Learnlng Lngllsh CreaLlvely (vldya n Chlld) - Asha MlnnesoLa

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1. NGO/project objectives [be very brief...one paragraph is adequate]
NGO Objective: Vidya & Child works wlLh Lhe mlsslon Lo help brldge Lhe gap for Lhose chlldren who need
educaLlon and have no access Lo Lhe faclllLles for learnlng exlsLlng ln our socleLy. LducaLlon aL vldya & Chlld
lnvolves malnsLreamlng chlldren lnLo schools for Lhem Lo compleLe school educaLlon. 1hls cruclal sLep ls a plaLform
from where chlldren can Lhen declde career paLhs and asplre for hlgher sLudles. lL enables a chlld Lo access Lhe
vasL opporLunlLles of hlgher learnlng LhaL are oLherwlse beyond reach. vldya & Chlld sLrengLhens Lhe chlld Lo
compeLe ln Lhe malnsLream world and Lo uLlllse Lhe poLenLlal wlLhln.
ro[ect Cb[ect|ve: 1he CreaLlve Lngllsh ro[ecL ls an lnlLlaLlve for chlldren ln nursery Lo Class lll Lo help brlng abouL
poslLlve personallLy developmenL, lgnlLe a passlon of learnlng and ralse Lhe sLandard of Lngllsh. 1he
overall goal of Lhls CreaLlve pro[ecL ls Lo poslLlvely ald Lhe naLural growLh and needs of Lhe chlldren aL
Lhelr lndlvldual sLage so LhaL Lhey are evenLually able Lo be self sufflclenL learners and creaLors for llfe.
Goa|s of workshops ln 1he nurLurlng hase are Lo:
lmprove Lngllsh
8alse awareness and undersLandlng of Lhelr 8odles, speech and mlnd and Lhe lmmedlaLe world
around Lhem, by sLoryLelllng, muslc and dance.
Clve plaLform Lo chlldren Lo freely explore Lhelr creaLlve poLenLlals
rovlde supporL Lo Lhe school Leachers by cenLerlng Lhe knowledge glven Lo chlldren ln Lhese
workshops on Lhe currlculum of Lhe school.

C|asses of Interest: Classes nursery, kC, 1sL, 2nd, 3rd

Age kange: 1he chlldren ln Lhls phase can be dlvlded lnLo Lwo groups accordlng Lo Lhelr age groups, 4-7
and 8-10.

|an of Act|on: SLarL LheaLer workshops ln Lngllsh lnLegraLed wlLh songs, poems, dance and movemenL
wlLh sub[ecL maLLer whlch wlll be relaLed Lo Lhe currlculum provlded by Lhe schools. 1he currlculums for
chlldren ln Lhe age range 4-7 wlll be acLlon orlenLed where Lhe chlldren wlll learn Lhrough drama, songs
and dance. lor Lhe age group from 8-10, Lhe chlldren Lhemselves wlll slowly learn Lo become Lhe
creaLors.


2. Quality of Education proposal
a. What quality of education issue is the proposal addressing?


Learnlng Lngllsh CreaLlvely (vldya n Chlld) - Asha MlnnesoLa
Vidya & Child Response:
vldya & Chlld reaches ouL Lo over 900 chlldren from low lncome famllles. 1hese are chlldren who belong
Lo soclo-economlcally marglnallsed secLlons of socleLy, ma[orlLy of Lhelr parenLs are llllLeraLe/
semlllLeraLe and work as domesLlc servanLs, lndusLrlal workers, rlckshaw-pullers, sLreeL vendors,
plumbers and carpenLers. very few parenLs have had exposure Lo prlmary educaLlon.
Powever, parenLs ln Lhls communlLy undersLand Lhe lmporLance of educaLlon buL do noL have access Lo
quallLy educaLlon on accounL of soclo - economlc facLors. 8esldlng ln a predomlnanL, fasL developlng
urban area, beneflLs Lo educaLlon and lLs dlrecL lmpllcaLlon on Lhe quallLy of llfe ls noL very dlfflculL Lo
appreclaLe and undersLand. Powever day Lo day llvlng, meeLlng Lhe growlng expenses as mosL have very
large famllles, leaves very llLLle money for Lhem Lo be able Lo afford quallLy educaLlon for chlldren.
We may be llvlng ln a growlng and fasL developlng economy buL beneflLs of Lhe same have noL reached
Lhls segmenL of Lhe populaLlon. We have been worklng ln Lhe communlLy slnce Lhe lasL 12 years. We
have observed LhaL lncomes may have lncreased buL so has renL and food expenses. 1he sLruggle on a
dally basls remalns Lhe same.
vldya & Chlld Lrles Lo provlde an opporLunlLy for relaLlonshlp bulldlng where a chlld can be glven an
opporLunlLy for educaLlon, where Lhe parenL can belleve LhaL Lhe chlld's lnLeresLs are belng looked afLer
and LhaL we wlll conLlnue Lo offer Lhe opporLunlLy as long as lL Lakes for Lhe chlld Lo be lndependenL.
Pence lLs lmperaLlve LhaL we conLlnue on bulldlng Lhe quallLy of our programmes and provlde long Lerm
opporLunlLles for growLh and developmenL Lo all our chlldren Lo whom we reach ouL Lo. lL Lakes 12 years
for a chlld Lo compleLe school educaLlon, lL Lakes aLleasL anoLher 2 - 4 years afLer LhaL Lo be able Lo
acqulre a sklll ln a fleld whlch wlll make Lhe chlld's llfe meanlngful ln Lhe years ahead. vldya & Chlld
belleves very sLrongly LhaL lL needs Lo be Lhere for Lhls perlod ln Lhe chlld's llfe, Lo enable Lhe parenL Lo
provlde Lhe supporL for Lhe chlld Lo avall of Lhe beneflLs of Lhe educaLlon process LhaL exlsL ln Lhe
counLry Loday.
ln Lhe 12 years LhaL we have been worklng all chlldren LhaL we have malnsLreamed, 90 have
compleLed school educaLlon and all Lhose havlng compleLed school have moved on Lo sLudy furLher. 1he
need ls conLlnue Lhls klnd of process whlch ls long Lerm, exLremely lnLenslve, based on uncondlLlonal
bellef & paLlence LhaL a chlld needs Lo be educaLed and provlded academlc and creaLlve opporLunlLy Lo
be able Lo express creaLlvely and Lake meanlngful declslons for llfe ln fuLure.
1o be effecLlvely malnsLreamed and esLabllsh a flrm fooLlng ln Loday's work scenarlo lL ls lmporLanL Lo
be able Lo have a falr ablllLy Lo communlcaLe ln Lngllsh. Lngllsh language ls Lhe Lhlrd or aL Llmes Lhe
fourLh language LhaL Lhe chlldren are exposed Lo and hence Lake Llme Lo grasp lL. As parL of our
processes whlch are always looklng for ways Lo lmprove on our quallLy, Lhe CreaLlve Lngllsh rogramme
alms aL maklng Lngllsh fun for Lhe chlldren. 1heaLre and Muslc as a meLhodology wlll be used Lo Leach
Lngllsh. AcLlon, physlcal movemenLs, role plays wlll be used Lo make Lngllsh Learnlng an en[oyable
experlence for our chlldren.
Learnlng Lngllsh CreaLlvely (vldya n Chlld) - Asha MlnnesoLa
How does the proposal address the issue?
We are plannlng on sLarLlng Lhls pro[ecL as a plloL ln one of our cenLres. Classes wlll be Laken Lwlce a
week for one and half hours each for nursery Lo Class lll. 1he conLenL for Lhls programme ls belng
developed by one of our volunLeers who has been worklng wlLh us for Lhe lasL 3 years and has a LheaLre
background. 1heaLre, Muslc and Cames wlll be used for relnforclng Lhe learnlngs of Lhe regular language
class. AssessmenLs wlll be deslgned and Laken every 12 classes.
Classes are belng proposed Lo be Laken ln a fun manner wlLh dlfferenL role plays and acLlvlLles so LhaL
Lhe chlldren learn and reLaln lL beLLer. A sample of one of Lhe games LhaL wlll be played are -
- Lach chlld becomes an alphabeL and Lhe vowels are asked Lo slL down or Lhe oLher way
round.
- 8ead ouL a llsL of words and Lhe chlldren wlll elLher clap/[ump every Llme Lhey hear Lhe
shorL sound of 'a'. 1hls wlll gradually be done wlLh all Lhe sounds of dlfferenL vowels.

1hls wlll also enhance Lhe audlLory dlscrlmlnaLlon sklll and llsLenlng skllls of Lhe chlldren as ofLen
chlldren make mlsLakes as Lhey don'L llsLen carefully and hence don'L speak correcLly.
1he classes wlll be Laken by a parL Llme faculLy and Lhe regular Language Leacher wlll also presenL ln Lhe
class and hence Lralnlng of Lhe Leacher wlll be experlenLlal.
Groups 1ota| art|c|pants Number of sub-groups for hand||ng
the tota| number of part|c|pants
Chlldren - nursery Lo Class lll 300 13
1eachers belng Lralned 13 Along wlLh Lhe classes ln sesslon
b. How do you define success for the proposed initiative? How will you measure the
effectiveness of the proposed initiative?
AssessmenL frameworks have Lo be creaLed where performance has Lo be measured for each chlld however Lhey
wlll be deslgned Lo undersLand Lhe followlng
Pow well ls a chlld able Lo arLlculaLe verbally Lhe learnlngs of a parLlcular sesslon
Pas Lhe lnLeresL level of a chlld lncreased ln Lhe Lngllsh Language Class
Pave remedlal classes been reduced
Pas Lhe confldence of Lhe chlld lncreased when speaklng ln Lngllsh
8ased on AssessmenLs Lhe currlculum wlll be lmplemenLed aL oLher locaLlons.
c. How does the proposal address requirements/concerns/interests of (a) children (b)
teachers (c) parents (d) community?
1hls pro[ecL enhances Lhe quallLy of Lngllsh Learnlng for Lhe chlld and Lhe Leacher experlences a meLhodology
whlch makes learnlng Lngllsh a [oyful and creaLlve experlence. (A sample lesson can be shared lf requlred)
Learnlng Lngllsh CreaLlvely (vldya n Chlld) - Asha MlnnesoLa

1. Budget
Please list itemized budget request for the proposal above, that you are requesting Asha
to fund. If the overall budget is above $1200 (~INR 55,000), please suggest which
specific items you would want funded for upto $1200 (INR 55,000)

Sno Lxpense heads Amount (ks. )
1 arL 1lme laclllLaLors CosLs 48,000
2
MaLerlal CosLs -
SLaLlonery, hoLocopy 7,000

1ota| 8udget

SS,000




Learnlng Lngllsh CreaLlvely (vldya n Chlld) - Asha MlnnesoLa
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1. Meeting minutes for discussion of the proposal. (please include chapter comments on
projects response to QED questionnaire: such as aspects of quality that project is
already addressing well, and those that can be improved)
Conference call minutes within Asha Atlanta (Jan 25, 2011)
Attended by: Rakesh, Padmanava and Chandan
This proposal aims at teaching English to nursery to 3
rd
class students using theater,
role-plays, games, songs, and dances. We felt that getting exposed to alternate ways of
learning English would be fun and engaging for the students. These modes of teaching
would also help enhance their auditory discrimination skill and develop their listening
skills as very often it has been found by the project that children make mistakes in
writing and speaking as they are not listening carefully. Vidya n Child has proposed a
quantitative way of assessing the student progress by means of regular tests. The
proposal addresses the QED principle of holistic (intellectual, emotional, artistic,
physical) learning and hence is a good candidate for the QED grant.
Discussions between Asha Atlanta (Chandan & Padmanava) and Asha Minnesota
(Subodh, Akshay, Ketan)
Q1) Given that children are coming from medium or lower income group, who may not be
speaking English at home or not using even as 2nd language, what is the rationale to pick
English over any other native language? Any language which child is not using at home is always
hard to teach and sustain.

An important aspect of what Vidya & Child wants to do is Mainstreaming of children at different
levels
a. Mainstreaming in quality schools post 5th Standard
b. Mainstreaming in quality schools post 10th standard
c. Mainstreaming in quality colleges post 12th standard
d. Enabling mainstreaming in todays external competitive world in to a professional career

In todays context English language has become an imperative as far as professional career and
work scenario is concerned. Also, the amount of information available across different sources for
any topic that a child might be interested in is very high in English language. Quality
mainstreaming at different levels as mentioned above hence requires good command on English
language for both sourcing information as well as articulating oneself. And the fact that the
children are less exposed to English language at home, makes it further imperative that we take
this up in a manner which is intensive and well thought through.

Q2) Is Asha Atlanta currently supporting this school system in some way? I see a 1-time
disbursement of $3000 towards them in May 2010 on the Projects' page - is that intended to be
continued for 2011 as well? And will that be above the $1200 available through QED funding?

Vidya n Child (VnC) had requested a one time funding from Atlanta in 2010. There are no
additional requests for 2011.

Learnlng Lngllsh CreaLlvely (vldya n Chlld) - Asha MlnnesoLa
Q3) The proposal says Asha Atlanta will be helping the organization become self-sufficient over
the years. The proposal only refers to school children in the age group of 4-10 years. What
activities does Asha envision will make the organization self-sufficient? Perhaps they teach other
skills (basket weaving, pottery, and other such cottage industry related skills) to children of an
older age-group - if so, please clarify, as this is not evident from the proposal.

VnC is actively talking to (and has already partnered with) some foundations and corporates like
Mahindra foundation, HCL, etc. to help run some of their programs. Effort is now to partner with
more organizations to make this program self-sufficient.

Q4) Number of teachers attending the training is said to be 15. Is this teachers from 1 center
(where this project is being piloted) or all 4?
The pilot is for 1 centre and then the plan is to expand it to one more after 6 months

Q5) One of the budget items list "Part time facilitators". Does this mean these facilitators will be
training the teachers separately (and teachers will in turn teach these lessons/activities to the
children) or will the teachers and children be taught together by the facilitators?
Together
The classes will be taken by a part time faculty and the regular Language teacher will also presen
t in the class and hence training of the teacher will be experiential

Q6) Number of students supported in proposal is 300 - is that all from 1 school (where this project
is being piloted) or a selection of students from all 4?
One Centre

Q7) The "assessment" techniques to be used to gauge affect of this program are really vague. As
this is a fairly subjective skill (learning and/or becoming comfortable in a new language), can you
provide some more detail on how we can see if this is really proving to be beneficial? Doesn't
necessarily have to be a test/paper or any other academic test. For instance, will there be a play
or songs presented at the end of the term, or some other such criteria to see the level of
improvement?

We (VnC) have mentioned four points
1. How well is a child able to articulate verbally the learnings of a particular session
2. Has the interest level of a child increased in the English Language Class
3. Have remedial classes been reduced
4. Has the confidence of the child increased when speaking in English
o Point 3 above is objective and we would create a framework to actually track this.
o Point 1 and 4 would be adjudged through a mechanism whereby the children will be able
to express their learnings through an English play / skit presentation. We would create a
framework of observation where in teachers will observe specific aspects like confidence
level, way of representation, clarity of representation etc.
o Point 2 is subjective and we would turn to teachers, external faculty and also children to
provide a judgment on the same

Q8) I see that the frequency of the classes will be twice a week. How long will these sessions be
conducted for - 6 months, 1 year, longer? At some point will the teachers be able to conduct this
by themselves without the need for the outside facilitators?
Every class will need this for minimum 1 year. Plan is to build / enable teachers to conduct this
independently in future.

Q9) What steps will be taken to ensure that any progress made is not lost? Will the students
continue to have a class or 2 in English after that?
Learnlng Lngllsh CreaLlvely (vldya n Chlld) - Asha MlnnesoLa
The English learning program will be continued as part of the curriculum followed by VnC. So
anything the children learn will be used and built upon in later classes. VnC has english classes
throughout all its classes and hence the learning/progress won't be lost.

Q10) If the goal is to create a path for students to enter the "mainstream" schools, is there a plan
to maintain/improve proficiency in the language between the end of this program and the time
students are ready to move to 5th standard and above in other schools?
As such there is no "gap" because VnC follows the school academic year so when the kids
complete their classes in VnC and are ready for mainstream schools, VnC helps them get
enrolled in the schools immediately.

Q11) If MN does put this forward, logistically, how would this work? We are very strained for
volunteer bandwidth, and so will not be able to do the follow-up as closely as desired - this is
purely because of volunteer strength, and nothing else. So, is the understanding that Atlanta
(Chandan?) will be acting as the steward for this project, and will be responsible for all reporting
responsibilities as well as any other requirements by the QED and/or Central Treasury teams? Of
course, we would be interested in being made aware of any such communication, and will provide
any support we can.
Yes, I (Chandan) will be monitoring the progress of this project and taking care of all the
responsibilities. I'll keep you guys posted on the progress as well. At any time, if MN wants to get
actively involved with the project then that'll be really awesome as well but it's not a requirement.

2. What is your view on success of the proposed initiative? How will the chapter evaluate
the effectiveness? If successful, is your chapter willing to fund this initiative after 2
years?
Success in this context would mean that the kids become better English language
speakers and writers over time. Their performance in the academic assessments should
also increase because of this initiative. The chapter will consider the assessment reports
sent by Vidya n Child regularly and monitor the progress of this proposal.
The chapter (Minnesota with Atlantas help) is willing to fund the proposal after the 2 yrs
of QED grant subject to availability of funds. We would also be working with Vidya n
Child towards making this initiative self-sustainable through other funding sources
outside Asha so that the children do not get affected at any time.
3. Do you intend to continue funding the project for next 2 years? Can a site visit be
arranged between June 2011 and Dec 2011?
Yes. We will try to arrange the site visit between June and Dec 2011.
4. How is this proposal different from other proposals? (in case your chapter received more
than 1 proposal for this grant)
This proposal focuses on teaching English to different kids (Nursery to 3
rd
) through short
role-plays, theater and games. The 2
nd
proposal is about teaching the students about
values, soft skills, mental & physical health, objective and goal setting (submitted by
Asha Atlanta).