The article titled “The theatre of English Language” (August 2008) sounded tempting and with the hope of getting some insight into making English teaching interesting I started reading it. But the insensitivity with which the author has discussed the cases of people trying hard to communicate in English was very disappointing.

Language is a crucial component of any one’s personality. This is because it is not just a medium to communicate but also to express feelings. People are comfortable communicating in a language they are more exposed to. But, when it comes to communicating in another language it really takes time and a lot of effort on part of the learner; especially when exposure is limited.

We all understand our role in motivating the learner and scaffold him/her in the process of learning when the learner is an infant or a child. We respond even to meaningless cooing and babbling. We are thrilled when the child starts with two syllable words like mama and papa.

For all the people the writer has discussed about English is a second language for all of them. Obsession to learn English is not baseless our country where knowledge of English ensures you good paying jobs and allows you to access the culture of the elite. In our society not everyone is fortunate enough to get exposure to this “highly valued language” right from childhood and acquire it in a natural way. Therefore, many of us (those who do not inherit it) ended up attending coaching centers which promise to teach the language in a short period and in the money that most of us can afford to pay as students.

You are a tailor if you know the local language but the moment you can talk to your customer in “good” English, your shop is called a boutique and you, a designer. Every parent wants to send his/her child to a good English medium school but when the time comes to meet the teacher even many qualified parents hesitate if they are not fluent in English. In Delhi there are many institutes which arrange classes for such parents and prepare them for interviews (for children’s admission) and to participate in parent- teacher meetings. Recently, in my interaction with some teachers I was taken aback when they referred to non-English speaking parents as uneducated.

From job classifieds to matrimonial, fluency in English becomes a must for upward mobility. Let’s take the case of a teacher education institution which I attended. In a batch of 42, 10 students studied in Hindi medium. And in spite of the limited availability of the literature most of them performed quite well. But in campus recruitment none of them could get a job as they had the desired knowledge in a “not so preferred language”. Most of them could not apply for a master’s in their desired courses as not many university offer subjects in Hindi. This is not limited to Hindi but to most regional languages. As the level of teaching advances, not knowing the regional language and not making any effort to learn it becomes a cool thing. But for a college teacher, even if s/he is teaching a regional language, not knowing English becomes a stigma to the department s/he belongs to.

I agree with the author that understanding is more important than speech and therefore I think that there is a need to go deeper to understand the reasons behind the performances like the one cited by the author.

This Article was under the Last Word which I understand is meant for light reading but if it found a place in Teacher Plus it should have should promised at least some substance for teachers. Hope the message of the article has not been understood as “English is the legacy of few elites and others better not attempt to mess with it”.

Shikha Sharma, Bengaluru.

Which is better, rote learning or activity-based learning?

Educationists are constantly trying to come up with effective ways to make children learn and use knowledge. Many who believe in the rote learning method argue that what was good for us and our parents is good for our children. Another school of thought strongly believes in activity-based learning and wants a definite shift in paradigm as far as the learning process is concerned. So teachers and parents are often confused and wonder how to make children learn for life.

In order to come up with the best solution one needs to delve into the merits and demerits of rote learning and activity-based learning. The advantages of both systems need to be adopted and the disadvantages eschewed.

Rote learning aids one kind of cognitive development. It’s about getting the facts right. To some extent, it is important because facts and figures which are memorised help one support or defend an argument and debate on issues. If you don’t know the country, the person or the date on which something took place, how can you defend your argument? In language learning too, rote learning is the only way to learn the vocabulary of a foreign language or the conjugation of irregular verbs as there is no inner structure and their inner complexity is too subtle to be learnt explicitly in a short time. Learning poems by rote is also important as quoting suitable lines in an essay, speech or debate enhances the quality of the piece. Of course, one needs to understand the lines but memorisation does play an important role here.

When Bill Gates was asked about the supposed American education advantage – an education that stresses creativity, not rote learning – he was utterly dismissive. According to him those who think that the rote learning systems of India, China and Japan can’t turn out innovators who can compete with Americans are mistaken. Said Gates, …Who has the most creative video games in the world? Japan! I never met these ‘rote people’ … Some of my best software developers are Easterners! You need to understand things in order to invent beyond them.”

Despite these advantages which cannot be ignored, I do not subscribe to the idea that rote learning is the best method of learning today. The fact is that activity-based learning, critical thinking and creativity are more important in today’s educational scenario, which help children understand concepts rather than just store information. The advantages are many as these skills help the child analyse, synthesise and think out-of-the-box. George Bernard Shaw said, “What we want is to see the child in pursuit of knowledge, and not knowledge in pursuit of the child.” Activity-based learning does exactly this.

Our “Tell’em-and-test’em” way of teaching or “jug-mug” theory leaves most students increasingly confused, aware that their academic success rests on shaky foundations, and convinced that school is mainly a place where you follow meaningless procedures to get meaningless answers to meaningless questions. This is where HOTS or higher order thinking skills developed through activity-based learning makes education more meaningful.

The advantages of activity-based learning are:

• Children learn at their own pace.
• Group learning, mutual learning and self learning are promoted.
• A teacher’s time is judiciously distributed among children.
• Children’s participation in every step is ensured in the process of learning.
• Evaluation is inbuilt in the system; it is done without the child knowing it.
• Classroom transaction is based on child’s needs and interests.
• Sense of achievement boosts child’s confidence and morale.
• Attractive cards and activity create interest among children.
• There is more scope for the child’s development in creative and communicative skills.
• The distance between the teacher and the child is largely reduced and the teacher acts as a facilitator rather than a teacher.
• Children learn concepts which help build a strong foundation.

Rote learning and activity-based learning are complementary, not substitutes. So if teachers need to make a child learn they need to judiciously blend the two techniques and use them to advantage. Memorised information needs to act as a spring board for analytical thinking and understanding of concepts and children need to learn for life and not merely an exam.

The author is principal, Pallavi Model School, Hyderabad.

Many a teacher, who has read the autobiography of Helen Keller, would doubtless have drawn inspiration from that beautiful story, for hers is a story that has provoked many a writer, film maker and script-writer to spin a tale from a life that is as awesome as it is stranger than fiction.

Anne Sullivan and Helen Keller

My personal preference has always been for autobiographies (over biographies), for I like to believe that there is no better story teller of one’s life than oneself. Despite my continuing to hold that belief, I strongly recommend this book for the numerous insights that it provides, as well as the references to many other books (now accessible as e-books) that Helen Keller wrote. (None of these finds mention in Helen’s autobiography, as she wrote them much later in life).

Surely we wonder what went on in the mind of that pioneering teacher – Anne Sullivan? How did she hit upon the way of opening the doors of learning to her exceptionally challenged pupil? In her words: “(My) mind is undisciplined, bad, full of slips and jumps…How I long to put it in order. Oh, if only there were someone to help me! I need a teacher quite as much as Helen. I know that the education of this child will be the distinguishing event of my life, if I have the brains and perseverance to accomplish it.” That she was ‘on to something big’ (in contemporary lingo!) was something Anne felt intuitively. At the same time, her need to seek guidance, bounce ideas off (and learn from) another is touching in its ring of familiarity for any one of us who has faced a hard challenge.

In her observation of Helen’s quick mind, the conclusion that Anne Sullivan drew may be heartening to many a parent and teacher today: Helen’s quickness of comprehension confirmed Anne in the view that “the child has dormant within him when he comes into the world, all the experiences of the race. These experiences are like photographic negatives, until language develops them and brings out the memory-images.”

What is worth teaching? What is worth learning? Surely these are questions that trouble any teacher or parent, to this day! Especially for early learning, how critical it is that we steer those tender minds in the right direction! Here is what this pioneering teacher has to say: I believe every child has hidden away somewhere in its being, noble qualities and capacities which may be quickened and developed if we go about it in the right way; but we shall never properly develop the higher natures of our little ones while we continue to fill our minds with the so-called rudiments. Mathematics will never make them loving, nor will the accurate knowledge of the size and shape of the word help them to appreciate its wondrous beauties. Let us lead them, then, during the first years they are entrusted to our care, to find their greatest pleasure in nature, by training them to notice everything familiar or strange in our walks with them through the fields, the woods on the hilltops, or by the seashore. The child who loves and appreciates the wonders of the outdoor world will never have room in his heart for the mean and the low. Such a child will have risen to a higher plane, and in a wise study of God’s law in nature he will ever find its highest joy.

In this regard, I found Anne Sullivan’s observations on the (un)importance of a curriculum to be the most insightful: Thank Heaven, I didn’t have to follow a curriculum when I began teaching Helen. I am convinced she wouldn’t have learned language as easily as she did. It seems to me, it is made difficult as possible in school for a child to learn anything.

Apparently, children learn language more quickly when they are free to move about among objects that interest them. They absorb words and knowledge simultaneously. In the classroom they cease to be actors in the drama, they sit and watch the teacher doing something with her mouth which does not excite their curiousity. The child learns eagerly what he wants to know, and indifferently what you want him to know.

For those who long to teach disciplined children, and for those parents who bemoan the lack of discipline in their offspring, here is a thought-provoking extract revealing Anne Sullivan’s feelings on why teaching an undisciplined child was interesting:

I have always thought I was fortunate in having a wild, willful and destructive child for a pupil because she was more interesting than a mild, orderly child would have been. Energy is one of nature’s choicest gifts to the child.

In speaking of her teacher, Helen Keller seems to return the compliment: My teacher was irregularly instructed. There were gaps and deficiencies in her education that she had the rare wisdom herself to see. She brought to her work a freshness, a clear open-mindedness that contributed much toward her success. …She aroused curiosity, aspiration and joyous efforts.

Thus, freshness and a lack of structure appear to have enriched both the teacher as well as the taught, here!

The little peeks that this book allows us, into the woman within Helen, are missing in her autobiography. Which woman does not look attentively at her reflection in the mirror? How did the woman in Helen feel, deprived of so basic an action? Leblanc, a famous beauty, takes note that Helen cannot see herself in the mirror that is in her room: “The mirror tells me: it has not instructed her; it has never told her her charms and defects; it has never revealed her image to her. That image lives and dies in the mirror, whereas with us it is the revealer, teaching us, correcting us and becoming the eternal companion of a grace which it unceasingly abandons and directs by turn…. We shall never ourselves know how far that inseparable sister influences our gravest actions and deeds.”

I did not know until I read this book that Helen and Anne Sullivan made their living through lecture tours all over the country, and even the world. For a life that was already fraught with so much difficulty, the manner in which their monetary obstacles were overcome make very inspiring reading. Touchingly, Helen’s response to a question about her physical handicap makes one reflect on one’s own lack of appreciation of so much that one takes for granted: It was in Cleveland that her answer to one question brought down the house:
“Which is the greatest affliction, deafness, dumbness, blindness?” she was asked.
“None,” she replied.
“What then is the greatest human affliction?” the questioner persisted.
“Bone headedness,” she replied.

And again, in a similar vein, at a big meeting in Orchestra Hall, Detroit:
“Do you think that blindness is the greatest of afflictions?” he (Campbell) asked Helen, who read the question off his lips.
“No, it is worse to have eyes and yet not see,” Helen responded.

I would say it is worse, when we, as teachers of children who can see, speak and hear, feel inadequately equipped to teach them! We have much to learn from Anne Sullivan: and here is a book that will teach us!

The author is an educational consultant based in Bangalore. She can be reached at neeraja.raghavan@gmail.com.

There is a weblink to the e-book at: http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=6821898 but this does not allow readers from India to download it. However, it is listed on amazon.com and can be purchased as a used book, hardback or paperback.

Everyone agrees that reading is a virtue and a reading habit is one of the best things for a child to acquire. It is the road to that end that does not find a consensus of opinion, especially as most of us like to pass the buck – parents to teachers and teachers to parents. How much difference does the encouragement of a teacher make in developing and nurturing the reading habit?

For Ms. Nayar, a trained teacher, children’s writer and a concerned mother, it is the parents who make the difference in fostering the reading habit in younger children. “Teachers can make a difference, too, but not without the active support of parents.” In her son’s school, she had suggested that each parent donate a book at the beginning of the year to the primary class library in order that the collection become 30-40 books richer each year, and the teacher was happy to take up the suggestion. She collected and catalogued the books (some acquired at her own expense) and read to the children regularly. However, soon, lack of interest on the part of the children because of the absence of reinforcement from the parents became a roadblock and led to the project being shelved. Often, especially with first generation English language learners, parents are more interested in their wards getting their basic education right rather than indulging them in flights of the imagination.

The author is a prolific writer of children’s fiction. She can be reached at cherbrag@yahoo.com.

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Children love playing or doing activities that involve motor skills. While teaching we can think of many activities and games related to the topic we are dealing with, which will be both stimulating and involve thinking and problem solving.

• The 16 Sticks Game: This is an excellent game to develop problem solving skills, social skills, imagination and planning. This game will work well for classes 3 to 8, but any age group could enjoy the game.

Things you will need: 16 sticks of 2 to 4 cm each, we can use match sticks or neem twigs for the game.
Number of Players: Two
How to play: Let the two players sit face to face. In the middle arrange the 16 sticks as shown in the figure. This is just one way to arrange the sticks between the players. You can arrange them in any way you like, the only criterion is that they should be laid out in the space between the players.

The author is Head Training & Development, Calorx Foundation, Ahmedabad. He can be reached at <sgupta@calorxmail.com.

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‘Turn around – don’t drown’ – that’s a slogan that one sees often on various posters in the corridors of the hydrology department of the National Weather Service in the United States. Though this particular saying is more relevant to the situation of flash flooding, which is common in the US, floods in general are a common occurrence in all parts of the world, including India. Many a year has seen various Indian states ravaged by rivers flooding their banks, with farmers losing their livelihood and people losing their lives. River forecasting, especially as it relates to floods, has thus assumed an important role in government agencies throughout the world. If dangerous flooding can be predicted with some level of accuracy and with some lead time, then arrangements can be made to minimise the loss of life and property.

A good way to link the principles of hydrology, hydraulics, systems development, software engineering and statistics is to look at what happens in flood forecasting. This is also an opportunity to introduce high school students to important professional avenues that use knowledge of geography, mathematics and physics – subjects that many children think are arcane and unrelated to day to day life!

The author is a software engineer who has worked on flood forecasting systems. She can be reached at sudharang@gmail.com.

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Long, long ago, when humans were hunters and gatherers they observed the natural and heavenly phenomena keenly and concluded that certain things were indicators of others to follow. In this high-tech age, when the weather reporter stands in front of a digitised map and spouts calculated wisdom, it might be interesting to give your geography class some insights into how the ancients looked at weather. The information in this article could form the basis for further discussion and research, or used by the students to create presentations.

Quiet observations and valuable experience formed a treasure house of knowledge that was passed on from generation to generation over thousands of years. Even today in places where there is no electricity, newspapers and met office, people depend on natural phenomenon to predict weather.

The author is a freelance writer based in Hyderabad. She can be reached at sujata117@yahoo.co.uk.

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Each generation experiences the world differently – our coordinates are different, the language we use is different. Let’s take a reality check and see what these differences could be.

See if you spontaneously agree or disagree with these statements and … compare your answers with those of your friends and colleagues, and then ask your students and children for their responses. All in a spirit of wondering!

Ever since I have known –

1. Milk has come in packets and cartons.
2. Cricket has been telecast live.
3. Bottled water has been available.
4. There has been news on television.
5. Post is something you do on blogs.
6. The front page of the newspaper has had a colour picture.
7. Friendship day has existed.
8. The island to the south of India is called Sri Lanka.
9. The main station in Mumbai is called Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus.
10. The Khans of Bollywood are Salman, Aamir and Shahrukh.
11. Message has been used as a verb.
12. Babies have worn disposable diapers.
13. Relatives have died/lived in senior citizens’ homes.
14. I have eaten boxed cereal for breakfast.
15. I can talk to or see a person with the press of a button.
16. Online shopping has been a way of life.
17. Vacations have nothing to do with visiting relatives.
18. Education has always been child-centric.
19. Heart attacks and diabetes are something that only old people contract.
20. Money could be drawn from automated machines.

An educational compact disc that hopes to be a teacher aid material for environmental studies is at the very first glance a welcome relief since we do not have easily available Indian material on the subject. Environmental Studies is a subject that cannot be ignored anymore. Everyday there are reports on the environmental degeneration that is taking place. A recent report even said that ecological pollution was a greater threat to mankind than terrorism. This being the state of affairs, environmental studies has become the subject that students should learn. Yes, several schools have already included it in their syllabus. There are also textbooks available, but one look at these textbooks will tell you that these books only have theoretical knowledge to offer. The lessons are written in such a way as to provide answers to the questions asked at the end of every lesson rather than provoke creative thinking and inspire students to take up measures to preserve the environment and combat pollution.

Forests Alive! is a study of the Biligiri Ramaswamy Temple (BRT) wildlife sanctuary and the Soligas who live there. The CD was designed for dual purposes – one to preserve the culture and age-old wisdom and practices of the soliga tribe and two to serve as educational material for teachers teaching environmental studies.

The author is a paediatric counsellor and teacher trainer. She can be reached at seethaanand@yahoo.com.

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The poor condition of basic education in this country is well known to all and here are some basic facts to just get the evidence on it. Nearly 33% of adult Indians are illiterate and drop out rates for primary students is 30%. The overall teacher pupil ratio is 1:46, and on an average there are less than three teachers per primary school.

Only 53% of habitations in the country have a primary school, nearly half of all children in the 7-14 age group cannot read and a staggering 10 million primary age children remain out of school. It’s a reality we would all like to change and the best way to start doing it is with the primary school system.

So what is it that we need? If you are about to say more investment in primary education, more schools and more children attending these schools, please wait. This is not what we need. What we do is a mobile phone and a large mobile network.

If one section of India’s corporate giants, film superstars and advertising spin doctors are to be believed, all those who strive to improve the fundamentals of our primary education are fools of the first order. The answers are much simpler. Put a mobile phone in the middle of nowhere and this country will be transformed. Children will sit transfixed and listen to education blasting out of four inch contraptions, attendance will be 100%, girls will certainly outperform the boys, all children will be magically educated, will become supremely confident and will be ready to take on the world. It’s a revolution waiting to be unleashed. We were looking in the wrong place so far; we were wasting our time putting in place a system of primary education. It’s not working, so don’t invest any more – maybe it’s not late even now to do away with it.

Another mobile communications company, for instance, advertises prominently that network connections are at least as important as basic necessities as food, air and water. That many of our systems, including primary education are in a mess will be disputed by no one, but when a corporate entity pounces on this reality in its pursuit of even more profit it can only come across as obscene. The effort is not even to mock, leave alone castigate a system that fails its citizens so badly. It’s a cynical and brazen attempt to capitalise of a situation, mislead a people and predate on unfulfilled aspirations. We cannot forget that subconscious messaging of this kind gets absorbed slowly but its impact on the human psyche can be huge. That in fact is the purpose of most advertising and however much one believes otherwise, no one is really immune. We believe we will never be taken in, while in fact this is exactly what is happening in a manner that we are not even aware of.

The advertising industry, the self proclaimed creative geniuses are bound to spring up in vehement defence – with the fig leaf of creative freedom and creative license. When it is advertising, anything goes; anything should be allowed to go. Responsibility to a larger context in promotion of a business is either for someone else or then good in Corporate Social Responsibility discussions and brochures.

Advertising of this kind is a mockery of the hopes and desires of a large section of people who are struggling hard to get their children basic education in the anticipation that their lives will be at least a little better and it’s not even an alternative system of education that is being promoted or sold. Don’t bother about teachers, education or school is the unbelievable message that is being sent out. The government may be discussing a bill to make primary education a fundamental right but industry and advertising would rather have people ‘buy’ than fight for what should be fundamentally theirs.

That might well be the way to turn the argument on its head. Advertising is a statement on society and the intelligent creative giants could soon have us believe that campaigns such as these are indeed mirrors for society to look into and look at itself. We are not ‘selling’, we are only reflecting the deepest concerns of our times and our people. It is the most selfless kind of corporate social responsibility endeavour that makes us all realise how badly our government and systems have failed. It’s a call to the conscience of all. And yes, if we further our business on the side, surely no one should complain. Win – win, you see?

We would do well to bear in mind that countries who are considered developed and powerful today have invested and continue to invest huge resources in their people and the kind of education they get. In Northern America and Western Europe for instance, more than 90% of kids are in primary school, nearly 14% of government spending goes to education and there is one teacher for every 14 children at the primary level. Compare these with figures for India and the direction for action cannot be seen more clearly. This is where innovation, creativity and high quality messaging are most needed. That’s the idea that sirji needs to work on. That’s where the real difference will be made and quite likely even ensure better sales of phones in the long run.

This article was first published in Deccan Herald dated August 18, 2008 and is reprinted here with permission from the author.