Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Clean drinking water, libraries and English Medium

Since my previous blog some significant progress has been made at both schools.

Firstly, I am pleased to advise you that the drinking water project at Kalidhunga has been completed. However, the final budget exceeded the original and so we will need to raise a few more funds soon to balance the books. More discussion on fundraising later.
Underground water storage
The Water project will have a significant impact on the quality of experience and well-being of the school community, especially now that the hot summer and monsoon is only weeks away. Next winter the students and staff will benefit even further. During this time the water supply has been unreliable. The addition of a 7000 litre underground storage tank will now make clean drinking water available all the time. Also at Kalidhunga the library has experienced some improvement. Not only is it more available for students throughout the day, but the children's colourful story books are displayed so the covers can be seen and attract students to read more than ever. In addition, the colourful books bring atmosphere to the library is invigorating.



Drinking taps
Forty-five minutes walk away at Majhgaun Lower Secondary School, wonderful things have been happening.
Nursery Room
Upon arrival last October I was excited to hear that another NGO had supported MLSS in developing a room for Nursery Class. Now the little kids have a comfortable carpeted and well resourced learning/play area. Families responded positively to the new facility and the room is packed with excited kids for a few hours a day. The children interact with kinaesthetic and colourful learning materials and experience the joys of 'toys' for the very first time.
Throughout my stay I introduced the literacy program called THRASS (Teaching Handwriting, Reading and Spelling Skills), to both students at all levels and staff. This is an engaging program that incorporates phonemics into an integrated approach to reading and spelling. Thus the students learnt how to decode sounds into words and letters, and words into sounds. Improvement in both pronunciation and speaking skills were noted as an additional learning outcome.

Majhgaun teachers and Grade 7-ers
The English Language and English Medium teachers were trained to use the program to complement their teaching of the curriculum. The main emphasis was to switch from a one letter makes one sound approach to spelling and pronunciation to phonemics approach to both. The aim of this training was to prepare staff with the skills of self-improvement in their own pronunciation and able to model appropriate pronunciation to students. As an interest recent national surveying of students supported this concept. The results indicated that the number one factor that influenced successful acquisition of spoken English was the skill level and competency of the teacher. In addition, I helped the staff develop planning and delivery skills for reading in English for both English Medium and English Language classes.

English Language Room with THRASS charts
Children using THRASS method
Regarding facilities each room now has a white board and a designated English Language room with the THRASS materials displayed for use.
I am pleased to say that from a training perspective we are on track and with an idea to provide ongoing English and methodology training for MLSS and teachers and senior students over the next few years, I believe we will be able to have a sustainable impact on at least the quality of English and English Medium teaching and learning.

In my next blog I would like to update you on these training ideas and the latest developments from ECCA. Enjoy the pics too.

Phulkaj and Jack at the giving of books from Macmillan