An innovative initiative for English Education in Shanti School

Language Stars Education Program

Project Presentation
The Sevai – Language Stars Education Project is born from the collaboration between the Indian NGO SEVAI and the Chicago-based language school Language Stars, to provide innovative education methods to children in need in the Tamil Nadu region.

Project Actors
SEVAI (Society for Education, Village Action and Improvement) is an Indian NGO based in Tiruchirapalli that promotes sustainable economic and social development to 250,000 people in 300 villages of the Tamil Nadu region, targeting the most underprivileged rural populations of Southeast India. Since its creation in 1975, SEVAI has made of providing quality education to children of families living under the poverty line a priority.
Language Stars has been providing foreign language education to children in the Chicago area for ten years now through its innovative FunImmersion® method.
The aim of this method is to make the most of children’s unique abilities to
absorb a foreign language naturally. The Language Stars team of educators,
linguists, and early childhood experts has developed a curriculum of engaging games, songs, arts and crafts and many other activities, each of which, in a 100% full immersion context, work towards precise linguistic goals. Offering programs in 8 different centers and over 70 public and private schools, Language Stars currently reaches over 4,500 children aged between 1 and 10 in the Chicago area. http://www.languagestars.com/

Genesis of the Project

In India, mastering the English language is an important, if not necessary, skill: various languages are spoken throughout India and more and more employers demand at least bilingual aptitudes from their applicants. With this observation in mind, SEVAI inaugurated, in 1984, its own English elementary and secondary school, the Sevai Shanti Matriculation School (SSMS).
With the aim of providing innovative and efficient education methods to the children of the SSMS, Language Stars has agreed on a partnership with SEVAI to share its pedagogical know-how. Our belief is that Language Stars’ FunImmersion® method will enable SEVAI children to acquire a natural knowledge of English, thus acquiring solid language foundations they will be able to build upon in their future studies and career.

Project Sustainability and Practical Details
At the SSMS, FunImmersion® English classes will be given essentially to the younger children, aged from 3 to 5, as it is at that particular age that children naturally absorb languages without even realizing it. It is essential to us that this education be continuous over the years.
To insure the sustainability of the project, ex-Language Stars teacher Jonathan Camuzeaux, while volunteering at SEVAI, has trained a local teacher to the FunImmersion® method, as well as organized, with the SSMS head staff, the weekly schedule and composition of the classes. Every year, 240 kindergarten children will benefit from this program, divided in 16 classes of 15 children.
Language Stars committed to provide the SSMS with the curriculums needed for the classes.
An Educational Material Provisional Fund will be created in order for lack of material not to be a brake on the children’s learning. This Provisional Fund will cover the expenses of the pedagogical material needed for FunImmersion® classes, including toys, books, crayons, photocopies, lamination, arts & crafts tools, etc.
For our teacher to be in constant contact with Language Stars in Chicago, and thus be provided continuous pedagogical support, an Internet connection will be installed at the SMSS. A second training should be provided to our SSMS teacher a few months after the beginning of the program, to review the basics of FunImmersion® while working on new pedagogical aspects. For that purpose, Jonathan Camuzeaux will come back to Sevai in January 2009.

Assessment and Follow-Up Tools
The Language Stars Progress Update Card (PUC) will be our main tool when it comes to assess the project’s efficiency. The PUC is an individual progress evaluation sheet that enables the teacher to regularly assess the evolution of each child’s linguistic abilities.
The Progress Update Card is divided into the ten following Learning Phases that reflect the child’s progress towards proficient aptitudes:
1. Listening Stage
2. Repeating Simple Words
3. Repeating Full Sentences and Questions
4. Using Single Words Spontaneously
5. Using Key Phrases Spontaneously
6. Creating New Sentences
7. Asking Questions
8. Creating Complex Sentences
9. Expressing Past and Future Events
10. Conversing Proficiently

The local teacher in charge of the program will complete PUCs once every
trimester, which will enable project managers to have an overview of the
children’s progress and thus of the efficiency of the project.