TEYL
Rachel Lalitha Eapen, Rama Mathew and Yogesh Singla
Teaching English to Young Learners
- Overview
Globalisation has had an impact on the use of English in domains like Business,IT,Higher learning and the like.Further,there has been an increase in the requirement of English in many vocational sectors especially in backroom offices in the country.This has resulted in the teaching and learning of English at the primary level in all States of India.However,this educational developement has thrown up a crucial need in Teacher Education:today teachers at the primary level need to develop both a competence in English use and teaching skills,since hitherto teachers were using the L1 to teach all subjects at the primary level and since teaching English had to begin at sixth standard or later.
Recent policy documents for curriculum development and syllabus design for schools have been made by NCERT in the NCF(2005). In this document stress has been laid on moving learners from L1 to L2 without loss of L1 and hence home cultures.See for further information: http://www.ncert.nic.in/sites/publication/schoolcurriculum/Position_Papers/english.pdf In the context of bringing English to Younger Learners there is a need for appropriate materials for interactive activities and techniques that promote principles of language learning espoused by the NCF viz.:language for communication,exposure to L2,a focus on fluency in English without loss of L1.
- Aims
The aims of the project therefore are:
- to develop interactive materials for the development of the teachers' proficiency in English(LSRW,Vocab and Grammar)
- to develop materials and worksheets that would help in the movement of L1 to L2 without loss of L1 to L2 without loss of L1 and hence home cultures
- to bridge gaps between policy and its implementation
- to create TDGs(Teacher Development Groups) through a blended mode (networking at WIKI as well as FAce to Face mode)at the Primary level
- to create RPs(Resource Persons) for TDGs through a blended mode (networking at WIKI as well as FAce to Face mode)at the Primary level
- Project Plan
- A baseline study to document present practices in SSA(Sarva Siksha Abhiyan)
- To study teachers' reactions to NCF, the syllabus, and materials at the primary level by the end of June'07
- To develop materials through WIKI for teachers'language proficiency and professional competence by December'07
- To simultaneously evaluate and modify teaching materials
- To simultaneously network through WIKI and conduct workshops for RP and TDG development
