What makes a good Teacher - GREAT!?

Good teacher not just teaches but makes the learners experience for better understanding. Even research says the same. Experiential learning makes the learner get better understanding about the subject and also make them relate it with their life. When a learner starts to relate the concepts with his life, then his/her learning spirit never stops.

This articles is about a teacher, who incorporates experiential learning methods and digital tools in the curriculum to make students enjoy and learn.

Before I go into the story of his methods, I will shed some light about the state and its education sector. Puducherry is one of the seven union territories in India. It is very small territory falling well within the state of Tamil Nadu (TN), India. State board curriculum developed by TN was prescribed in the government schools of Puducherry. Later, central board curriculum was adopted due to increase in drop-out rate in government schools. Drop-out rate is primarily due to the increase in the number of private schools, who attracts the parents with infrastructure and connectivity.

Imagine the state of government teachers who work in such circumstances. They are just piled up with enormous pressure for increasing the enrollment rate of the students and also to show better results. Meanwhile, they also have to carry out events suggested by government from time to time. The duty of a teacher is to satisfy their superiors and also teach students. Former is very important in Indian context.

This teacher, Karthikeyan, who is a Primary School Teacher working in Puducherry loves challenges. He is a English teacher and his prime aim is to make his students speak in English without fear. It might sound a little easy to you but actually its not, considering the state of education and its changing curriculum and syllabus. Most importantly, children do not learn in their mother tongue, which is Tamil, due to the frequent change of boards.

Initially, Karthikeyan was following the syllabus books prescribed by the state and central boards for making his students speak in English. But unfortunately, our state and central board book focus more on reading and writing than speaking. So it wasn't of great use to him. And it took years for him to realize this fact.

He thought of making his students converse in English just like they converse in their local language (Tamil). It didn't work out with the Tamil-speaking students so he thought of doing it with the set of students whose local language is not Tamil. In that case, only English can be used for communication as a common language.

Karthikeyan formulated a program where his students can interact with students from other state through Skype online. A school from Goa found this interesting and participated in this program. After getting confirmation from other school, he informed his students about the program. He also asked them to prepare questions on the food, clothing and festivals as it is different between Tamil Nadu and Goa.

The idea is to make students talk in English just like the way they speak
in their local language without fear - Karthikeyan

Children were excited and prepared the questions that was refined by the teacher and it was even shared with the Goa students. Karthikeyan had a demo call on Skype with the teacher the day before the actual interaction.

On the day of online interaction, children from both sides were elated and showed utmost interest throughout the session. Interaction went in English as expected. Students from Puducherry struggled to cope up with the language compared to the students from Goa. They were able to express their thoughts though.

Overall, the session went well and the students enjoyed every tiny bit of it. Besides, learning the cultural aspect of the two states, students started to express their thoughts in other language for the first time. This time there was no pressure of marks or criticism from peers. It was a collaborative learning.

Fun and enjoyment makes learning an experience and students will love it 
- Karthikeyan