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Introduction
Problem The need of English educational aids for the children of lower socio economic background.
Solution The basic proposal was to do something that can be used to teach English in an effective manner in any place in any condition. The idea was to have a series of books with all the alphabets in each book. These books could be put together and
form words. The pages of the book could be flipped and could form any word required. This could be used as a teaching aid and also as a fun learning thing for the students to do it on their own.
I chose to address this issue as I felt the need for people to learn English as it is an international language and is needed for progress of the nation. I chose to address this issue as I felt the need for people to learn English as it is an international language and is needed for progress of the nation. I felt the need to teach the children of the lower class as English is an international language. I feel for their success in life they need to know the language. To teach people who know Guajarati, English is a difficult language.
There are complicated rules. There is no direct translation. A person has to learn the language from scratch without the support of the other language he/ she might know. This problem has been addressed in the past in a traditional method. I realized that not everyone is interested or finds it easy to learn this language. They lose interest. I thought of teaching the language in spoken, knowing the spellings, understanding the meaning and getting the right pronunciation could be a good start.
Method
Initial Idea The initial idea was to make flash cards with Gujarati alphabets and translate it to English. As you can see in the figure I tried to translate words but that was getting very difficult. The rules in English and Gujarati are very different. Even the pronunciation in English is very different. Like the sound of ‘she’ is different than
‘shepherd’ So I decided on a different approach. The other idea was to illustrate simple things like the water cycle. This was suppose to be only visual and no words so the kids can understand it on their own.
Participants The participants for this project would be kids from lower socio economic background. The target would be the kids who know Guajarati and Hindi but have little knowledge about English. This
would be a fun thing for them as not all of them would be interested in learning this language. They can learn words, their meaning and how they are pronounced.
Procedure The idea was to have a series of 8 spiral books with all the alphabets in each book. These books could be put together to make the desired word. I planned on how
I should but the books together. I came up with the solution of a string. This could be a teaching aid and something kids would play on their own too.
Book I decided to have 8 books. That’s the average number of alphabets a common word would have. Each of these books would be bound in a spiral so the alphabets can be easily flipped and they can be hung on a string. So basically there
would be a string with 8 books on it. The number could be increased or decreased according to the requirements. I experimented with different sizes of books. I choose this one has I feel it’s the ideal size for a small or a large group of people.
String There would be a string provided along with the 8 books as the books would be spiral bound so the string can pass through it and they can be hung in a straight line. The other reason to have a string is because it can be tied easily to any
object around so it is easy to set it up. It can also be held by two people if nothing is available. The cost also cuts down with the use of string and it can easily be set up and wound down.
Typography I have used the font Jura for the book. It is a bold font and can be read from a distance. It is a serif fed font so it is easier to form a word. It also has this quality that makes it look a bit fun. I tested the book and later realized that it takes a while to
look for the letter you want so I added each alphabet on the right bottom corner in grey so it wouldn’t disturb the vision but one can flip it from the corner and look for the alphabet required.
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Experience
Experience It was late evening when i arrived at kamal bhai’s footpath school to test my project. I was really tired after a long day and wanted to test it on a few students, get couple of pictures clicked and leave. I started with a few girls of younger age group who were learning English. They had just finished dinner and were eager to leave. They initially did not pay much attention. I started making words and they would say it aloud in a chorus. They started showing interest. Then one of the girls came up and made a word herself. then everybody wanted to. Other kids around also started joining in. Everybody took turns and came up and made words. The other kids would prompt the spellings to them. If one of them made a mistake
the others would laugh and later help each other to make new words. I had to step back and let them enjoy. They would tell me not to help them and to let them do it on their own. One of the kids came up to me and asked me my mom’s name. they spelled it out and wanted me to take a picture to show it to her. Soon there was a big crowd of kids jumping and fighting for their turn. In the end i had to get a kid to spell ‘BYE’ so that i could leave. I really had forgotten how tired I was and did not want to leave. I left with a great feeling in my heart that I left the kids with a big smile on their face. I promised them that i would come again with more time. I look forward to go there soon.