They were more interested in Hindi books such as ‘Tenaliraman’ and ‘Vikram and Betal’ rather than English books. They were able to grasp the meaning of English words and could            partially translate it to Hindi, however, they were unable to comprehend entire sentences.
Once children were comfortable with me, they superseded my expectations in terms of participation. Few also knew about the existence of apps such as FB and WhatsApp. Well, that speaks volumes about the progressive nature of the village.
Girls tried to dominate the class a little.

Activities:

1.     Sustained reading and comprehension: I asked the students to draw a picture out of the book and interpret the same by writing a paragraph of 4-5 lines. the response was pretty impressive. They were great at drawing however I gave them to write the Hindi interpretation of the picture in order to bring some sort of interest in reading. Checked their reading and comprehension while they were drawing.

2.     Magic sheets
I had given them magic sheets to shade. There were two sides to it and i asked the students to write a two- three line interpretation of the picture that had appeared after the shading.

3.     Played message- message and guessing game(where a person is sent out while the group is told the name of a fruit and the person is supposed to ask 3 questions and guess the name of the fruit)

4.     Taught them with the help of a map the seven continents of earth. Taught them basics about map like direction sense also.

Comments: They are facing difficulty in comprehension of even the Hindi text after reading it. They have a very strong GK.

2.) DICTIONARY GAME

I had put numbered chits from 1-12 in the (Hind- English) dictionary on selected pages. Then I divided the class into two groups of Team A and Team B. I had asked chance by chance the members of each team to pick out the chits and the word from the page where the chit was placed and write its meaning on their sheet. Also after searching the meaning they had to draw it as well. Also, all the students were required to write down the words found by other students and write their Hindi translation as well in their respective notebooks.

Comments: Children were taking keen interest in reading and the activities conducted so far.

Activities:
1.) BAL SABHA PRACTICE

Children suggested that they will recite a poem- My beautiful Uttarakhand in the Baal Sabha. Class 6 students had already memorised it because it is there in their course. However, for those who did not know about it. I have created photocopies of the poem and distributed it in class.

2.) BAMBI QUESTIONS

I had given some questions to the children to find out the answers before they watched the movie. They had carried those questions with them and tried to find the answers during the movie.

3.) MOVIE

We had screened a movie- Bambi  for students of class 5-10. The movie was liked by all and lasted for a duration of 2 hours with not only the movie but also a short break in between like there was a discussion about what happened in the movie up until now. Then the students were asked to write a short movie prediction of the second half on a sheet of paper and submit to us.

Comments: Everyone liked the movie and it was found that they have strong observation and grasping abilities.

Activities:

1.) TEST (WORKSHEET 1)

Had included a word puzzle which was pretty challenging for the kids. Also, it was something new for them. The worksheet included questions from one geography lesson and the dictionary game. None of the questions were from outside the course.

2.) DID WORKSHEET 2

Worksheet 2 was basically a questionnaire on the movie ‘Bambi’ in English. I had literally translate every word of the question for the kids so that they could answer the questions. Even the answers (which were in English) were then translated to Hindi.

3.) NEWSPAPER DANCE GAME

Winner- Prachi.

Again, the girls were far more interested in the game than the boys. They were very participative and loved the DJ Walley Babu song. Both boys and girls were very excited for the particular song and knew the lyrics by heart.

4.) READING

Today was the final day for sustained reading practice. They have to submit the summary by tomorrow that I had asked them write after having read their books for a while. Some of them had already started writing it in the class.

5.) PRACTICE FOR BAL SABHA

I had decided on a poem recital by the the class ( My beautiful Uttarakhand). The whole class has to participate in this one. While the girls had requested that they wanted to dance to a song for Baal Sabha, the boys refrained from participating any further. We decided that the girls will dance to Illahi.

Comments: Geography and and things being good, they need more practice in reading English.

Activities:

1. Discussion of Revision worksheet
The performance of the students was poor. However during the discussion I revised the seven continents and the words learnt during the dictionary game. Also, their performance in the crossword was comparatively great.
2. Mental ability Worksheet :
This was surprisingly the best performance of children. I allowed them to solve about 60 questions of odd man out and they successfully did it. During discussion I realised that their grasping power is pretty good.
3. Newspaper game
They loved this game a lot! They also danced and sung to DJ Waley babu with
great enthusiasm.
4. Discussion of Environment and related problems
This was a serious discussion regarding the ozone layer depletion, global warming and dams (and problems related to it). I also discussed the flood in Betalghat of 2010.

Comments: They understand the nature of the pollution problem and were aware of the consequences of it.

Activities:
1.5 W’s
I had made a chart of 5 W’s which had the most simple method of teaching 5 basic question words i.e. which, where, when, how and who. I taught them the hindi translation and enactment of the same. We played Reverse pictionary to reinforce the idea.
2. Comparatives and superlatives
This was slightly difficult for them because I had to first tell the meanings of the words and then told them the concept.
3. Radio game
Got them re-energised!

Comments: They thoroughly understood the Ws and were also choosing the superlatives correctly.

Activities: Baal Sabha practice was conducted and some fun games were played.

Comments: Learned things very fast

Day-1

Activities:
 1. Ice breaking activity

2. Told them a story: read out a story to them and explained them everything which was there in the story. After which we did story mapping with them.

3. Gave them a story book in Hindi and asked them to explain it to each other in English

Comments:

Day started on a very positive note as most of them were able to understand everything I taught them. I thought they would face problem in writing Hindi and English but this was not the case, the only problem they had was with English.

The activities devised were such that that they could give us an insight as to how much the students already know and in what ways we can help them and give them a direction within a span of 10 days.

Activities: Message : through this activity we made them learn three new words that is Received ; Caught ; message

2. Word – meaning: first day we told them to find out words in Hindi and then told them what is that word called in English.

3. Told them a story: acted a story for them and at a certain point we stopped and then told them to guess the ending.

4. Gave them story books to read

Comments: There was a massive improvement in everybody’s confidence levels from the previous day including the girls maybe because they now knew what we had come there for and what sort of activities were we going to conduct with them.

– They were very excited and active in doing all the activities that we told them to do.

Activities:

1. Pictionary: It was total fail as their choice of words was very poor. So after a point of time we stopped it.

2. Game: They were being very restless so I thought playing a game would be useful at this point of time. So I played with them their favorite game message – message.

3. Quiz – To check their knowledge about how much they know about what is going on in the country I asked very basic questions to them.

Comments: I started with Pictionary which was a total fail none of the students were able to give proper words to each other in English. But they gave a very positive response when I started playing quiz with them. They knew most of the answers.

Activities: 1. Memory Game : In this game one student has to go out from the class and then the rest of the class use to decide one fruit or vegetable for him or her and when he or she comes back they can ask 3 questions from three different people and then they has to guess what it is.

2. Role play: Here I divided the class into group of two and gave each group a story book after which I told them to act the story in front of everyone. It turned out to be really well and some of them were very creative.

3. Name place animal thing: To make them learn new words and make the concept of noun clear to them I played this game with them.

Comments: They were very energetic today and did everything the way I told them to. When I played name place animal thing with them to make them understand what noun is they were very quick in understanding the concept.

At the end, we came to the realization that even though they could not talk properly in English, they could comprehend what was told to them and hold a conversation with broken and a little incorrect form of English.

Activities: 1. Conversation in English: To make sure that they can at least introduce themselves in English I made them talk to each other in English.

2. Movie: we have planned a combine movie session for all of them. The movie which we showed them was Bambi. They really enjoyed it.

Comments:They were very patiently enjoying the movie and some of them were also writing down the words they found difficult in the movie.

Activities: 1. Summary: yesterday I had told them to write the summary of the movie but very few of them actually wrote it and came so I made them do that in the class. I also added some more questions to it to see that whether they have understood the move or not.

2. Pollution: To make them understand how important environment is and how human beings are exploiting it I taught them pollution and told them about how are we damaging our environment.

3.  5 Ws: Told them about five Ws and how and when they are used.

4. Comparative and superlative: Tried explain them what it is through examples.

Comments: Each of them was very excited to discuss about the movie and also told me some alternate ending for the movie. I observed a certain change in the creative level of these kids from day one till today.

The responses to every hypothetical situation showed utmost creativity levels of the students. Even while responding, we could see that students used a number of words in English. That was a massive improvement in that section.

Activities: 1. Summary: Asked them to give a summary of what all things we have done till now and they were very well able to recall everything done in the class.

2. Worksheets – Gave them 5 Ws worksheets to do and also of comparative and superlative. They were facing problem in doing the comparative and superlative worksheet.

Comments:

Even though the students understood the comparative form, superlative form was beyond their level of understanding in the same hour. They could definitely do it, but it would require more classes and more time than just an hour. Interrogative words, on the other hand, were something which was very doable with that level of students since there were only 2 students and 2 facilitators. So basically one facilitator was able to pay attention to 2 students at a given interval of time.

over all it was a challenging day as they were facing problems in comparative and superlative so after a point I did not force them to understand that because if I would have done that they would have lost  interest in the class. Hence I told them to do the 5 Ws worksheet.

Activities:  Punctuation:  First I explained them what all punctuation is and where and how it is used. After which I gave them a worksheet to do on punctuation.

2. Baal Sabha Practice –Made them learn poems so that they can recite it in front of everyone.

Comments: Explaining things to them was very easy as they really gave their best in understanding everything. They were very focused and active.

Activities:1.Balsabha- preparations for Bal sabha

2. 5 Ws- Two students were absent the day I explained them 5 Ws so for them I Again explained 5 Ws.

Comments: The class was very excited for the Baal Sabha and was giving their best in practicing their part. Again, it was comparatively easier to deal with interrogative words and punctuation marks with them than superlative forms. Therefore I did not go further than comparative forms with them.

Activities: Different activities in terms of songs, dances, poems, prayers and different saying was prepared by the students to be performed in the hall.

Comments: All the students gave their best and performed dance, sang songs , recited poems and some of them even shared their experience regarding the camp and their teachers.

Throughout the 10 days enough emphasis was given on different books apart from their academic textbooks and how they can inculcate those books in their daily lives. Similarly one of the aims was to develop a love for those books among the students.

Day- 1

Activities: First of all, all the students were told to introduce themselves in a creative way by adding an adjective to their names.
To assess what the writing and creativity standard of the class was, we asked the children to write on topics that we had decided on the day before. The topics included: (a) Water Conservation (b) Cleanliness (c) Importance of Education (d) My Favorite Game (e) Nature and its Importance.
Opposite game- In this, if I am saying hi , they have to hello, if I say day, they have to say night.

Comments: The students overall seemed extremely enthusiastic and receptive to whatever we talked about. They continued to pay attention and interact throughout the day. They were not comfortable with writing in English even though they could read adequately.
They were not comfortable with English; we need to push them harder and so decided to do essays every day.

Activities: Continued with games like ‘radio’ and ‘multiples of __’, also played Pictionary (students were divided in teams of two, each team had to unanimously pick an object for the opponent team’s representative to draw on the blackboard while his/her team guessed what the object was).
Introduced ‘Word of the Day’ where we gave them 2 words that should be a part of their basic vocabulary. Words for this specific day were ‘conversation’ and ‘essential’.

Essay writing and Story reading:  Basic English picture books for them to read,

Comments: The students struggled with basic sentence formation and have an extremely limited vocabulary. In Pictionary, Writing as well as Translation, they required a lot of help with English words. They seemed to really enjoy the Word of the Day activity, taking care to use them in class as well as in the essays they wrote.
Realized that we are overestimating the students and so went back to basics.

Activities: Played name/place/animal/thing so that they learn new words.

Chit game – In this students were told to write 5 things and then they had to explain those 5 words to their partners without speaking that word.
Word of the day.
Opposite game- I gave 20 words and they had to write the opposite.

Comments: Day 3 seemed to reaffirm what we’d seen over the previous 2 days, the students
understand and comprehend everything in Hindi very well but need help with the English
counterparts.
Students faced problem in writing opposite of the words. Chit game was successful.

Activities:

Word of the Day: Often [synonyms: frequently, usually, commonly] as well as a revision of the previous Woods.

Quiz: included questions on science (greenhouse gases, pollution, fossil fuels, solar system, how curd is formed, what make firecrackers work etc), geography (States and their capitals, twin capitals, continents etc) etc.

Senses: Students were taken outside the class and were given 2 tasks. (a) Explore their surroundings and note down 5-10 different surfaces/textures (b) note down 5-10 ways that told them that wind was blowing.

Games: Multiples of___, ‘Name, Place, Animal, Thing’ & Red Letter.

Home work: The students were asked to note down 5 common white things in their household.

Comments:

The shy and quiet students actively participated and answered questions as well. The overall G.K. of the students was high, leading us to the conclusion that working on their fluency and creativity was the only need of the hour.
Students were not willing to read English stories. They were able to answer G.K. questions.

Comments:
While the movie was in English, the students did not seem to have a problem comprehending it. They seemed to have a solid understanding of topics and themes that the movie touched, for example, change in seasons, poaching, hibernation etc.  (Abhilasha)

Students are creative.In sentence addition they were making very good stories.(Preksha)

Word(s) of the Day: Rarely, Really and Rare + revision.

Story compilation: We gave the students a base sentence (E.g. I left my house carrying a blue bag.), all the students were asked to add one sentence each to make a story.

Games: Statue dance, paper folding dance.

Tangram: Paper figure making kit.

Comments:

The students were very creative when it came to movie prediction. Their summaries reflected that they had comprehended the movie well. Picture interpretation showed us a similar result. The students submitted very creative responses. They however, continued to struggle with tenses, basic grammar and vocabulary.
Students were able to interpret the picture very well. In tangram they were facing little difficulty.

Explanation of 5 W’s: concept of Who, What, Why, When, Where & How with the help of a chart and an activity involving flashcards. Students were given worksheets.

Comments:
The games helped cement these concepts in the minds of the students. By the end of the day, they seemed comfortable with all three concepts.
Some students were facing problem in understanding comparative and superlative. Overall it was good. Some students were answering correctly.

Tangram.

Held a session for girls on menstruation (for the 7,8,9 & 10^th grade) which included discussion in smaller groups, watching a short video etc.

Comments:

The session on menstruation also received a positive response. The video and discussion evidently helped make the girls comfortable with the subject and they opened up about the experiences the women in their families go through (they didn’t have experiences of their own yet, since they are too young).

 None

Activities:

Story compilation: every student was asked to contribute one sentence each to make a story.

We also asked them to make up a story on their own and present it before the class.

Practice for Baal Sabha.

Comments:

Students were over excited. They were able to make stories on their own and were creative also.

None

Activities:

The students attended the Baal Sabha, wherein different classes put up dance performances, poetry recitation, students sang, told short stories etc.

The students were given individual feedback written inside origami butterflies. We later taught them how to make the butterflies themselves.

Comments:

The students thoroughly enjoyed the day and were happy to watch their contemporaries perform. At the end of the day, every student was given chocolates as a goodbye gesture.

Day-1

TLM:
Story Books

Activities:

Ice breaking: we asked students to associate an adjective with the name of the child and to enact it.

Had a talk about their likes, dislikes, surrounding, books they have read, future aspects etc.

Story comprehension through picture reading.

Creative story formation in Hindi using same characters used in the story (pair work).

Enactment of the story and also collecting the feedback from the children.

Comments:

When asked to choose books to read they eventually chose Hindi books. When asked why they said they like and can comprehend Hindi more.

Activities:

Continued yesterday’s enactment and children this time gave genuine feedback which they feel was lacking and the one enacting accepted the feedback with positive attitude.

Gave a picture book and asked them to comprehend it and later make 3 next stages of the story and to depict via drawing.

Asked them to tell their story to everybody showing the drawing they have made and asked them to write the story they have made in English.

Played the game of 4 chits where everybody wrote their words in 4 chits and had to guess the words by their physical properties and from the physical enactment.

Every new vocabulary was discussed and there occurrence in sentences were discussed using various examples.

Had a discussion about types of pollution, global warming, water resources etc.

Comments:

The activities went well and learners were able to comprehend the stories.

Activities :

Gave them dictionary and asked them to check the meaning of the hard words they have brought.

played a game “dishkyoon”

Later we played globe game, in which the class was divided into 2 groups and timer was set on 1 minute. Each group was supposed to give 1 place form the globe and other was supposed to search it within the time frame.

Gave each group an English book and asked them to translate it in Hindi.

A chit game based on the facial expression was played where each child was supposed to choose one chit and others were supposed to guess it.

Comments:

students were very participative and with that they are

Very competitive. They were able to read in English and

Later translate it in Hindi word by word.

Activities :

We divided children into groups of 4 students and gave

the various flashcards of water resources , animals ,

environment , transport etc. and asked them to form a

Story in Hindi using all the flashcards in their story.

(1 story each group)

They were asked to translate their story in English.

We asked them to form minimum of 2 sentences which

they can feel, see, hear, smell  (using senses)

Comments:

students were very participative throughout the group

Task. They were helping each other in every step increasing the pure learning. Students were very participative and with that they are very competitive.

Activities: 

Students were asked to write a formal and an informal

Letter in Hindi and then in English.

Discussion was done on the movie ‘Bambi’ where

children were made aware of the situations of the animals and how

Humans affect their habitat.

Comments:

All of the students comprehended the movie very well

and were able to critically reflect on the issues shown in

The picture.

Activities :

had an small discussion about the ending of the movie

‘Bambi’ , their favorite characters and reasons , how

they feel we affect animal habitats , why trees are

Important, types of pollution etc.

We taught them the difference of past and present tense ; placement of subject ,object and verb ; difference between in, on,

Under, inside.

Activities :

showed children a chart on 5w’s and H and made them

know the differences amongst them and the situations

Under which they are used.

gave them various flashcards and asked them to form

questions on that specific flashcard using 5w’s and H

We later showed them another chart on superlatives and made them aware of different situations in which they are used

Activities :

We distributed them the worksheets based on the

Superlatives and the 5w’s and H .

We went through the topic pollution we have asked

children to think upon and discussed more types of

pollutions and there causes.

We showed children a chart paper based on punctuation

and described them their occurrence and their meaning

while sentence forming.

We allotted them their roles for the preparation of play

We have planned for the last day on the ‘Baal Sabha‘.

Comments:

though many students were able to use various

punctuations , yet I felt that many of them were finding

It difficult to use various punctuations. since grammar is

a very abstract thing to teach , children were restless

and were not finding it interesting to learn.

Activities :

We practiced our play in the first half session.

Later we had planned  a session on menstruation

And hygiene for girls for our second half.

Comments: None

Baal Sabha

Sheets used: Directions and Analogy

Activities: Introduction and ice breaking sessions

Comments: Students were participative and active except for few . They have strong grasping power and understanding of English is quite good.

Activities: Dumb Charades with Brand names, Name Place Animal Things

Comments: 2 students dominate the class. GK and Logical Thinking of the class is very good. Need more exposure to such questions.

Activities: Movie – Bambi was shown, Movie Prediction

Comments: Students thoroughly enjoyed the movie despite it being in English. Writing part is very weak with large number of grammatical errors.

Activities: Summary of the movie was given by the students; Spelling bee and Name, place, animal, thing was played.

Comments: Students have major problem in sentence making in English. Need more focus of Vocabulary and Grammar.

Activities:  Story- making along with an outdoor activity- Animal game. A pollution awareness speech quiz on the same was also played.

Comments: Sentence making in English is a big problem. Children prefer more activities based learning

Activities: Session on hygiene, sanitation and menstruation was held for girls.

Comments: Girls were aware about sanitation and hygiene. Besides, there were no extreme social myths or injustice towards girls.

Activities: Career counseling covering all the major courses were given

Comments: Students got interested in the vocational courses and commerce which was not seen in the initial days as they were all focused on either science or arts.