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| The Language Department has been in existence since the inception of the College. The Department now comprises two Indian languages – Tamil and Hindi and one Foreign Language – French. Tamil has been in the curriculum since 1916, Hindi since 1938 and French which had been offered from 1927 – 1929 was added once again in 1946. |
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| Faculty : |
| FRENCH
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| Dr. Ranjini Christopher, M.A., M.Phil, Ph.D., Dip. in Italian - Reader & Head of the Department of Languages |
| TAMIL
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| Dr. M. Florence, M.A., Ph.D. - Lecturer S.G. |
| Ms. J. Jeyasanthi, M.A., M.Phil. - Lecturer S.S |
| Dr. Sujatha.S, M.A., Ph.D. - Lecturer |
| HINDI
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| Ms. Priya Naidu, M.A., M.Phil. - Lecturer |
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| Student strength: |
Tamil:
415 students are enrolled in the General Stream and 140 students in the Advanced stream. Around 25 students have registered for the Optional courses. |
Hindi:
80 students study Hindi as a second language and 25 students have registered for the Optional course. |
French:
110 students have been enrolled in the Basic French section against 115 students in the Advanced French section. 30 students have registered for the Optional courses offered. |
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| Programmes Offered: |
| The Language department offers three languages under Part I, namely Tamil, Hindi and French at the U.G. level. These courses are spread over the first four semesters. The development of students’ communication skills is given prime importance while planning the curriculum. Works of literary excellence in these three languages are chosen to give an insight into linguistic culture and heritage. |
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| Tamil and French are offered at two levels and students are selected for the advanced level on the basis of a test given at the beginning of the course. |
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| Under Part III, the Department offers a variety of language courses, viz. Journalism (Tamil), Beginners’ Tamil, Tamil Culture and Tourism, Tamil Folklore, Job-oriented Tamil, Spoken Tamil, Beginners’ Hindi, Beginners’ French, Spoken French and Beginners’ Italian |
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| Eligibility: |
| Students generally take the language they have studied in Std. X (C.B.S.E.) or Std. XII. However if they have no prior knowledge of either Hindi or Tamil they are eligible to take Basic French. |
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| Highlights: |
| The Tamil section offers courses that highlight the cultural heritage of Tamil Nadu – Tourism and Folklore as well as courses that are utilitarian like Journalism and Job-oriented Tamil.
Project work in both Tourism and Journalism enhance the creative skills of the students in the language. The students are encouraged to write on their own place of birth (Tourism) and to write a journal incorporating different literary genres.
As regards French, the focus of the faculty has been to improve the communication skills of the learner. French has always been taught using the direct method without or with minimal use of English (in the case of the Basic stream alone).
The communicative approach is used in the selected course material. The textbook selected also conforms to the DELF Level (Basic Diploma in French Language) and is hence compatible to students who desire to pursue international courses either at the Alliance Française or in other universities both in India and abroad.
The course content of semesters 3 and 4 are selected and compiled by the course teachers to suit the functional needs of French taught as a foreign language.
New optional courses viz. Spoken French aimed at enhancing the oral skills through the use of dialogues and situations is accompanied by an audio cassette. The evaluation is almost entirely oral – 70 % and Beginners’ Italian have been introduced wherein students also use a multimedia CD Rom.
Certificate classes in Spanish are conducted after college hours by Spanish teachers from inaword, a centre for Foreign Languages. |
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| Facilities: |
| The following are available at the students’ disposition – maps, charts, textbooks, reference books and extension reading material in the departmental libraries, one computer with printer, a few audio-visual aids like Slide projector, slides, cassette-player, a CD player and a few audio & video cassettes and CDs. The main library of the College also houses books in the different languages offered. |
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| Activities: |
| TAMIL |
| Muthamizh Vizha : Inter-Collegiate annual cultural competitions in Tamil |
| HINDI |
| Jyothi: An annual inter-collegiate competition. |
| FRENCH |
| Francofest :An annual Inter-collegiate cultural competition in French
Francan : Annual Inter-year competitions
Guest speakers are invited to enhance students’ knowledge of culture and civilization. |
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| Associations / Magazines: |
| Amuthakalanjiam: Tamil magazine published and released annually. |
| The French section has an active French Association with a President nominated by the Students. |
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| Prizes : |
- The Mary Masillamani Tamil Prize for securing the highest marks in the Tamil General course in sem. I and II.
- The Mary Masillamani Tamil Prize for securing the highest marks in the Tamil Advanced course in sem. I and II.
- The H.A Krishna Pillai Tamil Prize for securing the highest marks in the Tamil General course in sem. III and IV.
- The H.A Krishna Pillai Tamil Prize for securing the highest marks in the Tamil Advanced course in sem. III and IV.
- The Tamil department optional Tourism Project Prize.
- The Dayamani Manasseh Tamil Optional Journalism project prize.
- The Sunflower Magazine Prize (Tamil) – for best essay, best short story and best poetry.
- The G.K. Krishnan Prize for the best article in Amutha Kalanjiyam.
- Vedanayagam Sastriyar Prize for the best essay in Tamil on his works.
- Lakshmi Parthasarathy memorial Prize to Tamil Advanced course students for the best essay.
- The Indian Languages Prize for securing the highest marks in Part I Tamil or Hindi from Sem. I to IV.
- The S.R. Sastri Prize for securing the highest marks in Part I Hindi in sem. I and II.
- Dr. Mary Ellen Stephenson French Prize for securing the highest mark in Part I French from Sem I to IV.
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| Future Plans: |
| The French section plans to acquire a good Language Laboratory with state of art facilities for the development of the language skills of students.
The French section is planning to bring out a manual for beginners shortly. |
