Volunteering experience: Teach India!

"Me Shaaret Marathi Sheekli…pan mala marati bolut yeat nahi"

“I learnt Marathi in school but I cannot really speak the language!”

Although Marati is the local language...not knowing Marathi has not hampered my progress in life…but if I did not know English…chances are that I would not be standing here as a part of Tata Consultancy services…giving a speech at the toastmasters club.

But Why am I standing here and telling you this?

Because I have spent the last few weekends with kids who are studying English in school but they don’t really understand and speak the language they are in the same position as me but unfortunately not knowing English will put them at a disadvantage. When these kids grow up and go out in the world to be employed chances are their pay package would half of their English speaking counter parts even though they would be as smart and knowledgeable.. I know its not fair but it’s the truth.

The Teach India Campaign launched by the Times of India group made me get in touch with these children and I got my change to try and make a difference! In the next few minutes… I am going to share my experiences as a part of a campaign I registered on the teach India web-site and my assignment was to teach Spoken English to Marati medium students. Well I can speak English but to teach spoken English...umm….I was not too sure how that was suppose to be done! Thank God they were planning on an orientation program;but the only thing they told us as a part of the orientation is that you will have two children.and you need to do is give them a conducive environment to speak English! There is no method use your instinct….teach the child like you would teach your own children your mother language!And I though to myself…what instinct!!!! I don’t think I have a instinct for teaching!! but what the hell…since I was here on a Saturday afternoon.I might as well go ahead with it.

Believe me it was a little scary to start off with. Although I am normally great at finding commonalities and making small talk with strangers but this was different I had to talk to the child for one hour!! And what would I find common with a 13 year old child from a completely different socio- economic background…..60 minutes….3,600 seconds…seemed like a very very long time. But I had to act confident I was the teacher after all the kids walked into the hall….and two little boys..Soheil and Rupesh came and sat with me.They were nervous and so was I it was difficult to decide who was more apprehensive we made small talk…what is your name…..where do you stay…which class are you in…..you know the basics… family…school… friends…10 minutes or 600 seconds would have passed…now what next….????One part of me was listing to their answers which by the way were in monosyllaals the other part was thinking what next to say should I talk about books? Nah! they would not read… suddenly though movies…..! everybody watches movies….and that would give me lot to talk about…after all there are so many bollywood movies and stars I though I have found the perfect topic to make conversation so I asked the boys which is your favorite movie.and Soheil promptly answered…"hum TV nahi dheekte"! There I was at a loss again! The kids started fidgeting on their chairs….and I was so uncomfortable I looking at my watch .. had 45 minutes more to go!!

Then an idea struck me and I told the kids will you show me your school…come lets go for a walk….and their eyes lit up! Wow here is a “teacher” who is taking them for a walk around school instead to sitting in class…and that is when I managed to break the ice! We walked around school….they showed me things….they told me what it was called in Marathi..I told them what it was in English…they repeated the English word….i repeated the Marathi word!! All of us learnt something…..and it was a wonderful experience!

That was session 1….I have had three subsequent Saturday afternoon sessions with them…and believe me each one has been extremely satisfying and challenging… and I can actually see the difference…it may not be very significant…but my kiddo’s have taken small baby steps in becoming more confident in attempting to talk in English…..the first session they were talking in monosyllables….now they are attempting to talk in sentences….the grammar may be all wrong….but slowly and surely they are getting better.. And there is so much for me to learn in the process…how to keep 13 year olds entertained and also teach them in the process requires a whole lot of creativity by itself!I don’t know if this “Teach India campaign” will actually make a major difference….or will it be just be a publicity stunt by the times group to win awards for the best campaign….but I know I done my little bit to help to change a childs life!

To conclude I would like to tell all you people sitting in the room..you may not be part of the Teach India Campaign”… but if you look around you…you will find many people you can teach….your servants kids…the TCS Maitri teaching programs….it is an effort…it is scary….but at the same time it is extremely satisfying and enriching!

This was a speech I gave at a speakers club(Toastmasters Club) at work! Though it would be nice to share it with everyone here!

Student Intervention Program-Teach English to Municipal School Children

This web-page /blog-spot is mainly intended for volunteers from Teach-India Initiative enrolled in the weekend 2-hours Spoken English Language / Communication program at Kumud Vidyamandir and other schools organized by Kotak Education Foundation (KEF). This is a temporary site prepared and posted by volunteers to help each other. This is not an official web-site of KEF.The solutions given here to some of the problem situations have come from the volunteers themselves. In general, the suggestions follow the basic guidelines proposed by the KEF Student Intervention Program (SIP).

Volunteering to teach is an admirable action. There are many ways to give back to society. Giving money is one way of giving back. However, the giving of one’s time seems to be more difficult in the contemporary world. Many people say – money, if lost, can be recovered later. Time, once gone, never comes back. Time spent in teaching means increasing the level of difficulty for oneself. Not only does the volunteer give time, but the volunteer is now interacting with a human being – with all its attendant joys and frustrations. Most importantly the volunteer can see the results of that interaction immediately – on the child’s face. The volunteer can also monitor progress and follow the child’s learning and development path.

Teaching comes close to parenting as one of the most important functions in society and plays a huge role in social reproduction. Teaching is one of the foundations of learning for the next generation.

Teaching is very powerful but it is also a responsibility.Teaching brings a lot of joy to both student and teacher. However, “creating joy” has its own difficulties and frustrations.
Remember - these obstacles, difficulties and frustrations are completely surmountable. Someone – some teacher overcame them when you were a child.

When we start teaching or anything new for that matter, it is natural to have apprehensions. All the volunteers who returned to the 2nd session were bubbling with happiness and joy of meeting their students again, however, it would also be right to say that all of them had anxieties, question, and reservations at the start. They were concerned – “Did I do this right?” “I hope I did not damage this child permanently with my bad teaching” J

Of course there are teething problems in any new activity. Of course we can overcome them. Of course we can help each other in the process. After all we volunteered because we wanted to share something in the first place.

This blog-spot is a site for sharing our experiences, concerns, problems and their potential solutions and it is intended to act as a discussion forum for volunteers for this program.

The THREE main objectives of the Blog are

1) List some of the common issues faced by the volunteers and articulated by them at the end of each session

2) List of potential solutions attempted by volunteers or arrived at by discussion to overcome them is provided.

3) To share your specific experiences with the child you are teaching and the progress you are making with them
Please feel free to add your problems and the potential solutions you have tried and have succeeded and write as many comments as possible for each of the posts here!
There are no correct answers or best strategies. This program is a learning process for the teacher as well as the student
Remember that just like every CEO / Manager has her / his own management style. Every teacher also develops her / his own style of teaching. There are general guidelines that can be shared. We can learn from each other’s experiences.

BOTTOM LINE!!
You are there to help the child – not evaluate and judge the child. Help the child to comprehend and form sentences and speak in sentences spontaneously. Be the child’s friend. Remember when you turn the alphabets around in T-E-A-C-H, you get the word c-h-e-a-t. So, don’t examine and evaluate the child from Session One. Help the child along. Ask a question and then - whisper the correct answer in their ears even as they are answering (or simply move your lips to mouth the words without saying it aloud).
HELP THE CHILD – PLAY GAMES – HAVE FUN.

(This site is managed by Shilpa Sehgal, a volunteer from the first batch. Any questions or suggestions can be emailed to her at shilpa.sehgal@gmail.com)

What do I talk to a child who is not of my gender?

Potential Solution 1: Find common ground with the child and treat him/her like any other person you would meet of the opposite or SAME gender! Despite all the hype about gender differences, we still share many things in common – this planet for one! You can start a list of things boys and girls share in common.
You will find that many children of this age group do differentiate between boys and girls. There is a lot of gender-socialization in India. Girls do women’s work and boys do men’s things. You can help bridge some of these issues by playing the game – What do we have in common?

I want to teach grammar more systematically so student will understand

Potential Solution 1: The objective of the program is to teach spoken English and not formal grammar. Correct the child when he speaks the wrong syntax and don’t worry about formal teaching of grammar rules. Please listen to the student’s speech, and rectify as you go along.
Most of us learn language at a very early age (less than 2 years) and no one talks to an infant with a grammar book.
To the best of our knowledge, there seems to be no documented case in the world where someone suffered fatal injuries due to bad grammar. We have asked friends and colleagues to find out J

I need a syllabus or textbook - that will help me to gauge progress

Potential Solution 1: See that as a blessing. Here is a rare opportunity to make an individualized learning plan for the child and set individual goals for her. There is no standard syllabus and no exam at the end of the session.
Remember how Shane Warne took his team to victory in the inaugural IPL. He identified each player’s strengths and weaknesses. Based on that he gave specific roles to each person and appreciated and motivated them at each step.

I feel nervous because I do not know if I am teaching the right way. I am not teaching grammar from a textbook. Am I doing the right thing?

Potential Solution 1: There is no right way. You will evolve your own style. Flow with the process. Do not offend anyone. Do not say insensitive things. Ask questions and make the child speak more. If you do not know something, acknowledge it and make a team with the child – Decide to find out together.If you are nervous, ask another volunteer or some of the staff members in the school / hall for help. Play a Game. You cannot be nervous while playing..

Student is very shy and does not communicate

Potential Solution 1: Activities and games can help to break the ice.

Potential Solution 2: Slowly win the Childs trust. Make him your friend and try to talk to him