Students and teachers of the Government Higher Secondary School, Ganapathy, learn English through a special training programme.
Photo: M. Periasamy
Practical help: Chief Education Officer Karmegam interacts with students of Government H.S. School during the training programme.
Ask the students S. Gowtham and E. Mohan Kumar to identify the vowels and the consonants written on the blackboard, they read it aloud with confidence and give examples. Ask their name, school and class of study in English and they manage to give the answers.
To train the Tamil medium students of Government schools in English and hone their basic linguistic skills, the district education department has introduced a Communicative English programme. On an experimental basis, the training programme has been introduced to the Std.VI students and teachers of Government Higher Secondary School, Ganapathy, during the summer holidays.
Already three weeks into training, the “fear factor” associated with English is beginning to fade and these students are shining examples. “We want to focus on the functional part — listening, speaking, reading and writing. Language drill will be conducted for basic grammar, vocabulary and the structure of English,” says S. Karmegam, Chief Education Officer.
Not up to the mark
He says though the students study English as a subject from Std. I to XII, their achievement level in English is far below the expected standards. “Even after studying the language for 12 years, they are not able to communicate. English knowledge skills have acquired an important role in the competitive job environment. So, we want to evolve a successful training model and take it across to all the students in government schools from Std. VI onwards,” he adds.
The District Institute of Education Training will evaluate the performance of the students at the end of the programme.
Col. P. Jeyaraj, director of Col’s Calibre that offers training in English and personality development, who has come forward to offer the services of his institute says it’s a long-drawn process. “They might need training for about 12 months to get the required level of competence in communicative English. Spelling and pronunciation do not go together in their case because of lack of understanding. Educating them on the basic structure of grammar, exposure to usages and pronunciation is the key. Regular practice is also important,” says Col. Jeyaraj. Even to understand basic words such as “go”, “window” and “wall”, the students required a training session.
For the secondary grade teachers, who have been roped in for the training, it has helped them understand the rules of grammar, pronunciation, sentence formation, parts of speech, usage of prepositions, tenses, active and passive voice and also learn about rare verbs. As teacher R. Saradha puts it: “We feel confident now to teach English. And our students are also able to follow our instructions given in English.”
The Chief Education Officer says that Std. VI students have been chosen for the programme, as there is less pressure on them from academics. “They have some basic introduction to the language too. We don’t want them to be mere spectators of English; we want these students to communicate, read and write in English. In the process boost their confidence levels too,” he adds.
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