Learning to be Literate in Andhra Pradesh (Southern India) and Punjab District (Pakistan) |
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| Authors: | Brigid Smith |
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| Institution: | Homerton College, England |
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| Abstract: | Two education projects, one in Southern India and the other in the rural Punjab, Pakistan, have as their focus the shift of the curriculum from a rote learning of text books to an active, experiential and child centred approach to learning. Achieving literacy is a key element in the success of these projects. In these two areas the drop out rate from education can be particularly high from the first year in school, where learning to read is seen as learning complex letter shapes in a de-contextualised way which does not build on early language experience. Class 1 children are not exposed to texts in any form until they have mastered letter formations. Further reading is often rote learning of the text books and book materials can be almost non existent in public schools. The question has to be raised of how easy it is, in reality, to implement active approaches to learning to become literate in conditions where lack of training and inadequate materials make the task difficult for teachers. Are there aspects of recent research and understanding of language acquisition and children learning to read that might be generalisable even in very different pedagogical and cultural conditions? Experience suggests that there are language resources available to teachers at little or no cost and that once they have experienced using these materials they can become enthusiastic and inventive teachers of literacy. The ubiquitous ‘action song’ is a popular element in early education, enjoyed by both teachers and children. Encouraging teachers to produce a written version of the action song to be learned can give access to a text right from the earliest time in school. Common rhyme and letter patterns in the songs can be identified and high lighted and children have shown that they can quickly identify these written elements in the text. Versions of stories derived from pictures and told to the teacher for writing down have resulted in simple Big Books being used for shared reading with children in Class 1. Teachers have been surprised at how detailed and accurate these children's drawings can be. Both these simple, low cost literacy approaches can be undertaken by teachers of large classes without them needing to change very much in the way that they manage the class. Even so the focus of learning shifts from the teacher to the learner and the methodology is based on sound, relevant and up to date research in language acquisition. Examples that are given show that active learning approaches can be successful if teachers are given training and support that takes account of their previous understanding and classroom conditions. |
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