1. Teaching Methodologies (English)

2. CONTENTS Confidential2 Our Observations on Children from Ordinary Schools Levelfield School Methodology

3. ROTE-LEARNING VS CONCEPTS: ENGLISH (LKG/UKG) Confidential3 What kids can do Read familiar words – like APPLE, ELEPHANT What kids often cannot do Decode simpler, but unfamiliar words (HELP, SAD) Orally answer simple yes/no questions like: There are two suns in the sky Your father is here in this room Listening comprehension, and ability to decode words are the first steps

4. ROTE-LEARNING VS CONCEPTS: ENGLISH (I - IV) Confidential4 What kids can do Read textbook passages which have been taught in the class Read paragraphs, but without comprehension What kids often cannot do Read unseen passages independently, with comprehension Read books independently Without independent reading ability, no further learning is possible

5. THE MAIN PROBLEM: Confidential5 A focus on syllabus and textbooks as opposed to real skill development Listening comprehension Reading Speaking Writing (Independent expression)

6. CONTENTS Confidential6 Our Observations on Children from Ordinary Schools Levelfield School Methodology

7. A FEW KEY BELIEFS Confidential7 Belief No 1: In the beginning, learning is a sequential process (that means, when students come without any knowledge, you cannot start teaching them everything together. We need to teach first things first.) STEP 1: Learning to understand by listening STEP 2: Learning to speak | Learning to read STEP 3: Learning to express oneself by writing

8. A FEW KEY BELIEFS Confidential8 Belief No 2: A graded and continuous exposure is needed to build basic skills (Instead of reading 5 stories in a textbook many times over, you will learn to read better by reading 1000 stories in a year! But they have to be finely graded, though) This makes learning process almost independent and subconscious However, the challenge is to design so many graded activities Exercise 1 Exercise 2 Exercise 3 Exercise 1 Exercise 500

9. A FEW KEY BELIEFS Confidential9 Belief No 3: Follow the natural process of learning languages (Think how you learnt your mother tongue) We learn a language through a lot of ‘listening’. When we read and listen to a language a lot, we get a ‘sense’ of what is correct and what is wrong – no amount of grammar exercises can be a substitute for extensive hearing and reading

10. THE FIRST FEW MONTHS… Confidential10 A singular focus on listening comprehension Commands and Instructions Yes/No based on pictures of objects Things around us Things we eat Things that go Things we wear Animals-birds-insects Fruits-vegetables Storytelling Culture building is very important in this stage – no mother tongue should be allowed inside the school. We do not allow use of mother tongue by the ayahs and non-teaching staff either

11. COMMANDS AND INSTRUCTIONS Confidential11 Takes 2-4 weeks, depending on age Initially, simple instructions accompanied by gesture come here, stand up, sit down, go out etc Later, a little more difficult, involving the objects around, and basic verbs Touch the wall, stand near the door, open your bag Finally, elaborate activities to learn more sophisticated instructions Instructions related to forming a queue (concepts of front, behind, between) Ball-picking activity (concepts of give, take, keep, under, on, numbers) Raise your hand activity (if you are a boy, if you are near the window, if you like milk etc.)

12. BASIC WORD PICTURES Confidential12 Word recognition based on pictures, not based on mother tongue Things around us Things we eat Things that go Things we wear Animals-birds-insects Fruits-vegetables Basic verbs Questions should not be open-ended Can we see a chair in the classroom? How many legs are there? We sit on it, or stand on it? Are you sitting on a chair? Chair is big or a bed is big?

13. STORYTELLING Confidential13 Simple fables and folktales can be used Use simple vocabulary Use direct narration Use ‘visual’ words rather than abstract Act it out If the character in the story is angry, your voice is angry If the character is whispering, you also whisper There should not be any logical gap Explain concepts (e.g. rich/poor) along the way

14. TYPICAL QUESTIONS AT THIS STAGE FROM PARENTS Confidential14 We do not get to know what happens at school! Notebooks are empty! What about textbooks?

15. READING BEGINS ONLY AFTER BASIC LISTENING COMPREHENSION Confidential15 STEP 1: Word Reading: Learning phonetic rules (sounds of letters) STEP 2: Sentence Reading: Automatic reading of top-200 frequent words STEP 3: Paragraph Reading: Short paragraphs, 400 headwords, readability:1.0 STEP 4: Short story: 2-3 page stories, 1000 headwords, readability: 1.0-2.0 STEP 5: Reading rewritten classics, non-fiction: 40-50 page stories STEP 6: Independent reading of books and magazines Step 1 and 2 to be achieved in pre-primary grades (LKG & UKG), and steps 3, 4, 5, 6 by grades I, II, III, and IV

16. STEP 1 (LKG): PHONETIC RULES Confidential16 The first steps are important Should we teach names or sounds? Should we teach capital letters or small? Should we teach in sequence? 400 most popular words Phonetic words Non-phonetic words Sight words

17. STEP 2 (UKG) : SENTENCE READING Confidential17 A large number of sentence level exercises Sentence matching (high-payoff) Fill in the blanks Multiple choice Arrange in order Kloze test Objective: Automatic reading of most frequently occurring words (top 200, and top 400) These exercises involve choosing, so strategies are needed to prevent guessing There are many challenges to create such a large number of exercises

18. EXERCISE DESIGN : VERSION 1 Confidential18 I can read. 1.I want a ball. 2.Give me a book. 3.This is my mom.

19. EXERCISE DESIGN : VERSION 2 Confidential19 This is not your book. 1.I want to read. 2.You took it from me. 3.Some books are fat.

20. STEP 3 (CLASS I): PARAGRAPH READING Confidential20 Simple stories, vocabulary limited 400 words Readability score of 0-1 Comprehension tested by fill-in the blanks within passage, yes/no questions, arrange in order Questions need to be phrased well so that they cannot be answered without full comprehension Limited vocabulary – should not stumble They do more than 100 such stories before moving to the next step Reading top 400 words becomes fast and automatic Again, it is difficult to create so many stories with simple vocabulary and low readability

21. DIFFERENCE IN READABILITY: STORY WITH READING LEVEL 1.0 Confidential21 I am Jinni. I am a small girl. Every morning, I wake up, wear my school-dress and go to school. I come back around twelve. Then I have my lunch. My mother cooks the lunch. She normally cooks very well. I like the food she cooks. But today, the food was not tasty. I disliked it. I did not feel like finishing it. I asked my mother, “Why was the food not tasty today?” She answered, “I did not find time to cook it today.” I said, “Why? What happened?” She replied, “I was not well. I had to go to a hospital.” I said, “Who cooked the food then?” She said, “We got the food from a hotel.”

22. Confidential22 I am Jinni. I am a small girl. Every morning, I go to school. I come back at noon. Then I have my lunch. My mother cooks the lunch. She cooks well. I like the food she cooks. But today, the food was not good. I did not like to eat it. I did not finish my food. I asked my mother, “Why was the food so bad today?” She said, “I did not cook it today.” I said, “Why?” She said, “I was not well. I had to go to a hospital.” I said, “Who cooked the food then?” She said, “We got the food from a hotel.” DIFFERENCE IN READABILITY: STORY WITH READING LEVEL 0.0

23. Confidential23 I am Jinni. I am a small girl. Every morning, I go to school. I come back at noon. Then I have my lunch. My mother cooks the lunch. She cooks well. I like the food she cooks. But today, the food was not _________. I did not like to eat it. I did not finish my food. I asked my mother, “Why was the food so bad today?” She said, “I did not cook it today.” I said, “Why?” She said, “I was not well. I had to go to a _________.” I said, “Who cooked the food then?” She said, “We got the food from a hotel.” FILL-IN-THE-BLANKS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PASSAGE TO TEST UNDERSTANDING

24. STEP 4 (CLASS II): READING SHORT STORIES Confidential24 Level 2 words are introduced gradually at this stage Readability score of 1.0-2.0 Stories are not picked from any book directly, but rewritten by us Fables and folktales from around the world mined Over a year, they read 1000 pages of reading material, carefully graded, and independently

25. STEP 5 (CLASS III): READING LONG STORIES Confidential25 At this stage, vocabulary expands to about 1500- 2000 words At this level, our materials have readability score of 2.0-4.0 Multiple choice questions, yes-no questions with lots of twists, to test sophisticated understanding They read a lot of children’s classics, rewritten by us Gulliver’s Travels, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, The Prince and the Pauper, The Little Princess, The Secret Garden, The Railway Children, Robinson Crusoe, Oliver Twist, Charlotte’s Web, The Trumpet of the Swan, David Copperfield, Frankenstein etc. They start reading non-fiction too

26. STRATEGIES TO CREATE READING MATERIALS Confidential26 Sources for 2-3 page stories Folktales from all around the world To be rewritten in simple language Within the limited vocabulary Easy sentence construction Rewritten children’s classic Do not abridge – just simplify the language Preserve all dialogue, emotions, plot elements Give them the full book, not a small part of it Graded reading materials available in the market too

27. STRATEGIES TO CREATE AND EVALUATE QUESTIONS Confidential27 Fill-in-the blanks within the passage Spelling not an immediate priority Yes-no or multiple choice questions Prevent guessing – if one or two are wrong, do not tell the child which ones are wrong – ask them to re-read the whole story Do not ask fact-based questions, ask questions that test understanding Questions are not an end in itself – they are diagnostic tools for the teachers to see if the students are reading diligently and understanding

28. STEP 6: THE OCEAN OF BOOKS! Confidential28 After a lot of independent reading of rewritten material, and some assisted reading, they are ready to read books Not any book can be given Comic strips are also useful for a start (Tinkle, Amar Chitra Katha) Most books in the market do not fit the bill A lot of pictures and large font do not make a children’s book If the school can give its students the gift of independent reading, half the job of imparting learning is done!

29. TYPICAL QUESTIONS AT THIS STAGE Confidential29 Why this excessive focus on reading? When will my child start writing? When will he study history, geography etc?

30. TEACHING WRITING Confidential30 What writing is not… Handwriting Copying from books Writing memorized answers Dictation Spelling practice What writing is… The ability to express your ideas independently through writing It is actually quite a difficult activity – something even most adults have not mastered Full-fledged writing activities start after students have developed the ability to read books independently. We believe ability to write comes from a lot of reading, and an ability to express oneself through speaking

31. WRITING TECHNIQUE 1: PICTURE STORYBOARDS Confidential31

32. WRITING TECHNIQUE 1: PICTURE STORYBOARDS Confidential32

33. WRITING TECHNIQUE 2: EXPANSION OF POINTS Confidential33 I like school Friends Play Tiffin-time, indoor games After-school, outdoor Fun things Story-telling Videos and cinema Library No scolding

34. WRITING TECHNIQUE 3: CONVERT YOUR READING MATERIAL INTO WRITING MATERIAL Confidential34 I am Jinni. I __________(be) a small girl. Every morning, I go to school. I come back at noon. Then I have my lunch. My mother ___________ (cook) the lunch. She cooks well. I like the food she cooks. But today, the food _________ (be) not good. I did not like to eat it. I _______________ (not, finish) my food. I asked my mother, “Why was the food so bad today?” She said, “I did not cook it today.” I said, “Why?” She said, “I was not well. I had to go to a hospital.” I said, “Who ___________ (cook) the food then?” She said, “We __________ (get) the food from a hotel.”

35. OTHER WRITING TEACHING TECHNIQUES Confidential35 Rewriting easy stories Get the class to read a small story like the previous page story for 2 mins Ask them to rewrite it Peer review Project somebody’s writing on the screen with a projector Review it in front of the whole class Ask the class to comment on it too This is better than reviewing everybody’s output individually

36. THE ROLE OF THE TEACHER IN THE ENGLISH CLASS Confidential36 More like a doctor, than a presenter In all the reading activities, the role of the teacher is to diagnose reasons why somebody is not comprehending Is he lazy, and not reading well? Are there words he did not understand, and did not ask? Did he miss some twist in the story? Is the question phrased in a difficult way? In writing activities, the same thing holds Is the child ready for writing at all? What type of writing activity is appropriate for a child now? Does he have a problem with writing conventions or writing logic?

37. MISTAKES TO AVOID Confidential37 Translation to and from the mother tongue Memorizing textbooks A focus on copywork, dictation, handwriting as opposed to reading and listening Excessive focus on grammatical exercises early on