English language kit: an outstanding innovation for English language skills development in Primary schools

Today I visited NMC school no.16, Ashvmedhnagar, Nashik. All the teachers were present and engaged in their own work related to exam.

Some students were also present, though exams were over. I talked to teachers about the purpose of my school visit that I came here to see whether you have received English kit and are you using it or not.. I asked them following questions:

1.Have you received English language kit?.

: Yes sir, we have got 4 kits.

2.Are these kits sufficient for your school?

: yes, 4 kits are enough for our school.

3. Have you opened the boxes and used materials ?

: No sir, due to election meetings, exam work, we haven't. But we have very much interest to look into the boxes. We are very pleased that finally we got English language kit. We were waiting since one year as we have Maths kits and it's very useful. So we're looking for having English kit, too. Thanks to department of education for providing this wonderful TLM.

I asked one teacher to bring the box. They opened it. I made all the teachers to sit around it and also asked to invite 7-10 students.

When students came, they sat in semicircle.

First I distributed them picture and word cards. They were attached together.

One child took one card.

Everyone tried to read or identify picture.

E.g. raining, blowing, riding, reading etc.

I conducted activities like:

1.Show and identify/read

Show the cards one by one and ask the students to read or identify

2. What is missing

Show all the cards except one and ask students:what is missing?

3.Mime:

Distribute cards. Each one will look into his/her card and act out. Others will identify.

4. Chain drill

One card is read by everyone one by one in a circle.

5.Matching

Match the words with pictures

Students liked all the activities and they enjoyed a lot. Teachers observed and got new ideas.

One teacher said: Sir, we do such practice of picture and word cards, but not taking such activities. These activities are really helpful for us and students too.

In this regard, we need training how to use these materials. This is quite useful and interesting. If we get training, then it will be easy for us to conduct activities using this English kit.

So please do visit our school regularly and give us practice.

I asked :

• Was it useful for learners?
• Were students reading and learning themselves?
• Did they like activities?
• Did they participate?
• Did I encourage?
• Did I appreciate them?

Teachers gave all the answers with “Yes”.

I asked teachers:

What is SLM?

Only one teacher out of 7 responded.

SLM is  Self learning material.

I explained using resource book provided in the kit. SLM helps to learn children using material independently. Children can work together and try to interpret with others about material. They ask each other about pictures and words. They try to read , understand and communicate with other children in group or in pair. But they need a little support of a teacher. How to deal with material ? What to ask ? How to respond ?

To achieve this purpose teachers need training.

They demanded training to know various purposes of various kinds of materials. How to handle, what to teach, what activities to be conducted, how to put learners in different interaction patterns, etc.

I asked 2nd question:

What is TLM:

Again the same teacher responded.

TLM is teacher learning Material.

I explained using resource guide. TLM is a material which is prepared and used by a teacher. To cater the needs of teaching specific TLM,  support and mentoring of teachers and for teachers is required. Hence, using such materials-TLM, training is an apt way.

I selected another set of materials,. It was  pronoun. I cut the cards into pieces to make it more sensible.

First, I asked students and teachers : What is pronoun ?. Teachers tried to explain in Marathi. The word which is used for noun is called pronoun.

E.g. I, we, he, she,it,they,you etc.

Using those long cards, I made meaningful sentences.

He… is a farmer.

She…is a farmer.

Above sentences become meaningful.

But for the following sentence, teachers and students got confused.

My….is a farmer.

I explained the above pair is not correct. My is possessive pronoun. It can be meaningful only when it is used like, My mother is a farmer. My father is a farmer.

One teacher- Ranjana Khade, asked me , “ Students will not understand, what is possessive pronoun ? How to teach this, could you please explain more? And  students also have problems to understand He, She, his, her, my, your or they cannot use these things properly. So how you will teach this ?”

To answer her questions, I took another activity and introduced my, your, he, she etc.

1. Introducing ‘My’
2. Introducing ‘your’
3. Introducing ‘He’ and ‘She’
4. Introducing ‘My and Your’

I did this using a card 'My’..

First, I demonstrated ..

My nose, my pen, my hand

Then, asked students to tell about themselves.

They tried to say ..My head, my shirt, my teacher,your pen, your head, your nose

I put students into pairs.

They did in this way:

A:  My nose and your nose

B: My hands and your hands

A: My head and your head

B: My ears and your ears

All the teachers satisfied with this activity and use of cards “My and Your”.

I found one mistake in a card strip.

We/They...are a student.

It should be…

We/They…..are students.

Ranjana teacher asked me how to teach He and She…

Using a ball , I conducted introducing he and she activity.

• Put the students in a circle
• Throw the ball to any student
• Ask him/her to introduce yourself like 'I am Ashok.’
• Then, introduce a person sitting to your right and left side.like He/She is…(Support if students make mistake)

Students also enjoyed this game. They were better comfortable to use he and she.

I emphasized that only SLM or TLM cannot serve the purpose of learning. You need to design some activities to teach and practise SLM and TLM.

When I told this, all the teachers forced me to organise one training program about the usage of these materials.

I chose one picture reading card, “ Vividh provision stores”

A picture of a store is given on left side and on the right side questions are given.

How many jars are there?

What colour is a shopkeeper's shirt ?

When I asked first question, students could answer in a word. But after support and demo, they started speaking in full sentences.

I asked different questions using how many..

:How many students are there?

:There are 9 students.

:How many female teachers are there ?

:There are 6 female teachers.

:How many male teachers are there?

: There are 2 male teachers.

If the same question is asked again and again using different content, students get practice to speak a lot and think a lot. In this sense, SLM or TLM is very useful.

We can also motivate children to ask questions to each other in small groups or in pairs. So they will try to ask and respond. At that time, teacher’s role is only to engage students, help them to ask and respond, appreciate and boost confidence of students.

Eventually I took a story telling session using story card.”Sana's Balloon”

Students liked a story of Sana and her father.

They learnt new words like ceiling, filled, bought, struck, etc.

They loved an idea of pictures, reading and answering and storytelling style.

I took reflection of teachers and students and later everyone thanked me for spending time with them all.

Some important findings:
1. Teachers and students like English kit
2. Students can be motivated to speak English using various materials of kit
3. English language kit is very useful and fruitful for teachers to help learners learn English effectively
4. Teachers are strongly demanding training for using English kit

Certainly, kit will help teachers and learners to enrich English language skills.