Here is the solution.

Okay, It was the first ever.

and a crossword for you...!

Waste yourself in your leisure time...!


The power of crosswords has been hardly acknowledged and practised as a tool towards building vocabulary and acculturisation of English. A crossword does not just test, or after the solution add to, your repertoire of English words. It puts it in context. The context for the word acquired is the thing that lets the learner hold on to it and put it to use. It also adds the much required baking time in which the brain prepares a slot for the word to be put in after it is acquired. Easily achieved is easily forgotten. A crossword lets the learner crave for the word for a long time while the context is rerun by the brain over and over. This gives the much required, and elusive, anchor to the word, the single most important objective of any exercise in vocabulary. There may be exercises that achieve this but the point where a crossword scores better is the cultural flavour that it adds to the context. Every clue that leads to the word tells you where the word 'can' be placed in language, and consequently social, use. I am sure the language facilitators and trainers will identify the potential of this age old tool and incorporate it in their programmes.

Don't worry. The solution follows soon...!

A Letter To CCTV

Dear CCTV

I must begin with congratulating you on the English Speaking Contest that you so wonderfully and successfully conducted. I used to rush my colleagues at dinner so that I don't miss it. It was a very pleasant and encouraging surprise to see something like this instituted nationally.

It was really intriguing to see such an elaborate setup, and participation, for an English Speaking Contest, coming from India. English, there, has become such an integral part of lives of most of the people that such a celebration of English takes you aback for a moment. There may be debating competitions but no competitions that are primarily based on language proficiency.

It puts forward an interesting and encouraging case for the development of English and related potential here in China. The amount of excitement and enthusiasm an English Speaking Contest can generate somewhere is only indicative of the gap that still lies between the people and the language and how eager they are to bridge it. The energy levels of the contestants only made me more confident that I am at the right place and the proverbial pupil is ready. Now is the time for us masters to step in provide the necessary instruments and inspiration for this canvas to flourish itself with colours of language.

I do have some suggestions to make though if it won't ask for much resources.

1) It would be really wonderful to have English subtitles running alongwith all your English programmes for those who are not yet up to the mark in the listening area. It would help them immensely as a reference for them to work on their very necessary weak forms and sentential stress patterns.

2) I suggest more English content be placed on the platter as news and documentaries form the bulk of the English language enthusiasts are exposed to. English cartoons and non dubbed movies will be a welcome addition.

3) I think students outside major metropolitan and educational centres still live in the largely mistaken belief that English still has not found its way in China. Contests like CCTV Cup are definitely helping but a more realistic, non celebratory approach to how English is fastly losing its alien face in China would be very helpful. Airtime dedicated to covering various aspects of university life and showing how English no longer eludes Chinese students as it used to earlier will be very encouraging. I think seeing and hearing native speakers and near native proficient Chinese speakers all the time can be intimidating sometimes.

I hope my suggestions will find you in good spirit and good health.

Thank you

Saurabh Kumar Mishra

Certain sections omitted for temporal consistency.