In TN’s tribal schools, touch of drama makes English joyful

For R Kartheeshwaran, a student of the government tribal residential school at Oorgoundanur in Tiruvannamalai, English was always intimidating. “It was a language I didn’t hear often. So, I always thought of it as something that was difficult to learn, something I would never master. But, one day, my teacher decided to teach us English through rhymes, songs and stories,” says the ten-year-old. And just like that, he says, English went from intimidating to interesting. “My favourite story is ‘Lion and the mouse’ because I like helping my friends like the mouse in the story.”

Like Kartheeshwaran, many children belonging to several tribal communities across Tamil Nadu find learning English hard as most speak their local tribal language at home and Tamil at school, making English alien to them.

To encourage children to upskill with English, the Tamil Nadu tribal welfare department initiated the ‘Joyful English’ programme at 131 government tribal residential schools in districts such as Erode, Namakkal, Salem, Trichy, Perambalur, Tiruvannamalai, Kallakurichi, Tirupathur and Dharmapuri. The department tied up with Karadi Path, a Chennaibased education company, to train its teachers in a storytelling and music-driven cur riculum to keep students engaged.

Teachers say that through this programme, children have picked up conversational skills and are able to use basic phrases in English confidently. “Now my students use phrases such as ‘May I come in’ and ‘May I use the washroom’. The fact that they are attempting to speak English is gratifying for me as a teacher,” says N Jhansirani, a government tribal residential teacher.

“The idea is to get children interested in learning the language. We do that by training teachers in being expressive while narrating stories and teaching. Tribal communities are passionate about music, folklore and songs, so we decided to curate the curriculum around their culture to make it easier for them to grasp,” says C P Viswanath, co-founder and CEO of Karadi Path.

“More than 6,500 students and 250 teachers will benefit through this project,” says Kayalvizhi Selvaraj, minister for adi dravidar welfare. “To ensure smooth operations we have volunteers on the field who give us daily updates on a WhatsApp group. We will also make regular revisions and update the curriculum.”

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