ಐದನೇ ಆವೃತ್ತಿ, ಸಂಚಿಕೆ ೮ : (Season 5, Episode 8 : School Teachers Should Teach a Nali-kali Class at Least Once)

Please welcome Ms. Prabhavati J Immanni in this episode of ‘Pratibimba’. 

Ms. Prabhavati works in a government school in Shahapur Taluk of Yadagiri district as a teacher. She has an experience of 19 years in the domain and she has taught 4th to 7th-grade students over a period of 18 years. During the year 2022-23, she was deputed to the Nali-Kali classes. She has also taught Kannada for some time. 

In her opinion, the approach of one-way lecturing has no or very less impact on the students. So, she adopted various techniques of teaching history via stories and poetry. She would also use videos/teaching materials from YouTube in order to make subjects easy for her pupils. One such song is still remembered by her former students as well. Such a method of teaching has proven to be effective and she says, "I adopt similar techniques while teaching geography and other subjects." Students themselves gather information about the people, produce, and plants of the region thanks to the methodology of teaching adopted by Ms. Prabhavati.

Ms. Prabhavati was deputed, for various reasons to Nali-Kali from the higher classes. She took it as a challenge and an opportunity even though she was not trained for this. She was helped and guided by various experienced resource persons, including the Azim Premji Institute. She gradually understood the requirements of the Nali-Kali section and adopted it. 

She opines that she has also learned a lot from her students. She has understood from her training that the brains of children below the age of 8 are fertile for learning various things – ranging from morals to maths and from writing to communication. She thinks that Nali-Kali is the best opportunity to develop and nurture healthy minds in children. Nali-Kali is also an opportunity for teachers to be more creative.

In Ms. Prabhavati’s view, teachers of higher grades should consider teaching Nali-Kali pupils. Because it is a great opportunity on learning how to teach some students who directly join higher grades such as 4th or 5th. They have challenges in coping with numbers and writing. "The experience or the methodology that we acquire from teaching the Nali-Kali pupils will come in handy while tutoring the higher graders as well."

Hope you enjoyed listening to this recording by Akshara Foundation. This podcast tries to bring out such unique stories that are motivating, inspiring, and interesting.  If you have an interesting story, please share it with 98450 79590.