Classroom Turned As Press Meeting Hall At Vidya Vikasini School
The classroom resembled a hall where a press meeting will be held. Teachers posed as Ministers and students, as eager journalists, shot questions at them taking down notes at the same time. The Vidya Vikasini Matriculation Higher Secondary School, along with the Institute of Language Management, Bangalore, conducted an exercise for the students of Standard IX, in which they acted as reporters, collecting information on various topics and asking questions to teachers. One of ILM’s several activities for the year, the event was aimed at giving the children an exposure to journalism. The questions covered the inflation, environmental issues, and industrial development. The school had been working with ILM for over a year. The organisation offered programmes in English language skills for school students in several Indian cities. Introduced on a trial basis in the school in 2007 for UKG to Standard VII, the programme elicited an overwhelming response from the students and it was extended to Standards VIII, IX and Plus-One. The programme has helped the students a great deal in improving the spelling and pronunciation. Their presentation skills have become better and they are confident about speaking in public,” said G.Rajeswari, principal of the school.
ILM’s programme focused on developing the vocabulary, spelling, pronunciation, meaning and grammar. Some of its activities were ‘Answer us,’ ‘Information corner,’ and ‘English March.’ A ‘Student English Council’ was set up where the students acted as an elected body to monitor the quality of spoken language among students. ‘Speaker of the day,’ ‘Talk your imagination,’ ‘Quiz time’ and ‘Time with the Principal’ were other programmes. ILM had tie up with 16 schools in Coimbatore. At least two faculty members from ILM worked in the partnering school. “Two hours a week are devoted to the programme,” said Ronald Hurtis, Regional Head, ILM.
