The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Learning experience for teachers

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Oct 26, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Learning experience for teachers

Meera Srinivasan

Team of U.K. teachers visits PSBB school

— PHOTO:R.RAGU

EXCHANGING IDEAS: Valli Arunachalam (centre) and Mahalakshmi Ramjee with teachers from the U.K. in Chennai on Thursday.

CHENNAI: For the teachers from India, it was the infrastructure in the British school. For the visiting team of teachers from the U.K., it is the confidence level of the Indian students. In effect, teachers from Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan, Nungambakkam, and Reepham High School in Norfolk, United Kingdom, are quite impressed with each other.

The two schools are collaborating in the Global School Partnership facilitated by the British Council. Principal of the Padma Seshadri - Nungambakkam Valli Arunachalam and geography teacher Mahalakshmi Ramjee visited the U.K. earlier this year and are already implementing some of the practices they found interesting. The teachers from Reepham High School Liz Burr, Lynn Wallace and Humphrey Borgnis were wrapping up their nearly week-long visit on Thursday. Ms.Burr, an English teacher, is amazed at the students’ level of understanding here. “The teaching styles are different. Here, there seems to be more emphasis on oral activity. The knowledge of students is very high,” she said.

Ms.Wallace, who teaches mathematics, said the curriculum here is double theirs. “Our students have an option of specialising in mechanics or statistics after a basic course in math. But here, all students follow the same curriculum.”

Computer science teacher Mr.Borgnis said the subject was largely similar, with variations in areas of focus. “Here the focus is on programming while our emphasis is more on using applications to solve problems.”

“We intend having a common calendar next year and are also looking at sharing and exchanging modules in teenage culture, conflict resolution and sustainable development,” Ms.Arunachalam said.

The ideas that the visiting teachers are taking back home include encouraging students to speak with confidence, trying out some of the math lab activities and addressing teenagers’ issues as was done in the value education class taken by Dean of the School Mrs.Y.G.Parthasarathy.

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