Massive Flood affected 3 DE Schools

Bala Mandir Primary School, Venkata Nivasam and Chennai Middle School, Thideernagar were affected severely by the floods that lashed Chennai in December. Bala Mandir and Venkata Nivasam has lost their computers and several other possessions. AIF has now provided these two schools with one computer each to continue the program successfully post recuperation.

NFLAT Training in Schools

During the 1^st term holidays, coordinators took away the learning from Mr. Rajan’s sessions and executed it in the classrooms. Our coordinators conducted NFLAT training for over 300 students from Class 8 and Class 9 at RKM Saradha Vidyalaya Model School from September 28^th to October 1^st. Further classes will be conducted once the schools reopen on 5^th October 2015.

The classes were a mix of lecture and activities which captured the interest of the students. By the end of each session, students left with more information and confidence to attend the NFLAT examinations on November 28 and 29. 

NFLAT Training for Coordinators

Mr. Rajan, Senior Training Manager, Computer Age Management Services Pvt. Ltd., conducted NFLAT curriculum training for the coordinators at the AIF office in KK Nagar on 26^th September 2015 and 3^rd October 2015. He explained the 9 chapters in the curriculum to the coordinators in such a way that they can impart the knowledge to the students in a child-friendly manner.

The coordinators also got an insight into the NFLAT curriculum and learnt several things about general finance, life mathematics among others. 

English Helper Training for Coordinators through Skype

Ms.Kalpana from English Helper conducted the Read To Me software training to the Cluster Coordinators through Skype. Coordinators were trained on how to install and use the software in the school to improve English teaching and learning process. 39 DE schools in Chennai have English Helper software installed in one or two desktops and regular RTM classes happening.

Glossophobia Questionnaire adiministered

As part of DE program, a new initiative to identify students with fear of public speaking was brought in. Fear of public speaking, termed as Glossophobia in the academic circles, is common among school going children. To identify students who have this fear, a questionnaire was administered to Class 8 students of 8 AIF-DE schools. Among the 8, 3 were DIET Schools. They were,

• NKT National Girls Hr. Sec. School
• RKM Saradha Vidhyalaya Middle School
• Chennai Hr. Sec. School, Rotler Street

This was overseen and steered by psychology post-graduate, Ms.Nihas Afshan. The questionnaires will be evaluated and identified students will be given activities to overcome their fear and speak boldly in public.

TN Staff Refresher Meeting - August 2015

The Tamilnadu team from Chennai and Coimbatore came together on 5th,6th and 7th August for the Quarterly Staff Refresher Meet. Mr. Subrat Sarkar, Operations Director of Odisha attended this meeting and shared the work process in Odisha. He also took sessions on the topic "Teacher the heart of our system" and about learning. Other team members did sessions on topics allotted to them. Updates, plans were shared and action points were discussed.

Summer Camp

Summer Camp - “Digital Story Telling”

American India Foundation conducted Summer Camp for 10 days in April, for the DE TN school students. 16 schools participated in the Summer Camp which was centered on the theme of “Digital Story Telling”. Among the 16 schools ,4 were DIET program schools (Chennai Hr. Sec. School,TH Road, Chennai Hr. Sec. School, Appasamy lane, Chennai Girls High School, Irusappa Street and NKT National Girls Hr. Sec. School)

Digital Story Telling is a project where students tell a story with the help of technology or a digital device. This is the art of making a short film.

The Objective of this summer camp is to promote creativity and exposure to software tools and technology gadgets like digital camera and video camera for the students. In these ten days, the students chose a topic. Then the students were trained on how to handle the Digital Camera, how to write script for the story, followed by the students shooting the photos/videos related to their topic and edit them using software called “Windows Movie Maker” for the finalized copy. The final product was presented in the form of a 3 to 4 minutes video. The completed short films were showcased in presence of the HM, teachers and their parents on the final day.   

Inter-state Staff Refresher Meeting

Inter-state Staff Refresher Meeting

The staff Refresher Meeting held on 30^th, 31^st of March and 1^st of April saw the three Southern Cousins- Karnataka, Telangana and Tamil Nadu come together. Mr.Sundarakrishnan, Director of DE Program also participated in the meeting. On the first day, the team members from all the three states introduced themselves and interacted with each other. This was followed by the coordinators demonstrating DE way of teaching and Edukit. Post-lunch as interesting General Knowledge Quiz was conducted and was followed by some more DE way of teaching demo and feedback.

On Day 2 sessions on general topics happened and this was followed by every coordinator presenting their personal SWOT analysis. Vinay from Telangana team, Vineeta from Karnataka and Divya from Tamil Nadu presented the SWOT analysis of DE program. The day was wrapped up with insights from Mr.Sundar on how to leverage our strengths; work on our weaknesses and make full use of the opportunities available to us.

On Day 3, after a brief presentation about the summer plan, a team activity was conducted. All the team members actively participated and showcased their talents in art, singing, dance and storytelling. The three day staff refresher meeting ended with the discussion about plan for the next academic year, issues and questions were addressed. The deliverables along with some value additions was discussed. The meeting proved to be a great learning platform and refresher for all the three state members.

DE Contest short Films Evaluated

Over 35 schools sent in their entries as a part of the nation-wide DE short film contest. The entries were shot on the given topic - "Living smart is Fun and Full   Paisa Vassol". Lecturers from NKT National College viewed the short films and chose top 3 three entries that were later sent to the national team for further voting. The top 3 entries were from Chennai Middle School,   Arumbakkam, NKT National Girls Higher Secondary School and Corporation Higher Secondary School, Ramanathapuram.