Literacy and Communication –The innovative experiment

London Metropolitan University

St.Teresa`s College

A research paper presented at the International Conference on Multimodality, Multi Lingualism, Multiliteracies: New Pedagoies for New Times, organized by St.Teresea`s College and London Metropolitan University, sponsored by UGC.





Researched and presented  by  Laila Saein and Anil Emage

AFRC India, Centre for Research  l  Development  l  Training, Wayanad

Education minister M.M. Baby inaugurates the conference-Jan 20011

Introduction

On November1,1980, the state of Kerala witnessed birth  of a new promised land. On this day, Wayand – a place bestowed with nature’s bounty, was declared as the 12^th district of Kerala. A land of deep rooted culture, electrifying myths, rugged terrains resembling wild west movies, a green canopy of tropical forests swaying to spicy winds and megalithic carvings on rock formations make Wayanad stand apart from other regions of Kerala.Wayanad is characterized by educational backwardness, quite ironically in a state which is well known for its literacy rates.

 
Wayanad with its less educational and related developmental activities is handicapped with methodologies which are ineffective and time-barred. Futuristic education with a practical perspective is a major problem faced by the district. Due to lack of educational facilities in the district, the students wishing to pursue higher education had to move to neighboring districts or states. Due to less proficiency in English and communication most of them fail to make an impact in their respective institutions. Over the years we could see various levels of slow , but steady progress in the educational scenario of the district. 

Despite the progress made in the field of education, the issue of tribal education is still a problem in Wayanad district. In spite of consistent efforts, they are yet to be imbibed into the mainstream. Many of them are admitted to school, but are unable to remain and drop out early without completing their education. Efforts however continue for the education of tribals in the district. There are residential schools that have been set apart for the education of tribal children. They are located at remote set areas where they can be easily accessed by the tribal population. These schools have better facilities but they do face severe language and communication problems.

Majority of the population belong to tribal communities and the rest are farmers, Govt .officials, business men etc. Since educational institutions in Wayanad are less equipped to tackle language and communication requirements of students, it is the need of the hour to take a look at the problems faced by students, teachers, linguistic and communication trainers of the district. Moreover we also present here an alternative methodology of educational practice which was found successful not only in Wayanad but in other districts of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
Complications
Most students in Wayanad belong to poor/middle class families with less educated parents.  English and other languages are taught as a means to achieve better marks and grade, not as a life changing tool. It might be difficult to believe but many high school students don’t know even how to read and write properly. Since there is no good language base for the majority, students lack confidence and as a result they fail to make use of the language. They are deprived of effective communication skills training too. Further they lack positive competitive mentality and they are equipped with lesser EQ.

Connecting to the outer world

For the past 15 years AFRC INDIA has been intimately involved with language related activities in the district. From our experience we have realized the fact that language is not taught in a systematic and scientific manner in most schools, especially during the base years. As a result as the students grow up they are handicapped as far as communication is concerned. Except a handful of English medium schools, there is absolutely no environment for the students to practice the language.

Solution
Since 1999 we have been imparting lessons in Communicative English and Communication Skills. Later years leadership training too was added to the training modules, as we realized a student who does not possess leadership skills cannot effectively communicate or use the language in a progressive manner.

At our training centre students come for regular classes, besides we organise training workshops, seminars and training sessions in schools and colleges. What we have realized at the very beginning was the fact that students come without a good base of the language. So the initial years of our training we focused more on developing modules based on the theoretical aspects of English. At the same time slowly we were aware of the fact that even though after getting a good base in the language students found it extremely difficult to express their ideas freely. The need for better communication skill studies and training was visible in the earlier years itself.

We have given ample importance in the teaching of the theory of English in the most creative manner we could manage with the limited resources we possessed. Since we had to deal with many slow learning students and backward village schools, we have tried our level best to simplify English grammatical lessons like Tenses, Prepositions, Auxiliaries and Question making. In the process we, over the years, have developed a system of teaching grammar lessons in a scientific manner.

Communication training

We introduced certain methods like creating miniature real life scenarios with toys and objects and made the learning experience easier and fun for the students by applying practical exercises. We have also tried to focus on each student by following the ` Individualized method of training` in our centre. After learning their lessons properly and clarifying relevant doubts, students are encouraged to conduct teaching sessions by which they teach fellow students. While doing this, we have observed the fact that each student tried to present his/her part in the most innovative way possible, thus ensuring maximum student partnership with better impact.

Many games, quizzes, and creative assignments are all included in the curriculum to make the learning experience highly imaginative and result oriented. In short, we have made it possible for the less educated children and youth of Wayanad to grasp an “elusive” language with fun and joy. Many educational institutions in Wayanad supported our educational movements by inviting us to be resource persons in their schools and colleges, thus offering us to widen our horizon for the quest for better language and communication lessons. 

2001 onward we elevated our focus from language to communication. Even after learning the basics of the language we have realized the fact that students found it extremely difficult to communicate. While many language teachers and similar institutions and trainers blamed it to the fact that the students do not come with a good base in the language, a fact which we couldn’t agree, for it was not true. Our students were good in the “written aspect “of the language, and they spoke, but they lacked the “skill” to make it music to the ear. The only advantage of working in a backward and neglected district like Wayanad is that there are a million opportunities to innovate and there are ready takers for the novel ideas. Initially we started with smaller groups.

Once we made the novel methods soundly applicable among these groups in our Centre, we then ventured out to many schools and organizations. We have developed certain activities and improvised existing activities like : Living books, Face to face talks, Interpersonal communication skills, Newspaper analysis, Diary presentations, Story writing, Vocabulary build up, Profile making, Note making , Wall magazines, Poem appreciations, Blog posting etc.

Slowly we could see a remarkable change in the students. We not only made use of methods quite commonly used in communication training like Group discussions, Presentations, Public speaking, Conversational activities , Mock interviews, Debates , Seminars etc. ,at the same time so as not to limit the learners imaginative power of thinking we have included activities like Theatre, Short film making, Storytelling, Creation of  web magazines, Travelogues and Blog writing.

Our interactions and interventions and the resultant contribution in the field of education is based on the three schools of learning which are cited below:

YLP Roshan trains JNV Wayanad children

1. Living Books (Living Library)

2. Art for Education

3. Leadership Village YLP

Leadership Village YLP presentation at SAP Labs-Anil Emage, Laila Saein

1. Living Books (Living Library)

‘Living Book’ is a concept of education introduced by us in 2005. Over the years many personalities across the world came forward and happily became part of this educational movement Living  Library has been introduced in three states of India ,by AFRC.A few serious papers too have been presented on Living Library and the education methods we developed here based on it. The joint leadership initiative of Leadership  Village` considers `Living Books` as a main instrument to develop leadership initiatives among the village children and youth. Many schools and colleges in the district of Wayanad are now familiarized with the concept. The major attraction of Living Library is it is unconditional and is based on finer human values.

Living Books

Once the students reach the stage in which they could communicate well, through this methodology they are introduced to a new avenue of meaningful interactions. Through the ‘Living Book’ concept individuals are treated as living books and students are encouraged to ‘read’ them. Not only resource persons from various faculties interact with the students, we have also developed methods by which students document information collected from the ‘Living Book’. ‘Living Books’ are volunteers, who like to interact with the younger generation and pass their life experience and knowledge. Moreover ‘Living books’ proved to be of great help when students required expert guidance in specialized areas. Once trained, it is then the turn of the students to be ‘Living Books’ . By interacting openly with the fellow students the young ‘Living Books’ gain self-awareness and we have found them more self-motivated  and the level of self-esteem races ahead as they are considered not as  mere students but as  individuals who deserve attention and listening ears. 

Laila Saein trains engineering students

Besides being used as an effective communication training tool, we have found ‘Living Book’ concept extremely useful to train slow learners with the help of ‘Student Living Books’ who are well advanced in their studies. From interior village schools to Microsoft Student Partners, from tribal belts to engineering colleges, with our educational efforts, the striving for better communication continues through the ‘Living Book’ tradition.

2. Art for Education

Under the umbrella of ‘Art for Education’ we have arrayed creative educational activities such as theatre, media initiatives, art and literary appreciation etc. Moreover students are encouraged to read and review classic literature, listen and appraise  international music, watch classic inspirational movies and their creative talents like painting, sketching, writing , editing skills etc. are honed through house journals, wall magazines, web journals  and blogs. Under this initiative many workshops, interviews, exhibitions, conferences etc. have been organized by our student community.

We have observed that students who gathered confidence with their language and Communication skills easily related with the audience through various onstage activities. Introverted students too find it a great way to express themselves in many offstage activities. We have been successful in introducing various personalities from different walks of life and students collected firsthand knowledge and skills from the maestros.To widen their creativity and broaden their vision art is an essential tool of education, we believe.
3. Leadership Village YLP

Young Leaders of LV train village children

In 2009 we partnered with the organization, LeadCap,founded by Sangeeth Varghese (Forbes Columnist , leadership thinker and author), who  researched  in leadership in London School of Economics and Harvard. Leadership Village was born out of a passion to empower the Indian villages through meaningful, holistic education. Leadership Village is an initiative striving to create the first ever ‘Leadership Democracy’ (a place every individual has equal opportunities to discover their true potential irrespective of birth or living conditions.) It is undertaken with the support of the villagers, students, parents, teachers and civic associations. The project brought a revolutionary change- a change that could only be achieved when students are pointed towards their true potential and when they are shown the true change that they could create in themselves, and in their communities. The passion and vision behind this project is the empowerment of the students through creation of self-awareness and mentor these individuals to help them discover their hidden skills- in the areas of communication, self-motivation, language skills,  problem solving, decision making etc.

Sangeeth Varghese trainins YLPs

The project Leadership Village YLP has been involved with various activities to uplift the standard of language, communication and leadership skills among the students of Wayanad. The main training tools applied are YLP (Young Leaders Programme- Leadership training) Living Library and Library On Wheels.

Communication training for Journalism students

YLP (Young Leaders Programme) of Leadership Village aims in uplifting the village children and youth with the help of world-class  language, communication and leadership teaching and training. Students are introduced to the latest theories of leadership once they attain good language and better communication skills. They are encouraged to take educational and social awareness initiatives. They take English lessons for other students, they have presented papers in international seminars ( a clear sign of language independence) , they regularly write in English  blogs, they write poems, they participate in many competitions and are an active presence in the world they live in.

Library on wheels is an initiative organized by the children to spread reading habit among the village children. The project has a library of its own with books donated by IITs and well-wishers across the world. aThrough social networks like ‘Facebook’ much evangelization for the project has been done.

UNESCO-National award winner Paris Mohan Kumar inaugurated Library On Wheels in 2011

Tremendous improvements happened here after these activities. Literacy and communication experiments like Living Books, Art for Education and Leadership Village YLP now fill the missing elements in the educational zone of Wayanad.