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Coffeeshop Chit Chat - Review teaching standards of Hindi !</TD><TD id=msgunetc noWrap align=right> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE class=msgtable cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="96%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=msg vAlign=top><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgbfr1 width="1%"> </TD><TD><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR class=msghead vAlign=top><TD class=msgF width="1%" noWrap align=right>From: </TD><TD class=msgFname width="68%" noWrap>kojakbt_89 <NOBR></NOBR> </TD><TD class=msgDate width="30%" noWrap align=right>2:09 am </TD></TR><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgT height=20 width="1%" noWrap align=right>To: </TD><TD class=msgTname width="68%" noWrap>ALL <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgNum noWrap align=right> (1 of 8) </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgleft rowSpan=4 width="1%"> </TD><TD class=wintiny noWrap align=right>32976.1 </TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt>May 11, 2010
Review teaching standards of Hindi
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WE ARE a group of concerned parents whose children are learning Hindi as a second language, as part of the flexibility granted by the Ministry of Education (MOE) for non-Tamil Indian languages.
While we appreciate this flexibility, we are deeply concerned about the very high standard of the language taught and the poor quality of teaching materials and facilities.
We have had multiple discussions with the Board for the Teaching and Testing of South Asian Languages, which was set up to oversee non-Tamil Indian languages. However, we believe MOE's direct intervention is required to facilitate real change, and we ask for it to address our concerns below:
- We view the default standard as being very high right from Primary 1. As a result, our children find it difficult to cope despite investing significant time and effort on the subject. Even those of us who are native speakers and have learnt Hindi all our school lives in India find the curriculum challenging.
- With a high level of competency assumed at entry level, basics such as sentence construction, grammar, tenses and genders are not adequately taught in class, resulting in a weak foundation in Hindi.
- In the classroom, the emphasis appears to be on written and not conversational Hindi, as evidenced by the many workbooks our children need to complete each semester. Even students who score well in tests are unable to communicate effectively in Hindi. The language used is formal classical Hindi rather than Hindi that is broadly spoken and understood.
- Workbooks are printed in black and white, with poor quality pictures that fail to engage the children. In some schools, children also face issues with facilities, the most basic being the lack of a proper classroom.
- The syllabus at each level is not transparent to parents. Parents are also not permitted to review completed examination papers after they are marked, making it difficult to help children improve in their weak areas.
We believe it is more important to focus on making the process of learning the language easier, more inviting and engaging for children so we may inspire in them a love for the language. We would be grateful to meet MOE in this regard. It can count on our support in any review that may be undertaken.
Viren Mantri
(This letter carries 27 other names)
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Review teaching standards of Hindi
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WE ARE a group of concerned parents whose children are learning Hindi as a second language, as part of the flexibility granted by the Ministry of Education (MOE) for non-Tamil Indian languages.
While we appreciate this flexibility, we are deeply concerned about the very high standard of the language taught and the poor quality of teaching materials and facilities.
We have had multiple discussions with the Board for the Teaching and Testing of South Asian Languages, which was set up to oversee non-Tamil Indian languages. However, we believe MOE's direct intervention is required to facilitate real change, and we ask for it to address our concerns below:
- We view the default standard as being very high right from Primary 1. As a result, our children find it difficult to cope despite investing significant time and effort on the subject. Even those of us who are native speakers and have learnt Hindi all our school lives in India find the curriculum challenging.
- With a high level of competency assumed at entry level, basics such as sentence construction, grammar, tenses and genders are not adequately taught in class, resulting in a weak foundation in Hindi.
- In the classroom, the emphasis appears to be on written and not conversational Hindi, as evidenced by the many workbooks our children need to complete each semester. Even students who score well in tests are unable to communicate effectively in Hindi. The language used is formal classical Hindi rather than Hindi that is broadly spoken and understood.
- Workbooks are printed in black and white, with poor quality pictures that fail to engage the children. In some schools, children also face issues with facilities, the most basic being the lack of a proper classroom.
- The syllabus at each level is not transparent to parents. Parents are also not permitted to review completed examination papers after they are marked, making it difficult to help children improve in their weak areas.
We believe it is more important to focus on making the process of learning the language easier, more inviting and engaging for children so we may inspire in them a love for the language. We would be grateful to meet MOE in this regard. It can count on our support in any review that may be undertaken.
Viren Mantri
(This letter carries 27 other names)
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