English Language Lab
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To enhance English language skills right from the primary level in schools we have introduced Words Worth Language Labs, catering to the much needed requirement of sharpening Spoken English Language Skills. This program (software) is designed in such a way that schools need not spend any extra amount in infrastructure except for Rs. 150/- to Rs. 250/- per terminal to procure good quality headphones as the software converts the school’s existing computer lab into a language lab. The product caters to language enrichment requirements of students from class III to class XI. (Excluding class X) The lab software enriches the Vocabulary, Pronunciation, Sentence formation (functional grammar) and Listening & comprehension skills. This product is based on research done by BBC in India and works at polishing the English language skills. The accent used is Indian (neutral). This product is graded into 8 levels to suit children of different age levels.
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English Language Lab
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Editor's Notes
- Today I am going to talk about Language Labs, A definite and sure way to improve communication skills.
- There is a saying “ A man is known by the company he keeps”, I will like to take it a little forward – A mans WORTH is known by the LANGUAGE he speaks. Just imagine if your driver speaks good english – would you not treat him in a different way. His life would become easier. The impact of language depends on the following 4 points.
- Students in our country have a MAJOR problem. Even though they are good in their subjects like Science and Math they are generally not the FRONT RUNNERS, their actual talent in not made visible due to poor English Language Skills. Students do not get their worth , just because of their poor language Skills.
- Most of the states in our country have this problem. Actually the problem lies in our curriculum.. Our curriculum caters to the R eading and W riting skills only. It does not cater to the L istening and S peaking Skills. Actually there is a term known as LSRW – i.e. Listening, Speaking, Reading & then Writing. First an individual learns how to listen, then Speaking, then Reading and finally Writing. This is the LAW of nature also. A small kid will first learn the art of listening , then speaking (if a person is deaf he is also Mute) and then he learns how to read and finally writing. In our schools we straight go to Reading and Writing, in such a case the Listening and Reading skills do not develop and also the Reading and Writing Skills get under developed. Students who do well in such situation do so due to the environment in their homes, where listening and speaking skills develop. What we suggest is that if we introduce the Listening and speaking skills along with the Reading and Writing skills right from the primary level, students by the time they finish their schooling would have developed all the 4 skills to a great extent. Also if we introduce Functional Language skills (other than the grammar and literature that we cater to during schooling) viz. good communication skills and soft communication skills students will become very confident and would adapt to English as a general mode of communication.
- Based on a Research which BBC has done in India, the best way to enhance English Language Skills is to implement a Blended system of teaching i.e. use of both Instructor Led Teaching (ILT) which is supported by Computer Based Teaching (CBT).
- You see English Language is a Language of EXEPCTIONS . There are so many rules and they all change with the change in situation. That is why an instructor is required to explain each and every rule and show the students how to implement them. This is done in the class room like all other subjects. The teacher here uses Digital content (software) to explain certain rules and its implementation. (Computer and Projector are required here also)
- This is just an example of a English training session in progress.
- The rules and its implementation once explained by the teacher in the class room are practiced to perfection in the English Language Lab with the help of appropriate software. Lets take an example of what happens in a English Language session where no Language Lab is used: Normally a class in school is of 40 minutes and there are approximately 40 students in most of the classes in the school. The teacher generally uses the first half of the PERIOD i.e. 20 minutes to explain certain rule and its implementation say for example how to pronounce a certain word. She would then in the 2 nd half of the session want to find out from each student as to whether they can put in practice what has just been shown to or demonstrated to them. For this she has 20 minutes to work with 40 students i.e. she has practically only half a minute for each student. ENGLISH LANGUAGE CAN NOT BE IMPROVED IN THIS HALF A MINUTE PRACTISE . The teacher cant call 2 OR 3 students in the front and practice with them. She cant ask all the others to watch them practice, because language in not knowledge that can be acquired through INSTRUCTIONS. Language is a SKILL and can be acquired only through PRACTISE. Each and every student needs to PRACTISE to sharpen the Language skills. Further every student has a different requirement because all students before them come to the school would have acquired some level of skills from the environment they come from viz. family, society, TV etc. Some students would have acquired LESS skills, some would have acquired MORE skills and some may have acquired WRONG skills, so the teacher will need to work individually with each of them. We can have 20 teachers in the class but can surely have 20 COMPUTERS in the class which will work as practice teachers for the students. This would be termed as a Language Lab. LANGUAGE LAB’s help learners in may ways: Generally we teachers teach in the class at an average speed which might be slow for some and fast for others. But in a language lab since each student works on a personal computer he/she can advance as per his learning speed. In a language lab since each student has access to an individual PC he/she can practice in areas where he/she requires to work more. E.g. people have problem in the “S” and “SH” sound and some have problem in the “P” and “Ph” sound, so if I have problem with the “S” and “SH” sound I will practice on it and those who have problem in the “P” and “Ph” sound will practice more of this sound. In fact I can practice in my weak areas while other can practice in their weak areas. We need not waste time practicing in areas that we are not require to. Using software and content generally the progress in quite SYSTEMATIC. In case of a language Lab first the rule in explained, then it put into practice , then the participant practices it and then finally assesses him/her self. This way the entire learning happens in a very systematical way. The last and the most important point is that a participant practices without feeling shy. Learning the English language is like working with ones EGO. Generally students do not like to practice in front of others. They feel SHY and do not practice. Imagine a typical case of a CO ED school where there are girls and boys in the class, if a student is asked to pronounce a certain word and if he cant do it properly … he will feel like the his world is going to all apart… he will avoid pronouncing and will generally say “MAM I will practice and come” this practice never happens . Look at it from other side i.e. the Teachers angle…. If a student is trying to pronounce a word and he cant and is also taking a lot of time will say “ROHIT practice this and come tomorrow” , as she need to do justice to all the other students in the class, if Rohit takes all the time when will the others practice. ROHIT will never PRACTICE and come. This way PRACTICE which is the essence of aqcuring good language skills gets pushed away. In case of a LANGUAGE LAB no body comes to know how may times a participant has repeated a word’s pronunciation before he comes close to perfection and students practice without feeling SHY .
- Schools need not have such CUBICLES for a Language LAB…. All they need is
- A Good Head Phone with a microphone which does not cost more that Rs. 250/- per head set.
- Now let me talk about the Words Worth English Language Labs. WW language labs has been developed based on research done by BBC in India as to where do we Indians make mistakes and caters to the needs of Indians. This language Lab uses the neutral accent rather than the American or the British. The contents are so designed that it creates a path to achieve language skills at par with the International Ones- To test the language skills acquired by students we have had a tie up with Trinity College –UK where their examiners would come and take a one to one personal exam in Spoken English. I will show you a video clipping of one such exam.
- English though it si quite interesting for the teacher (this is due to their Passion of Language) it is generally a very DRY subject for the students to learn. (I remember how we used to avoid the RED Wren & Martin book). To keep the interest of students sustained we have developed the WW language Lab with lots of graphics. Since I told you earlier that English Language is a Skill and it can be perfected only through practice ample practice sessions are included in the Language Lab software. Students gets a feed back on their progress through various Self assessments which are there at the end of all activities. The entire program works n a PLAY WAY method and students enjoy working on the software.
- The WW Language Labs have been designed keeping in mind the requirement of Students from Class III to Class XI (excluding class X as most schools and parents avoid extra activites during board exams).
- Like I earlier told you we have a tie up with Trinity College – UK who would come an assess the students on a one to one basis. They have launched the India GESE exams i.e. G raded E xams in S poken E nglish.
- Show them the Trinity exam Video and then take them to the Software Demo.