18 August 2010

E for English

English is the language that was spoken by the British & since the British colonized India for a long time, they started schools & colleges that taught the language. Every state in India has it's own language & since I live in Maharashtra, the language spoken by the locals here is Marathi along with Hindi (Our national language) & a few people speak English.
My daughter Magali is in first year of her Bachelor of Arts degree & she has joined the English literature association, she has been assigned to teach English to anyone who does not know the language.
She went to her school to try to help poor students but the timings for the extra classes were clashing with her college timings.. She was looking out for somebody & suddenly we came across this mother & daughter who are interested in learning English. The mother is not illiterate, she has done twelve years of schooling but with Marathi as the language of teaching.The daughter is in Kindergarten & studying in a convent school. So Magali & me will be teaching the mother & daughter to speak and write English . We hope we will be able to help them learn the language
Love,
Sheila
This post is part of ABC Wednesday.

19 comments:

  1. hi Sheila, that is an effort thats worth a mention.. to teach English to those who are really interested in learning it is a good cause.. :) Wish you and Magali success in your endeavor :)

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  2. A very interesting post for the day. I have been amazed since I began blogging a couple of years ago just how many people I have become good friends with in India and particularly in Mumbai. I have enjoyed the friendships so much because, while I have traveled a lot in my life, I've never been to India and I have loved learning so much about your country from so many! It's been the next best thing to being able to travel there. I think it's wonderful that you and your daughter will work with the woman and her daughter to help them learn English! I hope the rest of your week goes well!

    Sylvia

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  3. best wishes...
    learning English could be fun if you truly want to get it...
    :)

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  4. Hi Shiela, same as me in the Philippines I speak our native language and if a person comes from a different region and don't speak or understand my native language we speak our National language. In school we are taught to speak,read and write English language. In fact English language is our medium of instruction. Great post!

    ABC Wednesday~E

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  5. My wife teaches English as a Second Language, and my post is also about English.

    Interesting coincidence?


    ROG, ABC Wednesday team

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  6. I am an English teacher myself and I share your sentiments. Being able to impart not just knowledge but experience as well is very fulfilling. Great post for ABC Wednesday.

    Nathalie

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  7. I know you will do a wonderful job of teaching English. The mother is fortunate to have you as a teacher.

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  8. Great! Well done and keep it up!

    Annelie E
    ABC Wednesday Team

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  9. I think Philippines share same sentiment too ....
    My ABC Wednesday here

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  10. I have been asked by people since a very long time but had not really taught anyone, but I have now decided to teach the mother while Magali will each the daughter.

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  11. Sine my husband is a Captain I too have traveled to a lot of countries and gone on holidays to Thailand, Malaysia and USA. I love to see new places but to be frank I have not seen even half the number of states in India. I hope we are able to make a difference for the better in the lives of the mother and her daughter.
    I hope the rest of the week goes well for you too.

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  12. In Mumbai we have schools which use different languages as the medium of instruction. There are a lot of English medium schools too.
    But children who go to the vernacular schools find it a little difficult in finding jobs, so it is good if they can read, write and speak English.
    Thank you for your comment Kim.

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  13. Thank you Rogerogreen for regularly commenting on my ABC Wednesday posts. Please leave your blog address so that I too could visit your blog.

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  14. Thank you for the encouragement Halie.

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  15. I hope I will be as good a teacher as I am a nurse. This is the first time I will be teaching an adult though I have helped many children with their studies.

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  16. Hi Sheila - This is a great thing you both are doing.There's plenty of material on the net to assist you with lesson plans etc. Let me know if I can help - this is my field of specialization. Mostly focus on conversational language in their context - example, Mother going for a parent-teacher meeting. If you need any assistance, let me know.

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  17. Thank you Corinne for offering to help. We will be starting from today.The daughter will be having her books from school and the mother wants to learn to speak English so more than books I will have to spend time with her and speak to her in English. Hope all goes well.

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