Soft Skills Training For Corporates

Dr Mitalee Shome had passed her HSLC (10th std) exams from Saint Mary’s Convent, Guwahati. Always a bright and sincere student, she was in the merit list (4th in the State Merit list) in the Pre – University Exams (equivalent to 12th std of today). She graduated from the prestigious Cotton College, Guwahati with Honours in English Literature and continued to complete the Masters in English Literature from Guwahati University, Assam.

She shifted to Mumbai in 1981alongwith her husband and joined the Mumbai University to pursue MPhil in English Literature. The dissertation titled Joseph Conrad’s ‘Heart of Darkness’ and William Golding’s ‘Lord of the Flies’: A Comparative Study, was highly appreciated and recommended by the Examiner from Baroda University for further research.

Thereupon she enrolled for PhD under Dr S Kandaswami of the Mumbai University. The PhD degree was awarded to her in the year 2000 for the thesis titled Joseph Conrad and William Golding: A Comparative Study.

She joined Shri M.D.Shah Mahila College of Arts and Commerce (affiliated to the S.N.D.T University) as a Lecturer of English in the Junior College in 1982 and in 1985 was upgraded to the Degree College. During her teaching career she has taught a number of subjects ranging from Business Communication, Communication Skills, English Literature and Spoken English to B.Com, B.A, B.M.S and Post graduate students.

Within a few years she headed the 10 member strong Department of English at Shri M.D.Shah Mahila College. The team innovated different methods to make teaching more interesting and innovative, and organized different activities to hone the skills of the students. Her creative talent found it’s outlet in the College Magazine which she edited as the Editor and also contributed to it as a Member of the Editorial team.

Her efforts were always directed towards the all round development of the Institution. As the Vice Principal of the College, she ably assisted the Principal in the administration of the institution. As the Chairperson of the Students’ Council for three terms, she was instrumental in introducing innovative activities for the all round development of the students. She was the first Co-ordinator of the college for NAAC (National Assessment and Accreditation Committee).

A Member of the Board of Studies in English at the S.N.D.T University, she and her team framed the syllabus for BCom, B.A and also Post graduate courses. As a Chairperson of the same Board for five years, she was instrumental in revising the syllabus of various courses to make them for functional and suitable for job markets. She was also a member of the Research and Recognition Committee, The Academic Council and The Library Committee.

Dr Mitalee Shome has attended several seminars and workshops in different capacities – as Presenter, as Chairperson, as Panel member. She has presented around 50 papers in National and International Seminars and published 17 papers in Academic Journals and books and magazines Presently, she teaches Postgraduate students and also Undergraduate students as a Visiting faculty. Apart from this, she imparts training in Spoken English, writes and edits content for different corporates.

Some of the papers presented by her at several National conferences are:

• “ The Migration of Dreams & Nightmares” : Response to Globalisation & Terrorism in Kiran Desai’s ‘ The Inheritance of Loss’ & Kiran Nagarkar’s ‘ God’s Little Soldier’ at UGC Sponsored National Seminar on India in Contemporary Indian English Fiction, held at SIES College of Science, Arts and Commerce, Mumbai.

• ‘Eco- Criticism and Folklore: Reclaiming Sacred Ecology’ at UGC Sponsored National Seminar on “Folklore, Literature and Culture” held at L.J.N.J.Mahila Mahavidyalaya, Mumbai.

• ‘Problems Confronting the Language Teacher and its Solutions’ at a National Conference on ‘Strategies, Methodologies & Innovations in Language Education’ held at SRM University, Tamil Nadu.

• ‘ In Search of A Home- How ‘ Indian’ is the Anglo-Indian? A Study of the Presentation of the Anglo-Indian Community with special Reference to ’36 Chowringee Lane’ and ‘Bow Barracks Forever’ at a National Seminar on ‘Voices of The Marginalized’ held at Ramniranjan Jhunjhunwala College, Mumbai.

• ‘ The Game Changers’: The Religion of Cricket and Bollywood at an ICSSR Sponsored National Seminar on ‘ 100 Years of Indian Cinema: Issues and Challenges in Retrospection” held at Ramniranjan Jhunjhunwala College, Mumbai.

• ‘ Understanding the Political and Psychological Impact of the Metaphor ‘Refugeehood’ in Asif Currimbhoy’s The Refugee’ at UGC Sponsored National Seminar on Indian Theatre/ Drama in English & in Translation held at Maniben Nanavati Women’s College, Mumbai.

• ‘Shock Stories: Writing as Resistance- A Study of Selected Writings of Daniil Kharms and Mahashweta Devi at a National Seminar on Resistance Studies held at Tiptur, Karnataka.

• ‘Fear Factor’ in Children’s Literature: fear, violence and cruelty in the Fairy Tales and in tales from Thakurmar Jhuli at a UGC Sponsored National Seminar on ‘Reading Children: Children’s Literature in India’ held at Shri M.D.Shah Mahila College of Arts and Commerce, Mumbai.

• ‘Developing Reading Skills in Multicultural/ Multilingual classes: Teaching Reading to “Babel’s children”: Two Case Studies at a National Conference on ‘Cultivating the Reading Skill: A Classroom Challenge’ held at English Language Teaching Institute of Symbiosis, Pune.

Some of the papers presented by her at International Conferences are:

• ‘Teaching Reading: Applying Theory and Research to Practice’ at the International Conference organized by English Language Teachers’ Association of India on English- from Classes to Masses at Jaipur.

• ‘Comics- A Tool in inculcating good and independent reading habits in young adults’ at the International Conference organized by English Language Teachers’ Association of India on Teacher Development at Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore.

• ‘ Mother Tongue to Other Tongue’ at the International Conference organized by English Language Teachers’ Association of India on The English Classroom- Experiments and Experiences at Chennai.

• ‘ Learning Strategies- Innovative ways of Teaching English’ at the International Conference organized by English Language Teachers’ Association on 21st Century Learners- Learning Styles and Strategies at SRM University, Tamil Nadu.

• ‘Action Research on the Implementation of Process and Modelling/ Imitation Approach to Improve Writing Skills of FYBA (English Medium) Students at the International Conference organized by English Language Teachers’ Association of India on Content –Based Instruction and Learning: Redefining the English Language Curriculum at Hyderabad.

• ‘A College Initiative: Setting Standards for Multi Paragraph Writing’ at the International Conference organized by the English Language Teachers’ Association of India on Learning and Teaching English in India: Setting Standards at Ghaziabad.

• ‘The Literary Response to the Interconnections between Multiculturalism and Globalization’ at the International Conference organized by Higher Education and Research Society on Literature, Culture and World Peace at Pune.

• ‘English for Local and Global Employment using Language Laboratory to improve Speaking Skills’ at the International Conference organized by the English Language Teachers’ Association of India on English Language Acquisition: Western Theories and Eastern Practices at Ernakulum, Kerala.

Publications:

• ‘The Migration of Dreams and Nightmares’ : Response to Globalization and Terrorism in Kiran Desai’s The Inheritanceof Loss and Kiran Nagarkar’s God’s Little Soldier in the proceedings published by SIES College of their UGC Sponsored National Seminar India in Contemporary Indian English Fiction. Published by sheth Publishers Pvt Ltd

• ‘The Game Changers: The Religion of Cricket and Bollywood’ in  the Proceedings published by Ramniranjan Jhunjhunwala College of their ICSSR Sponsored National Seminar on “100 Years of Indian Cinema:Issues and Challenges in Retrospection”

• ‘The Silenced Voices of The God of Small Things –A Study in the journal “Research Horizons ” published by Maniben Nanavati Women’s College

• ‘ Fear Factor’ in Children’s Literature: fear, violence and cruelty in the Fairy Tales and in tales from Thakurmar Jhuli in “ Reading Children : Children’s Literature in India , published by Ane Books Pvt Ltd.

• ‘Teaching Reading to “Babel’s Children”: Two Case Studies’ in the book titled Teaching Reading & Writing published by English Language Teaching Institute of Symbiosis (ELTIS).

• ‘Shock Stories’: Writing as Resistance- A Study of Selected Writings of Daniil Kharms and Mahasweta Devi’ in the book titled “ Resistance Studies”

• ‘Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and Golding’s Lord of the Flies: A Comparative Study in the book titled Perspectives in Post 1940 British and American Literature, published by Akademi Publishers, Mumbai

• ‘Understanding the Political and Psychological Conflict in Asif Currimbhoy’s Bengal Trilogy- The Refugee, Inquilab and Sonar Bangla in the book titled Indian English Theatre and Drama published by Authors Press

• ‘Teaching Reading: Applying theory and Research to Practice’ in the book titled Enhancing Communication Skills through ELT Practices.

In addition to this, a few articles of hers shave been published in regional magazines.