English fairy tale for students of Tamil-medium primary schools
DVD devised as English language education tool
CHENNAI: Confidently guiding every syllable along a tranquil cadence and gesturing with an uncanny sense of ease, Jayshree reveals the attributes of a good stage artist.
Chandru, on the other hand, is a rambunctious joker who easily makes up his lack of controlled grace with an overabundance in light-hearted fervour.
Together with their co-actors, they have been toiling all day under the hot studio lamps, as professionals do. And when the lights are switched off, they stick around for a cup of tea and some chat with the crew.
Academic facility: The shooting for an educational DVD in
progress at Max Muller Bhavan, Nungambakkam, recently.
Jayshree and Chandru are nine years old. Both being fourth-graders from different schools in the city and they have never acted before.
Yet here they are, starring in the pilot episode of a brand new DVD series. Produced by non-governmental organisation Aid India, the DVD is devised as an English language education tool for Jayshree’s and Chandru’s very own peer group: Tamil-medium primary school pupils.
“The DVD is part of our broader English language education programme,” says P.N. Parvathy, head of content for Aid India’s English team. The NGO’s stated objective is providing every child in Tamil Nadu with quality education. “Children from Tamil-medium schools have a tough time proceeding to English-medium secondary schools,” says Aid India fellow Kirsten Anderson.
“This DVD is meant to familiarise pupils with English phonetics, which is indispensable to read in English,” she says. “Since most schools have DVD systems, we would like them to use our DVD as supplementary course material. But it can also be used as a standalone series for use outside the classroom,” Ms. Anderson notes. The eventual goal is to distribute the DVD free to schools all over Tamil Nadu, Ms. Parvathy adds. “If more funding comes in after we have launched the pilot, the whole series should be finished in six months,” she says. The DVD’s creators have made sure that the examples they use speak to the lives of the children. “To illustrate the ‘b’sound in ‘bee,’ we evoked the example of a farmer calling in his chickens by muttering ‘bu-bu-bu-bu’,” project manager Sumangali Kumaran explains.
The narrative, too, has been crafted with the tastes of young viewers in mind. Centred around a magic tree and a wandering sorceress, it is a colourful fairy-tale with an instructive twist. Iswar Srikumar, an adult actor who plays the tree in the story, says acting with these children is a humbling experience. “Our own acting seems wooden compared to theirs. It all comes so natural to them,” he says. But Jayshree has at least put some thought into it.
Asked why she wanted to participate in the project, she answers: “Because this is not just a classroom lesson. It’s a real story. And I hope a lot of children can learn something from it.” Nonetheless, acting seems more of a temporary gig for her. “An IAS collector is what I really want to become,” she says, before she hops off her chair to join the tomfoolery of her little colleagues.
- The Hindu, 07.10.2009 |
