We recently received an update from Dr. Ruby of Jeevan Jyoti Clinic and Community Centre in India, a ministry World Challenge helps support. She has established a balwadi and is beginning to teach the children English.

From Dr. Ruby's newsletter:

Vibha, the head teacher, is teaching the alphabet to the children. They are being taken through the first phase of the CLR* syllabus.

We have modified it to suit the conditions where the children have had absolutely no prior exposure to English. We are giving the children a bank of English letters and words through which we incorporate the teaching.

The children are doing very well except for a few younger ones who are being taken care of by the trainee teachers Renuka and John. Katherine, one of our interns, left for Canada on August 16th after completing her term with us.

Up until last week we have had a Spanish University exchange student, Marissa from ‘Saheli’, helping us manage the children. She attended the seminar (along with the teachers), conducted by Dr. Ruby Fredericks on August 29th, 2008 for purposes of revision, discussion and demonstration of the CLR syllabus. It was an enjoyable session and the teachers felt that they have learned a lot.

* CLR stands for Centre of Learning and Research. The syllabus was formulated by psychologist Zakhiya Kurien to suit the needs of Indian children. Rather than using traditional methods of teaching, like repetition and memorization, it meets the child's intellectual needs through mental empowerment. It uses the child's natural curiosity and initial exploratory journey through the senses to help them arrive at solutions logically.