Sharanya Vairam

HAPPY SCHOOLS PROJECT ENGLISH WORKSHOP II: REPORT May 1-10, 2017 Resource Person: Sharanya Vairam, Project Manager Objective • • • To equip the teachers with the use of English language for better writing and in usage for writing reports and recording observations To strengthen their knowledge of grammar usage and proper sentence formation To provide ideas on learning and better usage of English Context The need for an English workshop was based on the feedback provided by the staff members themselves on the pressing need to improve their English skill. Hence, a three-day workshop was organised in September 2016. This workshop was organised as a follow up to the previous one. Workshop Design The observations made on improvements and usage of the language by the staff members during the intermittent period as well as the gaps found in the previous workshop were used to design this workshop. The workshop incorporated four skills in English: Grammar, Vocabulary, Conversation and Comprehension. Worksheets, activities, exercises, games and discussions were used extensively throughout the workshop. Initially, the workshop was planned for 3 days. However, it felt that the staff would get more practice and benefit even more if components of the workshop are included in smaller doses on other days as well (apart from intensive 3 days). Areas Covered ENGLISH GRAMMAR • • • • • Regular and irregular verbs, singular-plural usage Tenses Subject-verb Agreement Conditional sentences Collocations VOCABULARY • • • CONVERSATION • • • • Descriptions Presentation Scene-based conversation Sentence formation Synonyms and antonyms Word Association Choice of words COMPREHENSION • • Text-based Video-based English Grammar Skills A quick revision of the previously-handled regular and irregular verbs, singular-plural verbs, tenses and subject-verb agreement was done. The staff cleared their doubts about the same. They still had certain problems in choosing tenses. An effort was made to sort out these troubles. Since most of the staff members have issues in placing the correct word combinations, collocation was explained to them. A collocation is a group of words that usually go together. For example, in English, we usually say 'heavy rain'. It's correct grammatically to say 'strong rain' or 'big rain', but both of these sound completely strange. Common adjective-based collocation such as these were explained. A worksheet containing a paragraph with grammatical errors was given and the staff were asked to find the collocation errors. The correct places to use ‘make’ and ‘do’ were explained. At the end, a worksheet was given for practice purpose. Conditional sentences, first and second conditionals were explained along with differences and the correct usage of these. Practice worksheets were provided. Vocabulary Skills Synonyms and antonyms worksheet from Oxford was provided and the staff was supported in completing these worksheets. Taboo and dumb charades were conducted for word association and vocabulary building. Conversation Skills It was found that the staff members feel inhibited to converse in English since they are concerned about making mistakes. It was felt necessary to free them for such inhibitions and build confidence. Activities and games were conducted for this purpose. Some of these are described below. Scene-based conversation: The staff members were paired and each pair was given a specific scene. They were asked to prepare dialogues in English and enact the scene. Some of the scenes given: phone interview for a job, bargaining with a vegetable vendor, etc. What are they thinking: In this game, each member was given a picture of a person with some extreme emotions. The staff were to say what these people were thinking (their mind voice colloquially) in English. A sample picture can be seen beside. Ad zap: The staff were split into two teams and each team was given a unique product (invisibility cloak and magic broom) to advertise in English. Comprehension Skills This part of the workshop was interspersed with the gender workshop. For this a piece by Gloria Steinem, ‘If men could menstruate’ was given. The staff were asked to read the piece and discuss the salient points and their understanding of the piece. Similarly, a short film series by UNICEF called ‘Girl Stars’ to showcase women who succeeded in life and made something of themselves despite discrimination, exploitation and deprivation when they were younger. Three films from the series were shown and the staff were asked to present their understanding. Observations • • • • It was observed that the staff were much more comfortable conversing in English and in attempting to write in English in comparison to the last workshop. After the conversation activities and games, it was found that most of them were less inhibited and a little more confident. Since each of them was asked to participate in all activities and games, it was ensured that none of them shied away from participating. It was found that the staff were more confident this time in answering the vocabulary worksheets. Feedback The staff said the workshop was useful and admitted that it would be more useful if they too practiced at an individual level. They said were satisfied with the worksheets and handouts They have requested for more time allocation for English and have requested for follow up workshops in the future too. “The games helped us at two levels. One was to do away with our own fears and inhibitions, and develop our English language skills. The other was to give us ideas that we can use for teaching our children.” – Ms. Arivazhagi, Special Educator, CPS, Taramani “I have learnt so many new words over the course of this workshop. This was definitely useful and I am looking forward to more such workshops.” – Ms. Padmavathi, Para-teacher, Lady Nye School