JALANDHAR: Dispelling the notion that English is Greek to students of government schools, a teacher held a marathon 12-hour session on English grammar at Government Elementary School in Rahimpur village in Jalandhar district to mark Teachers' Day. Unlike the English learning class in the British television series of the seventies, "Mind Your Language", the class held by teacher Ram Krishan was a success. When the session ended at 7pm on Thursday, the students came out confident and visibly at ease with the language that had been their Achilles heel in the past.
Irked by the categorisation of students from government schools as poor in English language skills, Krishan decided to set the balance right. "Elementary schools don't have exclusive English teachers and teaching is left to social sciences tutors. The private schools use the English USP to attract students. Children in government schools are generally considered to be laggards in the language. I want to clear this misconception," Krishan pointed out.
Proving that a good teacher can hold the students' interest, most of the children stayed till the end though there were no curbs on their leaving the class. "It was so interesting. It was as if the curtain had lifted in our minds," said Romi Jassal, a Class IX student whose father is a driver.
Romi and Paramjit, Class VII students, winners of district-level English spelling bee competition, were among the participants. "Earlier, we improved our spellings. This session has helped in clearing our fundamentals of English grammar and boosted our interest in the language. All our hesitancy has melted away," said Paramjit, son of a tenthouse worker.
"I studied in a government school, and had English as a general and elective subject till graduation though I majored in economics. We are working to wean away the students from private schools," Krishan said.
This is just a first in the long course that this teacher has charted for himself. He plans to take special English classes as most of the students in Rahimpur school come from economically weaker sections and their parents are either illiterate or semi-literate.
Irked by the categorisation of students from government schools as poor in English language skills, Krishan decided to set the balance right. "Elementary schools don't have exclusive English teachers and teaching is left to social sciences tutors. The private schools use the English USP to attract students. Children in government schools are generally considered to be laggards in the language. I want to clear this misconception," Krishan pointed out.
Proving that a good teacher can hold the students' interest, most of the children stayed till the end though there were no curbs on their leaving the class. "It was so interesting. It was as if the curtain had lifted in our minds," said Romi Jassal, a Class IX student whose father is a driver.
Romi and Paramjit, Class VII students, winners of district-level English spelling bee competition, were among the participants. "Earlier, we improved our spellings. This session has helped in clearing our fundamentals of English grammar and boosted our interest in the language. All our hesitancy has melted away," said Paramjit, son of a tenthouse worker.
"I studied in a government school, and had English as a general and elective subject till graduation though I majored in economics. We are working to wean away the students from private schools," Krishan said.
This is just a first in the long course that this teacher has charted for himself. He plans to take special English classes as most of the students in Rahimpur school come from economically weaker sections and their parents are either illiterate or semi-literate.
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