Ranjit Podder
About
Dr. Ranjit Podder is currently working as a Professor in the Department of English at Teachers’ Training Collège, Dhaka. He has experience in curriculum development, textbook writing and training of teachers of different levels. He is the Chief Editor of the research journal BTEJ (Bangladesh Teacher Education Journal) published annually from the college. He is also the Secretary of Michael West Study Centre, established at Dhaka TTC.Sessions
All Levels Reviving the Legacy of Michael West more
Sun, Sep 7, 18:15-19:00 Asia/Tokyo
The session will focus on the contributions of Michael West, the third Principal of Teachers’ Training College, Dhaka, who worked here from 1920 to 1932. He observed that few pupils had real reading ability in English, were not able to speak more than a few disjointed sentences and could write very laboriously. A focus on reading, he thought, could provide students with a foundation which would be useful in developing other language skills as well. Therefore, he developed The Reading Method, supplemented by graded readers, which became popular worldwide. The tradition continued even after the birth of Bangladesh in 1971 in the form of Rapid Readers, but was discontinued on the grounds of being improperly used. Michael West Study Centre (MWSC) was established at Dhaka TTC in 2024 with a view to reviving supplementary graded readers for different levels of education.
