PTI
BANGALORE, Jun 27: City-based communication teacher Dr Zulfia Shaikh has set a world record, scoring the highest marks in the 'Licentiate Level Teaching Communication Skills (LTCL) Examination in the subject of Teaching Effective Communication held by the prestigious Trinity College, London.
Zulfia, also a nutrition expert, said she scored 85 per cent marks, making her the world record holder in this exam.
Zulfia, who said she was the first Indian to sit for the LTCL in the subject of effective communication, has broken the earlier record of 78 per cent.
According to the Bangalore representative of the Trinity College Drama and Speech, "Zulfia is the world record holder in the teaching communication skill variant."
The achievement qualifies her to teach in UK and the exam is rated as an equivalent to a bachelor's degree in the subject by the UK University Certification authorities, an official of British Council, where Trinity College recently felicitated her for achieving this rare honour, told.
The components of the LTCL comprises a three hour written test, a viva, a demonstration class and submssion of a thesis. Zulfia who sat for the examination in October last year spent nearly a year preparing for it.
"Since there is no fixed syllabus, one only had the Trinity College brief on the examination to rely on. I prepared by reading several books on the subject and sourcing information through the net", said Zulfia, a mother of three.
Zulfia, who runs the Bangalore School of Speech and Drama, here says that she had decided to take the examination since she was regularly asking her own students at the school to sit for the other levels of examinations conducted by Trinity. "I wanted to to be well qualified since I run the school", she told.
Zulfia is also the first Indian to attain a double degree in LTCL. She not only cleared the LTCL in communication but has also passed the examination in the subject of drama.
Earlier, Zulfia who had appeared for the grade eight level examination conducted by the college, scored 92 in communication and 91 in theatre, bagging her an `exhibition award' by the College which is given only to those scoring high marks.
For the LTCL in effective communication, Zulfia had submitted a thesis on `planning communication programmes' while at her viva she was grilled on planning communication programmes for youth ready to enter the workforce right to those in big corporates. "It was one half hour long viva", she grins recalling those moments when she was questioned by a Trinity College examiner on the subject of her thesis.
"The actual written test comprised questions ranging from human anatomy, vocal chords, vocal skills, application of communication skills to health and safety precaution in schools", she said.
"I had to rely a lot on my vast experience in teaching students theatre", says Zulfia who has been acting and teaching the art for past several years.
Speaking about communication, she said, "I believe communication is learning to be achieving a level of comfort in expressing yourself and saying what you want to say without outshouting someone else".
"I believe that we Indians should speak English the way we do, but without sacrificing the grammatical and vocabulary aspect. If we do not have problems with Russians and Chinese speaking English the way they do why should Indians worry about the Indian accent", she said.