Teaching of English in Regional Medium Context

Teaching of English in Regional Medium Contexts

THE CONTEXT

Despite learning English as a second language for 8-10 years in government and low-cost private schools, most disadvantaged students and youth in urban and rural India are barely able to speak, read and write a few simple sentences in English. This is primarily because their teachers themselves have an inadequate command of English, and inadequate training in how to teach it effectively. Consequently, for most disadvantaged students and out-of school youth, access to higher education, employment, technical knowledge, and the world of computers and the Internet, is severely limited. Strengthening their basic proficiency in English is an integral part of CLR’s mission to improve the quality of their education and life-chances.

OUR APPROCH

As India is a country of diverse home languages, we place the acquisition of English skills in a multilingual context. Based on this understanding, we have researched and developed course content, training programmes and materials in audio, digital and print formats, using a bilingual pedagogical approach (regional language and English) for three different groups of learners:

– Students in regional medium schools

– English teachers in regional medium schools

– Out-of-school youth and young adult learners

WHAT CLR OFFERS

We offer technical support by way of English courses that cover all 4 language skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing. Along with the provision of our course materials, we train master trainers, teachers, and teacher-mentors involved in large and small scale delivery through government agencies, NGOs and ‘affordable’ private schools catering to disadvantaged students.

CLR English Courses

1. "We Learn English" (WLE)

WLE is a 3-year bilingual interactive course for teaching Spoken English to regional medium students. Originally designed as an interactive radio broadcast, “We Learn English” is now available in audio format for classrooms. There are currently two bilingual versions of this course. The English/ Marathi and English/Hindi versions are entitled “Aamhi Ingrezi Shikto” and “Aao Angrezi Seekhe” respectively. CLR seeks partnerships in different states to produce further bilingual versions.

Number and Duration

The 3-level course has about 80 bilingual radio/audio lessons per level, each of 15 minutes duration, totalling 245 lessons altogether.

Features

Setting of lessons within dramas that echo the real lives of children in rural and ‘basti’ contexts. Stories, songs and language games in English are included.
Interactive pedagogy enabling students and classroom teachers to speak in English from the first lesson onwards.
Clear delineation of graded structures and vocabulary to be learned
Indirect training of classroom teachers in interactive methods for teaching conversational skills

2. “Let’s Read and Write English” (LRWE)

LRWE is a 3-level bilingual audio-visual course, with English/Marathi and English/Hindi versions, to teach reading and writing skills in English at the primary and middle-school level. At present the materials for these levels can be accessed in book form in bulk print-runs, and also in e-learning formats. In both cases, the course pedagogy is interactive, involving the distant teacher and the classroom teacher in transacting the content.

The interactive feature of LRWE is based on research in second language pedagogy and in literacy learning. Hence it covers oral language development, and the ‘balanced approach’ to literacy instruction, involving both decoding and meaning-making skills. Beginning skills in spelling and independent writing are also included. The reading content is based on the real lives and interests of students from disadvantaged rural and urban communities.

3. "Enhance Your English"(EYE) – For Regional Medium School Teachers

The grave limitations in student acquisition of English, as highlighted by the Focus Group on the Teaching of English related to the 2005 National Curriculum Framework, is primarily due to the fact that the majority of teachers themselves have a very limited command of English. The principal recommendation of the Focus Group was that all teachers who teach should have basic proficiency in English.

EYE uses a highly interactive, adult-oriented pedagogy to enhance teachers’ own English skills.....

The EYE course focuses on:

Enhancing the confidence of teachers to speak in English, both within and outside the classroom.
Improving their listening and speaking skills in English in both familiar and unfamiliar situations.
Increasing their reading comprehension and writing skills in English

Course materials

Instructor’s Manual
Audio-visual aids
Learner’s workbook and grammar activity book
Evaluation tools

Examples of organisations who accessed EYE course materials

CLR’s Instructors’ Training reached out to the following:
Eklavya, Bhopal
Azim Premji Foundation
Schoolscape, Chennai
Hand-in-Hand, Tamil Nadu

4. “Yuva English” – For Post-Secondary Youth

Yuva English, is a 140-hour course designed to improve the English skills of rural and urban post-secondary youth from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds. These learners would have completed their secondary education in regional medium schools, and would be between 16-30 years old, with very limited English proficiency. While some could be attending higher secondary schools or colleges, many others could be seeking employment or are already employed. The main goal of ‘Yuva English’ is to empower them with English skills focusing on listening, speaking and reading at a basic functional level, through a highly interactive, adult-oriented pedagogy.

Objectives of ‘Yuva English’

To build confidence in understanding and speaking in English
To help learners to use English in multiple contexts - college, at the workplace and in social situations
To Improve higher education performance, increase employment prospects and job performance, and to better overall life-chances

Course Materials

Instructor’s package
Audio-visual aids
Learner’s activity book and supplementary reader
Evaluation tools

More CLR English Resources for Regional Medium Students

Graded Bilingual Reading Series in English-Marathi and English-Hindi for Beginners

Bilingual Picture Word Books – Editions in 12 Regional Languages

Graded Fiction and Non-Fiction Based on Interests of Upper-Primary Students – 36 Titles

EXAMPLES OF PROJECTS AND CAPACITY BUILDING PROGRAMMES

Large-Scale Implementation of WLE Course for Spoken English in Partnership with Government Agencies

Several rounds of the bilingual WLE course have been implemented, mostly through All India Radio, and some on classroom laptops. Over the years, the Marathi-English version…

Establishing an English Resource Centre (ERC) in the Pune Municipal Corporation Education Department – A Systemic Innovation

In partnership with the Education Department of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), CLR developed and sustained an English Resource Centre (ERC) for 3 years, towards enabling the…

Improving English Language Skills in Residential Schools of the Department of Social Justice, Maharashtra

CLR introduced the first level of the 3-level digital version of the LRWE course as part of the English Language Improvement Project, a joint initiative with the Department of Social Justice,…

Implementing “Yuva English” through NGOs

CLR has conducted Instructors’ Training for approximately 50 NGOs in Pune, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Delhi who accessed the “Yuva English” materials to offer the course as part…