Introduction
The English Honours course at Haldia Government College has always been in high demand. From the current academic year, approximately 92 students will be admitted to the Honours programme. Each year around 30 students opt for English as one of their general subjects.
The department imparts a thorough knowledge of the undergraduate syllabus of Vidyasagar University. The course enables them to have first hand acquaintance with the rich corpus of English texts. It trains students in engaging critically with literary texts. It works towards developing their analytical and interpretative abilities along with a careful honing of their expressive skills. They are encouraged to build up alertness to a wide range of contextual frames – philosophical, political, sociological and linguistic. In the process care is also taken to help them grow sensitive towards the power of language and its role in the creation of meaning through exposure to the structure and discourse functions of English language – both regional and global. Learning to detect different cultural assumptions manifested in diverse texts they become aware of their own cultural assumptions. A solid grounding in English literature not only elevates the student’s linguistic skills, it is also an extremely desirable qualification in the job market.
The English department has a well stocked seminar library that the students can access.
The department’s students are active in all cultural and extracurricular activities of the college and run a wall magazine at the department.
Mode of Teaching
The teachers use diverse modes of teaching in classrooms and also during personal discussions. These include:
- The lecture method
- Group discussions and debates
- Student seminars
- Audio-visual aids. Regular screenings of literary texts adapted into films help in the students’ understanding of the texts.
Career Opportunities
There are a large number of avenues that lead from this department to a variety of successful careers. These careers belong to diverse fields such as academics, English Language Teaching in the corporate sector as well as abroad, creative writing, media, performing arts, administration, law, management etc. At the same time, graduation with Honours in English helps in securing entry-in-service government jobs.
Recent Achievements
- A Students’ Seminar followed by the screening of As You Like It was held in the department in August 2014.
- The department organized a government sponsored State-level seminar on 21 January 2015 at the college. The title of the seminar was: Mapping the Vistas: Career Opportunities for Graduates with English Honours Four invited speakers were the resource persons. The seminar was attended by all students and teachers of the department as well as many teachers from other departments of the college.
The title of the seminar was
Mapping the Vistas: Career Opportunities for Graduates with English Honours Four invited speakers were the resource persons. The seminar was attended by all students and teachers of the department as well as many teachers from other departments of the college
