The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Plan to offer audio lessons in English for students

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Aug 27, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Plan to offer audio lessons in English for students

Meera Srinivasan

“We want to focus on grammar, diction and the accent”

CHENNAI: The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) wing of the State’s School Education department is considering launching a programme that offers audio lessons in English for students.

The programme stems out of the department’s concern about students’ ability to communicate well in English, a factor which, on several occasions, determines access to higher education in reputed institutions and their employability while seeking jobs.

School Education Minister Thangam Thennarasu told The Hindu that the lessons were aimed at building students’ skills in spoken and written English. “Listening and speaking are critical components in language learning. Th e audio lessons will address these components primarily,” he said.

“Once students strengthen their listening and speaking abilities, they will have a good foundation that will make the reading and writing components simpler,” he said. “Even before children are admitted to schools, they understand and speak their mother tongue well. They learn to read and write the language easily when they are in school. This should be possible in English, too.”

The SSA wing has spoken to the All India Radio and purchased slots worth Rs.10 lakh to broadcast these lessons through its 11 stations, across the State, including Puducherry and Karaikkal. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has been supporting the department in creating content for the programme.

SSA’s state project director M.P. Vijayakumar said the programme would be accessible to all, since the lessons would be broadcast on the AIR. “Besides students and teachers, communities, self-help groups and anybody who has the interest can benefit from our programmes,” he said.

Teachers of government schools would be provided with supplementary material such work books to reinforce the lessons learnt from the radio. “We want to focus on aspects like grammar, diction and the accent,” he said. The lessons would be bilingual, facilitating English teaching, using Tamil.

The SSA initiative falls in line with the recommendation of the State Planning Commission which, in its Approach Paper to the 11th Five Year Plan, sought a “strong push” to ensure fluency in English among school students. The Commission had deemed the knowledge of, and fluency in the English language essential, in the job market. It also highlighted the importance of the language as a prerequisite skill in the modern economy.

“It is possible to do this without affecting the primacy of Tamil, especially at the primary level, but will need considerable resources and a major capacity building exercise among teachers themselves,” the Approach Paper said.

The programme is expected to take off in November. The department is looking for a team of resource persons such as teachers and theatre persons who could work on the audio lessons and make them interactive. Interested persons may call 2825 3709 or 2824 1504 or write to spd_ssatn@yahoo.co.in.

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