CHENNAI: As children, we pick up languages, even multiple languages, intuitively through observation and interaction with our surroundings. Without the need for rote learning, a child is able to grasp the multiple nuances of a language in this way. But what if the potential of this method were tapped into and applied to the classroom as a means to learn English?
Enter Karadi Education Path, an offshoot of the famous Karadi Tales audiobook and publishing company. Their educational initiative, launched in 2010, grew out of a need to impart English-language proficiency through school outreach programs, using methods removed from traditional rote learning, and has empowered students in several schools across India’s hinterlands. Its latest initiative called the Joyful Reading Project, is in partnership with the Directorate of Tribal Welfare of the Tamil Nadu Government, to develop the English-language skills of children in Government Tribal Residential (GTR) schools.
Rooted, not rote
CP Viswanath, co-founder and CEO of Karadi Education Path, feels children need to be given unconditional immersion and exposure to high-quality learning material without placing on them the burden of assessment-results. Adding that this could lead to exponential outcomes, he says, “In this endeavour, it is imperative to use indigenous pedagogies rooted in India’s unique linguistic experience and oral traditions to make learning easy, enjoyable, and effective.”
The programme envisioned by Karadi Path brings together mime, music, movement, storytelling, and theatre as tools through which non-English speakers can take to the language easily. This method of teaching provides a robust model where children are allowed to discover language from the context, asserted Preetika Venkatakrishnan, senior vice president, Product, Training and Social Impact at Karadi Path Education Company. “The Karadi Path pedagogy does not rely on models from the monolingual countries of the West, but instead derives from India’s multilingual experience,” she adds.
Enter Karadi characters
Since storytelling forms the central core of Karadi’s education programme, several of the characters in the Karadi Tales books come alive in the classroom through role-play, theatre, conversations, and other visualisation activities. Stories from the Karadi Tales repository of stories are carefully chosen and applied to the classroom. These stories, says Preetika, celebrate the diversity of India and its multicultural ethos, but they also draw attention to wide-ranging themes like overcoming disability, building self-esteem, becoming voracious readers, preserving wildlife, and so on.
But at a time when several vernacular languages are at risk of extinction as a result of increasing emphasis on English learning, could programmes like these have a detrimental effect? No, adds Preetika. “When rightly done, not at all. English is an empowerment tool today and we need to equip children with English language skills to provide them access,” she says.
Karadi Education Path’s programme has now been taken to 131 GTR Schools in Erode, Namakkal, Salem, Tiruchy, Perambalur, Tiruvannamalai, Kallakuruchi, Tirupatthur, and Dharmapuri districts. The programme is expected to benefit at least 13,000 students and 250 teachers in these schools.