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Tamil Nadu News Papers - Education - TNIUS Coimbatore

Corporation school students learn a new lesson

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The Hindu              18.09.2013

Corporation school students learn a new lesson

A class on how to score high marks conducted for Corporation High School at Tallakulam in the city.— Photo: G. Moorthy
A class on how to score high marks conducted for Corporation High School at Tallakulam in the city.— Photo: G. Moorthy

Class X students and teachers of a Corporation High School at Tallakulam here had a different experience on Tuesday as they listened to a lecture on how to score high marks without memorising textbook content.

Agasthya Bharathy, an advocate-turned-stress management trainer, delivered the lecture. According to him, every student can score good marks if he or she ensures total concentration in classes and if teachers make their students do so.

The teachers would find some students not sitting straight and looking at them, some others sitting indifferently, and some students munching something, he said. When the teacher turned towards the blackboard, a few students would talk to others, exchange pens and books, disturb the attentive ones, and make comments about the teacher, he noted.

Such students felt that they were forced to go to school. They always waited for an opportunity to stay out of the class, and they got angry when they were chided by their teachers, he pointed out.

“Those students’ physical presence in the class does not have much in connection with their mental presence. They can grasp only 20 to 25 per cent of what is taught in class and end up struggling to match the rest by mugging up during examinations. Worse is the case of adolescent students, falling under these categories, whose physical presence has no connection with their mental presence due to various reasons,” he added. He said students must always make eye contact with the teachers and follow carefully what was taught.

Initially, it would be difficult for a dull student to concentrate, but once a student ensures 100 per cent physical and mental presence, he would get attracted towards studies, he claimed.

“Whenever students get time, they should close their eyes for a few moments and tell themselves that they are born to win, to make history and they have the ability to reach great heights,” he added.

Mr.Bharathy, who recently brought out a Tamil book on parenting and motivating children, had been conducting such sessions for Government and Corporation school studentssince last year.

 

Corporation school students speak in foreign tongue

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The New Indian Express         26.08.2013

Corporation school students speak in foreign tongue

Students from Corporation schools making a presentation in English at the TFI Annual Educators Meet held in the city recently.
Students from Corporation schools making a presentation in English at the TFI Annual Educators Meet held in the city recently.

If English education had long known to be the exclusive forte of convent schools and high end private schools, it certainly did not seem so at  Teach for India’s (TFI) annual educators meet organised in Chennai on recently.

The event saw students from various Corporation schools, in and around Chennai, putting together a host of stage programs, delivered  in  English.

The event was organised by TFI, along with the participation of senior officials from Chennai Corporation and head masters/mistresses of various schools in the city. The students were tutored by the fellows of TFI over a period of one and a half years, alongside their school teachers. From delivering paragraph length dialogues to compering, there seemed to be no area where students, many of them still in primary school, did not venture out with the foreign tongue. But English was not the only aspect that made audience sit and take notice.

The skits brought out a variety of new learning techniques and methodologies to make learning fun and interactive. Interactive games that helped students learn the principles behind addition and concepts of inference, and co-teaching models were put together by students in their skits and classroom demos for the benefit of the audience.

Speaking at the event, headmasters pointed out that learning should be more activity-based and fun-based compared to the current concept of one-way instructions from teacher to students. Joint Commissioner for Education, T N Venketesh said that efforts must be taken to incorporate such practical methodologies into the school curriculum. Similarly, teachers and headmasters must work towards evolving more of such tools to help students learn better.

TFI began its collaboration with the Education Department of the Corporation of Chennai one and half years back.

Under the program, TFI fellows are appointed to schools that are under- resourced. As of now, TFI has over 20 schools in Chennai.

 

A different project for Corporation students

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The Hindu               21.08.2013

A different project for Corporation students 

A volunteer from 'Projects Abroad' interacting with students from Velliveethiyar Girls' Corporation School in Madurai on Tuesday.Photo: G. Moorthy
A volunteer from 'Projects Abroad' interacting with students from Velliveethiyar Girls' Corporation School in Madurai on Tuesday.Photo: G. Moorthy

The students of Velliveethiyar Corporation Girls Higher Secondary School took a break from their daily lessons for a different learning experience on Tuesday.

Volunteers from the ‘Projects Abroad’ programme visited the school and interacted with the students.

The school has tied up with the ‘Projects Abroad’ programme since 2010.

“We have had volunteers from abroad who come and teach conversational English and basic math skills to the students for a month or two,” said A Das, programme coordinator.

Said Professor R. Ilango, former Vice-Principal of Vivekananda College, who currently takes conversational English classes at the school:

“There is a new environment created here for these students when the volunteers visit. Their English improves the more they converse with the volunteers and their awareness is enhanced, thanks to the exposure”.

The students share experiences with the volunteers. “At first, we found it difficult to follow their accent, but they spoke slowly and made sure that we could freely converse with them,” said Koteeshavarthini, a student of Class 9.

“The way they teach grammar is very interesting and we could easily understand the principles,” she added.

First, the volunteers had an interactive session with the students where they were asked a range of questions on their lives in their home countries, culture, famous monuments, schooling, interests and their time in India.

“What are all the places that you have visited in Madurai?” asked C. Subbalakshmi asked Nathan De Ruwe, a volunteer from Belgium.

When he admitted to having visited only the Madurai Meenakshi temple, almost all the students present recommended that he also visit the Thirumalai Naicker Palace and the Gandhi Museum.

The students of Class 6 were divided into teams and participated in a spelling-bee competition that the volunteers conducted.

Volunteers Bethany Straw from England and Manon Dafydd from Wales said the experience at the school was an enjoyable one.

“This is our second school visit in Madurai and the students have been warm, friendly and receptive to our ideas and interactions,” said Ms Bethany.

 


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