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Communication: Written English | 235

it exists for the eyes of the decoder only. Your learner alone is reacting
in total privacy to the content you have generated but the concerns
you, thus, share with him deal with the rest of the world.
vi. Such a double bind makes writing a very effective tool of communica-
tion. It is not in vain that traditional wisdom maintains that ‘the pen
is mightier than the sword’. A book by Fidel Castro, for example, read
in the privacy of the decoder’s reading environment has a more radi-
cal effect than Castro thundering on in a public meeting. In the field
of academics, for example, we can refer to Paulo Freire’s literacy prim-
ers to understand how writing radicalizes its decoder. In this resistant
sense, writing is the only communication skill that makes, mars, and
changes its decoder’s personality.

Writing As an Essential Skill for an M.Ed. Trainee
As writing, thus, communicates profoundly you need to understand its
relevance to communicate well in your roles as a teacher and as an admin-
istrator the duties you are going to take up in a more professional way once
you are a trained teacher.
Your professional duties, both as a classroom teacher and as an able
administrator, require that you write well, precisely and effectively. Hence
this chapter explains to you the basics of grammatical usage, vocabulary
building, punctuation, and other such mechanics of writing as well as the
technicalities of writing research paper. Moreover, you will get to know how
to use these sub-skills to structure lesson plans and prepare handbooks and
workbooks, manage various reports, acquire strategies for reviewing proj-
ects, and produce policy statements and agendas.

GRAMMAR

Let us start at the beginning of effective and efficient writing, that is, with
an overview of grammar. Grammar defines our identities linguistically. The
following anecdote can prove this assertion the best.
It was pitch dark. St. Peter was guarding the Pearly Gates to the Heaven. Past
the midnight he decided to steal a wink. His conscientious daily duties denied
him. A certain knock woke him up rudely. ‘Who is it?’ was St. Peter’s usual
query, albeit a bit weary. ‘It is I’, echoed the reply. ‘Go to hell’, snapped
St. Peter, ‘You are a teacher of English’.

In other words, effective and exact grammar (the precise pronoun ‘I’ instead
of the colloquial ‘me’ in this anecdote) in its own place can make hell of a
heaven. This chapter helps you to avoid such pitfalls.

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