Thiruvananthapuram   :

The non-descript library of this government higher secondary school, catering mostly to tribal students, comes alive every week turning the usually hush-hush zone into a bee-hive of activities, where honey-tongued students speak, debate and discuss in English.

In the past one year, the Government Vocational and Higher Secondary School, Paruthipally, located next to the tribal area of Kottoor in Thiruvananthapuram, has given birth to a magazine titled ‘English Rider’ and a weblog. The latest initiative is an English language short-film ‘Facebook’.

The school, which has over 1,000 students, has a good representation of tribal students coming from the nearby forest area. Four teachers were instrumental in honing the English language skills of students which made them as competent as their counterparts in English medium schools.

J Sija, one of the coordinators of the club, said they started off with reciting nursery rhymes to improve pronunciation. “The initial response was feeble, as nobody conversed with students in English. Things changed this academic year and we had to do a screening test to choose members to the club. Now 200 students are members of the club,” she said.

As the club activities progressed they thought of publishing the articles of students. Initially planned as a newsletter, the product took the shape of a magazine. At every meeting, the members, mostly tenth graders, are shown a film version of the chapters of their English textbooks.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / Th New Indian Express / Home> States> Kerala / by Meera Nanu / October 08th, 2014