Thinking about language

One of the biggest conundrums facing our education system at all levels, from the pre-kindergarten to the advanced tertiary, is the language question. Teachers struggle with building relationships and understanding with toddlers who come into their classrooms from multiple linguistic Read More …

Words from my world

Sheela Ramakrishnan If a child can apply what he/she has learnt in daily life, then we can claim that teaching or educating has been effective. In that sense we can say that all learning is from life for life. The Read More …

Get it from the horse’s mouth

Leena Anil Teaching students to speak in a language which is not their own is a challenge, be it one or fifty students. The analogy that comes to mind is of learning the cuisine of another country. Take for example, Read More …

Learning to read: recognizing the challenges

Gurveen Kaur Teaching reading to children from print-rich backgrounds as well as print-deprived backgrounds has made me realise that there are important unnoticed and overlooked gaps that must be filled in for the second set of children. Any child who Read More …

Spinning stories

Chintan Girish Modi When a colleague of mine introduced me to a little story book called Mr Forgetful, I read it with great delight and amusement. It seemed like the perfect thing to share with children, both for its simplicity Read More …

“Songs? No way!”

S Upendran I began using songs in the English language classroom over twenty years ago, and I have found them useful not only in teaching the four skills of language – reading, writing, speaking and listening – but also grammar; Read More …

A need to focus on the basics

Usha Chandrasekaran In one of my postgraduate classes in English I came across Kayalvizhi who was zealous about learning. She displayed a remarkable understanding of English Literature. With all her flair for fresh thinking, Kayalvizhi stammered a lot while speaking; Read More …

Homework that really works

Mini Joseph “I like a teacher who gives you something to take home to think about besides homework.” – Lily Tomlin This is exactly the kind of teacher I would appreciate because he or she would enable the student to Read More …

The argumentative student

Kamakshi Balasubramanian What is an argument? When we hear the word ‘argument’, we think of heated debates, courtroom battles between highly articulate and clever lawyers, and just plain noisy disagreements between people who hold different opinions and viewpoints. There’s more Read More …