In ordinary, middle-class India, anyone with a good "spoken English" is treated with great regard, bordering on awe. lamentably, the country's school system is merely a "certification system", rather than an "education system". & it is exams which produce the certification. Therefore, it is the emphasis on "spoken English" which distinguishes a great school from an average school.
In Vicky's school, certain instructions are given in English, like "take out your Diary" etc, & then explained in Hindi, but this is not the case with all communication. Moreover, the teacher's aide is simply a poor woman in a menial job, she is plain non-conversant in English. On the other hand, the school expects the kids to mug up a set of questions & answers on different topics every week, for example fruit, or water animals, etc, which is called elocution. I do not know how it is "delivered" in school, as I have not seen it. When we start practising these at home, I call it "playing quiz", & I try to explain the question, as well as the individual words that make up the question. I encourage Vicky (& Vibhu) to answer in a sentence, where they know the words of the sentence, & is repetitive.
In this context, I am thinking that I'll add the words "some" & "are" to the list of sight words, as most questions start "name some ...", & I might as well show Vicky the looks of these two words she is commonly using.
Vicky is excited about the colouring game. We modified it to make shapes around the words too ...
I have to remind Vicky every few minutes to "hold the pencil correct". She says it hurts, & I sometimes doubt if I am doing the correct thing.
On the contrary, when Nutan teaches sight words to her child, she completely emphasises on the recognition & recall only, & totally sidesteps meaning. It's okay for her, as her child is already quite conversant in English , & watches cartoons in English.
In Vicky's school, certain instructions are given in English, like "take out your Diary" etc, & then explained in Hindi, but this is not the case with all communication. Moreover, the teacher's aide is simply a poor woman in a menial job, she is plain non-conversant in English. On the other hand, the school expects the kids to mug up a set of questions & answers on different topics every week, for example fruit, or water animals, etc, which is called elocution. I do not know how it is "delivered" in school, as I have not seen it. When we start practising these at home, I call it "playing quiz", & I try to explain the question, as well as the individual words that make up the question. I encourage Vicky (& Vibhu) to answer in a sentence, where they know the words of the sentence, & is repetitive.
In this context, I am thinking that I'll add the words "some" & "are" to the list of sight words, as most questions start "name some ...", & I might as well show Vicky the looks of these two words she is commonly using.
Vicky is excited about the colouring game. We modified it to make shapes around the words too ...
I have to remind Vicky every few minutes to "hold the pencil correct". She says it hurts, & I sometimes doubt if I am doing the correct thing.
On the contrary, when Nutan teaches sight words to her child, she completely emphasises on the recognition & recall only, & totally sidesteps meaning. It's okay for her, as her child is already quite conversant in English , & watches cartoons in English.
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