LEARNING TO READ IN BENGALI LEARNING TO READ IN BENGALI LEARNING TO READ IN BENGALI LEARNING TO READ IN BENGALI

REPORT OF A SURVEY IN FIVE REPORT OF A SURVEY IN FIVE REPORT OF A SURVEY IN FIVE REPORT OF A SURVEY IN FIVE
KOLKATA PRIMARY SCHOOLS KOLKATA PRIMARY SCHOOLS KOLKATA PRIMARY SCHOOLS KOLKATA PRIMARY SCHOOLS



Sonali Nag and Shruti Sircar Sonali Nag and Shruti Sircar Sonali Nag and Shruti Sircar Sonali Nag and Shruti Sircar





The Promise Foundation


Drawing by Rimali Mitra, Class 2




















































Title: Learning to read in Bengali: Report of a survey in five Kolkata primary schools.

Published by: The Promise Foundation, Bangalore.
Copyright: The Promise Foundation, 2008.

Suggested citation: Nag, S. and Sircar, S. (2008), Learning to read in Bengali: report of a
survey in five Kolkata primary schools, The Promise Foundation, Bangalore, India.

This research was supported by Microsoft India (R & D) Private Limited and executed with
permission from the Paschim Banga Sarva Shiksha Mission.















































LEARNING T LEARNING T LEARNING T LEARNING TO READ IN O READ IN O READ IN O READ IN BENGALI BENGALI BENGALI BENGALI

REPORT OF A SURVEY REPORT OF A SURVEY REPORT OF A SURVEY REPORT OF A SURVEY
IN IN IN IN
FIVE KOLKATA PRIMARY SCHOOLS FIVE KOLKATA PRIMARY SCHOOLS FIVE KOLKATA PRIMARY SCHOOLS FIVE KOLKATA PRIMARY SCHOOLS

















































For further information contact:

Dr. Sonali Nag Dr. Sonali Nag Dr. Sonali Nag Dr. Sonali Nag, ,, , The Promise Foundation, 346/2, 1
st
A Main, Koramangala 8
th
Block,
Bangalore, 560 095.
email: sonalinag@t-p-f.org


Dr. Shruti Sircar Dr. Shruti Sircar Dr. Shruti Sircar Dr. Shruti Sircar, ,, , Reader, Department of Linguistics and Contemporary English, The English
and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad 500 605.
Email: shrutisircar@gmail.com

Foreword Foreword Foreword Foreword

The Promise Foundation has been working in the field of literacy acquisition in Indian
languages for over a decade now. What began as an attempt to support children failing to
read in extremely poor schools has matured into a systematic effort to understand the
cognitive underpinnings of literacy development in the Indian languages. Against a
backdrop of research in the southern Indian languages of Kannada, Tamil and Telugu, the
Foundations efforts have turned now to more cross-linguistic work. This report presents a
year long research effort to understand literacy development in Bengali, the language of
West Bengal, and spoken by a large community across the world. We are grateful to
Paschim Bamga Sarva Shiksha Mission (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Government of West Bengal)
for permission to survey five Kolkata schools. This research was supported by Microsoft
India (R & D) Private Limited.


In this report we present a brief introduction to issues surrounding the cognitive processes of
literacy acquisition and a description of the Bengali akshara. This is followed by a summary
of the survey methodology, key findings and a set of recommendations. The report ends
with an activity bank collated by Shruti Sircar.


Findings from this survey were first presented in a Symposium on Dyslexia and the Indian
akshara languages at the International Conference of the British Dyslexia Association held in
Harrogate (UK), in March, 2008. Participation in this Symposium was made possible
through a travel grant from The English and Foreign Languages University and The Promise
Foundation to the second author and the British Academy to the first author. Sections of
this research are also available as technical papers and can be accessed directly from the
authors or from The Promise Foundations website: www.thepromisefoundation.org


We hope that information collated in this report will be of use to researchers, teachers and
curriculum developers.



Sonali Nag
November , 2008.




















































Kolkata Kolkata Kolkata Kolkata

A city of historical significance, Kolkata is situated on the banks of river Ganga and was
probably one of the first metropolises in India. Though Bengalis dominate the majority of the
Kolkata population, people come from all over India, from far flung Rajasthan, Gujarat,
Punjab, Kerala and Tamil Nadu to neighbouring Orissa and Bihar, to live and work in Kolkata.
Once the capital of British India, Kolkata (formerly Calcutta), is a potent mix of lifes
contradictions and extremities massive wealth next to heart-breaking poverty, teeming slums
not far from five star hotels. What binds people together is their love for music, theatre and
books. Highly politically aware as a community, spirited discussions are heard everywhere, in
coffee houses and roadside tea stalls.

Acknowledgments Acknowledgments Acknowledgments Acknowledgments


Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (PBSSM), Kolkata Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (PBSSM), Kolkata Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (PBSSM), Kolkata Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (PBSSM), Kolkata

Mr. Dushyant Nariala, State Project Director
Dr. Nairanjana Bhattacharya, Secretary of Open Schools (earlier administrative officer at PBSSM)
Mr. Pranav Sarkar, District Officer



Microsoft India (R & D) Private Limited Microsoft India (R & D) Private Limited Microsoft India (R & D) Private Limited Microsoft India (R & D) Private Limited



English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU), Hyderabad English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU), Hyderabad English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU), Hyderabad English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU), Hyderabad

Prof. Abhai Maurya, Vice Chancellor
Prof. Maya Pandit-Narkar, Pro Vice Chancellor
Prof. R. Amritavalli
Prof. K. G. Vijayakrishan



Research Assistants Research Assistants Research Assistants Research Assistants Principals of Schools Principals of Schools Principals of Schools Principals of Schools

Mr. Syed Saurov Mr. Keshav Mukherjee, Arjya Vidya Mandir
Ms. Sulagna Ganguly Mrs. Tamal Gupta, Kamala Girl's High School
Ms. Madhurima Chatterjee Mrs. Jharna Mazumdar, Baghbazaar Multipurpose School
Ms. Jayeeta Mazumdar Prabhajika Somo Prana, RKSMS Nivedita Girls School
Ms. Dipannita Chakraborty Prabhrajika Satyabrata Prana, RKSMS Nivedita Girls School
Ms. Lina Mukhopadhyay Ms. Boishaki, Jodhpur Park Boys High School



Project Supp Project Supp Project Supp Project Support in Hyderabad ort in Hyderabad ort in Hyderabad ort in Hyderabad, ,, , The Promise Foundation Support Team The Promise Foundation Support Team The Promise Foundation Support Team The Promise Foundation Support Team
and Kolkata and Kolkata and Kolkata and Kolkata
Prof. Julu Sen Ms. B. Kala
Dr. Amitabh Choudhury Ms. Roopa Kishen
Ms. Boishaki Mukherjee Ms. Mallika Ganapathy
Mr. Shaunak Sarkar Mr. Robert Dsouza
Mr. Mrinal Kanti Sarkar Ms. Mamta Gupta
Mr. Chayan Bandhopadhyay Dr. Gideon Arulmani

















































About the Principal Investigators About the Principal Investigators About the Principal Investigators About the Principal Investigators

Sonali Nag Sonali Nag Sonali Nag Sonali Nag is a clinical psychologist interested in child development in different settings. She has
worked on literacy acquisition at The Promise Foundation, Bangalore and the Center for Reading
and Languages, University of York, UK.

Shruti Sircar Shruti Sircar Shruti Sircar Shruti Sircar is a Reader in Linguistics, The English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad.
Her research concerns acquisition of language by children, and the different cognitive issues
that underpin language development.






Contents Contents Contents Contents

Introduction Introduction Introduction Introduction
1 11 1

Reading with fluency and comprehension Reading with fluency and comprehension Reading with fluency and comprehension Reading with fluency and comprehension
2 22 2

Learning to read in B Learning to read in B Learning to read in B Learning to read in Bengali engali engali engali
2 22 2

The Survey The Survey The Survey The Survey
3 33 3

Sketch Sketch Sketch Sketch of participating schools of participating schools of participating schools of participating schools
4 44 4

Key Key Key Key f ff findings indings indings indings

Books children read Books children read Books children read Books children read
5 55 5

Akshara Akshara Akshara Akshara Knowledge and Word R Knowledge and Word R Knowledge and Word R Knowledge and Word Recognition ecognition ecognition ecognition
6 66 6

Spelling and Phonological S Spelling and Phonological S Spelling and Phonological S Spelling and Phonological Skills kills kills kills
7 77 7

Reading Comprehension Reading Comprehension Reading Comprehension Reading Comprehension
8 88 8

Vocabulary and Oral Language Vocabulary and Oral Language Vocabulary and Oral Language Vocabulary and Oral Language
9 99 9

Case Case Case Case s ss studies of tudies of tudies of tudies of c cc children hildren hildren hildren
1 11 12 22 2

Implications Implications Implications Implications
1 11 13 33 3

Activitie Activitie Activitie Activities ss s
1 11 17 77 7

Some helpful terms to know Some helpful terms to know Some helpful terms to know Some helpful terms to know




1





I II Introduction


When does a child learn to read? Many people might say, in kindergarten or
first class. But we know now from research that learning to read and write
can start at home, long before children go to school. Very early, children
begin to learn about spoken language when they hear their family members
talking, laughing and singing, and when they respond to the sounds that fill
their world. They begin to understand that there is something called writing,
when they see adults read stories to them. Adults reading newspapers,
magazines and books, at home and in the neighbourhood, become occasions
to arouse curiosity in children about the intangible world of the written word.
These early experiences with spoken and written language shape the way
children become readers and writers.


By the time children are one year old, they already know a lot about spoken
language. They recognize speech sounds, and know what sounds make the
words that are important to them. On hearing language, children intuitively
understand that words rhyme, and words have parts, called syllables. They
start recognizing that words like pot, pen and pan begin with the same sound.
In other words, children develop a phonological awareness phonological awareness phonological awareness phonological awareness about spoken
language.


Childrens first brush with books teaches them that books are held in a certain
way, that we turn pages one at a time, we read each line in a particular
direction. Children learn what is called print awa print awa print awa print awareness reness reness reness, seemingly
spontaneously, since no book comes with such instructions.


A few years on, children come to school to formally learn the alphabet. They
read along with their teachers and begin to see the connections between
spoken and written words s ss symbol ymbol ymbol ymbol- -- -sound relationships sound relationships sound relationships sound relationships. With each new page
to read, new opportunities arise for learning new words and learning about
written language. In parallel, when children begin to spell and write on their
own, their understanding of how print works is deepened.


A large vocabulary comes in handy when a child starts to read. Children use
the words they already know to make sense of words they see written down.
Imagine, the child sees the word, pretty in a book. As the child tries to
sound out this word it might dawn on him that it is a word he actually
knows. Vocabulary knowledge Vocabulary knowledge Vocabulary knowledge Vocabulary knowledge is a steady partner that supports reading.


2
Reading with fluency and comprehension Reading with fluency and comprehension Reading with fluency and comprehension Reading with fluency and comprehension


Just like learning to swing a bat or tie shoelaces, learning how to read takes practice. The more
children read, the better they get at it. Fluent Fluent Fluent Fluent readers readers readers readers recognize words easily and do not need to
sound all words out. When fluent readers are given a page of text, they read smoothly and the
reading sounds natural. Readers who are not fluent, read slowly, word by word, and make many
mistakes. Fluent readers do not have to concentrate on decoding the words; they can focus their
attention on what the text means.


Reading uses a readers own experience and knowledge of the world and of words to make sense of
what is read. This is reading with reading with reading with reading with comprehension comprehension comprehension comprehension. To understand what one reads, children have to
also go beyond the text and draw inferences. Inferences are often gap-filling activities through which
readers have to bring in information from their past experiences and earlier readings and add them
to the textual information. When a child can recognize the words on a page, but is unable to
understand what the words and sentences mean, she is not really reading. Knowledge of symbol-
sound relationships and comprehension must go hand-in-hand for a complete reading experience.


Learning to read in Bengali Learning to read in Bengali Learning to read in Bengali Learning to read in Bengali


The Bengali writing system represents sounds as akshara. When learning to read, children need to
know how sounds make up words and how these sounds are written using a string of akshara. To
become a reader in Bengali, a child would have to develop several important skills. Some of these
skills include learning to:
recognize and name the akshara,
connect the spoken sounds to the written symbols,
recognize words easily,
learn and use new words,
understand what is read.

The Bengali akshara set comprises more than 400 symbols. There is the sub-set of simple
consonant akshara like E F G H (ka, kha, ga, gha
1
) and the vowel akshara like % % + < (a,
, i, ). There are also the akshara with the consonants linked to all the vowels like , , (k, ki,
ku) and the consonant clusters called juktakkhor. Some of these juktakkhor or cluster akshara are
simple and easily recognisable. Thus - + - =- , (pna); - + - = , (lpa) and - + = (nda)
are juktakkhor that retain most of the original symbol details . There are other juktakkhor that
give no visual clue to their basic sounds. For example + b become v (ka).


In Bengali, the akshara usually maps on to the sound in a fairly consistent manner. It is the akshara
that occur in the middle of a word (like baj jj jna), that often become a challenge for children. Here,
the written akshara is different from the spoken one. In print, j is pronounced as ja (with a short
vowel); in the spoken form, the vowel sound is dropped.


Learning about the akshara in Bengali, therefore means learning:
the name-sound of the akshara,
the rules for attaching vowels and consonants to a base consonant akshara,
how the written akshara changes in pronunciation in some contexts.


1
We have used the National Library at Kolkata romanisation scheme (also known as Library of Congress transliteration scheme) in this report.

3
The Survey The Survey The Survey The Survey


We were interested to study early stages of reading development in Bengali. To do this, we set out
to document akshara and word reading, reading for comprehension, spelling profiles and vocabulary
development in primary school children.


We focused on Classes 2, 3 and 4 from 5 schools identified by the Paschim Banga Sarva Shiksha
Mission (PBSSM). The schools were located across Kolkata and mainly catered to families whose
socio economic status ranged from middle to low. Many families had migrated to Kolkata from
neighbouring districts, and some were from other States.


The age of the children in our survey was between 7 and 12 years. About half the children told us
their home language was Bengali. Some of the other home languages reported to us were Urdu,
Hindi, Assamese and Oriya. Nearly 30% of the children reported that they knew no language other
than Bengali. Others told us they could speak and understand two, sometimes three other
languages.


We conducted the study in two phases:

(a) screening phase (to identify children with and without reading difficulty),
(b) in depth phase (to individually assess various cognitive and language skills ).


We screened all children in Classes 2, 3 and 4 in all five schools, and Class 5 in only two schools.
The screening test, common for all classes, had activities on sound identification, reading
comprehension and spelling, and helped us choose 110 children from Classes 2, 3 and 4 for a more
comprehensive, in depth assessment.


For the in depth assessment, we met each child over three days for approximately half an hour each
day. We gathered information on each childs:

socio-economic status,
reading practices at home,
word recognition and spelling skills,
reading comprehension skills,
vocabulary knowledge,
phonological processing skills.





4
Sketches of participating schools Sketches of participating schools Sketches of participating schools Sketches of participating schools


The five schools in our survey were RKSMS Nivedita Girls School, Kamala Nehru Girls High School,
Baghbazaar Multipurpose Girls School, Arjya Vidya Mandir, and Jodhpur Park Boys School. Some of
these schools are sponsored or aided schools, and some are managed directly by the education board of
the state government.

We assessed schools on their daily routine, work culture and teaching-learning processes. The schools we
visited varied on these indices of our observation. Some seemed more supportive of learners and learning
than others. Given below are sketches of two schools.



School 1

A government aided school for girls, this
primary school runs from 6.30 am to 10.45 am,
with the high school section working from
11.00 am to 4.00 pm.

School begins with an assembly, and classes
begin with sleepy-eyed children in blue and
white uniforms (often grey and crumpled) slowly
walking to their classes. Most classes have 50-
60 children leaving little room for the teacher to
move about in the class, and attend to children
individually. For want of a bulletin board,
student-made charts are randomly stuck on the
walls, and are pinned to the hem of the
blackboard.

The day begins with the so called important
subjects: Bengali, Maths or Science, with other
subjects pushed to the second half of the day.
From each class, the teachers voice and
intermittent yells are heard, and as the day
unravels, these voices fade to be replaced by the
din made by children. As you walk down
corridors, teachers can be seen sitting at their
desks, reading out from a textbook or correcting
student work and most children turning to look at
you or trying hard to listen to the teacher. You
also find children standing, punished outside the
class.

The morning hours are apparently bereft of any
laughter and fun, and school seems more a
matter of routine and rules. There is laughter,
yes, when the bell goes off at 10.45 am!


School 2

A long drive through narrow winding roads,
almost two kilometres off the main road, takes
you to another school. A peep through the heavy
metal gate shows a rather dark corridor with
classrooms on either side, and the usual buzz and
hum of a school begin to encompass you. Within
the little spaces in the class a slim aisle is visible
for the teacher to walk in and out. Bright and
cheerful faces welcome you, and visitors become
a source of immediate curiosity for both children
and teachers.

Most children live in nearby areas and walk to
school, and come from homes which can hardly
be called affluent. The school echoes this, with
shabby walls and cramped classrooms. In class,
boys dressed in white shirts and navy blue
trousers fidget at their desks, and huddle around
the teacher to check homework, to seek
permission to leave the room or to complain
about another child. The teacher sometimes with
a smile, sometimes a frown or a glare manages to
keep the attention of the learners to the book they
are reading or the task they are doing.

In one class, a test is announced, and there is a
mad rush to the teachers desk: to touch her feet
and seek her blessings before the test begins. The
teacher gently places her hand on each childs
head and carries on with the instructions for the
test. The bell announces a short lunch break, and
children pull out from their bags, a lunch box
and a water bottle, and the entire school rings
with the laughter and the chatter of the children.
For want of space, children eat at their desks, and
hastily clean the desk with pages torn from their
notebook when the bell rings again, half an hour
later.

5





Key Key Key Key f ff findings indings indings indings


Books children read Books children read Books children read Books children read


We asked children What books do you read? 62% of the children said they
read story books, on a regular basis.


When asked to name story books they had read in the last three months, most of
the children could name at least three books in Bengali. We found children were
reading books on a wide variety of themes including:

Magical creature stories

Ghost stories

Humorous stories

Adventure stories

Fables and animal stories

Detective stories

Comics

Fantasies and fairy tales


What exposure to texts did the children have at home?


We gathered information by asking about reading materials at home and the
reading habits of family members. 86% of the children said they had
newspapers and story books at home. Some said that they also had magazines
at homes, which their parents and grandparents read. Most children said their
homes had story books, which their brothers and sisters read. Some talked
about story books that their mothers read and newspapers and office books
that their fathers read. In some homes both Bengali and English books and
papers were available, but this was rare.


When asked who reads storybooks, an answer interestingly given by many was
students!
Popular Titles!

Aabol Taabol
Haanda Bhonda
Bhooter Taandov
Bhayankar Bhooter Golpo
Chutkir Golper Boi
Thakumaar Jhuli
Gobheer Rater Bhaynakar
Laal Shuto aar Neel Shuto
Doiter Ketli
Bantul the Great
Adbhut Baina

6
Akshara Akshara Akshara Akshara recognition recognition recognition recognition


Teaching of akshara starts with the simple akshara in Class 1. After initiation into the ka-kha-ga-gha
and a--i- (the Bengali symbol charts), children are taught how different vowels forms (with vowel
names like akar, ikar, okar) combine with the consonant akshara, and how a string of akshara
make words. In Class 2, the juktakkhor or cluster akshara are systematically introduced, and
children are assisted in segmenting, blending and sequencing different akshara. Instruction for
decoding is explicit unlike in some other Indian languages (e.g. Kannada). There is also a stated
focus on teaching reading for meaning.


We found that children learn to read and write the single akshara by the time they are in Class 2.
Our assessments found that, even in Class 4, children read the single akshara better than the cluster
akshara. The juktakkhor were difficult irrespective of whether the symbol was presented in isolation
or in the context of a word. Among the juktakkhor the commonly used ones were learnt earlier.
Thus frequently occurring juktakkhor like - and (pra and bra) were read more easily than and
(mba and nta).


We found that the mastery of the different akshara follow the sequence in which the akshara sets are
taught. But importantly, the frequently seen akshara are recognised more easily. This gives children
with a reading habit an edge over those who depend only on class instruction.


Word Reading Word Reading Word Reading Word Reading


Ability to decode words, from print to sound, is a precursor to smooth reading. In languages, where the
sound and symbol are regular and consistent, like Bengali, decoding skills are expected to be learnt early
and with accuracy. In our assessments, seven year olds could read 96 % of real words and 84% of
nonsensical words correctly. The difficulty with nonsensical words was usually in the reading of the
middle akshara, the one point where the Bengali akshara becomes inconsistent. Children commonly
referred to similar looking, familiar words (analogies) to decipher the new word. They read dotka like
potka but kutko like kumro.


Children used several different strategies to read unfamiliar words encountered in sentences. The
more common strategies were:

sounding out the smaller units in the words,
using analogy because they look like familiar words,
using clues particularly from beginning and end sounds to guess,
guessing based on the general context drawn by a sentence or a paragraph.










Shubhodeep studies in Class 3 and is a struggling reader. He has a sense of how print works, including
the understanding that words have separate units.

We found him sounding out separate units in words, reading akshara by akshara, word by word, tracking
his reading with his finger. When sounding out slowed down his reading, he tried guessing the word from
the first and the last akshara of the word, which often resulted in nonsensical words. Shubhodeep relied
so heavily on sounding out that he often lost the meaning of what he was reading. His difficulty was
greater with longer words and this was also reflected in tasks and activities which required manipulation
of sound units in polysyllabic words.


7
Spelling Spelling Spelling Spelling


Bengali sound-symbol relationship is usually straightforward so when words are spelt (as long as the
child knows her akshara) it should not matter whether she has seen the word in print before.
It should not also matter whether the child knows the word or if the word is less frequently used in
the language. But this is not the full picture! Bengali also has instances where the simple sound-
symbol relationship gives way to other rules of spelling. In such instances simple akshara recall is
simply not enough to spell a word.


We found childrens spelling development to reflect the more and less regular nature of Bengali.
Children showed a high degree of accuracy in spelling, and errors became less in the higher classes.
But, as with other languages, we found that when words could be written in more than one way,
children were confused. This would perhaps explain our finding that there was a jump in spelling
accuracy between Classes 2 and 3, and a plateauing off of accuracy rate between Classes 3 and 4.
There are more words around Class 4 that have odd spellings.


Examples of some common error patterns seen across the classes are:
1. Simplifying of juktakkhor (consonant clusters):
.-. (soronyo) for .-. (smoronyo)
--+ (otonotro) and a (sotontro) for (sbotontro)
2. Confusing the choice of akshara for middle sounds :
+-+- (monothon) for + - (monthon)
3. Confusing with other plausible alternative akshara :
- (tacchilo) and a (tachillo) for - (tacchillo)
Looking at the error patterns we also found that among words with odd spellings, there were some
words that were less vulnerable to being mis-spelt. These were commonly seen words which had a
high likelihood of being in the childs sight vocabulary and could be called upon to support spelling.
A note on Phonological skills

Most good readers hear and recognize entire words and understand them as wholes when they read. That means
when they hear or read the word van, they perhaps think of the vehicle in which they travel to school
everyday, but they can also identify the sounds in van: /v/ /a/ /n/, and they can manipulate the sounds, for
instance, creating a rhyme for van (pan, fan, man, can). For most of us, these are simple abilities associated
with childhood games and sounds, and we are neither sure nor aware of how we do this.

This ability to notice, think about, play and work with the individual sounds in spoken words is called
phonological processing. Before children learn to read print, they need to become aware of how the sounds in
words work. They must understand that words (e.g. thala, gaan) are made up of large sounds (syllables: tha
la, gaan) and tiny sounds (phonemes: th-a-l-a, g-aa-n).

Most children acquire this ability with accuracy and ease, but some do not. Children who have strong
phonological skills are likely to have an easier time learning to read and spell than children whose phonological
skills are less developed.

In Bengali, we found that children found it easier to work with syllables than phonemes, and that their
understanding that words are made of phonemes came later. Children who were struggling with phonological
processing were also struggling with simple word recognition and spelling.

8
Reading Comprehension Reading Comprehension Reading Comprehension Reading Comprehension


To read is to comprehend and to comprehend what one reads is to fully engage with the world that
has been created in print. The process of reading requires the reader to actively engage with making
meaning out of what is being read. As proficient readers, it is sometimes easy to forget that this is
what we spontaneously do when we read. To make sense of the written word, readers have to
identify and note who or what is being talked about, what is being said and what is happening. The
language of the text has to be processed and the words understood to recognize the main ideas in
the text.


One of the most difficult skills young readers need to learn is the skill to comprehend what doesnt
appear clearly stated. To fully comprehend what is read, children need to go beyond the text.
Writers often leave gaps in the texts, and readers are expected to fill them up on the basis of their
experiences: of the world, of language and of other texts. Picking out information that is readily
available in the text is easier. Much more cognitive effort is needed to make inferences.


We assessed two aspects of reading comprehension:

comprehension of explicitly stated ideas (factual information) and
comprehension that emerges from understanding implied meanings embedded in the text
(inference making).


We found children better at identifying factual details in a text than generating inferences.
Childrens inference making skills improved as they grew older: less than one fourth of the children
in Class 2 were able to answer inferential questions; in Classes 3 and 4, more than one third were
able to do so. The more advanced readers could even understand texts that were on unfamiliar
themes and required the application of a knowledge-base not readily available to them. They were
adept at making inferences even when sentence lengths were longer, the words less common, and
the syntax complex.


When children struggled with inference making we found one common strategy in use. The children
seemed to pluck out from the text, sentences which contained words that occurred in the question
as well. In trying to match words in the question with words in the text, children lost the intent of
the question, and were often unable to link ideas in the text.



Where in the Text? Where in the Text? Where in the Text? Where in the Text?

In our assessments, many children asked us whether the answers to the questions were in the text, or they had
to think up the answers. Children seemed to understand Questions and Answers as merely requiring an
understanding of what is being asked, and then physically locating the answer in the text. Is this because
teaching reinforces the notion that all answers to questions are always in the text? The textbooks too seemed
to promote superficial engagement. Questions asked in the textbook mainly demanded factual information or
a very simple use of background knowledge.

Further, reading is an active engagement with the text, whereby, the reader also brings something of her own
to the reading. Some of our inferential questions often called into question the idea that there is always one
correct answer. It placed the child (and teachers who later questioned us) in the confusing state of
acknowledging that we need to leave room for understanding texts in different, quite personal ways.



9
Vocabulary Vocabulary Vocabulary Vocabulary


Assessments of vocabulary development try to find out whether children can explain a word. Such
an activity examines whether children can use language to explain language, drawing upon what has
been called metalinguistic awareness metalinguistic awareness metalinguistic awareness metalinguistic awareness. A child can show that she knows the meaning of a word by:

making a sentence with the word
describing the word or giving a synonym
defining the word

We found that many children showed their understanding of a word meaning by making sentences
(see Figure). This preference for sentence making could be attributed to curricular practices, where
both teaching and testing requires children to use newly learnt words in sentences.

We also found that childrens sentences communicated their word knowledge better as they grew
older. Younger children usually made sentences which did not reveal whether they actually knew
the meaning of the word or not. Words were used in a sentence in a rather mechanical manner
and the sentence did not adequately reflect their depth of knowledge about the words meaning.
Such dead sentences are perhaps reflectors of a more superficial and passive form of word
knowledge.





Defining a word in a way usually found in the dictionary reflects a higher level of word knowledge.
Creating such dictionary like definitions requires an ability to think about a word in an abstract
manner and to use language to explain the word. We found that the ability to define a word
increased as the number of dead sentences decreased. Children in higher classes were more likely to
give us definitions. While in Class 2 barely two in hundred children defined a word, the numbers
increased slightly in Class 3 to three in hundred children. By Class 4 around ten in hundred children
were spontaneously defining words to display their word knowledge.

An interesting trend in our survey was that schools made a difference to how children performed on
the vocabulary task. The instruction style in particular schools seemed to promote metalinguistic
knowledge about language and support the ability to define and use words. We found that in some
schools a higher number of children described or defined a word. In parallel, in these schools, words
were typically presented in sentences that explicitly brought out the word meaning.






10





Shades of awareness about Word Meanings
(Bengali examples with English translations)


Dead sentences
Baahan: Kartiker baahan mayur.
Vehicle: The vehicle of God kaartikeya is a peacock. (UC, Class 2, 6.10)

Probhat: Probhat ekta cheler naam
Morning: Morning is the name of a boy. (probhat can be the name of a boy in India.) (UB, Class 2).



Sentences that bring out the meaning of the word
Bipod: Keu bipode porle aamra taanke baanchai
Danger: When someone is in danger, we help them. (AR, Class 3, 8:6)

Dol: Aamra bhaaroter cricket dol ke bhaalo kore chini
Team: We know the Indian cricket team very well. (AG, Class 3, 9:1)



Descriptions:

Taala: taala aamra ghurte gele dorjaaye laagaayi; taala anek boro boro hoye, jele aasaamider
bondho kore taala diye daaye.
Lock: We lock the doors when we go out. Locks can be big. Criminals are shut up and locked in
the prison. (RK, Class 3, 8:7)

Bishvo: aamaader bishyo ti anek boro.
World: Our world is big. (SB, Class 4; 10:1)




Definitions
Bhromon: aamra onno jaayegaye ghurte jaye, setaake bhromon bole
Tour: We go out to see other places, that is a tour. (SS, Class 4, 10:2)

Bishvo: bishvo maane ghota puro elakata
World: World means the entire locality (or area). (AS, Class 3, 8:10)











11
Oral Oral Oral Oral L LL Language anguage anguage anguage


As childrens proficiency in the language increases, vocabulary develops and so does the grammar,
and reciprocally with expanding vocabulary and grammar there is greater proficiency. With growing
language more and more information is packed into a sentence, into speech, and into writing. The
length of the sentence increases, and more clauses are used in a sentence.


We analysed the complexity of oral language among children in our survey. A simple way to
measure proficiency for English is to count the number of words in each clause in a sentence.
In Bengali, we measured the number of morphemes in each clause. A morpheme is the smallest
unit of meaning in a language and includes the root word and all the additional meaning units that
may be added to the base word: the inflections (like laam in bhabhlaam), prefixes (dur in
durgandho) and suffixes (i in chaakri).

For example the following sentence/clause, aamaar baaba chasma poren has 6 morphemes:
am + ar + baaba + chasma + por + en

In a case where a sentence has more than one clause, the total number of morphemes in the
sentence would be divided by the number of clauses in the sentence. The total number of
morphemes divided by total number of clauses gives the Mean Length of Utterance (MLU). We used
this formula to calculate the MLU score for each child.

We found the average length of a spoken sentence in Grade 2 children to be 6.40 morphemes per
clause, 7.28 in Grade 3 and 7.82 in Grade 4. As expected, the sentence length increased amongst
older children, reflecting the growing richness in their language.



Packing more into a Sentence
(Bengali examples with morpheme analysis and English translations)



Ei meyetir khoob bipod.
E + i + meye + ti+ r + khoob + bipod
This + emphasis + girl + singular + possessive + very + danger
This girl is in deep danger. (UC, Class 2, 6.10)


bipoder samay aamra khoob chotpot kori.
bipod +e + r + samay aam+ra+ khoob + chotpot + kor +i
danger + in + possessive + time + we + very + restless + do+ simple present
When in danger, we feel restless. (PM, Class 3, 8.1)


rambabur jatra shuru korar samay taar didi take bollen taar jatra jeno shubho hoi.
rambabu + r + jatra + shuru + kor + ar + samay + taar + didi + ta + ke + bol + len + taar + jatra + jeno +
shubho + hoi
rambabu + possessive + journey + start + do + possessive + time + his + sister + to + him + say + past tense +
his + journey + may + good + be
When Rambabu set off on his journey, his sister wished that he has a safe journey. (SP, Class 3, 9.1)





12
Case studies of children Case studies of children Case studies of children Case studies of children


We met more than two thousand children for the screening and a hundred and ten for the in depth
assessment. Each child was unique in her home environment, experience of literacy learning and
ease with our tasks. Here we present a sketch of four of the children we met.

































Swagoto studies in Class 2. With no newspapers,
magazines and just two story books at home,
Swagotos environment is close to being
print-starved.

We found that Swagoto could read simple akshara
but still had difficulty in reading cluster akshara
like pra and sba. The middle akshara in a word
was particularly challenging for him. In reading
aloud, he was slow and made errors like bou (for
boi), thakute (thukte), dumprap (dhusprapya) and
prakriya (prakriti). We could see that he was
trying to guess the word from its beginning and
ending sounds.

Swagoto did not monitor his comprehension and
continued reading even if the text made no sense to
him. This laxity also showed up in the
comprehension task where he was just about able
to answer questions on explicit facts in the text.


Srija is in Class 3. She reads in Bengali and
English, and has many storybooks both at school
and at home. With a television, a radio and a music
system at home, her exposure to discourses of
Bengali and English are varied. We could see that
she had a rich school and home environment
supporting her literacy and language development.

Unlike other children who read mostly fantasies,
ghost stories and humour stories, Srija has moved on
to other genres. She told us she was reading books
like Kakabubur Choker jal and Mrityur por. When
asked, how many stories have you read in the past
three months? her answer was four.

On our tests, Srijas performance was like the older
Class 4 children. She was performing a full year
ahead of her own class level. It is no wonder that
Srija is in the top 15% of her class. She is a fluent
reader and is able to effortlessly make inferences
even on syntactically complex texts. The home
support and schooling have given Srija the
foundation for independent learning.

Sunayani starts her interview with us with a
graphic description of the reasons why she may not
be able to do well on the tasks. An extremely vocal
child with very good control over Bengali, she
presents herself as someone who uses a chaste and
formal language, quite unlike her age.

She has a mind that is comfortable with
abstractions. We see this reflected not only on our
various language tasks but her drawing as well.
Her father regularly reads aloud stories and pieces
from the newspaper to her as she has breakfast.
They have many story books at home, and she
loves reading. An ideal home environment for a
child learning to read!

However, over anxious about her performance at
school, her parents rushed her to the doctor and got
her examined when she showed signs of lethargy.
She was given a shot, and that is why she claims
she would not be able to concentrate on our tasks.

Jasim speaks well, but seems to have
problems with reading. He reads haltingly stopping
after almost every syllable, and also once all the
syllables in the word are read, he shows no attempt
to blend them together to find out what the word
means. As a result, his reading is largely without
comprehension.

We see him struggle with our phonological tasks.
He does not understand when we ask, What sound
does the word begin with? or What sound do you
hear in the middle? He looks at us imploringly and
merely repeats the word. With prodding and help,
he attempts the tasks but it is very hard for him.

Jasim essentially dislikes reading. He comes from a
home where books are a luxury they cannot afford.
Jasim also shows all the signs of a child with
Dyslexia a difficulty with language learning,
especially in the areas of learning to read and spell.



13




Implications Implications Implications Implications

Learning the Learning the Learning the Learning the akshara akshara akshara akshara vs. vs. vs. vs. learning learning learning learning akshara akshara akshara akshara- -- -in in in in- -- -words words words words

A common target during first two years of school is teaching the aksharamala
(bornomala). Copywriting and reciting are two simple, yet seemingly powerful
strategies offered to children to learn about the akshara set. By writing the
symbols children experience the visual features through their finger movements.
Meanwhile, singsong recitation of the akshara brings alive the sounds in the
language and sharpens childrens awareness of phonetic contrasts. Added to
this, the sheer repetition of copywriting and recitation activities seems to help
children commit to memory the sound-symbol linkage of the aksharamala.

This method of introducing children to the akshara (bornoparichay) has deep
roots in our cultural history. While recitation is a natural offshoot of an
ancient oral tradition of learning the sloka and couplets, copywriting appears to
have been the most common interpretation of what formal schooling should
offer little children. First documented in the patshala of 18
th
and 19
th
century
Bengal, writing and reciting the akshara remains an embedded practice in
contemporary schools.

Bengali instruction is also much focused on helping children pull apart the
akshara to see its components the base consonant and the vowel signs. This is
unlike literacy instructions in some other Indian languages (e.g. Kannada). The
gains of such explicit teaching of akshara segments are visible in our survey
where children were near perfect in akshara recognition in Class 2 itself.

Children however need to know more than the sound-symbol relations about
the akshara. This is because some akshara change in their sounds depending on
the context in which they appear (e.g. the sound of ja in bajna is different from
a stand alone ja). Learning about this aspect of the akshara is not possible from
de-contextualised lists of akshara, either written or recited. Instead, knowledge
about changing akshara pronunciations can develop only when there is
substantial exposure to the akshara within words. Copywriting and recitation
must be balanced by lots of reading of words and sentences.


Children need to fully understand the rules governing the sounds of middle and
end akshara. Copywriting and recitation of the aksharamala (bornomala) do
not promote such akshara-in-words knowledge. For this, children need a lot children need a lot children need a lot children need a lot of of of of
reading of words reading of words reading of words reading of words in texts. in texts. in texts. in texts.


Leaving the stranglehold of copywriting and recitation unaddressed will mean a
slump in reading attainments by Class 3 and 4. As our survey shows, it is at this
end stage in primary school that the earlier steady progress in childrens reading
fluency slows down.

14
Learning to spell Learning to spell Learning to spell Learning to spell


We found that children read better than they spelt. This difference highlights an important
distinction in the two processes of reading and writing. Bengali is a language that allows the reader
to broadly guess what the word maybe, even if only a small set of key consonants in the word are
recognised. Clues from the context such as the grammar of the sentence, the storyline or the
illustrations can all help to narrow down the search for the appropriate word. This facility of using
contextual cues and guessing at unfamiliar akshara is not available when spelling. The knowledge of
every sound unit must be independently recalled to spell. In other words, if akshara knowledge is
shaky, there are more ways available to manage to read, but there are fewer ways to guess at a
spelling.


Bengali spelling is difficult at the level of consonant clusters, particularly when these are positioned
in the middle of a word. We found in our survey that children who read more, spelt better. It
appears that seeing and using words during reading gives children insights into how to deal with the
odd spellings in Bengali.


Spelling instruction in most schools is again influenced by the much trusted teaching dyad of
copywriting and recitation. A common practice is for children to be instructed to learn spellings by
writing a word many times (Imposition: Write all spellings ten times). Once again words get
de-contextualised, and the task of learning has to first overcome the uninspiring nature of long word
lists.


Writing actual stories and other narratives is another way by which children gain mastery over
spelling rules and learn about odd spellings. Encouraging a lot of creative writing ensures that
children gain from the interlinking processes between the domains of reading and writing. We have
in the course of our projects attempted to create opportunities for children to be authors who write
and publish their writings. We have found that children in such a programme are more likely to
spontaneously check and correct spelling after writing because they knew that correctly spelt words
are more attractive to an audience.



C CC Children hildren hildren hildren can be authors and their spontaneous written expression must be valued. can be authors and their spontaneous written expression must be valued. can be authors and their spontaneous written expression must be valued. can be authors and their spontaneous written expression must be valued. It is only
when childrens writings gain a serious audience that the important step towards valuing spelling
for communication can be taken. Childrens work can stop being reduced to a mechanical
engrossment with correct spellings. We have attempted to do this by starting Reading Corners in
schools where child-authored books are published, displayed and circulated.*



* A recent example of our work on child-authored books is a programme in government
schools in Bangalore. The programme created class libraries called Gammaththina Pittari (Fun
Trunk, Mojar Baksho) that spring open every Friday for children to pick up their selection of
child-authored books. More information about our other reading programmes is available on
the following webpages:

http://www.thepromisefoundation.org/ip_pal.htm
http://www.thepromisefoundation.org/PAL%20LP.pdf
http://www.thepromisefoundation.org/ip_kkk.htm




15
Expanding Vocabularies Expanding Vocabularies Expanding Vocabularies Expanding Vocabularies


The number of word meanings known to a child is one of the strongest predictors of how well that
child will understand a text and be able to communicate through writing. Children need to know in
all their multiple shades of meaning of words, to fully understand what they read. Our own
research on reading development points to the ways in which a small vocabulary increasingly limits
reading comprehension, especially as children advance to higher grades. We have also seen that
while more children learn to "read" with increased decoding instruction, there have not been
commensurate gains in comprehension of the text. Vocabulary is the missing component for many
children who master decoding but don't comprehend.

Children will have acquired a great deal of vocabulary even before they come to school. Even so,
we found that there are large individual differences in vocabulary level at the end of Class 2.
Research has shown us that reduced vocabularies are particularly evident among children who are
learning a new language or whose dialect at home is different from the standard language used in
class. For many children these early vocabulary limitations make "catching up" difficult, leaving them
struggling to comprehend "grade level" texts in the later years (upper elementary classes).

Another inevitable detail about language learning is that those who learn more words almost
undoubtedly encounter more new words and thus expand in their understandings of word
meanings. A simple activity to support the development of vocabulary is to plan a systematic
exposure to two to three new words a day. We will need to combine the exposure with adequate
explanation of these words and opportunities to creatively and spontaneously use them. Such a
multi-pronged approach to vocabulary learning makes word real for the child.

Our survey has also shown that children tend to talk about their understanding of words mainly
through sentences where the key word has been inserted. This, we gathered, was perhaps because
sentence making was the typical format for vocabulary assessment in most schools. We know from
several research studies that make-a-sentence tests do not show word knowledge. Instead, these
tests are largely about recall of memorized sentences.

There is an urgent need for schools to explore more meaningful ways of testing childrens knowledge
of words. The box below lists three such alternate ideas.


Going beyond mere words Going beyond mere words Going beyond mere words Going beyond mere words
Ideas for testing childrens word knowledge


Test concepts Test concepts Test concepts Test concepts from a cluster of words from a cluster of words from a cluster of words from a cluster of words. . . .
Give a set of linked words and ask for a name or concept relation between these words.
Example: Example: Example: Example: Word list: chair, table, desk, bed; Response: furniture, household things, etc.

Test word Test word Test word Test word- -- -context matches. context matches. context matches. context matches.
Give a situation and ask multiple choice questions to tease out childs understanding.
Example: Example: Example: Example: Situation: The teacher was happy that Radha had stopped spending time with
her friends. Multiple choice question: What did the teacher think of her friends? They
were (a) irresponsible (b) responsible.

Test word Test word Test word Test word- -- -personal experience match. personal experience match. personal experience match. personal experience match.
Give a word and ask for a recounting of personal experience that can capture the meaning
of the word. The quality and accuracy of the connections the child makes gives an
indication of the depth of the childs understanding of the word.
Example: Example: Example: Example: Describe a situation when you are worried about something.



16
Reading between the lines Reading between the lines Reading between the lines Reading between the lines


Comprehension relies on decoding in complex ways. Children who struggle to decode find it
difficult to understand and remember what has been read. This is because the effort to grasp
individual words can be exhausting leaving them with few resources to analyse the ideas written in
the text. Children thus miss links between words and sentences, glossing over details that could have
opened up the full meaning of the text. Their efforts at reading the lines leave them missing the
ideas between the lines.

Our survey has shown that it is not merely the children who are struggling to decode who do poorly on
reading comprehension. Many children did not go beyond what is explicitly stated. We however know
that all children have stores of experiences waiting to be tapped for a deeper comprehension of texts. It
is to this background knowledge that they connect everyday life experiences in order to communicate
and carry out the tasks of daily living. Our task therefore is to show children how to make similar kinds
of informed connections for reading comprehension. Children need to realize that they will understand
a text better if they attempt to relate what is new in a text to what they already know or have
experienced.


Show and Tell Show and Tell Show and Tell Show and Tell
Supporting children for meaning making

Children need to be supported to develop the skill for making meaning as they read. We can support
them by being role-models ourselves and showing them how we think when we read. What would
such a show-and-tell activity entail? We can show children how we connect between similar texts to
understand a situation in a text (text-to-text connections). We can show them how we connect ideas in
a text to our own life experiences (text-to-self /world connection). Such discussions about the meaning
making process can nurture childrens own meta-linguistic knowledge about reading.


Making connections is however a subtle skill, hard to learn and master. Children need lots of
opportunity to practice and the common end-of-passage comprehension questions in school books is a
good place to begin. The routine and superficial questions that fill textbooks currently thus urgently
need to be replaced by questions that demand inference. Without such a change, teachers and
textbooks are unwittingly drawing children away from deeper engagement with texts. Reading between
the lines needs to gain currency in our schools!

End Note End Note End Note End Note

Many questions about reading development in Bengali yet remain. However, it is important to note
that a fair amount of research has already been done to understand the issues that surround
prevention of reading difficulties. While research continues to discover more about how children
learn to read and how teachers and others can help them, the knowledge currently available can
already promote higher levels of literacy in all children.
Most reading difficulties can be prevented. It is our hope is that the research and findings of this
report will provide insights for better programmes in schools.



17









Activity Bank Activity Bank Activity Bank Activity Bank


General General General General i ii introduction ntroduction ntroduction ntroduction


This Activity Bank is a resource for teachers. Ideas in this section can also be
used by the teacher trainer and the literacy and intervention researcher.


The activity bank is organized into sections by the following topics:

Decoding Vocabulary Reading Comprehension


Each activity features an easy-to-follow organization and includes the following
sections:

the suggested grade level

a defined purpose, to assist in devising lesson plans to meet curricular
objectives

a list of needed materials

the step-by-step procedures

modifications for struggling learners

suggestions for additional related activities


The activities collated in the next few pages can be used with individual students,
small groups and whole classes.

Many activities suggested here will require pictures. One way to get pictures is
for children to themselves draw their ideas on a certain theme. You will find in the
following pages examples of how we have used childrens drawing to run an activity.
The pictures used here have been drawn by the children from schools where we
conducted the survey.



18






Decoding Decoding Decoding Decoding


The four activities in this set are intended for a group of learners who have been
introduced to the consonant sounds and the long and the short vowel sounds
(swarabarna, banjonbarna). These activities are designed to introduce children to
akshara recognition in the context of a word, akshara blending in a word and word
recognition. The goal of the activities is to improve decoding skills and to provide
opportunities for learners to say, read and write akshara combinations and words.
Most of the activities can be done in small groups and /or through one to one
interactions.

Activity 1: Activity 1: Activity 1: Activity 1: Missing Missing Missing Missing l ll letters etters etters etters ( (( ( f ff for Class KG and 1 or Class KG and 1 or Class KG and 1 or Class KG and 1 ) )) )
Purpose: For children to recognize the akshara in their own name.
Materials: Coloured paper, a pair of scissors, bulletin board, paper and pencil.
Cut coloured paper into strips. On some strips write the first names of the students
in the class. On other strips write the names again with some of the akshara left
out. Leave some strips completely blank.
R__CH__RA, SU__IP__O
Give each child the strip of coloured paper with his/her name written on it. Ask
children to stand up one at a time, say their names and show their strip of paper.
Next distribute the strips with some letters missing in the name. Ask children to
look at the first strip, identify the missing akshara in the second strip, and write the
missing akshara.
Once all students have finished with the task, ask for volunteers who must spell
their names for the class and identify the missing akshara that they had filled in.
Using the blank strips of paper, have all students write their first names and put
them on the bulletin board.
You can repeat the activity over and over until children learn to read their own names
and their friends names.
Modifications: For children who cannot yet write their names, print out their names
very lightly on the strips and have them trace on it boldly.

19
Extended activity: With growing akshara knowledge, children can be asked to assemble akshara to
form their full name (their first and their last name). Children can also be given this activity with other
kinds of word lists (e.g. names of fruits, colours, seasons, emotions).


Activity Activity Activity Activity 2: Spelling 2: Spelling 2: Spelling 2: Spelling m mm maze aze aze aze ( (( (for Class 1 and 2 for Class 1 and 2 for Class 1 and 2 for Class 1 and 2 ) )) )
Purpose: To help children understand the sequence of akshara in a word.
Materials: Word cards, akshara cards, a bag, pieces of chalk.
Make a bag of akshara and another of words. The akshara and word cards should be the size of an A4
paper or larger. It is a good idea to laminate the cards so that you can use them again and again.
Place all the word cards in a bag. Select akshara cards that are the akshara in the word card and a few
more. For example, for the word card (khbr) select not only kh, b and ra but also other akshara like
khi, bh and ro.
Scatter the akshara cards face up randomly on the floor. Make sure that the cards are not joining each
other in any way.
Divide children into teams. One child from each team picks out a word card from the bag/basket. The
word is announced to the group but kept hidden. The other members of the team move to the floor and
draw lines to connect the akshara that make the word (pa tha sha - la). When the team connects the
word correctly, it gets a point. If the team is unable to connect the word correctly, read the word aloud
slowly, emphasizing the akshara in the word, and let the team identify one akshara, and then the second,
and then the third and draw lines between them. Where needed, pick out the akshara that is turning
out to be difficult for the group and let the rest be done by the children themselves.
Modifications: For children who have difficulty in sequencing askhara, use shorter words (e.g. with two
or three akshara).
Extended activity: The game can be extended to longer, polysyllabic words. You can also extend this
activity where words join to become sentences (rename activity as Word Maze).


Activity Activity Activity Activity 3 33 3: :: : In a word In a word In a word In a word (For Class 1 and 2) (For Class 1 and 2) (For Class 1 and 2) (For Class 1 and 2)
Purpose: To help children read words they have just heard.
Materials: A book that has some key words repeated often as part of the dialogues in the story or the
story narration, strips of paper with words written, a bag or a basket, cello tape, black board/flip chart.
Before class, choose a storybook that children like. Choose a story in which key words and phrases are
repeated often. Before using the story, select words from the story that children already know the
meaning of. Write these words on strips of paper. Put the cards into a bag or a basket.

20
Read the story aloud, encouraging children to participate in the repeated sections of the story. After the
first couple of repetitions, most children will automatically join in.
Now place the basket of words prepared earlier, in front of the class. Each child can pick up a word from
the basket, point to the letters and try to read the word before taping it to the board/ flip chart. Words
can be repeated on more than one strip; hence more than one child may get the same word. The children
are asked to read aloud all the words on the board together, and then each child reads all the displayed
words individually. When a child is not able to read a particular word, the other children are encouraged
to prompt and help.
After children have had a chance to work with all the words, read the story again. Have the child listen
for his/her word. When a child hears his/her word spoken, he/she is to go to the board and take down
the card. At the end of the second reading, there should be no cards left on the board.
This activity works best with a small group of students.
Modifications: For children who are not fluent readers add picture clues to the cards.
Extended activity: Turn this from a reading to a writing activity. The teacher assigns one word each to
every child in the group. When the teacher calls out words, the child waits to hear his / her word and
then comes up to the board/ flipchart to try writing it.



Most of the activities in this section require some amount of planning and preparation. Words selected
for these activities should be words children are familiar with. Children find it easier to practice
decoding skills with known words than unknown words. Also, children find it easier to work with
concrete words (ball, pen) than abstract words (happy, sad). In the beginning avoid words with
consonant clusters (juktakkhor).

Unlike adults, children have to be led gradually through the exercise. The entire task need not be
explained to them in one go: allow children to do the first step first and then instruct for the next step.

















21







Vocabulary Vocabulary Vocabulary Vocabulary


When developing lessons on vocabulary we quickly realise that teaching can effectively
deal with only a small amount of information at a time. Only a few words can be taught
in one session. Similarly, only a small part of what is required to know a word can be
instructed in one instance. It is important therefore to find multiple ways to quickly
draw attention to words.

This set of activities is to help children learn the meanings of new words. The
activities are based on the theory that very young children acquire language by
watching, listening, doing things and imitating. In other words, vocabulary acquisition
takes place through active learning. One way that very young children absorb
information is by looking at things. Thus, visual aids play a major role in these
activities.

This activity set also emphasises a skill based view of vocabulary teaching, where
children need to be explicitly taught how to find out the meaning of new words from
the context. This skill will help in making learners independent and would go a long way
in helping them read better.


Activity Activity Activity Activity 1 11 1: :: : Describing Describing Describing Describing a aa animal nimal nimal nimals ss s ( (( (for pre for pre for pre for pre- -- -school & Class 1 a school & Class 1 a school & Class 1 a school & Class 1 and 2) nd 2) nd 2) nd 2)

Purpose: For children to learn words describing attributes of animals.

Materials: Paper, sketches of animals, colour pencils and an animal poem (ideally with
four or more animals described).

Look for poems with vivid descriptions about animals. An example of a poem with lots
of descriptive lines is:
Im a rhino
with tiny toes,
I have a big horn
that sits on my nose.

Make a chart with a set of animal pictures (ape, bear, elephant, giraffe, monkey). The
pictures should be big enough for children to colour them.

Form teams among children, and ask each team to select an animal from the chart, cut
it out and colour it. Make sure that all the animals are selected.

Make cards (on A4 paper) of the adjectives and descriptive phrases in the poem.
Display the cards at the front of the class and have the children select the cards that
describe their animal. Make sure each team selects at least one card.


22
Now read out the animal poem. Each time children hear their animal or their chosen describing word
instruct them to stand up and clap.

Modifications: Children struggling to reading would find this task difficult. Have children hold out the
cards, point out to the word and read out. Struggling readers benefit from such exposure to the words
and can attempt to read along.

Extended activity: Select a theme (for e.g. ants, dinosaurs, cyclones, river dolphins, etc). Find a
catchy name for the activity. Introduce the activity by asking children to suggest words that describe
the theme. Use what, why, where, when and other such leading questions to elicit words. These words
can be combined to form simple sentences, or even short poems.





Activity Activity Activity Activity 2 22 2: : : : Match Match Match Match making! making! making! making! ( (( (f ff for pre or pre or pre or pre- -- -school & Class 1) school & Class 1) school & Class 1) school & Class 1)

Purpose: For children to learn to match words with pictures.

Materials: Magazines with colourful pictures, cards, scissors and gum to make picture and word cards.

To do this activity you need pictures and words. To create your own cards, first cut out interesting
pictures from a magazine (a man yawning, a dog sleeping). The pictures should have an action and a
person or animal. Have the pictures laminated, since good pictures are hard to find!

On separate cards, write two words for each picture: an action word (kicking, sliding, slithering) and
another word for the one who does the action (man, ghost, robot).

Give each child one card (it could be either the picture card or a word card). Have children hold their
cards against their bodies so no one sees their word or picture. Ask students to find a corresponding
word or picture. Encourage children to question each other. For example:

Child 1 (with picture): Do you have a picture or a word?
Child 2 (with a word): I have a word.
Child 1: What is the word?
Child 2: Big! And you? What do you have?
Child 1: A dinosaur!

If Child 1 and 2 think the word and picture match, they stop searching and stand together. The search
is complete when two words are found for each picture.

Before the activity starts children need to be taught how to question each other for this activity. If
this is the first time children are doing such an activity, it is useful to write the following questions on
the blackboard:

Do you have a picture or a word? (Tomar kache ki aache - ekti chhobi na ekti shabdo?)
What is the word? (Shabdoti ki?)
What is it a picture of? (Chobita kisser?)

Modifications: For children struggling to read words, the teacher or a buddy in the group can read the
word quietly for his/her hearing only.

Extended activities: Add a timed component if you wish to make the activity more competitive.

23
Activity 3: Guess Activity 3: Guess Activity 3: Guess Activity 3: Guess, guess! , guess! , guess! , guess! ( (( (for for for for Class 1 and 2) Class 1 and 2) Class 1 and 2) Class 1 and 2)

Purpose: To learn to use context clues to guess words.

Materials: Paper, colour pens, cellotape,

Create a chart with drawings that illustrate facial expressions associated with certain emotions - happy,
sad, angry. Fix the chart (e.g. on a bulletin board) where children can see it clearly.

Make cards where the emotion word is written. Get a group of volunteers to come to the front of the
class. Pin one card on the back of each volunteer. Get the volunteers to turn around so that everyone
has the opportunity to read it.

The volunteers should not know the word pinned on their back. They will now receive clues from the
rest of the group and will have to guess what the word on their back may be.

Let us say the word is sad. Let the class give the child clues to guess the word.
I felt that way when
my friend left the school.
I lost the pen my uncle had gifted to me.
my pet dog ran away.

After three clues ask the child, Can you guess the word pinned on your back?

Extended activities: This exercise helps in guessing missing words. Words that you use could be from
any topic area, but remember to ensure the set of words all belong to the same topic or semantic field.
For example, movement words (run, stroll, dance) or occasion words (birthday, wedding, anniversary).




Activity 4: Activity 4: Activity 4: Activity 4: Where is Where is Where is Where is my my my my other half? other half? other half? other half? (for (for (for (for Class 2 and 3 Class 2 and 3 Class 2 and 3 Class 2 and 3 ) )) )

This is a word building exercise. In any language, suffixes and prefixes are added to form new words.
Children learn the meaning of the use of these additions very early. What they find difficult to learn is
which word goes with which suffix and prefix.

Purpose: To learn how words are made of smaller parts.

Materials: paper, colour pens.

Choose some suffixes and prefixes and keywords from the text you are teaching

Make two cards for each word - one containing the key word and the other containing the suffix or the
prefix. Here are some examples: shilpo + i = shilpee; byaboshay +i = byaboshayee; bir + to = birroto;
byakti + goto = byaktigoto

Distribute the cards. Children have to find the other half. The pair that finishes first, wins.

Modifications: Ask children to give you big words and write them on the board. Get about a dozen words
and then ask them to tell you which are the prefixes/ suffixes. Show how some big words do not have
suffixes and prefixes. A truly big word with nothing added on!

Extended activity: Read aloud a story which has many big words. At each big word stop, and get
groups/pairs to divide the word into word parts, and guess what the meaning of the word could be.

24
Activity 5 Activity 5 Activity 5 Activity 5: : : : Thinking about Thinking about Thinking about Thinking about f ff feelings! eelings! eelings! eelings! (for Class 1 and 2) (for Class 1 and 2) (for Class 1 and 2) (for Class 1 and 2)
Purpose: Understanding and talking about facial expressions.
Materials: Pictures of faces showing different emotions, emotion word cards. Whenever possible, use
pictures drawn by children themselves (see example below).






Ma Durga by Sourish Nandy

Cut out pictures of peoples faces from magazines or childrens drawings. The facial expressions
should be clear so that children can identify the expressions. Put them on a chart on the board.

Make cards with emotions written on them: anger, joy, irritation, worry, fear. Choose words that
children can associate with or have heard before. Display these cards on the board.

Ask children to match the expression word and the picture. Make sure that for each picture children
select at least one expression word.

Form groups of three. Assign one picture and word to each group. Ask children to look at the picture
carefully and say why the person is worried/sad/happy/angry? The group should come up with a reason
for the feeling and what they will say and do if they had the feeling.

Let each group present their pictures of the rest of the class and talk about it.

Modifications: Choice of words should match childrens proficiency level. Often children know the
emotions, but do not have a word to express them. In such cases, the teacher can give examples of
situations from her life, and explain how she felt and thus introduce the emotion word.

Extended activities: This activity could be extended to children speaking about personal experiences
when they have felt a particular emotion (worried, sad, happy or angry). They may even be encouraged
to write short paragraphs about such experiences.




Activity Activity Activity Activity 6 66 6: : : : Yackerty Yackerty Yackerty Yackerty yak! yak! yak! yak!

Purpose: To learn to interpret pictures and infer what characters say and feel.
Materials: Pictures of people talking, cut outs of bubbles to write speech in. Again, whenever possible,
use pictures drawn by children themselves (see example overleaf).
Select pictures. Form groups and give each group a picture, and at least two speech bubbles.

Let children discuss in groups and decide what the characters in the picture are saying to each other.
They need to write the conversation in the speech bubbles provided.

25
The pictures and the speech bubbles will be displayed on the bulletin board. Once all the pictures are
pinned up, the other groups can walk to the board, and read aloud one conversation of their choice.
















Bird and the dog by Sumalika Guin












Two boys and a girl by Sridatri Mukherjee

Modifications: If children are very young, they would need larger size speech bubbles. As an alternative,
ask them to write on blank paper, and then cut them out as speech bubbles.

Extended activity: Children can be asked to write a short story, so that the conversation they have
decided on occurs in the story. For more advanced children, the instructions can be modified. Ask for
conversations that are humorous (or even absurd). For this, some exposure to cartoon strips is useful.





The trick of a vocabulary activity is to keep it simple and clear, ensuring that it does not require
complicated instructions. Teaching vocabulary becomes effective when the oral and the written word are
presented together, and more attention is given to words that are already partly known.

For teachers who teach young learners, an important decision is usually about whether a particular word
is worth spending time on or not. If the word is a frequently spoken word, or is not particularly useful
for the learners in the particular context, it could be dealt with as quickly as possible. But sometimes a
teacher might want to spend time on a word, even if it is a common word, because the word can help the
learner get more skilled in using language to communicate. Effective vocabulary exercises for very
young learners focuses on useful, high frequency words and gets learners to meet or use or actively
work with the word in ways that establish new mental connections for the word.

26








Reading Comprehension Reading Comprehension Reading Comprehension Reading Comprehension

(for Classes 2, 3 and 4) (for Classes 2, 3 and 4) (for Classes 2, 3 and 4) (for Classes 2, 3 and 4)


The activities in this section help in developing four comprehension strategies: use of
relevant background knowledge, predicting what will come next, developing an image in
the mind and making inferences.

Activity 1: Activity 1: Activity 1: Activity 1: Festival Festival Festival Festival t tt talk alk alk alk
Many stories talk about celebrations and festivals, something all Indian children can
identify with. Ask children to draw pictures of these festivals, like the ones given
below. Talk about memories related to the pictures. This could work as a pre-reading
activity for a text, and help in activating relevant words, events and emotions that may
help in the reading of the text.
Purpose: To activate background knowledge before reading a text.
Materials: Pictures of festivals, paper, colour pencils or pens, bulletin board / a
display area, pins, and a story about the festival usually celebrated by the children in
your group. Here too you can use pictures drawn by children themselves (see example
overleaf).
Talk about a festival celebrated in the region. Ask children to draw pictures related to the
festival. You may add some pictures from magazines as well.

Pin the drawings on the bulletin board. Also pin blank sheets of paper to the pictures.
Ask each child in the classroom to walk up to the bulletin board and write one
sentence/ or a phrase that the picture reminds them of. For example, if it is a picture
of Goddess Durga, like the one overleaf, children may write - new clothes, musical
programmes, good food, holidays and so on.
When all children have taken turns to write on the blank paper, read all the words,
phrases and sentences aloud. This will serve as a pool for idea units and vocabulary that
children can draw from while reading any text about the festival.




27

















Ma Durga by Madhurima Bhattacharya Walking Ganesh by Saheli Rakshit

Modifications: Some children may hesitate to display their drawings while others may hesitate to show
the words and phrases they have written. Encourage such children to first look at what all the others
have developed and then perhaps they may feel more ready to share their own work.
Extended activity: This activity can be used to activate prior knowledge while reading a text as well.
The teacher can stop at key points in the text and ask for what children can recall about a word,
a person or an event.


Activity 2: Activity 2: Activity 2: Activity 2: What do they feel? What do they feel? What do they feel? What do they feel?
Making mental pictures is something good readers seem to do naturally. Reading a book is like watching
a movie - we can form mental images of what characters say, feel or do. It is these mental images that
bring a book alive. Some readers however do not spontaneously use language to create mental pictures in
their minds about what characters feel or do. This activity can be used to help children feel what the
characters in a story feel.
Purpose: For children to understand that characters in stories have emotions just like real people.
Materials: A short story, or a dialogue which has two or more characters; a set of emoticons
representing different emotions.
Select a short text where two or more characters talk. Print or write the story on a piece of paper with
space after each sentence.
Make a set of emoticons representing different emotions. Spread them on the table and ask children to
say what each emoticon means.


28
Now let children take turns to read the text aloud. After each sentence, ask children to find out how
characters feel when they are speaking. Let children select an emoticon from the table, and stick it next to
the dialogue. Now ask children to re-read the text with the emoticon they have selected. The rest of the
group should comment on whether the emotion chosen is the most appropriate one for the situation in the
story, and whether the reader had animated her reading properly to communicate that emotion. There is
usually a lot of debate at this point!
Modifications: For children, who have difficulty with making images about what they have just read, the
teacher can emote parts of text to make the story more vivid. This can support making mental images.
Extended activity: Children can also be asked to play-act the text, once they have practised reading
with emotions. Attractive reading aloud requires proper pronunciation and voice modulation. For
example, an angry man may speak in a loud voice, and a happy man in a lighter voice. Sticking emoticons
next to a dialogue or a character name or a particular situation reminds the child of the emotions that
they need to show while reading, and this helps them read texts aloud in a better way. An additional
outcome of activities such as this is the ways in which it supports the childs growing sense of audience
and realisation of the social contexts in which reading is done.
The activity can be also extended to include a pictorial representation of what characters do and what
they see in the story. For this, provide children with crayons or colour pencils, read a particularly
descriptive passage to them, and ask them to draw what the text made them see. If the drawing is
sparse, we would know that there may be a need to teach children the skill of making mental pictures.

Activity 3: This reminds me of Activity 3: This reminds me of Activity 3: This reminds me of Activity 3: This reminds me of
Good readers make connections to better understand what they read. They can begin to feel what the
characters are feeling and why they do what they do. In parallel, they begin to get a sense of the
authors purpose. Perhaps one of the easier connections to teach to children is the text-to-self
connection. These are highly personal connections that a reader makes between a piece of text and
his/her own experiences. In this activity children are encouraged to practice making such connections.
Purpose: For children to learn how to connect their own experience to stories and topics.
Materials: A story book, paper and coloured pens
Tell children that you are going to read a book to them and while you are reading, you are going to think
aloud about what the story or events remind you of: something that happened to you, someone you have
met before, something you heard your parents talk about or seen on TV or heard on the radio, something
you have noticed sometime in the past, etc.
Once you have been a role-model and shown how you make connections with your own experiences, shift
the activity to the children.
Select a story or a narrative text and ask students to read a small part of the text. Make four columns
on a chart paper or blackboard.
What is happening in the
book I am reading?
What does this remind me of? What is similar between the two? How
are the two dissimilar?
Ask children to walk up to the board and fill in the columns. Each child will have something different to
say. Accept the childrens connections.

29
Modifications: The teacher may need to model this activity and teach children explicitly how to think
aloud.
Extended Activity: Children can be asked to work in small groups and pick an incident and make a web
of the varied text-self connections they have found in the group. This will help them see how different
readers make different connections.
This activity works best when coupled with the next activity (What happens next?).

Activity 4: What happens next? Activity 4: What happens next? Activity 4: What happens next? Activity 4: What happens next?
Making predictions is a skill that begins when children are very young. Pre-schoolers, for example make
predictions as they listen to stories. Predicting is based on the thoughtful use of prior knowledge.
Purpose: To learn to make predictions using clues in the text and to change predictions on the basis of
new information.
Materials: A set of picture books, chart paper.
Ask children to make a chart with three columns in their notebooks.
Picture What will happen? + / -


Let students, either individually, in pairs or in small groups, read the
first few pages of a picture book. After every page ask children to
predict what they think will happen next and fill in the first column.
After every prediction, ask children to explain why they thought this
would happen. Questions you can ask are:
How do you know this?
Why do you say so?
What made you think this might happen?
Accept all predictions and generate a discussion in class.
When students have finished looking at the book, ask them to go back
and complete the last column of the chart. [+] would mean predictions
that were correct and [-] those which are wrong.
This would help children see that we also make wrong predictions and
that as we read our predictions keep changing.
Modifications: For children who are struggling to make predictions, use shorter texts or even
sentences such as He had 5 samosas yesterday and....; It has become cloudy and dark. It will....
Extended activity: Once children become good at predicting take a story that children know, and
rewrite the ending. Start telling the story and stop at certain stages to ask what they think will happen
next. The children will be surprised by the ending, and get to know how writers play with reader
expectations. You can use texts like the Thakurmar Jhuli or a poem by Roald Dahl for this purpose.
Secret to doing it right!

Learners must:

Look for clues.
Think about what they
know from these clues.
On the basis of prior
knowledge predict
what they think will
happen.
Keep the original
prediction in mind.
Read further and ask
whether prediction still
holds good.
Use new information
to make new
predictions.

30
Activity 5: A Activity 5: A Activity 5: A Activity 5: A s ss similar imilar imilar imilar s ss story! tory! tory! tory!
Sometimes when we read, we are reminded of other things that we have read, other books by the same
author and stories within a similar plot. This type of connection draws upon a reader's experiences with
the world of print. When a reader says, "This girl has the same problem that I read about in that
story," the reader is expressing a text-to-text connection.
Purpose: To compare, contrast and make connections between books on similar topics.
Materials: A story and some pictures (for preliminary work). A collection of books on related
themes/situations to showcase the concept of similar stories. Tales from Thakurmar Jhuli,
Panchatantra and Aesop Fables are particularly rich for this activity.
Read aloud a tale. Ask children whether they know another story of the same kind.
Children will talk about different stories. In case children are not able to remember stories, the
teacher can remind them of stories that they know. This could be done by asking questions or giving
story titles or names of characters in the story.
Ask them why they were reminded of these stories, how are they similar and how are they different?
Modifications: As a starter to thinking about what one is reminded of, the teacher can present herself
as a model and show what she was reminded of and why she was reminded of this particular story.
Another preliminary task for the activity could be to work with pictures. Show pictures, and ask
children to think of things the picture reminds them of, and then start a discussion about what they
found similar in them.
This activity may not work very well with children who do not have access to books or do not read much.
The activity should be attempted only if the group seem to have many stories. Also it is a good idea to
ask children to call out names of books they have read before you start the activity. This will ensure an
active recall of many of their stories for this activity.
Extended activity: This can be followed up by the reading of two texts for comparison.




We often feel that children do not read the way they should but are unable to pinpoint the cause of
reading failure. If your children can read aloud from the texts with ease, they have definitely crossed a
milestone of literacy. Then most probably they are struggling with reaching the next milestone which is
reading for meaning.

Reading for meaning needs to be explicitly taught. This set of activities is based on the premise that if
we want children to do something, we must show them how. This means that teachers will have to
demonstrate how to read for meaning by going through the process themselves in front of the children.








31
S SS Some helpful terms to know ome helpful terms to know ome helpful terms to know ome helpful terms to know



akshara akshara akshara akshara knowled knowled knowled knowledge ge ge ge: :: : information about the sounds and shapes of the akshara in the aksharamala
(bornomala).


alphabet knowledge alphabet knowledge alphabet knowledge alphabet knowledge: : : : information about the names and sounds of the letters of the alphabet.


a aa analogy nalogy nalogy nalogy: : : : relates to similar words and experiences. Children use analogies to read a new word. For
example, they may be able to read a new word buck because parts of it (uck) resemble a
known word like duck or luck. Using analogy can also help with pronunciation and
spelling.


comprehension monitoring comprehension monitoring comprehension monitoring comprehension monitoring: : : : the tracking process used in reading to ensure that something is
understood. Good readers adjust their speed of reading and re-read when they realise that
their understanding of a text is dropping.


context clues context clues context clues context clues: : : : the hints that are provided in words, phrases and sentences, and even the illustrations
in a text. These hints can help to recognise a new word, guess at its meaning and to infer
information


decoding decoding decoding decoding: : : : a process used for word identification. Connections are made between akshara/letters
and the sounds they represent.

dyslexia dyslexia dyslexia dyslexia: : : : a type of learning disability characterized by problems in learning to read, write and spell.


fluency fluency fluency fluency: : : : the ability to read accurately and quickly because lots of words are recognised easily.


making inferences making inferences making inferences making inferences: : : : the process of drawing conclusions from ideas presented in a text. These ideas
may not always be explicitly said, in which case there is a need to fill in information from
background knowledge (also referred to as reading between the lines).


literacy literacy literacy literacy: : : : a broad term used to refer to reading, writing, spelling and comprehension.


metalinguistic awareness metalinguistic awareness metalinguistic awareness metalinguistic awareness: : : : the ability to analyze language and includes knowledge about language
forms, the processes of thinking about language, and an understanding about how language
works.


morpheme morpheme morpheme morpheme: : : : the smallest unit of meaning in a language. It can be a word or a word part. For
example: the word unforgettable has three morphemes - un, forget, able.


nonsense word nonsense word nonsense word nonsense word: : : : a pronounceable string of letters that has no meaning in the language. These are
often used to assess decoding skills and phonological awareness. Nonsense words are also
called invented words, pseudo words or nonwords .


32
phonemes: phonemes: phonemes: phonemes: the tiny sound units in the speech stream that combine to form spoken words. For
example, the word pin has three phonemes /p/, /i/, /n/ and it differs by one phoneme
from the words pig, fin, pan.


phonological awareness phonological awareness phonological awareness phonological awareness: : : : the understanding that spoken language is made up of individual and
separate sounds.


phonological processing phonological processing phonological processing phonological processing: : : : the skills by which sounds within words are analysed and manipulated.


prefix: prefix: prefix: prefix: a word part which when attached to the beginning of a word changes the meaning of the
root word. Un is a prefix in the words un-cut, un-clean, un-done.


print awareness print awareness print awareness print awareness: : : : a collection of information about print and books. It includes knowing how books
are held, pages are turned, the direction of printed words and thus the direction of reading.


reading comprehension reading comprehension reading comprehension reading comprehension: : : : the ability to understand the details, the meaning and the ideas behind
what you read.


sight words sight words sight words sight words: : : : the set of words that can be recognized very quickly without the need for conscious
decoding or sounding out.


oral language oral language oral language oral language: : : : the language used in talking and listening in contrast to the language used in writing
and reading.


suffix suffix suffix suffix: : : : a word part which when attached to the end of a word changes the meaning of the root
word. Suffixes include -ly, -ful, -less, -ish.


syllable syllable syllable syllable: : : : the sound units in a word containing at least one vowel sound (and a consonant). Some
words have only one syllable pot, sun, book, caught; others have two or more syllables:
lead-er, in-fer-ence, com-pre-hen-sion, su-per-ca-li-fra-gi-lis-tic-ex-pi-ya-li-do-cious


synonym synonym synonym synonym: : : : a word with the same meaning as another word. Sad is a synonym for unhappy.





































Applications Applications Applications Applications

The findings from this research in Bengali will inform the following primary school programmes of
The Promise Foundation:

Programmes for Assisted Learning (PAL) Programmes for Assisted Learning (PAL) Programmes for Assisted Learning (PAL) Programmes for Assisted Learning (PAL)

PAL is related to the language and literacy learning needs of children in primary schools. Our
research, as well as research conducted by other organisations, has shown that children in primary
school do not reach the expected levels of achievement. A large number of them fail and then
drop out of school. PAL is designed to meet the needs of these children. PAL operates at two
levels: direct intervention through PAL classes held in schools and through training programmes
for teachers and child care workers. Over the last decade activities and methodologies developed
in PAL have been offered to multiple partners and projects including the ILO-IPEC Elimination of
Child Labour Project in Andhra Pradesh, the Kannada Kalika Kosha project in Karnataka in
partnership with National Institute for Advanced Studies and the Karnataka Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan,
the Activity Based Learning programme of the Corporation of Chennai and the KidSmart Early
Learning Centers programme of the IBM International Foundation across several States in India.


Promoting Reading in All (PRiA) Promoting Reading in All (PRiA) Promoting Reading in All (PRiA) Promoting Reading in All (PRiA)

PRiA PRiA PRiA PRiA workshops share with teachers the latest in our understanding of how children learn to read,
what makes them excited about reading and what can we do for those who struggle with reading.
PRiA PRiA PRiA PRiA workshops draw from The Promise Foundations decade long reading research with pre-
school and primary school children, as well as with children who underachieve or have dyslexia.
Ideas shared in PRiA PRiA PRiA PRiA workshops have grown out of the Foundations work in over 1000 schools
around South India in the last decade. Examples of themes under the PRiA programme are:

Playing with sounds: Speaking and listening for better reading
Children as authors: Supporting children's reading through their writings.
Children who want to read: Creating the right environment.
















































Findings from this research will inform two primary school programmes offered by The Promise Foundation: Findings from this research will inform two primary school programmes offered by The Promise Foundation: Findings from this research will inform two primary school programmes offered by The Promise Foundation: Findings from this research will inform two primary school programmes offered by The Promise Foundation:
Programmes for Assisted Learning (PAL) and Promoting Reading in A Programmes for Assisted Learning (PAL) and Promoting Reading in A Programmes for Assisted Learning (PAL) and Promoting Reading in A Programmes for Assisted Learning (PAL) and Promoting Reading in All (PRiA) ll (PRiA) ll (PRiA) ll (PRiA)









The Promise Foundation
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