EFF returns with another fresh tour

Indeed it was yet another amazing experience travelling so early at dawn towards Gandweed where our rural ZPH School locates, for the evaluating visit. The climate was extremely pleasant and enjoyable. Perhaps winter has just ended and with summer yet to begin, we were in the spring, the last weekend of the month of February and heading towards the close of yet another academic year. Fields were golden in color and the dry leaves covered the ground besides the tress on either sides of the road. Due to the friction of the air caused by the speeding vehicles, the leaves blew up in the air giving us a sort of excitement. Although pretty soon there will be greenery all around the country side.
With this thought, volunteers from different professions and I reached the school around 10 in the morning. Although there is constant interaction with the students through virtual classes, they were very excited and awaited for us in their classrooms to be evaluated of their skills in almost all categories such as reading, writing, speaking and addressing speech, grammar, sports, painting and last but not the least attitude and behaviors.

Here are a few experiences of the volunteers who have helped us make the whole day event a very successful one.

It was the first time for me to visit the school. Initially when my friend had told me about the visit, I wasn't very excited or convinced about having a good time there. Yet I thought that I could go for it just like any other jolly trip. But as I started to interact with the students, I was encouraged to conduct more activities. I was given classes 8th and 9th Telugu medium students.  In both the classes most of the students were active although all the students communicated well when they are being encouraged. what I realized after that they have the knowledge but were unable to express their thoughts. As they were from Telugu medium their English speaking skills weren't as good as the counterparts but given some encouragement they can perform well in the future.   

Personally for me, it was a great opportunity to be a part of such an event and I would like to be part of EFF as a volunteer whenever required - Rama Krishna

Teaching is fun and exciting when the curriculum is well matched with the student's interests and abilities, when you teach the right things at the right way motivation takes care by itself, A few students were enthusiastic about learning but most of them require the grading system, every day motivational will definitely bring a lot of improvement among the students. Most of the pupils have to overcome the fear of standing in front of the class to speak, If one is boosted the rest of the students follow. XI class EM is well mannered. - Vinai David.

I t was my third visit to the school.It was a great experience to interact with the students. They all recognized me and I was welcomed with a heart-felt smile. I took classes for 7th as well as 9th class Telugu medium students. They were more enthusiastic as compared to my earlier visits and showed active participation in all the activities conducted.I could tell through my observation that though these students are highly potential as per academics is concerned but few of them are weak at expressing it in English language. They can enhance their skills provided they are guided supported in the right way. Ultimately that filled me with great satisfaction, memories and motivation to participate in the future programs. - Venkey

This was my second visit to this school cause I love being with children. I was surprised to see Telugu medium students speaking English so well. The students were very active and energetic during the class. I felt a sense of pride to be part of EFF who are reaching out the poor and needy children in the school - Ravi

EFF is doing a great work for the students who are not so fortunate. I observed  lot of difference in the students with their speaking, writing and listening abilities since my last two visits, this being the third. Class VI Em students are very smart and active, they make mistakes in speaking but still come forward and speak without any hesitation. They have the desire to learn and speak in English. Expect a few students, most of them are good at speaking English. - Naga Raju

At the outset, I want to convey my gratitude to the EFF for giving me this opportunity to interact with the school children.This is my first ever event of this kind and I enjoyed every bit of it. The students were very keen on listening to what was taught to them and responded generously to the questions. They were very active and enthusiastic to know new things. Especially in drawing, they are far beyond my expectations. I am very glad to attend this event. - Chaitanya

I could see a lot of improvement and progress among the students, especially the VII Telugu medium students as shown in the picture above - Sudha

Students are conveying their gratefulness about  EFF

Appreciating the students and teachers for their corporation with EFF

Distributing  prizes for all-round performance in the classroom events.

At the end of the day's activities, Mr. Venkat one of the volunteer gave a wonderful illustration by comparing farmers, fields and crops to parents, children and studies and books respectively. It was a very inspiring one and I believe it inspired many of them as the kids were seen applauding for a very long time after the speech.

To everyone's surprise the day's effort by the EFF team, their involvement into different schools, their positive attitude in reaching out with a new theory and quality education, motivating pupils  by gifting them with various important inspirational educational subject books that would help them in their future was published by one of the well noted daily news paper SAKSHI and couple of other news media covering every step of EFF. To conclude the media in a nut shell Published that EFF is doing wonders. 

Inspiring young minds: EFF is at it again

EFF team visits rural schools once in three months to check the progress of the students. Volunteers who come from different fields have joined us for this trip – even if it meant applying for leave and staying away from office and family for a day. That’s the kind of passion, and dedication that volunteers show for the EFF program, besides sacrificing their time & energy. For a day, volunteers turned teachers – conducted written tests, classroom games, speaking activities, etc., which gave them a break from their routine lives. Volunteers were extremely happy to give their time to rural children.

Let’s hear their happiness in their own words:

 It was my first visit to ZPHS with the EFF team and I was delighted at the opportunity to meet the students and interact with them. When we reached the school, I found that the students were also equally excited to meet us; they were eagerly waiting to hear from our team. I took classes for students 8th (EM) and 9th (TM) standards. The children were very well mannered and possessed good manners. They had the zeal to learn and improve their English. I conducted several activities to make sure each student was involved in one or the other way. Students enjoyed more in the group activities whereas individual activities boosted their confidence to speak in front of other people. Given the area that they come from and considering the fact that no one in their family is much educated, the children communicate pretty well in English and are working hard to improve further. Some T.Supraja, Rama Devi, G.Anjaneyulu and P.Bhagawan were quick in spelling out a word or in giving their introduction while some others like B.Anusha and A. Shiva Kumar were struggling to complete a single sentence. But all of them wanted to get better and better.

In 9th standard Telugu Medium, students paid full attention to each and every word that I spoke and I told them not to hesitate in asking the meaning of anything that they didn’t understand. They were lacking in good communication in English and were struggling a lot. But they didn’t lack in enthusiasm and willpower to learn more and get better. I explained the meanings to them in Telugu whenever needed. At the end of the day, we distributed books to them for encouragement. It was an exhilarating experience overall and I am looking forward to go on more such visits. Thanks to EFF and Sudha for giving me this opportunity. – V.L.S. Ravi from PurpleTalk

To my surprise, I found that Std 7^th (EM) students were smarter than me. I didn’t feel like leaving the students because they were very active in the class, especially in speaking and in answering the questions. In this class, girls are very smart and courageously coming up to speak and even if they make a mistake they were not afraid to speak; they were very bold and expressive. The students are very good in communication and I was really shocked and pleasantly surprised to see the ZPHS students speaking such decent English; I think it is the hard work of EFF and some generous people who offered this to these students. Thanks to EFF for giving me such a wonderful opportunity. –Ravi kumar from Reserve Bank of India

This was my first trip to this school, so I was excited to meet the children and take classes for them. Though students of Std. 6^th (TM) were very active in the class, they were unable to speak in English and some students don’t even recognize the English alphabet. However, a few of the students were able to read the English alphabet. Most of the students were unable to write a full sentence but they were eager to learn. I think there will be a gradual growth among these students as they seemed to me to be very hard working. I am eagerly waiting for my next visit. – Sravan

This was my second visit to the school and I have enjoyed this visit better than the last one. I was asked to teach 7^th class Telugu medium and 8^th English medium students, where I’ve conducted a few activities like self-introduction, written test, dictation and mind mapping. Some of the boys in the 7^th standard were still struggling with the basics of English and I felt that the teachers have to concentrate on the language more. And in the 8^th standard, girls are more active than boys. A few of the kids in both the classes seem to have a lot of skills but they were feeling shy to come forward and to express their ideas! I hope with a little more encouragement and support, they can perform very well too. What I observed in both the classes is, they showed more interest and enthusiasm when I was teaching them with practical jokes by including them as part of the subject. And those who are passive have become active too and gave a good response, drawing inspiration from the students who came forward to speak. 

It would be better for the students if teachers can guide them in basic dressing etiquette and in matters of physical appearance as well at this stage as it would help them become better citizens in the future. More than the students, as a volunteer I enjoyed the day a lot with their performance. I would love to be a part of more such activities. – Venky  from Reserve Bank of India

Looking at the kind of enthusiastic response from the volunteers and also going by the inspiration they provided to the rural students, we can safely conclude that the event was a huge success. We also feel motivated not only by the participation of volunteers but also by the attitude of the students and, going forward, we would love to conduct more such events. The EFF team thanks all the volunteers for their valuable time, energy and eager participation in this activity, and hopes that the same spirit will be extended towards future events as well.

Sun raha hai na tum...(Are you listening!)

There are so many things we need to check in classroom instruction. For example, listening. Every teacher expects 100% attention from every student in his/her class. All the students in the class hear to the teacher, but only few pupils listen. There is a huge difference between hearing and listening. Hearing is a physical activity while listening is a skill. Someone who is physical impaired can be a great listener if he or she pays attention to the information someone conveys to them regardless of how it is conveyed to them. Likewise someone with very sharp hearing may be a poor listener.

Pupils these days are unable to focus in the class. My niece, studying in eighth standard, very smart and active in studies but zero in Mathematics. She said, "I pretend to listen to the teacher, it's really tough to focus and follow his instruction". Reason - friends disturb her, or she will be in her replay of daily soaps. Pupils of all ages are backward in listening to the teacher's instruction. Need of the hour is to help the pupils to improve their listening skills by any means.

Few activities to improve listening skills in pupils - 

• Play games like 'Simon-says'
• Play listening games to identify animal and environmental sounds
• Play news and other programmes in radio 
• Engage your child in conversation
• Narrate stories (instead of playing CD or YouTube videos). 

Happy listening!

Sources:
 http://careerplanning.about.com/cs/miscskills/a/listening_skill.htm
http://www.neverendingstories.co.za/educational-resources

Related links:
http://www.edutopia.org/blog-five-listening-strategies-rebecca-alber