Wednesday, November 6, 2019

LITERACY THROUGH CREATIVITY: The Love for Letters!


Each letter of the alphabet has a story to tell…




T’ tells the story of the Table where the teachers- Sangeeta and Sonam stood up to display on the wall, the poster for Van Mahotsav (Forest Day) for their class children.

‘B’ tells the story of the ‘Bananas and Biscuits’ that Saurabh brought and shared with his hungry friends. 


P’ tells the story of the Paper with which Parvati decorated her Rakhi and tied on her classmate, Pandav’s wrist.



As more stories get unfolded, we will take a look at the different ways in which the Edu-Leaders of i-Saksham have made learning the Letters of the Alphabet fun, creative and thus effective. And the children? They were only left asking for more. Quite like the letters, each Letter Teaching Technique had a different story to tell, unique memories and observations to be revealed..

Chalk Challenge




·      It seemed as if a page from a Language textbook had come alive on the floor! It all started with a chalk. Two forms were designed by the Edu-Leader, one was a word and the other was the matching picture to it. The children had to simply string the letters together to read the word and identify the matching picture! Oh, and they had to fill up within the chalk outline too. With colours? No! With slippers. And the outcome: children ended up without their slippers but with an increased appetite to practice writing their letters and words the same way, the very next day!

    
      An Inter-Connected Chain of Letters



·        i-Saksham Edu-Leader, Sangeeta was enthusiastic about shared learning. Whether it was to learn a new technique as a teacher or whether it was to involve the class in a co-operative group activity, sharing was the key to learn! Sangeeta said, “The children were tracing the letter ‘a’ on each others’ backs. This is a technique that I learnt from my Buddy, Sonam Bharti. It helped those children especially who were having difficulty in writing.”


      Flash The Cards




The i-Saksham Edu-Leaders use Letter Cards in many different ways to engage the children. The cards could be hung up on the wall and their sequences altered so that children develop a more solid foundation of letter and phonic sound comprehension. Several classroom games too have been developed using these Letter Cards. One of them includes randomly picking up a Letter Card, identifying it and singing a rhyme that begins with the letter.


In this picture, Edu Leader Sangeeta is teaching children how to construct words using the letter flashcards






Likewise, i-Saksham Edu-Leader, Rohit’s favourite game with his class children is distributing one Letter Card to each child in the class and then calling out a word, say, चमक. The children with each of the letters stand up in the required order to make up the word. 
After building foundational letter recognition and word building skills, Edu-Leader Rohit focusses on developing reading skills. In this picture, he’s encouraging the children to read aloud.
Matra ki Yatra

The matra (vowels in Hindi) are made with thick chart paper and stuck on the board. Children combine it with letters to distinguish between the sounds. Rohit explained, “When we write the words with the matras on the board with a chalk, they get rubbed off easily and children forget. But when the matras remain stuck on the board, the concept remains fresh in the child’s memory for longer.”



Charisma of Colors

Another creative teaching technique involved blending crafts and colours in making words! The colourful beads that would be used for stringing were used innovatively by the teacher, while the children enjoyed practicing the letter forms and uniquely designed them.



Learn with Tech







Educational apps have also been tapped to enrich the learning experience of the letters of the alphabet. Several App based learning games like ‘Hindi Matra Waale’, ‘Varnmala’, ‘Word Swipe’  etc. have  helped the children in writing the letters, and in hearing and saying the sounds, reading and naming the letters, moving their hands smoothly and even recognizing the colours.


As a result of these diverse creative teaching strategies, the children have started taking a deeper interest in not only writing and reading in class, but also helping their fellow classmates in picking up these skills. As one child listens, the other one helps them recognize and name the sound of the letter. As one child names aloud the letter or the word, another child helps him or her by holding the hand and writing that word or letter in the book. And the question that the teachers get asked the most, “didi, when will we do this activity again? Should we learn this again?”