Kausalya Raman first had the idea for English Kadhavu while volunteering in English classes in Tamilnadu, India, where she realized that students were having great difficulty learning English due to a lack of resources and fluent teachers.
Public schools and schools that cater to students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds in Tamilnadu have Tamil as the medium of instruction. However, many higher education programs, especially in STEM, are at present only offered in English. A basic proficiency in the English language has also become a requirement in many job sectors in India.
Under-privileged students in Tamil medium schools struggle with learning English because of a lack of exposure to the language and a lack of usable resources, like books, that are set in the context of their lives. Although English is a required language in schools, the students progress through the grades acquiring a very rudimentary knowledge of the language, just enough to pass exams, and are unable to cope when proficiency in English becomes necessary in higher education.
English Kadhavu, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, aims to help these students by providing supplemental English learning material that will help students develop a working knowledge of the English language from a young age. The book boxes created by English Kadhavu contain short stories that not only coincide with topics being covered in class, but also are relatable for the children. In addition to the stories, the boxes contain various activities to help students with vocabulary, reading comprehension, and sentence formation. After working with teachers in three different schools in Tamilnadu, and many iterations, we have created a Box a Month program - a lesson plan for teachers to use each book box over a period of four weeks, with repeated reading accompanied by the various activities. We plan to create around 8 book boxes per grade level that follow along with the students’ government assigned textbooks and cover a year’s worth of material.
There are three schools in Tamilnadu currently using the book boxes created by English Kadhavu, and we hope to add many more to the list.
Kadhavu in Tamil means a door, and English Kadhavu hopes to open the door of opportunities for these students.
All donations over $2 are tax deductible. We thank you for your support!
Other places to find us:
Website - www.englishkadhavu.org
Facebook - www.facebook.com/englishkadhavu
Twitter - www.twitter.com/englishkadhavu
Instagram - www.instagram.com/englishkadhavu
