Tête-à-tête with our Facilitator - Madhuri Chadrakant Holam:

What are the components of your job? What do you do when you say you are a ‘Facilitator’?

In the English E - teach project, I work as a facilitator with vernacular schools who are interested in running our project. We give free trainings to the teachers (which is related to the use of the DVDs that we have specially created) & also help the teachers during E. teach classes in the schools. Once the teacher’s training is complete and the school becomes independent, they can run the program without us. Our aim is to empower the schools.

Do you enjoy your job?

Yes, I really enjoy my job not only for the objective of the project but also for the challenges that it offers to me on a personal level.

What do you love the most about it?

I love to have conversations with the children and to be a part of trainings. It gives me great pleasure to interact with the kids & help them learn English.

Do you think it has it personally benefitted you as well? How?

I have been working with English E.teach for the past three years and in these three years, I have seen many positive changes in me. I had completed my education from a Marathi medium school. But after starting this job, I also began to talk in English better. My English vocabulary has increased. Even my stage fright has reduced & my confidence is increasing on daily basis.  Also, I have learned how to build a rapport with new people.

Any closing thoughts? 

या project वर काम  करताना  मला  नेहमी  असा  फील  होता  की जर  हा  प्रोजेक्ट  मी  स्कूल मध्ये  शिकत  असताना  स्टार्ट  झाला  असता  तर  माझा  English आजच्यापेक्षाही  खूप  चांगला  असता . म्हणूनच मी म्हणेन कि  आताच्या  स्कूल्स  खूप  lucky आहेत  कि  त्यांना  या  प्रोजेक्टचा  फायदा  होतोय, तरी  त्यांनी  याचा  आपल्या  स्टुडन्टन  जास्तीत  जास्त  फायदा  करून  द्यावा.

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Introducing Mumbai Facilitators' Team in our Team Appreciation Month

In the span of these five years, ever since we started our English E.Teach project, we have got associated with over a thousand schools across Maharashtra where our DVDs are being effectively used to teach English. A lot of their Principals and teachers have come ahead and appreciated our efforts and the contents of the DVDs. They are surprised by how it has helped them in making teaching English interesting. But all this would not have been possible without our team that facilitated this movement. And that’s why we call them our ‘Facilitators’.

Our Mumbai Facilitators are a young and dedicated team of ladies who on daily basis interact with the various schools and keep them and us updated about what is happening. From introducing our program to new schools, to training the teachers to use the DVDs, to ensuring that the DVDs are being rightly used–is all taken care of by them with the utmost dedication. We are so proud to have on board this group who believes in the program as much as we do and don’t just treat it as a job, but their purpose in life.

Some of these ladies themselves have had Marathi medium educations and have faced the problems that we are talking about. They often tell us how for them it is like redemption - By doing this for the children today, they are making up for their own loss as kids in school who didn’t have the opportunity to learn good English. And this is what keeps them going more than anything else. Along with the students and the schools, they are also evolving – becoming more and more confident about the language and their communication skills.  They learn using the DVDs as well and are an excellent example of the DVDs efficacy.

This month – we would like to applaud our team. We are a small family, and we would like to thank these pillars of ours for giving us their selfless service and keeping us going.

Freedom should be 'Free' and available to all!

All of last month, we spoke of our 'Freedom to Fly' mantra. We, at English E. Teach value the freedom we give our children so dearly, that we dare not add a price to it. 'Free' is such an integral part of 'Freedom'; freedom will cease to exist if we extract free from it. And that is what prompted us to make our program absolutely FREE for everyone. Each time a school approaches us to include the English E.Teach program into their curriculum, we distribute the DVDs along with the necessary teacher orientation absolutely free to them. 

When we set out to understand why was teaching English in vernacular schools such a difficult task - we realised that there were a lot of factors that collectively teamed up to provide resistance. The schools that we were targeting were either in remote areas or even when in urban areas, were catering to kids coming from the most impoverished strata of the society. In either case, the parents were not equipped to teach their kids anything at home, forget English.

The English E. Teach program is the solution First and foremost, the DVD has been specially designed page wise, according to the English textbook syllabus using animation that makes learning easier and more interesting. 

Second, we have ensured that the DVD is extremely user friendly. The teacher will never feel burdened to operate it. Special care has been taken to ensure that there are adequate gaps and pauses durng playing the DVD to heighten learning. The utmost the teachers have to learn, is how to operate and remote and the play and pause buttons.  

And last but not the least - We have kept the program 'Free of Cost'. A School just has to approach us and everything else is taken care of. Even if they do not have a DVD player or TV, we try and arrange it for them. When their equipment does not work, our facilitators even go and get it repaired for them. 

All in all, we just expect them to extend their hand to us, support us - and we will ensure we give them a high quality English education aid.