How it all started - Shyla and her English learning aspiration... Her Day 1 of Class...

8.30 am : Interesting conversation between my new home maid and me this morning.... Kannada + English version:)

Young girl Shyla who would have been enjoying her college days if she had not dropped out of school in 5th standard and her family was little more privileged enough to give her basic education...

Suddenly in middle of work Shyla starts this topic...

Shyla: Aunty neevu swalpa dina free idira? (Are you free for some days?)
Prarth: Yeradu mooru dina matra, amele tumba busy.. (2-3 days only, post which I'll be super busy)...

I assumed she must be wanting to change time of her work while the current 7.30 am is perfect time for me... Conversation stops... She finishes her work quietly.... 

Shyla while leaving from my home: 

Shyla: Nanage English kalistira? Nanna anna nanage tumba kadistane, ishtu maneyelli kelasa madtiya English baralva anta:(? Tumba bejaru nanage... Nevu nange swalpa kalistira? (Will you teach me English? My brother keeps teasing me that I donot know English although I work in few apartments:( I felt very bad and want to take this as a challenge and learn English. Will you teach me? :))"
Prarth: Okkkkk:) 

At times we assume things so wrongly!!! What if she wouldn't have taken that step to ask me what she wanted to while my doors were getting closed? I would have surely missed this excellent Volunteering opportunity:) And now I am all set for my new Volunteering project of teaching Basic English to Shyla:) 

Any modules any tips on flow are most welcome:) She keeps asking me time, so today's class is to teach her how to see time:)

3.30 pm Shyla comes for her first classJ

I got few modules after my request/status on FB… Went through those and changed my plan from teaching how to see time to making my first class interesting by teaching few words…

Excited young girl came to my place by 3.15. I gave her a new pencil and sharpener and a note pad. All set for the class I asked Shyla if she knew to write Kannada. She said yes I do remember little. Assuming she must be good with Kannada writing I said write 2 lines about yourself… That would give me an idea about how much she knows to write…  I thought she would write her name in Kannada. She wrote for few mins and got the book to me… Shyla wrote Ka ka ki ki and gag a gig ii with kai, ko, kow missing in it… She said I don’t remember much now…  The we started with few English words, I, You, How are you, I am fine, Greetings for the day, yes, no, thank you etc… She was quite interested to learn all these… She did know very few words but didn’t know exact meaning of same (sorry, please, thanks)…

She grasped many words in day one and was willing to learn more till 4.30 pm. As she had not told anyone of this class. She said she is doing overtime and came to learnJ It was fun teaching her and ya we had few funny yet memorable moments… Like Making her pronounce I was a bit difficult task compared to short questions and sentencesJ… She always pronounced it as Hi and not I. Then I asked her what d they call kannu/eyes in English, She pronounced it right… Connected it with eyes and asked her to say I… So every time she had a short sentence starting with I she said eyes and then IJ The way she answered to my short questions with that stylish "Ya"! Oh man, I was just stunned…  

When I asked her Where is lift? Her quick reply was Lifestyle… And I was clueless why she said that. Because I meant apartment lift and thought she would show hand and say alli/there. Then she said when we walk a bit long distance and some akka asks for lift we say lifestyle and get dropped near by to our workplaceJ She assumed it to be me asking her till where she needs lift from meJ

She took notepad home to practice A to Z ten times, my homework of the dayJ 

And ya while leaving she did not say Bye but “Good bye” as taught to her in the Day 1 of classJ

Support A girl child's education and she will do the rest!