Showing posts with label Our Efforts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Our Efforts. Show all posts
Teachers' Orientation Programme in Yavatmal
We thank the following organisation for their support to Project English E.Teach and their recent Teachers' Orientation Programme which was conducted on behalf of our BCPT team at Yavatmal in Maharashtra:
1. Child Rights Alliance
2.Apeksha Homeo Society
3. ISAR, Yavatmal
Date: 15th february, 2018
Venue: Babhulgaon






1. Child Rights Alliance
2.Apeksha Homeo Society
3. ISAR, Yavatmal
Date: 15th february, 2018
Venue: Babhulgaon






Teachers' Orientation Programme in Satara
A teachers' orientation programme was conducted in Dahiwadi Man Taluka (Satara) on 8th of February, 2018.
We saw a very good turn out of a good 208 teachers and a total of 215 English E.Teach DVDs were distributed to them.
The local SEO, Panchayat Samiti member and Deputy Collector also graced the occasion with their presence as the Chief Guest.



We saw a very good turn out of a good 208 teachers and a total of 215 English E.Teach DVDs were distributed to them.
The local SEO, Panchayat Samiti member and Deputy Collector also graced the occasion with their presence as the Chief Guest.



End of the Year Updates of 2017
We often hear the quote, “How time flies!” And it is so
true. It feels like 2017 just flew by and just the other day, we posted the ‘End
of the Year Updates of 2016’ and here we are, discussing the year 2017 now.
2017 has been very eventful. As promised, we have reached deeper
into the remote areas of Maharashtra. And the local schools there are
enthusiastically using our DVDs now. A host of local newspapers have time and
again covered our work and our EET Mission. Our media coverage section has us beaming with pride. We even
featured in ‘Mumbai Mirror’, which is one of the most popular daily newspapers
in Mumbai.
When we set out with this project, our idea was to promote
the vernacular medium schools (because we firmly believe that core subjects are
understood better when taught in the mother tongue) and support them with an
aide that can ensure that the children learn English as a language, very well.
Today’s competitive time calls for a fluent knowledge English as a prerequisite
to any job. We can proudly say that in 2017, we have fairly succeeded in making
our message heard loud and clear. Institutions and most importantly, parents,
have understood this and there have been reports of an increase in the
admissions in the vernacular medium schools compared to the English medium
schools this year.
We are happy to say that we are proud of the positive
changes in the education system this year.
Seeing the overwhelmingly positive support from all corners,
we have initiated work on the STD five DVDs and they should hopefully be in
schools by the next academic year (June,2018).
On this positive note, we want to welcome the new year 2018
– with high hopes for a brighter future for our GenNext.
The IMPACT ASSESSMENT of the ENGLISH E.TEACH PROJECT
BCPT's English E.
Teach
is an effective intervention that brings quality English language to vernacular
schools from Std. I upwards, using the simple teacher-friendly technology of
audio-visual DVDs in the class environment. These DVDs are given absolutely
free of cost to schools and are custom-made to teach the prescribed Maharashtra
Government syllabus, page by page. It uses the existing school infrastructure
and existing teachers that the children are already familiar with.
These audio-visual English lessons make learning interesting and
enjoyable for children using short songs, interactive sequences and role-play, to
be facilitated by the teacher. English E.Teach helps children overcome their
fear of learning a foreign language and instills a confidence and proficiency
in English, that stays with them for life.
We undertook an in
house Impact Assessment with the main objective of looking at:
1) If there was in actuality an impact on building competency in use of the English
language in students of the vernacular schools using
English E teach
2)Where these students stand in comparison to students of vernacular
schools not using English E. teach, and English medium schools catering to the
same socio-economic strata as the children in said vernacular schools
3) Aspects and content of English E. Teach that need to be
highlighted when orienting teachers or offering them training. (This is being shared with those involved in these
processes and is not elaborated on in this write up)
HOW WAS THE IMPACT ASSESSMENT CONDUCTED:
1) School Based Assessment (BMC and Private)
This was conducted in schools that use English E.teach DVDs, testing
students in classes I to III. Criteria for eligibility was that the school
should have been using English E. teach for one full academic year at least,
i.e. from academic year 2016-17.
Schools that had the program in use in Stds I-III were preferred.
The 5 facilitators (who
liaise with schools and teachers, introducing the programme to them, training
teachers in its use and offering hands on assistance as and when required) selected
5 schools each, that met our requirements.
The assessment was conducted in a total of 30 schools.
An interactive session was designed for Stds. I - III. The time
available to us for actually conducting the sessions in class was limited, hence
only a few competencies could be tested.
A pair of facilitators conducted the session in each class, with
one facilitator noting the observations on a data collection sheet while the
other interacted with the students.
Data gathered this way is
labeled ‘School Based’.
2)Community Based Assessment
of Individual Children
This type of assessment was Conducted in communities by the
facilitators to compare performance of
vernacular school students of classes I
to III attending schools where English E
teach is in use, with the performance of
1) students of vernacular school
that do not use EET and
2) students of English medium schools that cater to the children
of a similar socio-economic strata as the vernacular schools mentioned above.
This was done in communities serviced by NGOs connected with
BCPT. The NGOs helped with the logistics of identifying the children &
bringing them together at a venue where the assessment could be conducted.
The proposed sample size for the community based assessment was
60 students of Std. I - III each. (We fell short by 5 in the actual collection
of data.)
In the communities, we followed a one on one pattern, with one
facilitator testing one child at a time, using formats designed for the
purpose. The core questions remained the same as those in the school based
assessment.
Data gathered thus is
labeled ‘Community Based’.
WHAT ARE THE
FINDINGS?
Event Update: Basti Rally in Bhandup, Mumbai.
On the 9th of September 2017, few of the facilitators of the English E.Teach Program, in association
with the Khushi Foundation, organized a ‘Basti Rally’ in the Bhandup (West) slum area of Mumbai. The main message of the rally was to create awareness
amongst the parents in the basti about the importance of sending their children
to Vernacular medium schools and how the English E.Teach program will ensure
that they will never miss out on proper English lessons.
The English
E.Teach schools, whose teachers and students, participated in it were:
1.Durgamata
Vidya Mandir
2. Ahilya
Vidyalaya
3. Yashwant
Chandji Sawant Vidya Mandir
The students and
teachers held up colourful posters and banners showing their prowess in English–
which were all designed and made by them.
At regular
intervals in the rally, the students performed mini-skits and recited some
English poems they learnt at school using our DVDs.
When the locals
saw these young children talk and perform in English, they were pleasantly
surprised and mighty impressed. They were even taking videos of the students on
their cell phones to show their families.
On the whole, it
was a fun event, even for the children who participated, as they felt important
and proud of themselves. Their hard work & English skills were acknowledged
by their entire basti!
Our hope is that
this event, and others like it, will spread the word about our FREE project and
the impact English E.Teach can make in the lives of every student, no matter
how underprivileged.
PROGRESS-O-METER: June 2017
So the rains are here finally - this time a little later
than always. A new monsoon season always reminds one of their new academic year
in school. Everything new (more often than not) - new standard, new classroom,
new class teacher, new textbooks, a new life so to say. It applies to us as
well. After a month long May vacation, we also come together in June to gear up
for our next year ahead. We also have new aims and to-do lists to conquer.
In May, when we did our final tally before heading on
our individual vacations - this is where we stood.
So many 4,801 schools have been reached so far, touching
the lives of 2,81,745 children.
This
is where we stand now. But what lies ahead?
Are
we just looking at increasing numbers or creating quality as well?
We are looking at both really!!
Of course, we want to increase numbers - not just to
please our eyes when we see it on paper - but to please our hearts with the
feeling of having done something worthwhile and positively touched the lives of
so many children. These children are our tomorrow. And if we need to make this
place better, we need to make their lives better. And education is the single
most powerful tool to bring about this change.
But what else is it that we want to do, that we
haven’t been doing so far?
We want to create a self sustaining educational change
- so that the schools and teachers function more efficiently and creatively on
their own, without us having to be in the picture to monitor them as such. And
monitoring is not our role. Our sole role is to provide a solution, which we
have in the form of these DVDs/pendrives. But how to use this content more and
more effectively, we want to leave to the teachers. This will ensure that we
can use our existing man-force to reach further, remote areas of Maharashtra. The
entire state is facing a crisis where the vernacular education system is losing
its hold. And we need to act faster at this point.
Keeping all this in mind - to begin with - we have
started our online help centre. Everyone, even in the most remote areas, are
now equipped to use the internet. Maybe the language is the barrier, but
internet they are aware of. To overcome the language barrier, we have a
parallel communication setup with everything in Marathi(Give the link) as well.
RESOURCES FOR THE TEACHERS - We will work on this more
extensively this year so as to provide one click solution for all the queries
and problems. It will also act like a community where all teachers and schools
can come together to share ideas and come up with new solutions for the
existing problems.
Other than the online support, we want to make our
chain of facilitators and NGOs stronger. We will organise more focused
trainings in the remote areas and ensure everyone is well aware and equipped to
follow the changing trends. In case you are a group of teachers somewhere, and
want us to arrange a training for you, please feel free to contact us. We are
more than happy to help.
A specialised team is also working to create more
content. Currently we are working on creating DVDs for Standard 5 of the
Maharashtra Board.
I end this post with the hope that next year, around
the same time, when I write about the progress-o-meter, I have all these
pointers ticked plus a lot more to share.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
-
One never runs out of quotes about the importance of smiling! Smiling is not only good for your own wellbeing, but also for those aro...
-
Every few weeks, English E. Teach organizes an event for the parents in different schools. The idea is to reassure them that wha...
-
English E.Teach is a project where custom made DVDs are distributed FREE to the Vernacular Schools of Maharashtra, to help teachers conduc...