Mumbai: Teacher uses virtual assistant to help civic school students improve English

MUMBAI: Who built the Taj Mahal? What's Mumbai’s weather today? How's the traffic at this hour? These are some of the questions students from a Marathi medium civic school pose to a mannequin every day. The mannequin is fitted with a virtual assistant, Alexa, which answers the questions, posed in English.

A few months ago, Pooja Sankhe, a teacher at Ramkrishna Aramhence Marg Muncipal Marathi School, brought her virtual assistant for students to explore. She fit it in a mannequin bought online. “The children were very excited and asked basic questions like: what’s your name, or age? That's when I thought it could be used to enhance their English speaking skills. Alexa won't answer until they ask the question in correct English. They started preparing questions at home. This way the students could make mistakes and not be judged,” said Sankhe.

The mannequin has been placed in a Class VI room, but all students rush to it when they have a doubt. “Be it a mathematical problem or news, the mannequin is the go-to for students of all classes. I was glad I could put an everyday device to educational use,” Sankhe said. Noting the method’s success in her own school, she is building similar models for other schools nearby. “Everyone is excited about the opportunity this gives students to improve their English speaking skills. We have reached out to garment stores to give us mannequins they would normally throw away. This will bring down costs,” she said.

The mannequin was part of 50 innovations displayed at the state's Shikshanachi Vaari programme held in the city recently. Several government and aided schools have been making small interventions to improve the quality of education and keep children in civic or government schools.

At KVK Ghatkopar Public School, teachers are using the concept of talking walls to make academics a part of daily life. Classroom walls have periodic tables on them, teachers draw a Rangoli explaining the rain cycle and there are streams explaining multiplication tables. “The students don't need to make an effort to revise what they learn in school because it's always around them. The concepts get ingrained even while they are playing in the corridors,” said head master Jagdish Indalkar.