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The variety of sounds produced by computer and saved in
hundreds of sites on internet was made available in minutes.
Hearing sounds is home to children as they have been hearing
them since the time they were in the womb.
Ms.
Lata S. Malkani, their teacher at Navrachana School, Vadodara,
has dress designing, traveling and drawing as her interests but
the love of her life is teaching young children. She consummated
the child development course with distinction. She has completed
her training under Intel Teach to the Future Program in
September 2004.Her teaching experience fetched her Best Teacher
Award for two consecutive years. “My thirst for learning new
things encouraged me to complete my training in computers and
later participation in the Intel Contest helped me in unearthing
the vast potential of computer technology, which will benefit my
pre-primary children.”
The students were introduced to sounds of animals, birds,
vehicles, objects, musical instruments and nature on computers.
The fun filled project started with a nature walk and a
discussion. Children were able to answer questions like what do
you need to hear a sound? What are different types of sounds?
The children could easily identify around fifty different
sounds.
The voice of the students was recorded while they chanted
‘Gayatri mantra’, the most revered mantra in Hinduism. A mantra
is a religious syllable or poem. The recording helped in
recognizing their peer’s voice and developing their listening
skills.
Sitting in one place, enjoying the voice safari, igniting
imagination and exposure to unlimited possibilities was a
fruitful experience for the teacher.
The students solved worksheets on the computers and became
familiar on use of mouse and keyboard. Word Bank Activity was
another interesting activity wherein they deposited more than 50
words, which they came across and remembered, at the end of the
project. Flash cards of these words developed their reading
skills.The story of ‘Mily the baby cow’ and rhyme ‘Old Macdonald
had a farm’ helped in vocabulary development and creativity.
Children became engrossed in the whole project and learnt to
make different sounds with their body parts.
The teacher claims that “without effective use of technology it
would have not been possible to access the sounds of different
animals, birds, vehicles, nature and musical instrument in one
class period that is 30 minutes.” She adds that due to audio and
visual presentation, each child’s curiosity and interest was
developed in the topic.
She is satisfied at the end of the day as the technology
supported project helped her to develop each child’s interest to
learn. One of the shy and moody students enjoyed the computer
and internet session on ‘sounds.’ As a result he was keen to
share his joy with others. He composed a short poem and recited
in front of all. This is no small achievement. He had come a
long way as the teacher recalls that not long back he did not
communicate and would not take part in activities like dance or
let himself go in front of others. The teacher observed a
similar trend with other shy children. Lata also conducted a
research on pre and post technology aided learning (TAL) in
areas like concentration, reading skills, communication and
recognisation .The results were tilted in favour of TAL.
She is sure about the success of technology in teaching English.
Children in Navrachna School use their mother tongue - Gujarati
predominantly at home. In school, technology under teacher
supervision makes practice and perfection come at ease over
English language. Children are able to read small sentences in
English.
Children of Prep and K.G. are exposed to technology and play way
method of teaching. They use computers to see, read, type, paint
etc. One computer is shared by two children “which helps in peer
learning” explains the teacher. Children come from educated
background. 50% of them have computers at home which they access
to play games under adult supervision.
The two main objectives of the teacher were met with one that
children should develop their listening skills and be able to do
more thinking and secondly that they should be more social and
develop their communication skills. Without use of technology
Ms.Lata would have seen herself as a teacher manque.
Ms.Lata S. Malkani is the winner of Intel® Awards
Contest-2005.The details of her project can be seen at
http://www.educationinindia.net/html/ia2005_tshowcase.htm
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