Mathematics is not the only subject that most children dread; English too is feared, particularly by those in rural areas. In fact, many drop out from school, unable to overcome the fear.
But Shankarabhaktula Satyam, a teacher at Zilla Parishad Secondary School at Mondrai village in Sangem mandal, is striving to change that. He is turning classrooms into English language labs by painting the walls with colourful charts.
The charts featuring both Telugu and English diagrams explain tenses, adjectives, genders, parts of speech etc. that they can easily memorise.
“I have tested this method, which has proved successful. Now, it is being adopted in over 50 schools across the two Telugu states. With this method, a child can master the language without much difficulty,” he told The Hindu, adding that students can practice grammar lessons even in the absence of a teacher.
His Ph.D thesis (from Dravidian University) was on ‘A study of the patterns of communication among teachers and pupils in English classroom in classes 8th to 10th in Telugu and English medium schools of Warangal district of Andhra Pradesh’.
With teaching experience of 21 years, Mr. Satyam said he went through innumerable books on English teaching and combined it with his knowledge to devise techniques to suit children in government schools in rural areas so that they are able to comete with their counterparts in corporate schools.
“Many schools are inviting me to tell them about my method,” he said.