44 - INNOVATION IN THE CLASSROOM

FIVE INNOVATIVE WAYS TO TEACH ENGLISH TO PRIMARY STUDENTS

 

1.  NEW WORDS TO REMEMBER

When a new lesson is introduced,  it is important to let the students memorize new words. I distribute large cut-outs of certain letters of the alphabet.  These  Partners are assigned the task of finding and listing all words that begin with that letter,  from the lesson, into the space of the cut-outSometimes, the letter given should be the last letter of the words and this adds to the difficulty level of the task.

 

2.  CORRECT THE TEACHER PLEASE

To make prose lively and to ensure participation of every student, I set them the responsibility of correcting my mistakes as they repeat whatever I read.  So if  the text says ‘The hot sun’ I read it as ‘The cold sun’

When students repeat the phrase,  they are expected to correct the mistake and read.   This activity also helps them to understand opposites, sometimes it makes them laugh.The main objective that I set out to achieve, is easily done.

 

3.  SILENCE AND ITS AFTERMATH

I have ‘the silence period’ for my English lesson. Students wear ear muffs & tie a cloth band around their mouth. I write a qs on the board .They ‘read’ silently & write the ans on their whiteboard slates,(laminated A4 size sheets) with white board pens. Each student holds up the slate with the answer.  I just glance at the upheld slates & make a mental note of which student needs more feedback in that particular topic.

4.  THE MOBILE, THE PARENTS AND THE PENDRIVE.

Supervised speaking is sidelined, since each class has upto 45 students.  Oral tests are done but students do not get a chance to ‘speak out’

So,  I assign a topic on which they do research and their parents record their speech at the location of the topic given.   The recorded presentation on a pen drive is then viewed by the class.   The results have been very interesting and even the students who shy away from speaking fluently, participate enthusiastically.

 

 

5.   SAY IT WITH A DIFFERENCE. 

I have made a display  chart of all possible student requests, written in different sentence formats.  If a student wants to visit the washroom, drink water, borrow something etc

So going to the washroom has been worded in 8 diff ways & everyday a different format is displayed.  Students have to read it, memorize it, then come to the teacher & say their request.  This process helps them to format sentences creatively.

32 - TERESA MY FRIEND

Teresa is a name that belongs to an icon of Kolkota.  Mother Teresa will be canonised on 4th September 2016.  Her maiden name was Anjeze Gonxhe Bojaxhia,  so complicated to pronounce,  and so she chose a path of service to the poorest of the poor,  a path that is complicated and gruelling.

A few years ago,  I saw a man on the Kemps corner slope,  lying on one side of the road, in the hot afternoon sunlight, and a rat was nibbling  his toes.  It is a very busy road, and thousands of vehicles were driving past.   I assumed that he was dead, until he flickered his eyes.   What could I do?  I could not touch him or even talk to him, because I was so rattled at his state.  I returned home and phoned the BMC, assuming that the municipal authorities would have some sort of rescue tactics in place.  But they replied that,  'we do not pick up sick persons from the road,  we have no provision for such acts.  Please phone "the sisters'  of mercy".
And I phoned them and within an hour,  their van came to the site and carried the sick man away.  In that moment,  my respect for the Christians increased.

Since then,  there have been many occasions, when I have wished that I could have had the compassion and the guts to do what Mother  Teresa did,  to physically and emotionally,  help the poorest of the poor.  But I have befriended another Teresa,  who herself is the poorest of the poor. 

In reality, this Teresa has befriended me.  She lives on the footpath and ekes out a living by collecting, segregating and selling 'radd-deeh'.  All the shops along both sides of the street are her means of procuring  cardboard boxes, plastic bottles, used bubble wrap,  wooden supports etc.
She sweeps a few upper floor homes, in return for leftover food and old clothes.  She washes their toilets and bathrooms, in return for permission to use them when she has to.  But the most laudable thing about this Teresa is that she helps herself and she is always smiling for me.  I am just a woman she meets at the bus stop,  until my bus arrives.  She approaches me whenever she is nearby and strikes up a conversation in perfect English.  Her saree is  a faded, sometimes tattered, hand-me-down,  but she sports nail paint and bangles and a mobile.  The nailpaint is courtesy the nick-nack selling shop that she swabs, and whose garbage bins she clears.  The mobile is an old model that the owner wanted to replace,  from one of the homes she sweeps.

She has no home, and takes shelter on the shop steps, after they are shut.  She has a twenty year old son,  who helps her.   But it is sad that he has no education and no support to learn and earn a respectable livlihood.  He is doing drugs with some other bad elements off the streets. 

Teresa asked me for a favour once,  and I made an effort, to fulfill it, but in vain.   She requested me to help her open a bank account, so that she could save her hard earned money.  But a bank needs an Aadhar card,  and an Aadhar card needs an address, and an address needs a house,  which Teresa does not own.  And so I could not help her to get a bank account.  And the situation has not improved for the poorest of the poor,  no matter what promises our Prime minister Mr.Modi boasts about.  And aslo petty politicians, who being in the vicinity, do nothing to improve the lot of humans around them,,,,, Mr. Owaisi for example.  But then he may wish to only help his own community,  I presume.

But this has not caused any rift in her friendship towards me.  She continues to smile and chitchat with me, as long as I wait for my bus, at this bus stop.


 

15 - TRAVEL TRAVAILS

Having to commute to work by taxi or bus has a unique set of hurdles.  The first one is that I should be able to board a bus.  The next is that the bus may be overcrowded.  If it is not, then I can be seated.  But certain factors can mar the joy. 

I may sound like a pessimist but that is the truth and has to be accepted and explained..  All may seem well,  but soon the peace within the bus is shattered by a loud voice, instructing a colleague, on the mobile,  how to tackle a fussy customer.   And another shrieky female voice, argueing aka Arnab Goswami, but on the mobile,  that the new flat should have blue tiles and not the grey ones............

All this is the noise pollution within the bus.   The loud, incessant honking of the traffic outside, creates an unbearable din on the exterior of the bus, which violates  the ear drums of all passengers within the bus too.

The last straw is when the strong stench of a garbage truck overwhelms the senses.   With the traffic moving at a snail's pace,  I am forced to watch the garbage truck preceding my bus and to breathe in the foul air.

So the senses run riot during my bus journey home.   Of course, the pot holes add the normal bumps and subsequent bruises that occur.

But recently, I can overcome these tortures.......I shut my eyes and transport myself to France and Switzerland......where my children and I had toured last month.    The smooth roads,  the unspoilt natural scenery,  the peaceful silent roads.     That was so strange.  The motorists do not honk at all in Pairs and Germany.    Traffic signals are obeyed and every vehicle respects the zebra crossings.   Oh my India,  I wish every driver would get a chance to experience driving in Europe, and emulate the traffic discipline.

Also, the road repair department should attend a workshop in France, as to how to build and maintain smooth, pothole free, clean roads.