The first Ehsaas Weekly English speaking session - 22nd April 2006

Well...

To start off, I arrived late. But I arrived. And the session had kick-started. The students, about six of them, had been given an exercise to write something in English... anything.

When these boys spoke, they began with the usual essay that a student speaks... 'My name is A. I have two sisters, and one brother. My father's name is B... ' and so forth. Before it wound up as an ordinary English class, I realised that these boys were not here for the usual 'Help us learn English' session that occurs at many places, but for mentorship. There was no power in their voices. There was something that was urgently required, I felt it, perhaps the others as well... but I could not figure it out at that time.

When someone usually asks me my name, I say with pride, 'My name's Harshal'. This pride was missing in these boys' words. The emphasis on the name, the power that rides behind it: That was missing. Perhaps it was time for a pep talk. I began. Talking about the strength that comes from within. The confidence of oneself. The pride that one holds with one's name. The self confidence that needs to come out. It's easy to type these words in retrospect, but you don't exactly understand that this is what you are speaking about, especially when the words are coming out from the heart, rather than the mind, as they are now. The boys understood.

We then helped them with the words they needed to emphasise upon in their essays, and speak them out loud.

I realised that more than a teacher or a trainer, these people need a mentor, someone who knows more than them, and is ready to teach them on their terms… takes them as an empty slate, does not judge them. Me thinks that while the English classes should continue, parallel to that, such an effort should be made to ensure that the kids take us as friends, rather than those who just come, teach in novel methods, and disappear for the rest of the week.



During this time, Nikhil & Subhashini tried to arrange a few English Cartoon VCDs for the boys. They were able to find only Hindi cartoons, but we turned it into another exercise. The cartoon would be in Hindi, so that the boys understood, and then they would summarise it for us in English. So it happened. The kids tried hard, and did succeed in translating their thoughts into English. We take our English for granted, but for them, even speaking in Hindi being an exercise, every word that they speak in English is an achievement. That satisfaction was seen on their faces.



Last, but not the least, we played a Word - Antakshari sort of a game. One person starts off with a word, spells it, and gives its meaning. The second in line says a word starting with the ending letter of the previous word, its spelling & meaning. And so on. All of us volunteers and students participated. I felt that this game was the best ice breaker in the day... everyone was relaxed, enjoying, pulling each other's legs, so on and so forth. The words selected were put up on the board for all to see... most of the guys even noted them down so that they could use them later.

That was the best way to end the day, and my Pune visit... I'd waited all day just for these 3 hours, and man, were the worth it!!!