By Manak Matiyani | Project Leader
Manavi is 19 years old and has been part of The YP Foundation's Blending Spectrum programme since April 2017. She is currently studying Sociology and Political Science at the Jesus and Mary College and has been running an English club with young children in Sundar Nagar Nursery (SNN) – an urban slum community in Nizamuddin, Delhi.
When Manavi was in school, she struggled with understanding new concepts and often found herself becoming very competitive with her classmates to earn praises from her teachers. Keeping her previous experiences in mind, she decided to teach English to young children to make studying more fun, interactive and easy to understand.
In the first few sessions, she interacted with the participants to get to know them better. Most importantly, this helped her understand the gaps and where she can provide her guidance. Based on this understanding, she took the leadership to design an entire curriculum for the English club, where the key focus was on improving grammatical skills. Starting with the relatively easier grammar topics, the group went on to the more difficult ones slowly and steadily. A strategy that really worked out for Manavi was giving daily life examples that the participants could relate to and also testing what they have understood through interactive exercises on an ongoing basis.
The fun part of their sessions were the energising activities where Manavi mentioned that the “participants came up with new games that each of them enjoyed being a part of thoroughly. Gradually after a few sessions, participants came up to me individually, clearing their doubts and telling her a little about themselves.” Seeing a boost in their interest through regularity in attending the classes filled Manavi with immense joy. Their soaring excitement levels made them give out the answer even before she completed her sentence. Although they were at different levels of understanding, each participant were trying their best to grasp what the other person was saying.
Manavi is currently continuing to undertake English clubs which has not only been a great experience for her but has also provided a learning opportunity for the young children belonging to marginalised communities in Sundar Nagar Nursery.
Thank you to everyone for your continued supported on our journey so far! Your support helps young leaders like Manavi to engage with diversity and enable young people in SNN to access better opportunities.
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