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.

Annual Visit

                              

This time the visit to ZPH School, Gandweed came after a long wait as the dates kept changing due to certain circumstances. Finally we left on a very special day, Valentine’s Day! Until the last moment, we weren't sure how many volunteers were accompanying us to the school but to our surprise, we had 7 volunteers who were willing to take part in it and celebrate Valentine’s Day with the children. And that made this trip even more special. We as a team were able to make a fun filled educational day for the kids. For a change, they were not bored about having to sit in the classroom but were rather excited about the activities and the learning time.

When we made our first visit to this school, we had noticed that the students were very poor in speaking and reading English, but after a year of tutoring them through the Virtual Classroom we noticed that there is a lot of improvement in their speaking, reading and writing skills now. It was really amazing to see the growth in the students. In fact each of the volunteers report regarding the performance of the students development was satisfactory. Most of the students this time volunteered to participate in all the activities including giving little speeches on the stage.

But there were still a few students who needed personal care and individual attention to overcome their fear and shyness, at least for that day. We are hoping that the schools would continue to encourage the students to be aware and eager to learn.

Volunteers Report:

This was my second trip to this School. The first time I was accompanying the team but this time I was entrusted with the responsibility of teaching the standard 9^th EM students. To my surprise the topic was on “DOWRY”. In response to the teaching, I got wonderful opinions of various kinds from the students but most importantly their opinion on how the Dowry system might be gradually going away from their homes and the society. The students participated in different activities like quiz, speeches, writing and reading. Most of them performed very well and were very well behaved as well. I had a wonderful time and experience with the students and the team of volunteers too.-         Vinai David

This was my first visit to the school and without a thought it was amazing trip and I had a good time with the kids. I was given class 8^th EM and a few activities like a written test, discussion about the Dowry system, running dictation and storytelling. It was a fun time and also very educational for them. Few of the kids especially among the boys were gems! They were very active and enthusiastic especially Vinay, Bharath and Manikanta. Girls on the other side, with a little more encouragement and support can perform very well too.

One request is that teachers should encourage the kids in their respective area of interests as I had come across one boy, Rama Krishna who was very talented in drawing. There might be a lot of hidden talents among the kids. Few were very excited about rendering the movie dialogues as well which proves their confidence and no stage fear, such people should be encouraged too. On the whole it was a fun time for me too as a volunteer. I would love to be a part of more such activities.-         Hephzibah

Pursuing my B. Tech final year in JNAFAU spa, this was my first visit to the school and I loved it a lot and I really loved the views of EFF and proud to say that I’m part of it. I really had a good time with the children. I attended 7^th EM, the children in the class were really talented –Honestly I was expecting it. I began by conducting an exam in which few children had problems in understanding the question, some of them performed well. After the exam the next activity was “act out an activity, child labor, chain spelling and word game. The children were really good at this chain spelling I really enjoyed the time spent with the class and certainly would want to continue my contribution to EFF.

Few girls in the class were really active: Akhila, Anusha, Shreshta except a few boys remaining all were good as well- They just needed a little push. I loved being a part of it and would love to continue being a part of it.

-  Dinesh

I’m a degree final year student at Nizam’s Degree College. I really like the efforts being made by EFF to provide education for children in remote areas. It was really great that I was part of it, even if it was just for a day! And I would like to be part of it for many more events. I went to two classes and the children were very well behaved.  I was asked to conduct written test and some other activities. The students responded to the best of their ability, though there were many mistakes grammatically while communicating in English, yet they tried to speak in English. So as a whole all of them need to make a lot of improvement in learning the English language and I feel they are all have enough enthusiasm not just to learn the language but to do so much in life.  -      Abhinay

I attended Classes 9th TM, 8^th TM, 7^th TM, and 6th TM. Students were asked to pick up a chit from a set of scheduled topics and Draw on the topic. The students were explained about the purpose of studying, drawing and its use for the academic purposes and career prospects. I Efforts was made towards developing their drawing skills using basic shapes and perspective techniques. It was good to see the progress from my last visit.-      Santosh

This was my second trip to the School. I went to 7^th class and conducted many activities like quiz, speaking skills and reading skills, each student has a vision to improve themselves, but most of the pupils are having stage fear. I felt that an extra attention towards the students will help them train well to be free from stage fear and perform their best in speaking English. If the students are provided with English to Telugu and Telugu to English dictionaries they would perhaps put extra interest in learning and knowing the meaning of the new words and formation of sentences. -       Anupama

This was my first visit and it was a wonderful experience with the kids of class VI EM. Since they are from Telugu medium back ground it was very hard for them to speak and write in English, however they did to the best of their abilities. According to my observation, since they are beginners to English medium, students need to put extra interest especially in learning English language. -     Rakesh

I began my session with 9^th TM students with different activities like: Dowry system, storytelling, running dictation, ‘what is your aim in life’ and G.K. Most of the students were very active in the class and each one tried to speak in English. It was surprising for me to see Telugu medium students speaking in English. During our first visit to this school, after EFF adopted it, the most kids would respond “Madam don’t speak to us in English we don’t understand”. But today I’m proud of their progress.

A huge thank you from EFF  to  our wonderful volunteers for coming with us all the way and doing what you did there! The students were charmed and motivated and we are sure, they will start to dream bigger. Thank you once again for making the first Valentine’s Day so special for the kids!

Dictionaries and general knowledge books were given as gifts  to the students who performed well in the class room activities.