Training for phonetics teachers begins in Kohima

Our Correspondent KOHIMA, FEBRUARY 11 A 3-day Phonetics Teachers Training for government school teachers organised by Directorate of School Education (DoSE) commenced on Thursday at Zonal Council Hall, Kohima. The training, under the theme ‘Synthetic Phonics Teaching with Jolly Phonics’ is being conducted by the Jolly Phonic (Mumbai) managing director & principal, Shainaz Sussa. Additional secretary to the Government of Nagaland, G Khevishe who graced the inaugural function this morning, in his address, underscored that teachers must have clarity in communication and pronunciation so that the students are able to catch up with their teaching, for which phonetics is very important. He said the available materials must be converted into finished products, and in this regard, he observed that the department should organize such trainings regularly so that the teachers have the clarity. The official also said that training is also about sharing what one has learnt in order to perform better. Maintaining that training is a part of management, he called upon the trainees to take interest so that they will be able to perform better in their daily duties. For those not in the know, Phonetics is the systematic study of speech and the sounds of language. Traditionally phoneticians rely on careful listening and observation in order to describe speech sounds. In doing this, a phonetician refers to a classificatory framework for speech sounds which is based on how they are made and on aspects of the auditory impression they make. The best known such framework is that of the International Phonetic Association. Much of our knowledge of the sounds of the world’s languages comes from this kind of description, which is still an important aspect of phonetics today.