Supporting ELT during the pandemic: Experience with Government and Aided Schools
13 Pages Posted: 1 Mar 2023
Date Written: November 17, 2021
Abstract
The Covid-19 pandemic triggered nationwide lockdown lead to the prolonged closure of schools, disrupting academic processes and causing serious gaps in student learning. To address these gaps, IT for Change's education team conducted “Back to School” camps (when schools opened after the first wave), and online classes (during school closure periods) for class 8 and 9 students from government and aided schools in Bengaluru South-3 Block. Both included English language teaching components. Our experiences confirmed that many students, mostly from socio-economically marginalized sections, had highly limited speaking, reading, and writing skills in the English language. The paper discusses our program strategies - library activities, e-story books read-aloud, story re-telling, and language games that were taken up to support students, provide continuity in learning and build these skills. Our model leveraged digital technologies and aimed to create a collaborative and stress-free environment and provide positive experiences in language learning.
Keywords: digital literacy, English Language Teaching
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