Covered by Quazi Farhina Hassan and Umme Hani Anika
DEH Freshers’ Orientation Program 2021
The Department of English and Humanities at ULAB held a Freshers’ Orientation Program on February 18, 2021, for the newly admitted students in the Spring 2021 semester. The event opened with a short introductory video about the department, after which Ms. Arifa Ghani Rahman, Head of the Department of English and Humanities introduced the faculty members of the department.
The program was enhanced by the presence of Vice-Chancellor of ULAB, Professor H M Jahirul Haque, Professor Shamsad Mortuza Pro Vice-Chancellor and Dean of the School of Arts and Humanities, Chief Guest Ms. Shuborna Chowdhury, Additional Director General, Inspection Directorate of Taxes, and other senior professors who delivered their speech about the student life in the university, extracurricular activities and wished them for their upcoming journey in the department.
To add more fun and entertainment to the event, a quiz game was organized where the freshers participated and won prizes. The enlightening activities by the students who sang, danced, recited poems and delivered speeches about their life in university brought the closing of the program.
School of Arts & Humanities Celebrates International Mother Language Day
An audio play, “Kajol,” from Kolkata was shown on the first day which showcased the significance of mother tongues, followed by an interactive session on the German language and culture. The program came to a conclusion with a screening of letters to mothers, read by native speakers of 21 different languages from all over the world. The second day was about the language policy in higher education in Bangladesh. It was argued that the importance of learning Bangla should be focused equally alongside English. Next, Showvik Das of UNHCR held a session on ‘Lullabies across Cultures’ where he spoke about his collection of lullabies from different cultures of Bangladesh.
The School of Arts and Humanities at the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh organized a three-day event from February 22-24, 2021, for the International Mother Language Day with respect to all the Mother Tongues worldwide.
On the final day, a play An Evening of Noh and Kyogen was screened by Professor Dr. A K M Yusuf Hassan from the Department of Drama and Dramatics of Jahangirnagar University.
First Forum with Prof. Rafiqul Islam: DEH Curriculum Integration Program Spring 2021
The first CI Forum invited National Professor Dr. Rafiqul Islam as a keynote speaker, who mentioned the importance of the Language Movement in 1952, after which the literary language of East Bengal was fine-tuned to represent the particular East Bengal experience. Dr. Islam addressed the literature, language, and culture of Bangladesh at the First Forum of Curriculum Integration program held at the Department of English and Humanities on March 14, 2021. As a tribute to the fiftieth year of Bangladesh’s independence, the theme for Spring 2021 was “Fifty Years of Bangladesh’s Independence: Language, Literature and Culture.” Professor Rafiqul Islam stressed the contribution of Dhaka University in molding the academic, political, social, cultural, and particularly literary history of this side of Bengal, which is present-day Bangladesh. He also spoke about the significance of Buddhir Mukti Andolon(movement for the emancipation of the intellect) in objecting to the thoughts of conservative Muslims in Bengal and resuming the Bangla language movement in Assam and West Bengal. Professor Islam pointed out that female writers in Bangladesh still need to write much literature on the Language Movement and the Liberation War of 1971.
The First Forum started off with the opening remarks of the Head of the Department Ms. Arifa Ghani Rahman and the forum was hosted by Vincent Dip Gomes, a student of BA in English at ULAB.
2nd Forum with Prof. Syed Manzoorul Islam: DEH Curriculum Integration Spring 2021
The Second Forum of the Department of English and Humanities Curriculum Integration Program for Spring 2021 held on March 21, 2021, welcomed the distinguished postcolonial critic and esteemed academic, Professor Syed Manzoorul Islam to share his words of wisdom on the theme “Fifty Years of Bangladesh’s Independence: Language, Literature and Culture.” Professor Islam stated that countries of the Indian subcontinent have a persisting colonial mindset. However, we should move away from the colonialist tendencies that existed from 1947 to 1971. Professor Syed Manzoorul Islam referred to various postcolonial literary works in line with the theme and elaborated the reason why Bangladesh’s inception is a distinct phenomenon. He then pointed out that Bangladesh is distinct from the other countries in the subcontinent due to the fact that the country had to fight two wars for its freedom with the colonizing powers. He urged that to tackle the effects of colonization the people of this nation need to decolonize conventions of public and private life. People must question how and why certain people stick to a particular sort of behavior while interacting with others.
The Head of the Department, Arifa Ghani Rahman, mentioned the objective behind the department’s Curriculum Integration Program, in her introductory speech. The host of the Second CI Forum was Shahriyer Hossain Shetu, a student of the BA in English program at ULAB.
Scholars Program Launched at DEH
On March 25, 2021, DEH of ULAB launched a Scholars Program for undergraduates, specifically for the high-achieving students. Seven students of DEH from third-year were selected for the event where they will be taught about activities to help them to work in different fields of professional sectors.
The event had the honorable presence of the Advisor of the Scholars Program, Dr. Sarkar Hasan Al Zayed, Ms. Arifa Ghani Rahman, Prof. Shamsad Mortuza, Prof. H M Jahirul Haque, Prof. Kaiser Haq, Professor Syed Manzoorul Islam, and other faculty members who motivated the students with their inspiring speeches.
DEH Alumni Workshop on Feature Writing
On April 6, 2021, DEH at ULAB organized an online workshop on feature writing. It was conducted by Mr. Nahid Riyasad, an alumnus of the department and staff writer at the online news portal, The New Age, who shared his experiences to motivate students to develop writing skills. He discussed journalism and feature writing and talked about the importance of brainstorming and research.
The workshop was hosted by Tashfiya Saba, a student of the department, and coordinated by the DEH T.A., Md. Mashiur Rahaman.
DEH Spring 2021 Seminar: Talk by Dr. Rabia Hos
A seminar with guest speaker Dr. Rabia Hos, Assistant Professor of TESOL/ Bilingual and Dual Language Education at The University of Rhode Island, USA was organized by DEH at ULAB.
Dr. Rabia Hos recognized that teachers had a difficult time teaching online and stated it is natural to go through the process of trial and error while adapting. She also stated that students need to be given an enriched learning experience now that teachers’ traditional role in the classroom of keeping them under their watch has changed and recommended decreasing the workload for teachers and learners. She suggested teachers to be empathetic towards different students’ hardships in the pandemic but also pointed out that the pandemic has led to the formation of alliances worldwide among educators which allowed access to free educational resources.
She then moved on to explain the term Social Emotional Learning (SEL) as a process that equips learners and adults with the structural processes necessary to form basic social and emotional capabilities. She encouraged personal care for teachers and advocated open-mindedness, adjustability, and humor.
The event commenced with an introductory speech from Ms. Arifa Ghani Rahman, Head of the Department.
Assistant Professor of DEH, Dr. Syeda Farzana Sultana, concluded the event with her vote of thanks.
DEH Webinar on “Theory and Practice in Applied Linguistics and TESOL: Future Directions”
A Webinar was organized by the Department of English and Humanities at the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB) titled “Theory and Practice in Applied Linguistics and TESOL Future Directions” on May 29, 2021. The Webinar featured Prof. Shaila Sultana, Advisor, Center for Language Studies and Adjunct Faculty, DEH, and Dr. Syeda Farzana Sultana, Assistant Professor, DEH, ULAB.
Dr. Syeda Farzana Sultana presented on “Online Teacher Identity Development: What We Need to Know” where she reflected on the possible contrasts between teachers’ identity in traditional classrooms as opposed to online. Teachers from other institutions shared their hurdles of online teaching and to this Dr. Sultana added that countries like the US and UK have long fostered online teaching which has helped teachers adapt in the pandemic. She also added that teachers’ identity which is influenced by their career experiences, training, etc., can affect their teaching positively and add value to it.
While talking about her research transition from applied linguistics to sociolinguistics Professor Shaila Sultana focused on the necessity of adjusting to changes to improve the teaching and learning environment and shared how language policies can be changed to make it more inclusive and ensure the coexistence of multiple languages and cultures. She added that in order to comprehend student interaction in classrooms various aspects of society need to be looked into in relation to language and concluded by suggesting areas that need further research.
Prof. Shamsad Mortuza, Acting Vice-Chancellor, ULAB, and Dean, School of Arts and Humanities, commenced the webinar with his opening remarks. Professor Kaiser Haq also shared his thoughts on the event, which ended with a vote of thanks from Ms. Arifa Ghani Rahman, Associate Professor and Head, DEH. Ms. Nadia Rahman, Assistant Professor, DEH hosted the event.