Aarunya Remote Teaching (ART) Telephonic
The Aarunya Remote Teaching (ART) Telephonic program was born out of necessity, in order to connect with our students as schools were shut during COVID. The objective of the program is to reinforce concepts already taught and introduce children to basic English. The program is delivered over the telephone with each trained teaching volunteer assigned 1 to 2 children. Print, audio and video teaching aids add to the effectiveness of the program.
In ART Telephonic, lesson plans developed for effective learning over the phone are taught over 30 minute calls twice a week and the foundation of good English is laid – relatable instant use vocabulary, situational conversations using stories, songs and creative and interactive activities. Comprehensive training is provided to all ART volunteer teachers to enable them to connect with the students and deliver lessons for optimal impact. Techniques to connect with children, engage with them and hold their attention over a telephone call, using lesson plans effectively, potential challenges and ways to deal with them are all taught.
The concepts are further reinforced using worksheet sets (delivered to the school and picked up by the parents) and audio / video content consisting of stories, songs, conversation snippets. Parents and children have responded to ART with enthusiasm and gratitude for keeping the learning going and the children’s progress has validated the effectiveness of this program.
Aarunya Timeline
During 2020_21 academic year, many parents moved to remote areas due to COVID related job loss with no access to phone data. Aarunya used an Interactive Voice Response phone system to host the audio teaching collateral. Funded by Aarunya donors, the system enabled 24 X 7 access to all the audio content at ZERO cost to the children and ensured that the children’s learning did not suffer.
2021_22 academic year saw the pandemic continue and schools stay with online classes. We continued ART telephonic with teaching volunteers from Bengaluru, Coorg, Pune and Mumbai. Building on our experience during the 2020_21 academic year, Lesson Plans and Worksheets were modified for better impact. More stories were created, illustrated and printed to expand the Aarunya Adventures series of stories and video books of every story made available to the children via YouTube links. Here is one used to teach the children personal introductions:
Aarunya Adventures Story – Avi’s First Day
ART Telephonic Class In Progress
Happy Box and Hygiene Kits
