 22 Pages of Word-list, you will NEVER need to check a Meaning. Remember, when I said "Never", I mean a general reading ability. Of course, I do not mean that you can read Shakespeare with these! But these words are good enough to sustain you for your general purpose for reading even Highly Sophisticated reading materials.

FINALLY, here are some words for writing Reports and Analysis.

What are My Primary Books for English

Well, this is a question that I face from many. My answer is that you should "always" engage your mind in reading texts that make you think over a particular issue. For example, here are two interesting short novella that you will find very interesting and they will keep your mind engaged. If you read a total of 8 Hours over a period of 4 days - you will start noticing the changes.

1) The first books is considered one of the greatest novels of 20th Century. It has issues that you will be able to relate with your own life. The name Metamorphosis will sound familiar to many of you - I am putting here both the 77 Page Text and a PPT of Interpretation.

2) The second is a book that everyone is familiar with but maybe NOT everyone has read. Here is the link to the book - The Old Man & the Sea [50 Pages]

To off-balance the message of Metamorphosis, I also intend to introduce to the book "7 Habits of Highly Successful People", which is considered one of the greatest Management / Leadership books of twentieth century. Here is a Summary of this great book 7 Habits Summary.

I am including two more Summaries below for those who want to a with a little more detail.

1. 2nd Summary
2. 3rd Summary

What are the best Language Practices for Leaders

Have you ever thought what the business leaders read, think, and preach? Here are some of the HOT topics that the Business Leaders continuously do.

1. They Read to know what others are Thinking
2. They Write to Keep Track of Their Thoughts 

Reading books had been one of the greatest methods by which you fortify yourself with knowledge of the contemporary world. How do you become AGGRESSIVE reader? Only by LEARNING to read Slowly. 

Summary of WHOLE English Grammar in a few lines:

Noun / Pronoun (use Adjectives to describe Nouns & Pronouns)

Verb (use Adverbs to describe Verbs)

Preposition (used for special occasions - refrain from, meet up) 

Conjunction (and, but)

Interjection (Congrats!)

Then think 4 types of Sentences:

1. Simple (The Company promoted its Director of PR to the position of MD.)
2. Compound (The Company laid off a few workers and hired as many fresh interns.)  
3. Complex (Since the Company adopted a strong policy of workers' welfare, worker satisfaction and productivity have much improved.) 
4. Compound-Complex (Please suggest your version here!)

Challenges of Sentence Construction

Most of the time students use simple sentences in a row. This makes your essay look tiring to read. So it is very URGENT that you start realizing how to make your sentences differently.