At times, despite having an excellent academic record, one might fall short of achieving a dream job because of not being as proficient in the English language as compared to the mother tongue.
To improve English language skills among young students so that it bolsters their self-confidence, the district administration of Karur district in Tamil Nadu has partnered with a young startup from Coimbatore to provide a basic English learning programme. The name of the startup is English Partner, and this online platform is run by some of the most talented tutors in the country.
STRUGGLE IN SPOKEN ENGLISH
While speaking to Indian Masterminds, DC Karur, Prabhushankar Gunalan, said, “When I was in my first year of medical college, I found intelligent students struggling in understanding the classes, but with time, they managed to cope up and were the better performers. And this performance came when they got a better hold on the English language, which helped them in getting the required knowledge easily.”
In a meeting with his team, all agreed that infrastructure was one thing, but there are other things which cannot be addressed in a conventional way, even in the education sector. They also agreed that it was important to improve the confidence of children passing out from school. And, to address the issue of lack of confidence in children who are ready to join college and step into a new world, the Karur administration, with the support of Karur Round Table 138, a voluntary organisation, launched ‘Aangila Nanban’. It is a basic English learning programme in partnership with the startup, English Partner.
THE PROGRAMME
English Partner from Coimbatore was roped in to improve the spoken English of the children passing out from school. All English teachers of the startup were called by the administration for a meeting to get valuable suggestions before launching the programme in the district. Mr. Gunalan said, “They were very excited to work in our district and threw a lot of suggestions that would be suitable for the children. Based on that, we thought it should be a fun learning session rather than a burden on the students. Hence, we decided to provide 20 minutes pre-recorded video sessions to the students in smart classes.”
The sixty short video classes of 20 minutes duration each have been developed on various topics and will be shown to students daily during a particular period at their school, in the presence of the English teacher. It is estimated that around 14000 students of 69 government and government aided schools will be covered in this programme. Students will be encouraged to use what they learn in their daily conversations. The main outcome of the programme includes inculcating basic English speaking skills in the students, boosting their confidence, improving higher education enrollment, and facilitating in coping and understanding the subjects, and, lastly, improving their scores in the English subject in board exams.
POSITIVE RESPONSE
Mr. Gunalan said that based on the feedback and inputs from the students and teachers, they are now planning to take this programme to the younger classes, too.
He himself attended two sessions, wherein, he saw the excitement and enjoyment on the students’ faces while taking part in this programme.
