English radio lessons a hit in India By Amarnath Tewary Patna, Bihar http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7391742.stm Teachers say the programme is a hit with students Pics: Prashant Ravi
There is pin drop silence in a crammed classroom at a primary government school in the northern Indian state of Bihar. The students are looking inquisitively at a radio set perched on a plastic chair in the middle of the classroom in the capital, Patna. They are all waiting for a new English lesson to begin - on the radio. The lesson is called 'English is Fun' and teaches the basics of the language to primary school students. "It is very easy to learn English on radio. Everyday we wait for this class. Even if the teacher is not in the class we learn and enjoy the programme," a student, Sakshi Kumari, said. Interestingly, backward and dirt poor Bihar appears to be a trend setter here - a recent federal government report found that school students in the state are now faring better in English and Mathematics than anywhere else in the country. This, in a state, where a lowly 47% of the people are literate as against the national average of nearly 65%. So, for half-an-hour, four days a week, millions of primary students in Bihar today learn English through this radio lesson. Ever since the programme began in November last year it has become an instant hit with the students. The Bihar Education Project launched this English teaching radio programme in collaboration with a Bangalore-based organisation Educational Development Centre and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to boost primary education in the country. 'Big hit' The year-long interactive radio lessons are being broadcast by the four regional state-run All India radio stations. The lessons cover seven million students attending 65,000 primary schools in all the 38 districts of the state. Studies reveal students in Bihar are faring well in English "After 25 episodes of the programme, we found that it is a big hit among the students," director of the programme Rajesh Bhushan said. The state government has given 1000 rupees ($25) to every primary school to purchase a radio set for the 122-episode English learning programme. Starting with songs called 'Good morning' and 'Goodbye', the programme teaches alphabets and words. There are interactive lessons in which students also pick up useful tips about traffic rules, health and hygiene. Teachers find the lessons useful. "The programme provides poor students of government schools an opportunity to learn the English language, brush up their grammar all while having fun", said English teacher Archana Kumari. Encouraged by the response, the state government has decided to set up community radio stations at some schools for broadcasting lessons. The government has identified 11 schools in Patna and neighbouring Nalanda district for setting up these radio stations. Getting children educated continues to be a daunting challenge for authorities in Bihar. The state government recently hired over 300,000 teachers but over a million children still remain out of school in the state. Back at the primary school in Patna, students say they would like the "radio class" to continue. "Now listening the radio we can already say things like good morning, good evening, hello and other things like that. We enjoy learning English through this radio class," says Mohammud Abid. Please read my aricle on SINPO at http://tinyurl.com/yt7qjd ________________________ http://zliangas.blogspot.com (radio tech , gadgets, grk ethics) http://zlgr.stumbleupon.com (my social 'bookmarks' ) http://zlgr.multiply.com (radio monitoring site plus audio clips ) MAIN SITE http://www.youtube.com/zach0gr some videos http://www.worldisround.com/articles/302315/ (Litohoro) 321199/Tinos http://www.flickr.com/photos/zachgr pictures upload http://www.geocities.com/zliangas http://www.myspace.com/310100806 http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=770974854 http://del.icio.us/gr_geek1 ........ Zacharias Liangas , Thessaloniki Greece greekdx @ otenet dot gr --- Pesawat penerima: ICOM R75 , Lowe HF150 , Degen 1102,1103,108, Tecsun PL200/550, Chibo c300/c979, Yupi 7000 Antenna: 16m hor, 2x16 m V invert, 1m australian loop ---[Start Commercial]--------------------- Order your WRTH 2008: http://www.hard-core-dx.com/redirect2.php?id=wrth2008 ---[End Commercial]----------------------- ________________________________________ Hard-Core-DX mailing list Hard-Core-DX@hard-core-dx.com http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/hard-core-dx http://www.hard-core-dx.com/ _______________________________________________ THE INFORMATION IN THIS ARTICLE IS FREE. It may be copied, distributed and/or modified under the conditions set down in the Design Science License published by Michael Stutz at http://www.gnu.org/licenses/dsl.html