Sumi Basumatary is as an assistant teacher at Jaipur L.P School, she has been actively involved in teaching Assamese. She observes our demonstration classes during our Language Learning Programme (LLP) in schools and has attended the 2 day workshop on Teaching English in a Multi-lingual classroom, 4 day workshop on creating vibrant libraries   and the one-day FLN workshop. The discussions in the workshops and demonstration classes have significantly enhanced her teaching methods and strategies.

Accelerated Assamese Learning Classes: 

Sumi Ma’am learned various techniques on teaching Assamese, including letter identification, word formation, yuktakshar, sentence formation, paragraph writing, and storytelling. She seamlessly integrated these methods into her classes, finding them more effective and engaging for students. She fosters oral language development among her students through activities such as storytelling, rhymes with actions, role plays and read-aloud sessions. She encourages students to engage actively by enacting movements, drawing, and participating in discussions related to story themes.

While conducting the read aloud of the story “Xoha aru Beng” from Xadhur Xafura, she carries out pre-read aloud activity where she asks the children to act like different animals and make their sounds. After reading the story, she asks the children to draw a rabbit as one of the characters in the story is of rabbit. Sumi Ma’am carefully chooses books to read aloud, picking ones that leave an impact on the children. She plans activities and discussions based on the book’s theme. She starts with an activity, through discussion tries to connect with their prior knowledge, by helping them relate to the ideas that she intends to teach in her classroom.  She also asks critical questions in between the read aloud that enables the children to develop their critical thinking capacity.

Teaching Assamese at Foundational Level:

She designs lessons plans based on the five language skills: reading, writing, speaking, listening, and thinking and ensures a structured approach to teaching by incorporating activities aligned with these skills. For instance, while conducting a read-aloud session she tries to incorporate its structure and tries to initiate discussions with children to help them engage with the text where she tries to d along with rhymes with actions songs. In the presence of our facilitator, Sumi Ma’am uses TLMs created by our team including flashcards, worksheets, and charts required to conduct classes on teaching phonics, letters, words, and yuktakshar effectively in her teaching. She also collaborates with facilitators to design TLMs and actively incorporates and utilizes them during classroom transactions, Sumi Ma’am underwent a transformation in her approach on teaching phonic awareness after learning techniques such as phonemic awareness followed by letters and their sounds, word formation, yuktakshar, and sentence construction from the workshop conducted by NEET. She observed significant improvements in her students’ language skills after implementing these techniques.