Women of India

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    Good morning, afternoon, evening,

    one more issue to write and talk about, but first let us thank the so many students who read and the ones who, in addition to working in the classroom, decide to leave part of their work on the web as a comment. So far, Ilaria, the one who welcomed us, Cristina, Lucia and Franca. Thank you, Ladies. We hope so many others will find it useful to have more opportunities to practice and compare written production with others’ ones. We are trying to simplify the procedures to access the blog, and make real English work of our pages for whoever wants to practice, improve, find different subjects to explore with other people sharing the same interests. 

    In the long run, reading other people’ writings will help to develop styles, communication, compare ideas and preferences.

    After each page, we would like to keep files in the archive to be consulted, all the different subjects proposed, to see how any input has been used to produce something of your own.  There will be a progress, visible, measurable and meaningful, each student will be able to verify it.   

    Several years ago, while preparing a university student for an English exam of hers, we also read a book written by an Indian -  American writer, Jhumpa Lahiri, who won the Pulitzer Prize in 2000 with her debut collection of short stories, “Interpreter of Maladies”. So many other students read it enthusiastically.  

    First homework for Low – Intermediate/Intermediate  students:  try to find the information you think is more significant about this writer, and write down  just a short paragraph to frame the general subject and give our readers the  details that impressed you most.

    Elementary students: trust yourselves and start reading the first paragraph of the article we publish today, The Women of India, Speak Up, June 2012, then rephrase the content into three very short and concise sentences.

    Be grammatically correct, subject, verb and adjunct, Present Simple and Past Simple. 

    This other Indian – British - American author you can read about here, opens a window on this different world, the one of women in India. A similar story, born in Britain to Indian parents and moved to the States.

    Up to you to find your own connections with other subjects; one comes to my mind because of one more Pulitzer Prize. It is a film called Finding Forrester. Have you seen it? If not, do it, of course in English, subtitled. You will have the opportunity to listen to the unmistakable Scottish accent, a perfect diction, of Sean Connery. Make an advantage of watching films. It's not only for your English, but for your enjoyment too, even if so many times they can be even more than that. .

    We will talk very soon about watching videos and films together. 

    All the best, enjoy your English, Anna – Coordinator

    Comments

    0 #6 Claudia 2016-02-20 16:58
    Claudia
    The women of India
    Kamala Nair wrote about status of women of India in her book “the girl in the garden”,recently published in Italy too.
    Kamala was born in Britain and grown up in the United States,but she frequently goes to India,her parents' country.
    During in an interesting interview Kamala answers to many questions about her place of origin.
    Kamala thinks that her country moves in a positive direction, because when she visits her relatives,she sees many changes about the role of women and men.
    Kamala was raised with the sense that women and men are equal, so in her book describes the more negative aspects of life for Indian women,because she hopes this nouvel helps the women to leave this sort of submissive role and to be masters of own life.
    IN India there are very big contradictions:the first nation to elect a femal prime minister and all the others still not considered and even oppressed.
    0 #5 Eleonora 2016-01-17 12:37
    This article speaks about the writer Kamala Nair. She was born in Britain from indian parents. In the book "The Girl in the Garden" she writes about her childhood holidays in India. In particular she describes the life of women and the traditions of India, that are so different compared with the Britain's life-style.
    0 #4 franca landucci 2013-03-27 16:43
    In the book "Girl in the garden", Rakhee leaves her boyfriend to which has not confided a secret and flies in India.The secret is tied to what happened during the summer of her first trip to India with her mother.Rakhee was ten years old. In India she knows the whole family of the mother: an uncle, an aunt, three cousins and her grandmother.She also discovers that near the house where everyone is living, there is a higt wall and behond there is an house with a beautiful garden with many trees, including a tree with red flowers, and various types of birds including a white peacok.She discovers that in this house lives, segregated from birth, her sister, born from the mother's relationship with her first love. The mother decides to stay in India and to stay with her first love.But you will find that the two are brother and sister because they have the same father.Rakhee prefers to retour to America with her father and she will see her mother and her sister after so many years.
    0 #3 franca landucci 2013-02-09 15:38
    When she was a little girl, Kamala Nair read " The secret garden". Years later remembering it she wrote " The girl in the garden".The heroine of " The girl in the garden" is Rakhee that returns, with her mother, to India, when she is eleven years old and she knows her relatives.
    0 #2 Cristina Gianfaldoni 2013-02-04 20:50
    Kamala Nair is an Indian writer that was born in Britain and grew up in the United States. In her novel"The girl in the garden" she remembers her childhood holidays in the land of her parents.Now she is telling us about the many changes in India during these years.
    0 #1 ilaria 2013-02-04 14:25
    Jhumpa Lahiri was born in London, her father and mother come from Bangladesh, she has lived her childhood and youth in the U. S. and now she lives in New York.
    In the 2000 she won the Pulitzer with her book The Interpreter of Maladies.
    This book is a collection of short stories about lonely people very far from their birth place, in searching someone can understand their feeling.
    Jhumpa used her characters to explain to her readers that happyness is very close to us and she wants us to understand the importance to keep with us our tradition in every place that we decide to live.
    In one of her story there is a couple that have lost their son.
    They discover the difficulty to communicate one to another, their scared to talk about this disgrace, but one day they decide to do it.
    the story doesn't have an happy end because the writer wants to show us the real face of life.
    Ilaria

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