Classrooms in nature
Nabanita Deshmukh
“Take a deep breath, relax and close your eyes,” began the trainer. “Don’t think of multiplication tables or difficult verbs. Visualize a village surrounded by dense forests or gurgling streams where a cluster of thatched huts make up a school and now imagine this very school cut off from all internet and mobile connections. How do you think children learn there?” she asked with a smile.
This was a question thrown at teachers by Shyamala Raut*, a trainer, during an English language workshop in remote areas.
“It’s a difficult task,” said Sukumar Rath, a participant and teacher in a rural primary school in Odisha. “The students are often absent, there are no computers or even proper desks or chairs for them to use. The parents frequently make children work in fields or whisk them away during festivals. In such a situation, how do I teach?” he asked aloud.
Sukumar’s dilemma is real and there are thousands like him who face similar challenges during their teaching careers. In fact, the stories trainers hear from teachers during workshops are both comical and heartrending but so are the narrations of students.
“Masstor (teacher) hardly comes to class. He’s boring. He rarely corrects our assignments. He punishes us for small mistakes. We hate coming to school.”
How can these classes be made fun and interesting for students by accommodating these divergent views? Let us begin with vocabulary.
To teach new words in English, teachers have to help children experience language in myriad ways by using the surroundings they live in. In other words, to make learning authentic, the outdoor should be frequently used and parts of it can be brought into the classroom.
Observation walk
In fact this is exactly what Shyamala demonstrated in a small school in southern Odisha where she conducted a workshop for 15 inexperienced, primary school teachers. The aim was to show how nature-related words can be taught in an interesting way.
Shyamala took a group of class five students along with three teachers on an observation walk in the countryside. The children loved the experience and surprisingly so did the teachers. Names of objects in English were introduced by making children see, touch, smell, hear and sometimes taste things found in nature such as berries, flowers, fruiting trees, pebbles, thorns, grass, streams, etc…. When the words were difficult to comprehend, Shyamala used Odia to translate.
On approaching a vegetable patch, the students spotted a bunch of pumpkins below a leafy bush.
“Kakharru, kakharru!” they shouted in Odia and Shyamala gently responded by saying, “pumpkin”. The children repeated the word ‘pumpkin’ several times, enjoyed their walk through the garden and were then taught a rhyme,
“I’m a little pumpkin, orange and round.
Here is my stem, I grew in the ground.
When I get all cut up, don’t you shout!
Just open me up, and scoop me out!”
The children cheerfully kept singing and peeped into low-hanging nests on trees. They tasted the nectar of flowers, smelt the jasmines on the bushes and heard the cries of birds and insects. The trainer encouraged the students to share their experiences by providing appropriate words and phrases in English. This helped the children learn new vocabulary in an experiential way.
Encouraging students to explore and observe their surroundings on their own is a great way to teach a second language because children love spending time in nature and thereby learn faster. But the teachers accompanying the students did not look convinced.
“Do you really believe that students will actually remember the new words they learned today?” one of them hesitantly asked. Shyamala just smiled and replied, “Let’s see what happens tomorrow”.
Display table
The next morning, some of the objects the children had seen during the walk such as jasmine flowers, twigs, and dried leaves along with a few others they had not seen were brought into the classroom and placed on the teacher’s table.
“What’s this?” asked Shyamala by picking up a leaf. The children enthusiastically chorused, “leaf!” She then brought out a seed and showed it to the class by asking what it was. The children did not know. Many started talking in Odiya and some of them said, “monji”. Shyamala gently pointed out that ‘monji’ was called ‘seed’ in English. She then recited a short poem by clapping her hands every time the word ‘seed’ appeared and the children did the same.
“This is my garden; I’ll plant seeds with care.
Here are the seeds, I’ll plant seeds in there.
The sun will shine, the rain will fall,
The seeds will sprout and grow up tall.”
Later, Shyamala invited a student called Rajesh Majhi to take her place and ask questions to the class. The boy looked happy and fitted into the role of a teacher enthusiastically. An interactive session took place thanks to peer learning planned by Shyamala.
The pedagogical benefit of such an exercise was reinforcement. By showing the children objects that they had already seen along with a few new ones, Shyamala reinforced the words learned during the walk. This was especially beneficial for weaker students. They learned faster and better and their sensory perceptions got aroused when vocabulary was taught in such an interactive way through songs, poems, guesswork and the use of real objects.
Once the children learned the names of the objects in English, the trainer thought of a game. But why games? This is because games are fun and competitive and by playing them, especially in classrooms, students learn faster and retain words for a longer period of time.
Memory game
Shyamala covered the table with a dupatta. The students had to then remember the names of objects hidden under the cloth. Every child got a chance to say a word. If anything was left out, the trainer removed the dupatta and the students got a chance to see the forgotten object and repeat its name several times to remember. The students loved the game and felt motivated to come up with answers.
Eventually, Shyamala discussed the benefits of an observation walk through nature by dividing the activity into three stages:
- First, students learned new words by experiencing the outdoors. Their senses got aroused and learning became fun.
- Later, they got opportunities to see the objects once again in class and got a chance to learn and understand the words that were taught.
- Finally, through a simple game, students remembered the words and teachers got an opportunity to assess their students’ comprehension and pronunciation.
Children learn best when they are encouraged to make connections between the things they experience in life and the concepts they learn in class. For this to take place, teachers need to create a vibrant atmosphere in and around the classroom by using the outdoors whenever possible. Students can be taken for a walk, sometimes made to sit under a tree and visit a nearby park or a sanctuary to learn. If these activities are properly planned especially in schools lacking in technology, attending classes can surely become a transforming experience for teachers and students alike!
The author would like to thank Jane Sahi for her invaluable inputs that have helped her write this article.
*Name changed
The author is a teacher, a teacher educator and a writer of children’s stories and poems. She can be reached at deshmukh.nitu@gmail.com.