Gita Krenek One of the most useful ‘resources’ I have found to help me get children to speak English has been what is called a ‘magic bag’ – in other words, a bag full of all sorts of bits and pieces. These could be things that lie around your house, such as a (small) book, toothbrush, key, candle, matchbox, comb, photo, pen. Or things that other people have no use for any more, such as (baby size) shoes / cap / socks, artificial flower or leaf, plastic fruit, small ball, toy car, plastic or stuffed animals. Once you get enthusiastic, you may like to make some things yourself, like a miniature sweater, house out of a matchbox, tree or snake from salt dough*. Or you might see something at the market that is just the thing (the things that dangle off key rings are often good) – my favourites are a rubber rat, and a miniature bicycle. You can keep adding to and varying the things in the bag, so as to keep the pupils guessing and their interest high. It is helpful to have many duplicates for when you practice plurals. They need not be identical, for example, you could have a little wooden elephant and a larger plastic one. They are still both elephants. It might be more interesting for the children if the bag is special looking, rather than a plastic shopping bag. There are so many things you can use the bag for – here are my experiences, but I’m sure you will come up with lots more ways to use the idea. Vocabulary: Simply say, “What’s in the bag?” Take the objects out of the bag, one at a time, identifying each one. Practise a lot. Always put ‘a’ in front of a noun. Encourage a full sentence: “What is this?” “It is a …” Naming competition: Divide the class into two teams. As you pull an item out, everyone calls out its name as fast as they can. The team that names the object correctly first gets a point. You will be amazed at how suddenly recall improves! The author has taught English to school children in Austria and Ecuador, and to young adults in India. At present she is working as a volunteer in a small NGO-run primary school for rural children in the foothills of the Himalayas. She can be reached at gitakrenek@gmail.com. This is an article for subscribers only. You may request the complete article by

Sheela Ramakrishnan If a child can apply what he/she has learnt in daily life, then we can claim that teaching or educating has been effective. In that sense we can say that all learning is from life for life. The backbone of all human interaction is language; language is also the link to comprehending and transferring knowledge from the abstract to the concrete. Take away language from our learning process and we are left with a big void. Be it math, science, social studies, physical education, craft, music or any branch of knowledge, the common thread that binds them together is language. To use an easy analogy, if each knowledge discipline is a pearl bead, then the string that keeps it together so that it can become a necklace is language. Without language, the bead cannot completely string itself . No wonder then, that inadequate language development can affect comprehension of a word problem in math, dilute understanding of a scientific concept, and cause serious gaps in the learning of social studies. This may not be because the child is not capable of understanding the concepts, but because the child does not have adequate language skills to comprehend or express ideas. The importance of language learning is therefore not just the responsibility of the language teacher, but of all teachers. Providing adequate opportunities to express ideas and using grade level appropriate vocabulary are vital aspects that are often ignored. The level of language and vocabulary used in the subject course materials are sometimes vastly different and at variance. Textbooks do not take into account this difference in vocabulary. Therefore, the only solution is to build strong language skills in the children. Since learning is from life for life, language learning ought to be natural and related to the child’s environment. The more contextualised the learning is to the child’s surroundings and related to the familiar, the more meaningful it becomes. An educator ideally ought to focus on ways to use the environment effectively as a stimulus for language learning. Given below is a template of a tried out approach, “Language Around Me” using the environment as a stimulus leading to language development. The steps are based on accepted pedagogical rationales as follows: Known to unknown Simple to complex Listening, speaking, reading writing sequence in language learning. Multi sensorial approach Multiple Intelligence theory Varied learning styles of learners The materials needed are simple and easily available: Chart paper sheets or computers, if available Thick marker pens

Leena Anil Teaching students to speak in a language which is not their own is a challenge, be it one or fifty students. The analogy that comes to mind is of learning the cuisine of another country. Take for example, French cuisine. If you are adventurous and want to bake your own bread, you might want to try baking a baguette. The battle with the baguette begins with pronouncing the word correctly, collecting the right ingredients and of course painstakingly following each step in bread making, so that the end product has a close resemblance to the French original. Most importantly, one has to repeat the process several times to come close to achieving perfection. Likewise, when teaching students to speak English, one has to follow a very systematic process of understanding how second language learning happens, the problems faced by learners and the solutions that can be worked out so that at the end of a “Course in Spoken English,” one can speak it with near native-speaker competence, though not literally with a native-speaker accent. As with learning any skill, one cannot over emphasise the importance of practice. Like cooking, cycling and swimming, speaking is also a skill, one of the four skills of language, the other three being listening, reading and writing. A skill is learnt through practice, and through application in daily life of what is learnt in the classroom. After you have baked your baguette, the real test will come when you serve it and people start eating it. Likewise, after you have completed your course in spoken English, the real test is when you open your mouth to speak. According to Penny Ur, “Of all the four skills, speaking seems intuitively the most important: people who know a language are referred to as “speakers” of that language.” She goes on to describe the characteristics of a successful speaking activity as one where: learners talk a lot as against teacher talk. participation is even, where classroom discussion is not dominated by talkative students but where all get a chance to speak. motivation is high among learners who are eager to speak because of an interest in the topic and because they have something new to contribute. language is of an acceptable level of accuracy, with learners expressing themselves in relevant and easily comprehensible ways. The author is an English teaching entrepreneur. She can be reached at linaneel@gmail.com. This is an article for subscribers only. You may request the complete article by

Gurveen Kaur Teaching reading to children from print-rich backgrounds as well as print-deprived backgrounds has made me realise that there are important unnoticed and overlooked gaps that must be filled in for the second set of children. Any child who comes from a family of readers and plenty of books, has a different introduction to books from a child who comes from a print-deprived background. Children from a family of readers see adults absorbed in reading and sense their irritation/impatience at being disturbed whilst reading. They wonder what keeps the adults so engrossed and soon begin to imitate the adults. The children whose parents read to them soon associate books with fascinating stories, wonderful adventures and they are keen to explore the wonderful worlds that books open up for them. They begin to imitate the postures and movements of adults much before they actually read. They soon figure out the right way to hold a book, not just by looking at the pictures! Over a period of time, even before they actually begin to read, these children catch on that we generally read from left to right, begin at the top of the page and read to the bottom of the page. They pick this up sitting in the lap of the adult/parent reading aloud to them. Their early exposure to books is a warm, pleasant experience/memory because of which they want to read. These children are motivated to learn as they see reading as an adult skill that they lack. Children from print-deprived homes lack this initial positive introduction (that children from print-rich families soak in) before they are actually taught to read. The children from print-deprived homes tend to think of books as a purely school-related activity and rarely as a pleasurable activity. When we overlook this fact and rush into teaching reading without spending enough time building a motivation for reading, we lose more time than we gain. We need to build a positive exposure and attitude to reading and books before hurrying into teaching the alphabet. At a minimum, they need access to colourful picture books and adults who will read out fascinating stories to them. The author is with Centre for Learning, Hyderabad. She can be reached at kaur.gurveen@gmail.com. This is an article for subscribers only. You may request the complete article by writing to us at editorial@gamart.in.