Before diving in to the time with the teachers from the school, our team was introduced by the school principal (pictured standing below) and welcomed accordingly. Both Raj and Dan did great jobs explaining why they are there, what they hope to accomplish, and how much the entire process is intended to be collaborative and participatory. The teachers responded warmly, and so Dan and Raj set about jumping in to the first round of training.
Interestingly, the first round of training actually featured a “Learn Tamil” CD software program that I bought a couple of years ago in Chennai on a previous team. Even though the intent of the program is to help English speakers learn Tamil, the program actually works in the opposite direction just as well (Tamil to English), offering pronunciations for all sorts of words, and offering a vocabulary map that increases in difficulty for both languages. Because India has a very “repetition” driven pedagogical system, the teachers quickly complied with requests to listen and repeat words, and were careful to listen closely to the exact pronunciation of Dan and the team.
About half way through the first module, we were joined by Mr. Shivasetham, the regional English coordinator for a variety of private schools in the area. He speaks phenomenal English, and was ecstatic that a team of native speakers was present to share and help. He also had some great ideas for improving things along the way, and it was obvious very quickly that he not only has a passion for language, but a passion for teaching children as well.
Interestingly, the first round of training actually featured a “Learn Tamil” CD software program that I bought a couple of years ago in Chennai on a previous team. Even though the intent of the program is to help English speakers learn Tamil, the program actually works in the opposite direction just as well (Tamil to English), offering pronunciations for all sorts of words, and offering a vocabulary map that increases in difficulty for both languages. Because India has a very “repetition” driven pedagogical system, the teachers quickly complied with requests to listen and repeat words, and were careful to listen closely to the exact pronunciation of Dan and the team.
About half way through the first module, we were joined by Mr. Shivasetham, the regional English coordinator for a variety of private schools in the area. He speaks phenomenal English, and was ecstatic that a team of native speakers was present to share and help. He also had some great ideas for improving things along the way, and it was obvious very quickly that he not only has a passion for language, but a passion for teaching children as well.
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