How Central University of Kerala is helping Chalingal Government LP School students master English

The Chalingal Government LP School was a bit hesitant as they approached the Department of English of the Central University of Kerala (CUK) in Kasaragod. But, they were in desperate need to support their students. As they sought the support of the Department of English of Central University, CUK has come out happy to help their students by teaching them the art of mastering the English language. That was the beginning of the scheme, Fun with English by CUK. Now, CUK has started teaching English to the students of Chalingal through the scheme Fun with English, stated a report by The New Indian Express.

The majority of the students of Chalingal Government LP School come from humble backgrounds and they find it difficult to follow the English being taught in the classrooms. "When we visited the school, we have come to know that, they lack the basic knowledge of tackling the language. As per the request of the school management, we have decided to come up with a package through which we would be able to improve the language skills of the students," said Dr S Asha, Department of English, CUK. CUK has prepared a module to teach the students of the school which would be concluded by March 16. The scheme was inaugurated on January 12 by Professor Joseph Koyippally, Head of the department, of English and Comparative Literature, CUK. As per the scheme, students of Classes I to IV will be given special training in the English language for two days every week till March 16. Around 50 PG students in the English department have volunteered to take classes for the students, as reported by The New Indian Express.

The teachers of CUK would brief the PG students about the way the scheme should be implemented. "Classes will be held on every Thursday and Friday," Dr Asha said. "We have prepared a module through which we would support the students to come up step by step," she said. "These are very small children and most of them lack exposure to English. We can not easily impose difficult language on these children. So, they would be cajoled to the language through stories and illustrations. From the next stage, we would teach them, how stories are built by using the language," said Asha. 

Though the present module ends on March 16, sensing the need of the school, CUK wants to continue the scheme in the next academic year as well. "We are only too happy to extend our support to a school near our campus. We would continue with this scheme next year as well," said Dr Asha M Suchetha, Headmistress, Chalingal GLPS who presided over the inaugural function. Dr S Asha, Dr Vellikkeel Raghavan, Dr M Salini (both are from Dept of English, CUK) and K Vijayan, PTA president, Chalingal GLPS spoke.